›exterieur
oktober 2009
Afstudeerproject IRIS pijler 8
IRIS pijler 8, Residue resistant, the industrial evolution.
1930 - Elegant, transparent and progressive, a compact and effective industrial complex situated nearby the city’s boundaries. Modernism is getting hold on the industry. An experienced organ nestled into a green context and linked to the existing infrastructure. Factories became an economical and social injection to its habitat and new dwellings were built with lots of social aspects.
2010 - The experienced organ is gone. Workers are motorized and digitalized; there are only a few who monitor the process and secure the provision. Nowadays industries are like monsters that are constantly expanding. Like for instance the small Netherlands where in the upcoming 15 years 23.000 ha of building plot will be intended for industries. But 6000 existing ha of building plot that are intended for company aims are waiting for new establishments to settle down. The seemingly short period of 10 or 15 years leads to degeneration of our society and an inefficient use of our precious landscape.
Rotterdam for instance, where we create a second 2000 ha island for industrial usage, in the sea.
On the other hand, in the city centre, we’re planning to build a new residential complex that reaches a new record height of 215 m. We travel with the biggest floating “cities” overseas and have realized the highest tower in the world in the middle of the dessert. It seems that human kind wants to leave earth, its own planet, as soon as possible. It’s time to turn the tide and change that industrial “Big Mac Attack” into a “Happy Deal”.
The IRIS could be the industrial plot of the 21th century. This Iconic Redressed Industrial System is my response to the today’s issue of industrialization. The IRIS is an organ in which production processes are fitted in and that plays a catalytic role for its surrounding industries. It will clean up its surrounding areas and will use them for the production of biomass for its own energy production.
It looks like an utopian thought. But what is utopia and is utopia time-related? Who would have thought 20 years ago that we would be able to build an 828 m high building in the middle of the dessert?
It’s my intention to claim a wasted area nearby an industrial plant to transform it into a piece of land with potency. As a pilot project I took a huge chemical plant that dominates the Southern-Dutch landscape, our gate to the South. It’s called Chemelot and it claims a territory of 800 ha of land.
The realization of a fly-over made it possible to connect the industry with the existing intersection and to create the new main gate to the Chemelot area. The main gate also contains a truck-stop with a petrol station that will introduce visitors to the system of piling functions. The main gate with truck-stop has the appearance of a prewar factory but it’s a mix of private and public areas.
This new complex connects the “public” area with the “private” industrial area. The design is based upon the fence and the road that cross each other several times. These crossings will define spots to have a more private or public character. In between you will find the so-called paperclip with a direct relation between the public and the private areas. The additional main gate to the Chemelot area is situated in the basement. On the ground-floor there is a petrolsquare with a shop. On top of the shop, on the first floor, you will find the trucker’s bar. The second floor is designed for short-stay only. The actual long-stay is situated on top of the complex. Here truck-drivers will be able to stay for the night and enjoy the panoramic lighted sky above Chemelot.
more info: theIRIS.nl
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