3d stratification
a master plan for the Allen Rd.
Academic | Prof. Drew Adams
Fall 2015
Horizontal stratification distributes program along the ground plane, often resulting in high concentrations of program, leaving other areas barren of fundamental program. This strategy is best demonstrated in contemporary suburbs. Vertical stratification distributes program through stacked floor plates, resulting in a sectional disassociation of programming, and alienation with the public realm. The horizontal stratification of typologies and programming has developed the Allen Road as a disengaged thoroughfare. A new urban realm for the site is possible through the opportunities of area, and steep population growth expected for the site. Rather than achieving density strictly through towers (vertical stratification) the Allen Road requires a new strategy. Three-dimensional stratification is the true representation of density zoning. By combining both horizontal and vertical zoning strategies, a super-mixed-use mid-rise typology was generated. The perforated slab typologies stretch across the site in the East-West direction, providing a more even distribution of programming, while also interrupting the path of the Allen Road forcing it to engage with the site it once ignored.
Currently notorious for traffic, the Allen Road has been reconfigured in this scheme through a series of chicanes, reducing the number of collisions by forcing drivers to reduce their speed. While reducing speed may seem contrary to relieving traffic, it is. The Allen Road is no longer meant as a pure thoroughfare from point A to point B, but rather becomes a route that highlights the redevelopment of the area by weaving through parks and buildings, once again celebrating the lost leisure of driving. Furthermore, the reduction of vehicular speed provides a safer setting for residents to travel by bike or walk throughout the neighbourhood.
The 3 dimensional distribution of programming reduces the likelihood of “dead zones” in the area, by providing places of work, live and leisure in close proximity to each other. Rather than places of work become active from 9-5, each block is activated through the changing programatic activity 24hrs a day.
