Project:
Tales of the unexpected

About

• Project description

  TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED

  It may be easy to define the immediate programmatic needs for the city of Haugesund, but we are convinced that a site of the dimension should be developed over time and answer to the constantly changing needs for the city.

  SETTING UP A GAMEBOARD

  We propose to set up a gameboard. An active planning department and public participation may over time play the game of developing program for the city centre including Flotmyr.

  For the municipality the Flotmyr area is particularly important since the property is on their hands. This means that Flotmyr may be used strategically also for achieving goals in the rest of the centre for example by swopping sites with private developers if the public has a special interest in a certain area of the Haugesund grid.
  

  

  DENSITY
  
  To bulid dense in a city means that you can build less elswhere. This site already being urbanised should be developed since it is already surrounded by the city grid and may be an alternative to developments on virgin land on the outskirts of town. We believe in a strategy of infill and recycling in the Haugesund grid.
  
  PARAMETERS FOR DENSITY
  
  We propose an amorph envelope which has a specific density for the whole area. Between the sites we imagine the possibility of transfering volume. this opens for a wide range of building typologies that may be defined over time and according to need. To provide flexibility for the plan we do not set a specific number of floors to the building lots. However we think an average of 5 to 6 floors would be an apropriate increase of the Haugesund density. Towards existing single housing areas we propose a limit of 3 floors. The plan wold contain an excel- sheet that may control the amoeba at any given point. We propose 30% of the building ground to be kept open to provide another layer of open public areas. The total floor area for the plan would be ca. 150000m2. We propose a minimum of 3 floors for each lot and maximum 60m hight of buildings. 

  

• Jury remarks

  This proposal was appreciated by the Jury for its more radical strategic approach to the development of the Flotmyr site and the city as a whole over time. Rather than the more conventional approach of defining programmatic and volumetric regulations within the borders of the site, followed by the site's sale on the real estate market, the municipality is instead encouraged to engage actively in an urban "swapping strategy". In this approach, the municipality, guided also by public participation, would swap sites with private developers to achieve important goals in the wider framework of the city. This form of game scenario played out over time could operate as a new way to optimally locate development and activities within the city one potentially allowing a parallel intensification of both the city centre and Flotmyr.
  The Jury found this strategic approach interesting in that it compels the municipality to expand its view of the needs and potentials of the city, and its interaction with Flotmyr. Such time-based planning capable of defining 'game-moves' within a dynamic set of urban conditions is embraced as strong and inventive idea.
  The development of the proposal beyond this strategic level however is not strong enough to answer the full set of challenges defined in the competition brief.

• Team

  Jonas Roar Hansen (DK)
  Merete Kinnerup Andersen (DK)
  architects
  Katja Engel Zepernick (DK)
  Anett Grønnern Olsen (NO)
  urban planners

  Contact information:
  www.mestreswage.com