Perspectives for Project One

By doing these perspectives, I tried to capture the feeling of the place that I was aiming to create. I wanted to show what it would feel like to walk into the community. I wanted the drawings to be loosely sketched and not feel very mechanical. I added a little color to try and inject a little richness and depth. I think that I worked for most, but feel that some scenes would have worked better with less color or more muted tones.



Trees lining Whitfild Street





Courtyard at eye-level




Stormwater fountain and plaza offer community spaces




Entrance to a mixed use building on the corner of Whitfield and Scales




Example of housing




A walk leading to plaza




A birds-eye of the stormwater plaza




Housing surrounding community garden and plaza





Homes accessed by street



A mixed use building w/ green roof and a courtyard

Detailed Plan for Project One

I have posted my enlarged plan from project one. It is enlarged to show some of the details to the mixed use plaza. For example, the plan illustrates how stormwater moves through the site. The detailed plan also shows pedestrian movement and the two spaces created for social interaction. The first space is directly behind the mixed use building and is geared for outdoor eating or sitting at a table. The second space is created between the mixed use buildings at the bottom of the plan. This space is intended to be used just sitting on a bench talking, reading or simply enjoying the day.

Master Plan Project One

This is a poster that I made for my presentation. It has my master plan and some support drawings. Around the master plan are pictures and drawings that help to reinforce the feel that and look that I was trying to accomplish for the design.  It shows examples of local architecture, stormwater conveyance, character sketches, and examples of shadows created from entry artwork pieces.  

Design Highlights

I tried to keep the stormwater on site in two ways.  Vegetated swales to slow, collect and direct stormwater for multiple uses. Flow through planters next to house collect rain from gutters after a rain barrel is filled.

There is an increase in density that is typical for the city with a variety of housing sizes and affordability.

Cars are hidden as much as possible by incorporating parking in the rear of the homes.  

Vegetable garden is located in the center of the site with an above ground cistern for irrigation.

There is a central plaza area with a stormwater fountain and a raised fire pit.

The site has three mixed use buildings so that some daily needs maybe made without use of an automobile.

Detail Model of Project One

These are pictures of the detailed model I built, of a large portion of my design. I chose this section to build because if showed a diversity of housing, stormwater fountain and the community gardens.

The base to model was foam board layer up for each contour on the site. I sanded the board to make it smooth and avoid the elevation stair steps. Next, I glued down a copy of my design to give me an outline on the base. For the swales and fountain I burned the foam board out with a soldering knife. The buildings were made of pine glued together and cut to size. Metal roofs were made by gluing layers of aluminum foil together for durability. The green roofs and turf was a fine green powdery material glued down. Trees were a kit that need to be shaped and the foliage glued on. For the vegetated swales and community garden I cleaned out the old spices and herbs from my kitchen. I did not think that the lemon pepper smell would ever go away.

Shade Models for Project One

September



March

June

December




Early on in the design process, I made a Sketch Up model of the site and my proposed buildings. I did this so that I could look at the sunny areas and the shaded areas at various seasons and times of day. I wanted to make sure that during a typically hot time, there would be some needed shade available or during a cool month, there would be warming sunshine. The dates that I observed were March 31^st, June 21^st, September 30^th and December 21^st   

These dates should give a good general idea of what the spaces will be like during all times of the year. The times of day that I look at, were noon and at 6 p.m.  

These are examples of one of the houses on the site at different times of the year at six in the evening.

Object of Inspiration for Project One

We were asked to pick an object and bring it to class. This object was to serve as our inspiration throughout our design. What the hell! That was my first thought. My next thought was what the hell am I going to find that is appropriate for class and will be able to inspire me through the design process? Well, I choose a small piece of a cedar board. I thought that it at least smelled good and I like the colors in the grain.

Then I struggled with this piece of wood and thought about starting over about fifty-eleven times. But, then I got the idea to try and mimic the wood grain lines on the board. I dove into this idea and tried to replicate this all over the site. Ultimately, I feel that I was successful incorporating my inspiration into the design. However, I do kind of wish that I had picked something a little different, something a little less obvious as a board for a construction site.

Massing Model for Project One

This was a rather quick model that I put together to look at the masses and voids created by my proposed buildings. I pinned the buildings down and made several different sizes, shapes and stories so that I could move them easily and look at many different options. I made some very crude trees to see approximately what kind of shadows would be there.