Urban Design Portfolio - Georgia Tech

CONTENTS

Urban Design II: Land+Water+City: ‘A D Williams Creek’

{Case for Restorative Justice}

Urban Design I: Retrofit: ‘Reinhabiting North DeKalb Mall’

{Creating a vibrant, resilient, mixed-use community}

History of Urban Form: Atlanta Stories: ‘Colored Zoning’

{A print in Color or Black & White?}

Urban Ecological Design: Hybridizing: ‘Food Energy Water Nexus’

{Framework for green infrastructure and public space}

2022 ULI Hines: Student Competition: ‘Roots Coalition’

{A long-term place to live, work and grow through every season of life}

2021 ULI Hines: Competition: ‘HeartBeat KC’

{A revolutionary wellness district in Kansas City, Missouri}

Design Scripting: Coding: ‘Fundamentals of Python’

{Generating design and coding for analysis}

Public Health Analytics: Visualizing Data: ‘Place & Physical Activity’

{Associations of Greenspace Access & Socio-Economic character to Physical Activity}

AR 7013: Urban Design Studio Land + Water + City

A D Williams Creek

{Case for Restorative Justice}

Fall 2021

Team Members: Ajay M, Harini P, Athulya U

Situated within the A D Williams creek sub-watershed are several polluting industries and the former Bowen Homes. Previously subjected to grave environment and health injustice, the renewed interest in redeveloping the housing project sparks an opportunity to restore ecology and community. The project identifies different sites for a phased intervention as the Bowen Homes redevelopment elicits growth in jobs, housing and the need for healthy public spaces.

Diagrams illustrated by A Manjunath

URBAN DESIGN II

A D Williams Creek

Fall 2021

Land Inventory: Identifying Developable Parcels

Vacant Lots

Residential

Commercial Industrial

Public-owned Parcels

City of Atlanta

Atlanta Independent School System

Church

Potential Brownfields

HPT PSC Properties (Truck Stop)

CWW Enterprises (Truck/Car wash)

TAIBAH Enterprises (Junkyard)

Landfill

Dispos O Waste

BF Industries

Sellers JH (Garbage Managementcommercial)

Pet Cemetery

URBAN DESIGN II

A D Williams Creek

Fall 2021

Situations for ADUs fronting re-established public domain

Creek as Ecological

Public Domain:

Establishing a new front

The long neglected and backed upon A D Williams creek has become a dumping ground. Polluting auto services, junk yard, a closed landfill and steep topography pose challenges for residents. The new development proposes to shift the front to the creek, establish new trail connections from Bowen Homes to Proctor Creek, and stitch the adjacent parcels along the way. Existing neighborhood connections are reinforced through pedestrian paths fronted by ADUs.

Proctor creek

+815’

+815’

+830’

+760’

Pet Cemetery

Section through internal pedestrian trail leading to Proctor creek riparian corridor

Leachate Filtration: Daylighting piped stream into Reed Beds & Aerated Lagoon for Biological Treatment

URBAN DESIGN II

A D Williams Creek

Fall 2021

I-MIX Development:

Housing & Jobs at the Industrial zoned Truck Stop

The 68-acre Truck Stop is re-imagined with a mix of uses and introducing greener, cleaner industries to the Bowen Homes neighborhood. This includes environmental training facilities and work training for green construction and contracting. The focus on air and water quality on site drives design decisions and regrading the flattened site closer to its original. Regrading is proposed in conjunction with phased bio-remediation of the large site to catalyze new retail, housing, jobs and industries.

I-mix Green Industrial Uses:

Proposed Water Flows through Green I-MIX Street

Terracing down to AD Williams Creek via switchback trails

URBAN DESIGN II

• 100 ft Tree buffer along highway edge for maintaining sound and air quality

• Connecting creek trails to Hollowell Rd

• Regrading and Remediation from creek side

• Laying out green infrastructure

• Regrading & Phyto-remediation of blocks towards Hollowell Rd

• Developing blocks fronting to creek

• Temporary, movable commercials to become permanent within fully developed site (Phase 3)

PHASE 1

PHASE 2

AR 7014: Urban Design Studio Jobs, Justice, Climate

Reinhabiting North DeKalb Mall

{Creating a vibrant, resilient, mixed-use community}

Spring 2021

Team Members: Hala A, Harini P, Jennie Lynn R

Located in the triangle between South Fork Peachtree Creek, Lawrenceville highway and North Druid Hills Road, the declining asset of the Mall is reinvested in to celebrate its local identity while regreening, reconnecting and redeveloping the site for expanded housing choices. The 91 acre study project addresses the climate and justice goals of the Green New Deal evaluating the performance of the project and connecting a new community with abundant housing choices around storm-water parks to the North Decatur community.

Reinhabiting Macy’s

Recognizing the glory of its past to creating a vibrant community

URBAN DESIGN I Reinhabiting N DeKalb Mall

Spring 2021

Anchoring the project:

Reinhabiting 1960s mall anchors surrounding a stormwater park system

The Macy’s and Burlington anchor stores are adaptively reused to provide a sense of permanence and continuity to the redevelopment. Between them, restaurants and shops line the parks with residential and office above. Traditional park activities like screen on the green, dog parks, community gardens, and trails combine with emerging opportunities for indoor/outdoor workspaces. Rooftop recreation facilities aim to serve both local schools and residents.

Connectivity around reinhabited anchors and existing streets

Regulating framework to encourage varied densities

Stormwater park as the heart of the project

Illustrative Plan rendered by J L Rudder

URBAN DESIGN I Reinhabiting N DeKalb Mall Spring 2021

Regreening: Daylight streams; infiltrate and slow down surface run-off

The site of the mall property was leveled and paved in 1965 to create a plateau and a retaining wall along the edge of the creek. The proposal works to increase permeable ground surfaces on site and daylight the stream that was earlier conveyed in pipes under the mall. The proposal also seeks to regrade the site closer to its predevelopment state to slow down stormwater velocity, control erosion, and protect our downstream neighbors from flash-flooding. The parks along with the tree-lined streets work at improving the earlier hot, dry, and barren micro-climate of the property.

1.2”

TO BE CAPTURED ON-SITE (PER RAIN EVENT)

1.43M

GALLONS OF RUNOFF TO BE INFILTRATED ON SITE DURING EACH SIGNIFICANT RAIN EVENT*

*1 year/24-hour statistical rain event: 3.32” rainfall over 24-hours (2020)

URBAN DESIGN I Reinhabiting N DeKalb Mall

Spring 2021

Connect:

Regional connectivity and regraded flexible streets

The Mall property overlooks the Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve and has strategic access to Decatur, Atlanta, Emory, and the CDC. The project illustrates the potential of improving regional connectivity. The site is regraded with increased intersection density to comfortably traverse and interact with a dynamic urban fabric. The green easements and the proposed block framework are connected by a network of flexible, walkable and bikeable streets aligned by the reinhabited anchors of the mall.

Studies on street grade for pedestrian comfort Walkable/Bikeable Streetscapes

GraphicbyJLRudder

CREATE A HUMAN SCALED SIDEWALK + TRAIL NETWORK

CURRENT

95 439 AS PROPOSED INTERSECTION DENSITY

*INTERSECTIONS PER SQUARE MILE

2.75

MILES

BIKE + PEDESTRIAN TRAILS

PROPOSED IN THE STUDY AREA

*BEFORE: 0 MILES

URBAN DESIGN I Reinhabiting N DeKalb Mall

Spring 2021

Abundant Housing:

Options in type

The project proposes for abundant housing options and price points for an evolving demographic of seniors and smaller households within a region that is predominantly single family dwelling. The existing transit on the property is relocated and activated by the increased household density in proximity to transit.

Communal Backyards with street facing cottage courts

LEGEND

Single-Family Housing

‘Missing Middle’

Multi-Family Housing

1/2 mile

Studies on neighboring housing types and proposed abundant housing

URBAN DESIGN I Reinhabiting N DeKalb Mall

Spring 2021

Abundant Housing: Aging in Place

Senior care homes mark the entrance into the Reinhabited North DeKalb Mall moving up Orion Drive. Pedestrian paths on the street connect down to the North DeKalb Mall community garden and the creek trails. The homes form a part of the abundant housing options in the project offering assisted and independent living options to the evolving senior demographic in the neighborhood. Further in are a series of roofs of the Macy’s and the parking structures for active recreation be it Pickle-ball, Shuffleboard, Tennis or Bocce.

Cottage Courts/ Tiny Homes

Units proposed: 22

Missing Middle: Town-homes: 75 Units Shop Houses: 7 Units Units proposed: 82

Multi-Family Dwellings

Integrated senior care: 36 Units

Units proposed: 1032

Active recreation: Soccer Practice at Macy’s Rooftop

Work Space: 525,920 SF

Active use: 281,345 SF

Active Recreation: Roof-top courts for local schools and residents

The Macy’s and parking structures on site are reprogrammed to accommodate active recreation on the roof-tops in addition to the existing creek trails connected to the stormwater park system.

Creek trails at Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve

URBAN DESIGN I Reinhabiting N DeKalb Mall

MSUD Spring 2021

Tactical Urbanism:

Preactivation @ Macy’s Movie screening and popcorn under the evening sky

The tactical interventions seek to engage neighbors and reinvigorate the mall site. In front of “the old Macy’s”, is a set-up of a temporary plaza for Friday night movies projected on the north wall of the memorable building. The space is defined within the expanse of the parking lot with paint and AstroTurf. The intervention draws in passersby on North Druid hills road and the Mall’s commercial neighbors like the AMC, Publix, Home Depot are engaged in popcorn and snacks sales, materials donation, and food trucks with the screening of older/family films in the evenings. Other times, DeKalb High Schools showcase their student artwork projected on the wall of the Macy’s.

Project Phasing:

From tactical urbanism and immediate interventions to final build-out

The project illustrates how build out might: optimize daylighting and energyefficient building types; emphasize active recreation; accommodate abundant housing types and provide a myriad of community services for downsizing neighbors currently at nearby single-family homes to remain in the neighborhood throughout life transitions.

Later phases of development could include structuring the commercial buildings along North Druid Hills Road; with existing businesses accommodated in the park-facing commercial properties that will be constructed in the earlier phases.

1: Temporary Athletics field in parking lot

3: North stormwater park and housing options

2: Build lower stormwater park, reinhabit anchors

4: Full build out Graphic by J L Rudder

ARCH 7151 : History of Urban Form

Colored Zoning - Atlanta

{A print in Color or Black & White?} Spring 2021

Tracing colored zoning in Atlanta: I am legend. No, not the 2007 post-apocalyptic action thriller movie starring Will Smith and his dog. I was a black and white hatch pattern from a dot-matrix printer until of course, color prints were invented. But I could portray ‘color’ even before color print. I am both the hero and the villain. Sometimes I am the extra that is so easily overlooked, but there to push the story forward. And so I did--push the story of ‘Colored’ Zoning Atlanta, specifically, the zoning map of Atlanta 1925.

Race Districts: Colored or Undetermined

Use Districts: Dwelling House District Apartment House District

History of Urban Form

Colored Zoning Atlanta

Spring 2021

Overlay of the 1939 Race of Household map onto the 1938 Residence Security Map (HOLC)

Food Energy Water Nexus

{Framework for green infrastructure and public space} Spring 2021

Team Members: Research: Yuexuan C, Miguel J, Design: Sakshi N Harini P

Urban resiliency and optimizing networks following frequent natural and man-made disasters has underscored the need for urban sustainability with internally connected networks of food, energy, and water. High density development in the Shinagawa Business District and the projected footfall by the upcoming maglev train is going to demand vibrant open public spaces. The existing site of the Shibaura water reclamation plant in strategic proximity to the Takanawa Station offers the possibility of new vertical ground to support a framework for an engaging and productive landscape.

ARCH 6447 : Urban Ecological Design

{A long-term place to live, work and grow through every season of life}

Team Members: Peter C, Keith H, Harini P, Ishwar R, Hyowon S Roots Coalition boosts quality of living through three interrelated core values: health, economy, and education. The 7th street corridor is turned into Oakland’s beacon of healthy living and upward mobility, providing support for community members at every level to improve their economic attainment. Interspersed within the multiple affordable housing options are co-work and after school spaces that foster interaction between well-seasoned professionals, young emerging professionals, teens, children and parents from different households. This LEED, and WELL certified development creates a long-term place to live, work and grow through every season of life.

2022 ULI Hines Competition Roots Coalition

Upward Mobility: Striving towards economic integration and up-reach

2021 ULI Hines Competition HeartBeat

{A revolutionary wellness district in Kansas City, Missouri}

Team Members: Andrew D, Bianca M, Harini P, Keith H, Laurianne D Kansas City’s East Village sits at a juncture spatially between a rapidly growing core to its west and an economically stagnant, under-served, yet resilient, community to its east. Heartbeat KC proposes a bold leap forward for the East Village neighborhood as a wellness district that mends the torn urban fabric, providing opportunities for economic, physical, and environmental wellness regionally and locally.

A Pulse of Urban Enchantment

Embedded in Kansas City

The Holmes Woonerf, looking North

BEAT HEART

TEAM 2021-2335 Life

HEARTBEAT KC is a revolutionary regional wellness district.

HEARTBEAT KC is new engine for Downtown and the East Side, infusing Kansas City’s core and extremities with an urban generator of economic, physical, and environmental wellness, reviving, while preserving, East Village in the process. Wellness is the beat of this heart.

A CONTEXTUAL STRATEGY FOR WIDESPREAD WELLNESS

ECONOMIC WELLNESS

Blue Cross & Blue Shield anchors and supports a district based on wellness and vitality.

HEARTBEAT KC expands employment opportunities for the Paseo West community and introduces new components of research, wellness, retail, and mixed-income housing to Kansas City's Downtown District.

Heartbeat KC engages institutions in the region such as UMKC, KU Health, and Children’s Mercy to provide training while drawing regional Midwestern and local enterprises through its proximity to federal offices, business incubator, and variety of local merchant spaces.

PHYSICAL WELLNESS

The WELL-certified HEARTBEAT KC supports the wellbeing of its residents, workers, visitors, and the community at large through its programming, fitness centers, markets, and open spaces.

A full-service supermarket on the north end and a transit-oriented mini market on the south plaza vastly increase the accessibility of fresh produce for workers and residents with HEARTBEAT KC and nearby.

The “Active Underpass” and “Overlook Overpass” implore the exploration of HEARTBEAT KC and points beyond on foot, making active movement, safe, convenient, and engaging.

ECOLOGICAL WELLNESS

Understanding the effects of climate change on urban areas, HEARTBEAT KC endeavors to combat heat, flooding, and inefficiency in a transformative manner within a local and citywide context.

Stormwater that isn’t absorbed through permeable pavers is captured both for urban agriculture in the food hall and fountains that strengthen Kansas City’s identity. An abundance of street trees and plantings stems the growth of the urban heat island, producing a habitat of wellness and comfort. Ample transit provides sustainable access to the district.

HEARTBEAT KC repurposes historic structures while ensuring all new construction is LEEDcertified, using green roofs and energy generation.

HOLMES IS WHERE THIS HEART IS

A PULSE OF URBAN ENCHANTMENT, EMBEDDED IN KANSAS CITY.

LIFE BEATS ON

HEARTBEAT KC is a future-oriented development that strives to create pronounced and continuous change in Kansas City’s urban form as it economically and socially uplifts the City, even well beyond its formal project boundaries.

HEARTBEAT KC introduces new offerings to the regional core, building synergy among Kansas City’s most dynamic anchors to create a vibrant community. This new pulse of economic activity and vitality in the East Village neighborhood is expressly positioned to circulate opportunity equitably throughout its neighboring communities and serve as a model for sustainability and equity in urban design.

ARCH 8833 : Design Scripting

Fundamentals of Python

{Generative designs and coding for analysis}

Fall 2021

Beginning with a few preliminary exercises to explore the capabilities of the programming language, Python with Rhino 3D, the outcomes explore controlled randomness. Within a given set of parameters, the amount of randomization that can occur is controlled using conditional loops. The final project emerges from the urban design question of how can slopes of pathways be analyzed simultaneously while designing for comfort and walkability?

#ADD ARCS

lineList = []

lineListV = []

for i in range (intU+1): for j in range (intV+1):

if i%4==0 and i < intU and j < intV:

lineList.append(rs.AddArc3Pt(pt[(i,j)],pt[(i+2,j)],pt[(i+1,j+1)]))

elif i%4==3 and i < intU and j < intV:

lineList.append(rs.AddArc3Pt(pt[(i-1,j+1)],pt[(i+1,j+1)],pt[(i,j)]))

for i in range (intU+1): for j in range (intV+1):

if j%4==0 and i < intU and j < intV:

lineListV.append(rs.AddArc3Pt(pt[(i,j)],pt[(i,j+2)],pt[(i+1,j+1)]))

elif j%4==3 and i < intU and j < intV:

lineListV.append(rs.AddArc3Pt(pt[(i+1,j-1)],pt[(i+1,j+1)],pt[(i,j)]))

Project 03 Matrix

PART 1 SURFACE CREATION & WRAP

SURFACE CREATION & WRAP

Generating Swatch

Arcs in a matrix

School of Architecture, College of Design Georgia Institute of Technology

ARCH 8833 - Design Scripting

Instructor: Tzu-Chieh Kurt Hong

Student: Harini M Patel, MSUD candidate 2022

Design Scripting Fundamentals of Python

Trail-Maker

Mapping Walkability based on Topography and Gradient

Team: Ranjita J, Aayushi M, Harini P

Metrics for walkability include block sizes and intersection density, safety, thermal comfort and the presence of street trees, among many others. Comfort and effort can also be determined by topography and the steepness of streets as is the case in cities like Atlanta. By bringing analysis in the same platform for designing, evaluating street designs for slopes in Rhino using python allows for quick design scenarios.

Visualizing code sequence

Visualizing trails at Corsica’s GR20 Trail

Diagrams by R Jayasimharao

Visualizing Trail Slope % for Amicolala Falls, Georgia

Visualizing Trail Slope % for GR20 trail, Corsica

Visualizing Trail Slope % for Roads in Bali

8853 : Public Health Analytics

Place & Physical Activity

{Associations of Greenspace Access & Socio-Economic character to Physical Activity} Spring 2022

The project uses statistical and spatial analytical methods to measure the physical and social environment for associations to physical activity levels in the Atlanta region. The physical environment includes access to greenspace and the social environment is measured by an index from factors such as social isolation, poverty levels, education levels, employment type, income levels and ownership of motor vehicles. The output is a series of maps overlaid with data to reflect on associations. It visually appears that access to green space does not directly correspond to higher physical activity levels, social environment has stronger associations to lack of physical activity.

CP

Visualizing 5-minute distances between green space and population within a census tract

Visualizing Index of Accessibility of greenspace per population

Visualizing percentage of population that lack recreational physical activity

Visualizing an index of socio-economic disadvantage affecting physical activity

Harini Patel

Georgia Institute of Technology

College of Design

School of Architecture

MS Urban Design: 2021-22