CONSTRUCTS: INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO URBAN PLANNING

(The graphic above depicts a unique design by Constructs, an architectural firm with projects in USA and Africa, for the Make it Right Project in New Orleans)

“Constructs is a company that synergizes architecture, urban planning, landscaping, and building technology into a single unit geared towards bringing modern architecture and building techniques to Africa.” Joe Addo is currently the CEO of Constructs. He was born in Ghana, West Africa and moved to London to study architecture. Joe is also the founder of the A + D Museum in Los Angeles. The museum’s mission is to advance knowledge and to allow people to appreciate and understand architecture and design.

Constructs materials are unique and their approach to utilizing these resources is uncommon. They use the newest lightweight and high-strength materials. While building a structure that is designed to last, Construct’s advanced building techniques help to keep down the cost of construction.

Urban planning and outdoor spaces are the vital for the social life of a city, connecting the various people and structures of the contemporary urbanscapes together to create sensible living spaces and social networks.

Urban Planning is one of the primary conceptual toolkit employed by Constructs. The company and its founder have created the Organization for Urban Improvement (OUI) which is solely devoted to the development of functional, innovative, and exciting urban areas.

Urban Initiative Manifesto

Over the past few decades, many urban areas have suffered neglect and have increased in poverty. There is growing lack of confidence in schools, a greater fear of crime, an unhealthy environment, and poor housing. One of the key political challenges of the new century is to make towns and cities not just fit to live in, but to be able to thrive in an evolving future. A lot of people find it hard to maintain their successful lifestyles when faced with rapid changes.
This renaissance of cities such as Barcelona has been achieved through a philosophy of Urban Planning. The success of this philosophy derives from studies performed all over the world.

Two examples of the Urban Planning Manifesto at work, in two very different geographical settings are:

1. Watts Façade Improvement
   


2. Kumasi Façade Improvement
   

For more on these two urban planning initiatives of Constructs – one is an inner city area of Los Angeles in USA and the other in the second largest city in Ghana, Africa – visit the blog entry entitled “California and Ghana: Urban Planning Initiatives by Constructs.”

CALIFORNIA & GHANA: URBAN PLANNING INITIATIVES BY CONSTRUCTS

Watts Façade Improvement


The statement “Watts is LA” is to remind the city, region, nation and world that Watts is not an isolated island but an integral part of the cultural, intellectual, and economic fabric of Los Angeles. Watts, the inner city African-American neighborhood, shot to national prominence when six days of intense rioting over perceived police racism destroyed much of this area of Los Angeles.

The project by Constructs will be focused on Central Avenue, an urban artery that stretches for over 15 miles. It is the heart of the area known as Carson, and it is also known for its historical significance. As you pass through various neighborhoods, the character and qualities of Central Avenue are constantly changing.

The improvement objectives are:

• Revitalization of the business district

• Strong sense of shopping identity

• Streetscape for the commercial façade

• Upgrade the appearance of entrance to this area

• Improve the quality of its physical environment

The following Design Objectives capture the aesthetic goals of the urban situation:

1. Unified Rhythm - visual pleasure

2. Street Rhythm - existing structural line

3. Scale - adjusting the size

4. Horizontal and Vertical Harmony - to create a human scale.


Kumasi Façade Improvement


The form and layout of towns and cities is more than a backdrop for the urban life. The way in which we design buildings, neighborhoods and districts has a direct impact on the urban experience. These in turn impact upon the urban form by promoting more compact, mixed and integrated neighborhoods.
Kumasi is the second largest city in Ghana, in West Africa. It has a rich Asante culture. All the early European visitors to the area noted the distinct Asante architectural style.

In the urban development project for Kumasi by Constructs, the main reconstruction is via the notion of “streetscaping” because people respond to beauty in cities. They choose to walk from one destination to another along favored routes. Constructs finds that that the areas showing signs of wear and tear or neglect can often be repaired with modest investments in landscaping, lighting and street furniture.

Streetscaping solutions in Kumasi will include:

1. Royal Palms at 20-meter intervals and other lower height trees in between to address the human scale.

2. New bus shelters.

3. Street furniture, garbage bins and kiosks.

4. Ground Entry markers

5. Banners and Signage

Joe Addo, CEO of constructs, believes that decentralization may be necessary to relieve the city from its pressure of congestion in the central areas. In short term, beautification using local materials, services of unemployed youth, ideas from design professionals and schools are expected to revitalize this great city and bring fresh enthusiasm to its residents.

A Sampling of MRVDV Projects

“The Hungry Box”




The image of the Brabant Library project in the Netherlands designed by MVRDV in 2000 can be seen at “The Hungry Box”. This is an exhibition of the utopian works designed by the Dutch architecture group.

The exhibition “The Hungry Box” is a display of 10 MVRDV projects designed between 1997 and 2007. These designs highlight the characteristically Dutch theme. Their projects aim to maximize density by seemingly swallowing endless interiors.

When it comes to the design sensibilities of the Dutch radical architects MVRDV, turning conventional architecture on its head takes on a whole new literal sense. A good example would be the famous “Mirador” that was built in Madrid, Spain.

MIRADOR





At the frontline of a more ecologically conscious generation, MVRDV seeks to create a more fluid relationship between indoors and outdoors, inhabitants and nature. For that purpose, light and the surrounding landscape are incorporated in the design.

MVRDV have a utopian quality even though critics would be tempted to slam some of their plans. Their urban vision is best reflected in their KM3/3D city project. “Presented in the late 1990s, KM3/3D is a proposal for a global urban grid with cities sitting in 5-kilometer-sided cubes, each 100 kilometers apart, leaving the natural surroundings untouched.”



Visitors to the Benaki exhibition, which was organized by the Netherlands Architecture Institute, can examine the “Hungry Box”.

MVRDV – Lifting Houses

MVRDV was invited by Make It Right (MIR) to design prototype houses as part of revitalizing the Katrina-devastated neighborhood. MVRDV developed 5 escape houses which are all lifted in different ways. The most striking design is shown below.

MVRDV is a Rotterdam, the Netherlands-based architecture and urban design practice founded in 1991. The name is an acronym for the founding members: Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries. MVRDV produces designs in the fields of architecture, urbanism and landscape. MVRDV has extensive experience in collaborative design processes. Such collaborative design processes are used in virtually all projects by MRVDV.

MRVDV was picked by the Pink Project because of their fascinating designs and the firm’s methodical research on density. “They use a method of shaping space through complex amounts of data that accompany contemporary building and design processes.”
The products of this approach range from buildings of all types and sizes, to urban designs, to publications and installations. One of their major projects includes the Dutch Pavilion for the World EXPO 2000 in Hannover. This became an innovative business park.



MRVDV’s mission statement for a project incorporates the ideas of their clients and specialists. The clients are intensively involved at an early stage of the design process. The client’s reaction can create a high degree of support for the design or encourage new insights that can lead to specific innovative solutions. The products of such an approach can vary completely from the original ideas that the architects may start with.

MVRDV is not just about style. It is about the future of architecture at large. The firm therefore encourages in a wide range of projects such as exhibitions, films and books.

MVRDV’s approach to architecture often takes the form of a research endeavor. They often work with 'datascapes'. These refer to “a method that involves charting the spatial consequences of all the visible and invisible factors that play a role in the design and construction process.” A few examples are building regulations, technical requirements and legislation.

GRAFT Projects

GRAFT Projects

Brad Pitts Studio

This studio was remodeled to incorporate Brad Pitt’s interest for multicultural references and the necessity to accommodate a hybrid lifestyle. They designed it so that living and working would be in the same. They created an environment that was flexible between professional and private life.

Graft used a contemporary fusion of traditional Japanese and European proportional systems. The house also incorporated with Chigaidana. This is a sort of cupboards, and is often the only bit of real furniture in the usual Japanese room.

KU 64



The typical environment of any dentist office makes you feel crammed and some say it puts you in a psychic state. Most people would agree that going to the dentist is not on their favorite things to do list. Graft came together with Stephan Ziegler, owner of KU 64, to design a new radical understanding of hospitals and well being and relaxation.

The incredible design makes you feel like you're in an A-list member’s club. This unique design is certainly not the usual ambiance associated with dentist offices. They also created a spa center as the waiting area. It was designed to resemble and outside sun deck.

The model of dune landscape with hills and valleys gives the customers a preferred privacy. The floors and ceilings reflect as a similar shape so that it can create space. The cocoon like spaces are filled with light, creating an elegant sense of flow and space. It makes even a session of root canal seem inviting.

Their goal is to let patients forget about their fears and relax in a way they would usually expect from a spa. Their mission states, “Why not embellish the reality, that a dental clinic provides beauty, health and wellness?

HOTEL Q

They have designed a new super lifestyle hotel in Berlin, named 'Q'. This 5-star hotel earns a spot on “Conde Nast Traveller's” roundup of best hotels for its inventive and striking design.

Thomas, Lars, and Wolfram are the trio behind designing this unique room experience. For the first time in a hotel, walls are no longer just the boundaries of a room but actual pieces of furniture. Therefore, guests can change their interaction with furniture and architecture. Wolfram commented, “It is as if the room has been formed by movement. The rooms at “Q” convey energy, tranquility and inspiration and remind you of futuristic cocoons.”

Some customers have described their experience as “Sleeping with your eyes open.” This hotel is made to feel like you are in a home. Stay in exclusive rooms where beds and baths melt together like ocean waves. The natural materials convey warmth, vitality and inspiration.

Moonraker

Moonraker was an exhibition designed for Volkswagen as a marketing incentive. Volkswagen employed graft because of their expertise in commercial advertising. The purpose is management’s recent drive to better understand the US car market.
There were 4 major questions asked:

1. How will Americans live tomorrow?

2. What new technologies are changing the way we live?

3. How will taste cultures develop?

4. What are the future conditions of our daily life?

Graft suggests that the increasing paradigm shift of the relationship between living and working the idea of a home will be changed. People long for convenience as well as safety. New technologies will open allowing more people to interact with space and information.

Graft will design and build according to their knowledge retrieved from the four questions. They will construct stages that will transform into visual communication.

The concept of Moonmaker is to provide a tangible and engaging experience representing the needs and desires of future Volkswagen customers. The architectural showcase will present the automobiles as the “driving way”.

The execution of the system will concern “Life Settings”. These settings will forecast futuristic lifestyle themes and scenarios for the year 2020. These life settings consist of four built environments: user types, interests, competencies and aesthetics.