Simulated design contest | phytoremediation | Feb 2019

Amphibious city

transformative, water-symbiotic habitation

As a 4th semester project, I did a simulated contest with assistance from the Danish architecture company: Møller & Grønborg. The project took place in Randers, where the municipality had issued a competition on how to transform the current industrial harbour, solve the city traffic problem and make a proactive response to the local climate changes.

Rising tides are causing annual flooding in the area and consequently it is necessary to either barricade towards the waterfront or try and embrace the changing water levels and see it as a dynamic aspect of the new city - I chose the latter.

The core of the proposal is to emphasize the natural cycles of the nature surrounding the site: Floods are rising and falling, temperatures are changing, downfall occurs occasionally, and wind is autonomously shifting in both strength and direction.

Therefore, a wetland park might not be the same as when you last visited it. The water levels might have changed, allowing you to traverse a great field or it may restrict your choice of pathways to higher boardwalk when lower once becomes inaccessible. An urban square may one day be used as a dry basketball court, the next as a puddle for minors or in winter it could be used for ice skating. A plaza in the middle of the harbour is sometimes a playground, an outside seating area for a café, or a central gathering for a flea market. Maybe a few hours later, the flea market may become an island of merchants – because the water is flooding the surrounding lower level. At day, the high tides may create the optimal condition for a remote-controlled boat race in the shallows and at night, it could become the perfect venue for gathering at the monthly full-moon party.

This sensation of living a water symbiotic lifestyle can be explored in many ways – from the spaces we visit to the things we do at different times of the day. Even as unconscious as the pathways we walk to get from home to work can inform us about the current cycles of the habitat we live in… A buoyant pathway can give us different experiences every time we walk it – sometimes it hinders, obstruct or deviates us from the path we intended – other times we are led along synchronized, flowing surfaces.

4 main barriers/problems were found, which prohibited the city from thriving in a future context: The first issue was the heavy traffic of 60,000 car that daily races across the city’s central bridge. Most of which are commuting not to or from Randers, but actually just through (since this was originally the crossing bridge of a vast area). The solution was to transform the road from a 4-lane to a 2-lane low speed crossing with vegetation and pedestrian pathway in the middle. The heavy traffic is redirected to the east of the city, where a new bridge will be built.  Also, the original eastbound road was shut to allow the city to connect better with the new harbour.

The unique river landscape near the city has a walking trail alongside it, and it is used a lot by tourists and locals. The only problem is that when meeting the city, the two natural trails disappear. It was therefore desirable to establish and further emphasize the natural river landscape. So, in the proposal the two trails are connected and become part of the new context at the housing and wetland park.

Third barrier was the river. It separates the city and suburb in two and they are only connected by the main bridge and a pedestrian bridge. So, a solution was to create connections through the new area and use existing parks, trails, and recreational areas to define a “green loop” that circles from the suburb to the city and back through the site.

Deserted space surrounds the site. It is visible in multiple places around the site that the noise and smoke pollution generated by the industry has made the city retract itself from the harbour. It Is therefore necessary to reactivate these areas and not only the harbour itself. By swapping a repulsive with an inviting space, we re-establish the connections and the dwelling city life.