PHILOSOPHY

FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS

 

​THE MOST INTERESTING SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN THE ZONE WHERE URBAN DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE COME TOGETHER

The built environment comes to life where various scales overlap: urban, landscape (streets, courtyards and squares) and architectural. The city can function on various social levels if it’s streetfunctions, and those of its buildings, are well connected.

INTELLIGENT INTENSIFICATION

Over the coming decades the world’s population will rise from 7 to 9 billion people. This means a weekly increase of one million people, all of whom need living space. Research has shown that the majority of these people will end up living in around existing urban areas. Future generations therefore face the important task of ensuring that urbanization takes place in a responsible manner. After all, this massive process of urbanization calls for new concepts the integration of nature within city boundaries to benefit food supply, water management, energy production and more.

CONTRAST IS ESSENTIAL

The blurring of the boundaries between the built-up and the undeveloped areas results in ‘frayed edges’ that all too often degenerate into clutter and a lack of clarity. The development of starker contrasts, between densely built-up areas and clearly delineated public space within the urban fabric and the boundless space of the surrounding landscape, can contribute to the achievement of higher-quality, more distinctive characteristics.

THE IMPORTANCE OF GREEN AND WATER IN A DENSE CITY

The city can be considered as a layered system made up of spatial components such as morphology, infrastructure, networks of greenery and water, and socio-economic factors such as population composition, income and education levels, and ownership structures. Water and greenery play a particularly key role as spatial layers at all scales in a densely built-up environment.

DESIGNING WITH WATER

The city can be considered as a layered system made up of spatial components such as morphology, infrastructure, networks of greenery and water, and socio-economic factors such as population composition, income and education levels, and ownership structures. Water and greenery play a particularly key role as spatial layers at all scales in a densely built-up environment

The existence of urban gardens for food production, close to the people who will consume the produce, will become increasingly important in the future metropolis. Green and blue structures contribute to the sense of ‘escaping for a while’ and being in contact with nature. Accordingly, greenery and water add tremendous value to the quality of urban space and buildings.

Many of Tangram’s buildings embrace public space and are situated directly beside — and sometimes even in — areas of green or water. The resulting atmosphere is enhanced because interior and exterior engage with each other. Water and green contribute significantly to the climate and energy management of buildings, providing both privacy and spaciousness.

OUR

PHILOSOPHY

 

SUSTAINABLE BALANCE

A good balance in the functioning of the city can only be achieved with the right mixture of social, economic and physical components. These relate to health, life skills, education, access to the labour market, and income. Sustainable urban life is ultimately facilitated by the physical composition of urban space, buildings and infrastructure. The sustainable, physical dimension concerns the construction of buildings and infrastructure, and has many variables: time (flexibility and adaptation), material (application, purchase, transport, reuse or degradability), energy (consumption, generation and storage), ecology (value to ecosystems), and the smart use of available space – a resource that is becoming increasingly scarce all over the world.

MEANINGFUL EMPTINESS

The world is facing a sharp rise in population. Increasing the density of urban fabric is the only solution to the problem of increased demand for housing. Is this a nightmare? Not in the slightest! A high-quality dense city can very well be achieved if its design responds to the diffuse boundary between urban design and architecture. After all, such a city is not about buildings alone, but the space between them. The Japanese concept of MÀ, which roughly means ‘meaningful empty space’, denotes the tension-filled gap between two musical notes, or the pause between two sentences in a theatre play. This idea can be translated to the design of cities and buildings. For the unbuilt space along the boundary between architecture and urban design is not random. Rather, it must be a space of meaning, an MÀ. And, just like the built environment, it needs to be designed.

BOTTUM UP OR TOP DOWN

In the Netherlands an increase of about one million new residential units is expected for the coming 25 years- most of which will be built in the part that is called “Randstad”- the already strongly urbanised region fom Amsterdam, Utrecht, den Haag and Rotterdam. This estimation roughly indicates an increase of 450 miilion sqft of programme. The larger part of this addition will find a place within the existing cities boundaries. This is much more than an urban design task. The process will take place in an complex process which calls for strong municipal and governmental leadership. Yet this does not mean there is no space for bottom up initiatives.