Yu Momoeda,Takahiro Shimada,Lee joon-ho,Shin Yokogi,Lorentz müller,Chantal Reichenbach
In the first half of the workshop, we studied the scale of such things as buildings and infrastructure (e.g. volume of traffic, number of users) on the Yokohama waterfront in central district areas such as the Yokohama Station area, Minato Mirai and Kannai, and presented the idea of creating a central district area of higher density in the Minato Mirai 21 district.
At present, these three areas have clearly different scales and strongly expressed edges. In the intermediate presentation, we proposed mixing together different scales in order to loosely connect these edges; we also suggested increasing the FAR in central district areas.
The proposal is intended to create one strong central district by increasing density while connecting the three areas; at the same time, it would maintain the low density of areas that are likely to be developed in the future and prevent an increase in density of the Yokohama waterfront as a whole.
We proposed as a method a new architectural typology for the Minato Mirai 21 district. At present, Minato Mirai is characterized by a simple typology of high-rise buildings and public open spaces. Human activities are enclosed in buildings, and people do not appear in outdoor spaces. We therefore proposed buildings of a small-scale typology: thin, long buildings that might partition outdoor spaces. We proposed partitioning characterless outdoor spaces with buildings, and giving outdoor spaces character. The outdoor spaces would have programs such as woods, open fields and sports plazas.
The new typology would also be applied in places that are left as open spaces, as a way of zoning outdoor spaces in the entire Minato Mirai district.
The formation of a strong central district would enable Yokohama to develop into an independent city, complementing but no longer dependent on Tokyo.
