Architectural Design V-IX: High Buildings - More with Less II (Guyer)

Abstract

Together with the Block Research Group, our key focus concerns the load-bearing structure, which accounts for around 75% of the gray energy of any high-rise. Equipped with a catalog of building structures in various materials, we will search for efficient, lightweight constructions in order to significantly reduce the gray energy and the CO2 footprint.

Objective

Ability to develop a draft from an idea, a concept to a mature project, to question intermediate stages again and again critically and to find an individual design method and attitude.

Content

When resource exploitation, waste generation, and energy use are factored in, buildings and their construction cause 40% of worldwide CO2 emissions. Meanwhile, the estimated global population increase of almost 20% by 2050 will entail almost a doubling of worldwide building volume. In Zurich, the population last year voted to implement the Richtplan (Structural Plan) 2040, based on an anticipated increase of 110,000 new inhabitants within the next twenty years. Its proposals include urban densification zones and a catalog of sustainability measures concerning communality, mobility, biodiversity, and heat reduction. Simultaneously, the guidelines for the erection of high-rise buildings are undergoing revision. The zones for lower multistory buildings are to be expanded into the densification areas and the building heights are, in some cases, to be significantly increased. Using the stipulated architectural type of the “High-rise Building,” the studio will explore this issue at four design sites along the River Limmat. In urban-planning terms the locations have been selected so that they can form clusters with existing or planned high-rises. Together with the Block Research Group, our key focus concerns the load-bearing structure, which accounts for around 75% of the gray energy of any high-rise. Equipped with a catalog of building structures in various materials, we will search for efficient, lightweight constructions in order to significantly reduce the gray energy and the CO2 footprint. The design decisions are aided by relevant calculations. With the prefabrication of the load-bearing structure, core elements, facades, and sanitary modules we contribute to the circular economy in that building elements can, as required, be replaced during the use period and dismantled and reused at the end of their lifespan. Due to the proximity of the “High-rise Buildings” to the architectural surroundings, as well as the cross-sectional staggering of the variously sized rooms, structural challenges emerge, such as spannings, steppings, and projections, which have to be carefully weighed in proportion to the cost and effort involved. In terms of sustainability, the studio will be supported by experts. The arrangement of the central service units, the heat-generation installations, as well as the horizontal and vertical media distributors are conceptually established, along with the situation of PV installations on the roof and facades. At the urban climate level, wind conditions and measures to minimize heat and promote biodiversity with green spaces and facade vegetation, as well as water management, are all examined. Despite all these technical requirements, the aim is to achieve an expressive architecture that has presence, is convincing, and has an emotional resonance. The design process is flanked by presentations on high-rise projects and inputs, as well as workshops on design-defined, specific visualizations. The projects will be discussed in an interim evaluation and a final evaluation (with guests and the professorial chair) under a range of aspects, covering conceptual idea, urban anchoring, neighborhood connectivity, architectural expression and presence, load-bearing-structure concept, inner and outer spatial qualities, and sustainability. In partnership with the Block Research Group (BRG) Design work in groups of two Optional in-depth learning in construction is available as an integrated discipline

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