Forest Fair Village: Revisioned

Image credit: Buro Happold

Have you heard of 15 minute cities?

That concept plagued my mind for the longest time, like an idea that was too good to be true. The media claimed it to be some dystopian concept, but I believe that it is a great idea. Combine living, work, life, and essentials in a sphere that takes 15 minutes to travel through. What a wonderful idea is that?

The more I learned about the concept of 15 minute cities, the more I became fascinated. However, I had no intention to bring those ideas I had to paper because I was too scared that they would be stupid. However, when my friend brought up learning Revit, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to learn CAD skills and bring my vision of a 15 minute city to life.

In this instructable, I present a way to envision what a 15 minute city would look like. How a 15 minute city could be structured and situated. This is my take on the concept of a 15 minute city.

In this project, I used Revit (briefly), TinkerCAD as CAD modelling software. I used paper and a tablet to draw and sketch my designs.

Tools used:

1. TinkerCAD (main CAD modelling software)
2. Tablet, notebook, and ruler
3. Google maps and google earth to find site
4. Room size guides on google
5. Definition of a 15 minute city

I hoped to use Revit but sadly it was not possible for this project.

As described above, my idea was to design a 15 minute city. Of course, it was not feasible to design and model a 15 minute city in the time I had set for this project. Therefore, my goal was to design a housing village that could help with the housing problem faced in North America, especially in the United States and Canada. There were multiple goals in this project, including:

1. Designing a housing village that provides affordable housing solutions
2. Use the concept of 15 minute cities to improve life for those housed by this village
3. Use a site that was abandoned, not only to bring life back to those areas, but reduce the excavation costs associated with drilling untouched land.

In order to design a solution that was feasible, I did some research. I found many abandoned malls, including the Promenade in Los Angeles, California. However, this site was not feasible as a housing village was developed across the street and that area provided many amenities already. After some research, I found Forest Fair Village, in Fairfield, Ohio. This site was perfect because it was long abandoned with no clear plans for redevelopment. Additionally, the site had some amenities but not many. However, it was near an Interstate, meaning that Forest Fair Village could be easily accessible.

The site dimensions is:

1. Width: 900.40 m (2,954.06 ft)
2. Height: 402.56 m (1,320.72 ft)

These dimensions are useful during the site sketch. See the legend in the picture for more clarity on where the proposed housing village would lie.

Additionally, by researching 15 minute cities, I outlined some possible amenities Forest Fair Village could include.

After researching, I began developing the site plan. I choose to have 13 towers, which each have 10 stories of residential living space with two bottom levels of amenities. I sketched the site plan in the attached picture. I decided with a transportation focused road design which included sidewalks, raised bike lanes, and a two way road for cars. Residents also have access to underground parking. Visitors to Forest Fair Village can park in the level parking lots. This design has many trails to enjoy nature, and outdoor recreational facilities.

Note: the second parking lot could be converted to a bus exchange for future development.

To design the 10 floors of residential living space for all 13 towers, I decided to use factory OS sizes for apartments. This allows for easy construction and building costs. Additionally, since all levels have the same design, this means there is less confusion or building error.

Do you remember the feeling when you think you could do something easily but it humiliates you when you realize you cannot (yet)?

That's how I felt when I tried Revit for the first time. To be fair, reading documentation and relying on previous CAD knowledge in Vectorworks was not enough. After this project, I will actually learn Revit through video tutorials and hopefully model this design. However, Revit keeps crashing on my laptop, so I believe it is more of a technical issue in using the software.

Unfortunately, due to this constraint, I modelled the design in TinkerCAD, which meant the design was similar. In the images attached, it shows what the design may look like. The colours show the different districts that group the amenities. Although simple, this model shows what Forest Fair Village may look like in the future.

Although the perfectionist me is crying at the colour scheme of this model, I am proud of the work I completed in the past 2 days. It has been a journey, but I am happy with what I completed and I hope you learned from my design.

Some pros of this design include that:

1. Most amenities are in the village, which is a 5 minute walk max from one side of the village to another. This provides wonderful access to all of one's lifestyle needs.
2. This design clearly addresses housing needs by providing lower cost construction due to the repetitive design while maintaining a community aspect and amenities.
3. The circular middle design shows unity and community, as all are respected in the village.

Some cons of this design include that:

1. The location is close to the Interstate which may be a problem to infrastructure if geotechnical considerations were not designed with.
2. Some restaurants in the area would be disturbed and some roads would need to be redesigned.
3. The buildings are very close to each other in the design.
4. The lack of options may be less market desirable.

Here are some things I would change if I had more time:

1. Properly lay out all the amenities missing from the surrounding area
2. Model what the amenities may look like if it differs from the original square base.
3. Model each building in Revit or AutoCAD and learn how to render it using a modelling software. This may mean getting a more advanced laptop that can run this software.
4. Design the layout of the apartments
5. Research the materials needed to use
6. Do a transportation study on the infrastructure and suggest changes if needed. Also, more research on the public transportation options in Ohio is needed.
7. Design the underground parking, facilities management, and utilities for Forest Fair Village.
8. Learn how to use Revit to design each building

Here are some things I'm proud of:

1. The model clearly conveys the message of a 15 minute city and the concept of Forest Fair Village reimagined.
2. I learned how to use TinkerCAD in 2 days!
3. I applied the design process (not finished yet) to work on a project I'm proud of.
4. I stepped out of my comfort zone and designed something I'm proud of.

Could you guess I decided to start this project Sunday afternoon? (and finished it on a Monday night)