REKINDLING QUEENSGATE
A STUDY IN PUBLIC SPACE, WALKABILITY, AND MULTIMODAL TRANSPORT ANNEKE HOSKINS & CONNOR MINZES
During the urban renewal phase of the 1960s, the west side of Cincinnati, Ohio was razed to the ground and irrevokably separated from the urban core of the city by Interstate 75. The area west of the highway was then re-imagined as a bustling warehouse district that could make money for the city. What we got instead was an empty warehouse district that many people have no reason to go over to, unless they are visiting a museum. Our urban plan adresses this issue and more as we work to re-kindle the community of the area alongside a city wide transit plan and multimodal station.
STUDY OF CINCINNATI
EXAMINING ELEMENTS THAT MAKE THE EXISTING URBBAN FABRIC
CORRIDOR CUTS
URBAN CORE FIGURE GROUND POPULATION DENSITY
EMPLOYEES PER SQUARE MILE
ROADWAYS
RAIL AND AIR
SOCIOECONOMICS
DEMOGRAPHICS
PROPOSED STREETCAR
PROPOSED METRO TRANSIT
URBAN CENTRAL LOCATIONS
GREENCOVER
LANDMARKS & WALKABILITY
CURRENT FIGURE GROUND
HISTORIC FIGURE GROUND
PROPOSED FIGURE GROUND
PAST TRANSIT
ROADWAYS
PREVIOUS VS EXISTING GRID
LOCALIZED ACTIVITY
FIVE POINTS OF INTERVENTION RESULTS OF THE URBAN STUDY
Population density is focused around The creation of the highway the urban core and to the Northeast decimated half of the urban core. Metro Transit density reflects population density
The Ohio River and watershed ecology is very industrialized, ruining the habitat.
Recreate the urban fabric of the past to reconnect with Over-the-Rhine Create ecological habitat through the creation of park and open space along the waterlines.
Currently our station site, Union Terminal, is the Cincinnati Museum Center Remove the museum program to new buildings nearby, creating a museum district.
Greencover in the urban core reflects a void Add urban park space into the fabric to bridge neighborhood divides
URBAN PRINCIPLES
DESIGN EXTRACTED FROM INTERVENTION
PROPOSED TRANSPORTATION DESIGNING TRANSPORT FOR A CITY DOUBLING IN SIZE
DESIGNING GREENSPACE
Our Cincinnati Metro system is based of a study done for the city in 2002 that unfortunatley never came to fruition. The proposed system would first bring back the streetcar and incline systems. The routes connect to the major healthcare center of “Pill Hill”, the two largest universities, Newport, KY, and the West Side/Price Hill. This is an attempt to make the Cinccinnati hills more traversable without a car. The light rail/subway system then connects the spread out Cincinnati suburbs with the urban core, allowing easier access to downtown for people living outside of the city. The routes also offer direct connection to the CVG airport from our multimodal transit site.
In our study, we found that greencover was lacking in the urban core, especially in the west side and along the waterways. We went about mitigating that in the Urban Core in two ways. First, we brought greenspace back into by creating parks. Lincoln Park in front of Union Terminal and expanding Laurel Park over I-75 along Ezzard Charles Drive. Second, our “complete street” plans introduce flora at a human scale, easy to interact with. As for the waterways, our proposal includes a return to green along Mill Creek and a portion of the river. The new Mill Creek Park includes a levee separating the wetland habitat area from the more traditonal park space. This levee would allow for some flooding, as a natural cycle for the habitat.
DESIGNING DENSITY
ZONING COMMUNITY
The grid that exists on the west side currently is designed for large trucks and huge warehouses. It is unfriendly to the pedestrian and difficult to navigate without a map. To re-define the urban scale of the Queensgate area, we looked at the density that was removed in the 1960’s and attempted to use that block size as a scaling factor. The result was a walkable district that visibly shifts between commercial, multi-use, and residential zones making wayfiding much more feasible.
In order to create a feasible community, we separated areas into different programmatic “zones”. The type and size of building that would go into that zone was determined solely by the program. Using that idea, we studied the Cincinnati zoning guidelines that separated by type of building. These guidelines included minimum & maximum lot size, setbacks, height limit, and fire breaks. This was used to create the overall massing that is shown below with the urban plan.
USING THE SCALE OF THE GRID OF THE PAST TO REURBANIZE
CREATING HABITAT AND URBAN RELIEF FOR THE COMMUNITY
STUDIES IN TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC ZONING TO CREATE A COHEASIVE COMMUNITY
URBAN PLAN
CREATING HABITAT AND URBAN RELIEF FOR THE COMMUNITY
COMPLETE STREETS
A HUMAN SCALE RESPONSE TO TRANSIT
EZZARD CHARLES
THE BOULEVARD LEADING TO THE STATION
EZZARD CHARLES
DALTON AVE
A DIRECT INTERFACE WITH THE STATION
DALTON AVE