Zirve Eki - ISTANBUL REstate

16-17 Haziran 2010
the shape and the space and the volume of the areas where you
actually planting as well. Because these are plants are like people,
you know they like to have other plants around them. We were
talking with Brigette earlier about her balcony and the plants
are actually dying because I suspect there maybe 1, 2 3 plants
on a balcony, perhaps they weren't watered or they might have
been over watered. And they say, "I can't cope with this. Because
I'd much rather be in a forest, or in, you know, somewhere in
the deep countryside". So I think you have to create an overall
environment that gives you the conditions that plants enjoy, that
needs moisture, not so much stress. Good growing conditions,
good soil, good irrigation, good nutrition, and you also have to
consider the build up of salts in the soil. So it is actually quite a
complex equation to get it to work. And then you might say in
5-10 years' time, you have to change all the plants. You take
them up, put some new ones in. But then you would do this
anyway, in a park or in a garden. You move plants, you change
them, and so on. So I think it is not a fix thing - a plant. It grows,
it dies. So, it is a....
Tony Phillipson: Would you say that conditions of extreme
variety between the north and south actually decide you might
actually have a completely different mix on the same floor between
two sides?
David O'Brien: That is possible. Yes, that is very possible.
Tony Phillipson: It's a bit of a follow up question. You have
shown us many attractive pictures there of high rise buildings
absolutely festuned with plants, a lot of them tend to be in what
I might call rather lush climates like Panama or Singapore and so
on. Do you think that kind of buildings applicable in Europe, in
Istanbul, for example?
Jan Dikema: In Europe, my guess is the needs hasn't yet arisen
for these sorts of spaces in Northern Europe. Because, northern
Europe still has a lot of empty space. And then I suspect, say, in
Istanbul where you have very little open space, you have a strong
need to get people close to plants. I mean there are one or two
parks which I have seen here. There are some nice corner areas.
To be honest, if you have got kids and, you know everyday you
Gayrimenkul Zirvesi 10
want your kids to play somewhere, you have got to provide the
play area. If that play area is on the 60th floor, then you got to
provide someone to look after those kids. They have got to be
happy. They have got to buy an ice cream. They have got to play
football. All these things are important in any space, any green
space whether it is on the top floor or on the ground. So, we
need to think of in terms of greater complexity. This is the same
ability in terms of what the community needs in these spaces.
Tony Phillipson: I see we have run past a lot of time but I have
got one general question. That is for each member of the panel.
If you had to sum up one principal difference in your field of
expertise between designing a level mid rise building and an ultra
high rise building, what would that be? You have another chance
to think about that one. That was from the audience. So, who is
ready?
David O'Brien: One's higher one's lower I think. No, but,
seriously, one is a lot more expensive and there is a greater need
to provide the alternative environment when you get high. So,
you know, you are up there, you do need a balcony. I mean I lived
in Germany for a number of years in Aachen which is a dense city
just like well not as big as Istanbul. We had a balcony. we kept
a rabbit on the balcony. The rabbit lived in the flat, run around.
We had plants on the balcony. We had a little yard where the
children played. And - as I said before, you have got to provide
those things at high rise. So I think we are not quite there yet,
but I think we are getting there, because we need to, because
cities are so big. We need to provide the spaces.
Gerhard Haidinger: Yes, I mean the lucky situation that I live
in Austria, on the countryside. So I have my own garden and
everything, and I have not yet experienced to live in high rise
residential building. So I am quite happy to live on the countryside
in Austria.
--
For me, in our work, one of the main differences I think is in the
high rise or at least in our experience so far, a lot of our energy
goes into finding the right engineering solutions, both in structure,
in infrastructures, in all the transport. And to a much higher extent,
one would be involved in low rise even though if we were talking
about the same number of main, same volume of housing. We
would be looking at spending more time in the design of space,
design of green spaces etc.
OK. Now, I notice we only have a few minutes left of our time. I
would just like to ask, and turn to the audience members and ask
if perhaps you have any questions you like to ask our panelists.
OK. I think perhaps we have answered, most of them, I think
that's a compliment to our speakers. I would like to make a special
note of thanks to our speakers, Jan, Gerhard and David, for the
most interesting views on the subject of high rise living. And also
to all of you in the audience for joining us today. I sincerely hope
you have found the panel of interest. Once again, I would like to
invite you to the FYP stand nearby to talk to any of the panel in
more detail. Thank you once again. I am also asked to remind
everyone that there will be gala reception upstairs in a few
moments. Thank you very much indeed and good afternoon.
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GYODER