Barney Row – Master's Portfolio

THE BRONZEVILLE EXCHANGE COMPLETING CHICAGO’S CULTURAL TRIANGLE

PROJECT REPORT

BARNABY ROW CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE MPhil Architecture & Urban Design Tutored by Ingrid Schröder & Aram Mooradian

University of Cambridge Submitted June 2018

Deindustrialisation in the late 20 th century caused Chicago’s self-sufficient black ghetto to slump into a state of redundancy. Could a cultural plant in the Bronzeville neighbourhood built by its accidental urbanists weaken ‘fear of blackness’ among the city’s white population, resulting in greater municipal attention to socioeconomic problems blighting the ghetto?

CONTENTS

1.

2.

3.

4.

INTRODUCTORY RESEARCH 1.1 Bronzeville, past and present

6

1.2 Project site

14

1.3 Post-industrial reuse case studies

26

1.4 Unsung urbanists in Bronzeville

31

STRATEGIC PROPOSAL 2.1 Existing brief for Danielle Kizaire, B.U.D.

34

2.2 Expanded brief to complete Chicago’s “cultural triangle”

38

2.3 Massing strategy

42

INTERVENTIONS & PROPOSED SPACES 3.1 Funding (lack of )

46

3.2 Interventions & groundwork

47

3.3 Structural philosophy

49

3.4 Environmental strategy

51

3.5 Other considerations

53

MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT 4.1 Material character

60

4.2 Detail design

64

4.3 Construction summary

70

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to the Illinois Institute of Technology in Bronzeville, Chicago, for hosting me for six months of fieldwork – particularly to Ron Henderson, director of the landscape architecture program, for his visa assistance and academic advice throughout my stay. I would like to thank Max Sternberg at the University of Cambridge for his invaluable feedback whilst I attempted to shape my research into the thesis. The input of Danielle Kizaire, Charles Sutton, Ben Helphand, Rob Rose, Paul Krysik, Naomi Davis, ‘Scotty’ Scott, Wateka Kleinpeter, Liz Lyon, Kathleen Dickhut, Michael Lange, Caroline O’Boyle, Johnnie Owens and Keith Myles has also been greatly appreciated.

And without my design tutors, Ingrid Schröder and Aram Mooradian, I would probably still be in Inverness.

1.

INTRODUCTORY RESEARCH

An introduction to the African American neighbourhood of Bronzeville, Chicago, and the selected project site within it.

Chicago’s historic emergence as a transportation hub for the United States interior

Mi

ss

iss

Bronzeville is an African American neighbourhood located in the city of Chicago, in the Midwestern United States. Chicago is generally regarded as the cultural and economic capital of the Midwest.

ippi River M

Chicago’s position on the edge of Lake Michigan meant that shipping routes could be established to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi, and to the East Coast via the Great Lakes system and Erie Canal.

AD

IS

E AU K E M ILW

N

To New York via the Great Lakes

Y GR EE N BA

1.1 BRONZEVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT

ON

GR

Lake Michigan

This prime trading location allowed the city to grow rapidly in the 19 th century, later catalysed by the railroad. Bronzeville was one of several African American neighbourhoods that housed thousands of low-skilled workers from Chicago’s stockyards, which processed meat, lumber and grain.

RO C

KFO

Illi noi s Riv er

JO

E LI

S OU T

H BE ND

FO

White fill – the state of Illinois Grey fill – area that later became the ‘Rust Belt’

iv

OR

IA

er

ois

R

PE

D

Illin

The Great Lakes and Erie Canal were used for shipping to the East Coast – particularly New York City.

OL

SP

AP

RI

AN

NG

DI

FI

EL

IN IS

U OL

M

BI

A

ST .L

OU

IS

C

LOU ISV

NEW YORK CITY

ILL

ver

Ri

EL

D

io

er i Riv

issi ssip

p

SP

RI

N

G

FI

Oh

E

EVANSVILLE

CHICAGO

M

Chicago’s natural assets N

Water system and nearby cities in and around Illinois state Scale 1:2,000,000

km

To the Gulf of Mexico

6

DS

T

Railroad network in 1870

“the net effect [of Chicago’s role as a railroad interchange] was to link West with East, rural with urban, farm with factory.”

William Cronon, Nature’s Metropolis, p61.

PI

CHICAGO

IN

RA AU R O I L L E E RV NA P

DES MO INE S

RA

RD

ELG

CEDAR RAPID S

A

ND

0

50

100

150

200

250

RT

WA YN

E

Racial distribution across the city of Chicago today

L

a k e

i g c h M i

DOWN TOWN

L

L

I

N O I

S

a

I

BRONZEVILLE

n

The black population

The white population

The hispanic population

is culturally centred on the South Side, in a cluster of neighbourhoods known as the Black Belt, where freed slaves settled during the early- and mid- twentieth centuries. Further black communities have established on the West Side since racially restrictive covenants were outlawed in 1948.

is skewed to the North and Northwest Sides, generally in far lower densities than the black population, and tending towards suburban locations.

is bisected by the black population of the West Side, and notably concentrated along the edge of the South Branch of the Chicago River.

These abrupt transitions from black to hispanic communities produce contestable sociocultural edges, which stimulate turf wars between rival city gangs.

N

Racial diversity limited to the urban area

Black

Monoethnicity increases as the population density drops off moving outwards from Chicago’s boundary.

In these semi-rural areas the population is mostly white, reflecting the wider demographics of Illinois (where whites constitute 66.2% of the population).

White Hispanic Data from 2000 US Census

Chicago’s ethnoracial fault lines

Scale 1:200,000

The city’s neighbourhoods are unusually monoethnic, the legacy of historic segregation of African Americans through redlining and racially restrictive covenants.

Scale 1:2,000,000 I

L

L

I

N O I

S

I

N

D I A

N A

7

Bronzeville in the 1940s: Chicago’s “Black Metropolis”

8

1

2

3

4

1 2 3 4

Extract from a 7.5 minute map by the US Geological Survey giving a good indication of the density of Bronzeville’s built environment (1:10,000).

Street scene near the intersection of Martin Luther King Drive and 47 th St, an area formerly known as ‘The Stroll.’

Tenement housing – typical back view, with timber porches. These structures remain a ubiquitous feature of the city’s house types today.

Cattle pens at the Union Stock Yards, to the west of Bronzeville, which provided employment opportunities to black migrants.

Bronzeville in the 2010s

1

2

3

4

1 2 3 4

Loss of density in the built environment resulting from population decline – same area of Bronzeville shown on previous page (1:10,000).

Street scene near the intersection of Martin Luther King Drive and 47 th St today.

Vacant residential plot in Bronzeville. Residential plots are typically 125ft deep and 25ft or 30ft wide.

Derelict light industrial building in Bronzeville, near the overgrown Kenwood freight railroad that bisects the neighbourhood.

9

Chicago Housing Authority public housing projects, 1985 Low-income public housing concentrated poverty and social problems in certain areas, including Bronzeville.

Black White Hispanic

The Plan

The Reality 2202 (13.1%) Lost contact

Concentration of public housing projects within the Bronzeville neighbourhood

sin

gp roj ec

ts

t

10

km iu s

re

loc

whole generations ate

di nb lack ne ig hbo urhoo d s

of our folks.”

Subsidized private market rentals

Former resident of Robert Taylor Homes

Renovated public housing

a

Bronzeville: low-income public housing hotspot

n

Much of the vacant land in the Bronzeville neighbourhood is the site of former high-rise public housing demolished as part of the Plan for Transformation - such as the Robert Taylor Homes project (A), Stateway Gardens (B), and the low-rise Ida Wells project (C).

Bronzeville

1900 (11.3%) Mixed income

4097 (24.3%) Subsidized private market rentals

tow n

S

ow n of d

N O I

we

ra d

I

i g c h M i

L

ec

n

a k e

L

1221 (7.2%) Died

and ripped out

oj

hi

L

I

1250 (7.4%) Retain right of return

“They came in

A ts

1488 (8.8%) Disqualified 1307 (7.8%) Private market

C

pr

wi

he ft st o

hou

B

Mo

Public

Mixed income developments

3395 (20.1%) Renovated public housing Source: NPR.org

Empty promises The CHA began its Plan for Transformation in 2000, promising to locally re-house residents of the projects in three housing types (left column). But by 2011, only 56% of the original residents actually remained in the housing system.

Each point represents 100 housing units.

‘High-rise’ here means 12 storeys or more.

One of 28 sixteen-storey Robert Taylor Homes tower blocks stood here from the 1960s to the 2010s.

High-rise public housing project – since renovated High-rise public housing project – since demolished Low-/Mid-rise public housing project – since renovated Low-/Mid-rise public housing project – since demolished

Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) projects These points show the location of all family housing units operated by the CHA in 1985; point fill colours indicate 2017 status (demolished/renovated).

Scale 1:200,000

I

10

L

L

I

N O I

S

I

N

D I A

N A

Spotlight on Bronzeville’s largest public housing project: Robert Taylor Homes

Robert Taylor Homes statistics Built: 1961-1962

Size: 28 high-rises, 16 stories each; total 4415 units

Demolished: 1998-2007

Location: 2-mile stretch along State Street

Once the largest public housing project in the United States, the Robert Taylor Homes were poorly managed by the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) and experienced high levels of gang crime in the late 20 th century.

Bronzevi lle extent

Bronzevi lle extent

Local opinion on the demolition varies between relief and nostalgia.

1965

2005

“ We took care of each other in the building. We carried groceries for old ladies, brought them up the stairs.”

Sta

“ They fucked the projects up.

te Str

1965

eet

They took something from us that we ain’t ever getting back – our foundations. That was our foundations we knew, we had our family here.”

Billy Ray, former Robert Taylor resident, interviewed under disused railroad bridge where he was barbecuing.

1970

c. 1980

9 th July 2017

2017

2018

11

Climatic conditions

Annual averages

Outdoor public space

The Windy City?

Chicago experiences the four seasons typical of temperate regions, though temperature extremes are greater than in the UK, and the average humidity is higher.

Use of outdoor public space tends to be seasonal: the parks, beaches and urban spaces are used significantly less during snowy winter months.

Though often mistaken as a reference to windy weather, the moniker ‘Windy City’ was actually first used by an editor in New York City to deride the bluster of Chicago’s promoters during their bid to host the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

Spring: cool and wet Summer: hot and humid Autumn: mild and dry Winter: cold

Avg. max. and min. temps in oC

Avg. rainfall in mm

View of Bronzeville’s disused Kenwood embankment from adjoining ‘L’ station at start of fieldwork, in July 2017.

12

Most of Chicago’s lakeshore beaches are artificial; the first one was built in 1895 (Lincoln Park). Oakwood Beach, pictured here, was opened in 2010, on the easternmost edge of Bronzeville.

Chicago’s dominant winds blow from the northwest. It is only slightly windier than the average American city.

Same view at end of fieldwork period, in December 2017.

Lake-effect snow During easterly winds, Chicago is at higher risk of experiencing significant snowfall due to its position on the edge of Lake Michigan.

‘Lake-effect snow’ is produced when cooler atmospheric conditions coincide with a mass of cold air moving westwards across the comparatively warmer lake water toward the city.

“ Three days later there came another heavy snow-storm, and Jonas and Marija and Ona and little Stanislovas all set out together, an hour before daybreak, to try to get to the yards. About noon the last two came back, the boy screaming with pain. His fingers were all frosted, it seemed. They had had to give up trying to get to the yards, and had nearly perished in a drift.”

p141-142, The Jungle

The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, 1906 Chicago’s cold winters contributed to the already horrific working conditions at the former stockyards on the South Side, in the uninsulated meatpacking factories lying west of Bronzeville. In The Jungle Sinclair aimed to expose these conditions.

N ort her n edg e of Ill ino is

CHICAGO

1.2 PROJECT SITE Bronzeville is bisected east-west by a disused railroad embankment that formerly provided passenger services to the Kenwood neighbourhood

Landscape urbanism projects and disused railroads around Bronzeville.

Scale 1:100,000.

DOWNTOWN

1906 Raising the railroad above street level through the construction of a concrete embankment with internal stations.

Landscape urbanism projects Disused railroad embankments

e L a k

Bronzeville neighbourhood

stu die

do

ite p ag e

Bronzeville’s disused embankment

Are a

FO RM ER U N I ON STOCK YARDS

pos

a n i g c h M i

n

op

This elevated railroad was originally used for stockyard freight, and later as a branch of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) passenger transit system (the ‘L’) serving the Kenwood neighbourhood.

KENWOOD

BRONZEVILLE

2017 Dense scrub has established on top of the embankment since passenger services were stopped in 1957. Note the bricked-up station entrances.

N

km

0

1

2

Kenwood branch/embankment operational timeline

3

Freight Passenger services

14

Pe nn Ce w fr a ei g h y a nt r t t nd al ra a ck o cc cqu a s ir . io e na th 1 lly e r 9 8 u s igh 0s Em e t th ba e nk 1 m 99 en 0 ta so b a nw nd ar on ds ed . of

D de ue t C er to Ke TA i ora fa t h nw d e t i n l l i n c e g en ood ide g ri s tr s an br to t de c e an s h at i o r s h 1 i s. ch u t ns, p a 957 , d n br ow t d ic ki n t h e ng he -u p

Ra is ns ed t to l r r uc con a t fa e ilr ed c r st tali a s e oad af ete at s ter io ties e 19 n s . K t raf mu Ci mb 0 3 an - 1 op en f ic st ty en w b m km 9 0 ed o o an e e and e n 7 l e at t by d b d C T ran p r v at e e s e A ch ve d in w nt 1 9 ith 07 . co

la

el

al

pr i s va s e toc te x i ky a p a s st in rd s s e n g f r i nt g e r ei g h ro d s e r 1 8 8 t u uc v ic 2 sa ed es ge . as

e

e

m

th

So

to

w

le

U

ni

ra o il n v e ro a St o d l, fo r i ck r m gh Y e a t - of ard tp -w s ac a es ki y a ta 1 8 ng 6 t bl f r g ro i sh e 4 ei g h un s t. d

Raised embankment

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

WARD 4

BRONZEVILLE BRONZEVILLE

ROBERT TAYLOR HOMES

ROBERT TAYLOR HOMES

ROBERT TAYLOR HOMES

KENWOOD

ROBERT TAYLOR HOMES

KENWOOD

KENWOOD

WARD 4

IDA B. WELLS AND IDA B. WELLS L S HOME K OW DARR A O IDA B. WELLS DARROW HOMES D N A DARROW HOMES OAKL

NORTH KENWOOD

NZEVILLE BRO NORTH KENWOOD

Community areas (official - analytical)

Wards (official - political)

Neighbourhoods (unofficial - social)

The University of Chicago divided the city into 77 community areas in the 1920s, based on neighbourhood identification at that time. These areas have not been updated to reflect neighbourhood changes, in order to allow for timeshift comparisons. As such, community areas are used for collecting census data.

The 1920s also saw Chicago divided into 50 city council aldermanic wards, whose boundaries are remapped with every population census (every 10 years). This process has drawn repeated accusations of gerrymandering.

Neighbourhood boundaries are loosely defined in the common vernacular of residents, cultural institutions and realtors. They reflect where citizens identify their local community to exist (i.e. whether they feel the local centre lies north, east, south or west of their home). Currently, there are 228 neighbourhoods.

0.8

1

Scale 1:30,000

Kenwood embankment

Gang territories (and Folk Nation / People Nation affiliation):

Gangster Disciples (Folks)

AND OAKL

WARD 3

WARD 3 KENWOOD

RK LAKE D PA K N A L THE PARGAP LAKE D N THE GAP MEADOWS GROVREK A EL LAKE D PATHE GAP MEADOWS GROV N A L THE GAP MEADOWS GROVE

Black Disciples (Folks)

Black P Stones (People)

PARKG LAKE NDTHE A L E MEADOWS GROV

STATEWAY GARDENS

KM

GRAND BOULEVARD ND KENWPARK RARD GRA OOD LEV GRAND BOUFULLE PARK

l e neighbourhood

STATEWAY GARDENS

PARK

3 ND BOULEV WARDGRA ARD RD 3 WA R FULLE ARD LEV BOU ND GRA WARD 3 R ARD FULLE PARK LEV BOU

vil

STATEWAY GARDENS

FULLER FULLER PARK

OAKLAND

OAKLAND OAKLAND WARD 4 WARD 4 WARD 4

STATEWAY GARDENS

SQUARE

ARMOUR

S RE DOUGLASQUA OAKLAND OAKLAND

DOUGLAS STATEWAY GARDENS

GLAURS DOUARMO DOUGLASSQUARE

ARMOUR ARMOURSQUARE

UR

S RE DOUGLAARMO SQUA

B r o nz e

IDA B. WELLS DARROW HOMES

ROBERT TAYLOR HOMES

Socially understood edge of the

Official and unofficial boundaries, politically and socially distinct areas adjoining the Kenwood embankment

OAKL

A

BR

LE VILOOD NZEH KENW BRONORT

Vice Lords (People)

15

Douglas

Armour Square me

th 47

rd

il

ra

drexel blvd

s martin luther king dr

line line line line green green green green

green line

43

pl ac e

vd drexel bl

rk pa

th 47 ssway dan ryan expre

tthh th 4477 47

a

tr

Fuller Park

Census ‘community 4 areas’ ke la s/ li

gr ov e/ dr ex el a

blvd blvd ll blvd l l blvd drexe drexe drexe drexe

an di in

Oakland 2n d

Grand Boulevard

dr drr dr king king king dr rr nking r luthe luthe luthe nn sluthe n marti marti ss marti s marti

rd 43

el

Park co tt ag e

vi nc en ne s

y wa

i

rk

ch

pa

nd

e ac pl

ke la s/ li el

rk pa

l h

pa

rk

co ccoo vi tt tttt nc ag aagg en e e ee ne gr gr ggrr s ov ov oovv e/ e/ ee// dr dr ddrr ex ex eexx el el eell ag

tt

xe re el el eell li li llii s/ s/ ss// la la llaa ke ke kkee pa p pp rk c ark aarrkk ot ta 42 42 4422 ge nd nd nndd gr pl pl ppll ov ac ac aacc e/ e e ee d

42

mi

h

e

il

ra

Remaining structure

s martin luther king dr

drexel blvd

ut

k

a

Former station, now closed

s martin luther king dr

vd vdexvd bl el elexbl el el blvd exdr dr drex drbl

rd 43

Painted mural /

iill il il rraa ra ra aa a a ttrr tr tr mmee me me

tr

me

The disused Kenwood embankment enjoys four murals, painted onto the prominent end walls adjoining busier north-south streets for maximum exposure / community benefit. rrdd rd 4433 43

Structure removed so

la

a nnaa na an iiaa ia di nndd ind in ssway expre danii ryan

a an di in marti dr drr dr king king king dr rr nking r luthe luthe luthe nn sluthe n marti ss marti s marti

co

y wa

l

ut

rai

so

ra

vv nc iinncc en eenn ne ne nnee s s ss

met

vi

i

vd drexel bl

s martin luther king dr

en

ch

ze

nc

mi

br

vi

e

th 35

green line t ii e n luther king dr s marti ll vi

on

C

k

i i i ch ch ch mi mi mi e e e k k k la la la

dr drr dr king king king dr rr nking r luthe luthe luthe nn sluthe n marti marti ss marti s marti

s martin luther king dr

la

D ss ut oouutt h hh pa pa ppaa rk rk rrkk wa wa wwaa y y yy

l

C B

so

rai

A h

ra

t

ii

n a

B

ssway ssway ssway expre expre expre expressway ryan ryanryan ryan dan dan dan dan

16

Bronzeville is peppered with formally planned and executed murals. These street paintings usually contain religious messages or references to historically significant events for the African American population, such as the end of slavery and the Great Migration.

g

A

ut

met

ll l l rraaii rai a rai rraa ra r mmeett met met

e

ll

vi

ze

on

br

green line

th

35

B line line line line green green green green tt t t iiii ii ii ee e e llll ll ll vvii vi vi zzee ze ze oonn on on bbrr br br tthh th th 3355 35 35

Scale 1:15,000 100 200 300 400 500 0 M

Murals on the embankment D

B

A

n g

a

g a n g a n g a n

Kenwood N

so

Existing public amenities: parks, key transit, street art

t 47

Mapping street art along the Kenwood embankment

DISUSED RAILROAD EMBANKMENT FRAGMENT GENERATED BY RAILROAD CONDITION DISUSED RAILROAD EXISTING GRAFFITO EMBANKMENT FRAGMENT GENERATED BLOCKED-OUT GRAFFITOBY RAILROAD CONDITION ExistingEXISTING graffiti (e.g. left) GRAFFITO ORGANISED PAINTED MURAL GRAFFITO GraffitiBLOCKED-OUT buffed by City workers PERMEATION POINT FormalORGANISED painted mural PAINTEDPOINT MURAL POTENTIAL ACCESS (E.G. LOW WALL) PERMEATION POINT(E.G. GRASS CORNER) Unofficial park UNOFFICIAL PARK (vacantPOTENTIAL lot with evidence reuse) (E.G. LOW WALL) ACCESSof POINT OFFICIAL PARK UNOFFICIAL PARK (E.G. CORNER) BUILDING WITHIN 100MGRASS OF A PARK OFFICIAL PARK BUILDING WITHIN 200M OF A PARK BUILDING WITHIN 100M 300M OF A PARK BUILDING OVER WITHIN 200M OF AFROM PARKA PARK BUILDING 300M AWAY Rail-to-trail project not possible for WITHIN two reasons BUILDING 300M OF A PARK BUILDING OVER 300M AWAY FROM A PARK COMMUNITY AREA BOUNDARY

Urban fragments created by divisive role of embankment e.g. vacant lot used here for church parking.

Selected project site.

Scale 1:5000

s

k COMMUNITY AREA BOUNDARY par ake

ke

la rk

pa

s langley ave

dr man

e

av

mandrake park d

s cottage grove ave

s s

li

el

e oakwood blvd

lv d b

woo

ak e o

th

40

st

e

lak

av

e

re

ho e s

s

dr

st

oa d

al

nw

vd bl

ke

el

ex

s

dr

s langley ave

church

church

th

40

e

st

th

40

ake s l

e

e

av

school church

e 40th st

e 40th st

ve k a

par

s av e

el ex d

v bl

el ex

dr v bl d

e 41st st

e 41st st

st

st

41

m

ia

ll

wi

e

st

41

is

av

d s-

rk

pa

pl e

41

st

e 41st pl

pl

e bowen ave

n

we

bo

e

av

nd 42

e

e pl

ave

ave

e 42nd st

ark e p

ey

kel

er s b

e s av

ak s l

li s el

blvd s drexel

blvd s drexel

church

s langley ave

s cottage grove ave

s langley ave

church

Most of the street crossings for the former railroad were removed by the City to allow sufficient clearance for modern trucks. This means converting the embankment to a green infrastructure similar to the former Bloomingdale railroad on the West Side of Chicago (below) would be impractical.

k

r pa

e

‘Drexel Jazz’ Low-income housing DISUSED RAILROAD EMBANKMENT Completed 2006

FRAGMENT GENERATED BY RAILROAD CONDITION EXISTING GRAFFITO BLOCKED-OUT GRAFFITO ORGANISED PAINTED MURAL PERMEATION POINT POTENTIAL ACCESS POINT (E.G. LOW WALL) UNOFFICIAL PARK (E.G. GRASS CORNER) OFFICIAL PARK BUILDING WITHIN 100M OF A PARK Nearby vacant plots BUILDING WITHIN 200M OF A PARK Nearby community buildings BUILDING WITHIN 300M OF A PARK BUILDING OVER 300M AWAY FROM A PARK

y

ll

ho

e 41st st

e bowen ave

1. Removal of connecting bridges in late 20 th century

s

dr

s

e 41st st

li el

s

s langley ave

church

ch

ur

ch

e 42nd st

sumac park

Chicago Park District parks

Kenwood line (remaining sections)

Recent low-income housing project

Possible new connecting bridges

2. Removal of embankment between Drexel Blvd and Cottage Grove Ave in 2006 (diagram to the left) Even if expensive new bridges were designed to allow sufficient truck clearance, there is now a large housing development severing the two easternmost remnants from the remainder to the west.

COMMUNITY AREA BOUNDARY 17

Project site

Vegetation

Painted surfaces

Wood

The embankment is primarily concrete, covered up in some places with formal and informal layers of paint, and topped by dense vegetation. Rusted steel bridges between individual sections remain in a few locations where truck clearance was not required.

Concrete

Iron and steel

Solid / heavy / permanent aesthetic quality

Infill brickwork

Materials and textures on the disused Kenwood embankment

A

D

I

K

O

Q

B

E

J

L

P

R

C

F

M

S

G

N

T

The disused Kenwood embankment today, in its rewilded condition.

Note the way the infrastructure breaks the geometric order imposed by the city grid.

D

A

H L N

B

E

C K

M

T

R

Q

H

I

G

J

P

O

F S

Traces of activity Though it was not uncommon to be walking near the embankment and not see anybody else in the vicinity, there were often visual markers of previous activity.

18

Building typologies near the selected project site

Social / institutional / religious

Residential

Commercial / (post-)industrial

Former Robert Taylor Homes site

Remaining embankment Removed embankment

Scale 1:10,000 M

0

100

200

300

400

500

Where the neighbourhood of Bronzeville (delineated by the vertical white dotted lines) is bisected by the embankment, buildings are mostly residential. Buildings that serve a social role such as schools, churches and community centres are distributed fairly evenly, though at the western end, more of them are now derelict. Large post-industrial buildings are found solely on the western side of the neighbourhood, near the vacant site that hosted the Robert Taylor Homes public housing project from 1961 to 2007.

19

Building use at street level around the project site: mostly residential, interspersed with vacant plots and sociocultural centres

v il

Numbering corresponds to sketches on opposite page.

nd

nze

kla

Bro

Oa

0.0

le

2.0

4.0

3.1

3.2

3.4

5.5

3.3 1.1

1.0

3.0

2.2

2.1

2.3

5.6

3.5 ComEd substation 4.3

1.2 2.4

4.2 5.8 5.9

5.3

4.1

5.1

5.4

5.2

5.0

2.6

2.5

5.7

1.3

Scale 1:2500 M

20

0

25

50

75

100

125

The proposed project site, outlined above, contains a disused electric substation on the eastern corner that formerly powered the Kenwood railroad branch behind. The building is currently owned by utilities company ComEd.

Residential

Educational

Religious

Commercial

Post-industrial

Educational The City closed over 50 public schools in 2014.

The Holy Angels Catholic School, once split between buildings 1.0 and 1.2, both near the site, recently downsized to solely building 1.2 due to dwindling attendance.

1.0

1.1

1.2

1.3

Religious Christianity is dominant among the city’s religious population, at 71%. There is a high concentration of churches in African American communities, including Bronzeville. Churches are typically funded by their congregations.

2.0

2.1

2.2

2.3

2.4

2.5

2.6

Commercial Economic activity in Bronzeville is limited by the low income of its remaining citizens, whose custom is insufficient to sustain many business types. Boarded-up shops and restaurants are a common sight.

3.0 Chicago’s Home of Chicken & Waffles OPEN

3.1 Quick Bite Fish & Chicken CLOSED

3.2 Blue Sea Drive-In CLOSED

3.3 Dollar General OPEN

3.4 Pharmacy OPEN

3.5 Brown Sugar Beauty OPEN

Post-industrial Bronzeville is peppered with derelict factories and workshops, which serve as a reminder that jobs were once abundant here.

Some of the larger post-industrial buildings have become stores for self-storage businesses.

4.0

4.1

4.2

4.3 Disused ComEd substation (extant building at proposed project site)

Residential A rich and varied mix of traditional Chicago house types can be found, from modest wood frame two-flats and bungalows, to smart brick three-flats and lavish greystones. Unsightly apartment blocks can also be found (5.8/5.9).

5.0

5.1

5.2

5.3

5.4

5.5

5.6

5.7

5.8

5.9

Scale 1:1000 M

0

10

20

30

40

50

0.0

Numbering above corresponds to labelled image on previous page.

21

Section of embankment donated to non-profit Bronzeville Urban Development (B.U.D.)

C Disused former platform of Vincennes station

A

Private plot owned by Malek Almassad of Orland Park, Illinois

Vacant plot publicly owned by Chicago Housing Authority

B

Chicago Housing Authority public housing project

Nat ‘Kin g’

Scale 1:1000

Cole’s h

ouse

Derelict ComEd substation

Site photos

A. Bricked-up former Vincennes station entrances

B. Overview of vacant site from southwest corner, looking northeast.

C. Tracks on top of embankment in 1911 – platform’s concrete base remains.

Ecological survey of site Though the thicket on top of the embankment is verdant in the spring and summer months, it should not be mistaken as a valuable habitat or natural asset.

The soil is contaminated with the chemical deposits associated with railroad operations, and only a limited range of plant species thrive here: cottonwood trees make up most of the canopy, whilst invasive buckthorn comprises the majority of the understory. Fungi can also be found (example below).

Several local residents adjoining this stretch of the embankment complain that it is used as a refuge by racoons, which come down during the night to sift through open bins, leaving quite a mess in their wake.

Rhamnus cathartica (Common/European Buckthorn) Invasive

n e s Av e

Populus deltoides (Eastern Cottonwood) Native

Vin c e n

Fungus found on top

ComEd Substation Second station exit 40th Street

M

0

10

20

30

40

50

Scale 1:1000

Circles indicate relative size of cottonwood trees for illustrative purposes – not actual trunk diameter. Estimations from ground level (embankment was inaccessible).

23

Survey of site topography

Scale 1:1000

A railroad embankment containing a passenger station forgotten since 1957, a large vacant lot, and a derelict industrial building.

4.4m

Doorway on northern wall leading to east staircase of platform

Station interior The interior of the Vincennes station adjoining the site has been sealed since 1957, when the entrances were bricked-up. By this time the internal spaces had become very dilapidated.

For the proposed project, they will require a full refit.

Three doorways into entrance hall to west end of platform, currently bricked-up Derelict electric substation

234.2m

17.3m

Photo opposite Officer Keith Myles shows me the inside of the derelict ComEd building, which can be accessed from around the back, through the brush.

He calls out at the doorway to check that there is nobody inside.

It is pitch black.

54.2m

Vacant lot currently used solely for exercising dogs

Elevation of derelict ComEd substation building Wild vegetation established along facade highlighted. Many of the original mosaic details remain, though several have been damaged and others stolen (according to a local resident).

24

Tax parcel number: 20-03-207-027-0000 Current ownership: Commonwealth Edison (ComEd), the largest electric utility company in Illinois.

Doorway into tunnel leading to east staircase of platform

1.3 POST-INDUSTRIAL REUSE CASE STUDIES Duisburg Nord Landscape Park, Germany: former blast furnace site reimagined as a ‘decay’ park

Latz + Partner, 1991 The decline of Duisburg’s steel industry in the 1980s released two hundred hectares of industrial land where the blast furnace plant Thyssen-Meiderich once operated. Rather than raze the site, landscape architects Latz + Partner (Peter Latz) were tasked with reimagining the post-industrial space for contemporary public use.

N

A

A

North Point

Section Marker

B

N

Detail Marker North Point

1:1000

50m

Section Marker 1:50

250mm

1250mm

2500mm

0

500mm

2500mm

5000mm

1m

5m

10m

0

2.5m

12.5m

25m

1:500

0

25m

125m

250m

1:5000

B

0

0

Scale 1:10,000

0

0

26

25m

A

5m

A

0

5m

50m

25m

250m

1:100 1:200 Detail Marker

50m

500m

1:1000

1:10000

0

250mm

1250mm

2500mm

1:50

0

500mm

2500mm

5000mm

1:100

0

1m

5m

10m

1:200

0

2.5m

12.5m

25m

1:500

0

25m

125m

250m

1:5000

0

50m

250m

500m

1:10000

Scale 1:1000 Elsewhere on the blast furnace site, other industrial structures have been converted to outdoor art galleries, climbing walls, promenades, amphitheatres, trading/fair/festival areas, and fishing facilities. For this project the architects treated the structures as objects of historic interest to be exhibited to the city, rather than ‘cleaned up’ through renewal.

Access introduced through creation of walkway

le S ca

1:5

00

Balustrades

Walkways added Sinter Park Layer of soil to cover contaminated ground

Water tanks

Walkway pedestals Existing overhead railway Existing concrete sintering bunkers

Sinter Park comprises of a series of walled gardens and public areas created within the plant’s former sintering bunkers. Here the existing structures have been reinhabited with a range of gardens (terraced, wild, secret, ferns, water etc), and with public courtyards, viewing platforms and walkways, play areas and sandpits.

Left Bird’s eye photo from the disused aerial crane track. Doorways have been created by cutting through the bunker walls to connect spaces.

Right One of the walled gardens created within a sintering bunker and accessed from an introduced pedestrian walkway.

27

The High Line, New York City: post-industrial urban infrastructure reopened as a park

Field Operations and Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, 2009-2014 The High Line project was a three-phase scheme to redevelop a disused meatpacking railway running through Manhattan’s lower west side into a 1.4 mile linear greenway.

The project has been hugely successful with the tourist population but has been heavily criticised for gentrifying Manhattan’s meatpacking district.

The southern stretch of the High Line weaves between city skyscrapers whilst the northern part is framed by traditional condominiums - a vastly different urban context to the low density built environment surrounding Duisburg’s landscape park (and a vastly different city).

N

A

A

North Point

Section Marker

B

N

Detail Marker North Point

1:1000

50m

Section Marker 1:50

250mm

1250mm

2500mm

0

500mm

2500mm

5000mm

1m

5m

10m

0

2.5m

12.5m

25m

1:500

0

25m

125m

250m

1:5000

B

0

0

Scale 1:10,000

0

0

28

25m

A

5m

A

0

5m

50m

25m

250m

1:100 1:200 Detail Marker

50m

500m

1:1000

1:10000

0

250mm

1250mm

2500mm

1:50

0

500mm

2500mm

5000mm

1:100

0

1m

5m

10m

1:200

0

2.5m

12.5m

25m

1:500

0

25m

125m

250m

1:5000

0

50m

250m

500m

1:10000

Scale 1:1000 Here the designers ‘cleaned up’ the existing industrial structure with an approach typical of modern urban planning - though it could be argued that a loss of provenance occurs in the burying of historic marks to metalwork under fresh paint and the exchange of wild vegetation for regimented plantings.

Sketch from site visit (urban theatre) 23.06.2017

Railings and furniture Scale 1:500 Soil infill and walkway construction

Concrete slab

Primary beams

Support columns

Scale 1:50

Relevance to the South Side of Chicago The High Line shares obvious typological similarities with the disused Kenwood embankment in Bronzeville. Before it was redeveloped, this meatpacking railway was largely inaccessible and also hosted an array of self-established flora and fauna. The garden designer, Piet Oudolf, gestured to this former condition in his schemes for the less polished, third phase of the linear park.

The fundamental difference lies in the built fabric surrounding each site: in Chicago, the high-rise condominiums seen above are replaced by low density housing and vacant lots.

S

e cal

1:2

00

0

29

000 500m

1:10

00 1:50 25m 10m

mm 5000

mm 2500

125m

m 12.5

5m

mm 2500

250m

50m

mm 1250

A

0 0

1m

0 0

0

m 500m

Glulam trusses

N

0

0

5m

m 250m

2.5m

50m

25m

Plastic roofing

25m

This project involved the conversion of a former railway depot to a public sports facility and large flexible event space to serve a deprived area in the north of Antwerp.

il Deta r e k Mar

ion Sect r e Mark

t Poin h Nort

Verdick & Verdickt Architecten, 2011

250m

0 1:50

0 1:20

0 1:10

1:50

00

1:10

Park Spoor Noord WDT Loods, Belgium: former railway shed transformed into a sports centre and venue (adaptive reuse)

A

B A

B

Partitions and slabs

N

Lightweight plastic translucent shell

B

A

A

North Point

Section Marker

B

Existing brick facades retained

Detail Marker A

Scale 1:10,000

30

0

5m

25m

50m

1:1000

0

250mm

1250mm

2500mm

1:50

0

500mm

2500mm

5000mm

1:100

0

1m

5m

10m

1:200

0

2.5m

12.5m

25m

1:500

0

25m

125m

250m

1:5000

0

50m

250m

500m

1:10000

Scale 1:1000 The designers preserved the most architecturally interesting elements of the site the expansive brick facades - and inserted a contemporary translucent volume at the eastern end of the building to contain a large sports hall and signify the new park to the surrounding neighbourhood. This blend of old and new preserves the historic identity of the site whilst indicating that it has entered a new era of use.

1.4 UNSUNG URBANISTS IN BRONZEVILLE Emerging as a symptom of insufficient action from the City government surrounding vacant land and localised destitution

Why is there so much vacant land?

Industrial decline on the South Side The former Union Stockyards west of Bronzeville provided low-skilled meatpacking jobs to African Americans and relied on freight railroads. However, the invention of the refrigerated truck and improvement of highways saw the industry decentralise to cheaper feedlots outside the city, leaving a wake of unemployment.

Though the racially restrictive housing covenants that formerly segregated African Americans to the South Side were lifted in 1948, the poorest demographic remain economically trapped. The loss of the black middle class to suburbs also undermines the local tax base, affecting schools.

Union Stockyards in the 1940s

Population loss and widespread vacancy With the collapse of the social and cultural hubs that formerly comprised the ghetto core, those who could afford to leave the neighbourhood left to safer and quieter locations, spurred on by rising crime and gang control of public housing.

Today, tax-foreclosed properties acquired by the City or County government are a frequent sight. They also mean that reclaimed brick – specifically a brick called the ‘Chicago common,’ used for virtually every brick side elevation in the city – is widely available and inexpensive. This material will be explored in greater depth.

EMMANUEL PRATT

JOHNNIE

DIRECTOR OF SWEET WATER FOUNDATION

BRONZEVILLE ALLIANCE NEIGHBOUR GARDEN

Pratt established the Perry Avenue Commons, a

Owens is the man behind the Bronzeville Alliance

community space that occupies an entire block at

community garden, which focuses exclusively on

57 Street. It includes:

fresh food production to mitigate the food access

•

a meeting house in a foreclosed property

problems in the neighbourhood.

•

a very large urban farm

He has organised community events at the garden

•

a multi-purpose barn venue

aimed to educate local residents on healthy eating

•

a workshop providing employment

habits, through cooking demonstrations.

•

public space with pavilions/installations

Owens wants to create a pavilion on the site to

th

The Sweet Water Foundation call their work

showcase the art of local youths, with an adjoining

‘regenerative placemaking.’

painted mural, but lacks the funding to do this.

“

We wanna see that we’re at a point where we look around and we all built this, together.

”

“

The garden itself can become a place to help develop cultural identity.

”

Population loss in Bronzeville (Douglas and Grand Boulevard community areas)

31

Other unsung urbanists identified and interviewed in Bronzeville

DEVONTAE PHILLIPS

NAOMI DAVIS

'JOHN DOE'

CARPENTER AT FURNITURE WORKSHOP

FOUNDER OF BLACKS IN GREEN (BIG)

DRUG DEALER

Phillips builds and sells custom wooden furniture

Davis has improved the urban realm in the West

This perfectly amicable drug dealer ‘hangs out’

from a workshop at the Perry Avenue Commons

Woodlawn area of Bronzeville, through:

under an extant bridge on the disused Kenwood

site. He and his fellow carpenters have collectively

•

a shared botanical garden

embankment, appropriating the space through

turned an unproductive vacant lot into an

•

tree plantings along the streets

persistent occupation. Above, he is barbecuing

economically viable enterprise.

•

an apple orchard

with two friends, to celebrate a birthday.

Through an apprenticeship program they train

And, plans for:

Together they introduce economic and social

local youths in basic carpentry skills.

•

several ‘Great Migration’ themed gardens

productivity to the unassigned space.

Phillips took several commissions by running a

•

affordable, sustainable housing

stall at a downtown product design fair.

Davis advocates black middle class ownership in Bronzeville, to protect against displacement.

“

32

Custom cabinetr y built to last.

”

“

We have just about been revitalised to death.

”

“

They [the City] fucked the projects up. They took something from us that we ain’t ever getting back – our foundations.

We had our family here.

”

2.

STRATEGIC PROPOSAL

The design brief, initial moves, and land use strategy for project integration with the wider neighbourhood and its resident urbanists.

2.1 EXISTING BRIEF FOR DANIELLE KIZAIRE, B.U.D. Renewable energy microgrid planned for the area surrounding the derelict ComEd substation

Existing plans for the proposed site

DANIELLE KIZAIRE

Kizaire’s community-based organisation aims to bring renewable energy to Bronzeville, and is collaborating with microgrid experts at the IIT. Two sources are planned: solar panels on the disused Kenwood embankment (render above by author, for meeting with Cook County board president) •

So far B.U.D. has collaborated with the IIT through the IPRO Program to calculate project requirements, costs and energy estimates. A private landowner2019 who acquired the embankment in the Conrail bankruptcy proceedings sold it to B.U.D. for $1, though $50,000 of back taxes remain. B.U.D. have also acquired a handful of vacant lots, near the western end of the embankment at the former Robert Taylor Homes site.

project (below). They own several other vacant lots but do not have funding for the seeds/planting.

”

2023

2023

Shared site of B.U.D. microgrid energy centre and Bronzeville Exchange project.

Tax foreclosed parcels for Sunflower Power scheme expansion.

Scale 1:125,000

To maximise yield, B.U.D. sunflowers would be planted in north-south rows. This is because the heads of the sunflowers turn with the direction of sunlight during the day (hence the name) and planting rows north-south rather than east-west prevents seed heads from knocking together (which would cause seed to fall to the ground).

6KM

6KM

4KM

2020

The enormous Robert Taylor Homes site, as an example, contains approximately 64 acres of ploughable vacant grass, which could yield in the range of 2240 to 5120 gallons of oil.

In recent years B.U.D. has assembled a formidable board and met with several government entities and non-profit organisations regarding the proposal, most recently the Natural Resource Defense Council (August 2017) and the president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, Toni Preckwinkle (July 2017).

3KM

3KM

2KM

2KM

1KM

2020

General averages suggest sunflowers yield 1,300 pounds of seed per acre, with an oil content of 40-42%. However, oil extraction yield can vary significantly – anywhere from 35 to 80 gallons per acre – depending on seasonal conditions, seed handling, and extraction methods.

on the site of the former Robert Taylor Homes

34

2019

WOODLAWN WOODLAWN

Sunflower oil yield

In 2016, B.U.D. sowed a trial acre of sunflowers

“

WOODLAWN WOODLAWN

In the spring of 2016, B.U.D. sowed a trial acre of sunflower seeds on one of their vacant plots (below).

This was left to self-seed the following spring rather than harvested, until such a time as B.U.D. has sufficient plantings for the oil pressing process to be worthwhile.

sunflower oil biofuel project on vacant lots

Funding is always the issue.

WOODLAWN WOODLAWN

COFOUNDER OF BRONZEVILLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT

•

4KM

A microgrid is a ‘small network of electricity users with a local source of supply that is usually attached to a centralized national grid but is able to function independently’ (definition from OED). Eventually, B.U.D. hopes to connect the microgrid proposed for the embankment to an existing microgrid at the nearby Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) to form the world’s first microgrid ‘cluster’ – an idea researched at the IIT as a potential energy security strategy.

2KM

2.

Solar arrays installed on the disused Kenwood embankment adjoining the project site A sunflower oil biofuel farming initiative on vacant lots surrounding the disused embankment, dubbed ‘Sunflower Power’

1KM

1.

Radial strategy to temporarily turn unproductive vacant lots to a state of productivity and beautification using the Sunflower Power scheme, skewed to the south of the neighbourhood to target most acute areas.

2KM

Danielle Kizaire and Charles Sutton founded the 501(c)3 non-profit organisation Bronzeville Urban Development (B.U.D.) in 2012, with the goal of bringing renewable energy to Bronzeville. The organisation advocates a microgrid for Bronzeville run from the derelict ComEd substation, with two sources:

Sunflowers to be planted in the north-south direction

IDAEW B S TAT

W A Y

PAR K

M

S

Concrete surface (prohibitively expensive to remove)

I

S

Grass, but privately owned

K

BE

K

A

PA R

K

RE

BE

AC

PAR K

S

PARK

WASHINGTON PARK HOMES

Vacant land suitable for B.U.D

A

P ROJECT S I T E K ENWOOD

BRONZ EV I LLE

0

N

100m

4 1 ST

0.5km

PA R

S N

ST

RE

ET

BE

AC

Low priority, under 10 H

K PA R

K

OR O VICT

BRONZEV ILL E

High priority, over 10

N

INDIANA GREEN LINE STATION

KENWOOD

PA R K

O ER H

D LAN

PARK

ALFE

PA R

N

METC

K

0

100m

MES

Q.C.D.C. HQ PARK

BUR N H A M PA R K

N 0.5km

PARK

PARK

0.5km

PARK PA R K

N

PARK

A RM S T RONG PA RK

WASHINGTON PARK HOMES

METC

E R

WASHINGTON PARK HOMES

PA R K

P

0.5km

G

ROBERT TAYLOR HOMES

I

100m

K

X

H

0 PARK

PARK

Grass, publicly owned

C

K

PA R

ES

HOM

E

I

PA R

PARK

R Y A

Grass, but privately ow

K

DER

LAN

D A

M

PA R

OR O VICT

PARK

E

Concrete surface (pro

ES

N

N

Vacant land unsuitable for B.

N M A ND RA K E

BU RNHAM PAR K

PARK

PARK

2

PARK

PARK

PA R K

Bronzeville Summer N

HOM

A Q.C.D.C. HQ

ARM ST RON G PARK

Low priority, under 1000m 2

Elevated passenger rai

PARK

G

High priority, over 1000m 2

DEN

AR MS TR O NG PAR K

Former public housin

MAD

S TATEWAY PA RK

S

N

I

Low priority, under 1000m H

Unofficial Bronzeville

K

OME

A

W A Y

ER H

D A

AND

G

H

2 High priority, over 1000m B U RNHA M PA RK

Vacant land suitable for B.U.D. scheme: K

L A

R OL

I

C

AC

B U RNHA M PA RK

O VICT

H

I BE

Grass, but privately owned

Vacant land suitable for B.U.D. scheme:

Q.C.D.C. HQ

Grass, publicly owned, within 5m of southern edge

ET

Q.C.D.C. HQ

Grass, publicly owned, within 5m of southern edgeELLI S PA RK

C

M RE

K

2 Low priority, B U RNHA M PA RKunder 1000m

S

I

PA R

Vacant lots acquired b B R O N Z E V I L L E

OME

M

ALFE

ES

K

H

Disused railroad to Ke

ER H

HOM

ET

IDA B WELLS HOMES

ST

AND R OL

ST

Concrete surface (prohibitively expensive to remove)

ST

H

High priority, over 1000m 2

O VICT

N

Vacant land unsuitable for B.U.D. scheme: 41

Vacant land unsuitable for B.U.D. scheme:

4 1 ST

Low priority, under 1000m 2

Vacant land suitable for B.U.D. scheme:

G

Bronzeville Summer Nights venues on 43 rd St

PARK

AC

I

STATEWAY GARDENS

E

N

H

Bronzeville Summer Nights venues on 43 rd St

Elevated passenger railroad (CTA Green Line)

PARK but privately owned Grass,

High priority, over 1000m 2

Grass, publicly owned, within 5m of southern edge S R E (threshold determined using method on next page) of Tlot ET

4 1 ST

Concrete surface (prohibitively expensive to remove) PARK

PARK

A

Elevated passenger railroad (CTA Green Line)

PA R

PA R

Vacant land suitable suitablefor forB.U.D. B.U.D.scheme scheme: Vacant land

G

Grass, but privately owned

C

R Y A N

Concrete surface (prohibitively expensive to remove)

I

PR O JECT S I TE

E

PROJ E C T SIT E

I

Former public housing project sites

K

ARK EN P

N

H

Unofficial Bronzeville neighbourhood boundary

M

ROBERT TAYLOR HOMES

E

ES HOM PARK

Vacant land landunsuitable unsuitablefor forB.U.D. B.U.D. scheme: Vacant scheme

ARK

Former public housing project sites

PARK

PA R

P

M A ND RA K E

Grass, publicly owned, within 5m of southern edge

C

DE N MAD

X P R E

E

L A

ES HOM PARK

Vacant land unsuitable for B.U.D. scheme:

Bronzeville Summer Nights venues on 43 rd St

Vacant lots acquired by B.U.D.

B R O N Disused railroad to Kenwood neighbourhood Z E Vacant lots acquired by B.U.D. V INDIANA GREEN I LINE STATION Unofficial BronzevilleR Kneighbourhood Lboundary L PA M AND R AKE PARK E

B R O N Z E V I L L E

PARK

100m

Elevated passenger railroad (CTA Green Line)

Analysis of vacant land around the B.U.D. site suitable for sunflower biofuelDisused crops railroad to Kenwood neighbourhood

L A

ADD

P

K

DE N MAD

E LLIS PARK

B UR NHA M PA R K

ARK

Z E V I L L E

0

100m

0.5km

PARK

BRONZ EV I LLE

K ENWOOD

Scale 1:10,000

35

Proposed project operating timeline based on sunflower growth season (average shadowed area of 5m calculated to affect longitudinal plots running west-east)

Key

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

Early January

Early February

Group

IME

T

Late January

Collaboration between community stakeholders to improve local energy provision and fresh food access

Eliminating vacant plots with insufficient sunlight

Bronzeville Urban Development (BUD) – supply local houses with low-cost energy from sunflower oil and solar PVs. Cook County Land Bank Authority (CCLBA) – allow BUD to use vacant plots for sunflower production.

Community agriculture groups – establish food-producing community gardens on plots remediated by BUD’s sunflowers.

Sweet Water Foundation – manufacture starter pavilions for new community gardens, to house tools/seedlings etc.

Sunflowers need sunlight. These calculations found 4.9m to be an appropriate buffer to establish which vacant plots are unsuitable for BUD’s scheme.

Sunflower growth period is June to August, inclusive.

Late February

For coordinates 41.821735, -87.611984 (alpha site): Midday sun elevation angle on 1st June: 70.15 o Midday sun elevation angle on 31st August: 56.59 o All agricultural tenancies begin on June 1st and end or renew on 31st May

‘The early crop’

Sow sunflower seeds

Pavilion design team

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

Sunflowers in full bloom

Sow sunflower seeds

‘The late crop’

Cook County Land Bank (CCLBA): Intermediate Use Specialist Prospective community agriculture groups Existing community agriculture groups Sweet Water Foundation 36

JULY SOLAR ARRAY MAINT E N

Bronzeville Urban Development (BUD)

JUNE

A

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

JANUARY

Sow cover crop e.g. winter rye or hairy vetch

Harvest sunflower seeds

MARCH

Press seeds for oil

Sunflowers in full bloom

N CE / EXPANSION PERIOD

Tour existing group plots for prospective designers

APRIL

MAY

Harvest sunflower seeds

tan δ = opposite adjacent Clear cover crop and till soil

Sow cover crop e.g. winter rye or hairy vetch

Sunflowers mature Soil testing for the ‘early’ crop

Soil testing for the ‘late’ crop

Availability signs erected for remediated ‘early’ plots

Availability signs erected for remediated ‘late’ plots

Finalise and announce design teams

Committee assumes control

Till newly assigned plots (displaced)

Press seeds for oil Guidance provided to forming groups

Issue design briefs for new pavilions

Notify BUD of newly assigned plots for tilling

Prepare rollover contracts for coming year (June to May)

Source materials for new pavilions

More material sourcing and delivery arrangements

Prepare new contracts for coming year (June to May)

Discussion amongst neighbours

Deadline for establishment of committees

Committee is agreed

Attend focus group with design team (Staying year) Rollover contract signed

(Moving year) Committee resumes control

(Moving year) Prepare for relocation

(Moving year) New contract signed

Design team attends ‘thank you’ site visit

Social / ideas pre-meeting

Focus groups with client (new group) and manufacturer (Sweet Water Foundation)

Attend focus group with design team

L L (tan 56.59) = 7.5m

L=

7.5m tan 56.59

L = 4.94m

Deadline on April 30th

Take delivery of materials (e.g. disused pallets)

L

A trial acre of sunflowers planted by B.U.D. on one of their vacant lots

Design period

Pavilion manufacture Manufacturers attend ‘thank you’ site visit

South

56 o (Moving year) Notified of new plot by CCLBA

CCLBA issues pavilion briefs

North

tan 56.59 = 7.5m

7.5m

(Moving year) Pavilion redeployed

Design teams announced

Average building height in Bronzeville: 7.5m (Chicago two-flat)

Clear cover crop and till soil Till newly assigned plots (displaced)

Prospective leaders see sign, assemble neighbours

Pavilion deployed on pre-tilled plot

FEBRUARY

Sunflowers mature

Arrange transfer of pavilions to new plots Advertise design team opportunity

OCTOBER

The Plant

Sunflower seeds pressed for biofuel

Food and energy network for Bronzeville

ha

al p .d . b. u

om fr us

ra di

m

A

te

5k

The phytoremediation properties of this crop would create plots safe for food production by local residents, who would be issued a pavilion built at a nearby workshop.

si

Local non-profit B.U.D. would use vacant plots owned by the Cook County Land Bank (CCLBA) to grow sunflowers for their oil-powered microgrid.

2.5km radi us f rom b.u .d. al ph a

te

si te

al p

ha

si

N

N

si

.5dk .m alra phdi a us s i fr om

North Point

ha

al p .d . b. u

us

ra di

5k

m

2.5km radi us f rom b.u .d. al ph a

m

ra di

us

fr

Pavilions manufactured in workshop

DAN RYAN EXPRESSWAY

om

DAN RYAN EXPRESSWAY

om

Sweet Water Foundation

te

fr

b. u

te

5k

Section

b. u

.d .

A

2.5km radi us f rom b.u .d. al ph a

DAN RYAN EXPRESSWAY

B.U.D. headquarters at Bronzeville Exchange site Seeds separated, power generated from oil

si te

si te

DAN RYAN EXPRESSWAY

DAN RYAN EXPRESSWAY DAN RYAN EXPRESSWAY

DAN RYAN EXPRESSWAY

Sunflowers on CCLBA plots Community gardens within 2.5km Community gardens within 5km Sunflowers taken to B.U.D. HQ at the Bronzeville Exchange site Sunflower seeds taken to The Plant for oil pressing Community garden pavilions deployed CCLBA plots remediated and converted to new gardens Bronzeville neighbourhood Scale 1:20,000 M

0

250

B.U.D. plots and Bronzeville Exchange site 500

750

1000

L

A

K

E

M

I C

H

I G

A

N

Offical parks managed by the Chicago Park District

2.5k

2.2 EXPANDED BRIEF TO COMPLETE CHICAGO’S “CULTURAL TRIANGLE” Connecting three non-white neighbourhood cores as places of cultural consumption

Chicago’s neighbourhoods are unusually monoethnic, the legacy of historic segregation of African Americans through redlining and racially restrictive covenants. Whilst the largest Hispanic and Asian American neighbourhoods have clear sociocultural hubs, the same cannot be said for Bronzeville.

This is the premise for the proposed role of the project as a point of cultural exchange, raising the profile of African Americans within the city to increase their political influence.

Increased awareness among the wealthiest portion of Chicago’s tax base (generally, the white population on the North Side) should aid with the economic recovery of the African American ghetto. This begins by making people care – the aim of the cultural plant proposed.

Black (33%)

N

Additional requirements of the brief, after accommodating the B.U.D. scheme A number of spaces created alongside the disused Kenwood embankment will show the rest of the city that African American culture is as rich and nuanced as the Latino culture consumed in the Pilsen neighbourhood (through fairs, taco outlets, public performances and street art etc).

White (29%) Hispanic / Latino (29%) Asian (5%) Data from 2010 US Census Scale 1:200,000

These will include: Market: for the sale of African American soul food, and local artisanal wares Outdoor theatre: for movies important to black history and live music performances Basketball court: to celebrate the demographic’s favourite sport Community garden and potting shed: to showcase a common local form of unsung urbanism

5 km

Biggest local parade

Mexican Independence Day

Chinese New Year

Bud Billiken Parade

La Casa Del Pueblo

38

Chinatown Square & market

African American neighbourhood

‘Chinese in America,’ 1993

BRONZEVILLE

Asian American neighbourhood

‘Peace,’ 1968

CHINATOWN

PILSEN

Physical social hub

Hispanic American neighbourhood

Key street mural

‘A Time to Unite,’ 1976

?

None

Supporting research

Survey of customer travel distances at The Plant farmers market The visitation of residents of majority-white neighbourhoods to majority-Hispanic areas of the city with similar socioeconomic conditions (and physical proximity) to poor blackmajority areas suggests an aversion to African American residents and/or culture rather than just prohibitive geographic inconvenience. Surveying the reach of an urban farmers market at The Plant, in a majority-Hispanic South Side neighbourhood imaginatively called Back-Of-The-Yards, revealed that some cultural fixtures in poor Hispanic areas are sufficiently attractive to draw visitors from the majority-white neighbourhoods of the North Side and gentrified areas to the west.

Of the 128 consumers surveyed, 59% were first time visitors (red dots), whilst 14% had bought produce from the market on at least nine separate previous occasions (yellow dots).

Consumers who lived over 10km away from The Plant were recorded on a separate list of zipcodes. The most furthest American consumer was visiting from Michigan, whilst one European consumer was also recorded. The survey results confirmed the hypothesis that visitation frequency decreases as travel distance increases, and revealed how far-reaching a single instance of grassroots urbanism can be.

Gentrification?

The collage below of a possible cultural plant at the project site depicts colourful concentrated revitalisation in the immediate vicinity, with property developers swarming to older housing stock to demolish it in favour of profitable, luxury alternatives. It uses elements of photos and material surrounding the gentrified neighbourhood of Logan Square on the city’s West Side, where residents have been protesting about displacement. But is a scenario such as this a foreseeable possibility for Bronzeville?

Anderson and Sternberg (2012) compared the gentrifying Latino neighbourhood of Pilsen with Bronzeville and found that ‘mainstream conceptions of Blackness [...] continue to hinder the development of Bronzeville.’ Professor Robert J. Sampson (Harvard) found that gentrification does not occur in Chicago neighbourhoods when the percentage of African American residents exceeds 40%, which may explain the findings of Anderson and Sternberg. Given that the percentage of black residents in Bronzeville is 82%, it is very unlikely to gentrify.

Furthermore, the cultural plant proposed will be rooted into the neighbourhood through numerous satellite sites – community gardens and B.U.D. sunflower crops – rather than the benefits concentrated in one small location.

r pe st si t en

t

n ca va

en pm

nt

lo ve

te is

de

rs pe

y

nd la

it in

nt

c vi

nd

la

ca va

in

t

of ct je

o pr t

en km

n ba em

Scan of poster made for survey conducted at The Plant farmers market on 2 nd December 2017, with resulting dots.

d te

er nv

co to i bl pu c

l ve de s

e ac

sp

er op e

ir qu

ac es us

ho to sh li

mo de

Photos of me and a friend that I enlisted to help survey every consumer leaving the market.

39

How the food and energy network operates at the scale of a single vacant plot

Vacant lot reuse for the B.U.D. sunflower scheme would provide renewable biofuel and remediate soil in preparation for potential community gardening. A series of agricultural successions unfold at satellite sites surrounding the B.U.D. headquarters at the Bronzeville Exchange.

Isometric, scale 1:500

N

Existing urban agriculture in Bronzeville Legends South urban farm (large scale – over 2 acres; temporary land use)

Timber structures are not uncommon, providing potting benches and shelter

Bronzeville Alliance community garden, expansion site (medium scale – 100m x 16m) Local historic example: Vegetable garden at the Robert Taylor Homes project, 1981.

Perry Avenue Commons (large scale – 2 acres; part of the Sweet Water Foundation)

1/3

40

A typical vacant plot, 4731-4733 S Michigan Avenue, is illustrated above. The arrangement of buildings, fencing and grass areas is accurate as of 2017. Note that the owner of 4747 (building at bottom right) has taken the opportunity to acquire the plot to the north for use as a garden.

Site B

Site A

2/3

Sunflowers at 4731-4733 S Michigan Avenue harvested for oil in the autumn and a winter cover crop such as hairy vetch or winter rye sown.

3/3

The role of the sunflowers in soil phytoremediation would prepare the site for community gardening, a popular local pursuit (examples below). Cook County Land Bank would then reallocate B.U.D. to a nearby vacant lot (such as Site B, above), to bring the sunflower scheme back up to capacity.

41

2.3 MASSING STRATEGY Brick fins ‘slice’ into the disused railroad embankment, defying the language of the infrastructure by creating slow spaces in between

Main project spaces indicated.

Circulation at base of fins illustrated for both upper level (embankment) and lower level (vacant lot).

Kicked back to create pocket space

Deep arch to create sense of transition between programmatically distinct spaces

Retaining wall where embankment is cut – thickness of wall reflects height of spilled soil in need of retention

Deep arch to create sense of transition between programmatically distinct spaces

Community garden tool storage locker

Connecting arches between educational kitchen and potting space

Narrow, deep arch to be used for secondary circulation (slower)

F

E

Thin end so that cafe is more ‘discoverable’

Kicked back to create pocket space

Plan, scale 1:500 M

42

0

5

10

15

20

25

Wide arch to keep the 2 market spaces visually connected

Deep arch to prevent pedestrians running into basketball court

Narrow, deep arch to be used for secondary circulation (slower)

A G

R

O F

O D

D E N

N H E I K

T C

E H T

E A T

R U

B A

N

R

/

B A E T

R T O U C

N (

I

A M

Wide, open arch to be used for primary circulation (fast)

B A S K

L I R

Wide, open arch to be used for primary circulation (fast)

Narrow, deep arch to be used for secondary circulation (slower)

T I A

E T K

N P A E (

M

A

X

R

K

E T

D E

)

L

D

)

L

C

A

DISUSED VINCENNES R AIL STATION PL ATFORM

Retaining wall where embankment is cut – thick end necessary

Material subtracted to create terrace overlooking walled educational kitchen garden

Unnecessary material subtracted

Height needed to support market frame structure

Unnecessary material subtracted

Unnecessary material subtracted

Unnecessary material subtracted, creating seat

Initial fin design (all 9m high, 1m thick) B.

Revised brick fins (ranging from 1-3m thick)

CC

NO PU U. B D. SO LIC A LA R

ES

S

EL

–

N PA

Isometric, scale 1:500

SI

TE

M

0

5

10

15

20

25

43

Spread of the proposal into the community Whilst the key masses of the cultural plant for visitors from other areas of the city are located on one large site adjoining the disused embankment, the masses of the project are far more numerous, chaotic and dispersed when the satellite sites are taken into account. The circulation of project visitors and local participants between satellite sites at the neighbourhood scale creates unofficial pedestrian infrastructure through vacant lots – users will typically take the shortest routes.

Publicly owned vacant lot Privately owned vacant lot

Sunflower routes to energy centre Walking routes from community gardens Typical visitor approach from Green Line Residential property powered by microgrid Foreclosed property – source of bricks

N

m

0

10

20

30

Project title: ‘The Bronzeville Exchange’ The project is called The Bronzeville Exchange to describe the role of the site as a point of cultural, social, and economic trade of ideas, knowledge, skills and physical goods.

Cultural exchange Racial interaction on all areas of the site – access to African American soul food, jazz and blues music, cinema, and racially specific sporting interests. Tours to Nat King Cole’s former residence, on the adjoining block.

Social exchange Across the site – across race, gender and age boundaries. Careful design choices regarding circulation juxtapose different user groups with one another to encourage interaction.

Economic exchange The market spaces facilitate the trade of household items between local African American residents during set weekday evenings, and the sale of soul food and local artisanal wares to visiting citizens (the white, Asian and Hispanic demographic) on weekend market days.

Educational exchange An educational kitchen on-site would provide space for healthy home cooking demonstrations, (these have proved popular in the neighbourhood at the Bronzeville Alliance community garden).

Voluntary sports coaches could improve the basketball skills of local youth on the basketball court. The construction of the proposed exchange building provides an opportunity to teach specific construction skills to apprentices, such as bricklaying and carpentry.

Scale 1:2000

3.

INTERVENTIONS & PROPOSED SPACES

Key considerations, including general strategies for funding, structure, environmental control, fire mitigation and equal access.

3.1 FUNDING (LACK OF) Cost minimisation as a key consideration in every administrative choice and design decision

General approach

Role of the designer

The project balances optimism with pragmatic material choices and cost control mechanisms.

Whilst fundraising is the domain of the non-profit, the architect can aid cost minimisation through responsible material choices and construction strategies.

The vacant lot is City-owned and would be leased longterm to B.U.D. for a peppercorn fee through the same system that legitimises local community gardens.

The embankment has been donated by its private owner.

B.U.D. would initiate a fundraising campaign for construction costs and purchase of the ComEd building if donation of the property is not possible.

Funding sources could include: • Seed funding for smaller costs – such as seeds!

And also material purchases such as bricks, paints, fastenings and pallet wood.

• Grant applications for larger costs, such as steelwork and photovoltaic technology, from large funding organisations. B.U.D. is currently engaged in discussion with the 12th-largest national private foundation in the United States, the MacArthur Foundation, which is based in Chicago.

Unfortunately the kinds of renewable energy subsidies available in the UK are not available in the US. With the election of Donald Trump this actuality is unlikely to change positively in the near future.

To this end, the project uses as much reclaimed building material as possible, such as: • Reclaimed common bricks from the side elevations of demolished foreclosures in the city (pallets of 534 bricks with the lime mortar removed can be purchased from brickyards on the West Side).

• Reclaimed timber from GMA shipping pallets. This is rough to the touch, but has excellent strength – and it is lightweight. The remaining deck boards and lead boards in acceptable condition on old and damaged pallets could be salvaged for free or a very small fee.

• Sunflower stems are a by-product of the B.U.D. energy scheme, and will be used in bundles as a key cladding material. Free material.

What not to do:

Labour costs for the project are minimised by limiting the parts of the project built by professional contractors to just the concrete strip foundations, and primary concrete frames. The secondary concrete structure and sunflower panel infill structures would be completed slowly by local residents associated with the project and volunteers from around the city.

If funding becomes available for contractors to aid with the secondary structure, this would speed up progress.

This initial design exploration prior to the fieldwork period proposed to excavate the earth from under the Kenwood embankment to form a subterrannean theatre space. The earthworks involved for this would be prohibitively expensive, knowing now just how economically constrained the local non-profit organisations are. Strangely, the theatre programme was in fact prophetic, and is now a key function of The Bronzeville Exchange since it was a recurring theme in discussions with local residents.

Outsourcing

A white volunteer from the North Side tapes the sharp joints of a hoop house under construction at the Bronzeville Alliance community garden to prevent the plastic sheeting from being punctured. She and others like her demonstrate that there is an interest from Chicagoans outside the Bronzeville neighbourhood to participate.

46

An initial strategy for cost control is to make use of facilities at external organisations to delay investment in the technology for the exchange site itself. For example, the non-profit organisation that manages the interaction of ‘circular economy’ businesses (i.e. waste exchange) at The Plant have offered to purchase seed oil presses for B.U.D. to utilise in their former meatpacking factory.

In a neighbourhood where foreclosed houses such as this are a common sight, it is unrealistic (perhaps even unethical) to expect to fundraise the material and construction costs for the project solely from local residents. Fundraising should target organisations and individuals across the city.

The bricks reclaimed from foreclosures will become a useful source of inexpensive material for the exchange site.

3.2 INTERVENTIONS & GROUNDWORK Changing the relationship of the site to the existing embankment structure

Site preparation and initial steps The vacant lot that constitutes the primary canvas for the project is completely flat, and mostly grass, with odd remnants of concrete footings here and there that may require removing. With very little work it will be ready for the initial construction phases (excavation preparation for foundation pouring).

The trees and scrub on the embankment are to be cleared in stages, as and when necessary to accommodate increasing project usage and participation. Note that this is mostly made up of invasive buckthorn, so will need to be disposed of properly.

The bricked-up entrances to the station will be knocked in, and gates installed to prevent public access until structural integrity is fully assessed, and the space has been renovated (with the addition of security cameras for public safety).

Brick fins would create new modes and angles of access to the embankment These plaster models explored the possibility of programming the degree of visitor occupation to parts of the top of the embankment by controlling the stair visibility. Concealed stairs would limit access to residents in-the-know.

Later steps / significant topographical alterations The two brick fins separating the basketball court from the educational kitchen differ from the rest of the fins by physically cutting into the railroad embankment and acting as retaining walls for the existing soil fill within it.

This architectural action would create a ramp up to the top of the embankment with the feel of a brick ‘canyon’ – a sequential space that learns from the Leça de Palmeira swimming pool by Alvaro Siza (a similarly sculptural/massive project).

Right: a plaster cast model exploring this language.

More convoluted stairway, with a defined entrance – some audaciousness needed.

Below: a series of model photographs testing a similar spatial sequence to Siza’s swimming pool (far right).

1

2

3

Concealed stairway, only known to local residents. No obvious entrance.

4

A set of connected moments form a clear sequence at the Leça de Palmeira pools.

47

Foundations Soil quality The foundation sizes have been designed in consultation with a structural engineer according to the cohesive strength of ‘soft clay and silt,’ which most appropriately describes the soil type (once swamp land) and has a cohesive strength of less than 75kpa.

Whilst piling would often be utilised in these soil conditions, strip foundations have been selected to support both elements of the structure instead due to the expense associated with pile drilling. For the concrete frame footings, these have been enlarged to prevent the need for unsightly portal frame connections.

Due to the previous role of the embankment as a railroad, and the contamination associated with this former use, a high-sulfate concrete mix would be used for the foundations poured into the embankment to avoid contaminant induced erosion. Note that the embankment is currently filled with a mix of soil and rubble, except where concrete station boxes are located.

B

C Chicago building code 13-132-100 All strip foundations 1067mm deep (3ft 6in) as per Chicago frost zone.

Foundation depth The shallowest foundations – those for the concrete frame structure – reach down to the bottom of the frost zone specified in the Chicago building code. The depth of the large raft foundation under the solid brick bleachers is staggered to reflect the changing load from front to back (label A, left). Foundation strips for the brick fins are considerably deeper than those for the concrete frames, due to the weight of the brickwork – a depth of 1.4m was calculated for the largest and heaviest brick fin proposed (label B).

The weight of the brick fins will be minimised through the design of an internal diaphragm layout, creating voids that can also be used to route mechanical and electrical services through the project (but must have access hatches).

A

Where the westernmost brick fin will span the existing station box, two large concrete columns reach down below street level and become footings, preventing loads to the existing station structure (label C).

Residential construction practice highlights feasibility of proposal Deep foundations for the brick fin walls

Sc

48

1 ale

:10

00

Strip foundations for the infill concrete frames

Most Chicago housing, whether shared or single occupancy, enjoys a large basement as standard practice. These are used for storage of bicycles and furniture and contain the washer-dryer facilities in shared buildings. Footings significantly deeper than those proposed for this project are commonplace.

3.3 STRUCTURAL PHILOSOPHY Wood-encased concrete frameworks separated by brick fin walls

Embankment

Market

Sunflower crop

Brick ‘bookends’ to sunflower-clad infill structure Bricks and sunflower stems – two materials of drastically different physical and visual density – are combined through the use of a lightweight concrete frame system, encased in GMA pallet wood. Bundles of sunflower stems are laid into container modules, which are pre-fabricated from eight reclaimed pallet boards.

Large, sculptural brick fin walls are built first, perpendicular to the railroad embankment. These are load-bearing and use an internal diaphragm layout to minimise brick usage and building weight, saving on concrete foundation costs. The concrete framework is then cast in situ between completed brick fins, enclosing the primary building functions (two market spaces, tiered seating for an outdoor theatre, an educational kitchen and a ‘potting shed’ space).

Though the concrete frames support their own dead loads and live loads, the brick fins are structurally beneficial to the concrete frames in preventing unwanted lateral movement. As such they can be thought of as ‘bookends’ to the concrete infill structure.

Traditional arch formwork would facilitate construction of the brick structural openings.

Image source: John Gideon.

Model scale 1:100

49

L M

Structural grid for concrete infill frames 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10 3120

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21 3550

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

10020

Structural grid of 3.2m x 3.2m set by dimensions of salvageable boards from GMA shipping pallets in sets of three sunflower panels

Gaps between grid groups indicated

Sight lines extend from the theatre screen to the pavement on Vincennes Avenue, breaking the grid

Scale 1:500 M

50

0

5

10

15

20

25

Load-bearing brick ‘core’ surmounted by concrete slab. Roof structure over bleachers connects to core.

35 36 1610

37

38

3.4 ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY Building envelope designed for seasonal use in spring, summer and autumn months, and closure during the winter

The functions of the proposed exchange site are seasonal. Chicagoans spend as little time as possible outside during the winter months. Basketball courts and their bleachers are abandoned. Flea markets and outdoor food markets do not operate.

Citizens typically go from home to work, and back home, only stopping for social fixtures or groceries – many refer to it as a collective ‘hibernation.’ The building envelope has been designed to reflect this break in activity.

Spring, summer and autumn The wood-encased concrete frames between brick fins are movable, to allow market traders to control sunlight penetration into the space and increase cross-ventilation during humid months.

At ground level the movement of the facade is essential for market trading: the rotation of the panels inwards forms market stall spaces, with integrated unfolding tables.

Market table integrated into panel (folds down when needed)

Two facade types were contrasted.

The second option, a series of brick arches with space for market stalls in between, lacked the adaptability of the pivoting sunflower panel frame, and would have been considerably more expensive.

Facade opened on lower level to create market stall, and on upper level to improve cross-ventilation.

Facade closed when market stalls not in use.

(Current trading status can be read from the street.)

Prevailing wind from northwest

Sunflower facade panels provide solar shading and atmospheric, dappled natural daylighting.

Roof panel closed

Sprung locking pin holds roof panel in closed position, controlled by concealed cord running down column edge

Roof panel open

Winter closure When market trading ceases during the winter, the locking pins for the roof panels are released, allowing the panels to hang freely. This means that snowfall loads the brick base of the market without burdening the structural frame. In turn, this design feature allows the sizing of the concrete structural members to be considerably smaller, due to the drastically reduced snow load, saving on material expenditure.

Roof panels rotate upwards to capture prevailing wind during hot summer months and minimise sunlight penetration (i.e. solar gain)

Snow drifts deeper on north side of frame structure due to prevailing wind direction

The ComEd building in winter, after light snowfall

30 o range of motion for panels in summer position, controlled by simple pulley with separate cord for sprung locking pin

Winter roof panel positions, freely hanging (at angle due to off-centre pivots)

N

Scale 1:50

51

Lighting and heating

Natural lighting

Thermal considerations

The sunflower stem panels that envelop the core functions would provide a dappled natural light source, filtering summer sunshine from the south and ambient light from the north. Early morning and late evening direct sunlight will not permeate the space due to the orientation of the brick fins in north-south strips.

The majority of the built project is highly sculptural and centred on activities that traditionally occur outdoors (market trading, basketball games etc) and consequently the internal environments are sheltered but by no means hermetically sealed.

Within the market space these panels will produce a lighting condition similar to that observed in Middle Eastern souks, where awnings and corrugated canopies perform the same function of shading market users.

The sunflower facade panels act as: • Solar shading, creating dappled internal daylighting similar to the atmosphere within shaded Middle Eastern souks (markets) • Rain barriers, keeping occupants dry during inclement spring weather • Wind breakers, partially enclosing the building functions

Walled Garden

Chimneys for hob exhaust hoods integrated into fin

Only one space between brick fins is fully enclosed – the educational kitchen, for reasons of food safety. As with the other infill frames, service voids within the brick diaphragm walls provide electrical energy and water supply. Installing a heating system, however, cannot be justified given the seasonal nature of the project and the tight budget constraint. Since the educational kitchen is a space for healthy home cooking demonstrations using fresh produce from the community garden directly adjoining it, when the community garden ceases operations during the winter months (and winter cover crops are sown to protect the soil), the educational kitchen is cleaned and closed by extension.

Sunlight penetrates market spaces in Marrakech. Photos from field trip, January 2014.

Model photo illustrates potential interior effect of sunlight falling across brick fin.

To reduce daily temperature variance in the kitchen environment, additional layers of acrylic sheeting are used to back the sunfower facade panels to eliminate unwanted drafts, and sunflower stem bundles are simply omitted from the south-facing panels to maximise solar gain.

Educational Kitchen

Potting Shed

wc

N

The thermal mass of the brick flooring at the front of the kitchen space around the dining tables would aid with solar heat retention.

Artificial lighting Natural daylighting is sufficient for all of the buildings core functions during daylight hours, though it should be noted that the toilet cubicles integrated into the brick fins across the project would require artificial lighting at all times. This would be motion activated, and time out after a set period, to prevent lights from being left on and wasting the renewable energy generated at the B.U.D. energy centre.

During evening use, artificial lighting would be strictly LED-only due to the significantly reduced energy consumption associated with this bulb type, reducing electrical demand on the B.U.D. microgrid.

Ventilation Coloured LED lighting improves yield at hydroponic farm visited in disused meatpacking factory on the South Side.

Similar lighting units could be used to bathe the project in purple light for special events or racially significant days such as Juneteenth.

The entire project is semi-exposed and therefore naturally cross-ventilated due to the its permeability.

No mechanical ventilation systems will be installed, saving another considerable potential expense.

Northern portion of sunflower roof panel tilts upwards to capture prevailing northwesterly winds during hot weather, and reduce sunlight permeation (solar gain) from southern aspect.

Acoustics

O

nt r ff-ce

ta e ro

Possible appearance of market spaces from 40 th Street, when lit at night (model collage) S cal

10 e 1.

0

tion

Internally, the surface complexity of the sunflower panels will significantly reduce echoing (improve absorption).

The hubbub of the market is not likely to disturb nearby residents because of the sound barrier created by the demo sunflower crop, and the signicant set back of the market spaces from 40 th Street.

N r i s oi s e kt p o 4 ollu 0 th t i o St n

52

3.5 OTHER CONSIDERATIONS Disabled access

Scale 1:500

All of the core functions of the building are accessible to all users. A hydraulic passenger lift provides wheelchair access to both levels of the upper floor, and onto the embankment platform.

Some of the balconies on the east side of the basketball court are inaccessible to wheelchair users, due to the tightened nature of circulation within the narrower brick fins. However, the balconies to the west side of the court are accessible by passenger lift.

Access to specific areas Basketball bleachers / theatre seating A wheelchair parking zone is set back from the front edge of the bleachers. Disabled users will have the best view of the theatre screen and be closest to the basketball court during games.

Level access leads around the side of the bleachers to four ADA-compliant toilets.

Market Two concrete ramps provide disabled access to the brick base of the market spaces. Over the course of several years, the brick base will experience some degree of settlement, despite the preparatory layers of hardcore and sand below it.

If this becomes problematic for wheelchair users then a screed could be added, or the base rebuilt.

Former station platform The project’s lift shaft serves a roof terrace that spans to the platform edge, providing access to a space that has never before been accessible to wheelchair users (Vincennes station did not contain a passenger lift or ramp).

The project’s lift shaft is located in the first brick fin to be built, so that access to the top of the railroad embankment is possible for wheelchair users as early as possible in the project lifespan.

Educational kitchen & potting shed A fold-out ramp is located next to the primary doorway. Assistance required to enter (assistance also required to participate, so somebody should always be available to unfold the ramp).

Theatre ADA toilet plan Scale 1:50

Required 1525mm turning circle (overlap with sink is normal, wheelchair passes underneath).

900mm

The narrowest threshold in the frame structure is based off the three-panel subdivision of the 3.2m square structural grid, at 900mm clear. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that ‘the minimum clear width for single wheelchair passage shall be 32 inches (815 mm) at a point for a maximum length of 24 inches;’ it is compliant.

Other services (electrical etc) also maintained through 400mm access hatch besides toilet.

Changing table can be folded down from wall.

Soil vent pipe connects to waste pipe laid under grass along front elevation, which in turn drains into the city sewer under 40 th St.

Grab handle makes closing door easier.

Flip-down seat with adjoining floor drain.

53

Fire mitigation strategy

(R

The length of the building and its low height (equivalent to typical two-storey housing in the immediate area) lend it to easy fire control. If the project spaces were concentrated on a smaller footprint and reached several stories into the air, fire would be a greater concern (and dry risers and fire-proof cores would need to be integrated into the building plan).

D.

Accidental fires are most likely to occur within the project site at the educational kitchen (pan fires) and in the energy centre (electrical fires). The risk has been significantly reduced by: • The inclusion of commercial grade exhaust hoods above the electrical hobs/ ovens in the kitchen, set into the brick fin wall, which are designed to suppress fires to the cooking area until they can be smothered.

• A ventilation system with fail-safe mechanism for the battery banks and electrical transformers in the B.U.D. energy centre (a detected ventilation fault will shut down the microgrid generator until the fault is examined, reducing the likelihood of fire caused by overheating).

The projection room for the outdoor theatre uses a digital projector, rather than film reels, which are highly flammable. This removes a potential fire hazard.

U.

Fire spread

B.

Potential causes of fire

E

B.

The potentially flammable frames (shaded red below) are also separated by wide, fire-resistant brick fins (green), which would contain fire damage to individual frame groups except perhaps in the worst cases with the most adverse conditions (strong winds, dry ground).

U. D. EN ER GY

(R

OV

Column sectional detail Scale 1:5

Vulnerable pallet wood cladding

Vulnerable pallet wood cladding

PO

This being said, the project is designed to mitigate against excessive damage from arson attempts along the wood-encased concrete envelope (the brick fins with concealed concrete slabs resting on diaphragms are naturally fire-resistant, so do not warrant special measures). By choosing to use an underlying concrete frame, rather than simply a wholly timber structure, the building is not prone to collapse as a result of fire damage. Instead, once the fire is extinguished, damaged panels can be removed, the concrete structure inspected, and then replacement panels used to patch up the damaged area of the facade. Sunflower panels are quick and easy to fabricate (the following chapter will document this process).

Fire-resistant concrete structure

AT

Fire-resistant common bricks

E TR N ) CE ION

EN

Deliberate fires set by arsonists are more common on the South Side of Chicago than elsewhere in the city, though still unusual – crime is typically limited to the underground drug economy and territorial disputes it produces.

TT

ED

IN

IO

SH

AT

G

UC

ED

N AL KI TC HE N

Brick fins form fire barriers between sections

PO ED

TT

ED

UC

IO

SH

AT

G

AT

ED

N AL KI TC HE N

The most extensive materials for the project are naturally fire-resistant:

/ T UR RE C O AT E LL TH BA R ET OO SK TD BA OU

IN

UC

Material choices

B. U. D. EN ER E TR N ) CE ION G Y VAT O EN

(R

Chicago common brick Used for brick fin walls and brick bases to infill spaces (such as market, kitchen and potting shed).

/ T UR RE C O AT E LL TH BA R ET OO SK TD BA OU

/ T UR RE C O AT E LL TH BA R ET OO SK TD BA OU

M

M

AR

AR KE

Concrete cast in situ Used for strip foundations, concealed slabs within brick fins, and structural frame for infill spaces.

PO

T

TT

ED

IN

IO

SH

AT

G

UC

ED

N AL KI TC HE N

M

/ T UR RE C O AT E LL TH BA R ET OO SK TD BA OU

M

AR

AR

KE T

T M AR KE T

M

M

AR

M

AR

AR T

T

T

al

KE

KE

KE

54

Sc

e1

:1

00

0

AR

T

KE

Project materials vulnerable to fire damage:

GMA shipping pallet cladding Used to encase the concrete structure without penetrating it, to provide ‘soft’ material to nail to.

M

KE

AR

T

M

KE

Dried sunflower stems Used for facade panels. These have low embodied energy so burn quickly, creating very little heat.

Fire evacuation plan MARKET (FIRST PHASE)

MARKET (SECOND PHASE)

Fire evacuation route

EMBANKMENT WALL CUT

Fire alarm pull switch location

E D U C AT I O N A L KITCHEN POTTING SHED

Fire extinguisher location

BA S K E T BA L L C O U RT ( DAY )

U R BA N T H E AT R E ( N I G H T )

Scale 1:500

AB 1

CD 2

UPPER LEVEL PLAN

Meeting points Meeting point 1 serves the market spaces, the basketball court / outdoor theatre, and the central portion of the upper level plan.

Meeting point 2 serves the east end of the embankment upper level, the educational kitchen and the potting shed.

Those who exit the embankment station west onto Vincennes Avenue or north into the Holy Angels church car park would use the surrounding streets to walk back around to the meeting points to regroup.

Theatre seating (bleachers) Each side of the basketball bleachers, which act as tiered seating for the outdoor theatre screen during the evening, are divided into two evacuation zones. Zones B and C exit centrally, through the brick arches under the projection room. Zones A and D exit along either side of the bleachers. All theatre users meet at meeting point 1 to regroup.

Escape distances from each seating row comply with the limitations on travel distance listed in Table 2 of Approved Document B, Volume 2, of the UK building regulations.

The building falls into ‘Assembly and recreation’ classification. Escape routes are 876mm wide at the narrowest point, through the brick arches under the projection room.

In order to comply with Table 4 of the same document, this requires limiting the theatre seating capacity to 110 viewers. This is a realistic estimation, given the 9m row width.

LOWER LEVEL PLAN

Meeting point 1

Meeting point 2 55

Contracts, procurement route and organisational hierarchy INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE Section 501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code

NATIONAL LEVEL REGIONAL LEVEL

ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY Client

Cook County Land Bank Authority

Construction responsibility is split between: • Professional contractors, for foundations and primary frame.

• Volunteers organised by B.U.D. (both from the surrounding neighbourhood, and from around the city) for everything else.

For example, if apprentices at the existing Sweet Water Foundation wood workshop are involved with the provision of timber pavilions to newly established community gardens, a flexible contract would be drawn up between the Sweet Water Foundation and Bronzeville Urban Development, or between the Sweet Water Foundation and the Cook County Land Bank Authority (CCLBA), if the CCLBA is made responsible for community garden administration through an additional member of staff (tentatively called an Intermediate Use Specialist in the diagram to the right).

City Council

Mayor

(50 aldermen)

Randy Conner Commissioner of Water Management

Executive Director Within a framework such as this, the life cycle of the vacant lot can be viewed as circular, beginning and ending with residential inhabitation, as ultimately required by Chicago zoning law. The leasing of lots to B.U.D. by the Cook County Land Bank Authority (CCLBA), followed by potential temporary use as a communtiy garden, would return the land to a state of productivity until the neighbourhood rebounds and a new owner purchases the site to build housing on it (diagram below).

OLD OWNER INHABITS SITE CONSTRUCTION COMPLETE

First Deputy Commissioner

(To be recruited) Intermediate Use Specialist

REQUEST WAIVER

OLD OWNER ABANDONS SITE

Bronzeville Urban Development

SITE BECOMES TAX DELINQUENT

CONSTRUCTION BEGINS

NEW OWNER PURCHASES SITE

Julie Hernandez-Tomlin

NEW OWNER INHABITS SITE

EQUAL

Contracts would generally only be drawn up for subcontractors, not volunteers. An exception is made for volunteers working on the project for set hours through other external non-profit organisations, in order to make responsibilities clear at the administrative level within B.U.D. and the engaged external non-profit.

Rahm Emanuel

Department of Water Management

Robert Rose

LISTED ON

Since the foundations and frames are cast in phases that reflect the progress of the volunteers’ brick fin construction, repeat jobs would be offered to subcontractors with good track records.

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

Pat Dowell

Cook County Board of Commissioners

EXECUTIVE BRANCH

Sophia King

Board President

Alderman for Ward 4 (inc. Bronzeville)

Toni Preckwinkle

Contracts and procurement route

B.U.D. would use multi-prime contracting to engage subcontractors for the groundwork, the concrete strip foundations and primary concrete frames, and the renewable technology installation. In this project delivery method the client (B.U.D.) effectively acts as the general contractor would in alternate routes such as design-build procurement, managing multiple contracts in-house. Multi-prime contracting gives B.U.D. total control over the construction schedule, which is important to respond to fluctuations in fundraising.

CITY OF CHICAGO GOVERNMENT

Alderman for Ward 3 (inc. Bronzeville)

COOK COUNTY GOVERNMENT

ANSWERS TO

However, since local residents may make greater physical use of certain spaces, and may be heavily involved with fundraising and construction, the role of ‘client’ becomes harder to define.

Particularly dedicated and embedded volunteers are also ‘clients.’

Part 1150 Illinois Architecture Practice Act of 1989 This hierarchical diagram shows the linkages between organisations and individuals affecting the food and energy network advocated.

In this scenario, the Sweet Water Foundation workshop is utilised for the fabrication of timber pavilions for new community gardens on former B.U.D. sunflower plots.

CONTRACT

The non-profit organisation Bronzeville Urban Development (B.U.D.) will be headquartered in the ComEd substation building, once it has been renovated, and will be responsible for overseeing construction management of the adjoining exchange site, in conjunction with operating the energy centre. B.U.D. will hold all of the land ownership rights (embankment, vacant plot, and ComEd building), so could be considered the ‘client’ in a contractual context.

LOCAL LEVEL

NO CONTRACT NO CONTRACT

CONTRACT

Pavilion production

Community group Committee

Pavilion design team

Pavilion manufacture

3+ Site Managers

Led by local architects

Sweet Water Foundation Emmanuel Pratt

COMMUNITY GROUP MOVE, B.U.D. RESUMES COMMUNITY GROUP PRODUCE FOOD SITE REMEDIATED, SIGNBOARD ERECTED

CCLBA ACQUISITION B.U.D. SOWS SUNFLOWERS, REMEDIATION BEGINS

Illinois Institute of Technology Potential microgrid partner

Collective/individual

Executive Director

INPUT

allotment holders Micheal Reynolds Master Carpenter

INPUT

56

Apprentices

Protection from the street at the Bronzeville Exchange site

Summer sunflower wall

N

Section line Unusual design approach required, minimising openness to the street

E XC H A N G E s i t e

The real risk of drive-by shootings requires line-of-sight barriers for the comfort of users.

A previous proposal for an educational kitchen in the disused building on this site was ridiculed by several local residents who said the large windows onto the street would simply deter potential users from the space out of concern for personal safety.

Exposed to the street

Sunflowers planted adjoining the street would preclude visual sight lines, preventing targeted shootings, whilst still allowing the sounds, smells, colours and lights of the activity at the proposed exchange site to filter through to passing pedestrians.

“ Just 40 years ago, men and women who migrated — no, ran — from the south worked three

Contrasting sentiment that will need to be balanced.

jobs to buy a house. That gets lost in the wash of this larger narrative of it being violent here.

It’s not not true, but it’s not the only part of the story.”

Seasonal building use dovetails with seasonal ‘wall’ of sunflowers.

Here, an impression of the exchange site from 40 th Street.

Anton Seals, director of Grow Greater Englewood, a non-profit operating in an African American neighbourhood west of Bronzeville.

1. Current site condition

CHA Public Housing

Holy Angels Church Oakwood Blvd

Large vacant site, mostly City-owned

40th St

2. Proposed intervention using sunflower visual barrier

Proposed public space straddling disused railroad embankment

B.U.D. sunflower crop

Scale 1:500

57

Urban theatre programme: possible titles African American films to screen at the Bronzeville Exchange, suggested by Danielle Kizaire (project client).

Above: Email correspondence with Danielle Kizaire, co-founder of Bronzeville Urban Development (BUD).

Left: Mock-up movie night poster for possible summer series tied in with the existing Bronzeville Summer Nights programme.

Six films could be shown fortnightly over a three-month summer programme

58

4.

MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT

Development of material character and detailing, construction methods, sequencing, and broader project phasing/longevity.

4.1 MATERIAL CHARACTER Reclaimed brick fin walls with permeable screen configurations in strategic areas

Brick source

Brick history

The side and back elevations of most residential properties in Chicago use the same brick: the ‘Chicago common.’ When properties are foreclosed due to tax delinquency, or simply abandoned, they are often demolished by the City to prevent criminal activity ocurring within (even when still structurally sound). This produces large quantities of used bricks, which are trucked to the brickyards on the West Side to be de-mortared and resold by the pallet.

The Chicago common brick was made from a high organic clay sourced from local clay pits until the mid-twentieth century (cheaper, imported bricks are now the preferred choice). After the Great Fire of 1871, during the building boom, the vast quantities of clay resulting from the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal was used to produce billions of bricks in coal kilns.

Chicago common brick:

The brick itself is durable, and quite soft when compared to contemporary bricks. It is therefore more susceptible to expansion and contraction during seasonal changes. Its porosity allows it to dry out quickly.

1 3 8” L x 2 ” H x 3 ” D 4 4

A

B

‘A House for All Seasons,’ Shaanxi, China Architect: John Lin / Rural Urban Framework

Deviation of viewing angle from north-south aligned brick fin The angles 59 o and 70 o are the extents of pedestrian view of the proposed project theatre screen from the pavement of nearby Vincennes Avenue, to the west of the site. Where the brick fin would obstruct the view of a passerby, the Flemish bond typical of the fins would be interrupted with a section of lighter brick screening identical in configuration to the external walls of John Lin’s ‘House for all seasons’ in Shaanxi village, China (right).

Brick screen arrangement – Configuration 1

Brick screen arrangement – Configuration 2

Simple cross aperture created by omitting bricks from a Flemish bond arrangement.

More complex vertical aperture created.

Note that actual arrangement would differ from the test above by utilising quarter closure bricks at points A and B rather than half bats.

Common bricks broken in the reclamation process could be used within the apertures to control light permeation and privacy for the adjoining building programme.

Use of broken bricks for light permeation control.

Pictured here – Cambridge ‘whites,’ sourced for tests.

Flemish bond arrangement

The Chicago brick varies in colour, from buff and salmon pink, to black. Cambridge whites have a similar clay content and colour, so are a useful test substitute.

Right: Silhouette analysis of both of the brick configurations tested, from both viewing angles shown on the left.

Below: Chiselling lime mortar off the Cambridge whites to prepare for tests.

59o 70o

Configuration 1 at 59 o

60

Configuration 1 at 70 o

Configuration 2 at 59 o

Configuration 2 at 70 o

Perforations in the brick reflecting the light of the theatre screen.

Project becomes the architectural form of a painted mural – brick painting ensures local participation and project longevity, through renewed interest

Murals are spatially fixed, unlike a public sculpture or canvas which can be transported away. They therefore only have social/historic/cultural value, not monetary value – an urban record for a specific point in time.

Key local precedent: ‘Black Women Emerging,’ 1977, led by Justine DeVan Community participants: Midas Wilson, James Harrel, Larry Simms and other residents.

Oil on canvas. ‘Acrylic paint on disused Kenwood embankment.’

The Bronzeville Exchange would assume the same condition, since demolishing the brick fins and removing the mortar would destroy the collaborative work of community art. So it’s similarly fixed. In 30 years the community would have to decide whether to carefully restore it or let it pass the point of restoration as the paint fades.

Example bricks painted (with acrylics) by other students in the design studio: Right: The Reddit ‘Place’ experiment saw a different kind of community, online, collectively create this piece of pixel art. Any one individual could only change the colour of one pixel every 5 minutes, for the 72 hours that the experiment ran. Users formed online teams to achieve large graphics.

Far right: A religious message on a bricked-up entrance to the disused embankment.

Temporary rainwater butt to rinse paint brushes, until project is connected by Department of Water Management

Constant supply of reclaimed Chicago common bricks trucked over from the demortaring yards on the city’s West Side

The first brick arch to be built, in the first brick fin, becomes a space for visitors to paint the stretcher faces of reclaimed Chicago common bricks, to be built into the project by volunteers.

Pallets of de-mortared bricks from the brickyards on the West Side are set down on the west side of the arch, and a sign in the paint room directs visitors to add painted bricks to the temporary seating piles in front of the outdoor cinema screen on the east side of the arch (pictured above at an early stage).

Above: Diane Latiker (standing centre) envisaged the memorial pavilion she built on City-owned vacant land near her house on the far South Side as a site of memory, to ‘shock the community’ into action by displaying a named stone for each young person killed by gun violence in Chicago since she began in 2007. The non-profit she founded, Kids Off the Block, had to rebuild the pavilion for the thirteenth time in 2016 to account for new victims. Rather than self-expression, this is an example of local urban record.

61

Other evidence of the desire for self-expression in the Bronzeville neighbourhood

‘Forum Chalk,’ 2014, led by IIT Urban Activators Innumerable community participants expressed their desires for 43 rd Street, a formerly thriving commercial corridor south of the project site, on this large chalkboard mounted to the side of the permanently closed Forum theatre near the 43 rd Street Green Line station.

It is periodically wiped clean, once the messages have been recorded.

This urban installation differs in permanence to the proposed Bronzeville Exchange site. The painted bricks would be permanently built into the brick fins, so elimination of painted messages is limited to overlaid graffiti or revision/addition (if reachable) by the original painter revisiting the site.

Notable entries that could be cited in support of the project brief to provide Bronzeville with a cultural plant:

“ ... a Black Metropolis again.” “ ... like the 43 rd my mom grew up on.” “ ... free of abandoned buildings.” “ ... full of farms!” “ ... permanently devoid of Starbucks.”

From previous entries to this board, now wiped:

“ ... a place 4 job training.” “ ... a safe route to Metcalfe Park.” “ ... alive & jumpin.”

62

Sunflower facade panel fabrication using GMA shipping pallet boards

Safety Pallet wood is rough sawn, so gloves will therefore be provided to volunteers involved with the fabrication process.

A serendipitous function of the rough surface is the deterrance it will provide to visitors who might otherwise try to climb the structural frame (in order to avoid getting splinters).

?

1. Source GMA pallet (the most ubiquitous pallet type in North America, specified by the Grocery Manufacturers Association)

2. Saw outside stringers off without removing nails, then prise off boards

Sunflowers dried at home for 5 weeks

3. Cut each deck board to 868mm

4. Assemble in two steps, with nails

5. Insert dried sunflower stem bundles Sunflower panels would be fabricated to build a permeable facade for the spaces between the brick fins.

Left: detail of structural model. Right: Carabanchel housing by Foreign Office.

Potential sources of disused GMA shipping pallets near the proposed project area, scale 1:125,000.

Stems flexed to insert into module IN D

U ST RI

AL

IA

ITH SW

TR

NE

US

ZO

IND

L

ZO I SW THIN

5KM RADI US

OF

K M R A DI U S O F S I T E IN 10

NE

Durability

SI

TE

Sunflower stems are relatively strong and can be flexed to a reasonable degree when dried. Native American tribes used them to create flutes.

63

4.2 DETAIL DESIGN Section through typical wood-encased concrete frame (for the market spaces, educational kitchen and potting shed)

Reclaimed from a single GMA pallet: Eight 16mm deck boards

89mm

Four 16mm lead boards

153mm

Metal extrusion on draining end of roof panel provides mount for projecting clear acrylic drip piece and prevents over-rotation

Protruding rebar for later phase of project (roof terrace with concrete beams spanning to embankment)

Sunflower roof panels waterproofed with layer of clear acrylic

Lipped panel container tray made from steel angle rests between concrete beams

Dotted line of concrete beam inside

940mm

Other reclaimed materials:

3

Chicago common brick

Roof panel rotation angle limited by pulley to 30 o range for ventilation control in hot summer humidity

2

Scale 1:25

Central concrete beams not encased in pallet boards (not visible from outside)

1

Hinge allows awning to be lowered during winter, to prevent snow loads

GMA deckboard cut at angle to form mounting bracket for PVC drainage pipe

Sunflower stem bundles laid into wooden frame modules Winter roof panel position useful for periodic cleaning of acrylic roof

Open to outside Wider steps favour casual seating and loitering

Geotextile landscaping fabric prevents plant growth

Winter roof panel position (project closes) – snow loads brick base rather than frame; panel hangs at angle due to off-centre pivot

Border of two GMA deckboards separates gravel soakaway from grass area

4 Chicago building code 13-132-100 Strip foundations 1067mm deep (3ft 6in) as per Chicago frost zone Hardcore composed of brick rubble from nearby foreclosures

64

Lime mortar will accommodate settlement, refilling its own cracks over time

Selected connection details

1

Clear acrylic overhang with acrylic drip edge glued under

3

Protruding rebar for later stage of project (roof terrace) Wood spacer for acrylic sheeting cut from deckboard and glued

20 gauge stainless steel perforated continuous screen

22 gauge continuous galvanised steel gutter (or PVC gutter if insufficient funding)

22 gauge continuous galvanised steel gutter (or PVC gutter if insufficient funding)

Additional deck boards used to distance gutter from structure

Fascia made from end-to-end pallet lead boards

Bundles of approx. 10 sunflower stems bound together with garden twine

Steel cable supports awning

2 Sunflower stem roof panel module bolted to pivoting steel tray

Bundles of stems create dappled internal daylighting, much like that of a Middle Eastern souk

Galvanised steel frame with lipped edge and pivot hole rests on beam

4 Lime mortar necessary (rather than more ubiquitous Portland cement) due to soft composition of Chicago common brick (mortar must always be softer than brick)

Gravel soakaway Concrete edge strip cast in situ provides stable base for more vulnerable brick edge

Permeable geotextile stops plant growth but allows water to drain Line of concrete primary frame under pallet wood wrapping Hardcore composed of brick rubble from nearby foreclosed buildings

All details scale 1:5 Direction of water travel

65

LIFT SHAFT

INITIAL BRICK FIN

WEST ELEVATION Brickwork layouts for the initial brick fin

1

2

3

4

1

2

3

4

5

6

5

6

6

6

136 COURSES

PHASE 10

PHASE 8

INITIAL BRICK FIN

WEST ELEVATION Odd course

Shaft sized for 6-person (450kg) hydraulic passenger lift PHASE 4 ( LOWER LEVEL 2 ( LOWER LEVEL ) (such as )Stannah Maxlift 2.0 ‘motorPHASE roomless’ hydraulic PHASE 11 ( UPPER LEVEL ) lift with 800mm through entrances).

PHASE 9

1 1

2 2

3 3

4 4

1 1

2 2

3 3

4 4

Internal diaphragm structure laid PHASE 1 out by bricklayer, who minimises mortar joint overlap.

5 5

104 COURSES

PHASE 3

6

6

6

6 104 COURSES

Outer brick layout at relative base

E

136 COURSES

5 5

CIRC CIRC

1

PHASE NORTH END TO10 MJ1-1 Even course

PHASE 8 MJ1-1 TO MJ2-2

2

PHASE 9 MJ2-2 TO MJ3-3

11,800 BRICKS

17,300 BRICKS

( 9.5 DAYS )

( 5 DAYS )

( 7 DAYS )

E

3

4

24,900 BRICKS

54,900 BRICKS

31,800 BRICKS

( 10.5 DAYS )

( 23 DAYS )

( 13 DAYS )

6

PHASE 3 MJ6-6 TO MJ7-7

( 12.5 DAYS )

2

3

4

5

6

6

1

2

3

4

5

Movement joint (MJ)

CHANGING ROOM CHANGING ROOM

29,900 BRICKS

1

6

6

CIRC

Full brick

CIRC W3 H2

4

1 ” 4

3 ” 4

2Three quarter closure

CIRC 3

CIRC

4

Half bat

CIRC

LIFT SHAFT

5

CIRC

LIFT SHAFT

PAINT ROOM

6

CHANGING ROOM

6

PAINT ROOM

CHANGING ROOM

Quarter closure Cut arch brick

L8”

1

2

CIRC 3

4

CIRC

2

3

4

5

PAINT ROOM

5

6

6

6

6

CHANGING ROOM

PHASE 10

PHASE 8

PHASE 9

PHASE 4 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 11 ( UPPER LEVEL )

PHASE 2 ( LOWER LEVEL )

PHASE 1

PHASE 3

NORTH END TO MJ1-1

MJ1-1 TO MJ2-2

MJ2-2 TO MJ3-3

MJ3-3 TO MJ4-4

MJ4-4 TO MJ5-5

MJ5-5 TO MJ6-6

MJ6-6 TO MJ7-7

23,100 BRICKS

11,800 BRICKS

1 1

( 9.5 DAYS )

( 5 DAYS )

PHASE 10

The Bronzeville Exchange

17,300 BRICKS

CIRC

2

3

W3 H2

4 1

1 ” 4

3 ” 4

L8”

CIRC

24,900 BRICKS

3 3

PHASE 9

( 10.5 DAYS )

54,900 BRICKS

4 4

5 5

( 23 DAYS )

PHASE 4 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 11 ( UPPER LEVEL )

PHASE 2 ( LOWER LEVEL )

31,800 BRICKS

6

( 13 DAYS )

6

6

29,900 BRICKS ( 12.5 DAYS )

6

PHASE 1

PHASE 3

CIRC

Full brick 2Three quarter closure

N

Scale 1:100

( 7 DAYS )

Movement joint (MJ)

1

1

2 2

PHASE 8

BRICK LAYOUT FOR INITIAL FIN WALL

0

6

6

LIFT SHAFT

m

PHASE 1 MJ5-5 TO MJ6-6

6 6

6

1

66

5

PHASE MJ4-4 2 ( LOWER TO MJ5-5LEVEL )

6 6

5

N 2

5 5

4

CIRC

E

1

Plan split across two pages down movement joint 6-6

3

1

0

PHASE MJ3-3 4 ( LOWER TO MJ4-4LEVEL ) PHASE 11 ( UPPER LEVEL )

PAINT ROOM PAINT ROOM

2

The Bronzeville Exchange

Scale 1:100

3

4 4

104 COURSES

1

BRICK LAYOUT FOR INITIAL FIN WALL

m

3 3

23,100 BRICKS

Outer brick layout at relative base

CIRC CIRC

LIFT SHAFT LIFT SHAFT

2 2

6 6

104 COURSES

CIRC CIRC

1 1

6 6

3

4

LIFT SHAFT

CIRC

5

PAINT ROOM

6

CHANGING ROOM

6

Half bat Quarter closure CIRC

Cut arch brick 2

3

4

LIFT SHAFT

CIRC

5

PAINT ROOM

6

6

CHANGING ROOM

CIRC 6

6

6

7

8

9a

9b

10

23,100 BRICKS

11,800 BRICKS

( 9.5 DAYS )

( 5 DAYS )

11

6

6

6 6

6

6 104 COURSES

6 6

9

10

7 7

8 8

9a

7 7

8 8

9a 9a

9

9b

10

9b 9b

10 10

10

2

11

MJ1-1 TO MJ2-2 BRICK LAYOUT FOR INITIAL FIN WALL

23,100 BRICKS 2

The Bronzeville Exchange

1

3

( 9.5 DAYS )

11

11,800 BRICKS

NORTH END TO MJ1-1

MJ1-1 TO MJ2-2

23,100 BRICKS

11,800 BRICKS

( 9.5 DAYS )

( 5 DAYS )

11 11

Scale 1:100

MJ2-2 TO MJ3-3

17,300 BRICKS

H2

( 7 DAYS )

1 ” 4

( 10.5 DAYS )

L8”

WC WC

CIRC CIRC

7 7

PHASE 3 MJ6-6 TO MJ7-7

7

29,900 BRICKS

8 8

PHASE MJ7-7 5 ( LOWER TO MJ8-8LEVEL ) PHASE 11 ( UPPER LEVEL )

8

23,900 BRICKS

( 12.5 DAYS )

BRICK LAYOUT FOR INITIAL FIN WALL Scale 1:100

Movement joint N (MJ)

The Bronzeville Exchange

Full brick

( 10 DAYS )

9 9

PHASEMJ8-8 6 ( LOWER TO MJ9-9aLEVEL ) PHASE 12 ( UPPER LEVEL )

9

PHASE 15 MJ9-9a TO MJ9-9b

28,300 BRICKS

1,900 BRICKS

( 12 DAYS )

( 6.5 HOURS )

10 10

PHASEMJ9-9b 7 ( LOWER LEVEL ) TO MJ10-10 PHASE 13 ( UPPER LEVEL )

10

11 11m

0

m

N 1

11

PHASE 14 END MJ11-11 TO SOUTH

28,100 BRICKS

1,600 BRICKS

20,400 BRICKS

( 12 DAYS )

( 5.5 HOURS )

( 8.5 DAYS )

6

7

8

9a

9b

10

11

6

6

7

8

9a

9b

10

11

7

8

6

CHANGING ROOM

7

CHANGING ROOM

6

6

6

6

6 6

6

7

CHANGING ROOM

WC

CIRC

WC

CIRC

7

9a

8

9b

10

9

8

11

9

11

10

11

10

11

PHASE 15

PHASE 7 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 13 ( UPPER LEVEL )

PHASE 16

PHASE 14

MJ6-6 TO MJ7-7

MJ7-7 TO MJ8-8

MJ8-8 TO MJ9-9a

MJ9-9a TO MJ9-9b

MJ9-9b TO MJ10-10

MJ10-10 TO MJ11-11

MJ11-11 TO SOUTH END

28,300 BRICKS

1,900 BRICKS

28,100 BRICKS

1,600 BRICKS

20,400 BRICKS

( 12.5 DAYS )

7 7

23,900 BRICKS ( 10 DAYS )

8 8

PHASE 5 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 11 ( UPPER LEVEL )

7

WC

CIRC

( 12 DAYS )

9a

PHASE 6 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 12 ( UPPER LEVEL )

8

( 6.59 HOURS )

( 12 DAYS )

9b

PHASE 15

9a

10

PHASE 7 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 13 ( UPPER LEVEL )

9b

11) ( 10 5.5 HOURS

4

H2

1 ” 4

L8”

3 ” 4

1

2

3

4

H2

1 ” 4

Three quarter closure

3 ” 4

L8”

Half bat

Quarter closu

Cut arch brick

Half bat Quarter closure Cut arch brick

Location

Methodology These layouts are based on the dimensions of the Chicago common brick, reclaimed from tax-foreclosed properties on the South Side. Mortar joints are assumed to be 12mm.

This fin would be the largest, the most complex, and the first to be built (and later repointed). It contains approximately 298,000 bricks, which equates to roughly seven foreclosed buildings.

PHASE 6 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 12 ( UPPER LEVEL )

29,900 BRICKS

CHANGING ROOM

8

10

PHASE 5 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 11 ( UPPER LEVEL )

PHASE 3

6

CIRC

9

3

W3

0

W3

Day estimates are based on a small team of nine labourers (six bricklayers and three hod carriers) collectively averaging 2400 laid bricks per day.

PHASE 3

6

6

WC

2

PHASE 16 MJ10-10 TO MJ11-11

6

6

Movement joi Cu Full brick

The Bronzeville Exchange

Scale 1:100

6

Qu

24,900 BRICKS

BRICK LAYOUT FIN m 0 1FOR 2INITIAL 3 4 WALL

71 COURSES

6

Ha

4

Three quarter

CHANGING ROOM CHANGING ROOM

6

( 8.5 DAYS )

11

PHASE 16

10

PHASE 14

11

67 6

6

CHANGING ROOM

17,30 Fu

3 MJ3-3 TOW3 MJ4-4 ”

N

104 COURSES

6

4

( 5 DAYS )

Th

114 COURSES

6 6

MJ2 M

NORTH END TO MJ1-1

PHASE 14

71 COURSES

6 6

L

11

Since the bordering brickwork uses a single rather than double Flemish bond, the inside of PHASE 6the ( LOWER ) will bePHASE 15 bond (the PHASE 7 ( LOWERtype LEVELof) brickwork pattern), PHASE 16 locking into outerLEVEL skin English strongest PHASE 12the ( UPPER LEVEL ) PHASE 13 ( UPPER LEVEL ) outside brickwork where possible by replacing would-be half bats with full bricks.

PHASE 5 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 11 ( UPPER LEVEL ) 114 COURSES

M

M

8

PHASE 3

M

M

7

MJ1-1 TO MJ2-2

1 6

M M

M

CIRC

NORTH END TO MJ1-1

7

WC

CIRC

8

9

10

11

West elevation for the initial brick fin, detailing cut bricks for the arches and pocketing around concrete frame connection points

1 1

INITIAL BRICK FIN

WEST ELEVATION

2 2

3 3

4 4

5 5

6

6

4

5

6

6

4

5

6

6

6

6

Pocketing for connecting concrete frame (beam).

136 COURSES

E

INITIAL BRICK FIN

WEST ELEVATION

1

2

3

1

2

3

CIRC CIRC

CIRC

104 COURSES

PAINT ROOM

136 COURSES

LIFT SHAFT

104 COURSES

CHANGING ROOM Elevation split across two pages down movement joint 6-6

104 COURSES

1

2

PHASE 10

3

PHASE 8

PHASE 9

4

104 COURSES

5

PHASE 4 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 11 ( UPPER LEVEL )

PHASE 2 ( LOWER LEVEL )

6

6

PHASE 1

1

2

3

4

5

1

2

3

4

5

1

2

3

4

5

PHASE 3

6

6 6

6

CIRC

E

CIRC

CIRC

LIFT SHAFT 1

2

3

4

6

6

PAINT ROOM

CHANGING ROOM

5

6

6

CIRC CIRC

E

1

2

3

4

1

2

3

4

NORTH END TO MJ1-1

MJ1-1 TO MJ2-2

23,100 BRICKS

11,800 BRICKS ( 5CIRC DAYS )

1

( 9.5 DAYS )

PHASE 10

CIRC

MJ2-2 TO MJ3-3

2

17,300 BRICKS

PHASE 8

( 7 DAYS )

PHASE 9

( 10.5 DAYS )

5

MJ4-4 TO MJ5-5

54,900 BRICKS

4

LIFT SHAFT

PHASE 4 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 11 ( UPPER LEVEL )

( 23 DAYS )

CIRC

5

PHASE 2 ( LOWER LEVEL )

The Bronzeville Exchange

1

2

3

4

5

1

2Three quarter closure

3

4

5

PHASE 10

N

m

0

1

2

3

H2

4

68

1 ” 4

PHASE3 ”8 W3 4

Half bat

L8”

Cut arch brick

PHASE 9

PHASE 4 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 11 ( UPPER LEVEL )

Quarter closure

PHASE 2 ( LOWER LEVEL )

2

6

6

MJ6-6 TO MJ7-7

31,800 BRICKS

6

( 13 DAYS ) ROOM PAINT

6

29,900 BRICKS CHANGING ROOM

3

4

LIFT SHAFT

6 6

6 6

PHASE 1

CIRC

5

PAINT ROOM

( 12.5 DAYS )

PHASE 3

PHASE 3

CIRC

CIRC 1

CHANGING ROOM

6

PHASE 1

Movement joint (MJ)

Scale 1:100

6

MJ5-5 TO MJ6-6

BRICK LAYOUT FOR INITIAL FIN WALL

Full brick

PAINT ROOM

5

MJ3-3 TO MJ4-4

24,900 BRICKS

3

CIRC

LIFT SHAFT

6

6

CHANGING ROOM

CIRC

6

6

6

6

6

7 7

6

8 8

7

8

9a

9

9b

10

10

23,100 BRICKS

11,800 BRICKS

( 9.5 DAYS )

( 5 DAYS )

6

6

7

104 COURSES

8

9a

23,100 BRICKS 2

The Bronzeville Exchange

3

( 9.5 DAYS )

WC

9b

10

NORTH END TO MJ1-1

MJ1-1 TO MJ2-2

23,100 BRICKS

11,800 BRICKS

( 9.5 DAYS )

( 5 DAYS )

Scale 1:100

MJ2-2 TO MJ3-3

Ha

3 MJ3-3 TOW3 MJ4-4 ”

N

4

17,300 BRICKS

H2

( 7 DAYS )

1 ” 4

Qu

24,900 BRICKS ( 10.5 DAYS )

BRICK LAYOUT FIN m 0 1FOR 2INITIAL 3 4 WALL

11

L8”

Movement joi Cu Full brick Three quarter

71 COURSES

BRICK LAYOUT FOR INITIAL FIN WALL Scale 1:100

Movement joint N (MJ)

The Bronzeville Exchange

Full brick

m

104 COURSES

8

9

10

PHASE 5 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 11 ( UPPER LEVEL )

PHASE 6 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 12 ( UPPER LEVEL )

PHASE 15

PHASE 7 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 13 ( UPPER LEVEL )

N

Scale 1:100

11

m PHASE 3

0

1

71 COURSES16 PHASE

2

3

4

W3 H2

1 ” 4

L8”

3 ” 4

0

1

2

3

4

W3 H2

1 ” 4

Three quarter closure

3 ” 4

L8”

Half bat

Quarter closu

Cut arch brick

Half bat Quarter closure Cut arch brick

Location

PHASE 14

Construction phasing

6

6 6

6

6

6

7

8

7

8

7

CHANGING ROOM 6

6

6

6

7

6

6

6

WC

29,900 BRICKS ( 12.5 DAYS )

7

6

6 6

6

6

CHANGING ROOM

8

23,900 BRICKS ( 10 DAYS )

CIRC

8

PHASE 5 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 11 ( UPPER LEVEL )

7

8

7

8

PHASE 3

PHASE 5 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 11 ( UPPER LEVEL )

7

9a

WC

11 10

9b

11

10

9

9a

8

WC

10

All sections between movement joints are completed to their lower level heights before upper level work begins on any section.

11

The concrete frame for the adjoining market space would be built in tandem during phases three to seven. Note the joist pocketing between MJ4-4 and MJ6-6.

MJ7-7 TO MJ8-8

PHASE 3

6

CIRC

7

CHANGING ROOM

9b 9

8

MJ6-6 TO MJ7-7

M

9a

The movement joints (which allow settlement and expansion/contraction due to temperature variation) are used as a basis for the phasing of the fin wall, starting centrally with the first arch over the brick painting room.

CIRC

7

CHANGING ROOM

6

8

WC

CIRC

17,30 Fu

11

CIRC

7

4

( 5 DAYS )

Th 10

114 COURSES

6

MJ2 M

11,800 BRICKS

The Bronzeville Exchange

CHANGING ROOM

6

2

MJ1-1 TO MJ2-2 BRICK LAYOUT FOR INITIAL FIN WALL

11 1

Brick screen walls provide glimpses of theatre screen from the street, enticing passing pedestrians.

9a 9b

L

NORTH END TO MJ1-1

11

114 COURSES

M

M

MJ1-1 TO MJ2-2

1

M

M

CIRC

NORTH END TO MJ1-1

10

9b

11

10

9

11 10

11

MJ8-8 TO MJ9-9a

MJ9-9a TO MJ9-9b

MJ9-9b TO MJ10-10

MJ10-10 TO MJ11-11

MJ11-11 TO SOUTH END

28,300 BRICKS

1,900 BRICKS

28,100 BRICKS

1,600 BRICKS

20,400 BRICKS

( 12 DAYS )

( 6.59 HOURS )

PHASE 6 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 12 ( UPPER LEVEL )

PHASE 15

( 12 DAYS )

11) ( 10 5.5 HOURS

PHASE 7 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 13 ( UPPER LEVEL )

PHASE 16

9 9a

PHASE 6 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 12 ( UPPER LEVEL )

10 9b

PHASE 15

PHASE 14

11

10

PHASE 7 ( LOWER LEVEL ) PHASE 13 ( UPPER LEVEL )

( 8.5 DAYS )

11

PHASE 16

PHASE 14

69 8

9a

9b

10

11

4.3 CONSTRUCTION SUMMARY Construction sequence for typical wood-encased concrete frame (for the market spaces, educational kitchen and potting shed)

Width of bay determined by size of GMA shipping pallet

Connection to foundation heavily reinforced to avoid the need for portal frame

1.

Concrete strip foundations cast in situ at 3.2m centres (grid set based on GMA shipping pallet dimensions). Rebar left protruding for primary concrete frame to be cast above (using shuttering).

This is the only construction phase to be completed by professional contractors.

2.

Secondary concrete members cast in situ by local volunteers, mostly on weekends, using a small portable scaffold tower. Shuttering made using reclaimed GMA pallet wood.

All concrete members have been sized to be encased by specific configurations of the 89mmand 153mm-wide deckboards of GMA pallets.

Steel box sections bolted to concrete beam to later support front awning via tensile steel cables

3.

Galvanised steel frames with lipped edges and pivot holes (to later receive sunflower roof panels) lowered into resting position between secondary concrete beams.

Made from four steel angles welded together on site in the workshop at the energy centre.

Off-

Steel cables support an awning made from GMA pallet deckboards

Wood spacers to mount clear acrylic roof layer glued onto steel frames

6.

Rotating sunflower panels for the unfolding market facade are fabricated at the energy centre workshop and installed (pivot points drilled into brick base). Market use begins.

Clear acrylic layer glued to awning panels.

Note: In the illustrations above, the concrete beams are encased with fresh GMA pallet wood, rather than leaving the shuttering in place from the beam pouring. This is so that a made-to-measure sets of beam shuttering can be reused to expedite the casting phase.

70

re

is n ax

rota nt re e c Off

tion

axis

Gutter fixed to rear facade under acrylic lip to direct rainwater to drain

Inward-facing stall created by rotating facade panels

Protruding PVC drainage pipes direct rainwater away from brick base into gravel soakaway

Steel angle affixed as stopper for facade panels

5.

Concrete frame encased in deckboards from old GMA shipping pallets (with a two board depth around primary columns to provide sufficient ‘soft’ material for standardised sunflower panels to later be nailed into place without penetrating the concrete).

c e nt

tio rota

4.

Raised brick base laid around frame (four bricks high) after earth has been tamped and preparatory layers of brick rubble and sand have formed a level footing.

7.

Standardised sunflower stem roof panels installed using steel bolts to pivot. These are to be prefabricated in the energy centre workshop on site.

8.

Simple pulley system for each set of three roof panels allows users to improve crossventilation in hot, humid summer months.

The panels pivot off-centre so that they naturally swing open: this means during snowy winter months (when the market is closed) they would hang freely, drastically reducing snow loads.

Scale 1:200

Overview of primary and secondary structural members for infill frameworks

Cost minimisation strategy

Unusual dead and live loads

Reinforced concrete columns and beams are used for the majority of structural members throughout the project, due to their affordability in comparison to steel. However, the roof over the tiered seating area makes use of steel universal beams and columns due to the wide spans associated with stadium-style seating to provide unobstructed views. Steel is simply more practical for these spans (here a maximum of 12.8m).

The weight of the brick fins (dead load) is significant due to the unusual depth of the walls in order to accommodate various internalised functions (viewing balconies, circulation, toilets etc). The concrete foundations for the fins have been designed with this in mind, and are typically 1.4m deep (see dedicated page on foundations in Chapter 3).

Primary structural members

The susceptibility of the tiered seating canopy to updraft wind loads should also be noted. The sizing of universal beams in the roof structure took this into account through consultation with a structural engineer.

Secondary structural members

Below, stresses are shown on the roof over the tiered seating for a downward wind load. Note that the projection room provides a brick ‘core’ to carry the dead load of the roof structure to the ground.

For updrafts, the stresses are reversed.

Strip foundations deepened to prevent the need for portal frame connections

Steel members in compression Steel members in tension

DOWN

S ca

le

0 1:1

WA R D

WIND

LOAD

Top of cantilevered I-beam in tension

00

12800

Underslung warren truss in both tension and compression Columns in compression

FP

Underslung warren truss made of 152x89x16 universal beams (largest structural span in the building) Scale 1:100

Steel members in compression

Brick ‘core’ capped with concrete slab to receive dead load of roof structure

Steel members in tension

71

Construction phasing: fin-fin-infill, fin-infill, fin-infill...

End result uncertain, but phasing (route) defined Due to the organic growth of the building over the course of many years, mostly through voluntary participation, the size and functions of the brick fins would undoubtedly deviate from the potential configuration suggested in this report. Attaching working plans to a prominent surface within the project would allow users to annotate them and suggest revisions.

What will not vary is the construction phasing rhythm: initially two brick fins, followed by an infill frame, and following that a fin-frame-fin-frame alternation, since one facilitates the next.

Construction begins with brick fin 1.

72

Programmatic phasing (infill frames) Brick fin construction sequence