The Next Phase of Mixed-Use Development
By Lucas on Oct 10, 2014
As Sam Reiss mentioned earlier in September, the term “mixed-use” has been thrown around a lot lately in the new home industry. Currently, the term refers to a building with a variety of uses, from residential, to commercial, to retail - but what if we’re not doing it right. What if a bunch of residential floors on top of ground floor retail and a restaurant isn’t mixed enough?
Via SURE Architecture
In Reiss’ weekly article, he discusses integrating new uses above the podium. “Instead of huge, grand spaces that look good in the brochure but probably don’t fit into an average life, we should be putting a practical-size dining room every eight or 10 floors. Instead of retail on the ground floor, how about a nursery school on the third floor, a community greenhouse on the 15th, and offices on the 28th and 29th? How about a kids’ playroom every few floors, an indoor running track around the perimeter, a library in the middle or a doggie park on the roof?” Reiss suggests.
As cities evolve, we need to start re-examining the definition of certain industry lingo. Is it still acceptable to use the term “mixed-use” simply when there is one other dedicated space for non-residential use in a condo? Can we say Toronto, or any other high-rise city for that matter, provides “vertical living” when so much of the action is still found at ground level?
Via SURE Architecture
Recently, a Beijing-based firm, SURE Architecture, took top honours at one of the SuperSkyScrapers Award 2014 competitions for their “Endless Vertical City” design. Proposed for a site in Shoreditch, London, the Endless Vertical City could rise up to 300 meters (nearly 1,000 feet), just a few meters shorter than The Shard.
The building would rise 55 storeys with an exterior comprised of stainless steel, glass and coloured glass, and a variety of other materials depending on the needs of the tenants. Okay, so far it sounds just like another high-rise, but the brilliant thing about the design is how perfectly it mimics organic growth. “Organic” is another term that gets used loosely in the industry, mostly when a building has noticeable curves instead of right angles. When we use the word “organic” for this design, we mean it’s as if the city literally grew from the street up.
Via SURE Architecture
“Rather than superimposing one floor on top of another without real continuity; our project is thought as two endless ramps circumrotating continually and rising gradually with a low gradient from the ground floor to the sky,” explains SURE Architecture's website. Basically, the building is seamlessly connected to the city; two lanes lead into it, and spiral up to the top, and just like at ground level, the ramps are lined with shops, apartments, parks, offices, and other amenities. As the ramps get closer to the top of the building, they widen, creating space for natural light to penetrate to the interior of the building, ventilation, and there is even a rainwater collection system in place.
“There is no break anymore, neither between the streets level and the skyscraper, nor between the skyscraper floors themselves. The goal of the design is to conceive an open building that is effective as an inviting and yet powerful symbol in all directions while being permeated by generosity and openness,” SURE’s page continues.
Via SURE Architecture
The exciting thing about Endless Vertical City is that while it seems futuristic, it also seems completely possible! There’s really nothing new being proposed, except instead of horizontal city blocks with high-rise office and residential, it’s all mixed into one building that blends perfectly with the ground level streetscape.
Is this the next phase of mixed-use development? Will Toronto ever have a tower that is designed as if a giant person reached down, pinched the fabric of our city at an intersection and pulled up with a twist?
