Year 3 university project.
The work carried out in this project focused on Multi function and hybrid buildings and how this typology has benefits over typical Mono-function buildings. It explores how different functions and spaces are placed within these types of buildings, specifically community based hybrids. The undertaken analysis looks at three different thematic hybrid precedents to gain anunderstanding of how these buildings can positively impact the community and the environment by utilising this typology.
The buildings analysed in this project are Community Centre in Reinosa, Fitzgibbon Community Centre and Dongyuan Qianxun Community Center. These precedents were chosen explicitly to their hybrid type, comparability in scale and significance to the community. This was done to get a broader analysis of three different but similar types of hybrid buildings and a better idea of what makes them successful.
Multi-function buildings, otherwise known as Hybrid buildings, are defined as three or more different functions combined into one building, usually built upwards instead of outwards. This strategy was introduced in the 1980s within high-rise buildings to resolve issues with limited land space within cities; this also meant that developers could maximise profits by squeezing as many uses into the smallest spaces possible. Modern examples of hybrid buildings usually compile shops, offices and apartments stacked on each other. History, however, has shown that this typology is not a modern concept as seen in roman baths or even in the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. There are three categories of Hybrid buildings: Fabric, Graft, and Monolith. Graft hybrids express their functionality through volume or elevation, whereas Fabric and Monolith hybrids are enclosed within one singular envelope.
There are many benefits of hybrid buildings, with the most significant being space; it reduces land use by condensing the activities instead of being scattered across a larger footprint of land. In addition, it reduces distances travelled between homes, workplaces and services due to all services being in one place, which can also help tackle carbon emissions and create more sustainale town and cities. Such a central space creates a feeling of belonging among the users, enhancing the sense of community within that space. Eliminating the separation and isolation of functions forms Community and intergenerational relationships due to people of all ages being encouraged to meet and interact.
Although there are many advantages created by a hybrid building, it is dependent mainly on the placement and the functions involved. The functions within a hybrid can vary but ultimately can be put into one of two categories, thematic and disparate. A thematic hybrid means that each part is dependent on the other and encourages interaction, whereas a disparate hybrid involves functions that are there in mutual and, in some cases, clash.
NOTE: Although my own work, the design is not by me.
Centre – Block Model
