Escuela Superior de Enseñanzas Técnicas

This paper synthesizes how three Research Units from three European universities launched a research and didactic program assuming an on-field approach to explore innovative methods of public space activation. The initiative has adopted the formula of three itinerating intensive workshops involving 45 students and ten tutors covering multidisciplinary fields (from Architectural and Urban Design to Environmental Design) to define new kinds of design approaches stimulating both project makers and local communities. This alternative pedagogic method allows students (coming from majors in architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture post-graduate courses) to test innovative approaches in response to local needs. By teaming up with colleagues and teachers familiar with the local environment, the participants can fasten the process of site understanding in terms of historical and current issues. At the same time, a survey on participants’ satisfaction has estimated the program’s performance outcomes. Results initially contribute to reformulating intensive teaching modalities like workshops, providing valuable insights for future experiences.

Historically, the tallest buildings to be built in New York were office towers. Their height is one of the defining characteristics of Manhattan’s development, and the city’s skyline, filled with towering buildings, is recognisable all over the world. In the twenty-first century, this skyline is also formed by residential towers. We analysed the situation and evolution of housing buildings on Manhattan, buildings that are often built in place of former office buildings. Based on our research, we have observed the existence of two trajectories in the design of twenty-first-century housing in New York. The first is the functional trend and it is based on an increasing hybridisation of function. The second is the trend of height, which is closely linked with developing technological potential, and which often adversely affects access to insolation on lower storeys and to cross-ventilation. We analysed selected cases of buildings and discussed the relationships between these two architectural currents and their impact on the image and composition of the city.

Residential towers undeniably changed the reality that surrounds us. Vertical structures have influenced the landscape of cities by shaping new, previously unknown panoramas. Infinite peripheries were split and reassembled again in the vertical form. Is it possible to create a comfortable living space in a small area? Can residential towers fit into a fully fledged and well-functioning urban structure? Problematic aspects of this scenario are discussed on the basis of the most representative example in the world, which is Manhattan, located in New York City. Analysis of the urban structure of specific districts and examples of residential towers enables the presentation of the differences, advantages and disadvantages resulting from a specific given forms of architecture and urban planning.