Traditional towns, with low-density population, are highly efficient in
their use of land. This model provides space for people to live, work,
and trade within walking distance of one another. There is a continuous
use of land for the entire 24 hours along with a sense of security provided
by round-the-clock bystanders.
The idea of traditional town is being made antiquated however, by the
sheer number of people migrating into big cities in the later part of
the 20th century. To deliberately re-create low-density "Traditional
Neighborhoods" (notwithstanding the success of The
Truman Show) is to ignore the urban housing problem altogether.
While the process of rapid industrialization has induced a general surge
in the urban population, it has also induced the middle-class to move
to suburban settings.
Houses in the suburban neighborhoods are
being used only at night, since their residences drive to work in the
city during the day. The reverse is true of the city's commercial districts
when people leave their offices at night. They became empty glass boxes
sitting on a land that is not being used half of the time.
Mix-use buildings today, especially in Asia, tend to be high-rise structures
with the ground floor dedicated to commercial use with over 25-40 stories
of residential units above it. This model, although provides continuous
24 hours land-use, has some inherent problems. The first, is the problem
of large unused spaces left empty when all the residents went to work
during the day. Since the ratio of living spaces to commercial spaces
is very high, this model is not a far cry from the suburban housing model
- except that it is urban. Land use in this model seems to be quite efficient
when look at the small footprint that the building is occupying on an
x-y axis map (our usual map). However, when
look at it from a y-z axis map, we find that
the majority of spaces are being occupied at night only. Another chronic
problem that comes with this model is that most of the residences are
isolated from street life by the height of the building, creating a sense
of urban alienation.
This model is much like the traditional town model, except that it allows
for high-density development. In this model, residential units and commercial
spaces are alternated every other floors. The public could access the
commercial/business floors by pedestrian streets which are connected
to the elevators on both ends of the building. Looking at it from a y-z
axis map, we find that the elevators are acting
like main streets and the pedestrian streets are acting like
alleyways.
In this model, there are 50% residential spaces, and 50% commercial/business
spaces, which means that the building would be in used for a continuous
24 hours. The residence could even work in an office located within the
same building as they live. >
see prototype
