Can a card game help design friendly, green housing estates? This is the question that Natalia Dymarska of the Silesian University of Technology is trying to answer, using the Housing Estate Game developed by the Urbanmodel research circle and edited by Tomasz Bradecki, Ph.D., to design a green housing estate on Gen. Władysława Andersa Street in Gliwice.
The project presented here is an engineering thesis carried out under the supervision of Tomasz Bradecki, PhD, at the Faculty of Architecture of the Silesian University of Technology, and its full name is—"Urban and architectural concept of a residential and commercial development complex at Gen. Władysława Andersa Street in Gliwice. Design concept using pro-environmental solutions on the basis of the „Housing Estate Game” models".
Analysis of the function and communication of the project area
© Natalia Dymarska
good location and communication
The study area chosen by the author is located in Gliwice, at the intersection of Gen. Władysława Andersa Street and Leopolda Okulickiego Street. The first stage of the Ogrody Andersa estate by developer ATAL is currently under construction there.
- The location itself, in terms of the distribution of functions, meets all the basic needs of potential residents of the estate. Nearby are various types of stores, educational institutions, a park, religious facilities including a cemetery. In the immediate vicinity of the site there are also extensive allotment gardens, behind which are located farmland and the Dąbrowa Forest nature reserve. From the east we have the Wojska Polskiego estate and the Market Square. From the southeast, the site is adjacent to an unused area and the 4th Military Economic Unit Military Unit No. 4217," says the architect about the location.
On the roofs, the author used green roofs. There are also places for cultivation
© Natalia Dymarska
Future residents will enjoy good communication—the site has numerous bus connections and is close to main roads connecting Gliwice with other cities of the Silesian agglomeration and railroad lines.
project based on a card game
The design of the work was strongly influenced by the assumptions made on the basis of the cards from the Housing Estate Game developed at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice by Tomasz Bradecki Ph.D. with a team from the Urbanmodel circle consisting of: Marta Sanigórska, Natalia Dymarska, Marta Klekotka, Karolina Wąsińska, Julia Stachura, Daria Bal, Małgorzata Wasik, Katarzyna Kotarska, Ola Barańska, Monika Brol, Justyna Nowak, Igor Gdula, Małgorzata Pluta, Daniel Szołtysek, Kamil Kolus, Kinga Karcz, Paulina Miszczak, Błażej Mól.
„Housing Estate Game”
© Urbanmodel
As the description of the game reads: „The Housing Estate Game” aims to draw attention to the problem of intensification of housing development and shaping the space of settlements. For this purpose, a theoretical approach is used, which draws from didactic and popularization activities. The game can be used for universal card games or didactic games related to urban planning/architecture. The universal game combines 2D and 3D cards and models in the digital world. The game gives you the opportunity to put together models, create different types of settlements of the future from them, visualize them with QR codes and find opportunities as well as threats from the created layout. The goal of the game is to build a mini-housing estate with the best possible parameters.
„Housing Estate Game”
© Urbanmodel
On each card there is a projection/axonometry of one quarter, which, when combined, form the layouts of the settlement. The symbols on the cards are assigned different functions:
- KIER—represents the role of the resident, expecting a balance in the development of his space, presenting a NIMBY (not on my background) approach, meaning, resident,
- KARO—symbolizes the developer's approach, seeking to maximize the number of apartments, with as little infrastructure as possible,
- PIK—represents an environmentalist trying to achieve as much biologically active land as possible, with provision of infrastructure for public transportation and bicycling,
- TREFL—represents a planner who strives to balance the requirements of each role.
You can find all the information about the game and instructions in the publication available online.
- In order to compare and contrast the design guidelines with real-world assumptions, I arranged settlements representing each of the above-mentioned roles from the cards, so that urban concepts were created that represented different assumptions: urban planner, developer and environmentalist. I calculated the indicators and juxtaposed them with the assumptions of the local development plan, and the first stage of the Anders Gardens housing development, which is under construction. Based on the collated data, I selected the urban planner's concept as a model, according to which the project's indicators were adjusted," Natalia Dymarska explains the design process.
Concept of the estate based on the game, developer example
© Natalia Dymarska
Game-based housing estate concept, ecological example
© Natalia Dymarska
planning example was chosen in the project
© Natalia Dymarska
geometric quarters
The author also based the layout of the development on quarters derived from the layout of the cards. The architect designed a sample building, which she used in several variants: two-module and single-module. Some of the buildings of the multi-family development have localized services on the first floor. Among the developments, there are also two service buildings and above-ground entrance parts of underground parking lots. The quarters are divided by a geometric grid of streets. Slowed traffic has been introduced to some of them with the help of overgrown lanes. The geometric layout of streets and buildings has been interwoven by the author with an organic, winding layout of pedestrian routes. In the south of the establishment, she placed a bicycle path, running along the entire development area.
Gliwice housing estate, land development
© Natalia Dymarska
green estate
The main idea of the author was to preserve and introduce as much biologically active areas as possible, elements of blue-green infrastructure and social-ecological solutions, for example, urban farming, which introduces an element of self-sufficiency. Plants are grown collectively by residents in designated areas, both in the ground floor and on the roofs of buildings.
There is a lot of greenery on the estate
© Natalia Dymarska
Another of the solutions is green concrete applied to pedestrian routes.
- This is an innovative method, based on the inclusion of titanium oxide (II) in the structure of the concrete, which, under the influence of UV rays, breaks down nitrogen oxide particles (coming from car exhaust fumes), harmful to humans, settling on the surface of the concrete, into harmless nitrates (compounds similar to those used to fertilize plants). In addition, green concrete has self-cleaning properties, because the decomposition, in addition to nitrogen oxides, also includes dirt, dust, grease, bird droppings. All of them are turned into harmless compounds, which are washed off the sidewalk on the occasion of precipitation," explains the designer.
An example of a residential building
© Natalia Dymarska
In addition to urban farming, the estate also has private gardens located at the back of residential buildings.
Residents of the estate can also take advantage of car sharing and underground automated parking. Pro-environmental elements have also been incorporated into the buildings in the form of green roofs, photovoltaic panels, construction materials and gray water systems in basements. The author used roadside retention basins, geogrids and semi-permeable surfaces and retention basins.
