To counteract fragmentation we proposed a single unifying element: FLEXIBURB. By considering the development as a whole, it forms a union to generate large comfortable spaces with good enclosure in opposition to the potential dead zones that arise from fragmented planning.
The anonymity associated with dense urban living is counteracted by attributing individual characteristics to each floor level and circulation route. Each dwelling is approached via a unique combination of external walkways that emulate streetscapes rather than corridors. We avoided grouping occupants from the same social sector together to encourage social integration. Poorer households and temporary/stop-gap social housing were incorporated into our general housing brief to satisfy the market for small families, students, young professionals and starter or retirement homes as well as addressing the elderly, young and disabled by making everything accessible. Residents are served by shop units and facilities such as the parks, walks, landscapes, general public space and the bar/restaurant. Each element faces the river Dyle flowing through the open landscape and green areas/parks that facilitate outdoor recreation. As well as providing some private gardens, FLEXIBURB maximises the roof area with private lawns, and allotments. Car parking, provided as a practial consideration only since the brief promoted cycling and walking, is accessed via a bridge over the river and passing through the existing garages to connect the site back to the town. The facilities and services provided at this point create an urban hub vital to the sustainability of the project since it will thrive on local people continually entering and exiting the site as workers or consumers to access units that vary in size and type to accomodate a range of commercial uses to boost the local economy and created job opportunities.
As people flow through the site, they can also interact with the tannery building’s exposed ground floor - a public exhibition space divided by an enclosed garden extending into the dwellings above. None of the proposed buildings compete with the massive tannery. The proposed cladding of new interventions perpetuates the theme that the new building rises or passes through the old. It consists of brightly coloured recycled plastics inspired by the continual recycling themes : the computer recycling workshop, the re-use of existing buildings and the recycling collection points currently on site.The adjacent community facilities, placed on the edge of the site, provide an auditorium, function rooms and a rooftop garden/play area to be used the elderly, adult education, the local youth centre and a crèche facility with a safe and secure exterior playing environment for infants.
FLEXIBURB aims to initiate a sustainable regeneration programme beyond the boundaries of the site to allow the project to continue to flow as the river Dyle does. To prevent it stagnating we proposed trigger spaces for future attention to continue an ongoing programme addressing other elements of the town.
