Revisiting Letchworth: The New Suburban Dwellings in the Gardens of Tomorrow
Supervisor: Arian Heidari Afshari
Contributors: Jawad Nazzal
Tools: Hand Drawing, Autocad, Photoshop, Rhino
Location: England, Letchworth
Garden City pioneers improved the lives of those drawn to towns searching for jobs as technology decreased agricultural employment. Their goal was to balance the most vibrant and lively town life with all the magnificence and tranquility of the country. We are now facing a new generation. Through the application of artificial intelligence from the top down, technology undermines the security of most people’s employment. At the same time, climate change is undermining the human advantages provided by nature. With urban and rural magnets losing their allure, the Garden City strategy must develop to face the future. This multi-layered method is reimagined in the Gardens of Tomorrow. Water, green structure, and development plots are intertwined with bottom-up information systems, posing challenges to underemployment and climate change to grow a new Garden City fabric. However, unlike the original Garden City, this expands an existing location. The Garden City principle requires that each layer of the new area serve the interests of the current residents. The site is situated north of the Grange Estate, a post-World War II housing development. This site is virgin agricultural land that should not be altered. Therefore, the main idea here is to create a community that greatly values the agricultural part of society. A community where everyone has the opportunity to take part in planting and creating this self-sustained village.
To transform Letchworth into a self-sustained village, it is proposed that densities and functions be increased, with hundreds of new commercial spaces, a great number of jobs that will be available for all residents, and new cultural and sporting opportunities, and the structures will be sustained by an overall off-grid plan. The masterplan of the Gardens of Tomorrow is based on the following criteria: - Walking distance to all necessities - Housing for all - Respect to the agricultural terrane - Use waste as a resource All new buildings will adhere to the Energy-plus principle, as utilized in Freiburg, Germany (generating more energy than they use), including solar roofs, roof gardens, and geothermal services for denser structures and communal buildings, as well as providing a hydroelectric energy system to generate electricity to the Gardens of Tomorrow.