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This website is created for the course ARU2070 - Territory for MSC 1.

In order to calculate designs made by architects, urban planners and landscape designers we need to take in consideration to effects of the natural sources and elements we have around us. In this course we take different natural elements into consideration in order to calculate and design projects that are completely fitted in to its context. The elements we take in consideration are divided in the subs next to home Sun, Plantation, Wind, Water are some of these elements that need to take into consideration when designing. 

In this course I will look back at previous design I made during my bachelor, Pre-Master and Master degree. With excel sheets we can easy determine the right calculation for each design. The intention is to conclude how I would do a previous design better in the future by calculating these elements.

NEW LEGENDS

Earlier design

Legends are very important for anyone who is doing in a way an abstract job. We designers cannot do our job if we do not have legend. Legends give us the opportunity to understand a drawing without we need to ask any one. I have notice that I in my previous design I am always try to find a new way to shows my legends. One style i am doing lately on my projects is the way I take an element or form from the drawing and I scaled that to the normal legend scale. For example if I want to show park in my drawing in a legend I simply take the park and scale it and call it Park in my legends. For me that is a kind of new style to shows my legends. I use to just make square and colored it in and tell what the colors correspond to. But now if I take the form with the color I believe that the legends will be much clearer to someone else.

fig.1 normal type of legend I sometimes use



fig.2 and 3 Structure map with legend in the form of the element



fig.3 New type of Legends use by myself



Future design

Of course in the future I will still use legends to explain my plans. Legends will help to make your idea that you are showing on the map clearer without being too detailed. The book SWWELL from Prof. de Jong and the excel program has some interesting legends methods that I can always consider to use in the future.

fig.4 fragment about legends in the SWWELL book by de Jong

ENVIRONMENT

keywords: Green connection, contamination, Nature, River, Environmental Friendly

Earliers design

For the city of Haarlem I propose to make a green connection true out the city. This to not only connect the forest and the parks with other green elements in the city but also to connect to use the environment to clean up areas that once were use for industry and might been contiminated. In my critical datail I datailed a former industry terrain among the River. In the past the river quay was the location were all the industry will be for the tranportation by water. This was for the environment very bad because the rivers got contaminated. Also the Spaarne River was contaminated a few years ago. But the nature is strong and if we stop interfere with it in the bad way the nature and environment will recover again. We as urban planners can help the environment to intergrate environmantal friendly sollutions.

fig.1 the green conection in Haarlem wil help the intergration of the total environment in the city.

Future design

In my future design I will always keep looking for new ways to bring the environment in connection with my projects. I think that we are now starting to learn about respecting the environment and built and plan along it and not to built against it. In the future I will use the excel program of de Jong to check the norms that the environment is requiring.

fig.2 exel sheet from de Jong about the Recommended distance of industy from living areas

LIVING DENSITY

keywords: Transformation, Regeneration, Public spaces, Streets, built Environment

Earlier design

Density is really important for us Urban planners. To be honest I am not that good in this part of planning. I notice that I can make a design base one location, sun, wind, traffic, nature, the users but I never know exactly how dense this will be. In a case like Almere it is obvious that if I design a new part of the city like Almere-Hout many people will find their home there. In the case of Haarlem where I design an regenerate an old industry location as living, working and shopping are I don't really know how many people are really going to be living there. I notice that I am trying to get to know this better in my current project on the Island of Curacao. On this location the design is aiming to transform an old oil refinery into a new city center with living and working function. Because the terrain is huge I notice that I do not know how to dense it. From my teacher I got to study how many people I would like to have on that location. Also the space between the building are crucial to create a pleasant place to live or be. I notice that I have not many problem with the distance between the building in the street but more with the public spaces. I notices that sometimes I can design enormous public spaces that would not work in that setting. Instead of that I could have better pay attention to a better densification of  the area.

fig.1 Sketch plan of the Isla Refinery Terrain in Curacao, some of the blocks on this sketch can be more dense than now some of the open spaces could be to big for the pleasant and safe feeling in a city.

Future design

In my future designs I will take the density issue more into consideration. We need to relize that it is an import part of urban desing. With the help of the excell program provide by Prof. de Jong we can easely measure and calculate density on the location we are plannen. Pictures below show two excell sheets by de Jong that can be use to measure density of buidling in a built environment.

fig.2 and 3 Two excell sheets from de Jong to measure the density in a built area 

LIFE

keywords: Species, Landscape, Perspective, Landpoort, Eco Ducks, Biodiversity

Eerlier design

Life is something that we always should think about while designing. We as urban planner more than architects has to be able to look much more further in the future. Especially when we are planning neighbourhoods or towns. Planning is not something that you do for a short term it a process that need to go century and century. We are even able to change the landscape and the living environment of people or species like animal or plants. Life within a urban context is really important and we need to make a good balance in what is important for now and what will still be important in about twenty to fifty years without effecting any life. In my previous work I work with a group on a project where calculation of life for the short term and the long term was important. This project was master 1 urbanism project called Landpoort. The part we call Perspective where we look at the whole area of Landpoort and make some strategic decisions at last, has everything to do with the development of life and the environment and how we can use the quality of it, we made some green passages and Eco ducks to maintain the living of species in this area or to integrate them. Also we look at the development of life as in people lives. Below some pictures of the group proces in Master 1.



fig.1 Perspective for the Landpoort Area



 

fig.2 the cores that were choose as stratigic projects with the perspective was about were people and other life come together

 Future Design

 I think that for the future or for my current project where I want to use nature to heal the location I think I will try to look at the element of life more in the way of Biodiversity in an area. Nature and Environment will develop as the most important actors in an urban design project. The excel program of Prof. de Jong give us the possibilities to do some measurement and calculations about different type of species. Of course as urban designer I will always keep I mind the life development of the people that will use the spaces. Below some fragment from the excel program from Prof. de Jong and the book SWWELL.



fig.3 Excel sheet from de Jong about Population growth.







fig.4 Excel sheet from de Jong about Urban dynamics



fig. 5 fragment out of the book SWWELL by de Jong about landscape changes since the ice age

EARTH and SOIL

keywords: Lava soil, contamination, Oil, Chemicals, Soil Formation

Eerlier desing

fig.1 Lava soil of Curacao

To be honest in my earlier design I never pays many attention to the earth and soil issues. Nevertheless it is a extremely important part of urban planning and architecture. Especially in the Netherlands where we deal with different types of soil. The first time I really take soil and earth in to consideration is on my current project. As mentioned in the wind part of this website my current project is located on the Caribbean Island of Curacao on an Oil Refinery terrain. To be able to propose any development on that location we need to know what type of soil we are dealing with and in how far the soil is contaminated by chemicals and oil. For my Current project I do not have detailed maps but I do have some sketch proposal in order to heal the soil. For that I propose to use plants to heal the soil. Of course the development will take please on a long term because the nature needs some time to do the job.



fig.2, 3 the geology of the Island of Curacao and below the proposal to heal the soil of the refinery by using plants.



Future Design

In order to understand a location it is important to understand the soil your design is going to be planned. For in the future I would like to know and learn more about the geology from the locations I will plan for. I do need to be an geological but I would like to understand what is happening and what type of design are better for which location. Because the Netherlands is flat we often do not have to deal with steep hills and deep valleys. In order to understand the theory of earth and soil Prof. de Jong made excel sheets where we can calculate different aspect on a location concerning the soil. For the future I will use these excel sheets to measure and calculate my location. On the pictures below some fragment of the excel sheets and the book of Earth and Soil from Prof. de Jong.

fig.4 fragment of the book SWELL by Prof. de Jong



fig.5

Calculation of heights in the excel program of Prof. de Jong



TRAFFIC

keywords; Public Transportation, Tunnel, Esplanade, Infrastructure, Congestion

Eerlier design

Since I have the urbanism background from my bachelor at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam (Amsterdam University) I notice that I always take traffic into consideration in my projects. For us urban planners and designers the connection is very important. This is one of the most vital part in the design process before you can even start to design. Questions such as "How can I get the people into the are how can I get them out?" or "How are we going to deal with the amount of cars that will come into area when people are living, visiting and working there?". All these questions you first answer before you start the design process. I my case I notice that I take the traffic flow very seriously and I always try to solve the problems of traffic jams and public transportation. Although I can show many examples of my previous work how try to do all of this but I think the project of Haarlem I did something more drastic. In order to connect the city with the water again I needed to made the River Spaarne accessible for the people. On the western river quay of the Spaarne I created an Esplanade that is pedestrian friendly so the people can have a river walk in their city. Because the traffic flow in that part is one of the most important connection for the city of Haarlem and it is a node where traffic congestion form almost every day I needed to keep this part accessible for the car traffic. To solve this problem I propose a tunnel underneath the Esplanade and I made the lanes twice wider to the traffic flow can go faster. 


fig.1 Infrastructure in Haarlem current situation



fig.2 and fig.3 perspective show the Esplanade on the west side with a track for tram and the tunnel that runs underneath the Esplanade and comes out to the end of the Esplanade. Section shows the tunnel and the River Spaarne

  Future Design

The traffic will stay a very important actor in the pattern we call urban. For the future design I would like to learn more about the theory of traffic structure and parking. Also the importance of public transportation is becoming a bigger issue. The population is expanding and people that commute are becoming every year more. We as urban planners can have some influence in how we can carry on with these problems. Together with new technologies like electric trams or trams on solar energy we can introduce a whole new way of moving and commuting.
Of course as designer we hope that proposals like this will help to solve some traffic problems but of course we never know how it really going to end up. To have an idea how it is going to we can use the excel program made by Prof. de Jong where we can make some calculations. The excel program Prof. de Jong develop for us future designer we can calculate different type of traffic use. One of the sheets I think that I am going to use often is the part of Public Transportation where we can calculate how many stop is needed in a certain distance. Also the sheets about the lanes I think I will use in the future to calculate and design roads. I believe that infrastructure is one with a design I every urban designer or planner should calculate this very good in order to get a better design. Below you can find the some fragment of the excel sheets from Prof. de Jong.

fig.4 excel sheet about Public Tranportation by Prof. de Jong

fig.5 excel sheet about lanes by Prof. de Jong

WATER

keywords: Quality, River quay, Spaarne, Haarlem, Water management, Lowlands, water systems

Earlier design

Water is one of the most important elements in urban planning. Water often is an qualitative element in a design. I my earlier designs if there is no water I will try to create water or to do something with water collection. Not only water can be used as qualitative or aesthetic reason but it can also been use as sustainable element, for example for cooling down or warming up a building. For this subject I choose the project of Haarlem that I did in my Master 2 trajectory. In this project the river Spaarne in Haarlem was my main design element for the masterplan. The quality of the River Spaarne I used as binding element to bind the city of Haarlem in a vertical way. By using this river that runs from the South to the North of the city I was able to find many interesting spots along this river to use a quality in the city. The pictures below shows the Northern part of Haarlem. I choose to make the critical design in this area because for me it was the most interesting place in the city where the quality of the River is not being use. On the western river quay I created an esplanade with apartments in front of the river. On the eastern river quay the river gets into the area creating canals.



fig.1
Perspective of my Strategic project on Haarlem along the river Spaarne 



 

fig.2 two area of the project in relation with the river



Future Design

For in the future I would like to know more about water management. There are many possibilities we can do in our design concerning water that we are not doing right now. In the reader/book of Prof. T.M. de Jong "Sun Wind Water Earth Life Living; Legends for design" we have a whole library how to use water in our designs. For in the future I will use the great information in order to create a better relation between city and water or building and water. Below a fragment from the book how the Lowland water system work. For me as a designer in the Lowlands I feel the obligation to learn and now more about water management in the future.



fig.3 Water system in the Lowlands with on the right the drainage pomping stations in eralier times (source; SWWELL de Jong)





fig3. other fragment from the book SWWELL by de Jong showing the differnt watermanagment task



NOISE

keywords: Almere-Hout, Highway, Traffic, Sound Barrier, Wind, Trees

Eerlier design

In my Master 1 Urbanism trajectory I have made a plan for Almere-Hout. For this project I took noise into consideration. Especially the noise cause by traffic from the highway was very important in this design project. The location of Almere-Hout is situated between two Highways the A6 from Lelystad to Amsterdam and the A27 from Almere to Utrecht. These two highways are two main noise source for this location. When planning suburbs we need to take into consideration that the suburbs cannot be too close to the highways. In this case it is not only a noise problem but also an air pollution problem. Below some picture of the Almere-Hout project. In fig.1 you can see that the suburbs are situated like at least a 350 meters away from the highways. In the north part of the master plan I introduced a small forest to keep the noise away.

fig.1 Masterplan for Almere-Hout for Master1 Urbanism, to the North we see the A6 and to the East we see the A27




fig.2 on this perspective we can see the A27 above, the first row of building are industry and offices that will function as an sound barrier, the building area after the industry is down town and the building area infront of the picture is an suburb area that will not have problem with the noise and air pollution cause by the highway.

 

Future Design

Beside traffic, we know other types of noise. For example noise cause by aviation activities or noise provided by a city center or public facilities. Also industry has a great part in creating noise in the city. For the future design we as architects and urban planners need to keep consider noise as a very important element in the design process. To go back at some other subjects, winds can carry noise very far. It is not always guarantee that we would not suffer from noise in a city or town. People who are living some 10 to 20 kilometers from an open air festival center or sport stadium can have problems with noise when a event is taking place. Of course this is depend of the wind that will carry the sounds for kilometers away. Another element we can combine with noise is plantation. In the future we can consider plantation as natural noise or sound barrier in the cities.

In order for us to have some idea what type of noise a highway is creating and what is acceptable or not the Territory course provide the excel program to calculate the type of noise traffic and other sources are producing.

fig.3 excel sheet from prof de Jong about different type of noise




 

WIND

Keywords: Trade Wind, Caribbean, Air Pollution, Unpleasant Urban Areas, Wind Tribune,

Earlier design

In my earlier designs I never stood still on the effect wind can have on my design. My current design project is located on the Caribbean Island of Curacao. In this project the need to understand and design with the wind is very important. This is the first time I needed to take this into consideration in my design. In the tropics the wind is more needed for cooling down so I notice that in the tropic it needed to use to wind for a better design. In the climate we know in Europe we need to avoid the wind in public spaces or other types of urban planning so we do not create unpleasant areas in the city. Unfortunately I do not have any design yet from my current project but below you can see the direction the wind blows on the Island of Curacao. For my project this direction is really important because it is a about a heavy industry area (Oil Refinery) and the smoke coming out of the chimney are going now to the suburbs South-West of the Refinery causing many inconvenience and air pollution. My proposal for this project is to relocate the Refinery and rebuild but than 3 to 4 time smaller and cleaner and relocate it to the South-West coast of the Island so the smoke of the new Refinery that will be within the Environmental norms can be blow away to the sea were no one live.

fig.1
an overview of the North-East Trade wind on the Caribbean Island of Curacao, next to the big picture a so call dividivi tree that growth in the same direction the wind has blown true it.  

Future Design

For in the future I believe that it will be very important for us architects and urban planners think more about the wind than we are doing right now. Especially in a country like the Netherlands where the winds is a strong element in our climate. We learn in the course that higher buildings in a row can be effected by the wind in such a way that it can be very unpleasant to walk in a street like that. What many times happens is that wind turbines will be created in the middle of the city. Not long ago in the city center of Almere inhabitants and other visitors were complaining about the unpleasant streets in the new city center. When it is cold and the wind blow with a high velocity the streets turn into a wind tunnel. Now the municipality of Almere and several architects and urban designers are talking about solving this problem. Planting or placing big trees or screens help in many cases.

 

fig.2

A design proposal for the new city center of Almere, more trees and roof screens to break the wind velocity (source: Almere-Vandaag)

 In the excel program Prof. de Jong provide us we can measure the wind problematic for a future design. In this case we can think about the heights of the buildings or the width of a profile. If we go back to the subject plantation we can check what kind of trees we can use to help against wind turbines in existence urban settings



fig.3

In this scheme we can see excel sheet for the Velocity appreciation graph created by prof. de Jong



PLANTATION

keywords: Green structure, Landscape architecture, Trees, Urban Voids

Earlier design

For the subject about plantation we can study how planting trees or other green natural element can influence our design. Often architects include a green zone in their design. This can be in a form of a courtyard or the public space in front of a building. The urban planners and Landscape architects have more possibilities to play with plantation. Also in my earlier design I implement green structure into the design. My urban planning designs give me more possibilities to react on this. The project I will show for this subject is the one I did in my master 2 trajectory. It was an urban design studio for the city of Haarlem. What I tried was to make some green connections in the city to avoid urban voids in between. The picture below shows a structure map for the green structure in the city.


fig.1

Green structure Haarlem connecting the green elements in between




Future Design

fig. 2

Parque Linear de Manzaneres in Madrid Spain, a linear corridor in the city with still young trees. These trees in about 10 years will be till 18 meters wider in diameters and will give this corridor a complete other effect.



fig.3 Excel sheet from Territory by T.M. de Jong shows the grow in diameters of the tree in 5 (above) to 10 (under)years after the tree was planted



In order to help us future designer to design good parks or other type of green structures in our design Prof. T.M. de Jong create the excel sheet plantation where we can used different value to check how a type of tree grow with few years. It is also possible to choose different trees to check which one can be used as best one for the location and space in the design. Pictures blow shows some fragment of this process and the type of tree. I choose for the Plantanus x (x hybrida) and I took two fragment 3 years and 12 years after plantation.

In my earlier designs I know that I wanted the green elements to have an important role in the design. Especially in my urban design it is always for me very important that this part will be implanted in the design. Nevertheless I notice now that I do not go further into this area. In my earlier design in just call green "green" and that was enough for me. After following the course of Territory I notice that also an architect and a urban planner can do a lot with different type of plantation forms or trees. The landscape architect knows alot about this that we can learn. For example to know what type of plants to use in a design, to know how this tree grow and so on. The picture below shows an urban linear parque in the form of an corridor in the city of Madrid. On the picture the trees are still young and we can see nice pathted park. In about ten years the trees will be till 5 times wider and higher and will give the park a complete other look than now.

SUN

keywords: Sun, Public Space, Solar Energy, Sun Orientation

Earlier Design

I have notice that in my designs I always make sure I take the sun into consideration. In a country like the Netherlands it is important to play with the sun light for many purposes. One of those purposes is for example the climate being create by sun when we are designing a public space especially terraces or squares where people like to sit for a drink or just to relax. Of course it is not always possible to make the right balance, many time we as urban designers and architects have restrictions. For the sun subject I would like to take a look at a project a made in my pre master. In this project the assignment was to design a public library with apartments and public services like restaurant and shops in the borough of Amsterdam-Zeeburg (East). The location was Javaplein, this location has the perfect South orientation that give the sun the opportunity to shine on the location from morning till evening. Nevertheless the height of the building influence this freedom.  In fig.1 you can see the location of the Library and how I design the public space with a South-West orientation so the public space can benefit of the sun during the whole day in summer and winter time.


 

fig.1

South-West orientated public space on the Javaplein in Amsterdam









 

fig.2 Public space/square of the Library during a winter afternoon

 



 Future Design

During the course of Prof. T.M. de Jong we learn that we can do much more with the sun in our design proposals than we think. Sun nowadays is not only a question of light or climate. Sun is now being used to provide buildings and in some cases neighbourhoods with energy. In future designs we need and we will take the efficiency of the sun into consideration in our designs. In the design for the Library in Amsterdam I never take the energy question in consideration but I notice in my current designs I am doing this. Pictures below shows how buildings and neighbourhoods are being design using the sun as energy.



fig.3 Sun Island in the New Town of Almere, this project make the neighbourhood sustainable by using sun as energy source.



fig.4 Solar panels use in building facade



In the course Territory from Prof. T.M. de Jong he create an excel program for us future designers to calculate different influences of the sun on the building or surroundings. The picture below (fig.5) shows a shot screen I used to calculate the sun on the library in Amsterdam.



fig.5 Excel program created by T.M. de Jong that can be used to calculate different influences on the public space or building by the sun