Raffles International Institute Draskovic Sandra, March Module: Sustainable design Term: October 2013

1. Sustainable Design:
Site analysis
Draskovic Sandra, March
Module: Sustainable design
Term: October 2013
email: sandra@raffles-institute.edu.mn

2. SUSTAINABILITY
people
planet
money

3. Sustainability is the capacity to endure.
For people, sustainability is the potential for long-term
maintenance of well being, which has
ecological, economic, political and cultural dimensions.
In ecology the word describes how biological systems
remain diverse and productive over time.
Sustainability economics involves ecological economics
where social aspects including cultural, health-related
and monetary/financial aspects are integrated.
SUSTAINABILITY
people
planet
money

8. air quality
ozone
biodiversity
MICROCLIMATE
desertification
water
quantity and
quality
forestry

9. Understanding Place

10. Detail of 19th-century painting of Urga (Ulaanbaatar) showing different
styles of traditional architecture in Mongolia

11. 19th-century painting of the Monastery of Sain Noyon Khan showing
different styles of traditional architecture.

12. Ulaanbaatar, the capital city, has been
developed by the general 5 projects
which determine development
tendency. Also, the general
project, which is formed in
1954, reformed in 1963, 1974, 1986 and
2002.
Contrast between historical and future
development of the city, with a focus on
the urbanization of nomadic culture is
more than obvious.

13. An interesting tendency in the beginning
of the 20th century was an experiment
of combining the traditional Asian
architecture with the features of the
Russian architectural style.
Bogdo Khan had his winter palace built
as a Russian "horomy".

14. The ensemble of Ulaanbaatar's downtown
was designed by Soviet
architects, developing the traditions of
Classicism under the conditions of
Socialism (Stalinist architecture).
The Mongolian architects worked to
creatively combine this neo-Classicism
with the traditional features of
Mongolian architecture.

16. The architecture of the 1960s and 1970s
presents the monotony of 4, 5, and 9 storey
apartment blocks with simple rectangular
shapes dictated by the need of cheap and
speedy construction. The looks of cities
became increasingly boring and dull.
Apartment districts were intensively built in all
directions around Ulaanbaatar, including the
area to the south of the Dundgol river, often by
Soviet soldiers. Completely new cities were
founded in Darkhan, Erdenet and Baganuur
during this period.

17. Ulaanbaatar was initially built out of well designed and constructed
mixed use buildings. Today those buildings are certainly in need of
renovation but they are still considered to be in the best locations of the
city while retaining charm and a certain fun factor.

18. Ulaanbaatar during 1960s

21. Green areas
The urban plans
developed in the 1975s
specified a green corridor
to extend from the far
west of town to the far
east, with a large
pedestrian-only park
centrally located on the
North-South axis of the
city.

22. Urban Plan 1980s. Ulaanbaatar National Archives.

23. Green areas
There have been
measures taken to reinstate other parks
throughout the city with
the help of foreign aid
organizations as well as
the Ministry of Urban
Planning and
Development. Upgrading
of some of the
courtyards as well as the
development of a new
park located centrally in
the city.

24. One of the greatest loses in modern times has been the large
“Children's Park” which was secretively walled off and
construction started two years ago to “upgrade” the park.
The Children's Park in 1980. Ulaanbaatar National Archives.

25. View toward Hilton Hotel under construction.”

26. View toward Hilton Hotel under construction.”

27. Hotel Shangri-la, conceptual 3D render

28. View toward Shangri-la Hotel under construction.”

29. Ger settlement is
witness to
urbanization process.
Ger (yurt) communities
continue to mushroom
around the city.
Russian era
apartments still
dominate the
residential areas.

30. There is a growing disconnect between the countryside and the
urban population, everything in Mongolia goes through
Ulaanbaatar, all is decided in the city and all transport links lead to
and from UB.

31. Site analysis: Artificial and man-made environment
2.1. Past and future: history of the site and its visible
traces, public and private interventions and use of the site,
conflicts
2.2. Existing buildings: location, outline, shape, materials,
floor elevations, height, style, density, type, physical
condition, current use and functions, character, energy
consumption
2.3. Hard surfaces public areas, networks: roads, paths
and pedestrian areas, rails, transit lines, sewers, water
lines, gas, electricity, telephone, elevations, capacity, and
conditions
2.4. Fences, walls, decks, urban furniture, other manmade modifications of the environment and landscape,
materiality and conditions

32. External Appearance
Height
Access
Entrance
Staircase
Structural Integrity
Materials

33. External Appearance

34. Site analysis: Traffic
4.1. Vehicles and movements
4.2. Bus
4.3. Parking
4.4 Noise and pollution
4.5. Conflicts and impacts to environment

35. “You can consider yourself lucky if you spend no more than an
hour to go three kilometres from the Three Dogs circle to the west
junction of Narantuul market. Also, it takes two hours to go the
same distance from the Officer’s Palace to the Eastern Crossroads
junction.”

37. Connecting with Nature

38. Site analysis: Natural environment
5.1. Sun.
5.2. Wind
5.3. Humidity
5.4. Temperature
5.5. Water and hydrology: Existing water bodies, natural
and man-made drainage channels, flow, capacity, surface
drainage system: directions, amount, erosion, fluctuation of
water (spring-winter), water supply (location, quantity, quality)
5.6. Microclimate
5.7. Soft surfaces public areas: greenery, plans, trees,
grass, animals, Geology and soil, Ecology: dominant plant
and animal communitie
5.8. Ambient air qualities: dust, smells, sound levels,
pollution, color, fog, smoke
5.9. Snowfall and ice

39. The 2012-2016 Action Plan of Ulaanbaatar City Mayor pledges
to develop green areas at 20 percent of Ulaanbaatar’s total
territory.
This year, four new parks will be established and two of which
will be located right among the ger districts. Thus, ger district
residents will be able to visit those two parks and save both time
and money instead of heading to the city center.
A new park will be developed at the 17th Khoroo of Chinggeltei
District, covering 1.6 hectares of land. Based on the natural
spring there, a water pool and fountain will be built and children
as well as the youth will be able to enjoy the
playground, basketball court, cycling path, running path, and the
exercise area for the elderly there.
Another park will be located at Yarmag, around the Nogoon
Nuur (Green Lake) area, covering a hectare of land. The lake will
be restored and so will its beautiful surroundings.

40. GREEN ULAANBAATAR

44. ULAANBAATAR OF THE FUTURE
?

45. ULAANBAATAR OF THE FUTURE
?

46. Understanding
Natural/Traditional Processes

50. Understanding
Environmental Impact

59. According to the plan, zones are to be set up where the air
will be improved, an electricity transmission network in ger
areas will be widened, a research will be run seeking ways
of improving its capacity, electricity prices will decrease 50
percent for those meeting criteria, a construction will start
of the fifth and sixth power stations this year so that to put
into use their first units in 2013. Other action are to connect
low pressure furnaces to partial heating system, to create a
complex of semicoking fuel, to create stoves that work on
gas, to issue government bonds or grant soft loans in order
to get money needed. Within the parliamentary
resolution, the air pollution will be reduced by up to 50
percent in 2011-2012, by 80 percent in 2012-2013, reaching
standards in 2013-2014.

60. Understanding People

61. Site analysis: Human environment and community
(who, what, how, where, why)
3.1. Cultural data: residents and users population:
age, gender, nationality, numbers, compositions, pattern of
change, social structure, ties, institutions, economic status
and role, organization, leadership, political participation
3.2. Behavior settings: participants, rhythm, diversity of
needs, activities, interactions, stability, conflicts, disability
groups and use of space
3.3. Site characteristics: meanings attached to the
site, symbolic
associations, hopes, fears, wishes, preferences, expectations,
safety, security, health conditions
3.4. Activities and interactions: access, commuting, tourist
wondering, selling, reading, sitting, walking, dogwalking, picnic, gardening, teenager gathering, kids
playing, local elderly, meditating, recreation and sport

66. Ger District
http://vimeo.com/65796841

67. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAp0w6g6DmM

68. ZABALEEN, CAIRO, EGYPT
Cairo, home to over 16 million residents, is estimated to
produce some 10,000 tones of rubbish each day.
Remarkably, some 60% of Cairo’s garbage is
collected, mostly by informal garbage collectors known as
the Zabaleen. The Zabaleen use the most simple but
effective methods to keep Cairo’s street clean.
Zabaleen, an Arabic word meaning Garbage collectors, is
a term that has come to refer to a community of Coptic
Christians, who live in the Moqattam village near the
informal settlement of Manshiyat Nasser, and specialize
in waste collection.

69. ZABALEEN, CAIRO, EGYPT
Cairo is a sprawling city of about 18 million people. The
associations representing the zabaleen say they collect
6,000 tons of trash a day, of which 60 percent is food
waste. The system dates to the late 1940s, when peasant
farmers moved to Cairo looking for work. They took over
trash collection and became the zabaleen.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlfj9y_garbage-dreams_news

79. MAKOKO, LAGOS
Makoko is one of Nigeria's best known slums. Many
residents are fishermen and some have migrated from
neighbouring Togo and Benin. Today at least 85,000
Lagosians live in Makoko. They make their living from
fishing. Lagos authorities are trying to evict residents
from the area, citing health concerns among other
reasons. A letter served to residents last year said that
illegal buildings in Makoko were an “environmental
nuisance, security risk and an impediment to the
economic and gainful utilization of the waterfront” and
undermined the “megacity status” of Lagos. Paddlepowered canoes are the main method of Makoko.

80. MAKOKO, LAGOS
Their populations are of a similar size − 60,000 in
Venice, around 80,000 in Makoko − although no one
knows for certain. Both have been threatened: Venice
more by floods than war, and Makoko by its status as an
illegal settlement.
Makoko is very poor. Houses, sleeping several families in
single rooms, share common latrines discharging raw
effluence into rubbish-strewn waterways. Cholera and
malaria are rife,
Machete-wielding men employed by the city of Lagos
severed countless wooden piles, causing the collapse of
hundreds of flimsy timber homes.

90. Nigeria: Makoko, the shanty town on the lagoon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfjXgUqux_I

91. TORRE DAVID, CARACAS, VENEZUELA
Torre David, a 45-story office tower in Caracas designed
by the distinguished Venezuelan architect Enrique
Gómez, was almost complete when it was abandoned
following the death of its developer, David
Brillembourg, in 1993 and the collapse of the Venezuelan
economy in 1994. Today, it is the improvised home of a
community of more than 750 families, living in an extralegal and tenuous occupation that some have called a
vertical slum.

92. “Why should the poor live in slums if there are
empty offices in the city?" - Justin McGuirk
http://vimeo.com/48614749

93. “Why should the poor live in slums if there are
empty offices in the city?" - Justin McGuirk
http://vimeo.com/49094660

100. "Why should the majority of the poor in countries like Venezuela
be forced to live in the slums around the edge of cities if there are
empty office towers in the city centers?,"

101. "When you look inside you will find
that the apartments are actually
like any middle class apartments in
the world, so this is not a slum; the
slum is in your head."

104. Embracing Co-Creative Design
Sustainable design principles
Reconnecting with nature – a
vital key to urban health and
sustainability