enbe final project proposal



CONTEXT

1. Introduction 3

2. A TOWN 4~5

3. Investigation & Data Collection: Shibam,Yeemen 6~9

4. Investigation & Data Collection: Queenstown 10~13

5. Investigation & Data Collection: The future and better township 14~17

6. Investigation & Data Collection 2: The future and better township 18~20

7. The New “X” Town: Zeus 21~24

8. The Conclusion 25

9. References list 26~27



1. INTRODUCTION

This is the final project of Elements of Natural Built Environment. In this

project, students are required to write a report of understanding the meaning of

“TOWN” and its development, history, components, elements and what makes

a better liveable town.

Students are required to understand, investigate and collect data about

the “TOWN”. First, they have to study about old town, present town and future

town. Second, researching about the type of town that they have chosen. Then,

planning how to build a better liveable town. After doing these kind of works,

students are required to make a proposal for their own “X” CITY. The proposal

included base plan, zoning plan, a transportation and linkages layout, a simple

overview perspective, components or elements that students would like to

improve of the “X” TOWN.

Lastly, students need to record a video to propose their proposal.



2. A TOWN

2.1 Definition

A built-up area with a name, defined boundaries, and local government, that

is larger than a village and generally smaller than a city. The size definition for

what constitutes a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world. In

some cases, "town" is an alternate name for "city" or "village" (especially a

larger village). Sometimes, the word "town" is short for "township". In general,

today towns can be differentiated from townships, villages, or hamlets on the

basis of their economic character, in that most of a town's population will tend

to derive their living from manufacturing industry, commerce, and public

services rather than primary industry such as agriculture or related activities. A

place's population size is not a reliable determinant of urban character.

2.2 Brief History

The word town shares an origin with the german aword Zaun, the Dutch word

tuin, and the Old Norse tun. The German word Zaun comes closest to the

original meaning of the word: a fence of any material. An early borrowing from

Celtic dunom (cf. Old Irish dun, Weish din “fortress, fortified place, camp,” dinas

“city.”

2.3 What makes a town

A town are basically made up by few characteristics such as population with an

area in excess of 2.5 square kilometres, government departments, residential

area, commercial area, educational area, public facilities, services and

transportation.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/built-up

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/name

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/define

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/boundary

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/local-government

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/large

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/village

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/small

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Township

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet_(place)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commerce

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_service

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_service

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_industry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture



2.4 What makes a good town/township

A good town must have sustainable development, comfortable environment,

nice government departments, well maintenance public facilities and zero-

pollution.

-Well organised zoning of the town

-Electricity supplied by renewable energy

-Every zones focus in the centre of the town

-Well plan of the road connection

-Lots of plants surround the town

-Having urban design for the town

-Good laws enforcement

-Convenient for citizens

2.5 What is the future towns

It’s impossible to predict what future towns are. For me, the standard of

architecture will be mature and it will have an evolution of future towns in the

future. It will be independent non-profit organisation committed to building a

democracy around the future towns. They will be creating platforms for dialogue

and action about the future towns, inspiring people to become active citizens,

promoting city to citizen engagement, reinforce young people in the area of

urbanism and building a voice for more liveable, inclusive and sustainable

towns. The technical level in the future will be very high so that it will be very

convenient for the citizens.



3. Investigation & Data Collection:

Ancient Towns

Shibam



3.1 When did it start? History and all

In the 3rd century, Shabwa, the capital

of the Hadramaout at the time of the incense

trade, was replaced by Shibam. Shibam played

an increasingly important role at the beginning

of the Hegira, when it became the capital of the

Islamic government of western Hadramaout.

In 746, it became a centre for the Hadramout's opposition to the

Omayyad Dynasty. Later, it became the seat of Ibadite power for the Kharijite

sect, a status it maintained until the 11th century.

In the 10th century, Shibam became the major trade centre, especially

for dates and textiles, in the Hadramaout Valley. This commercial role

continued for centuries.

After it was conquered by the Ayubides of Yemen in 1219, Shimam

became their seat of authority for western Hadramaout. In 1520, the role of

capital city was taken over by Tarim.

In 1298 and 1532, Shibam was the victim of disastrous floods.

In the 18th century - thanks to the remittance of its emigrants from

eastern Africa, India and especially Southeast Asia - Shibam enjoyed a period

of prosperity.

3.2 What ancient town are you concentrating on

The ancient town that I am concentrating on is Shibam. It is a town in

Hadramawt, Yemen, considered to have the world’s oldest skyscrapers.

Shibam which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, owes its fame to its

distinct architecture. It is often called “The Manhattan of the desert”. It has about

7,000 inhabitants and all of the town’s house are made out of mud bricks. Some

of these structures rise 5 to 9 stories high.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Site



Shibam has some of the tallest

mud buildings in the world, with some of

them over 30 meters (100 feet) high,

thus being early high-rise apartment

buildings. In order to protect the

buildings from rain and erosion, the

walls must be routinely maintained by

applying fresh layers of mud.

The technique of building was implemented in order to protect residents

from Bedouin attacks. While Shibam has existed for around 2,000 years, most

of the city’s houses come mainly from 16th century.

3.3 What makes is a significant town and what are the details?

It is significant because it has a unique design and the best examples

of urban planning based on the principle of vertical construction which we can

learn and draw inspiration.

It was built to suit geography, location, the climate and available

materials. They have by necessity had to “work with” the local conditions and

in so doing have developed over generations knowledge and craft specific to

the locality and people.

This is demonstrated in the Wadi Hadhramaut, an area of Eastern

Yemen at the edge of the desert or “Empty Quarter”, where it becomes a

plateau cut with deep valleys or “wadis”. As the source of water and therefore

food, all settlements occurred along these wadis, both buildings, agriculture and

the way of life adapted to the extreme conditions, hot and dry with one short

sharp rainy season.

The focus and best known town in the area is Shibam, a UNESCO World

Heritage site, known in touristic terms as “The Manhattan of the Desert”,a

walled town of approximately 500 houses which rise up to ten storeys from the

wadi floor. These traditional “tower houses” accommodate livestock and

storage on the ground floor and living quarters above. Often there is a social

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-rise

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartment_building

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartment_building

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_planning



space, the “majlis” with a terrace on the top floor. In Shibam there are also

mosques, schools and administration buildings. Shibam is built solely of mud

bricks made by hand and baked dry in the sun.

Buildings made from earth tend to be associated with mud huts and to

be seen as primitive and unsophisticated; the architecture of the Hadhramaut

shows you otherwise revealing the flexibility of mud brick and you get the

impression that almost anything can be done with it.

3.4 Conclusion about the town

In conclusion, although shibam is the oldest skyscrapers town, but it can

be last long due to the materials that they used to build shiba’s buildings.

According to the design, it makes the town very unique in the world. The town

inspires me on my design for my Zeus Town.

3.5 What information or element that you can use to your new future town

After collecting the data, I will use the zoning of the town to my new future

town.

3.6 The plan of the town

PLAN




Present Towns/Township

Queenstown



4.1 When did it start? History and all

Queenstown was named after

Queen Elizabeth to mark her coronation

in 1953. The arterial road Queensway

was officially named in 1955. A British

military camp called Buller Camp was

also set up there until 1953 when it was cleared for the new housing estate.

Queenstown was Singapore's first satellite town. Built before Toa Payoh

and Ang Mo Kio, Queenstown was a test bed for much of Singapore's public

housing. Before the Second World War, people lived in huts and grew

vegetables and fruits and reared pigs and chickens. A total of 19,372 dwelling

units were constructed between 1952 and 1968 in Queenstown estate.

Pasir Panjang, which means 'long sandy beach' in Malay, was once a

fishing area with agricultural activity.

4.2 What town are you concentrating on

The town that I’m concentrating on is Queenstown. Queenstown is

located at the central-western end of the island about five to eight kilometres

from the city.

4.3 What makes is a significant town and what are the details?

It is significant because of its well planning

area and sufficient facilities. The town is planned

with a comprehensive range of facilities to meet

the needs of current and future residents. These

include housing, shops, schools, libraries, sports

facilities, community clubs and parks – all

important in ensuring a liveable, self-sufficient

town. The facilities are carefully distributed

across each town to ensure good accessibility, supported by an efficient



transport network. Most towns also have commercial nodes and other

employment centres such as industrial estates and business parks within the

town or nearby, to provide job opportunities close to homes. These facilities

and employment centres will be developed according to demand. The detailed

planning and implementation of plans for each town is a joint effort of many

government agencies.

There are a lot of facilities in Queenstown such as Alexandra Hospital,

Anchorpoint Shopping Centre, IKEA, MDIS University Campus, New Town

Primary School, Queenstown Fire Station, Queenstown MRT Station,

Queenstown Neighbourhood Police Centre and Queensway Shopping Centre.

The town’s planning is really sustainable for citizens due to there is 22 Square

Km with an estimated 130,000 residents. It can be seen that how good the

town’s planning is.


After doing the research of the town, the conclusion that I have realised

about the town is the efficient and convenient planning. Nowadays, the steps

of people are very fast so the present town’s planning must be planned to make

the citizens more convenience and efficient.




I will choose the public transportation planning of the town. It is very

convenience for citizens by using the public transportation. The Queenstown

Lrt station is connected every parts of the city.




The future of towns and Better Towns

Citadel Skyscraper



5.1 About the town

Natural disasters, the threat of technological meltdown and even the

possibility of visitors from space all present a need for towns and even countries

to reorganize to implement infrastructure that can protect people from possible

catastrophes.

The “Citadel Skyscraper” project is imagined for Japan because of the

numerous natural and manmade disasters that have struck the region in recent

years. The project proposes a three-part implementation of new structures with

an end result of protecting the island with a fortress-like defence shield. The

first part involves a restructuring of the land use of all of the country’s major

cities as residents are moved out of the town proper. Businesses and

commercial happenings will stay located within the town, but residents will

move out to sea and live in self-supporting residential skyscrapers, or citadels.

The second part specifies the location of these citadels: They will be lined up

as a single “sheet”, creating a barrier 2-3 km from the shoreline that can protect

the mainland from tsunamis. The skyscrapers themselves are connected by a

system of breakwaters and drainage channels, and are able to withstand waves

up to 50 meters tall. These are further bolstered by a connected series of fiber

sails, buried as deep as 1,200 meters that surround the island. When the waves

hit the sails and meet the oscillations of its stretched fibers, such a dissonance

is created that the wave is reduced to nothing.

The third part of this plan involves a skyscraper design that can protect

its inhabitants. The prototypical skyscraper for this project has a metal frame;

its foundation is poured at a depth of 1,200 meters and it reaches 500 meters

into the sky. By burying the structure so far into the earth, it is protected from

seismic activity (earthquakes up to a magnitude 11), waves (up to 40 feet tall)

and man-made disasters (such as the explosion of atomic weapons). A system

of bars forming a single, one-piece shield around the building serves as its

protection system. They are energetically self-sustaining, using wave power for

energy generation, and they have live fish tanks to provide food for residents.

The citadels mainly function as residential structures, but every 50

meters there are recreation areas and mini parks. The buildings also feature



restaurants, cafes, shops, cinemas and laundromats. If the citadel’s outer shield

is closed completely in anticipation of disaster outside, the building is ventilated

by blowers located every 100 meters that are connected to a system of niches

filled with hydroponic algae that produce oxygen by absorbing carbon dioxide.

The citadels are connected with the city and the coastal zone by above ground,

high-speed trains that run through 4 systems of tunnels.


In the future, the main focus of the town is that how to protect from

natural disasters because it will be more natural disasters happening.


I will use concept of defending the citizens when natural disasters are

happening with protective design buildings.



5.4 Section of the skyscrapers town



6. Investigation & Data Collection 2:

The future of towns and Better Towns

Himalaya Water Tower



6.1 About the town

Housed within 55,000 glaciers in the Himalaya Mountains sits 40 percent

of the world’s fresh water. The massive ice sheets are melting at a faster-than-

ever pace due to climate change, posing possible dire consequences for the

continent of Asia and the entire world stand, and especially for the villages and

cities that sit on the seven rivers that come are fed from the Himalayas’ runoff

as they respond with erratic flooding or drought.

The “Himalaya Water Tower” is a skyscraper located high in the

mountain range that serves to store water and helps regulate its dispersal to

the land below as the mountains’ natural supplies dry up. The skyscraper, which

can be replicated en masse, will collect water in the rainy season, purify it,

freeze it into ice and store it for future use. The water distribution schedule will

evolve with the needs of residents below; while it can be used to help in times

of current drought, it’s also meant to store plentiful water for future generations.

The lower part of the Himalaya Water tower is comprised of six stem-like

pipes that curve and wind together and collect and store water. Like the stem

of a plant, these pipes grow strong as they absorb their maximum water

capacity. In each of the six stems, a core tube is flanked by levels and levels of

cells, which hold the water. The upper part of the building – the part that is

visible above the snow line – is used for frozen storage. Four massive cores

support steel cylindrical frames that, like the stems below, hold levels that

radiate out, creating four steel tubes filled with ice. In between the two sections

are mechanical systems that help freeze the water when the climatic conditions

aren’t able to do so, purify the water and regulate the distribution of water and

ice throughout the structure.

At the bottom of the structure, surrounding the six intertwined water

tubes is a transport system that regulates fresh water distribution to the towns

and cities below. The curving channels connect the mountains to the villages,

and are also hold within them a railway for the transport of people and goods.




The most important thing that I have learnt is about the system of storing water.

Saving water is the most important part of life in the future.

6.3 Sector of the skyscrapers town


I will use the technic of storing water for my future town.



7. The New “X” Town: ZEUS



7.1 How did you came up with the solution to create this new town

After investigate ancient, present and future city, I realized that there are many

disadvantages of living on the ground so as a mayor, I should move my citizens

to a skyscrapers city. In the future, there will be more disasters such as tsunami

so I decided to move them to the skyscrapers town, so that, they will be

protected and avoid from the numerous natural and manmade disasters. Also,

the sea level keeps rising so earth will be covers by water in the future then I

choose to create this skyscrapers town.

7.2 Aim of the town

The aim of the town is to create a protective and sustainable town for humans.

Also, create a town with a well planning zone to make humans convenience.

Furthermore, foundation of the town must be very hard as a defense shield to

protect humans.

Zoning of the town



The education area sticks with park and lake because I need to provide a good

environment for students. And, residential area is with government area and

commercial area because it is very convenience for people.

Public transportation line of the town

In my new future town, people don’t have to buy their own transportation

because I will provide the efficient public transportation line for them such as

LRT train and bus. There will be 5 LRT stations built in the town and it is

available 24hours. Also, I will provide a inter bus line in each part of the town.

What is the important characteristic and elements

-Its foundation is poured at a depth of 1,000 meters and metal shields to protect

people from earthquakes, waves and man-made disasters.

- In order to protect the base from rain and erosion, the base must be routinely

maintained by applying fresh layers of mud.



-The town is energetically self-sustaining, using wave power for energy

generation.

-The town is inspired by the shape of pizza.

Conclusion about the new X town

The town is designed to protect people and also let them have a better livable

place. Further, the town is a zero-pollution place so that it can save our earth.



THE CONCLUSION

After few weeks of researching, planning and designing, I have learnt a

lot from it. For me, develop a town isn’t easy but it is really fun and I think it will

be very useful in the future.

This is my first time of designing my own town because of this

assignment. I appreciate what I did and hope to create a real town in the future.

I think we can’t create a perfect town in the earth but we can create a better

town. To be honest, I have put a lot of afford on it and spent a lot of time to

create this town. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Lastly, Zeus town provides a better livable place for people to live in.

What I gain in this assignment is that sustainable development is the first thing

that you have to concern while you are planning a town.



References

Shibam

1.http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2008/05/19/worlds-oldest-skyscrapers/

2.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/terri-colby/in-spain-cuenca-is-

magica_b_1076932.html

3.http://www.ovpm.org/en/yemen/shibam

4.http://sometimes-interesting.com/2011/06/29/the-manhattan-of-the-desert-

shibam/

5.http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2013/06/04/the_mud_skyscrapers

_of_the_walled_city_of_shibam_yemen_known_as_the_manhattan.html

6.http://www.hotelclub.com/blog/oldest-skyscraper-yemens-shibam/

7.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibam#History

8.http://www.theglobaldispatches.com/articles/mud-brick-architecture-of-

yemen

Queenstown

1.http://www.queenstown.org.sg/origins-of-queenstown-57.html

2.http://chenghuisyen.wordpress.com/2013/09/15/architecture-and-memories-

of-queenswayqueenstown-theatre-in-singapore/

3.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queenstown,_Singapore

4.http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/singapore/singapore_district/29

1/queenstown.php

5.http://www.ura.gov.sg/MS/DMP2013/regional-

highlights/~/media/dmp2013/Planning%20Area%20Brochures/Brochure_Que

enstown.ashx



Citadel SKyscrapers

1.http://www.evolo.us/competition/citadel-skyscraper/#more-16703

Himalaya Water Tower

1.http://www.evolo.us/competition/himalaya-water-tower/

enbe final project proposal

Education