flood levee
Foster City is a city located in San Mateo County, California. The 2020 census put the population at 33,805, an increase of more than 10% over the 2010 census figure of 30,567. Foster City is sometimes considered to be part of Silicon Valley for its local industry and its proximity to Silicon Valley cities. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 19.8 square miles, of which 3.8 square miles is land and 16.1 square miles is water. The total area is 81.07% water. Foster City, like most of the peninsula, has a mild Mediterranean climate, with warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters. The warmest month of the year is July, with an average daytime temperature of 80.8 °F and an average nighttime temperature of 55 °F, while the coldest month of the year is December, with an average daytime temperature of 57 °F and an average night time temperature of 38.6 °F. Flooding is a constant concern in this area.
1960
Built to Withstand a “100 Year Flood” The scope of the engineering concept that created the land that Foster City sits on was truly dramatic. 2.5 million yards of material were excavated to create the lagoon (impoundment basin). The lagoon is 218 surface acres, containing 425 million gallons of water. There are 16.5 miles of drainage channels, and four traffic bridges span the lagoon. For water inflow, three automatic gates bring in up to 71 million gallons per day from the Bay. In the rainy season (from November through February) four 66-inch diameter pipes, two of which are connected to two massive 700 horsepower diesel motors, can expel an amazing maximum of 250/000 gallons of water from the lagoon to the Bay every minute. In all, the City's lagoon drainage system was designed to withstand a storm of "100 year return frequency"(that is, a storm of such severity that it has only a one percent probability of occurring each century) and it works extremely well. During the devastating storms of 1982, which were very close to a 100 year frequency severity, the City of Foster City experienced no flooding, while surrounding cities in San Mateo County experienced major drainage problems. From the time the impoundment area was constructed to the present day, Foster City has never experienced draining flooding.
foster city inprovements project
The Foster City Levee, owned and maintained by the City, surrounds the majority of the outer bay-front perimeter of the City to provide flood protection. The Levee Improvements Project will increase the height and width of the levee to improve protection against storm/tide surges, meet sea level rise projections through the year 2050, maintain FEMA accreditation, and make the levee more resistant to earthquakes. A contract was awarded to Shimmick Construction in July 2020, with an issuance of Notice to Proceed in September 2020. Construction is ongoing with a completion date of January 2024.
flood levee_stop city(dogma)_no-stop city(archizoom)?
Can flood control dams transcend their conventional design paradigm? The singular focus on flood prevention necessitates continuous maintenance, reconstruction, and vertical expansion, limiting their potential as multifunctional structures. Instead of serving solely as dams, could they be reimagined as monumental walls, expansive concrete forms, or even large-scale collective housing complexes? This approach challenges traditional notions and explores innovative possibilities for integrating functionality, urban design, and architectural expression.
Stop City is the hypothesis for a non-figurative architectural language for the city. By assuming the form of the border that separates urbanization from empty space, Stop city is proposed as the absolute limit, and thus, as the very form of the city. Stop City develops vertically, by the punctual repetition of the basic unit, which is a city of 500.000 inhabitants made of eight slabs measuring 500 by 500 meters, 25 meters thick. These eight slabs are positioned on the border of a square with side length of 3 kilometers, create an “empty” area. Each slab is a “city within the city”.
No Stop City by Archizoom, hypothesized in the late 60s and early 70s, presents a city model counter to the ideas of the Stop City. It proposes a generic landscape of infrastructural elements that facilitates the unlimited expansion of the urban fabric. It is an field of unmitigated infrastructure, and outline of even plots, some assigned, some not.
The Transformation Of Natural Route And Man-made Road
In response to the mass production of commodities that has become the driving force of our society, Stop City suggests an absolute boundary to the limitless subjectivity of the capitalist environment within which new cities are being designed. Stop city takes the idea of limit as its architect, becoming an absolute limit to the spread of urbanization, with untouched natural landscape as the opposing boundary. What is shown in the drawing are 8 massive collective spaces built upward as an absolute boundary and visible path or route of movement in this designated area. In contrast to green routes generated purely by nature, roads built by humans are generally stable, regular and minimally variable, and they all get stop at the absolute edge, where urban life stops and uncontaminated wilderness provides a natural contrast to the built environment. Center of the right side drawing shows the large natural green zone and the naturally generated empty area, and the city outside the boubdary mainly. What kind of thinking and concept of urban planning is it based on?Why is the blending or division of the city and nature so worthy of our consideration?
Natural Contrast To The Built Environment
The concept of Dogma Stop City was developed in 2003 by Pier Vittorio Aureli and Martino Tattara. The primary idea behind conceptualizing this structure was to create a defined limit (Milani 72). From this concept, Pier Vittorio Aureli and Martino Tattara sought to draw a clear boundary between the city’s interior and the outside space. According to Milani, such limitations would define the extent to which the city would be built (73). From this conceptualization, the city’s growth would depend upon the stretches of its limit, and the defined boundary to the city would be subject. During this inception, Pier Vittorio Aureli and Martino Tattara sought to form a critical basis for the design of cities in the contemporary era. As Milani notes, this concept has become one of the notable elements of city designs in modern urbanization (74). Thus, the idea behind this conceptualization has grown as a new model of architecture in the current world. What’s more, it’s not a solution, it’s a beautiful design idea, and that’s crucial.Trying to make a difference doesn’t necessarily have to solve some social problem. Extremely beautiful, purely academic.
The Transformation Of Natural Route And Man-made Road
Stop City allows the city to function without the guiding control of outside influences by freeing architecture from an atmosphere of prescribed associations, the inhabitants are freed from the responses resulting from them. This allows an individually understanding of the environment, and an natrual + city atmosphere of interaction between citizens with untouched natural landscape as the opposing boundary. Moreover, this idea embraces the spirit of limitless subjectivity to the concept of city designs in the current era. According to Milani, the main idea was to spread the idea to reach modern urbanization (73). Additionally, there was a need to divide the urban locations from other parts of the world. Based on its demarcation, the Dogma Stop City concept sought to offer a stop to the urban mode of life and signify a start of the other parts of the built environment This idea would ensure that all the activities in the urban centers would not infringe on the lives of people living outside urbanized locations. On the other hand, this idea sought to differentiate the facilities meant for urban consumption and other areas. Therefore, the overall concept distinguished between people who lived in urban places from different locations.
However, the Dogma Stop City concept received numerous criticism on various grounds. One of the most vital criticisms was the model’s overall conceptualization as a city with absolute limits. Based on the city’s provisions for a clear boundary, critics believed that the city did not offer an area for expansion in the future. Before Pier Vittorio Aureli and Martino Tattara had conceptualized the idea, there was a growing need to create a “city without limit.” The No-stop city came to be from this concept, with unlimited expansion area that stretched a massive area (Milani 80). However, Dogma sought to overturn such propositions and create a city whose main idea would be limiting the outside and the inner parts of the city. Since their inception, such developments have received mixed reactions, thus the need to perfect the concept to avoid criticism. To put it simply, the collision between known form and unknown function is too harsh. For example, a cube cannot become a wheel, but as an efficient space, it cannot be replaced.
Element Separation
Many critics exist, but it is not enough to diminish its brilliance. The extreme design of the project is a striking creation, with a large design outline containing rich, outstanding details. Each unit in the layout comprises single sub-units that make up the entire unit dimension. These units further make a collection of units that form an extensive configuration. From the large composition, the city structure is created, which implies the desired design for the city (Milani 81). There is a combination of eight slabs, which make up the concrete bordering foundation for the city. It cannot be denied that the design does not make every space rich in unique meaning and structure, and even the spatial layout and distribution are repeated, but more importantly, they do not contradict with the overall design language, or they do not seize the limelight of the absolute edge, which is the soul of the project. At that point, Sacrificing a certain proportion of functionality to a design language with a great emphasis on form is desirable.
Connected, Coherent, Huge Indoor Urban Space
The columns are arranged wirelessly in a repetitive and efficient form. Fixed, defined as “essential” spaces are distributed throughout the structure facing different directions, which include lifts, kitchen, and bathroom. The “bench” is in the form of a piece of furniture. The human route of movement is extremely free and open planned. Generally, this structure is one of the most widely used architectural designs in modern history. According to Pearson, Archizoom No-stop City was one of the most vital success projects in architectural design (72). The concept came into force in the late 1960s and early 1970s and sought to establish a city without limits. Based on the initial conceptualization of the Dogma No-stop City, the structure sought to incorporate the human population and other aspects of city planning into its entirety (Pearson 73). The structure represents a limitless expansion in the urban area. With the need for future growth, this model presents an essential modeling concept that would pave the way for future city development (Pearson 73). Additionally, the structure comprises unlimited infrastructural connections that provide critical links between the city and the outside space. Therefore, the structure does not deviate from the original conceptualization of an ‘endless city.’
Green Zone Of The Indoor City
Take all the columns for the time being, the green zone is more like highlighting where the designer thinks the planned public space is. In this drawing, only one part overlaps with the elevator in the middle, and the rest are distributed between the “necessary spaces”. Besides, these green zones are designed not to grow naturally, but the external form is smooth, compared to the “necessary space”. What’s important is that they have a seemingly random layout, but in fact it has been carefully thought out.It is not hard to see that the elevator rooms are arranged in a regular way, even though they face different directions, benches and necessary spaces are arranged around a certain proportion. As a design language or method, this is extremely rare. It seems that they have found a balance between form and function. There is no blindly sacrifice function for form, and there is no duplication of box after box for function maximization.
SAME DIFFERENCE
Structurally, the Archizoom no-stop city comprises numerous hubs that define the city. According to Pearson, the structure offers patterns with a myriad of intersections, a continuous structure, and well-distributed facilities that form an integral part of the city (72). Additionally, there is a clear outline of the people’s dwelling place in the system. The structure prioritizes human residence, thus offering a free and well-outlined structure that represents human habitants. In addition to the remarkable structure that outlines the entire project, specific defining elements stand out for this structure. One of the notable elements is the numerous spaces between the buildings that form enough room for expansion (Pearson 73). Additionally, the exterior edges of the no-stop city do not have a distinction. Such free slots include a vital area for future developments. The design method liberates the bondage of urban life, and at the same time liberates the planning mode of the city itself, which is no longer confined to a certain scope and through the addition of homogenous elements adapted to a variety of uses. Residential units and free-form organic shapes representing parks are placed haphazardly over a grid structure, allowing for a large degree of freedom within a regulated system.
element separation
In the interior dimension of the no-stop city, the structure is comprised of critical elements such as air conditioning and artificial lighting (Pearson 74). These conditions fit precisely in this model to offer basic amenities essential for human survival. Additionally, the structure provides a space for human settlement. There is enough space to build for inhabitants through the massive space available and the numerous extension facilities at the facility’s disposal (Capdevila 32). Therefore, to ensure the city’s growth in the future, the structure leaves a considerable amount of space that would offer a chance for expansion. Further, the existing area provides a critical basis for human interaction with the city. Due to the considerable amount of space available, there is a free space for people to foster cohesion within the city. Based on this realization, there is a chance of future business integrations in the structure. Besides the available chance for cohesion within the city structure, the Archizoom No-stop City offers vital bases for interaction with the outside world. As Pearson notes, Archizoom’s No-stop City has good telecommunications and road networks that link the structure to the outside space (74). Such interconnections make it possible for people to interact with the outside world, thus providing chances for future growth. As people foster links with the outside space, there is a chance for innovative development based on idea sharing and exchanging ideas with the outside space. Therefore, Archizoom No-stop City’s inhabitants have an opportunity to explore the outside world while getting positive insights into business growth (Capdevila 48). Additionally, such interactions form essential bases for community formation. Through such societies, people can coexist freely in harmony and have critical elements of cohesion that assist in the city’s growth.
work cited
Capdevila, Pablo Martínez. “Demystified Territories: City Versus Countryside in Andrea Branzi’s Urban Models.” Planning Cities with Nature. Springer, Cham, 2019. 29-43.
Capdevila, Pablo Martínez. “From A Marxist Arcadia to High-Tech Favelas: The Latency of Informality in Archizoom and Andrea Branzi.” Informality Through Sustainability. Routledge, 2020. 38-52.
Kim, Jae Christina. “Archizoom Non-stop City” Flickr, April 22, 2018. https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=archizoom%20no-stop%20city
Maggio, Bianca, “Archizoom Residential Park.” Non-stop City, May 8, 2017. https://www.flickr.com/photos/147316538@N02/34154921730/
Maggio, Bianca, “Dogma Stop City.” Flickr, 25th September 2019. https://www.flickr.com/photos/147316538@N02/34511238176/
Maggio, Bianca, “Dogma Stop City.” Flickr, May 9, 2017. https://www.flickr.com/photos/147316538@N02/34154921730/
Milani, Stefano. “Notes on Dogma’s Project.” Over Holland (2017): 72-91.
Pearson, Luke Caspar. “System Cities: Building a ‘Quantitative Utopia’.” Architectural Design 89.4 (2019): 70-77.
A New City on the Bay: A Tribute to Professor Michael McDougall_ FOSTER CITY_AERIAL VIEW
Google Map_ FOSTER CITY_AERIAL VIEW
A New City on the Bay: A Tribute to Professor Michael McDougall_ FOSTER CITY_AERIAL VIEW
https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2021/san-francisco-bay-area-sea-level-rise-2021/foster-city
https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2021/san-francisco-bay-area-sea-level-rise-2021/foster-city
https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2021/san-francisco-bay-area-sea-level-rise-2021/foster-city
The Transformation Of Natural Route And Man-made Road
The Transformation Of Natural Route And Man-made Road
AXO. Element Separation
Natural Contrast To The Built Environment
AXO.
Connected, Coherent, Huge Indoor Urban Space
Green Zone Of The Indoor City
Same Difference
Element Separation
Conceptual Collage