Oakland Riverfront Project (Draft)

OAKL AND R I V E R F RONT PROPOSAL DONALD CHOW INDEPENDENT PROJEC T FALL 2013 - SPRING 2014 Advisors: Jonathan Kline | Hal Hayes | Rami el Samahy

INTRODUCTION The work compiled and presented in this book is a culmination of my work over the past year (Fall 2013 - Spring 2014). The project is the development of the urban plan developed in the Fall semesters Urban Lab Studio. The Urban Lab Studio was a semester long investigation of urban scale solutions for the neighborhood of Oakland, Pittsburgh (pictured above). The body of work of which this project is developed from was done in collaboration with Jae Han Bae, a fellow student at Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture. The project, a proposed mixed-use residential and commercial development and public space at Oakland’s riverfront, was advised

by Jonathan Kline with secondary advisors Hal Hayes and Rami el Samahy.

HISTORY

INDUSTRIAL CITY Pittsburgh’s history is rooted in its waters. At the peek of the industrial period (early 20th century) Pittsburgh’s rivers were lined with mills and factories

RIVER CONNECTION Workers lived on the hills and plateaus above the river flats and descended down the hills to ther river on a daily basis to work

DEATH OF INDUSTRY When the steel industry began to collapse beginning around mid-20th century, much of the city’s industrial built river edges began to dissapear

REDEFINING THE CITY With the absence of industry, Pittsburgh needed a new identity as a city. It began to redefine itself from a city of industry to a city of innovation, medical research and education

REDEFINING THE CITY The top of the plateau was rapidly being built upon but the river flats were largely ignored. Mills were largely removed and replaced by other program or left as brownfields

RETURNING TO THE RIVERS EDGE The project is an urban design investigation and proposal to reshape Oakland’s waterfront and re-connect Pittsburgh and its people to the river

Axonometric View of Oakland

WHY OAKLAND Why Oakland? In a city with abundant underutilized post-industrial waterfronts, there are many possible project sites. In fact, Oakland’s riverfront is often regarded as one of the more “successful” brownfield redevelopments to date. Oakland is the region’s center of innovation and technology but there is a strong push to sustain and compliment the continued growth of the neighborhood. The Oakland 2025 plan (http://www.opdc.org/wp-content/ uploads/2010/10/1209010-Oakland-2025-Report-SCREEN-Sec-1.pdf) is a vision plan for the neighborhood published in 2012 to outline the steps and goals needed to achieve that aforementioned growth. The plan lists 10 big changes for Oakland that will hope to be seen by 2025: 1. Increase the number of people who both live and work in Oakland 2. Increase the average age of Oakland residents to support a diverse, sustainable neighborhood 3. Establish model multi-modal ‘complete streets’ linked to enhanced transit systems 4. Foster unique, diverse neighborhoods and businesses 5. Build up social networks and community social capital 6. Create a sustainable mix of residential living options 7. Increase access to parks, open spaces and trails 8. Promote a strong Oakland residential “brand” to attract new residents 9. Create strong leadership capacity to implement components of the 2025 plan 10. Develop an effective and proactive design and development review process A number of the goals outlined in the plan reflect the possible contributions of an effective waterfront development and are aligned with what this project aims to produce. The desire to further grow and develop as well as existing infrastructure of the neighborhood makes the Oakland riverfront the ideal location for development

EDUCATION When Pittsburgh redefined itself from its industrial period, much of its success stemmed from the educational institutions that were present. Pittsburghs two most prominent universityies have their campuses in Oakland: Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh

MEDICAL RESEARCH Pittsburghs success was also credited to its medical research and institutions. UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) has a large presence in Oakland. The combined presence of the educational and medical institutions makes Oakland the 3rd biggest downtown in Pennsylvania behind downtown Philadelphia and downtown Pittsburgh

BUSINESS Business corridors are centered around the densest parts of Oakland to support the major institutions. These corridors are along Forbes and Fifth Avenue, Boulevard of the Allies and Craig Street. Pittsburgh Technology Center (project site) is also a businees and commercial complex of Oakland

CULTURAL Two of Pittsburghs major cultural institutions are located in Oakland: Carnegie Museum of Art and Phipps Conservatory. The cultural programs bring numerous visitors to the neighborhood daily

PARKS Oakland borders and serves as the main entrance (through Schenley Plaza) to one of Pittsburghs major parks: Schenley Park.

The park offers many recreational programs for Oakland residents but draws many many visitors as well

TRAFFIC Forbes and Fifth Avenue are the main traffic corridors through Oakland that connect the two educational institutions. Boulevard of the Allies and Second Avenue connects Oakland directly to downtown. The neighborhood is also bordered by a major parkway, Interstate-376 (the Parkway)

HEAD HOUSE Oakland (and the project site) serves as an important piece to Pittsburgh and its growth and development by its location alone. The site and neighborhood serves as a major connection point to major locations in Pittsburgh. The major roads that bisect and border Oakland ensures that traffic travelling to either ends of the city will bypass the neighborhood. Downtown Pittsburgh is only a few minutes away by vehicle either by Forbes Avenue, Fifth Avenue, Boulevard of the Allies or Second Avenue.

The development of Oakland’s riverfront will be one part of a much larger vision for Pittsburghs waterfront. Across the Monongahela River from Oakland is Southside and Southside Works, two major recreational attractions in the region. South of the site is the Almono site and Hazelwood.

The Almono site is to be developed to be a similar mixed-use residential and commercial riverfront development in the near future. The adjacency of the three water front developments (Southside Works, Almono, Oakland) suggests that the program to be proposed must not only complement the existing or proposed program of any of the sites but can expect to share in the collective density of the immediate region. The three waterfront developments will increase the importance of the Hot Metal Bridge as a major connection point for the developments

PROJECT SITE The project site is located on the flats of Oakland bordering the river. The site currently serves as the Pittsburgh Technology Center. In some cases, records do not consider the site as part of Oakland. This is due in part to the inaccesibility of the site and the isolated program currently there. The general “island� nature of the site can be attributed to several factors:

The project site is bordered by the Parkway (I-376) and the Monongahela River. Due to the presence of the highway, pedestrian and vehicular connection to the site is limited. The primary and sole vehicular entrance to the site from Oakland is through Bates Street which runs off of Boulevard of the Allies. Dedicated pedestrian access from Oakland is non-existent

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Pittsburghs valley topography also lends a part in the isolation of the site. Central Oakland is located on a plateau roughly 120‘ - 140’ from the elevation of the flats. The elevation is steep and creates a physical wall that seperates the two parts of the neighborhood. Bates Street runs down a natural valley that allows traffic to traverse between the two elevations

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EXISTING CONDITIONS The current Pittsburgh Technology Center resembles a suburban office complex typology. The individual footprint of the buildings are large but the density of the buildings on the site is small and their proximity of the buildings from one another makes it a very inefficient and underutilized use of waterfront property. The private/corporate nature of the program makes the access to the public unattractive and discouraged

1) METALTECH

2) 2000 Technology Drive 3) Union Swith & Signal Pittsburgh Technology Council 5 -Storeys Pitt Parks & Conservatory 175,000 Sq Feet Innovation Works 5 -Storeys

4) CMU Research Institute Entertainment Technology QuantMed LLC 5 -Storeys 88,000 Sq Feet

5) Brasken Technology & Innovation Center Petrochemical Company Aristech Chemical Corp 4 -Storeys 80,000 Sq Feet

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6) Bridgeside Pt. II University of Pittsburgh Microbiolody 5 -Storeys 160,000 Sq Feet

7) University of Pittsburgh Center for Biotechnology & Bioengineering 4 -Storeys 91,000 Sq Feet

8) Level 3 Communications 4 -Storeys 60,000 Sq Feet

9) Bridgeside Pt. I Thermofisher Scientific UPMC Health Venture ALCOA Tech Center DRAEGER 4 -Storeys

RESIDENTS

WORKERS

VISITORS

PROJECT GOALS The project goals will serve to not only replace the existing the commercial program on the existing site but improve on the accesibility and attractiveness of the site to all users. To develop a site that will not be one-dimensional in its program but be accesible and encompassing to the three major user groups: Residents, Workers and Visitors. The current 48 acre site, at 2009, had roughly 1,000 active employees working at the Pittsburgh Technology Center. The unsatisfactory jobs per acre ratio and that most of the employees commute to work from all around the region is opposite of what Oakland 2025 has listed as their goals for the neighborhood. The proposed development aims to increase the ratios of jobs and units per acre significantly

20 JOBS/ACRE 0 UNITS/ACRE

100 JOBS/ACRE 75 UNITS/ACRE

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RESIDENTS

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USER MASSING The development will serve three primary user groups: Residents, Workers and Visitors. The visitors will occupy the first level of development, workers occupy the mid-development and the residents will occupy the space above the commercial plinth. The new development must preserve and provide the three desireable sightlines of the sight: 1) View towards the River from the Tower 2) View towards Oakland from the Tower 3) View towards the River from Oakland

SITE STRATEGIES EXTEND MAJOR CORRIDORS To improve the neighborhood connection from the river to Oakland, two plazas will be developed from the extensions of Oaklands two major corridors: Forbes - Fifth Avenue and Bates Street. A pedestrian connection (incline) will be introduced at the Forbes and Fifth Plaza that will connect to a future proposed subsurface LRT line that will run through Oakland

FOCUS DENSITY AND ACTIVITY To focus and concentrate activity at the plazas, cultural program will be introduced to each of the points. The concentration of activity will help manage density and lead to more successful planning for retail and recreation

COMMERCIAL CORRIDOR In between the two plazas will be a central commercial corridor. Tech Drive will be designated as the primary allotment for the worker user groups

RESIDENTIAL ENDS By centralizing the visitor user groups at the plazas and the worker user groups in between, it allows for the residential program to be alotted to the ends of the site with the residential massing at the southeastern end connecting with the adjacent residential program at the Almono site. This maps the appropriate and density and activity throughout the site.

ACTIVATE RIVERS EDGE With the worker user groups at occupying Tech Drive, the rivers edge will be for the residents and the visitors. The development of the waters edge will be a continuous multi-level promenade with water-based activity seperated according to projected density

DEVELOPMENT PHASING PHASE I The existing program that is most easily and effectively replaceable are the MetalTech building, the two parking structures and the open-ground parking. Therefore the first move of development will be to develop the back lots adjacent to Second Avenue and the lots at the ends of the site. The residential program introduced at the ends of the site will help densify the site and make introducing new program more feasible. The incline to Central Oakland provide accesibility to Central Oakland from the site. New parking structures will be built and will not only replace the existing parking but support future demand as well

PHASE II After the first phase of development, the existing functioning but insufficient program will be removed. The existing program at that point will be moved across to street to commercial space provided in Phase I. New program will be developed afterwards on that lots adjacent to the river. The remaining portion of the Forbes and Fifth Plaza will be completed once the Union Switch & Signal building will be removed

PHASE III The last phase will be to develop the rivers edge and to increase accesibility to the river. With all the new development and activity, there will be sufficient density to support a river-edge promenade and the accompanying public program

Proposed Massing in Plan

MASSING STRATEGY MAXIMUM FOOTPRINT Extrude masses from the maximum buildable footprint. The maximum buildable footprint is derived from existing roads, existing building lines and the plazas

POROSITY The maximum footprint mass is than divided to create a more porous and permeable massing. The division lines are derived from existing roads and appropriate spacing to create roughly even masses

SIGHTLINES The masses are trimmed to preserve the pre-existing sightlines from residents in South Oakland. (see USER MASSING)

SUNLIGHT The masses are further trimmed to allow sunlight exposure to Technology Drive. The exposure plane is determined to allow a sufficient amount of sunlight at all times of the year

POINT TOWERS To achieve the goal residential density, point towers are added to the existing masses; heights of the towers respond to the height to the adjacent plateau

PERFORMANCE The resulting massing is a series of skinny point towers on top of a series of low plinths. The thin towers allows the preservation of all the prior systems (sightlines and sunlight)

FINAL MASSING The final massing fits within the massing envelope developed. The plinths are carved to create more intimate/engaging spaces and to avoid having spaces that have a large depth from windows

Bird’s Eye View of Proposed Massing

Bird’s Eye View of Proposed Massing

PROPOSED MASSING The proposed massing consists of 20 developed similar blocks. The program within the blocks are distributed according to the site strategies (see SITE STRATEGIES)

LANDMARK & PLAZAS The plazas are located at either end of the sites. Landmarks are adjacent to the plazas to centralize density and activity

PARKING MASSING Parking structures are located within the plinth against Second Avenue. Pushing all the parking against Second Avenue limits traffic entering Technology Drive

RETAIL MASSING Retail massing is centralized around the plazas and landmarks. Retail is selectively located and limited due to the limited market demand at the site

COMMERCIAL MASSING Commercial masses occupy Technology Drive in between the two plazas.

Commercial masses go from the 2nd level to the 5th level typically

RESIDENTIAL MASSING Residential massing on the ground floor is only located selectively adjacent to the river and at the residential ends of the development

TOWNHOUSES Townhouses are located on the top of the Commercial and Parking plinths and form private courtyards. Townhouses have private and direct access to the top level of parking structures

BASE TOWERS Base towers are mid-rise towers that do not exceed 12 storeys in height (roughly the elevation level of South Oakland). Units are generally one bedroom apartments or studios

POINT TOWERS Point towers are high-rise towers that exceed 12 storeys in height but never more than 24 storeys. There are 16 point towers

COMBINED MASSING Combined massing shows diagrammatic distribution of program thoughout the development

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Block Footprint Phase 2 Phase 1

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Block Development Plan SCALE 1” : 720’ The total combined footprint area of the blocks is 32.22 acres, roughly 2/3 of the total acres of the site. The basic layout of streets and blocks on the site provides the foundation for layering program and uses. The porous layout allows for short blocks and frequent entrances. The permeability of the blocks combined with active ground floors provides an urban streetscape with clear circulation paths, animated public realm and variety of sightlines. The continuity of the public realm and the permeability of the blocks will be ensured through clearly defined public ways and create a comfortable pedestrian environment. Additionally block sizes and orientation have been designed to distribute sunlight equitably and encourage summer breezes. The taller masses adjacent to Second Avenue also mitigates a majority of the noise pollution coming from Second Avenue and the Parkway

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Parks & Publicly Accesible Open Spaces SCALE 1” : 720’ The primary open and public accesible spaces are centralized around the two main plazas of the site: Forbes and Fifth Avenue Plaza and the Bates Plaza. The plazas support both passive and active recreation. The northern halves of the plazas accomodate the active recreation such as playgrounds, water-play, recreational fields; while the southern halves incorporate meditative, reclusive spaces within the eco-parks. Publicly accesible passage ways are located in between every block to encourage transparency and directionality towards the river. The promenade that stretches along the river edge provides public activity at points. The marinas are for private use to their respective development blocks however there is recreational boating available at the Community Center located at the Forbes and Fifth Plaza as well as dining at the lower promenade level.

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Lower Promenade Upper Promenade Boat Launch Recreational Boating Artificial Wetland Playground Multi-Purpose Space

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Proposed LRT Shuttle LRT Shuttle Platform Primary Regional Bicycle Trail Secondary Bicycle Trail Courtyard Private Courtyard Public Public Passage Public Open Space

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Proposed Transit Network SCALE 1� : 720’ To develop the project the most significant challenge is the transportation-related challenges: lack of connectivity to Central Oakland, insufficient grid networks and lack of a pedestrian oriented public realm. A public incline system, such as the two active inclines currently operating in Pittsburgh, is introduced as a means of commuting into Central Oakland. The incline system connects with a greater sub-surface LRT system that is proposed to run underneath Forbes avenue through Downtown. A local LRT system runs along Technology Drive to shuttle pedestrians along the site; the LRT may possibly extend into the Almono site in the future. The Elijah Furnace trail, a major bike trail, runs along the site but lacks sufficient access to the site and to the river. Additional access points to the trail are introduced and dedicated bike lanes are introduced along the promenade to seperate vehicular traffic from pedestrian and recreational traffic

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Proposed LRT Shuttle LRT Shuttle Platform Primary Regional Bicycle Trail Secondary Bicycle Trail Incline Building Incline Tracks

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Building and Transit Accesibility SCALE 1” : 720’ To encourage a sustainable transportation network within the site (reduced automobile dependency and increased foot traffic), the LRT Shuttle Platforms are made as accesible as possible with a comfortable walking distance. The presence of a nearby shuttle and pedestrian oriented passages will encourage residents and non-residential users to make necessary daily trips by foot and public transportation. The building entry locations are adjusted to focus traffic primarily on Technology Drive or the Plazas while service entries are located almost entirely on side streets

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Proposed LRT Shuttle LRT Shuttle Platform 5 - Minute Walkshed Primary Building Entrance Comm Building Entrance Building Service Entrance

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Parking Lot Parking Lot Entrance Building Service Entrance

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Parking Plan SCALE 1” : 720’ Though there is a strong push to create a sustainable transit network within the site, the site must provide minimum parking requirements for the program. The parking structures alone provide 4,750 parking spots not including available street parking. The alotted parking is adjacent to Second Avenue to discourage vehicular traffic onto the site. The parking structures serves primarily its respective building block and the smaller building block directly adjacent along the river. The structures shall provide sufficient spots for both every residential unit, commercial program and visitor parking

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E AG SS Y PA EN GE GH EN BRID ALL L AT META E GR OT H

On a site with a large amount of open exposed surfaces, it is important to provide as much conveyance control as possible. Plantings run along all the streets and lawns are provided wherever possible.

In addition to the ground level conveyance, all building on site have a percentage of their top surface as green roofs. The green roofs provide source water flow control as well as many other benefits to the buildings such as: improving air quality, reducing urban heat island, creating habitat and biodiversity. Remaining water flow enters the storm drainage system which redirects water to the plazas.

The plazas both feature an artificial ecological filtration system. The terraced wetland system naturally filters storm water back into the river through a series of treatments and also provides natural habitat for wildlife and a passive environment for users on the site

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Water Flow System

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Source Control: Green Roof System Source Control: Green Terraces

Conveyance: Plantings Conveyance: Trees 1 Conveyance: Trees 2 Conveyance: Trees 3 Conveyance: Wetlands Conveyance: Lawns Conveyance: Tram Grass

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Storm Drainage Ecological Water Filtration

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Ground Floor Program SCALE 1� : 720’ It is at street level that the public engages with the site, therefore it is important to carefully plan out the distribution of program on the ground floor. The ground floor program should enhance and animate public spaces, direct pedestrian circulation patterns and frame user activity. The strategy for the ground floor program is derived from the Site Strategies. The distribution of program is placed in order to support the maximum active pedestrian life to the market potential of the site in accordance with the density provided. Retail is centralized at the plazas but it is constrained due to lack of projected density. It is important therefore that the limited retail be placed at strategic locations such as corners, next to transit stops and next to the promenade. Residential and commercial users share the ground floor in many of the building blocks so it is important to distribute them in such a way that the users have accesible entries and access to both sides of the building at the Phase II buildings

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Cultural Program Massing Low-Rise (2-3 Storeys) Podium Massing (5 Storeys) Townhouse (6-8 Storeys) Base Tower (9-12 Storeys) Point Tower (13-24 Storeys)

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Building Height Plan SCALE 1” : 720’ The building height plan is derived from the massing developed from the earlier massing strategies (see MASSING STRATEGIES). The site is composed of a primarily mid-rise plinths (5-8 storeys) with specfically allocated point towers. The gradual change in building height from the river to Oakland helps mediate the sudden change in elevation that exists now as well as preserves existing sightlines from Oakland. The general mid-rise height of the buildings give a sense of enclosure for the streets and frames public spaces at a pedestrian scale without overpowering the street or limiting natural systems (e.g. sunlight).

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Tower Footprint Envelope Point Tower Massing 200 Feet Radius

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Point Tower Massing SCALE 1” : 720’ In order to achieve sufficient density for the site, there is a necessity to build vertically. By combining taller towers and shorter plinths, the site can achieve significant density without sacrificing a comfortable pedestrian environment and creating a “canyon of towers”. The site calls for a limited amount of towers (16) that are carefully spaced out to preserve openess. Within the possible tower footprint envelope, towers were placed such that they were no less than 200 feet from one another.

200 feet is an acceptable distance from one another such that the towers do not obstruct views or sunlight from one another

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ND

6

1

E

SO

NU

3

TH

E AV

FIF

5 HAM BRID GE

OA K

TO WN

SO

UE

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VE SA BE

UT

7

BIRMING

R FO

HO AK

VA L HH

ILL

S

LA

SEC ON

8

UT

DA VE

ND

NU

TECH

E

10

NO

LOG YD

RIV

E

9 12

UT

HS

AH

ELA

IDE

RIV

ER

13 T

SO

11

NG

EE

NO

BA TE SS TR

MO

14 CE NA

UR

HF

JA

ELI AIL

TR

15

LEGEND

TO HA OO LW

16

D

S PA NY HE GE NG RID LLE L B T A TA EA T ME HO

ZE

Point Tower Massing 200 Feet Radius Tower Groups Tower Twist Axises

GE SA

GR

Point Tower Rotation Plan SCALE 1” : 720’ The point towers are at a significant enough elevation such that there is no specific preferred sightline. The location of the site provides (at a given elevation) views back towards Oakland, across the river to the South Hills, down the river towards the valley and ultimately up the river towards Downtown. Therefore for the point towers the concern is not to orient the primary faces towards a specific sightline, but to orient their faces away from one another. The point towers are grouped into sections seperated by the plazas (the towers at the ends of the plazas have enough distance in between to be negligible). The towers are than individually rotated along the central core to a common axis such that there are no direct obstruction of views within the tower groups

O

ON

M

AL

LE

Y

E

NU

H IFT

E AV

F

E

NU

E AV ES RB

FO

TO DOWNTOWN

BOULEVARD OF THE ALLIES

E

NU

SO

E

NU

HAM BRID

GE

VE SA BE

UT

PE

NN

C

BIRMING

R FO

SEC ON

LIN

HO AK

CO L

NH

D

DA VE

B

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TECH

LA

IGH

WA Y

ND

E

NO

LOG YD

RIV

E

E

MO

NO

UT

NG

AH

ELA

RIV

ER

HS

IDE

BA TE SS TR

SO

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Proposed Massing Plan

5

4

FINAL TREATMENT

MONOGAHELA

SECONDARY SURFACE PURIFICATION

3

2

PRELIMINARY OPEN WATER CATCHMENT

SUB SURFACE WATER FILTRATION

1

GRAVEL BASED PRE-TREATMENT

PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE

27'-2" 69'-6"

271'-8"

LOWER PROMENADE

NATURAL FILTRATION SYSTEM

SECTION A: Typ. Eco Park Section 5

4

3

2

Secondary surface flow free water basin.

Aquatic reed plants in vegetated submerged bed for distilled purification

Preliminary open water, catchment, and retention basin.

Submerged aquatic plants over a layer of organic composite

Mid-height plant groups in damp soil for reed-bed filtration.

Bulrush for hydrocarbon removal

Low-height plant groups in arid soil for subsurface stormwater filtration. Wheat and buffalo grasses for hydrocarbon removal

1

Gravel-based dry soil pre-treatment.

Poplar trees for embedded metal removal from soil

16'-0"

PODIUM LEVEL 78' - 0"

12'-0"

LEVEL 5 62' - 0"

12'-0"

LEVEL 4 50' - 0"

12'-0"

LEVEL 3 38' - 0"

12'-0"

LEVEL 2 26' - 0"

14'-0"

LEVEL 1 14' - 0"

LEVEL 0 0' - 0"

34'-9"

STREET PLANTING

PARKING

ROADWAY

LRT

STREET PLANTING

6'-0"

8'-0"

22'-0"

10'-0"

6'-0"

BUILDING 2B

TYP. STREET

SIDEWALK

17'-9" 25'-9"

40'-0"

42'-9"

SIDEWALK

BUILDING 1F

SECTION B: Typ. Tech. Drive Street Section

ROADWAY

LRT

LRT STATION

LRT

22'-0"

10'-0"

10'-0"

10'-0"

54'-0"

SIDEWALK

TYP. LRT DOUBLE SWITCH

PLAZA

SECTION C: Typ. Tram Station Section

12'-0"

ROOF LEVEL 38' - 0"

12'-0"

LEVEL 2 26' - 0"

LEVEL 0 0' - 0" PROMENADE LEVEL -10' - 0"

14'-0"

10'-0"

14'-0"

LEVEL 1 14' - 0"

MARINA LEVEL -24' - 0"

MONOGAHELA RIVER

8'-0" 4'-0" 6'-2" 24'-0"

DOCK PLATFORM

BIKE LANES

PEDESTRIAN WALKWAY

10'-0"

22'-2"

50'-4"

24'-0"

LOWER PROMENADE

UPPER PROMENADE

WALKWAY & PLAZA

SECTION D: Typ. Promenade Section

12'-0"

ROOF LEVEL 38' - 0"

12'-0"

LEVEL 2 26' - 0"

LEVEL 0 0' - 0" PROMENADE LEVEL -10' - 0"

14'-0"

10'-0"

14'-0"

LEVEL 1 14' - 0"

MARINA LEVEL -24' - 0"

MONOGAHELA RIVER

8'-1" 4'-0" 6'-1" 24'-2"

DOCK PLATFORM

BIKE LANES

LANDSCAPE TRANSITION

10'-1"

25'-1"

54'-4"

LOWER PROMENADE

PEDESTRIAN WALKWAY

19'-2" 28'-3"

UPPER PROMENADE

SECTION E: Typ. Promenade Section 2

Perspective from Plaza

ARCHITECTURAL PROPOSAL An architectural scale investigation under the massing developed at the urban scale studies. The architectural scale project is a look into what could come next after an urban design proposal.

The project looks at block 1F, 2B and the adjacent plaza; the way the adjacencies affect one another and a study to measure the success of the massing

RESIDENTS

WORKERS

VISITORS

US STEEL TOWER

HOT METAL BRIDGE

SMOKE STACKS

TOWER MASSING

TYPICAL EXTRUSION The massing begins with a simple extrusion of a steel frame tower with a central core

ROTATE AROUND CORE The extrusion rotates accordingly (see Point Tower Rotation Plan) around the central core

SHRINK FLOORPLATES A gradual decrease in scale as elevation increases helps preserve the contextual sightlines and sunlight

ROTATION + EXTRUSION Create a visual change in housing typology by selectively rotating the lower floors and extruding the remaining floors

TERRACES Illustrate the rotation with extrusions to create offset terraces that can be occupied

STRUCTURE The structure of the tower will be from a central cylindrical core and a rigid exterior steel frame. The cylindrical core is such that the rotation of the floor plates can be independent of the core

STRUCTURE + TERRACES Combining the structure and the terraced mass of the rotating tower, the exterior structural steel helps illustrate the rotation

SHRINK CURTAIN WALL On the upper levels, a gradual recession of the curtain wall independent of the floorplate creates covered terraces

FINAL MASSING The final massing illustrates two distinct housing typologies. The upper floors with ideal views and covered terraces and the lower floors with less ideal views and open terraces

PLANS + AXOS The visual aesthetic of the towers and the buildings is a way of celebrating the industrial history of Pittsburgh. Aesthetically, the towers are a combination of the prominent black steel construction of the US Steel Tower in Downtown and the Hot Metal Bridge. Massing, the point towers on low plinths resemble the skinny smoke stacks that rose from the mills that used to be on the site. Rivers that used to be lined with steel mills and smoke stacks are to be replaced with industrial-like mid-rises and tall steel towers.

In plan the buildings follow the general program distribution provided in the plans (see Ground Floor Program). The corners adjacent to the plaza are for retail while the entries for residential and commercial users are along Tech Drive. Each building has two entries each for residential and commercial users with Building 2B having access from both Tech Drive and the Upper Promenade. Smaller retail lines the ground floor program facing the plaza to activate the public walkways. The Plaza is divided from passive and active recreation by Tech Drive, with the active recreation centered around the density created from traffic between the incline and the LRT stop. As the central core goes higher in elevation for Building 1F, the core transitions from a public hallway to a private hallway as the core reaches its apex

5

5 11 8 4 9

10

7

3

7

2

7 6

8 8

8

1

LEVEL 0 1. Monongahela River 2. Natural Water’s Edge Remediation 3. Water Park 4. Civic Park 5. Incline Station 6. Restaurant

7. Residential Lobby 8. Commercial Lobby 9. Retail 10. Parking 11. Multi-use Lawn

7

4 3 2 5 1

LEVEL 2 - 5 1. Rooftop Courtyard 2. Apartment Unit 3. Commercial Space 4. Parking 5. Green Roof

4

2 1

1

LEVEL 6 - 8 1. Apartment Unit 2. Green Roof 3. Rooftop Courtyard 4. Townhouses

3

1 2

LEVEL 9 - 12 1. Apartment Unit 2. Apartment Unit 2

1

LEVEL 13 - XX 1. Penthouse Unit

Section through Buildings

Section through Building Core

Section through Forbes Avenue

Section through Plaza

Perspective of Typ. Street

Perspective of Typ. Street

DONALD CHOW INDEPENDENT PROJEC T FALL 2013 - SPRING 2014