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Density: New collective housing (Condensed edition),
by Javier Mozas & Aurora Fernández Per, and Density
Projects: 36 new concepts on collective housing,
by Aurora Fernández Per & Javier Arpa.
"We believe...that collective
housing in [the] context of mixed-use, generating a dense
built environment, is the only solution to the consumption
of resources."
This assertion, by the editors of a+t (also responsible
for the eponymous magazine's four
Density publications and the
DBook), grounds the issue of
density at the forefront of architectural and planning decisions
for housing in the 21st century. The notion of mixed-use
is equally important but played down in favor of focusing
on density, expressed in number of dwellings per hectare
and ordering the books from dense to denser. Density
presents 10 urban plans and 65 built works, while Density
Projects presents 36 projects in development or under
construction as of 2007. Given the distinction between built
and unbuilt (or to be built, or being built), the disparity
between the two books is great, even though each has the
same focus on density. Both are primarily European in focus,
though the latter exhibits a formal inventiveness that the
former lacks for the most part. Perhaps this is due to more
open-minded developers, willing to pay more for more distinguishing
buyers/renters, though most likely it is the pre-value-engineering
optimism of the unbuilt projects that is the key to the
distinction. Certainly many of the 36 projects will not
happen, but as project like Aqua
in Chicago attest, there's still room for difference in
collective housing.
Needless to say, the editors of a+t's
Density books do not use form as the driving criteria for
inclusion in the series. Density is the name of the game
and statistics are the goal. What does become apparent as
one moves from dense to denser is how varied "number
of dwellings per hectare" can be accomplished, from
infill and courtyard buildings to "towers in the park"
and buildings occupying whole city blocks. An important
piece in each book are comparative diagrams the allow the
reader to see how scale, plan, and context differ in each
project. In Density, with its inclusion of 10 urban
plans, the existing urban context gives way to context created,
where whole neighborhoods are created tabula rasa,
making one question their initial and long-term success.
Nevertheless plans like Cino Zucchi's Junghans
residential buildings in Venice illustrate how large
developments can co-exist with existing fabric to further
the density of cities; of course, not all places are like
Venice.
Measuring roughly 9x6" -- much
less than the magazines or DBook's 9x13" size -- these
books attempt to take make the ideas behind the projects
accessible by presenting projects in
a convenient size. The landscape format allows one
to lay the books flat on a table, perhaps the editor's aid
in making the books references for the designer. Whatever
the reasons for the formatting, the compact size is a good idea, even though they are not authoritative
and they lack the visual strength of DBook (review forthcoming). As inspiration and as food for thought
these books are heavy on the former, but a bit thin on the
latter. This is not a detriment to the books, but a fact
of their direction towards practice rather than theory;
essays do pepper each edition, but they are short and act as
respites from the projects they fall between.
Nevertheless it may fall to the editors of future Density books (given a+t's
attention to the phenomenon, more should certainly follow)
to take an even more critical stance on not only the role
of density in curbing resource consumption, but mixed-use,
land use, sustainable construction, and other issues that
must be aligned with density for the greatest success.
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