From the design of safe street crossings to a multi-modal interchange, the Plaza Oriente Model provided public agency with robust technique for evaluating the social, economic and environmental impact of urban development proposals. The approach is unique in addressing the needs of pedestrians and vehicles within a single methodological framework.
Simulation provides a new, evidence-based approach to the evaluation and strategic design of urban regeneration, workplace interaction, parking, residential planning, store location and retail design.
WITNESS simulation focuses on the functional performance of buildings and urban areas by addressing the design factors that influence performance most:
- How does the pattern of streets in a city influence patterns of movement and social interaction?
- How does the layout of a store influence patterns of browsing and buying?
- How are these patterns affected by the location of individual attractors?
Successful developments such as the Plaza de Oriente complex in Madrid are few in number but, when they do occur, have managed to wed such diverse functions as Bus and car parking facilities, retail concourses, office buildings, residential dwellings and major new public spaces.
In answer to this, architects and urban master planners such as Botella and Oriol are turning to the dynamic computer modelling techniques of WITNESS, to help design the internal and external environments of this development. This innovation makes it possible to model and assist designers in developing layouts which allow all of these activities to occur without any corning into conflict.
One of the earliest, large-scale projects for MODELCO ,as WITNESS Simulation Modeller, was the Plaza de Oriente masterplan and Parking Terminal proposals in central Madrid (See attached video). Here, MODELCO diagnosed the potential of the site and identified routes within the surrounding area that could be extended into the square, to ´embed´ it within the larger urban environment.
The work involved direct consultation with architects, using the interactive computer model to develop and evaluate several possible layouts for the square, including the assessment of macro decisions - such as the primary route structure - and micro decisions - such as the placement and alignments of traffic lights at crossroads.
The model is helping the design team optimise routes between the main pedestrian concourses so that transitions between them are both easy to understand and quick to accomplish for pedestrians. As part of this, a major new public space has been proposed which will serve as a public entrance for each of the parking. The large-scale through-routes for everyday pedestrians in movement from area to area have been designed to produce a densely-used public space and to have positive 'knock-on' effects for related facilities such as the Royal Palace, retail facilities, parking, etc.
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