Bridging The Gap - Narrative

BRIDGING THE GAP

The Future Innovation in Zhengzhou

Designing Critical Nodes of the "Urban Grids"

In Collaboration with Stanislas Chaillou

Either inconsistent with surrounding neighborhoods, or causing social, spacial and functional disconnections, certain piece(s) of land can be spotted in both developing and developed urban context. We coined the phrase "urban gaps" for these discrepant plots in cities. "Bridging The Gap, The Future of Innovation in Zhengzhou" studies the locations of urban gaps - underdeveloped plots of land that are left during Zhengzhou's rapid urban development and expansion, and their potentialities of boosting the city's innovative industries. After revealing a list of urban gaps via a thorough corpus of research and analysis, the research was narrowed down to one site located between Longhu CBD and Longzihu University City. More specifically, we proposed a monorail, an innovation park as well as a series of compound "innovation pockets" as an attempt to revitalize the in-between spaces of Eash Zhengzhou through innovation.

I. Zhengzhou: A City of Gaps

Looking at the satellite images of Zhengzhou over the past 30 years, we witness the city’s rapid expansion. To qualify this growth, we defined the urban edge as the outermost limit of the city and traced the evolution of this edge. At the same time, some interesting spots on the maps started to make a dent. These spots are in fact pieces of land that seem either underdeveloped or inconsistent with their surrounding neighborhoods. We coined down these discrepancies as “urban gaps”. These gaps can be seen in every satellite maps. By tracing different satellite images, we noticed the disappearance of old gaps in newer images. In the meantime, some new gaps emerged.

Satellite Images Showing Urban Growth of Zhengzhou from 1984 to 2016

Overlay Current Zhengzhou Map with Traced Urban Edges and Urban Gaps over The Past Three Decades

Aware of the imprecision associated with simple “eye-balling” drawing, we chose another way to discover the gaps by using density and land-use sections of the city. We sliced Zhengzhou from North to South to generate 19 urban sections, showing the land-use and density of the city. With the same approach, we got 18 sections from East to West. At this point, we were able to validate the urban gaps spotted on satellite maps; plus more urban gaps were revealed in these sections.

Land-Use and Density Sections Reveal Urban Gaps in Zhengzhou

Furthering the analysis, we applied the same approach to generate land-use and density sections along metro line 3 and line 12. These sections unrolled the city along metro lines and revealed urban gaps from a different and more legible perspective. Among the urban gaps we found, the most typical ones would be the discrepancies on both sides of Longzihu University City. In a nutshell, Zhengzhou appears to be a city with lots of discrepancies in terms of urban context due to its uneven and large-development-driven growth over the past 30 years.

Land-Use and Density Sections Reveal Urban Gaps in Zhengzhou

Filling The Gap

Aside from this very bottom-up approach, our group decided to take a new stance, to understand the urban significance and origin of these encountered gaps. Most Chinese cities are in fact the result of a sedimentation process, where large mega-blocks and vast layers of infrastructures are superimposed on top of a thinner and more granular historical urban fabric. This superposition of layers results in spaces being left behind, located between major development projects. Similarly, to a bucket than one would fill with rocks of different sizes, the rapid urbanization of Zhengzhou very much resembles a bucket being filled sequentially, where larger rock -large development projects- would have been added ex-post, leaving between them significant gaps. Our approach and critique stem from this simple observation: our proposal for Zhengzhou is to pour a thinner “grout”, to fill the gap left between large developments, that would bind and connect some mega projects together.

II. Site Analysis & Selection: Line 4 & East Zhengzhou

Land-Use Scanner

From recognizing the existence of urban gaps within the urban fabric to the selection of a meaningful place for an innovation park, there is a quantum leap. We decided to create a rigorous strategy to scan the city, to find the ideal site. As the studio invited us to study Zhengzhou through the lens of its metro system, we crafted a tool -a Grasshopper plugin- to scan the neighborhood of each station forecasted in the next 15 years, looking for the 3 key programs previously mentioned (industry, business, and academia), and the existence of large underdeveloped plot of land (urban gaps).

The Land Use Scanner, that we scripted over the course of the Studio’s first weeks, proved to be essential: for each metro station, it would output a radial diagram, informing the user on the surrounding land use in a radius of 500 meters, while offering and a rough idea of the ratio of each program, to the others. This process systematically applied to all stations allowed us to narrow down the search from than 200 stations to 4.

Scanning Along Metro Line 3 with Land-Use Scanner

Selecting Potential Sites By Scanning All Metro Lines

From 4 Sites to 1 Site

Each one of the 4 remaining stations was initially an ideal candidate to host an innovation district. However, after a more in-depth study, the site located between Longhu CBD to the Longzihu University city stroke us as being the most promising option. Not only does this place have a large undeveloped plot of land, stretched between the railway and two lanes of elevated highways, but it also is located between 2 crucial mega-projects: the new CBD at its Westside, and the University City on its Eastside. The Metro Line 12 will soon stop right in the middle of the parcel, and therefore connect the place to the city at large.

Four Selected Sites

At the scale of the city, this site also offers the opportunity to alleviate what we discovered as being a transportation challenge for Zhengzhou: the metro system relies heavily in the East on Line 4, working as a literal backbone. Line 12 then branches out from the old CBD, located at the South of our site to connect to the Longzihu University City. The remaining issue is the lack of connectivity between the new CBD of Longhu and the University City. This “V-shaped” metro system remains an issue today, and will not be solved in the future, as the planned metro lines (8 and 4) will not solve the connection between the two sites. This is where our proposal could bring a sustainable solution: we would like to offer a lightweight transportation system, a monorail, connecting Longhu CBD and the University City, creating along the way 5 to 6 “pockets” of innovation. The monorail would offer the opportunity to create both more cross-connectivity between these two areas while offering a belt of innovation along the way. The monorail would, of course, be connected to the metro system, first at its start in the CBD (Metro line 4), then on our site (Metro Line 12), and finally at the final station in the University City.

Briding the V-Shaped Metro System to A Triangle-Shaped Loop

In a nutshell, our project is threefold: from the resolution of the connectivity issue at the urban scale to the design of the innovation pockets, and finally, to the planning of a large innovation park, this project leverages many scales, to offer a complete answer.

III. Design Proposal: Monorail, Innovation Pockets & Innovation Park

Innovation Park Aerial View

Monorail & Innovation Pockets

Through systematic sections of the urban fabric between the CBD and the University City, we first defined the ideal path for the monorail. Its trace passes through key gaps and respects the existing infrastructure while running along the current pedestrian and bike lanes.

The monorail path starts from the central island of Longhu CBD with a connection to metro line 4 and ends up on the East side of the central island in the Longzihu University City, by connecting to metro line 1. In its middle, this monorail shares a transfer station with metro line 12, on the site of our major innovation park. The monorail has in total of 8 stops. The distance between each station is around 1km to 1.5km. Also, along the monorail, 4 under-developed mega blocks were chosen to be developed as complexes combining innovation spaces with residential and commercial programs.

Proposed Monorail, Innovation Pockets at Each Monorail Station, and Central Innovation Park sharing Main Station with Metro Line 12

During the field trip, we found that the mega blocks in this newly built district lack a certain street life. The missing diversity of activities on the ground level is mostly resulting from the significant offset from the buildings from the street frontages. Both residential towers and office buildings in this area are isolated from the street frontages by a 10 to 20m offset which usually is filled with a green buffer or a gated fence.

We would like to offer a new typology of buildings having a podium extending to the edge of the pedestrian streets, with commercial programs on the ground level, and innovation offices on the 4 to 5 remaining floors of the podium. 2 residential towers will sit on top of each block’s podium. At the center of the block, a courtyard offers a congregational space for the community of workers. The roof of the podium is vegetized and hosts a couple of semi-public programs, for the inhabitants of the residential towers. This new type of courtyard-like structure divides the mega blocks into mini pedestrian grids. Within these mega blocks, more street frontages and pedestrian streets are created, and life is brought back to a previously empty neighborhood, all within walkable distance.

Typical Blocks in Innovation Pocket Adjacent to Monorail

Innovation Park

Located almost halfway between the CBD and the University City, our main site stretches between an elevated railway corridor and an elevated highway. At the West of the site is a strip of empty land, and then the outskirts of the CBD. On the East, the University City begins. Our project aims at offering three key components:

(1) A reinforced cross-connectivity between the West and the East side of the site

(2) A vibrant innovation park, built over 3 main phases of development and providing a flexible urban grid, that can allow for the

future development of the park

(3) A station, central to the project, that blends a certain efficiency of circulation with the aim of showcasing innovation.

(1) Reinforced Cross-connectivity

Cross-connections In-between Lifted High-Speed_Railway, Innovation Park & #107 National Highway

The monorail is first aligned on the preexisting spine, that traverses the site from West to East, and stops in the main station, elevated over the same spine. As the site is filled with a 6 to 7-meter-high layer of excavated earth, we rest our project on this natural plate, and construct ramps that bring pedestrians and bikes on the site. At the same time, we open a second vehicular spine, further South, that expands deep into the CBD and the University urban fabrics. The site splits into 3 mega blocks of roughly 350 meters by 400 meters, we are left with walkable blocks, where circulation can be left to pedestrians and bikes only, while cars are welcomed in the site only through the two spines, and the sunken parking lots.

Bike lane ramps, the monorail, and pedestrian ramps bridge across the highway and railway to connect on both west and east sides, inviting the public into the program, while offering an easier and faster solution to cross the boundary formed by the railway/high edge.

(2) Phasing and Grids on Innovation Park

Phasing and Grids on Innovation Park

The project is structured into three main mega blocks, connected by bike lanes and pedestrian bridges crossing above two vehicular spines. Each block is porous and offers gaps between buildings to allow for views from and to the project. The buildings themselves follow the same strategy as innovation pockets: innovation podium and residential tower on top. The center of each mega block hosts a landscaped patio, a series of public programs: the museum of innovation, convention center, and public amphitheater. The museum and the convention center collide with the station in the central mega block, to form one large public complex, where commuters, tourists, and professionals are brought together to celebrate innovation and its multiple facets.

As the project is vast, we offer to phase out its development: the first step consists of the central mega block, the station, and surrounding public programs. The initial step is simply aiming at harvesting the potential of the new metro station while offering vibrant public facilities to attract a larger public and creating the first cluster of innovation. The second step extends this first mega block to the North and the South. This time the mega blocks fade into a grid structure. This grid with a block size of 50 meters by 50 meters, is strictly calibrated on the site constraints and inspired from the grid of the pockets. At the same time, a network of pedestrian and bike pathways break the regularity of the grid, to connect key places more efficiently while adding more serendipity to the grid. Key moments are then generated along these “breaks” of the grid to allow for more encounters and friction between workers present on the site.

The last phase offers to extend this grid to the other side of the railway and the highway. The gap left between our intervention, the CBD, and the University City is now filled with the same innovation grid. This last buffer adapts to alignments coming from our site and the urban fabric of both the CBD and the University City.

(3) The Station: Connectivity, Exhibition & Innovation

Proposed Main Station at Innovation Park - Axonometric View

The station is the central piece of our strategy. It combines the imperative of efficiency with the need to showcase innovation to the greater public. We imagine a station that could deal with this challenge through a system of layers, that a vertical circulation of elevators and escalators would connect together. In the basement, the metro line 12 arrives in our site. The metro station already expresses the blend between efficiency and serendipity: the commuters arrive through standard metro platforms, to then discover a serendipitous layout of shops and public galleries, showcasing innovation. On the floor above, the vehicular spine traverses the site. Through a system of elevators and escalators, users bypass this layer, and directly arrive in the station itself, on the second floor. The main hall of the station enfolds under a large canopy, held by radial wooden vaults. The facade is fully glazed and the light, filtered by stainless louvers, baths the space during the day. The 2nd floor hosts a serendipitous layout of shops, restaurants, and innovation counters, that showcase innovation. The space is then traversed by many bike and pedestrian lanes, that stem from the station and reach specific places of the site. Their chaotic intersection in the station transforms the mall-like second floor into a vibrant crossroad! The museum of innovation, as well as the convention center, can be entered on this floor too. As they penetrate the station by one of their angles, their presence is noticeable from any point in the station.

Proposed Main Station at Innovation Park - Interior View

At the third floor, the bike and pedestrian ramps coming from the West and East of the site enter the station and merge with the network of bike lanes from the site. This interconnected web of lanes constitutes most of the third floor. The fourth and last floor of the station welcomes the monorail station. Simple and efficient, this last floor is connected to the rest of the station by elevators and escalators. Overall the station is the central node that ties the project together. It brings people to the site, and dispatches them across the project while inviting them to discover innovation.

Proposed Main Station at Innovation Park - View From Monorail Track

Proposed Main Station at Innovation Park - Section S - N

Proposed Main Station at Innovation Park - Section W - E