REIMAGINING COBB’S CREEK

602 Studio| Instructor|

Southwest Philadelphia, PA Christopher Marcinkoski

Collaborators| Audrey Genest, Zoe Goldman, Matthew Lake

Reimagining Cobb’s Creek is framed in the year 2050, after a series of largescale storm events prompt the City of Philadelphia and Registered Community Organizations to begin the Cobbs Creek Expansion Initiative. The initiative expands the Cobb’s Creek Park system, mitigates increased flooding, and creates valuable public realm spaces centralized around Cobb’s Creek. Design interventions strengthen the identity of the creek, making it the beginning of the city rather than the end. The Cobbs Creek Expansion operates in Southwest Philadelphia at a district scale, zeroing in on two specific sites of intervention: the Eastwick Inlet and Passyunk Extension. The Eastwick Inlets are a set of streetscape moves in a larger stormwater and urban design intervention framework in the neighborhood of Eastwick. Eastwick is a community that faces challenging environmental justice issues that stem from racist urban renewal policies. These challenges are exacerbated by the former Clearview Landfill. The scale of the former landfill creates a pinch point at the confluence of Darby and Cobb’s Creek, amplifying large-scale flooding into Eastwick. Through careful examination of hydrologic patterns, design interventions create a new urban framework and public realm that celebrates living with Cobb’s Creek, rather than against it.

Surface Redirection Below Grade Redirection

MAKING ROOM FOR COBB’S CREEK

2022 2050

The confluence of Darby & Cobb’s Creek creates a pinchpoint that is amplified by the former Clearview landfill

Water from Darby Creek took priority during large storm events, resulting in flooding in Eastwick.

The Cobb’s Creek Inlet was created by the US Army Corp of Engineers to mitigate flooding in Eastwick.

Banks of Darby & Cobb’s Creek are expanded to further support high levels of stormwater.

ESTABLISHING BLUE-GREEN CONNECTIONS IN EASTWICK

F B

Clearview Park E

Eastwick Inlet

Lindbergh Blvd. Green St.

New Residential Housing

The Eastwick Inlets enhance connection to the Cobb’s Creek Channel and the Clearview Park. Former cul-de-sacs are turned into a series of swales that can hold up to 3’ of rainwater. During nonrain events the swales can be entered, adding another layer of program to the inlets. Existing homes face inward, establishing a new residential experience and amenity for residents.

Outside The Bounds

502 Studio| Instructor|

Delaware Waterfront, Philadelphia, PA

Karen M’Closkey

Located on the Delaware Riverfront in Fishtown, Philadelphia, this 30-acre site is situated along a rapidly developing waterfront that is already seeing the effects of climate change. The focus of the studio was on the transformation of a former industrial site into a public park. Outside the Bounds is focused on pushing environmental education outside the walls of a building and into the landscape. The park works to fill a gap in environmental education centers along the Delaware River, while also serving as flood control for the adjacent Fishtown neighborhood. The education center is the locus point of the site, highlighted by a large stormwater garden. The creation of spaces and program is guided by the three principles of environmental education: relation to the daily environment, foster active learning, and demonstrate how systems function.

AN INDUSTRIAL PAST’S MANIFESTATION ON THE LANDSCAPE

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT: STUDY MODELS

STRUCTURE FIELDS

MONOLITH VENTS paper score & cut cut & divide clay

Working from an abstracted, siteless and scaleless image, I interpreted its figure to ground organization through three different models. Differing materials and modeling techniques revealed structures otherwise not seen in the original 2-D image. I extended these characteristic structures forward through iterative study models, reflecting on their relationship to hydrology and site organization.