Ada Park: Mixed-Use Community
Belgrade’s identity, ecosystems and history are defined by its relationship to the Danube and Sava rivers.
Ada Park will set a new precedent for sustainable and resilient development along Belgrade’s rivers, embracing old and new ways to engage with its landscapes in day-to-day life.
| Location: | Belgrade, Serbia |
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| Status: | Study submitted |
| Date: | 2024 |
Belgrade’s identity, ecosystems and history are defined by its relationship to the Danube and Sava rivers.
Ada park will set a new precedent for sustainable and resilient development along Belgrade’s rivers, embracing old and new ways to engage with its landscapes in day-to-day life. Ada Park combines office, residential, commercial programming, around transit-connected public spaces. It is place of business (Negotium) and of leasure (Otium), where urban fabric and local landscapes support one-another.
The site of future Ada Park is located at an intersection of two major regional transects: (1) the Sava River valley edge, and (2) the Belgrade suburban transition.
Sava River Valley Edge
Belgrade’s identity, ecosystems and history are defined by its relationship to the Danube and Sava Rivers, and the conditions of the river valley edge. On the lower part of its course, near its confluence with Danube, the Sava flow through a wide valley bounded on the south by forested slopes of Banovo Brdo, and extending far to the north. Tradionally, for vast majority of its history, the site was identified by its location within Sava River valley. The site is located near the bottom of the river valley, within a floodplain forest below the mesic forest of Banovo Brdo. Before 20th century, the spatial character and its inhabitation was determined entirely by the river valley transect.
Belgrade Suburban Transition
As the city of Belgrade expanded in the second half of 20th century, the site found itself in the transition zone between the rural and urban landscape. Today the site is situation at the precise point where the rural landscape ends and suburban landscape begins. The site is therefore equally defined by its location at the entrance to the city. It has become a gateway into Belgrade.
Both the river valley transect and the rurar-urban transition define the character and the unique opportunities of the site as it is today. The project should take advantage of the extremely unique condition that the site provides.
Taksim Belongs to Everyone: Cultivating Spaces for Pluralism
| Location: | Istanbul, Turkey |
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| Status: | Competition Finalist |
| Date: | 2020 |
Diversity is at the core of Instanbul's identity. Connecting Europe and Asia, Istanbul has always been one of the most internationally diverse cities; a global hub gathering people, and goods from all over the world.
Diversity is also at the core of Taksim's identity. As the modern, post-Ottoman, centre of Istanbul, Taksim is surrounded by monuments representing diverse beliefs, cultures, and ideas. Once a Greek-Armenian neighbourhood on the outskirts of the city, it was also a symbolic space of Kemalism and Modernism, a tourist destination, and a centre for Istanbul's alternative subcultures.
Methodology for Cultivating a Space for Pluralism:
Diversity is the identity of Taksim, and Istanbul. Pluralism is the explicit valuing of diversity as such. A pluralist space encourages everyone to maintain their independent cultural traditions, while at the same time including them in the overall collective.
The proposal would cultivate a pluralist space through following four aims:
Step 1
Already existing differences and identities need to be recognized, and the integrity of these identities should be preserved and enhanced.
Step 2
The Commons, a shared space where differences can be negotiated, must be clearly defined and delieneated. The Commons are a basic infrastructure for human life. They need to be accessible, and safe for everyone.
Step 3
Wherever possible, the shared commons should be enhanced in order to supported further diversity.
Step 4
Finally, the inclusion of others needs to be facilitated. Procedures encouraging inclusivity are established.
Historical Monuments of Taksim
Layers of Infrastructure for Pluralism
Masterplan - An Eclectic Scenario
Taksim Belongs to Everyone:
Taksim Gezi Park is in the southernmost green patch of the Bosphorus Green System, a system of parks that is traditionally called “koru”. The korus has situated along with Bosphorus and serves for local and immigrant fauna as well as flora.
Historic Istanbul has been surrounded by cemeteries and gardens providing fresh food for the city. Today, only a few of the gardens have been remained.
As the Gezi Park was a cemetery in past, and redeveloped as an urban park. It is still one of the most crucial green spaces within the dense urban development of Istanbul for its citizens and visitors. Its historic role of water distribution benefiting from its situation on the top of ridge-line highlights its critical role as a urban infrastructure and provision as well as opportunities to foster the ecological flows penetrating city and towards the Marmara Sea in South.
Axo of market and transport hub building
Market and Transport Hub Entrance
Taksim Square
Taksim Square at night
Pedestrian Boulevard leading to Maksem Plaza
Pedestrian Boulevard
Biophilic Housing Matrix
Many of climate change’s threats — floods, droughts, loss of biodiversity and food systems — disproportionately affect cities as urban populations rise. How a city like Seoul is designed in relation to social and natural systems has tremendous consequences for urban resilience, the capacity to feed populations, and the ability to prevent, survive, mitigate, and adapt to climactic and environmental change. The biophilic housing matrix tackles issues of urban resilience by intertwining productive natural systems and housing.
| Location: | Seoul, South Korea |
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| Status: | Research / Publication |
| Date: | 2017 |
Many of climate change’s threats — floods, droughts, loss of biodiversity and food systems — disproportionately affect cities as urban populations rise. How a city like Seoul is designed in relation to social and natural systems has tremendous consequences for urban resilience, the capacity to feed populations, and the ability to prevent, survive, mitigate, and adapt to climactic and environmental change. The biophilic housing matrix tackles issues of urban resilience by intertwining productive natural systems and housing.
Our definition of urban resilience draws on theories from ecology, disaster risk reduction, urban planning and governance – but is based primarily on the Panarchy theory of resilience by system ecologists Gunderson and Holling. Resilience, or the tolerance of a system, is defined by the capacity it has to absorb disturbance and reorganize while retaining the same function, structure, identity, and feedbacks. Applied to the context of Seoul, our proposed interventions explore how the following resilience-bolstering design principles manifest in the built form: Social and ecological integration, small scale action with large scale thinking, always be learning and modularity.
These 4 design principles are applied to our concept, as we aim to connect people to one another and to an urban ecology through agricultural production. We are interested in exploring opportunities for ecological and agricultural cultivation and harvesting as an integrated live/work experience. The resulting productive networks create communities and identities defined by purpose, place, and production. Among the many types of typologies that can be created, this project elaborates upon orchard homes, pollinator meadow homes and urban farm homes for food production.
