| NANOU JACOBS |
| Public Green Spaces Elevated public spaces Urban space becomes increasingly scarce. In cities there is less space/ground available for public space, such as parks and plantage. The leftover spaces in the city's structure are filled up with new buildings. But nature is still important. It serves people and ensures a pleasant environment in the city. Through the increasing amount of building sites in cities, the need for finding new public spaces will be necessary and desirable. Are there new possibilities in the current urban structure? Why not elevate towards the roof, if at street level not enough room for public space is left. The advantage of utilising the roof level is that one can left the city behind and get a new perspective. From this higher position you will have a fine and fascinating overview of the city's scenery. On top of a building you will have the feeling that you can touch the sky, moreover, the open free space displays more light. Could building projects provide the new public spaces for the future we are looking for, in which the urban citizens enjoy nice views in a cosy green setting? In this context it is worth while to get acquainted with the paintings and drawings by Hundertwasser that show us creations of roof landscapes. The artist-architect, Friedrich Stowasser (1928-2000) alias Friedensreich Hundertwasser, native Vienna, was at that time only known as a painter and creator of graphics. But he also was active as an architect by the end of the 20th century. He designed new facades and changed the exterior appearance of existing buildings. Hundertwasser was an advocate of creative, natural architecture, in stead of the rationally ones. He became a model for this kind of alternative architecture. He evoked the use of natural materials and techniques, he introduced green on facades and roofs and preferences the individual design. His opinion, "everything situated horizontally in the open air belongs to nature. Free nature must grow wherever snow and rain fall, everything white in winter has to be green in summer '(Hundertwasser in Personal life page 298), could be used as a concept of creating more nature in urban surroundings. It means, you must give nature back, when you are building a house. Let Hundertwasser be a source of inspiration for developing parks on top of new and existing buildings so that a complete new network of public spaces can be created. These new green public spaces provide an existing need, since conventional greens and parks become lesser available due to the increasing speed of urbanisation. However, special attention is needed on how to reach these heightened greens elevated public green space the concept of roofs My design proposal focuses on the transforming of roofs into green space, which is accessible for everyone in the city, by creating an infrastructure above streetlevel WHY Solution for creating new public green space in cities Place to escape from the traffic (street)noise Unused roofspace will be useful Ecological benefit, city climate Higher position gives new perspective, fantastic views HOW Accessibility-Infrastructure connection between the levels infrastructure above streetlevel [email protected] |
