Designing Sustainable Mix in Urban Industrial Areas, Using M4H, Rotterdam as an Example

Abstract

Urban mixed-use development has been a popular subject in both research and practice. In recent years, stimulated by sustainable development and land shortage, Trendy Mix has emerged widely in Europe, especially in the Netherlands. Trendy Mix is a type of urban design with special form and function. It often adopts the architectural form of Plinth+Tower, where light manufacture and logistics are placed inside the plinth, while the tower is used as living and office.
Though having technical advantages like renewable water, energy and transportation systems, Trendy Mix is not socially sustainable for two reasons. First, its architectural form determines its expensive construction cost, which increases the cost of living and working here. That is, only groups that have received higher education or have more money can establish life there. Second, the traditional noisy industries are pushed towards the city boundary when working and living are combined. This increases the living cost of factory workers as they now have to spend more money and time on their daily commute.
Starting with reflecting Trendy Mix, this project aims to design a socially inclusive urban mix that integrates living and working in a creative and diverse way. The site is Merwe-Vierhavens (M4H), Rotterdam. M4H is a port and manufacturing area, part of which has been transformed into makerspaces for innovative industries in recent years. It will become a Trendy Mix according to the local municipality’s plan, therefore, this location is selected for the project.
The methodology of this project is research-and-design synergy. This project conducted multiple designs, each having a different focus. For example, the first design aims to list all possible working and living mix models; the second design focuses on testing feasible mix models in terms of living-working ratio and connectivity. From the third design onwards, the project focuses on maximizing social sustainability through public space and programmes.
Research is distributed before, during, and after each design. The research has two purposes. One is to provide the theoretical basis and suggest potential design directions. The other is to analyze and evaluate whether the result has achieved the design goals. This alternating design & research approach produced the results and findings of this project.
The conclusion of this research is two-fold.
1) The project provides a sustainable mix design for M4H, including masterplan, section, zoom-in, and rendering. The main spatial measurements are a combination of living and working typologies, public space network, and a gradient landscape.
2) Through design, this project summarizes three values essential for a socially inclusive mix development: creating beautiful neighbourhoods, enhancing connectivity among communities, and providing diverse work, live, and amenities to everyone. Furthermore, the project concludes six vital principles for the values to be realized in design. These include mixing living and working horizontally, introducing nature into urban districts, and a gradient transition from public to private, etc.