MetAgorae

Studio Shajay Bhooshan

Tutors Ariadna Lopez, Leo Bieling

Team Sahar Gohari Moghadam, Swati Singh, Yujie Xie, Nivedita Ramachandran

In London’s highly centralized density, the New London Plan projects that 70 % of future commercial densification will be focused on East and Central London. However, due to gaps in participation and governance in decision-making, the proposed functions don't align with the community needs. We see the solution to the imbalance in urban densification in decentralizing the projected density model.

That’s why our project – MetAgorae - suggests a series of regional hubs to distribute density and expand cyber-physical districts. These hubs can be spatially customized online, upgraded in real-time, and created in physical form.  

Boroughs such as Stratford have the potential to become a major center of attraction, due to the growing population, large area, high capability for commerce and retail development. Therefore, we chose Stratford as our prototype site to test our platform in detail. 

The relationship between the physical and the virtual environments rapidly evolved in the past decades, through the use of gamified platforms and most recently the metaverse. MetAgorae proposes an added cyber layer to physical, where users can reach multi-dimensional, multi-party consensus, boost economic activities and enhance productivity. This allows users to socialize, collaborate, and invest in spatial programming and creation in a participatory manner. 

Our platform allows multi-party engagement, from citizens, developers, and authorities to determine a spatial programme unique to each borough. Regional centre growth can be simulated based on identity spaces and location on site, generating surrounding building grids in response. Developers can identify similar functions on-site and integrate their proposals nearby, generating large-scale social spaces. Multiple simulations are used to select the best urban aggregation by calculating revenues and user feedback. To satisfy various users’ requirements spatial customization is embedded within the system using digital fabrication systems for material and design efficiency, such as 3D printing and fabric formwork, to host flexible interior needs. 

MetAgorae is a cyber-physical hub which aids densification and enables citizens to create their multiple centres.