The Voxel

A street with no cars

Here is a vision for a new street. A place where cars and vehicles are no longer part of the urban landscape and where people can shape the street to their own needs and where collective city requirements change its topography. In Short, a flexible street with no personal vehicles.

The street and the city have constantly changing needs during the day, night and throughout the year and yet the streets of today are static, inflexible, inefficient and somewhat antisocial. When the space for vehicles is no longer required, the vast remaining space has a vast potential for activities and other events to occur, transforming the street from a mere thoroughfare to a vibrant ‘venue’.

Facts

The current structure of the street is a serious and problematic condition. Pedestrians, Cyclists, Car, Lorry, and Bus Drivers are in constant conflict with one another. Pedestrians in an average road have a third of the space available for their exclusive use even when there are more of them around. At the city scale, we find that 17% of London is covered in asphalt an area large enough to fit just under 42,000 football pitches and around 4,500,000 terraced houses.

Street Types

No two streets are the same, although an obvious fact, a factor that cannot be overlooked. For this reason, it is imperative to create a catalogue of street types. I have identified six different street types although I acknowledge there are more street types which have not been identified in this particular case. It is an open catalogue, which can be added to. The six street types are Terraced House Street, Wide Residential, Intersection, Bridge, Blank Walls and High Street. I have chosen six specific sites from within the congestion charge where I would intervene.

The Voxel

This is a mechanism with a piston allowing each voxel to rise and descent at least 2 metres from ground level. It also contains a track with surface plates allowing the surface of the voxel to be changed whenever required. This system would allow for complete flexibility and give power to people, companies, and institutions to hold their events, extend their spaces.

A second voxel was also developed with a 4 by 4 metre dimension. These can act as retail or as supporting areas for events such as a backstage area for a play or dressing room for a sports match.

Terraced House Street

These views are of my vision of the new street. Multiple scenarios for each street condition have been created exploring local conditions, in this case, the terraced house residential street can host numerous activities such as extending a house party to the street, hosting yoga or a street film amongst city functions such as bike lanes and running tracks when needed.

The Intersection

Oxford Circus is a focal point in Central London, currently dominated by traffic and congestion. Turning this into a space for enjoyment and leisure will create a great potential for numerous events and activities such as football games, fashion shows or market spaces.

The Architectural Association Graduation

We can take a more familiar event, such as the AA graduation day where the exhibition can extend to the street, the graduation ceremony, the photograph, the party can all occur on the vast space which lies outside.

This project is a series or rules and not a masterplan which can be applied in areas who may wish for such an intervention to occur where the space for cars is replaced by areas for activities and events for the city’s people controlled and shaped by individuals or greater city needs.