Thames Gateway - the movie by Zaha Hadid Architects
Jun 22nd, 2007
Form Informing Urbanism - Parametric Urbanism is an animated film created by Zaha Hadid Architects for the Global Cities exhibition at Tate Modern, which opened in London on Wednesday. Above is a screen-grab from the movie; the actual move is below…
The film presents a range of experimental design solutions for the Thames Gateway regeneration corridor to the east of London, based on “parametric” techniques pioneered by Hadid.
Patrik Schumacher talks about this architectural approach in the interview we did with him a couple of weeks ago.
The Global Cities exhibition examines urban conditions in ten cities around the world, and is based on the 2006 Venice architecture biennale exhibition, City: Architecture and Society.
The following description of the movie comes from the Commissions section of the Global Cities website:
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Form Informing Urbansim - Parametric Urbanism
Zaha Hadid 1950
Born Iraq, works Britain
Patrik Schumacher 1961
Born Germany, works Britain
Form Informing Urbanism - Parametric Urbanism
Mixed media
Architects Zaha Hadid & Patrik Schumacher have chosen the Thames Gateway as a testing ground in which to evolve new ways of approaching large-scale urban developments. The Thames Gateway is an area stretching eastwards from East London on both banks of the river Thames; it has been hailed as Europe’s largest urban regeneration project. Driven by architectural rather than town-planning concerns, Hadid and Schumacher have used a series of new and powerful digital design techniques to develop an approach to urban regeneration which they call ‘Parametric Urbanism’.
Hadid and Schumacher’s project is underpinned by research into the historic permutations of different building types in London and internationally. This information is presented in illustrated bands along the panels in their installation. They examine four main building types: individual villas, high-rise towers, slab-shaped buildings and city-blocks. These can be thought of as points, lines, planes, and volumes. Four rapid prototype models give examples of how each type might be dispersed in a landscape.
Hadid & Schumacher use advanced computer modelling software to project these four building types over a base map of the Thames Gateway. They have adjusted this model to reflect the area’s current conditions, and used it to speculate on possible forms of future development. They have tested multiple combinations of the different building types, often fusing them to create hybrid structures. The outcome of these experiments is documented in a large-scale image with a range of striking new forms, and an animated sequence which shows the evolution of an intensely urban pattern across the area.
ARCHITECTS: ZAHA HADID & PATRIK SCHUMACHER, PROJECT TEAM: DIMITRIS AKRITOPOULOS, NICK ARMITAGE, DANILO ARSIC, LAUREN BARCLAY, EMILY CHANG, KRISTOF CROLLA, BRIAN DALE, DOMINIKI DADATSI, EIRINI FOUNTOULAKI, KYUNGEUN KELLY LEE, SHIQI LI, LILLIE LIU, THEODORA NTATSOPOULOU, ELENI PAVLIDOU, SARA SHEIKH AKBARI, HALA SHEIKH, CLAUS VOIGTMANN, HARRIET WARDEN, LEO WU
June 23rd, 2007 at 11:29 am
sometimes i ask myself how many parameters are need to define a city. If your answer is three i would think that you’re a bad architect
June 25th, 2007 at 6:24 am
completly nonsens. if i do urban planning like this on my studies i’ll get f undoubtly. but zaha…ha!
June 25th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Without the work of these ‘Artists’ nothing would change in the world of Architecture…We all would live in boxes and these amazing building shapes would never exist! This is a theoretical research and i think you are a ‘bad architect’ if you can’t differ between reality and theoretical thoughts!
July 3rd, 2007 at 1:49 pm
This is not even funny. I am scared that this “thing” would happen and will be build. Zahe look back and give yourself just one question…where are people and their needs in your desings.
July 9th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Dekodex, have you read the rationale on what is actually presented?
Clearly, this is not “design” or a “thing” but an experiment in possibilities. It is not planning.
I think Hadid and Schumacher are playing a serious game.
I have seen enough horrendous buildings where the so-called “needs of the people” have been the main criteria.
Some architects have to push the bar and experiment in form, shape, application, etc, otherwise we would still be living in caves.
voant, you have bad lecturers
July 18th, 2007 at 4:05 am
man, its all about FX, computer generated designs, and then we make the chairs out of plastic (haha) like a formula 1, except this things doesnt run… :S
i dont see the point. its ugly too, so out of fashion, it reminds me the spaceship of the movie the abyss (year 198?). if its rain tomorrow, its enric from heaven.
July 26th, 2007 at 10:19 am
We always get into trouble when we start insisting that there’s a definitive and prescriptive ‘right’ way to investigate urban growth growth and architecture. The more alternatives people explore the better. The danger would be to experiment with real buildings for real people (Park Hill Estate, Sheffield eg).
August 8th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
The problem is that her firm -does- try to translate this to real objects. Didn’t anyone see her winning competition entry for the Istanbul Master Plan?
http://www.arcspace.com/architects/hadid/kartal_pendik/kp.html
Third image down, the one published in all the journals, seems to be critically confused between what is form (building) and what is void (street).
At best, it is architectural slight-of-hand. At worst this is dangerous design.
October 10th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
i think this is a very relevant experiment and people should realise that it is only an experiment of possibilities and not planning.
this work by hadid and schumacher is the subject of an essay we have to write for our theory module. it is important to understand the underlying approach to culture and identity. it is a great starting point for understanding and experimenting with the notions of culture and identity within your own designs.
living in south africa, these notions have become very important in the cultural reform of our society and urban areas.
don’t just label this as nonsense, there is merit in the excercise and you can learn something from it.