DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN PLANNING
A DIRECTED STUDY On
BUSINESS PARK
SUBMITTED TO AR. DAN H. KANSAKAR ER. SANGEETA SINGH ER. AJAY C. LAL
SUBMITTED BY JENY JOSHI 057/BAE/211
DATE: 21ST APRIL ' 05
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to AR. DAN Heera Kansakar, ER. Sangeeta singh and ER. Ajay Chandra lal for their true guidance throughout the research process and report writing. My special thanks to the Library and Dept. of Architecture as well for providing me the necessary materials to accomplish my errand. And lastly I would like to express my gratitude towards all those who are directly or indirectly involved in the process regards, jeny joshi
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PREFACE Business Park is actually a place where work and recreation are integrated in well-crafted buildings set in a man-made landscape that provides the visual and interactive amenities of a rural environment and with the facility of vehicular access to the front door of the office. And by Laws are necessary to regulate the comprehensive design of business parks. Business Park actually evolved to solve the problem of transportation and pollution and first evolved with the concept of ‘Garden city’ proposed by Ebenezer Howard. The objective of the Garden City Pioneers was "to promote the relief of overcrowded areas and to secure a wide distribution of the population over the land". This city is considered to be the earliest example of a single use business park, although fully integrated into the vision of a garden city. To develop the business park the most critical decision is the site. The site should be such that it aids to enhance the indigenous community and the site selection depends upon the geography, geology and morphology of the site as well. The other criterion which is Scale and Density helps to determine the road system, utility infrastructure and ratios between open space building mass and hard landscape. Whereas the next criterion is master plan which is the instrument of planning and implementation and provides the principal act of design. The classification of Business Park incorporated here is mainly based upon the research work which are industrial, office and commercial basis, and finally research and development basis. Each category has been discussed with the case studies. The main objective of this research was ? To identify what actually the business park is. ? To know the features of business park ? To identify the different functions of business park ? And how it differs from the other parks On the basis of the mentioned objectives, the research was done by means of various literature referred.
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BUSINESS PARK CONTENTS
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1. Introduction
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2. By Laws
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3. Development of Business Park
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4. Criteria of Business Park ? Site Selection ? Scale and Density ? Master Plan
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5. Classification a. Industrial Business Park b. Office and Commercial Business Park c. Research and Development Business Park d. Mixed use Business Park
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6. Conclusion
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BUSINESS PARK INTRODUCTION At first glance, the term business park appears contradictory. Business is associated with commerce, financial transactions, concentrated effort and urban life. A park on the other hand, is a place generally within a town or a city devoted to leisure, pleasure, sport and the enjoyment of nature. Yet major developers in the west are turning their attention to and investing their skills and resources in the development of the Business Park, where work and recreation are integrated in well-crafted buildings set in a man-made landscape that provides the visual and interactive amenities of a rural environment, as well as the facility of automobile access to the front door of the office. What is a Public Park? The public park, a product of nineteenth century urbanization and industrialization, was intended as a piece of country in the city. The park was to act as a symbol to the urban landscape: soothing, healing and allowing breathing space in the crowded, growing metropolis – thus parks were known as ‘green lungs’. Park was created to improve the environment, social conditions and the human spirit. The first parks were ‘people’s garden’, a democratization of the landscape spaces of the elite and powerful. CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK
Parks also represented a social ideal of public open space as a meeting ground for persons of different social classes. They were an urban response to the Industrial Revolution and the modern world, an environmental answer to a society increasingly alienated from nature. Public parks inherited the garden’s positive associations. In the park one was in direct contact with the nature, which was physically and emotionally healthful and as part of the prevailing transcendental and romantic ideology, an uplifting moral face. Here the world was less structured; one felt freer and beauty resided in nature’s forms. The public park has not been a fundamental part of the suburban image, where the privatized world dominates and the collective landscape has been dominated by other forms of community and commercial life: school, shopping mall, roadside strip and office park. ‘Park’ is a powerful metaphor that is applied to a variety of situations. The park nomenclature implies an association with outdoor recreation, a general enjoyment of nature. However, when used to name business, corporate, industrial or educational “parks”, the term often offers only the image, not the substance. If the public is to be a meeting place of persons of different social classes, how is that desire fulfilled within suburban communities of class homogeneity?
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A park is often considered an oasis of greenery in a concrete desert. For passerby as well as those who come into a park, its natural elements provide visual relief, seasonal change and a link with the natural world. And park policies must be based upon sensitive analyses of current social problems and attitude towards cities. Actually parks are the product of deliberate design, but there are also ample open spaces that are ignored , yet worthy of our attention. For the parks, the most important things are to use the features that are familiar to the users, features that help create intimate settings. Consider outdoor lighting to generate interest throughout the year. Safety considerations should be taken into account. Both passive and active uses have to be provided. Flexibility is the key in any design challenge now. Better if park is designed such that it always leaves memories for visitors. Also accomodate range of interest, possibilities and some water conservation features or some features which creates awarenes of environment consciousness.
What is an Industrial Park? An industrial park is an area of land set aside for industrial development. Industrial parks are usually located close to transport facilities, especially where more than one transport modality (intermodal) coincides: highways, railroads, airports, and navigable rivers. Whereas a more "lightweight" version is the office park, which has offices and light industry, rather than heavy industry. The development of industrial parks has been due to the efforts of specialized industries to become more completely integrated with the home areas of their employees. The development of excellent architecture within a landscaped environment, the maintaining of noiseless, pollution free operations and service roads designed to conflict with the residential area of the community have made the industrial park welcome in many communities, even the most restricted ones. Industrial parks have also been criticized because of their frequent remoteness of urban areas, one of the characteristics that have been touted as a benefit. One reason for this specific criticism is that industrial parks often destroy productive and valuable agricultural land. Another is that the industrial parks become remote to their employee pool, necessitating longer commutes and limiting employment accessibility for poorer employees. Another reason is that many urban areas have extensive areas of brownfield land that many feel should be the first priority in redeveloping as industrial sites. What is a Science Park? There is no universally accepted definition of a science park. Together with incubators and technology centres, science parks belong to a set of political instruments that ideally cater
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for reindustrialization and regional development and for the promotion and development of new high-tech business. The role of science parks is to provide the 'catalytic incubator environment' needed to transform basic science at universities into commercially viable innovations. The different definitions of science parks concur that the property dimension is a key factor. According to the UK Science Park Association's definition a science park is a propertybased activity configured around the following: * formal operational links with a university or other higher educational or research institution, * the formation and growth of knowledge-based business and other organisations normally resident on site * a management function which is actively engaged in the transfer of technology and business skills to the organisations on site.
What is a Business Park? A Business Park may be single cell, dedicated to one client or multi-cells, including different clients and architecture within an overall Master plan. It may be devoted to one theme, such as scientific research, as in a Science Park, it may be an administrative village, as an Office Park, or it may be flexible, combining speculative business building with a shared amenity building for a disparate workforce. Business Park areas are generally served by arterial roadways, providing automobile and public/mass transit access. These areas are characterized as major employment concentrations. Development in this category, except for warehousing, is generally within a campus-like setting or cluster development pattern. The contemporary business park seeks to homogenize productivity requirements, employer and employee aspirations and high technology corporate image with good architecture, the immediate landscape and the development master plan. To achieve this requires a complex and committed effort on behalf of a huge team of experts, including architects, engineers, landscape architects, planners, developers, economists, public relations agencies, marketing companies and tenants. In addition, there is a schedule of criteria that needs to be satisfied if all these skills are to be brought together for the overall benefit of the developer, the business park community and the community at large.
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BY-LAWS
A. Goal This zone is intended to accommodate and regulate the comprehensive design of industrial business parks consisting of light impact industrial uses, offices and service uses. These uses shall be carried out such that no nuisance is apparent outside an enclosed building. B. Permitted Uses Land and structures shall be used for the following uses only, or for a combination of such uses: 1. Light impact industry including wholesale and retail sales of products produced on the lot or as part of the wholesale or warehouse operations. 2. Office uses excluding: i. social escort services ii. clinics 3. General Service uses excluding drive-through banks. 4. Warehouse uses. 5. Accessory uses including the following: (a) Personal service uses limited to the following: ? Barbershops, beauty parlours, cleaning and repair of clothing and shoe repair shops (b) Recreational facilities, excluding go-kart operations, drag racing and rifle ranges (c) Eating establishments, excluding drive-through restaurants (d) Community services (f) Child care centre and (g) Dwelling unit(s) provided that the dwelling unit(s) is (are): ? Contained within a principal building; ? Occupied by the owner or a caretaker, for the protection of the businesses permitted; ? Restricted to a maximum number of: o One dwelling unit in each principal building less than 2,800 square metres [30,000 sq. ft.] in floor area; o Two dwelling units in each principal building of 2,800 square metres [30,000 sq. ft.] or greater in floor area; and
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o The maximum floor area shall not exceed 33% of the total floor area of the principal building within which the dwelling unit is contained. Restricted to a maximum floor area of: o 140 square metres [1,500 sq. ft.] for one (first) dwelling unit on a lot and where a lot has been subdivided by a strata plan then there shall only be one 140-square metre [1,500- sq. ft.] dwelling unit within the strata plan; o 90 square metres [970 sq. ft.] for each additional dwelling unit o the maximum floor area shall not exceed 33% of the total floor area of the principal building within which the dwelling unit is contained.
C. Lot Area The minimum site area for subdivision shall be 4 hectares [10 acres], except in the case of a remainder lot, where the lots including the remainder lot which were created by the same plan of subdivision. D. Density 1. In Neighbourhood Concept Plan and Infill Areas, the maximum density shall not exceed a floor area ratio (FAR) of 0.1 or a building area of 300 square metres [3,230 sq. ft.] whichever is smaller. The maximum density may be increased to a maximum floor area ratio (FAR) of 0.75 if amenities are provided in accordance with schedule of this By-law. 2. In areas other than the above one, the maximum density shall not exceed a floor area ratio (FAR) of 0.75. E. Lot Coverage The maximum lot coverage shall be 45%.
F. Yards and Setbacks Buildings and structures shall be sited in accordance with the following minimum setbacks: Setback Use Front Yard Principal and Accessory 7.5 m Buildings and [25 ft.] Structures
Rear Yard
Side Yard
Side Yard on Flanking Street
7.5 m [25 ft.]
7.5 m [25 ft.]
7.5 m [25 ft.]
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* One (1) side yard setback shall be 7.5 m or 0.0 m if the side yard about the land is commercial or industrial.
G. Height of Buildings 1. Principal buildings: The height shall not exceed 12 metres [40 ft.]. 2. Accessory buildings and structures: The height shall not exceed 6 metres [20 ft.].
H. Off-Street Parking and Loading/Unloading ?
Bike parking may be permitted as specified: For company fleet vehicles in all commercial, industrial and mixed-use developments (where commercial or industrial uses are part of the development) required parking spaces may be provided as bike parking.
I. Landscaping 1. All developed portions of the lot not covered by buildings, structures or paved areas shall be landscaped including the retention of mature trees. This landscaping shall be maintained. 2. Along the developed sides of the lot which about a highway, a continuous landscaping strip of not less than 3 metres [10 ft.] in width shall be provided from back of curb or projected future curb location. 3. A landscaping screen shall be created along all lot lines separating the developed portion of the lot from any residential lot, or from a highway which is developed with residential lots opposite the developed portion of the lot. 4. Loading areas, garbage containers and passive recycling containers shall be screened from any adjacent residential lot, to a height of at least 2.5 metres [8 ft.] by buildings, a landscaping screen, a solid decorative fence, or a combination thereof.
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J. Special Regulations 1. Land and structures shall be used for the uses permitted in this Zone only if such uses: ? Constitute no unusual fire, explosion or safety hazard; ? Do no emit noise in excess of 70 dB(A) measured at any point on any boundary of the lot on which the use is located, provided that where a lot abuts a lot other than an industrial lot the noise level shall not exceed 60 dB(A); and ? Do not produce heat or glare perceptible from any boundary of the lot on which the use is located. 2. Outdoor storage of any goods, materials or supplies is specifically prohibited. 3. Garbage containers and passive recycling containers shall not be located within any required setback adjacent any residential lot. 4. Child care centres shall be located on the lot such that these centres have direct access to an open space and play area within the lot.
K. Subdivision Lots created through subdivision in this Zone shall conform to the following minimum standards:
Lot Size
Lot Width
Lot Depth
2,000 sq. m
30 metres
30 metres
Source available from- Surrey City of parks
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DEVELOPMENT OF BUSINESS PARK Today’s multi-neighbourhood, amenity-resourced business park has evolved from topographical phenomena and planning legislation. Many cities throughout the world came about not by the product of a grand plan, but by the gradual growth and subsequent fusion of previously independent settlements. Fragments of the open land that separated the settlements were saved to become commons, greens or parks. While commerce, banking and government identified a typical city centre area, light industry was often left to occupy those parts left over. Although transport systems were good, land which was environmentally poor led to cheap land price, even cheaper industrial sheds and the arrival of the trading estates. In 1898, Ebenezer Howard, a city of London clerk, proposed the idea of the Garden City, which would combine the dynamics of the city with the spaciousness of the countryside in a logically developed setting. The objective of the Garden City Pioneers was "to promote the relief of overcrowded areas and to secure a wide distribution of the population over the land". Howard considered the optimum population of such city to be 32,000 people and the railway to be its principal transportation system. This city is considered to be the earliest example of a single use business park, although fully integrated into the vision of a garden city. Housing developments with large gardens, public open spaces and intimate shopping centres all were combined with established but discrete light industries, community, work and leisure, they all came almost naturally to coalesce. In 1928, a garden city was proposed to cope with the developing problem of car transport in New Jersey especially the issue of car mass ownership. Here, the car was directed to the edge of the site. As car pollution became worse during the 1960s, new office development was encouraged away from city centre. This move, together with the success of many industrial estates and an almost innate sense of wanting to live and work in a garden city environment, influenced the planning of many university developments and science and research parks. During the 1970s, the experience was fed back to new town development corporations. The business area was planned as separate from downtown, set in a ‘park’, communalized, landscaped and car parked. A park will only be as good as the people who use it and the people who run it. During the early period of business park development, when the word ‘park’ referred to the attitude of a stationary car rather than the green lung of a townscape, the architecture was often as poor as the landscape, with buildings for component manufacturers and equipment assemblers only one step away from the industrial or trading estate.
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Parks have developed to become an appropriate environment for high-profile, hightechnology corporations who seek to declare a prestige product by association with good architecture, good art and a good landscape design. Rather than scarring the park with open storage areas, poor environmental auditing and erratic maintenance programs, the tenant and landlord work in close partnership to maintain the highest standards of building design, ecology and preservation.
CRITERIA OF BUSINESS PARK 1. Site selection 2. Scale and Density 3. Master Plan
1. SITE SELECTION Perhaps the most critical decision in business park development is the site. A good park will be located by a freeway or preferably at the intersection of two or more. The development will be close to a large city or metropolitan district with an established downtown trading centre and be linked by rapid public transport systems. The site will also need to connect, reinforce and enhance the indigenous community, whereby a planning transaction can take place between the amenities of the new development and the services of existing infrastructures. The geography, geology and morphology of the site should be such that the development provides a considerable improvement in the visual amenity of the area, notwithstanding the introduction of buildings to a location that was previously rural and undeveloped. A criterion for site selection depends on the degree by which the area may be improved by development, it follows that the existing site has a low intrinsic value and can be purchased within the terms of the economic equation. The balance needed to be established within the tripod of quality, cost and value. It will play a large part in the preferred context of a business park as any other condition prevailing upon the selection of a suitable site for commercial development within a rural or suburban location.
2. SCALE AND DENSITY A sense of scale and understated density appropriate to an out of town location must be maintained for the park to give a natural prominence to the striking buildings. Beyond
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building a park, with the traditional constituent elements of greeneries, waterways, walkways, lakes and planted landscaping, the business park must integrate secondary and tertiary highways, a servicing matrix of utilities, high density parking and the buildings themselves. To achieve a result in which the park element is dominant enough to sustain its own definition in terms of non-developable open space and also contain enough buildings to support the central amenity facilities that create a sense of an integrated community, the development site must achieve a critical mass. And a central feature of the business park is the quality of its landscaping with a generous car- parking, carefully screened by further landscaping with the majority of spaces being sited to the rear of the buildings. Thus, Business parks require substantial areas of land to guarantee their success. A large site not allows for the development to be planned and designed as a recognizable place in its own right, but has the advantage of becoming flexible enough for various areas of the development to be conceived as neighourhoods. The smaller the park, the more likely it is to be overcome by its surroundings and the less likely to afford facilities. A business park development will also look to the issues of density. Planning authorities, development agencies and marketing consultants will all have views on the ratio of car parking to building development population, the floor area of building to gross acre and the preferred height of building. All of these factors should generally allow for 40 percent of offplot amenity landscape to secure the conditions understood in the reconciliation of scale and context to financial feasibility. Many parks are designed against a measure of 10,000 sq. ft. of building floor area per gross acre, with parking for every employee. These two criteria combine to determine the road system, utility infrastructure and ratios between open space building mass and hard landscape and if well designed, can prove a satisfactory equation. But if the idea of community is to be preserved, densities should vary throughout the park, in order to avoid monotony and to establish quarters or neighbourhoods that are referential to recognized patterns. As business parks grow to such a size that they can be compared to villages or small towns, then successful urban figures like the village green, town square or civic plaza can be used as models to justify higher or lower regional densities in the cause of composition and development topography.
3. MASTER PLAN A master plan must be quite precise in the shape with the arrangement and zoning of individual buildings within their boundaries and among their neighbourhoods in order to bring clarity and homogeneity to the whole, while leaving flexibility for individual statements of architectural expression. The master plan will seek to promote control and choice, within a hard and soft landscaped framework, that is formal enough to characterize the site and informal enough to establish the genius loci.
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The master plan is also a proving and protecting tool. It will enable prospective tenants to see that the principal benefit of parking at the front door can be realized and that aspect, prospect, and orientation, no matter who designs the individual building, can be achieved inside the plot boundary and within the neighbourhood matrix. It will protect the indigenous ecologies of the site including, for example, woodlands and wetlands and provide systems of land drainage balancing lakes to encourage wildlife. For the physical population, the master plan will provide for security systems and a central amenity complex comprising shops, banks, gyms, bars and managerial suites, as well as pathways for internal pedestrian use. The master plan also provides for the careful democratization of the site. Public rights of way are protected and enhanced, and the new walks are created as a separate circulation spaces from the distributor roads, that allow the public to enjoy the park and its amenities while not intruding on the necessarily more private realms of research buildings or computer facilities. Consequently, the master plan will provide for soft landscape buffer zones that are begin to the needs of all, without the requirements for the ubiquitous boundary fence, or threatening sentry post. Lastly, the master plan will provide standards for clear but discreet signage of the site and the overall control of graphics, street furniture, bus and rail stop points that, when badly considered, so often compromise a park’s visual quality. Considering this criterion, Fruita Greenway Business Park is discussed belowFRUITA GREENWAY BUSINESS PARK
The City of Fruita and Mesa County have recently completed an economic development master plan for about 1,700 acres of land west of Fruita, most of which is zoned industrial. The plan also addresses the relationship of the Fruita Greenway Business Park to downtown Fruita and commercial areas along Highways. The master plan is the result of the efforts of a 20 member committee working over the past seven months. The steering committee consists of representatives of local land owners, private business organizations and representatives of local, state and federal governments. The study was funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration.
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The plan envisions an interconnected, attractive business park with numerous light industrial and office sites bounded on the south by a continuous wide greenway with protected open space, trails and lakes along the flood plain of the Colorado River. It proposes a number of improvements to the area to make it more marketable as a future business and light industrial park such as: ? improved frontage roads and rail crossings and closure of dangerous private rail crossings ? extensions of infrastructure to the site ? pre-approving sites for zoning and subdivision regulations ? beautification of the area including a continuous tree lined boulevard and entry features ? and concentrated marketing efforts. The master plan will be implemented through a coordinated effort of private industry and government financing of the needed improvements. The greenway is one of the most important design features of the Fruita Greenway Business Park. The greenway includes most of the 100 year floodplain of the Colorado River that lies within the Park. This plan recommends that property owners either grant an easement for the greenway or dedicate the greenway portions of their parcels to the Colorado Division of Parks. A proposed trail, which would be open to the public, will meander through the entire length of the park, more than four miles. The trail will link the downtown and Highway 340 corridor areas with the Kokopelli Trail at Loma. Frequently spaced access points will provide future workers and the public with opportunities to enjoy the trail and the greenway. The greenway will also include two lakes that will be created after proposed gravel mining operations have terminated. The Fruita Greenway Business Park Plan is designed to guide the growth and development of a largely untapped resource in Fruita and Mesa County. The plan is an advisory document only and does not have the force of law. The Park’s plan includes: 1. Goals and objectives for the redevelopment of the area. 2. Analysis of existing land uses infra-structure and transportation characteristics of the site. 3. Analysis of the opportunities and constraints to the development of the area. 4. Identification of alternative development scenarios that may include extending infrastructure to the area to make it more marketable. 5. Adopting the final redevelopment plan
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CLASSIFICATION On the research basis, Business Park has been classified according to its principal purpose which is mentioned below. The other amenities can come along the main purpose as well according to its requirement. 1. Industrial Business Park 2. Office and Commercial Business Park 3. Research and Development Business Park 4. Mixed Use Business Park
1. INDUSTRIAL BUSINESS PARK Case studies on ? South Newmoor ? HSINCHU Science-based Industrial Park ? Dundee Technology park ? Centre Park ? Bricklayers Arms
a. SOUTH NEWMOOR Location: Irvine, Ayhire, Scotland Size: Three units at 1000m2 Function of building: Speculative low-cost factory space The project was designed to meet the need for speculative, low cost factories. The planning brief was for the factories to black or white. The factory was designed all white for two reasons. The first being the practical reason that all the low-cost components were available in white as a standard finish. The second being that white would help to articulate the detailing of the components on which the design depended. The design is a simple square pyramid with boilers mounted on a crow’s nest on the central column. The building is surrounded with a canopy to give weather protection in one of the wettest areas of Britain. It also gives shade in summer, while allowing sunlight penetration from a low winter sun. The detailing of the canopy is designed to provide lightness and intricacy. The three buildings at Irvine in Scotland are good examples of carefully detailed pavilions. The clarity and elegance of these modest sheds is in sharp contrast to the
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surrounding landscape.
B. HSINCHU SCIENCE-BASED INDUSTRIAL PARK Location: Hsinchu, Taiwan Size: 605 hectares Function of building: Science-based Industrial Park
The Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (HSIP) was established with the aim of creating a center for the development of high-tech industries in Taiwan, providing a high quality environment for both working and living. After 18 years of hard work, the HSIP has become a model of success for science parks. Due to its international recognition, each year numerous important visitors and media from abroad come to visit the park. The planning committee of the Tainan Science-based Industrial Park (TSIP) commenced work inside the park, starting from 1 July, 1998. By the end of 1998, 28 companies had moved into the park and 9 companies had started with the construction of factories. This marked the formal start of cooperation between the two science parks, Hsinchu in the north and Tainan in the south. The HSIP is situated between municipal Hsinchu and Hsinchu County, fifteen minutes by car or bus from the heart of the city. The Sun Yat-sen Freeway together with the Second Northern Freeway provide the principal means of access. Rail access to the park is via the west coast's north-south rail line, which runs the length of the island and on which Hsinchu is one of the main stops.
The park is divided into an industrial area, a residential area and a recreational area. Up to now, it covers an area of about 580 hectares. Another 25 hectares of land are still under development. The industrial area contains standard factory buildings, custom designed factory buildings and laboratories. The residential areas include apartments and sports facilities, such as basketball, tennis courts and a swimming pool. The Science Park Administration has allocated a great portion of the HSIP as a recreational park with trees and flowers as well as a Lake Placid and a Chinese-style garden, all adding to the quality of life for those living in and around the HSIP. INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
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The companies within the park are also concerned about the quality of the environment. Many companies have made contributions to the creation of leisure facilities. Mosel Vitelic Inc. (Mosel) has developed public land as the "HSIP,s Sports Park"; United Microelectronics Corp.(UMC) has built tennis courts, basketball courts and a scenic park, and Grand Pacific Optoelectronics Corp. made the company surroundings as a park area. The public park around Ching-Tsao Lake in Hsinchu city is maintained by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufaturing Corp (TSMC). PUBLIC PARK ADOPTED BY UMC
The number of high-tech companies in the HSIP grew to 272 in 1998. Of the companies in the park, 222 were domestically owned and 50 were foreign-owned (see figure 1). The activities of the companies in the HSIP are more and more geared to internationalization.
c. DUNDEE TECHNOLOGY PARK Location- Dundee, Scotland] Size: 1494 m2 Function of building- Speculative technology The Dundee Technology Park in Scotland is small in comparison with the other parks now being developed in Europe and America. However, every part of the building is beautifully considered with the archaeology of the site, not only establishing a dynamic counterpoint between the steel framed building and its cross wall, but also establishing a subtle and sophisticated collage between the natural and the man-made. Rather than establish a new and essentially artificial landscape, the Grinian building, together with its neighbours, have been carefully inserted into an indigenous environment. Although there are rarely opportunities for place-making, the Grianan Centre at Dundee Technology Park in Scotland demonstrates how a speculative brief for a park can celebrate the genius loci of a site, even to the point of exposing the geomorphology to become part of the architectonic intervention.
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d. CENTRE PARK Location- Warrington, Cheshire, England Size: 12 acres Function of building- Speculative office and light industrial building The site comprises 73 acres of former industrial land and playing fields and it has been opened up by the creation of a 12 acre linear park down its centre. Planning consent exists for mixed use on a variety of sites surrounding the park giving flexibility to respond to market need. e. BRICKLAYER ARMS Location- London, England Size- 18,870 m² Function of building- Warehouse/ Industrial units The development combines seven industrial warehouse units with wideloading parking areas (full circles for articulated lorries) and open-plan office space. Although not a park in the traditional and revised sense of the word, the new factory warehouses use frames in space, screen walls and architectonic markers to imply a type of enclosure and place making, the quality of which is uncommon in many conventional out-of-city business parks. The combination of steel and masonry, together with the quality of construction, detailing and architectural composition raises what might have been a development distinguished by its ordinariness to an architectural statement of considerable quality.
f. PACIFIC REACH BUSINESS PARK Location- Coquitlam, British Columbia Size: 6600 m² Function of building- Industrial units This Multi-Tenant building will be constructed not far from the Fraser River in a park developed by Intrawest in Coquitlam, BC. The building will be two storey constructed of tilt-up concrete walls, wood floors, steel roof and aluminum glazing system.. The
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building will also have two bays which will accomodate semi-trailer loading. The imagery is intentional from two standpoints. First, the close proximity to the Fraser River offers opportunities to capture the image of marine/industrial elements that were once so prominent in this area of the lower mainland. Secondly, from a traditional viewpoint, these types of building have often been downgraded to the lowest form of architecture, devoid of any design.
2. OFFICE AND COMMERCIAL BUSINESS PARK Case studies on ? Stockley Park ? Gateway West Business Park ? Highbrook Business Park ? Brindabella Business Park ? Newbury Business Park
a. STOCKLEY PARK Location- Heathrow, Londom, England Size- 415 acres Introduction Stockley Park is situated on 415 acres (168 hectares) of extensively reclaimed land which has been transformed into one of the world’s leading business parks. It is located within the greenbelt on the outskirts of west London near Heathrow Airport and has excellent motorway links. The business park was developed as a result of an outstanding partnership between the public and private sectors and was officially opened by Prince Charles on 6 June 1986. It now comprises 141 acres (57ha) of business park and 274 acres (111ha) of landscaped environment. Its first class location for international business, stunning parkland setting and award winning architecture, has attracted numerous prestigious corporations including Apple Computer, Marks & Spencer, BT, GlaxoSmithKline, Cisco Systems, Matsushita, Hasbro and Canon. 3 AND 4 LONG WALK ROAD
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Thirty Two companies now occupy space at the Park creating 7,000 jobs, many for local residents. The requirements of this vibrant and growing business community are met by using innovative building designs and providing the flexible working space which is demanded by today’s leading occupiers.
Stockley Park Consortium worked closely with the London Borough of Hillingdon to make sure that the first class amenities at the park were available to local residents as well as to staff working in the offices. The public amenities include: an 18-hole PGA European Tours championship golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones Snr, a district park, football pitches, cycle and bridle-paths, horse riding stables and the superb Arena building which includes shops, restaurants, the Virgin Active Health & Fitness Club. Office Park environment Stockley Park is widely considered to be one of the best examples of brownfield development. Its success has been achieved by a combination of thorough planning, meticulous landscaping and innovative architecture, which have contributed to the park’s excellent reputation. THE ARENA
The masterplanning of the whole project has been undertaken by Arup Associates, and many renowned architects have been used for the design of the buildings. It has been highly successful in combining modern buildings with the natural landscape as a result of thoughtful design by architects such as Sir Norman Foster & Partners, Troughton McAslan, Geoffrey Darke Associates, Eric Parry Associates, Ian Ritchie Architects, Foggo Associates, Skidmore Owings & Merrill and Kohn Pederson Fox. Input from space planners DEGW ensures that the environment within the THE ARENA buildings is as well conceived as the landscape around it. Phased development The general plan included a golf course, a geometrically shaped park open to the public and corporate buildings with contrasting circular and linear forms. This plan was performed over a number of phases. Phase 1 provided seven zones of buildings, roads and a recreation centre (two and three storey structures) totalling 140,000 m2. Phase 2, completed in 2000 provided two and four storey structures in six buildings totalling 42,500 m2.
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The third and final phase, dawleywood, started in summer 2001 and will comprise 538,000 sq ft (50,000 m2) of offices in five buildings arranged around an urban square. The design concepts have pushed workplace flexibility even further than previous phases by providing sub-divisibility of buildings which also link together and space of varying depths which can be adapted to suit all new ways of working. The landscaped environment, which includes more than 2,000 mature trees, builds on Stockley’s reputation for providing high quality surroundings. The Country Park Despite being a leading centre of commerce, Stockley Park is also an environmental destination in its own right, offering some of the finest views in the area. The northern 274 acres (111ha) of Stockley Park have been transformed into one of the largest man-made parklands in London. The parkland incorporates 11 lakes and nearly 200,000 trees and shrubs, planted in a forestation programme which will mature over the years. It attracts a host of wildlife ranging from badgers to herons. The forests include a mixture of species and the more rapidly growing trees, which create the initial visual impact, are already over 30 ft (9m) high. Over time, these trees will be thinned out leaving predominantly oak, ash and hornbeam which are the natural species in the clay based soils of lowland England. This environment is immaculately maintained by an on-site management team and an extensive security system which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. LAKE LONG WALK ROAD
Site history
The site has a long history and archaeological finds revealed that it was home to Neanderthal man dating back some 70,000 years ago. In more recent times, during the 18th century, the site was part of the Dawley Estate park and gardens created by Lord Ossulton. SITE BEFORE DEVELOPING INTO PARK
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From the 19th century, the site was excavated for brick earth from which Stockley’s name is derived, via the distinctive stock brick. Gravel extraction for use by the construction industry continued into the 20 th century. The open excavations were subsequently used for landfill up until the mid-1970s. The majority of the landfill was London’s household refuse. The operation was uncontrolled leading to leachate pollution of the Grand Union Canal to the south of the site, and methane generation resulting in severe underground fires and restricting the growth of natural vegetation. The site had little amenity value to the local community and was an environmental liability. Few trees and little other vegetation could survive and the land was barely able to support the grazing of a few horses. During the late 1970s, the London Borough of Hillingdon (LBH) investigated several schemes for the decontamination and rehabilitation of the site for public amenity use, but was unable to develop a financially viable scheme. The Masterplanning of the 1980s In the early 1980s, an extensive site investigation was carried out by Ove Arup & Partners to determine the extent of the landfill and associated pollution. ROUNWOOD AVENUE LAKE
In 1984, a masterplan was created for the site by property developers Elliot Bernerd of Chelsfield and Sir Stuart Lipton of Stanhope. The site planning strategy was to locate the business park in the south and create a green zone in the north. This not only enhanced the site for public use, but also created a landscaped strip between the new development and surrounding housing. This masterplan was approved by the London Borough of Hillingdon and the GLC and sanctioned by the then Department of the Environment. The site was transformed by instigating engineering works, which included the largest earthworks programme of its type in Europe. Masterplanning of the park was aimed at maximising visual and amenity impact, while minimising the requirement for exporting any materials off or on site. Four million cubic metres of landfill was moved to the north to form the golf course and District Park. Gravel extracted from the north east of the site was used to form building foundations and London clay to form bunds which separate refuse from the clean business park area.
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The initial planning consent for 1.5 million sq ft (140,000 m2) of commercial office space funded the decontamination works, provided significant planning gains and highway improvements. The agreement reached was a tripartite partnership between the LBH, the developer and the funders Universities Superannuation Scheme. Subsequently the planning consent was extended for a further 1 million sq ft (97,500 m2) together with additional planning gain and highway improvement works.
b. GATEWAY WEST BUSINESS PARK Location- Sacramento, California
Gateway West Business Park, a site for high-quality office and commercial developments has almost one million square feet in a mixed-use community. This property has 892,900 GSF of office development potential, 2 motel sites totaling approximately 300 rooms, 33,000 GSF of restaurant space in four pad locations, and a gas station location. The office development area will provide immediate access and high visibility for tenants from the freeway’s proximity while providing a high level of employee amenities directly adjacent to the office locations. The project is planned to include two, three, and four story office buildings with a total of 4,357 parking spaces. Gateway West Business Park is conveniently located north of downtown Sacramento, California, between Sacramento International Airport and the Downtown Sacramento regional employment hub. The siting of the office structures will allow the buildings to take advantage of both the street frontages within the community, which provide direct pedestrian connections to the surrounding amenities, and enable the buildings to deliver freeway signage and business presence. The office sites are strategically placed to provide dual frontages. The buildings have been planned to provide pedestrian plazas between each other.In addition to the availability of a
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significant amount of office square footage directly next to the freeway, the project is designed to provide for the daily needs of office users with easy pedestrian access. The availability of affordable housing and accommodation of neighborhood shopping needs for the surrounding residential community, within the project area, gives Gateway West Business Park a special infill position within this urban context. The project’s neighborhood center includes 88,800 GSF of retail buildings, 5,000 GSF of restaurant pad, a service station location, and 565 parking spaces on 10.6 net acres. This type of access is key to employee retention and location desirability by office employers.This range of amenities combined with the availability of new neighborhood housing makes this project unique to this regional area. c. HIGHBROOK BUSINESS PARK Location – Auckland, New Zealand Size – 447 acres
MAIN STREET
SOUTHERN MOTORWAY
MAUNGAREI PARKWAY
The plan for the Highbrook Business Park in New Zealand transformed the former horse farm into a park development of office and light manufacturing with supporting commercial, retail, and professional uses. The task included the protection and use of the existing natural, cultural, and aesthetic amenities. Built on a 477-acre peninsula that protrudes out into the Tamaki River, a tributary of Auckland Harbor, it contains some 9.5 miles of scenic waterfront as well as half of an extinct volcano crater. The existing hedgerows, wooden fences, and poplar windrows of the farm create a large grid overlaying the gently rolling ridgeline of the peninsula. The concept plan embraces the farm vocabulary of vernacular architecture, hedgerows, paddocks, and fences, which embodies the classic New Zealand landscape and provides inspiration for the character of Highbrook.
Trees are placed on the sides of the sites where they will not block views, producing
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windrows that step down the shelves parallel to the view lines. Commercial retail uses of the park, including food and service stores, are arranged along a ridgeline road with parking behind. Professional offices and medical and dental services are located above the shops and stores. The new Highbrook Square, occupying a small prominence reaching out into the bay, will include a small hotel, the first services and shops, and a health club and gymnasium. Special care was given to design the development to respect the pre-European land use of the Maori people and their continuing cultural use of the site. The carefully designed infrastructure elements and natural systems work together to create a unique system that both functions efficiently and aesthetically addresses the needs of the development and park users.
d. BRINDABELLA BUSINESS PARK
Location- Canberra, Australia Brindabella Park is a new business development situated on the parklands of Canberra International Airport. Brindabella Park has grown into a formidable Aerospace, Defence and Technology Hub and with a great design and quality construction set within the transport hub of Canberra International Airport. The unique architecture of Brindabella Park is clean, classy, functional, airy and very modern. It has already attracted many leading edge businesses and government departments. This clustering effect means even more businesses and government departments are deciding to join our highly skilled community of more than one thousand people. If you are going to be judged by your address and the company you keep, it makes sense to make sure they are both successful. The buildings that are developing at Brindabella Park are the best commercial buildings in Canberra (each one is better than the last), although building architecture and quality construction translates into nothing without the extensive landscaping and tenant amenities that transform the buildings into a top quality working environment. Brindabella Park already has a number of existing staff amenities and breakout areas such as: Multiple Cafe's & BBQ Areas, Sports Facilities (Gym, Tennis Courts, Sports Oval, Volley Ball, Golf Nets), Child Care - The Park School For Early Learning, Multiple ATM's
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Bus Service, 24hr Caltex Star Mart, Shared Conference/Meeting Facilities and Broad Band Access. e. NEWBURY BUSINESS PARK Location- Newbury, Berkshire, England Size- 30 acres One of the delightful by-products of business park landscaping has been the rapid colonization of woods and water by a wide variety of wildlife, attracted by unpolluted habitats and a generous food supply. In smaller, the parks that might attract very divergent commercial tenants there is always the possibility of contrasting architectural expressions being in very close proximity. Hence the glass panel and neoprime architecture of the ATS building is in marked contrast to the rather pretentious language of its Cabletron neighbour.
RIVERGATE
DIGITAL BUILDING
One of the principal advantages in using proprietary lightweight cladding and panel systems is that the quality can be monitored during the factory process. Instead of the quality fluctuations found in on-site wet trade construction, factory made units depend only on the efficiency of a tried and tested machine and jig operation. At the Newbury Business Park, pre-finished colour coating also ensure consistency of finish, long term maintenance free periods and an architectonic quality to the visual language that is consistent through drawing, production and realization.
3. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS PARK Case studies on ? Chilworth Research Centre ? Greenway Business Park ? Santa Barbara Business Park
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a. CHILWORTH RESEARCH CENTER Location- Chilworth, Southampton, England Size – 30,000 m2 Function of building – Scientific research and development Sprung-loaded, timber slatted vertical blinds poised at right angle as to adjacent fenestration systems provide sun screens to the serialized, top-hung window system. The tertiary elements of fabric sitting lightly against a low cost wall, provide reflections to reinforce the dramatic aesthetic that can be achieved from simple repetition. The four buildings surrounding the central circus seem to poke their noses over the garden wall by way of reminding the observer that architecture and landscape work together as a place-making activity. Only six buildings comprise phase 2 of the Chilworth project, but the symmetrical arrangement about a primary avenue and oval circus secures a geometrical harmony within a modest landscape. The modest roof plan belies an elegantly detailed corner condition of richness and complexity.
b. GREENWAY BUSINESS PARK Location- Richardson, Texas, USA Size- 200,000 m2 Function of building- corporate HQ and research and development facilities The project combines a 16- storey administration block and a 10,000 m2 research and development laboratory. Shared amenities include a cafeteria, credit union, convenience store and health centre. MASTER PLAN
The early drawings showing a huge, three-storey linear arrangement of offices and research facilities ranged as two armatures about an eighty foot atrium and barrelvault ceiling, together with the sixteen-storey tower, come to realization via the model making process with extraordinary accuracy.
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Northern Telecom’s Research and Development arm, BNR Incorporated, forms the heart of a huge Texan business park. Unlike European business parks, the scale of development allows for certain areas to be high rise, including the sixteen storey Northern Telecom tower. Over 4,000 employees call for the inclusion of cafeterias, plazas, shopping and other central facilities of lakes, gardens and parks. The heroic scale of BNR’s complex quietly disguises a highly serviced building of extreme complexity.
c. Santa Barbara Business Park Location- Goleta, California Size-192,656 sq. ft. Type - Research & Development Subtype- Industrial Office Park Santa Barbara Business Park is situated near the heart of Goleta, minutes from Santa Barbara Airport and the University of California Santa Barbara. It is located in the heart of Goleta’s business parks, conveniently located near shopping and restaurants. It consists of six single story concrete tilt-up structures with pre-cast concrete and tinted glass walls. Buildings range from 14,766 sq/ft to 42,830 sq/ft. Buildings range from 14,766 sq/ft to 42,830 sq/ft. Building standard to house hi-tech, light industrial and office uses. Use of Suspended acoustical ceiling tile, fluorescent and incandescent lighting and fire sprinklers can be found here. Beautifully landscaped with tastefully designed architecture and conveniently located across from the new Camino Real Marketplace, Santa Barbara Business Park is the ideal location for the company.
4. MIXED-USE BUSINESS PARK Case studies on ? Hacienda Business Park ? Marina Village ? Vintage Park
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a. HACIENDA BUSINESS PARK
CURRENT ZONING SCHEME
Hacienda Business Park does not operate in isolation. It is located in the heart of a region faced with a number of interrelated challenges including an acute affordable housing shortage, traffic congestion and air pollution. When one considers communities across the Bay Area with a high quality of life, the City of Pleasanton most certainly comes to mind. Through intelligent foresight, sound planning, and a strong commitment to community, Pleasanton has developed an enviable reputation as one of the most desirable locations to live and work in Northern California.
Through this process, Pleasanton has produced an enviable quality of life and developed the first class amenities and resources that make the community enriching for all residents: outstanding schools, expansive parks, vibrant businesses, social and cultural activities, and a host of other goods and services. Embracing a strong community vision has allowed Pleasanton to face and overcome a number of challenges in the past and will provide a signpost towards addressing future challenges such as retaining economic vitality, maintaining quality educational institutions, providing an adequate supply of housing of different types and levels of affordability, improving mobility and meeting the social needs and expectations of current and future residents. Hacienda Business Park, originally conceived as a mixture of warehouse and light industrial buildings, a new vision conceived in the late 1970's called ‘Hacienda Business Park’ produced a home to world-class businesses and an economic engine that today generates nearly 20% of the city’s General Fund revenues. Visions evolve and Hacienda has now grown beyond its original conception. Through a rigorous process of planning in response to changes in the economic and social needs of the community, Hacienda today is a diverse mixture of uses including: office, light industrial, retail, residential and public and institutional. Hacienda is now ready for its next stage of evolution. While it is true that Hacienda has become diverse, up until this point this diversity has primarily been created through changes that have occurred on a lot by lot basis. The steps proposed in this plan would bring a more intensive integration of uses. The City of Pleasanton has the opportunity to guide Hacienda into this next exciting phase by supporting zoning changes in the business park that will allow for a full compliment of jobs,
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housing and retail linked by a comprehensive transportation system. These changes will create a synergy of land uses within Hacienda resulting in a more vibrant and energized place for residents, workers and visitors to enjoy. Businesses, homes, retail stores and restaurants are connected by attractive pedestrian pathways with comfortable and inviting public meeting spaces. an active neighborhood can be visualized where residents, friends, workers and visitors, young and old alike, can shop for local produce and crafts at a farmer’s market on a weekday afternoon. People relaxing in an open plaza or enjoying a leisurely walk in a comfortable and attractive setting while taking care of errands on their lunch break can be picturized as well. Hacienda will transition into a unique and active network of neighborhoods that provides a new level of choice and freedom for those attracted to the inherent advantages of living in this environment.
b. MARINA VILLAGE Location- Alameda, California, USA Size- 183 acres Function of building- Mixed-use project This project is designed to suggest a romantic, picturesque ‘urban water front village’, containing retail, commercial and office uses. All buildings are developed as an integral product, reinforcing the Marina village theme.
MASTER PLAN
The overall project reflects an active, playful, enjoyable environment. Plazas, water features, recreational areas and walkways will be presented in such a way that as one passes from space to space, a new spatial experience is felt by the individual. Areas throughout will contrast from intimate and controlled spaces to open active spaces.
Integral to the project is the linear pedestrian spine which features an historic walk marked by sculptures and plaques; pedestrian streetscapes which will include street vendors,, water features, colourful flags and awings, and picturesque views of downtown Oakland, San Francisco and the Bay Bridge.
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c. VINTAGE PARK Location- Foster city, California, USA Size- 13,000 m2 Function of building- Mixed-use development
Vintage park lots 1 and 2 are located east of Vintage Park Boulevard within the master plan, a mixed-use development in Foster City. These two parcels include single-storey light industrial buildings as a two-storey office building. The buildings are constructed of tilt-up concrete panels, featuring an articulated modular grid exterior surface. Exterior face awnings are utilized in addition to entry plaza features, abundant landscaping, open space, series of fresh water lagoons, waterways and brick paved pedestrian pathways which contribute to a parklike ‘ live work and play environment’. The master plan for the long-range development of Vintage Park, Foster City, is a paramount importance. The requirement was to create a unique and an exciting mixed-use development that would respect conditions that exist yet have the qualities of urban life, be conductive to public use, ensure safety, welfare and recreation and relate to the contemporary life styles of the community. In keeping with Foster City’s approach and heritage, the character will be embodied in a ‘park-like’ setting, reflecting the water-oriented theme of Foster City. Major land uses of offices, commercial/retail, research and development buildings and other support facilities are planned and integrated within the overall framework. This basic framework consists of a series of interlocking systems that contain generous landscaping, creations of fresh-water features and circulation systems which include bicycle paths, pedestrian and transit connections; visual order, interest and spatial sequence; and public safety.
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CONCLUSION Business Park is the park idea moved away from the city centre, to a place accessible only by car incorporating all the required amenities. Its uses include administrative, financial, commercial service, governmental, and community support services; research and development centers; light manufacturing; vocational education and training facilities; business and trade schools; and emergency services. Compared with the inner city, with its problem of transport, pollution, violence and poor health, the business parks is seen not as a type of light industrial suburb laying around the outskirts of mass housing schemes, but as a clean ‘village’ complex that is easy to get to, pleasant to stay in and comfortable to live. As the population is fixed by permanent standards of density and plot ratios, there are no queues in and no queues out. Roads are big enough, bars are not too busy and the bank is a lakeside walk away. For these reasons, and because a high investment environment can generally only be afforded by wealthy multinational corporations, the business park has developed into an arcadia of lunchtime picnics, workout in the gyms, and birthday parties in the local wine bar overlooking snow-white swans and koi carp the size of dolphins. But also Business parks filled up very rapidly and have been areas of ugliness for decades. This is a problem that touches all of us. Business parks are a forgotten design challenge. It is tenth in the list of projects added to the architecture policy document. Designers have to catch up as far as business parks are concerned. All too often architecture on business parks has little or no character and identity.
REFERENCES ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Science, Office and Business Park Design – Alan Phillips Time-Saver Standards for Building Types (Third Edition) Yard, Street, Park (The Design Of suburban open space) – Cynthia L. Girling, Kenneth I. Helphand The Urban Pattern (fifth edition) – G S Hiraskar People Places (Design Guidelenes for Urban Open Space) – Clare Cooper Marcus and Carolyn Francis International Landscape Design – Robert Holden And different websites
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