2020 Masters in Architecture Thesis - UFSoA - Graham Oakley

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WORKPLACE

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HEALTHCARE

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Industrial

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A RE-IMAGINED SUBURBAN CITY CENTER

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REDEVELOPING GREYFIELD SITES

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EDUCATION

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RESIDENTIAL

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SUSTAINABILITY

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A Re-Imagined Suburban City Center: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites

by: GRAHAM OAKLEY

College of Design, Construction & Planning University of Florida SPRING 2020

Chair: STEPHEN BENDER Co-chair: FRANK BOSWORTH



DEDICATION This book is dedicated to all architecture students.

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Abstract The American landscape as many see it today is one of the suburban models, thousands of single-family homes clustered together in subdivisions isolated from one another. This urban sprawl started during the post-war era and the automobile was the machine that offered the freedom to travel and explore new destinations. The suburban shopping center, a place where you could eat, meet with friends, spend your free time, but most importantly a place to shop. Consumerism was the American way; it was the free market that is based on supply and demand with little or no government control. Department stores have been, and still, a large supporting factor of the cultural phenomenon of the shopping mall. The architecture that was completed devoid of an architectural style of its context somehow made these spaces recognizable and memorable. Suburban malls, which were the epicenter of suburban life, are on the decline. Due to the scale of these developments, the economic stability of an area, and the single use program, these suburban malls have been difficult to maintain and have become blights on the landscape. What if this declining mall can be redefined and revitalized to bring a greater sense of connection back to communities? Can the idea be a shopping mall be re-imagined? This research aims to understand how the implementation of mixed-use components of housing, commercial, and retail programs on existing shopping mall Sites can help revitalize neighborhoods and become a new activate town center. By understanding how shifts in consumerism have transformed the mentality of the American it may help create a new space that will promote a unified, live-able, and engaging place.

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Acknowledgements I would like to first thank my parents. Without their love, support, and motivation through my academic career I would not have made it this far. You both have taught me to be the best person, always surround myself with good people, and never give up. I love you both so much. To my academic professor through the years. Kourtney Baldwin, you we’re the one who instilled in me the craft to create beautiful designs. Your attention to detail, strong deadlines, and patience in the many design studios I enrolled in would not have made me the designer I am today or the designer I will continue to strive for. My thesis chair, Stephen Bender. Thank you for the open and honest conversations over the last two years. Your knowledge and personality made learning from you extremely fulfilling and fun. I hope our paths continue to intersect within the design community. To my team at Baker Barrios Architects. Without your guidance and willingness to work with my flexible schedule, which allowed me actual take the time to get this done, I would have not been able to complete this goal in the time it took. To all my fellow academic colleagues. The architectural design studio culture is one that is unique and unmatched. We start our academic career as competitive design students and leave as lifelong friends.

Thank you.

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List of Figures Figure 1.1: Analytical site diagram Figure 1.2: Rendering of the shared plaza space during a market day Figure 1.3: Southdale Center aerial - Circa 2020 Figure 1.4: Levittown Suburb, New York, USA Figure 1.5: Portrait of Victor Gruen Figure 1.6: Hudsons department store, Detroit, Michigan Figure 1.7: Parking ramp leading towards rooftop parking lot Figure 1.8: Front entrance of Millirons department store Figure 1.9: Mixed-use development for the Shimao ShenKong Int.Centre Figure 1.10: Florida Mall Interior photo Figure 1.11: Typical shopping mall site layout Figure 1.12: Urban Sprawl Repair Manual strategy for redeveloping malls Figure 1.13: Marquee sign with closed store names blacked out Figure 1.14: Rolling Acres Shopping Mall - Dan Bell Figure 1.15: Interior of Hudsons Department Store. Detroit, MI Figure 1.16: Empty shopping mall food court Figure 1.17: Escalators left in disrepair. Hudson Department store. Detroit, MI Figure 2.1: A large atrium space connects seamlessly interior and exterior Figure 2.2: Apple Campus 2 Office building interior photo Figure 2.3: Apple employees walking Figure 2.4: Existing green space, 20% open Figure 2.5: Aerial image Apple 2 Campus Site - November 2009 Figure 2.6: Proposed green space, 80% open Figure 2.7: Aerial image Apple 2 Campus Site - April 2020 Figure 2.8: Section cut through underground tunnel and landscape berm Figure 2.9: Section cut through and landscape berm and streetscape Figure 2.10: Exterior render - Steve Jobs Theater Figure 2.11: Exterior render - Steve Jobs Theater Figure 2.12: Aerial of La Villete (1969) Figure 2.13: Parc La Villette canopy structure Figure 2.14: Parc La Villette Foli N7 Figure 2.15: Axonometric program diagram Figure 2.16: Axonometric folie diagram Figure 2.17: Customers walk the open air plaza (Northland Center) Figure 2.18: Center interior courtyard (Southdale Center)

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Figure 2.19: Construction photo of Northland Center (1954) Figure 2.20: Northland Center covered plaza Figure 2.21: Aerial image Southdale Center - 1956 Figure 2.22: Aerial image Southdale Center - 2019 Figure 2.23: Expanded shopping mall experience at Southdele Center - RSP Architects Figure 3.1: Rendering of the shared plaza space during a market day Figure 3.2: Concept diagram | Mono-Functionality Figure 3.3: Concept diagram | Zoning Figure 3.4: Concept diagram | Multi-Functionality Figure 3.5: Concept diagram | Interstitial Community Spaces Figure 3.6: Concept diagram | Re-stitched community Figure 3.7: Concept site organization diagrams Figure 3.8: Site Plan Figure 3.9: Elevation - Educational District Figure 3.10: Section - Healthcare plaza Figure 3.11: Elevation - North East office district Figure 3.12: Elevation - East office district Figure 3.13: Green lawn with children playing Figure 3.13: Rendering - Daily commuting through the healthcare plaza Figure 3.14: Rendering - Healthcare plaza during a storm Figure 3.15: Rendering - Plaza during sunset Figure 3.16: Rendering - Market activities in the plaza Figure 3.18: Rendering - Daily commute Figure 3.19: Location diagram Figure 3.20: Rendering - Healthcare interior Figure 3.21: Rendering - Buidling facade and courtyard Figure 3.22: Rendering - Connecting pathways Figure 3.22: Rendering - Office entrance Figure 3.23: Rendering - Public Library Figure 3.24: Rendering - Office collaborative workspace Figure 3.25: Rendering - Office cafe Figure 3.26: Annotated Axonometric Diagram Figure 3.27: Rendering - Roof terrace perspective Figure 3.28: Rendering - Campus pathway Figure 3.29: Diagram - The re-stitched Suburban City Center

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A Re-Imagined Suburban City Center: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites

TABLE of CONTENTS Abstract Acknowledgments List of Figures Table of Contents Design Proposal Introduction

7 9 10 13 14 16

Shopping Mall Development Suburban Infill - Post War “The Gruen Effect� Department Stores The Mall as the City The Decline

18 19 20 22 24

Case Studies Apple Campus Parc la Vilette Northland / Southdale Center

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36 42 44 47

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Design Proposal Objective Site Elevations Renderings

Conclusion Conclusion References List of Figures References

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A RE-IMAGINED SUBURBAN CITY CENTER: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites

Design Proposal Proposed Site

9401 W Colonial Dr. Ocoee, FL 34761 Objectives

The main objective of this design proposal is to re-stitch this piece of land back into the community from an urban design and architectural lens. By understanding what the previous architecture was able to give to the surrounding neighborhood and building upon those learnings. Looking at where a mono-functional design approach was left and transforming the site into a multi-functional suburban center is the intent of the proposal.

While set a few miles away from the city core of Ocoee, this extension will offer new job opportunities and new living conditions that are not seen in the area. The mixed-use development will offer a live work lifestyle that is only found in larger surrounding cities. The new design intent combines education, workplace, live-ability, and healthcare components to the existing neighborhood.

Figure 1.1: Analytical site diagram

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Figure 1.2: Rendering of the shared plaza space during a market day

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A RE-IMAGINED SUBURBAN CITY CENTER: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites

Introduction Background Americans fell in love with the modernday shopping mall. These architectural cathedrals to the modern-day capitalists we’re places to exercise their rights and be a part of firsthand the supply and demand that drives economies. Until recently, brick and mortar retail shopping has been a neglected theme in architecture and urban design strategies. The modern shopping mall, a heavenly place for anyone from the 50’s all the way through to the 2000’s. The shopping mall was a place to not only pick up the latest fashion, but also, to hang out, meet friends, catch a movie, and even grab some food. The shopping mall that we have all grown up to know was the brainchild of Mr. Victor Gruen. Gruen was born in Vienna, Austria in 1904 to a Jewish family. Gruen was born, Victor Grübam, decided to leave Vienna in 1938 and move to New York City.1 During his first few years in New York City he was designing shopping storefronts, which was no easy task. Retail stores could not get people into the store, but with the help of Gruen, with his elaborate store fronts with beautifully lit glass facades and unique shaped openings, store owners would be able to keep the doors open. The mesmerizing effect of the store fronts dragging people towards them, into the store, where they would then spend their money was known as the Gruen Effect. Gruen’s store front designs took him across the country, and with

this time driving, there was much notice on the dependency of the automobile. People spent hours in the cars, driving from home to work, and vice versa. Gruen saw that there was this missing element for people, one that a home or office space couldn’t offer them. He envisioned a place with courtyards full of greenery and shops surrounding these courtyards, a place that got people out of their cars. These places would be only accessible by walking. Victor Gruen absolutely despised the car, the car took people away from the use of mass transit, and hindered people’s health and safety. The outcome of this building is the modern-day shopping mall, but not necessarily that ones we see today. His vision is a mixeduse metropolis filled with apartments, offices, medical centers, shopping centers, childcare facilities, and even bomb shelters. Gruen dreamed about this vision long before he was giving the opportunity to design one, but one day that opportunity presented itself. The first shopping mall to hit the United States was in Edina, Minnesota in 1956. Then, Southdale Center was the first climate-controlled shopping experience that offered a large center courtyard with sky light apertures2. A large forum like experience was achieved by turning in all the store fronts to the center and directing peoples travel to the ends and through the spaces.

1 Gruen, Victor, et al. Shopping Town Designing the City in Suburban America. Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2017. p. 5 2 Wall, Alexander. Victor Gruen: from Urban Shop to New City. Actar, 2005. p. 92

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Two anchor stores held down the hold in the ends which attracted customers and visitors to traverse back and forth between the center courtyard. The design was not by accident, Gruen’s idea was that having the well-known anchor store stores would create a circulation of people traveling back and forth, and while going between anchors the customers would stop at the local shops in between. Shopping centers like Southdale (Figure 1.10) we’re specifically located around main routes of transportation and organized in a central location within suburban neighborhoods. There are developers’ models that build these developments in two different fashions, the first places the mall first before the surrounding single-family homes come, this being a marketing exercise and an attraction grab to get families to move to these new homes. Second, the home developers build the singlefamily homes and promise the construction of a mall to service the surrounding neighborhood. Both tactics are used as marketing strategies to fill these developments.

changing shopping center. The large JC Penney anchor store was not able to sustain the retail space and left a large void in the mall. The way this portion of the mall was able to bounce back and evolve was the implementation of new program elements and dividing the spaces into new uses. RSP Architects are the firm who has made these changes, converting the single use program space into a new mixed-use component.

In the precedent study of Southdale Center and analyzing its evolution from the 1950’s, you see that it has been able to adapt to its surrounding context and need for change. The shopping center is centrally located, and its direct adjacent program elements have grown to larger multifamily and office spaces. Economics have played a large part in the Figure 1.3: Southdale Center aerial - Circa 2020

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Shopping Mall Development Suburban Infill - Post War Suburbanization was a population shift from central urban areas into suburbs, resulting in the formation of suburban sprawl. Suburbanization began to occur in large amounts after World War II, soldiers were returning to the States and suburban neighborhoods were places that homes and families could be created. During the mid-50’s into the 60’s, America has a prosperous postwar economy and families were looking for places to separate work life and home life. Opportunity and mobility were driving factors for Post War Americans. Various acts that were implemented into the American culture helped urban sprawl. The FederalAid Highway Act of 1956, for the first time, authorized the construction of over 40,000 miles of interstate highways in the United

Figure 1.4: Levittown Suburb, New York, USA

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States and ultimately became known as the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System.1 Tremendous increases in population, as well as the number of cars on the road, necessitated massive spending on road construction. Additionally, the tremendous growth of suburbs, like Levittown’s, drastically increased the number of commuters and clogged traditional highways. The increased consumerism of the 1950s meant that goods needed to be transported longer distances efficiently. “By 1950, the same assembly-line methods that had turned out an airplane every five minutes during World War II were being used to build almost four new houses per minute”.2 Urban sprawl began to take over the American landscape, and people began to trickle further away from the cities. Residential neighborhoods were strongly regulated by strict zoning restrictions. Many of these restrictions kept density low which forced to horizontal spread of homes for hundreds of miles. The repetitive nature of this sprawl transformed the landscape into a homogeneous architectural expression with no uniqueness.

1 Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956: Creating The Interstate System. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/ 96summer/p96su10.cfm 2 Peiser, Richard B., and David Hamilton. “Professional Real Estate Develop ment.” Real Estate Development. Urban Land Institute, 2013. Web. 19 April 2020. http://www.shmoop.com/postwarsuburbia/timeline.html

Suburban Infill - Post War


“The Gruen Effect” Victor Gruen is widely known as the inventor of the shopping mall. For Gruen, the creation of the shopping centre was not about shopping, instead he believed the mall ‘was a vehicle toward his real ambition: to redefine the contemporary city. For Gruen, the mall was the new city.1 There were three areas that people occupied during their daily routine; home was the first, work was the second, and a community space was the third. While the post war boom was taking place, homes were populating these suburbs at an exponential rate which in turn created more homes that were being occupied. With this influx of suburbanites moving away from the cities, ie. their jobs, there was going to be a need for that community space for people to inhabit. Gruen imagined there would be a culmination of program uses all in one place, very similar to his experiences back home in Viena.2 These new places as mixed-use facilities, with apartments, offices, medical centers, child-care facilities, libraries, and even bomb shelters. They would be central gathering places that would grant social interaction and exchange. Gruen would be given many opportunities to bring his design theories to life.

1 Chung, J., Inaba, J., Koolhaas, R., Leong, S. Project on the City 2: Harvard Design School guide toshopping. Koln: Taschen, 2001. p. 381. 2 Wall, Alexander. Victor Gruen: from Urban Shop to New City. Actar, 2005. p. 24

“The Gruen Effect”

Figure 1.5: Portrait of Victor Gruen

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Shopping Mall Development The Department Stores The department store is historically rooted in innovation and influence. Department stores first appeared in North America in the mid-19th Century, and the rise of the urban department store was an urban phenomenon. As cities began to expand, and roadways, streetcars, subways and a larger concentration of people began to congregate and reside within cities, retailers began locating business within these heavily populated areas. J.L. Hudson Company was once one of the largest department stores in the world, second to Macy’s. They had a commanding presence in the downtown core of Detroit in the early 60’s where residents who live in the downtown core and also in the surrounding suburbs would visit. This store had more than two million square feet, 32 levels, and 48 escalators inside to move the customers around the building with ease. Department stores acted as attractions for citizens and visitors to a city. These attractions had a similar cultural character as banks, railway stations, stadium, or exhibition halls. As stated by David Chaney, ‘the department store was a significant element in the emergence of a consumer culture, that is a set of institutionalized values and forms of relationships based upon the purchase and acquisition of commodities.’1

cities began to expand, so did the population. Moving out of the urban centre, residents in the core of a city moved to the periphery and the suburbs, sparking a new form of consumerism – a form made possible through the suburbanization of cities. Gruen began to realize the automobile and the dispersion of the suburban communities would change the way that department stores would be occupied. In 1947, Gruen had an opportunity to design and build a shopping center that catered to the people through the implementation of the

Although department stores were innovative and an ‘urban phenomenon’, when 1 Cheney, David. “The Department Store as Cultural Form” Theory Culture Society, 1,22. (1983) 22-31. p.25

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Figure 1.6: Hudsons department store, Detroit, Michigan

Department Stores


Figure 1.7: Parking ramp leading towards rooftop parking lot

Figure 1.8: Front entrance of Millirons department store

automobile into the design1. Millirons opened its first branch in Westchester, a post war development situated in the Western part of greater Los Angeles. The required square footage of the retail program would have led to a three story building in a downtown location, given the expansive area of the site Gruen was able to program the departments over a single story design and lending to the unique element of parking on the roof. Two ramps guided retailers driving from the additional surface parking lot as well as the street edge up the west side of the building facade. At the center of the building was only a single core that led shoppers down to the ground level. The building was set back from the street edge which allowed for walkable promenades along Sepulveda Boulevard and showed the prominent Millirons signage. The store opened its doors on St. Patricks Day in 1949, to an even larger number of retailers than expected. A store executive, John Muchmore, kept the community in mind when he stated, “We want to coordinate our store activities to the best advantage of the community.� Milliron was a new type of department store that kept the community in mind and catered to the suburban typology.

1Wall, Alex. “Victor Gruen - From Urban Shop To City. (2005) 43-49. p.42

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Shopping Mall Development The Mall as the City Ideas of redeveloping malls has been a topic of discussion for decades, ever since the on-line shopping boom began to take hold and malls we’re slowly falling to the side, the discussion of what to do has been there. Tachieva speaks of a densification and combination in program types on dying malls site as a repair method for the suburban community.1 There is a three-step approach to identifying and repairing a mall. The first strategy is renovating the existing structure, converting the roof structure to a roof garden, and re-programing the interior program with civic or office uses. The surface parking lot is then infilled with apartment buildings, office buildings, and civic spaces. (Figure 1.12). This strategy keeps all existing elements of the mall. The second strategy is maintaining the end-capped anchor store elements and creating a main street down the main axis. The third strategy outlined in the repair manual is to completely demolish the building and create an agricultural community.

developments around the world. MVRDV, a Dutch architectural firm, proposes new design ideas within the mixed-use strategy.2 This multi-level urban living room is located in Universiade New Town, Longgang District, Shenzhen, China (Figure 1.9), is conceived around the notion of sustainability, the project, situated on defining public space, will be an integrated part of the university neighborhood, bringing innovation and liveliness to the area. The project is an interwoven thread of mixed program elements unifying within an organic curvature that identifies as a new element within the existing context.

The repair manual offers important insight into what an end result can look like but a large deterrent from simply implementing these strategies is the lack of individuality to s place. The first strategy noted is a strong strategy with property developers because in most cases, remodeling and re-purposing a mall structure is the cheapest option. We see thought provoking design for mixed use

Figure 1.9: Mixed-use development for the Shimao ShenKong Int.Centre

1 Tachieva, Galina. Sprawl Repair Manual. Island Press, 2010. p. 135 2 https://www.archdaily.com/936115/mvrdv-wins-competition-to-design-the-mixed-useshimao-shenkong-international-center-in-shenzhen-china.

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Figure 1.10: Florida Mall Interior photo

The Mall as the City


SHOPPING MALL SHOPPING MALL

4. Public realm dominated by parking lots and a megastructure lic realm dominated by parking lots and a megastructureFigure 1.11: Typical shopping mall site layout

Figure 1.12:the Urban Repair strategy redeveloping 5. One strategy for mall repair is retaining mainSprawl structure and Manual redeveloping theforparking lots malls strategy for mall repair is retaining the main structure and redeveloping the parking RepaiR lots at the community Scale

133

RepaiR at the community Scale

133

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Shopping Mall Development The Decline 8,600 retail stores closed their doors in 2019 according to a study conducted by Business Insider and its projected that more will continue to close due to the continued transition of on-line shopping. Economists attribute the decline of this model to a change in attitude towards consumption as a result of the 2008 global financial crisis.1 Businesses like Amazon have changed the way retailers perceive the necessity of a brick and mortar locations. The mall, relying on long shopping trips, is no longer a sustainable retail format. Online shopping has no closing time, customers can shop all hours of the day and night.

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) writes that ‘customers are now seeing authenticity and a deeper dense of connection to their community, culture, climate and daily lives. A more authentic main street and outdoors experience is warranted, contrary to the synthetic and often ‘idealized’ environment of the enclosed shopping mall originally conceived by Gruen.’ Greyfield sites that were once home to a busy and successful mall (originally conceived during the building of the neighborhood) are in now established neighborhoods like Ocoee, Florida. Scharoun believes that the ‘current economic climate is making it difficult to rehabilitate greyfields as viable retail space. A new anchor tenant or a redesigned or renovated interior is no longer the answer.2

1 Scharoun, Lisa. America at the Mall: The Cultural Role of Retail Utopia. North Carolina: McFarland and Company. 2012. P. 105. 2 I. bid, 110

Figure 1.13: Marquee sign with closed store names blacked out

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Figure 1.14: Rolling Acres Shopping Mall - Dan Bell

The Decline


Figure 1.15: Interior of Hudsons Department Store. Detroit, MI

Figure 1.16: Empty shopping mall food court

Figure 1.17: Escalators left in disrepair. Hudson Department store. Detroit, MI

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Case Studies

Apple Campus 2

One Apple Park Way, Cupertino, CA 95014 Apple Campus 2 is a 175 acre, 2.8 million square foot compound that is home to an on-site research and development facilities, 1000 seat auditorium, and 100,000 square foot fitness center located in Palo Alto, California. Apple selected the internationally renowned architectural firm Foster + Partners1, headed by Norman Foster. This entire development sits upon a site that was built in traditional office park fashion. 18 extruded plan office buildings which were surrounded by surface parking lots and a center boulevard filtered office workers into these buildings off two major roads, Wolfe Avenue from the West and Tantau Avenue from the East. The buildings are located in a unified and secure landscape, which extends and connects the interior workplaces to outdoor facilities for relaxation, recreation and reflection. The entire Campus, indoors and out, is intended to promote shared creativity and collaboration, and spur invention of the next several generations of Apple products.

Figure 2.1: A large atrium space connects seamlessly interior and exterior

Figure 2.2: Apple Campus 2 Office building interior photo

The buildings are located in a unified and secure landscape, which extends and connects the interior workplaces to outdoor facilities for relaxation, recreation and reflection. The entire Campus, indoors and out, is intended to promote shared creativity and collaboration, and spur invention of the next several generations of Apple products. 1 City of Cupertino, CA. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.cupertino.org/ our-city/departments/community-development/planning/major-projects/ apple-park

26 | Case Studies

Figure 2.3: Apple employees walking

Apple Campus 2


There was an incremental increase in gross office and research and development floor area of approximately 20%, the efficient use of the main site resulted in almost tripling the landscaped area. Underground and structured parking replaced 9,220 surface parking spaces – creating almost three times more open space. The open space was developed using native and drought tolerant trees and landscaped to minimize water consumption. The increased permeability assists in controlling site water run-off and has helped improve local water quality. The sloping was re-graded to provide a level ground floor for the Main Building.

The project replaces existing asphalt and hardscape with over 100 acres of landscaped green space. The landscape design of meadows and woodlands will create an ecologically rich oak savanna reminiscent of the early Santa Clara Valley. It will incorporate both young and mature trees, and native and drought tolerant plants, that will thrive in Santa Clara County with minimal water consumption. The increase in permeable surfaces will promote natural drainage and improve water quality in Calabazas Creek.

Figure 2.4: Existing green space, 20% open

Figure 2.5: Aerial image Apple 2 Campus Site - November 2009

Figure 2.6: Proposed green space, 80% open

Figure 2.7: Aerial image Apple 2 Campus Site - April 2020

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A RE-IMAGINED SUBURBAN CITY CENTER: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites

While this campus works well with the interior aspects of the connectivity and collaboration of its employees, the whole development essentially creates a wall around its borders. The landscape sections below show a fortification that blocks a visual and physical connection to the inside.

Figure 2.8: Section cut through underground tunnel and landscape berm

Figure 2.9: Section cut through and landscape berm and streetscape

28 | Case Studies


Figure 2.10: Exterior render - Steve Jobs Theater

Figure 2.11: Exterior render - Steve Jobs Theater

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A RE-IMAGINED SUBURBAN CITY CENTER: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites

Case Studies

Parc La Vilette

211 Avenue Jean Jaurès 75019 Paris, France Parc de la Villette is the third-largest park in Paris, (137 acres) in area, located at the northeastern edge of the city in the 19th arrondissement. Today’s heavily trafficked Parc de la Villette sits what was once an expansive nineteenth-century slaughterhouse in Northeast Paris. The slaughterhouse—built in 1867 as part of Baron von Haussmann’s renovation of Paris—closed in 1974, leaving a swath of land rife for redevelopment.1 Bernard Tschumi, The winner of the 1982 design competition that was put on by the French government, used his design as a way to respond to the trials of the contemporary city. Where earlier landscape architects like Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed New York’s Central Park, conceived of the urban park as a place to escape from the city, Tschumi viewed the park as a continuation of the city. This idea of extending from an existing conditions allows the new intervention to seamlessly adapt. The red interventions that are uniformly distributed among the entire site are known as “follies’. The park is organized within a system of three elements, the point (the follies), the line (curving paths), and surfaces (the green landscaped spaces). Tschumi takes the expansive park space and creates a sense of 1 Willsher, K. (2016, March 31). Story of cities #12: Haussmann rips up Paris – and divides France to this day. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/ cities/2016/mar/31/story-cities-12-paris-baron-haussmann-france-urban-planner-napoleon

30 | Case Studies

Figure 2.12: Aerial of La Villette (1969)

Figure 2.13: Parc La Villette canopy structure

Figure 2.14: Parc La Villette Foli N7


uniformity that falls in line with the layout of the overall city layout. The park is an overlaid fabric draped atop a portion of the city that needed a revitalization. In his proposal, Tschumi purposefully creates an architectural language that looks through the Paris vernacular, this design decision sheds light on a new idea of interaction with the spaces. This idea breaks away from the norm of the Parisian architecture and allows this place to transform and become something new.

Figure 2.15: Axonometric program diagram

Figure 2.16: Axonometric folie diagram

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A RE-IMAGINED SUBURBAN CITY CENTER: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites

Case Studies

Northland (1954) 21500 Northwestern Hwy. Southfield, MI 48075

Southdale (1956)

10 Southdale Center, Edina, MN 55435

In 1951, Hudsons announced that its regionals expansion plan and that Northland Center would be the first built development of that plan. This was an opportunity for Gruen to create new solutions within the suburban landscape. Clusters of outdoors spaces came together and created the suburban town square. Gruen declared, ‘Northland is a city within a city’ and did not only want the shopping mall to ‘seem’ urban, but went as for far as to say, he wanted the ‘shopping centre to provide urban density for a suburban community.”1 All of Gruens concepts about multi-functional communities spaces we’re brought to fruition on Northland. 1956 would be the next big year for Gruen to transform and re-imagine the way a community could come together within the

retail experience. Unlike Northland, Southdale Center would be completely enclosed. The layout of Southdale would differ from the cluster approach and begin organizing the retail stores in towards each other, which in turn crates an indoor promenade or center stage that made the customers the stars of the show rather than the shops. Gruen didn’t allow the enclosed design of the building not separate the visitors from the nature outside, so he brought a California flora to the indoors. Orchids, eucalyptus trees, and magnolia trees filled the interior spaces and made the people feel like the we’re part of the nature that surrounded them.

1 Hardwick, Jeffrey. Mall Maker: Victor Gruen, Architect of an American Dream. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004 p. 85.

Figure 2.17: Customers walk the open air plaza (Northland Center)

32 | Case Studies

Figure 2.18: Center interior courtyard (Southdale Center)

Northland / Southdale Center


Figure 2.19: Construction photo of Northland Center (1954)

Figure 2.20: Northland Center covered plaza

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A RE-IMAGINED SUBURBAN CITY CENTER: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites

Figure 2.21: Aerial image Southdale Center - 1956

Figure 2.22: Aerial image Southdale Center - 2019

34 | Case Studies


Figure 2.23: Expanded shopping mall experience at Southdale Center - RSP Architects

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A RE-IMAGINED SUBURBAN CITY CENTER: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites

Design Proposal Proposed Site

9401 W Colonial Dr. Ocoee, FL 34761 Objectives The main objective of this design proposal is to restitch this piece of land back into the community from an urban design and architectural lens. By understanding what the previous architecture was able to give to the surrounding neighborhood and building upon those learnings. Looking at where a mono-functional design approach was left and transforming the site into a multi-functional suburban center is the intent of the proposal.

While set a few miles away from the city core of Ocoee, this extension will offer new job opportunities and new living conditions that are not seen in the area. The mixed-use development will offer a live work lifestyle that is only found in larger surrounding cities. The new design intent combines education, workplace, live-ability, and healthcare components to the existing neighborhood.

Figure 3.1: Rendering of the shared plaza space during a market day

36 | Design Proposal


{Consumers}

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{Consumers}

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THE MALL {Retail}

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Figure 3.2: Concept diagram | Mono-Functionality

The West Oaks Mall has a typical archetype surrounding the American shopping mall with its end-cap department stores and central lined retail locations. This model falls within an analysis of a mono-functional architectural program type.

When the demand for the singular program element is no longer needed in a community the building and land will be left unused, the diagram above shows how a singular element is isolated from the context with no connection. 37


A RE-IMAGINED SUBURBAN CITY CENTER: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites

HEALTHCARE

Industrial

ADVENT HEALTH

CITY OF OCOEE

EDUCATION

ANIMAL HOSPITAL OF ORLANDO

THE MALL

WEST OAKS BRANCH LIBRARY

{Retail}

WORKPLACE LARGE SCALE NON-EXISTENT

OCOEE HIGH SCHOOL

ENTERTAINMENT PLANT STREET (WINTER GARDEN)

RESIDENTIAL MAINLY SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (LOW DENSITY)

Figure 3.3: Concept diagram | Zoning

Current zoning code hinder the redevelopment of a site with multiple zoning classifications. Shopping malls are typically given a Commercial (C) zone. Euclidean zoning is the most prevalent form of zoning in the United States, and thus is most familiar to 1 38 | Design Proposal

planners and city officials. Euclidean zoning is typically characterized by a clear separation of land uses according to specific geographic districts. Typical uses include singlefamily residential, multifamily residential, commercial, and industrial.1


WORKPLACE

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Figure 3.4: Concept diagram | Multi-Functionality

This proposal analyzes the existing addition of the surrounding programs elements neighborhood program elements around the onto a given site will allow each element to singular retail location and hypothesizes that the work synergistically with one another.

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WORKPLACE

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Industrial

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EDUCATION

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Figure 3.5: Concept diagram | Interstitial Community Spaces

Where these different program elements begin to collide creates areas of interstitial spaces that beckon for a community activated program. The surrounding circles will be home to private businesses that will generate economic influx into the development and the 40 | Design Proposal

community. While looking at the overlapping spaces in yellow, the thought process is to ask what the community needs and then create an architecture or platform that will grant the activation of that space.


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COMMUNITY

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EDUCATION

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RESIDENTIAL

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A final step in analyzing the vision of this new development is to look at how multiple stitched points of connection can be made and additionally understanding and visualizing what portions of the added program benefits from one another. What this project

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Figure 3.6: Concept diagram | Re-stitched community

wants to become is an overlay of connected tissue that the neighborhood can actively use and manage organically. An idea that the single family homes don’t stop at the site boundary, but begin to bleed into the new development evokes a sense of reconnection. 41


A RE-IMAGINED SUBURBAN CITY CENTER: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites

Figure 3.7: Concept site organization diagrams

42 | Design Proposal


-

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Figure 3.8: Site Plan

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44 | Design Proposal


LEVEL 6 78' - 0"

LEVEL 5 64' - 0"

LEVEL 4 50' - 0"

LEVEL 3 36' - 0"

LEVEL 2 22' - 0"

LEVEL 1 0' - 0"

Figure 3.9: Elevation - Educational District

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Figure 3.10: Section - Healthcare plaza

Figure 3.11: Elevation - North East office district

LEVEL 6 78' - 0"

LEVEL 5 64' - 0"

LEVEL 4 50' - 0"

The scale of each tower remains relative to the surrounding single family homes. In the illustrations to the left the tallest building sits at 80’ above grade (five stories). LEVEL 3 36' - 0"

LEVEL 2 22' - 0"

Figure 3.12: Elevation - East office district

46 | Design Proposal

LEVEL 1 0' - 0"


Figure 3.13: Green lawn with children playing

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Figure 3.13: Rendering - Daily commuting through the healthcare plaza

Figure 3.14: Rendering - Healthcare plaza during a storm

Figure 3.15: Rendering - Plaza during sunset

48 | Design Proposal


Figure 3.16: Rendering - Market activities in the plaza

The courtyard spaces will offer all of the surrounding community members and visitors the freedom to express their rights. Demonstrations, protests, and market activities will fill the courtyard on weekday and weekends.

Figure 3.17: Location diagram

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Figure 3.18: Rendering - Daily commute

Figure 3.19: Location diagram

Figure 3.20: Rendering - Healthcare interior

Figure 3.21: Rendering - Building facade and courtyard

50 | Design Proposal


Figure 3.22: Rendering - Connecting pathways

Figure 3.22: Rendering - Office entrance

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Figure 3.23: Rendering - Public Library

Figure 3.24: Rendering - Office collaborative workspace

Figure 3.25: Rendering - Office cafe

52 | Design Proposal


A healthcare clinic will be home to dental, optometry, and general practice physicians

A healthcare clinic will be home to dental, optometry, and general practice physicians

The typical office plates are designed around the concentric circular form and create 360 degree views from anywhere in the office. An outdoor patio connects the second floor office building to the adjacent buildings creating an elevated pathway.

A public library sits at the top floor of the education building. Access is monitored by the education campus security at the ground level

Figure 3.26: Annotated Axonometric Diagram

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Figure 3.27: Rendering - Roof terrace perspective

54 | Design Proposal


Figure 3.28: Rendering - Campus pathway

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A RE-IMAGINED SUBURBAN CITY CENTER: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites

Conclusion Suburban shopping malls offer a unique opportunity for a transformational piece of architecture nestled within the typical American suburbs. Upon reflection of this project, it’s beneficial to neighborhoods that a mixed-use development can greatly impact in a positive way to the community interaction. Existing communities that surround greyfield sites with dying malls all have the elements to rebuild, reconnect, and re-stitch the missing fabric. Gruen began this idea of a collective place within the suburban community that would be self-sufficient and would thrive on the inhabitants of these places and I’ve learned from his teachings and built projects that it is possible to create an architecture that promotes unification and wellbeing through design. The community is in need of a redevelopment strategy that will allow for an organic and sustainable architectural model through the years. There are hundreds of shopping malls around the nation that are dead or dying, and it’s time for developers, 56 Conclusion

designers, and the communities to start thinking of ways to revitalizes these sites. With the idea of stitching and weaving existing program elements into the site will create stronger and unified community. Not all design idea will work, Gruen found that out over the years, but with the lessons learned from each space created and analyzing how those spaces made people feel and interact will be the motivational drivers to creating architectural bliss. I grew up right down the street from the West Oaks Mall and I would visit the stores and the movie theater weekly. When I was given the opportunity to present a design proposal that could impact the town of Ocoee in a positive manner I didn’t hesitate to implement as many crucial design ideas. I hope those who read this thesis are inspired can question their own thoughts on design and place making within the built environment.


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Created by Sherrinford from the Noun Project

Created by Sherrinford from the Noun Project

Created by Sherrinford from the Noun Project

Created by Musmellow from the Noun Project Created by Sherrinford from the Noun Project

Created by Sherrinford from the Noun Project

Created by Sherrinford from the Noun Project

Created by Sherrinford from the Noun Project

Created by Sherrinford from the Noun Project

Created by Sherrinford from the Noun Project Created by Sherrinford from the Noun Project

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Created by Sherrinford from the Noun Project

Created by Sherrinford from the Noun Project

Created by Sherrinford from the Noun Project

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Created by Nithinan Tatah from the Noun Project Created by Sherrinford from the Noun Project

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Created by Sherrinford from the Noun Project

Created by Sherrinford from the Noun Project

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Created by Sherrinford from the Noun Project

Figure 3.29: Diagram - The re-stitched Suburban City Center

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A RE-IMAGINED SUBURBAN CITY CENTER: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites

References

Chung, J., Inaba, J., Koolhaas, R., Leong, S. Project on the City 2: Harvard Design School guide to shopping. Koln: Taschen, 2001. “City of Cupertino, CA.” Apple Park | City of Cupertino, CA, www.cupertino.org/our-city/departments/community-development/ planning/major-projects/apple-park. Comberg, E. (2018, August 10). How the Parc de la Villette Kickstarted a New Era for Urban Design. Retrieved from https:// www.archdaily.com/899597/how-the-parc-de-la-villette-kickstarted-a-new-era-for-urban-design. Encyclopedia Of Detroit. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/hudsons. Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956: Creating The Interstate System. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ publications/publicroads/96summer/p96su10.cfm Gehl, Jan, and Jo Koch. Life between Buildings: Using Public Space. Island Press, 2011. Gruen, Victor, et al. Shopping Town Designing the City in Suburban America. Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2017. Hardwick, Jeffrey M. Mall Maker: Victor Gruen, Architect of an American Dream. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010. Ivers, B. Cannon. Staging Urban Landscapes: the Activation and Curation of Flexible Public Spaces. Birkhäuser, 2018. Koolhaas, Rem, and Jacques Lucan. Oma. Rem Koolhaas: Architetture 1970-1990. Electa, 1991. Milliron’s Department Store. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.gruenassociates.com/project/millirons-department-store/. “Northland Shopping Center.” Gruen Associates, www.gruenassociates.com/project/northland-shopping-center/. Parc de la Villette. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://oma.eu/projects/parc-de-la-villette Peiser, Richard B., and David Hamilton. “Professional Real Estate Development.” Real Estate Development. Urban Land Institute, 2013. Web. 18 May 2015. http://www.shmoop.com/postwar-suburbia/timeline.html Scharoun, Lisa. America at the Mall: The Cultural Role of Retail Utopia. North Carolina: McFarland and Company. 2012. “Southdale Center.” Gruen Associates, www.gruenassociates.com/project/southdale-center/. Southdale Center Life Time Redevelopment. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://rsparch.com/project/southdale-center-life-time- redevelopment/. Speck, Jeff. Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time. North Point Press, a Division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013. Tachieva, Galina. Sprawl Repair Manual. Island Press, 2010. Tschumi, Bernard. Event Cities. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, 1999. Print. Wall, Alexander. Victor Gruen: from Urban Shop to New City. Actar, 2005. Willsher, K. (2016, March 31). Story of cities #12: Haussmann rips up Paris – and divides France to this day. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/31/story-cities-12-paris-baron-haussmann-france-urban-planner- napoleon.

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A RE-IMAGINED SUBURBAN CITY CENTER: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites

List of Figures References Figure 1.1: Analytical site diagram Figure 1.2: Rendering of the shared plaza space during a market day Figure 1.3: Southdale Center aerial - Circa 2020 . https://www.google.com/maps Figure 1.4: Levittown Suburb, New York, USA. https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/levittown-suburban-dream-postwar- new-york-article-1.820845 Figure 1.5: Portrait of Victor Gruen. https://www.architecture.com/image-library/RIBApix/image-information/poster/victor- davidgruen/posterid/RIBA5855.html Figure 1.6: Hudsons department store, Detroit, Michigan. https://www.historicdetroit.org/galleries/hudsons-department-store- old-photos Figure 1.7: Parking ramp leading towards rooftop parking lot. http://www.gruenassociates.com/project/millirons-department- store/ Figure 1.8: Front entrance of Millirons department store. http://www.gruenassociates.com/project/millirons-department-store/ Figure 1.9: Mixed-use development for the Shimao ShenKong Int.Centre. https://www.archdaily.com/936115/mvrdv-wins- competition-to-design-the-mixed-use-shimao-shenkong-international-center-in-shenzhen-china Figure 1.10: Florida Mall Interior photo. https://www.simon.com/mall/the-florida-mall/about Figure 1.11: Typical shopping mall site layout. Sprawl Repair Manual. p133. Galina Tachieva - Island Press - 2010 Figure 1.12: Urban Sprawl Repair Manual strategy for redeveloping malls. Sprawl Repair Manual. p133. Galina Tachieva - Island Press - 2010 Figure 1.13: Marquee sign with closed store names blacked out. Photo by Graham Oakley Figure 1.14: Rolling Acres Shopping Mall - Dan Bell. https://www.businessinsider.com/dead-mall-filmmaker-dan-bell-reveals- strange-sights-2019-6 Figure 1.15: Interior of Hudsons Department Store. Detroit, MI. https://www.historicdetroit.org/buildings/hudsons-department- store Figure 1.16: Empty shopping mall food court. https://www.reddit.com/r/deadmalls/comments/96qf7f/the_food_court/ Figure 1.17: Escalators left in disrepair. Hudson Department store. Detroit, MI. https://www.historicdetroit.org/buildings/ hudsons-department-store Figure 2.1: A large atrium space connects seamlessly interior and exterior. https://www.cupertino.org/our-city/departments/ community-development/planning/major-projects/apple-park Figure 2.2: Apple Campus 2 Office building interior photo. https://www.cupertino.org/our-city/departments/community- development/planning/major-projects/apple-park Figure 2.3: Apple employees walking. https://www.cupertino.org/our-city/departments/community-development/planning/ major-projects/apple-park Figure 2.4: Existing green space, 20% open. https://s3.amazonaws.com/apple-campus2-project/Intro_Submittal7.pdf Figure 2.5: Aerial image Apple 2 Campus Site - November 2009. https://www.google.com/maps Figure 2.6: Proposed green space, 80% open. https://s3.amazonaws.com/apple-campus2-project/Intro_Submittal7.pdf Figure 2.7: Aerial image Apple 2 Campus Site - April 2020. https://www.google.com/maps Figure 2.8: Section cut through underground tunnel and landscape berm. https://s3.amazonaws.com/apple-campus2-project/ Site_Plan1_Submittal7.pdf Figure 2.9: Section cut through and landscape berm and streetscape. https://s3.amazonaws.com/apple-campus2-project/ Site_Plan1_Submittal7.pdf Note: All figures produced by the author unless specifically referenced

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Figure 2.10: Exterior render - Steve Jobs Theater. https://www.cupertino.org/our-city/departments/community-development/ planning/major-projects/apple-park Figure 2.11: Exterior render - Steve Jobs Theater. https://www.cupertino.org/our-city/departments/community-development/ planning/major-projects/apple-park Figure 2.12: Aerial of La Villete (1969). http://parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/musee-carnavalet/oeuvres/vue-aerienne-de- paris-les-abattoirs-et-le-marche-aux-bestiaux-de-la-1#infos-principales Figure 2.13: Parc La Villette canopy structure. Photo by Graham Oakley Figure 2.14: Parc La Villette Foli N7. Photo by Graham Oakley Figure 2.15: Axonometric program diagram. http://www.tschumi.com/projects/3/ Figure 2.16: Axonometric folie diagram. http://www.tschumi.com/projects/3/ Figure 2.17: Customers walk the open air plaza (Northland Center). http://www.gruenassociates.com/wp-content/uploads/ 2016/07/Untitled-1-3.jpg Figure 2.18: Center interior courtyard (Southdale Center). http://www.gruenassociates.com/wp-content/uploads/1956- Southdale-Mall_Mich-02.jpg Figure 2.19: Construction photo of Northland Center (1954). http://www.gruenassociates.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ Untitled-13-3.jpg Figure 2.20: Northland Center covered plaza. http://www.gruenassociates.com/project/northland-shopping-center/ Figure 2.21: Aerial image Southdale Center - 1956. http://www.gruenassociates.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/southdale- aerial-1.jpg Figure 2.22: Aerial image Southdale Center - 2019. https://www.google.com/maps Figure 2.23: Expanded shopping mall experience at Southdele Center - RSP Architects. https://rsparch.com/wp-content/ uploads/2017/10/Winter-Garden-Perspective_updated-900x600.jpg Figure 3.1: Rendering of the shared plaza space during a market day. Figure 3.2: Concept diagram | Mono-Functionality Figure 3.3: Concept diagram | Zoning Figure 3.4: Concept diagram | Multi-Functionality Figure 3.5: Concept diagram | Interstitial Community Spaces Figure 3.6: Concept diagram | Re-stitched community Figure 3.7: Concept site organization diagrams Figure 3.8: Site Plan Figure 3.9: Elevation - Educational District Figure 3.10: Section - Healthcare plaza Figure 3.11: Elevation - North East office district Figure 3.12: Elevation - East office district Figure 3.13: Green lawn with children playing Figure 3.13: Rendering - Daily commuting through the healthcare plaza Figure 3.14: Rendering - Healthcare plaza during a storm Figure 3.15: Rendering - Plaza during sunset

Note: All figures produced by the author unless specifically referenced

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A RE-IMAGINED SUBURBAN CITY CENTER: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites

List of Figures References Figure 3.16: Rendering - Market activities in the plaza Figure 3.18: Rendering - Daily commute Figure 3.19: Location diagram Figure 3.20: Rendering - Healthcare interior Figure 3.21: Rendering - Buidling facade and courtyard Figure 3.22: Rendering - Connecting pathways Figure 3.22: Rendering - Office entrance Figure 3.23: Rendering - Public Library Figure 3.24: Rendering - Office collaborative workspace Figure 3.25: Rendering - Office cafe Figure 3.26: Annotated Axonometric Diagram Figure 3.27: Rendering - Roof terrace perspective Figure 3.28: Rendering - Campus pathway Figure 3.29: Diagram - The re-stitched Suburban City Center

Note: All figures produced by the author unless specifically referenced

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Note: All figures produced by the author unless specifically referenced

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College of Design, Construction & Planning University of Florida SPRING 2020 © Copyight by Graham Peter Oakley 2020


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