RFP Magazine

Since the dawn of the industrial age, waterfronts have been harnessed for business and trade needs. Riddled with factories and infrastructure, they often materialise as sordid masses rather than vibrant attractions. However, the winds are changing. Deborah Erwin looks at the mixed fortunes of waterfront design around the world.

 

Issue 51: Eco-build
Waterfront property often serves as a city’s frontispiece, simultaneously fashioning its skyline and identity. Properties occupying such plots are given exclusive membership to an ongoing urban patchwork. Increasingly, urban centres have come to this realisation and are hatching progressive plans that reflect the evolving values and priorities of the modern city.

While some waterfront areas are well thought-out, encompassing a broad range of interests and functions, others seem to fall prey to random evolution producing an incongruous development mix. What’s important to note is that today’s cities need not be stuck with what they’ve got. Environmentally and socially centred alternatives are out there. Unfortunately, a fairy tale ending is not always possible. It all depends on the tug-of-war among the various stakeholders of urban development – those belonging to both public and private sectors – and which ones ultimately have the most pull. What makes these harbour-side parcels so prime? They provide easy access to waterways, enabling the appreciation of picturesque views – whether serene or dynamic. In many cases, these areas are also inherent nexuses, determined early on by historical settlement and nascent trading needs. While typically anchored by a central business district, waterfront plots are also commonly perceived as a collective asset for use as an open venue to host local activities and instinctively draw tourists. More and more cities are seeking ways to brand or rebrand themselves, for reasons of growth, survival and reputation, and putting their harbourfront at the centre of this strategy. The results, as these examples show, have been mixed.

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Fuyang
Fuyang, in Zhejiang province, is a small county of 600,000 people that sits on the embankment of Fuchun River. To support this community, 5+Design collaborated with SWA and Joseph Wong Design Associates to design a town centre. Using SOM’s Xintiandi restorative development as a benchmark, the client called for a design that would provide public arenas while also integrating local style. The development is anchored by an “Urban Plaza”, hosting a commercial programme of a yacht club, convention centre, hotel, serviced apartment block and retail complex, and a suburban “Garden Plaza” consisting of residential units, restaurants and a boutique hotel.

Overall, the development’s low-rise and terraced composition optimises riverside vistas. Its integration of deciduous trees both on street, podium and rooftop levels helps the town centre blend in with its surroundings and provide necessary shading in the summer. To minimise HVAC costs, “Nearly all of the project’s common areas are outdoors with weather tempered spaces, using passive micro climate cooling and wintertime radiant heating” says Tim Magill, Partner, 5+ Design.

Low-rise town houses and row houses take local cues from three landscape aspects: the river, mountainside and lush terrain. “Artifacts such as gateways, doors and other architectural decorative details were salvaged from local buildings in the area,” to reflect vernacular style, says Tim Magill. Traditional concepts of Feng Shui were also employed for both cultural and sustainable reasons. “Feng Shui is inherently sustainable, it utilises thermal mass, passive solar orientation and wind shadowing,” he says. “The project’s waterfront edge will maintain a natural riverfront riparian zone that will help to preserve the water quality and the aquatic life while bringing to the public a greater appreciation of this important aspect of their local micro climate.” While still undergoing review, he is confident that it will be realised in the near future.

 

Hong Kong

The Hong Kong cityscape has been criticised for its haphazard composition, which results in the urban heat-wall effect and scant public, open spaces. Its infamous land reclamations over the years have also gradually encroached upon Victoria Harbour, closing the divide between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon to just 800m. The HKSAR Government’s recent announcement regarding its plan to restructure the Central-Wanchai waterfront area prompted a number of submissions for consideration. One of the most interesting was ‘The Happening Place’, by The Hong Kong Urban Development Alliance (HKUDA). This proposal is a modified version of a submission by Dr Sujata Govada, Director, Urban Design & Planning to a competition run by Designing Hong Kong, a non-profit organisation dedicated to environmental and development issues.

The design metes the city’s waterfront belt into five zones, accommodating a mixed-use entertainment hub, a corridor of restaurants and boutiques, a shallow water courtyard, the reinstatement of the Star Ferry clock tower and Queen’s Pier, a civic plaza on the Tamar site, an arts galleria and a pedestrian promenade. “Professionals and the community were opposed to what the Government originally proposed for the Central harbourfront,” says Dr Govada.

Originally, the Central Waterfront plan put forth by the Government entailed “building two tall hotel and office towers in front of the IFC development, shopping malls closer to the waterfront and a large number of roads with open space and parks along the waterfront,” she explains. These are “primarily intended to accommodate the Central Wan Chai Bypass and the proposed four-lane road P2”. Reclamation plans, which originally called for 32 ‘new’ hectares to help realise such major infrastructural insertions have since been reduced to 18 hectares. “We need to see if the Government has taken onboard any of the suggestions that were proposed in the concept in an upcoming forum, to be organised by the Government,” remarks Dr Govada. Although the government has pledged to keep the public informed and involved with the development of this city-wide commodity, it is unclear as to the extent of its transparency, publicity and serious consideration of feedback. The next consultation date has yet to be set, leaving the future of Central’s waterfront hanging in the balance.

Manila

Manila’s Bay City area, so-called for its coastal bay has in recent years been filled in to house the colossal “SM Mall of Asia”, owned and operated by SM Investment Corporation. Prior to its development, Arquitectonica, a Miami-based architectural firm, was hired to masterplan a mixed-use programme on the waterfront that would not only accommodate several industries but also provide a leafy setting for public enjoyment. Governments, urban planners and developers engaged in “discussions [which] range from the commercial, such as the level of building density, or the economic gains of reclamation, to infrastructure issues – waterfront access and transport systems – to communal amenities: parklands, cultural centers, historical or ecological preservations. The trick for architects and planners is to find the common ground between these different goals,” says David Zaballero at Arquitectonica.

Attending to the various needs of potential lessors, this four km reclaimed parcel was to accommodate an arena, landscaped plaza, convention centre, entertainment complex, hotels, casinos, office blocks, public transport depot and the SM Mall of Asia. Skirting this vibrant hub is a treed promenade with a ferry terminal. Buildings were also to be equipped with rainwater harvesting systems for the sustainable irrigation of the landscaped park.

“Unfortunately, there are instances where reclaimed waterfronts have wreaked havoc on local shore or marine ecologies, primarily through inadequate impact assessments or review procedures. Not every ‘green’ waterfront proposal is therefore necessarily green,” warns Zaballero. Although this square block was to provide valuable public amenities, “which would have also benefited developers by appreciating surrounding lots,” he adds, an agreement could not be reached between the associated developers and local government. Today, this waterfront site is overwhelmed by a 454,000 sqm retail complex, rather than offering Manila’s residents and tourists an open and verdant esplanade.

Sydney

Already established as a ‘darling’, Sydney’s harbourfront is renowned for its eye-catching opera house, substantial parkland and geometric network of bridges. Barangaroo, east of Darling Harbour, has recently been the subject of urban renewal and green preservation. Formerly employed as a shipping base, this property has now been recognised as valuable space which can be refashioned for better public use. “Barangaroo is a unique project”, says the Honourable Kristina Keneally MP. It involves “redeveloping a 22 hectare waterfront site in the heart of the CBD, delivering significant commercial and residential space and a new Headland Park for the western side of the Harbour,” she adds. This AUS2.5bil government investment will cultivate and protect a large headland park, create southern and northern coves, extend the city’s foreshore promenade to 14km, provide an underground carpark and deliver low-rise commercial blocks. Some 15,000 workers will be accommodated in its office spaces. Furthermore, this balanced scheme “allow[s for] a vast natural park to be created for Sydney and return this part of the harbour and its foreshore to the community after more than 100 years of industrial use,” says Keneally. Picnickers, Sunday strollers, sunset gazers and tourists can look forward to sitting on Barangaroo’s grassy knolls in 2014. 

 

Istanbul

Istanbul Bridging the continents of Asia and Europe within its municipal bounds, Istanbul boasts a unique metropolitan situation. Sitting on the banks of the Bosphorus Strait, which opens up to the Sea of Marmara, this city is well endowed with coastal land. Fortunately, its waterfront areas are neither overrun with resorts nor ravaged by industrialisation.

In recent years, Istanbul’s surrounding suburbs have sought a contemporary makeover. 5+Design was approached for the masterplan. For this scheme modernisation was to be carried out with site sensitivity, which involved the creative integration of new structures. The scheme both accentuates the shoreline and emulates the form of the nearby fifth century Theodosian Land Walls. Each building is arranged in a castellated formation, with large gaps in between to provide unobstructed views of the sea and resemble the nearby wall. Waterfront revamp plans will deliver 700,000 sqm of mixed-use programme on reclaimed land. Its programmatic array encompasses retail, entertainment,corporate and hospitality elements, providing office space, conference facilities and hotel-managed apartments.

Since Istanbul’s infrastructural network has been devised and cemented over the centuries, the project needed to both respect and enhance the city’s existing framework. Cultural flavour, evinced by its “café’s, street bazaars, “Yali” (traditional waterfront villa) cantilevered balconies and elaborate decorative eaves,” were adopted into the massing and design of the buildings, explains Tim Magill. “Istanbul Seaport is scaled to be compatible with the local urban fabric of streets, block sizes and building scale,” he adds. The design offers “a viewing plaza to the wall” in hopes of “increase[ing] the global awareness of this important cultural asset of Istanbul’s history” he saysl. While not notably verdant in style, this waterfront scheme puts the spotlight on another natural resource – water - which is more appropriate given its context and landscape. Istanbul Seaport is currently seeking government approval.