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From Suburbs to Hubs: Innovation Districts Usher In a New Era of Urban Planning
CategoriesArchitecture

From Suburbs to Hubs: Innovation Districts Usher In a New Era of Urban Planning

By Zarkon Group,

The latest edition of “Architizer: The World’s Best Architecture” — a stunning, hardbound book celebrating the most inspiring contemporary architecture from around the globe — is now available. Order your copy today.  

In the heart of Tampere, Finland, the Hiedanranta Innovation Bay project is a shining example of urban transformation, challenging the conventional suburban model of isolated campuses without integrated housing or commercial areas. They represent multifaceted ecosystems encompassing research centers, universities, corporate offices, government agencies, healthcare facilities, cultural institutions and technology hubs. This diverse mix creates collaborative environments for interdisciplinary interactions, fostering creativity and advancing research and development. The inclusion of community spaces enhances engagement and shared amenities within these districts. Steering away from the conventional blueprint, these districts strategically leverage mass transit, emphasizing a departure from car-centric developments. Avoiding the trend of urban sprawl and fostering vibrant, community-centric urban living is a focal point.

However, the idyllic picture painted by innovative districts comes with challenges. Concerns like gentrification, the potential loss of a city’s unique character and rising housing costs accompany their development. As these districts attract investment and development, there is a risk of pushing out existing communities, altering the cultural fabric and contributing to rising property values. However, thoughtful urban planning and inclusive design strategies can address these concerns, ensuring that the benefits of innovation are shared equitably and that the district enhances rather than diminishes the overall quality of urban life.

Hiedanranta Innovation Bay

Hiedanranta Innovation Bay by Schauman & Nordgren Architects, Tampere, Finland.

There are proactive measures that local communities along with architects, planners, transportation specialists and environmental experts together can undertake to address these concerns. Engaging diverse stakeholders ensures a comprehensive approach that considers the needs, preferences and sustainability of the community, fostering a collaborative and inclusive urban development. The creation of ample public spaces, mixed-use development and initiatives for inclusive economic growth contribute to establishing a diverse and vibrant urban environment. Implementing smart transportation solutions further enhances accessibility, steering away from car-centric models. Through these strategic measures, professionals can transform innovation districts into positive contributors to communities, fostering economic growth, technological advancement and overall well-being.

The Hiedanranta Innovation Bay project in Tampere, Finland, aligns with the forward-thinking vision embraced by many cities aiming to integrate innovation districts into their urban landscape for the betterment of their economy, residents’ well-being, and environment. Upon completion, the Innovation Bay is set to accommodate over 25,000 new residents and generate 10,000 jobs. This transformation will convert the former industrial district into a dynamic innovation hub, emphasizing the principles of a circular economy and fostering sustainable development.

Metamorphosis in Steel City: The Assembly and Innovative Urban Living

In line with this transformative vision, another notable illustration is the project centered around Pittsburgh’s historic Ford Motor Plant. Undergoing a significant metamorphosis, this iconic site was reimagined as a hub for scientific research. The project encapsulates the essence of these evolving models of innovation districts, creating more integrated, sustainable, and vibrant communities.

The Assembly

The Assembly by ZGF Architects, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Photo by Halkin Mason Photography | Popular Choice Winner, 11th Annual A+Awards, Higher Education & Research Facilities 

The Assembly is the outcome of Pittsburgh’s historic Ford Motor Plant undergoing a transformation into a hub for scientific research, symbolizing a new era of innovation in the Steel City. Once part of the 31 Ford Motor Plants nationwide, this facility is now the home to the University of Pittsburgh and the Hillman Cancer Center, tailored for advanced cancer and immunology research. The building brings together academic researchers and private industry tenants in a central location.

The Assembly efficiently consolidates the elements of an innovation district within a single city block, incorporating ample amenity, retail, and conferencing space to attract top talent while benefiting tenants and the neighboring community. The district model prioritizes physical compactness and transit accessibility, reducing commuting barriers, and enabling researchers from different groups to easily connect. The incorporation of mixed-use spaces creates a dynamic environment that encourages collaboration beyond formal work settings.

Shaping Cities and Connecting Minds: The Hans Rosling Center’s Story

The positive impact of innovation districts extends beyond physical planning to encompass collaborative ecosystems. The interdisciplinary approach in their design brings together researchers from various fields, fostering a rich and diverse ecosystem that sparks innovative solutions and knowledge exchange. Adaptive workspaces cater to project-specific needs, enhancing the flexibility and responsiveness of the environment.

Illustrating the principles of innovation districts, The University of Washington’s Hans Rosling Center for Population Health stands as a compelling example of community-centric design that cultivates a sense of belonging, contributing to a collaborative spirit and facilitating the seamless flow of information among different research groups.

Hans Rosling Center for Population Health

Hans Rosling Center for Population Health by The Miller Hull Partnership, Seattle, Washington | Photo by Kevin Scott.

The University of Washington’s Hans Rosling Center for Population Health — named after a pioneer in the data-driven approach to health improvement — serves as a central hub for collaborative efforts among faculty, researchers and students. Endowed with a $210 million gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and $15 million from the Washington State Legislature, the center focuses on human health, environmental resilience, and social and economic equity. Housing the Institute for Health Metrics & Evaluation (IHME), UW Department of Global Health, parts of the UW School of Public Health, and the offices of the UW Population Health Initiative, the center has played a crucial role in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. IHME’s projections have informed policymakers, and researchers have shared insights with major media outlets.

Designed to accommodate system shocks like pandemics, the Rosling Center’s layout features a variety of flexible office types, organized as neighborhoods, catering to different working styles. From 1–2-person shared offices to open workstations, each neighborhood encourages collaboration and innovation. The building’s design also includes a new accessible entry, a monumental covered porch, and an urban staircase, creating a welcoming space for the community and fostering intermingling among diverse groups.

Paving the Way for Sustainable and Inclusive Urban Futures

ResilienCity: Boston's Innovation District

ResilienCity: Boston’s Innovation District by MapLab, inc. Boston, Massachusetts

Innovation districts are supplanting the traditional suburban model of corporate research and technology campuses by prioritizing denser, mixed-use environments and transit accessibility, fostering collaboration, connectivity, and innovation. Unlike isolated suburban campuses, these districts integrate mixed-use spaces, emphasizing sustainable practices and community engagement. This shift aims to optimize urban spaces, reduce commuting barriers, and create vibrant, dynamic hubs that contribute to a more sustainable and interconnected urban future. Architects, planners and city authorities can take proactive measures to mitigate concerns associated with innovation districts. By adopting such measures, stakeholders can contribute to the creation of innovation districts that not only drive economic growth and technological advancement but also enhance the overall well-being and inclusivity of urban communities.

The latest edition of “Architizer: The World’s Best Architecture” — a stunning, hardbound book celebrating the most inspiring contemporary architecture from around the globe — is now available. Order your copy today.  

Reference

Stop the Presses: Can Adapting an Abandoned Newspaper Facility Revitalize the Suburbs?
CategoriesArchitecture

Stop the Presses: Can Adapting an Abandoned Newspaper Facility Revitalize the Suburbs?

By Zarkon Group,

The latest edition of “Architizer: The World’s Best Architecture” — a stunning, hardbound book celebrating the most inspiring contemporary architecture from around the globe — is now available. Order your copy today.  

When you think of the American suburbs, what words come to mind? 

No matter how much affection you have for your hometown, one of those words is probably “bleak.” While many millennials, including this author, are still moving out to the suburbs to raise children — a pattern first established by their grandparents in the post-war era — few see these car-centric communities as ideal. The charmless strip malls, the big box stores, the neglected highway medians filled with litter from passing cars — how can one contemplate all this without crying out in despair?  

The question isn’t really if the suburbs are bad but why they are this way. Are the people who live in the suburbs really more boring than the people in cities? Or does the archetypal suburban ambiance of loneliness and fatigue stem instead from poor urban planning? 

Tract housing in a suburb of Cincinatti, Ohio, 2005. Photo by Derek Jensen via Wikimedia Commons. 

My feeling is that it is the latter. Culture happens in places where people have the opportunity to move around, observe each other, and interact. The flâneur, that prototype of the modern artist or bohemian, emerged in mid 19th century Paris at the same time that the arcades were constructed, and this was no coincidence. As Baudelaire understood, the arcades provided the first modern artists with a stage on which to observe la comédie humaine firsthand. He argued that this new way of relating to society produced modern subjectivity as we know it. 

It stands to reason that the suburbs, by removing would-be flâneurs from their stage, sapped their creativity as well. A life that moves from home, to car, to cubicle, to drive-through and back provides few chances for people to observe and interact with one another. Over time, the suburbs have led to an epidemic of loneliness in America — a fact that has been recognized since at least 2000, when political scientist Robert D. Putnam published his best-selling book Bowling Alone.

This trend has only been exacerbated during and after the pandemic, as more Americans have begun not only to work from home, but to have their groceries, entertainment and other consumer goods delivered straight to their doorstep, obviating the need to go outside altogether. This has led to a shuttering of retail spaces in the suburbs, among other changes. Suddenly, people are nostalgic even for those commercialized, “fake” public spaces like the mall that were widely derided in the 90s. 

The Press won the 2023 A+ Jury Award for Commerical Renovations and Additions.

So how to fix it? What the suburbs need, most of all, are places where people can work, shop, wander and simply be. One project that tries to restore some of this urban energy to the suburbs is The Press, a former Los Angeles Times printing facility in Costa Mesa, California that was “reincarnated as a multidisciplinary workspace with a dining Canteen and a public Rail Trail on its 23.4-acre site” by Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects. Located in Orange County, California, Costa Mesa is a small city with a decidedly suburban feel, a place where people sit in traffic for twenty minutes to reach the In-N-Out Burger drive through. 

This project, which won the 2023 A+ Jury Award in the Commercial Renovations and Additions category, stands out for seeming like a truly inviting, interesting place to spend time. Not just an office building, and not just a place to shop or eat, The Press avoids the sense of falseness or contrivance that plagues most suburban workspaces and shopping centers. While this is of course a privately owned campus, it feels more public than, for instance, a mall. 

Industrial details elevate The Press above most commercial spaces one finds in the American suburbs.

Part of this is due to the sense of history that is preserved in the space. As the architects explain in their project notes, “precise cuts through precast concrete walls and roofing bring in fresh air, daylight and views. This subtraction exposes the beauty of the existing, reviving what has since been neglected and inviting the landscape to enter in through and around the campus.” Like a repurposed Bushwick warehouse, or even a Parisian arcade, The Press preserves a sense of place that pushes against the anonymity of “cookie cutter” suburbs. 

Some of the details in this project are just extraordinary. As the architects explain, “The design celebrates both material and organic markers of time. Paint chips, rail spurs and conveyor belts are left as is and an existing tree is placed to grow through the structure itself — hinting at history, site and context.” My favorite detail is probably the rail trail, a partly shaded walking path that follows the course of a former rail line. Like the now iconic New York High Line, the Rail Trail repurposes outdated infrastructure in a way that both feels perfectly natural and encourages health and interaction. 

The Rail Trail gives Costa Mesa, California its own version of the High Line. A stunning feature of the project is that its campus extends over 23 acres.

Time will tell how The Press evolves with its environment. Currently, the complex has fifty-five tenants, including a number of incredible artisans and local restaurants. My hope is that, with this project, Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects have created a template for a new kind of suburban redevelopment, one that works with existing architecture to imprint the faceless suburbs with a vibrant sense of place. 

The latest edition of “Architizer: The World’s Best Architecture” — a stunning, hardbound book celebrating the most inspiring contemporary architecture from around the globe — is now available. Order your copy today.  

Reference