The Nectar Project: Solar Development of Post-Industrial Urban Communities (Tutti Frutti, New Islington, Manchester)

Abstract

The ‘solar city’ is an oxymoron; buildings close together shade each other and thus prevent insolation. The solar suburbs are generally low density and poorly connected. In response, this study advances the understanding of compact urban sustainability, and strengthens the architectural knowledge of urban and celestial solar geometries - the synergy of which are key to true solar city design. The objective is to generate a solar community capable of sustaining an inevitable urban population within an existing and site limited Northern European city. With reference to previous masterplanning models by this author (Martin, C. L., & Keeffe, G., 2007) this paper creates and uses a mapping of city and sun. By recognizing the city as an intensified, light stratified system, a flexible sunlight and shadow strategy for the volumetric development of brownfield urban has emerged. In collaboration with Urban Splash, one of the largest property developers and urban renewal specialists in Europe, The Nectar Project applies a solar growth methodology to one of the UK’s largest brownfield sites - New Islington, Manchester. Utilising advanced CAD software packages the forms generated display intense faceted dynamism which offer sustainable design an energy quantifiable and visually expressive language.