FOOD FOR THOUGHT ALL IN A DAY’S WORK + an investigation of Vernon’s work culture
Readings
Mappings
Urban Framework
Urban Design
Sara Abed + Melissa Palomo + Krisitne Pham + Anaís Plácido Cal Poly Pomona Landscape Architecture + SWA LA 402L Urban Design Studio
by m a k i n g pe o p l e s t ro n g e r, V E R N O N be c o m e s s t ro n g e r
CONTENTS
08_Profiles 12_The Vernon Address 14_Readings 26_Mappings 45_The Vernon Argument 56_Urban Design Framework
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Landscape Urbanism There is a story about how all ideas ever thought of can be traced back to a single idea. The contents of this original idea have been diffused into human memory, never to be reconstructed but always to be taken inspiration from. As a result there aren’t any “new” ideas but rather ideas are built on top of each other, creating layers of history that take inspiration and lessons from what has been tried, what has worked, and what is not working. The same can be said about our approach to design in landscape urbanism. Ideas are approached from different perspectives and a series of operations transform ideas into hybrid ideas that question the current norm and test out new methodologies in the urban world. Creating new and innovative ideas is not the purpose of landscape urbanism since its a continuous cumulative process of investigation and experimentation. It is a careful consideration that looks to find the best way people, cities, and the involved spaces can intertwine amongst each other during a set point in time. Eventually, the “best approach” will have to be reconsidered and evaluated as the human condition changes but this idea will be evolve to fit different people, different places, and different timelines. This is the story of landscape urbanism.
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Studio Five Contributors
Sara Abed
Melissa Palomo
Kristine Pham
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AnaĂs PlĂĄcido
Sara Abed The city of Vernon is seemingly dystopic in its current industrial state. This image alone was a design potential that I was more than willing to engage in. The all-too-powerful industrial nature of Vernon captivated me throughout the duration of this quarter’s advanced urban design studio. I was quite eager to pursue the urban design challenges that were previously unknown to me and unique towards my design approaches. The city of Vernon offers countless opportunities that are often times overlooked at. My team members and I were lucky enough to explore such conditions. For instance, the masses of people coming into the city offer Vernon the values that it needs in order to further invest in its image as an industrial city. Each worker and or individual that comes into this city has the capability to enhance Vernon as we know it. Vernons future potentially rests within the diversity of its people.
Understanding the physical, social, and economic conditions of the city gave my team members and I a direction to address that Vernon can provide insights towards developing stronger cities of the future. Collaborating with SWA this quarter was an opportunity that I am fortunate to have as I approach the end of my undergraduate education of Landscape Architecture at Cal Poly Pomona. The designers at SWA gave me the confidence I need to fully enage in the urban design process at a level of complexity that I can adapt to and enhance as I continue to develop my design skills well into the profession. I am thankful to each of the designers at SWA for giving me a chance to engage in critical dialogues that will contribute towards my current understandings of the profession.
Melissa Palomo Collaborating with SWA in studio provided me with an insightful way of determining solutions for urban design systems. When looking into Vernon and the complex industrial systems that are implemented in an everyday situation, I was unsure where to start. With the professional guidance from SWA and faculty members, they were able to help steer my thoughts and design focuses in a clear path. Looking further into creating a design that would improve the environmental conditions for 49,000 working people in Vernon was a challenge. With social issues that arise and determining what the best solution for this working culture is, a strenuous amount of research was implemented. Determining the narrative of the overall project helped me to succeed in finding the connections that related back to Vernon. A lesson I learned from this design studio is to relate everything to the narrative of what the project is about. Creating diagrams as well as perspectives
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are an important element of the design process. Also, finding the relationships between how things work and why they function in a manner help form the big picture of what is being created. Overall, this learning experience has helped shift my way of thinking when it comes to an urban design standard. Learning how forms interact and create elements that can be brought together in a working atmosphere shows the complexity of the systems. Not only have I gained insight on how to problem solve for solutions on the everyday life, I have come to find the importance of how all these functions relate to one another.
Kristine Pham As a current undergraduate senior of Cal Poly’s Landscape Architecture program, I have had countless opportunities to fully embrace the diverse design studios offered throughout my educational curriculum. I apprecaite having the opportunity to collaborate with SWA. Throughout the duration of this quarter’s studio, I found that urban design in the context of Vernon is complex. Understadning the potentials of the existing architecture, landscape, and the needs of the city, will ultimately create plentiful opportunities for designers to apply their skills in order to enhance the Vernon image.
design process in this studio. SWA has impacted the way that I configure my design ideas as a student. Collaborating my ideas with them was not only beneficial towards my growth as a student but also as a future working-professional in the field of Landscape Architecture.
With the appropriate guidance from Professor Andy Wilcox and the designers from SWA, I have discovered that I have the capability to overcome many challenges that are brought forth during the processes of design. Having the opportunity to visit SWA and engage in coversations with them was helpful towards my
Anaís Plácido Vernon has been a city full of novelties and quirks that have intrigued me since day one. Maybe it was the concentrated industrial energy within the hours of 5:00 am and 5:00 pm that paint the image of a hardworking and under appreciated worker. Maybe its the ability to find life growing against all odds in in a river channel, a Vernon railroad, or in a worker garden behind a warehouse that taught me that impossible things are certainly possible. Consequentially, ideas then became much harder to ground and as our team struggled to make sense of our project our point of view on industry and a city like Vernon had to change. Overall, the city itself is an anomaly to its surrounding neighbors and represents a part of society that is often hidden away because it ends up representing us a little too well. The existence of Vernon is one that is essential to the American way of living and buying. It reveals a societies consumer culture and the extent of it.
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There are industrial cities and industrial zones in all metropolitan areas. They are the core that allows goods and services to be produced and distributed to the average person. It is the systematic and mechanical processes that allow to work so efficiently and effectively. But it also revealed that behind the somber industrial image there are thousands of people working to make living in today’s society possible. The Vernon process for our team seemed to look at the juxtaposition of people and industry. It looked at the best way create a relationship between the bigness of the city and the smallness of its people, or the harshness of machines with the softness of hidden vegetation. It was about juxtaposing the mundane with moments of sublime in Vernon with moves. This project and this process looked at humanizing industry while still respecting its heavy mechanic identity.
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The Vernon Address The city of Vernon is proud of its industrial identity and it has every reason to be. Vernon’s built-identity as an industrial city began in 1905, through the initial operations of the railroad infrastructure on pre-existing farmland. The establishment of major rail lines and their extensions at the edges of South Los Angeles, became an encouraging factor to develop industries in which property owners could prosper from. However, these industries took time to flourish. Furthermore, a demand for resources became essential to incorporate into the city in order to operate in its industrial state. During the 1930’s, the city of Vernon developed its own municipal water supply system as well as its own electrical power plant. The establishment of these two rudimentary services brought Vernon into its active, productive, and successful state as an industrial city that we know it to be as today. These services allow for input and output costs to be kept relatively low. This allows Vernon to manage its accumulating profits effectively and efficiently to facilitate for better industrial management in the coming years. Vernon currently focuses on facilitating for more specialized manufacturing, processing, and storage operations. The city of Vernon has 1,800 businesses drawn into it. This numerical figure consists of the following industries: food, agriculture, apparel, steel, plastics, logistics, and home furnishings. 49,000 workers come in and out of this city. This figure is critical to upholding Vernon’s image as a fluid and dynamic industrialbusiness-type-city. Vernon’s image as an industrial city is not solely based on its 49,000 employees, but rather on the functional complexities of its industrious rail lines, overpasses, facilities, etc. Vernon can function harmoniously as these elements and
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more found on the surface of the city (and even beneath) function cohesively. The operational systems that exist within the city of Vernon are essential for Vernon to provide for itself and perform effectively through its interdependence. Some of these operational systems include transportation, distribution, hydrology, ecology, energy sources, land use, and planning. These systems are the driving forces that can move this city towards a state of continuous progression. The industrial character of Vernon may not be of riddance any time soon. Why should it be? Vernon’s business-like setting of a city should be seen as an advantage rather than a disadvantage. Vernon can attract new industries in the coming years. As a result, a cycle of productivity can keep Vernon in a continuous flux of what it means to be an industrial city. This cycle may or may not be limited to industry in a mechanical state, but rather one that goes beyond our presumptions of what an industry can be. Vernon has the potential to model as the ultimate city of the workingfuture. Changes in technology, environmental policies, labor costs, revenues of resourceful materials, and necessary sources of energy, all play a key role of Vernon’s adaptability. This adaptation may also have a fruitful impact on the following cities that share its boundaries: Maywood, Huntington Park, Bell, and Los Angeles. The rawness of Vernon may seem unappealing at a first glance. Its physical conditions and moments of intensity ought not to be overlooked. Vernon is truly diverse as any other city. Just take a second look...
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Readings
operations + ideations The following readings explore different approaches to the formation of ideas and concepts. What’s most important is to question current methodology and to take action during the design process.
Atlas of Novel Tectonics Jesse Reiser Inside Outside Anita Berrizbeitia + Linda Pollak Field Conditions Stan Allen Waste Landscapes Mira Engler Fresh Kills Praxis [ 15 ]
Geometry in Action
Atlas of Novel Tectonics Jesse Reiser
This manual, derivative of years of experience, takes modern architecture or better yet-recent architecture on a critical thinking journey that questions the meaning architecture. Architecture has been often bound by historical references of the past which keep it from moving forward. However, this influence must be challenged. History takes in architecture but it does not make new architecture. In fact, it is new architecture that makes history. Normalcy and what is considered a classic should then only be a reference but not a restriction. Classics are constantly changing and whether something is considered a novelty or not depends on its deviation from what is normal at the moment in time it is built or thought of. Novelty, is influenced by the constant pressures of new problems and changing times. It is from this notion that new architecture must free itself from the restrictions that have been place on it. Cartesian coordinates while informative and a valid method of indication space falls short of what defines a space. It is a fixed system with coordinates that do not indicate quality. In truth, space is unique to its location on a universal unstructured grid. Understanding the process of geometry and materiality helps architecture address the potential that is dormant in all matter. Materials and matter could be transformed through architecture based on standard geometry or it can become its own geometry based on the way its internal structural system unravels.
Deviation from the Classic
Time Classic
Architecture
Material Practice What does this mean?
What does this do?
What becomes imperative is ACTION and the desire to perform actions on matter to discover its potential and use it. This action frees knowledge from matter and pushes the limits of architecture and those who experience it.
Universal Space
cartesian grid
unstructure grid
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Terms: Diagram: Reservoir of potential that lies at once active and stored within an object or an environment
Architecture as a Novelty: Architecture is a rhythmic pattern that is embedded everywhere in matter and can be harvested only by structuring the diagram.
Novelty: Thing that reserves its characteristics and appearance for itself.
Tectonics: Knowledge is embedded within matter and can only be freed through action and this is the duty of architecture.
Geometry in Action: Migration of a diagram from one ensemble to another and to the production of new properties, potentials, and effects.
Classical: The “Norm�. It is the central from which things can be referenced and deviation can be measured. Norms change over time as they come in and out of being.
Intensive vs Extensive Difference
Intensive (two divided equal parts will have the same value as the original)
Difference in Kind/Difference in Degree
Extensive (half of the mass of the whole)
The Potential of the Unformed
Difference in Kind
Difference in Degree
(stable meaning)
(contextural relationships)
Part to Whole Relationship
Simple Nested HIerarchy
A generic or unformed field is both specific and general and can derive a variety of programs and compositions.
Complex hierarchy
(whole reducible to its parts) (whole more than sum of it parts)
Essentialism
Geometry and Matter
Intensive differences in matter must be enclosed within an extensive model to operate architecturally.
Pure forms is abstracted from a wider range of variation and distribution.
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Inside Outside Anita Berrizbeitia + Linda Pollak The operations of Architecture and Landscape Architecture allow for an expansion of opportunities to occur within a physical space. Operations are a set of procedures and or processes that construct relationships between different elements. The relationships that exist between these elements are more effective than the individual elements alone. The interactions that can exist between a set of operations allows for an enrichment between the two fields of design. The following operations are explored: reciprocity, materiality, threshold, insertion, and infrastructure. Each of these operations challenge the common perceptions of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. The projects that exists within these fields can build upon an active framework. They also define a condition while also prescribing a possible action. In which case, projects within the fields of Architecture and Landscape Architecture can have the potential to move away from fixed identities. As a result, the operational systems become complex within the broader context of urban design and ecology.
Operations In The Urban City A
The exterior coincides with the interior
The operation of reciprocity diminishes traditional hierarchies and concepts found in Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Reciprocity enables exterior counterparts to intersect with interior ones. With this procedure, the individual elements have equal identities and ambiguity becomes present and even dominant in action. This allows individuals to interpret the actions of such a physical space as they see fit. Reciprocity allows the exchange between Architecture and Landscape Architecture to create something unpredictable yet moving. The action of materiality supports a clear understanding of place. The applications of material utilized in Architecture and Landscape Architecture can bring upon a comprehensive view of a project. Materiality reconfigures pre-conceived notions that individuals may have upon known forms between the two fields of design.
Operations are in action
In the realm of Architecture and Landscape architecture, the operation of a threshold begins with a stimulus that produces a moment of intensity, allowing for an effect to occur. An exchange between two diverse systems can occur during this operation. As a result, identities are no longer fixed and can reach a state of becoming. Insertion is an operation that allows a given space to blend in seamlessly with its surroundings. It engages a space within its surroundings and allows it to be a part of the urban continuum. Insertion involves the activation of boundaries in order to create for a multitude of identities. The edges of these boundaries relate to one another yet they sustain an identity of their own. Insertion can build relationships between a given space and its context. The operation of insertions allows one space to be introduced to another, resulting in a transformative process. The operation of infrastructure conditions the future. It facilitates connections between two elements that many not be apparent in connectivity. During this process, connections are facilitated even though they may not seem to be compatible. As a result, hybridism takes place within such a framework and the activation of programming begins.
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The use of the operations creates for a more seamless environment
Reciprocity
Threshold T hreshold
Buildings Ecologies
A situation or relationship in which two people or groups agree to do something similar for each other, to allow each other to have the same rights, etc.
Values the edge of two systems as the zone of highest exchange and diversity (ie field meets forest)
Infrastructure
A structural tissue that supports multiple programs and activates connections
Insertion
Materiality
Skins:
New Form: A space that is part of the urban continuum and is also a break in continuum
The concept of, or applied use of, various materials or substances in the medium of a building
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Field Conditions Stan Allen Field Conditions are any formal or spatial matrix capable of unifying diverse elements while respecting the identity of each. By determining the internal relationship parts in the field, this determines the behavior that will be acted upon. When working with field conditions in a geometry setting, figures such as lines, planes, and solids are formed to create larger wholes. In order to create a larger whole, smaller parts are built upon each other and build over time. “Parts are not fragments of wholes, but simply parts.” These independent elements are combined additively to form an indeterminate whole.
elements are linked together in open ended networks. When defining the ground plane and these forms, they should be seen as objects extruding from the ground as a whole, not separate. This would continue the linkage all together. Form matters, but the form between things is more important. When there is a connected place the local relationships become more important than the establishments that are made. Overall, field conditions are related to forms and the behavior that is found within. Without these important concepts, there would be a lack of defined spaces and behavioral patterns that are important for the growth of these formations.
Field conditions and architecture are complex and dynamic behaviors that speculate on new methodologies to model program and space. Within these ideas, interval, repetition, and serialism are key concepts when developing forms. “All grids are fields, but not all fields are grids.” With this said, redefining the relations between figure and ground so they are perceived as a joint composition. In the modern city, infrastructural
Form in Between
“All grids are fields, but not all fields are grids.”
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A Building Process
1
2
3
“Independent elements are combined additively to form an indeterminate whole.”
Combined Forms
“Overall shape and extent are highly fluid and less important than the internal relationship of parts, which determine the behavior of the field.”
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Waste Landscapes Mira Engler Vastus Latin word defined as waste which signifies unoccupied, desolate, uselessness, and emptiness. Problem Waste is perhaps the most tangible symbol of todays socialenvironmental problems. Since the 19th century and currently, waste has been a growing problem that is affecting health, aesthetics, affluence, and quality of urban life. The contributing effect is when people throw trash away, we think it disappears, hence why people do nothing effective about controlling their waste habits. Goal Forge public consciousness about waste and to promote new meaningful public places where work and leisure coexist. Landscape designers should be used to move the public to new levels of awareness, concern, and commitment.
Design Methods of Approach Camouflage: Urban aesthetics, disguise of waste related sites. Example: Fort Funston Plant, San Francisco, California Restoration: Rehabilitate damaged site by returning to its previous condition. Example: Dyer Landfill Project, Palm Beach, Florida
“When we throw trash away, we think it disappears, hence why people do nothing effective about controlling waste habits.�
Recycling: Reuse waste sites as public amenity for recreational, agricultural, and private land development. Example: Danehy Park, Cambridge, Massachusetts Mitigation: Weakens the impact or reduces severity of polluted land and water. Example: Natural Kidney, invented by Bill Wolverton Sustainable: Elements of production or reuse of renewable water resources. Example: Water Garden, Santa Monica, California Educative: Public awareness and change of attitude towards waste. Example: Museum of Garbage, Connecticut Celebrative: Promotes and dramatizes waste sites and facilities through works of art and spatial design features. Example: Flow City in Marine Transfer Facility, New York Integrative: Dynamic balance between nature and culture. Example: Sky Mounds, Kearny Dump, New Jersey
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Throwaway Culture
“Everyone produces it, nevertheless, no one wants anything to do with it, other than take it out�.
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Fresh Kills Praxis The Fresh Kills Landfill located on Staten Island, New York and took in 13,000 tons of garbage daily. It had an area of 2,200 acres and reached a height up to 225 feet at some of its mounds. It closed in the year of 2001 and competition was put out to turn the landfill into a landscape. It called for ideas that would consider the landfill as a park or recreation system: urban design, engineering, ecology, and art. 6 teams were elected as the winners. Lifescape Field Operation: - 75% comprise nature, recreation. 40% of that is open space - Timeline: seeding, infrastructure, programming, and adaptation - Human activities, natural system, circulation - Ecological strategy: grouping of habitat islands, corridors, connection, protect endanger species Parklands Hargreaves Associates: - Lake islands for habitat - Promote different types of human activities - Suggested a different circulation - Suggested setting up 911 memorials - Exhibit hall for more public involvement John Mcasland + Partners: - Restore: wetland, plant nursery, migration center for Atlantic flyway - Renew: urban design, recreational space - Reconnect: recycling power plan Dynamic Coalition Mathur/ D Cunha + Tom Leader Studio: - Surface: natural habitat - Field: plants, park - Datum: infrastructure, building - Edge: emerging activities and programs within the park - Zone: circulation, highway Rios rePark: - Political: 911 memorial park - Economical: tourism, large recreational area - Ecological: walking wetland, roadside, woodland, tidal wetland, and freshwater wetland, - Commercial berm and landfill mounds, World Trade Memorial forest - Create complexity within the design for different changes throughout the year Xpark Sasaki Associates: - Turn Fresh Kills to world’s greatest urban parks - Park activities: bike trails, hiking trails, and passive and active recreation - Cultural feature: library, civic center, and art installation with pedestrian bridges. - Different circulation: for automobile, cycling, boat - Safety: 24 hours facility and security - Ecology: protect native plants and animals. - Wet land as depression point and bridge across on top to protect people from landfill gas
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Hydrology
Natural Habitat
Infrastructure
Open Space
Design Area
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Mappings
ecology, hydrology, and the sublime
Vernon is not like most suburban cities. It is a city of industry. Transportation trucks and warehouses reign supreme. As such, it stands as an anomaly to its neighboring cities. The following maps seek to investigate ecology, hydrology, and moments of sublime in a way the reflect Vernon as a city of potential and diversity.
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L.A. RIver Channel (emerging from the breaks)
Vernon Street
(growing in limited act spaces)
LO S
ANGELES RIVER
Railroads Tracks Streets
Urban Ecologies Agricultural
Industrial
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Ecology
t
ive
LA River
(anchoring to the infrastructure )
Railroads
(reoccupying inactive space)
Ecology at this point in time, especially in Vernon, must be thought of differently. Traditional views have favored native plant ecologies and have excluded human interactions within these systems. This view is no longer viable. When taking in consideration the nature of the city, the term ecology is as much about people and cities as it is about plants and animals. Both cities and natural ecosystems go through an evolutionary process that responds to its surrounding environment. Looking at the city as an organism, it has evolved from its early adaptable system (as a response to the L.A. River) to a fixed rigid system of roads and streets. Furthermore, it is important to note that natural ecosystems like their environments are ever changing. They have an ebb of their own that changes over time. This includes a flux of species that fit different environmental periods. Thus, it is not surprising that species that thrive in Vernon are currently considered “invasive�. The city of Vernon has a focus of providing resources to businesses and not to its biotic inhabitants. As a result, it is these invasive species that have evolved to the changing urban system. They have a hardiness and a perseverance for life that natives do not have. They have come to thrive in breaks of concrete and they have come to overtake areas that are being underutilized by Vernon. Natural ecologies happen wherever there is a break in the urban system that can be exploited for resources. The city of Vernon is a reflection of such tenacity. It has gone through its own eras of agriculture and industrialization as a means to survive as a functional city. It now heads into an era of hybridism where it is neither solely one thing or the other but to survive it must evolve and thrive in the unlikeliest of conditions.
Ecological Systems
Adaptable d bl and d Flexible l ib ibll
Hybrid Ecologies
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Fixed and Rigid
Hydrology The city of Vernon is proud to be called the City of Industry. Since 1905, the city has become the heart of industry in Southern California. There are over 1,800 businesses including food processors, fashion apparel manufacturing, furniture manufacturing, electronics, paper products, and other family owned business. With more than 50,000 workers, the city has served food and goods for people in the surrounding area and nationwide. And to make it a great place for businesses, the city offers water and energy at low rates. Annually, the city of Vernon uses nearly 2.8 billion gallons of water. This is 4 times more water than the city of Los Angeles River can contain in the 4 mile boundary in Vernon. From that amount, the city can only recycle and utilize 11% effluent water. Knowing that Southern California does not receive large amounts precipitation as other places, there is a shortage of a water supply. However, to be able to produce its products and food, Vernon uses an intensive amount of water. There is a great potential in a city that can recycle and reuse water within. In addition, Vernon is located around the Los Angeles River, which has been contaminated by many manufacturers. With this in mind, the city can propose to filter and clean the city water before it reaches Los Angeles River and affect downstream areas. Chemical overflow hazards can also be a problem to Vernon and other surrounding cities. By creating a water detention pond in the Los Angeles River, this would create a safety area for the future by preventing hazardous problems from other dams. Since the Hansen and Sepulveda dams are located only 20 miles from Vernon, the city would be flooded within 19 hours if a break were to occur. Water brings life for earth, so using it efficiently can help to sustain the environment, keep the system enclosed, and protect everyone’s health.
Potential Recycled Water Dema Water Pipes Hydraulic Pumps General outlet into L.A. River Active Wells Inactive Wells
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and
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199 ft
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June 21
Sublime
Sep 21 & March 21
73.5
Dec 21
The aesthetics of sublime in Vernon were used by capturing the play of light. As the sun set, shadows were portrayed on the foreground and buildings. Seeing these formations alter as the time changed imposed a moving impact on the awe-inspiring moments. Some moments that were impactful was seeing the Los Angeles River cast reflections over the water and the potential ecological habitats that could thrive in the river and surrounding edges. The reflections over the water produced a tranquil effect on how harmonious the Los Angeles River can be. As the time changed from daylight to sunset, a different set of emotions shifted as the evening went on. Viewing the potential ecological habitats in the River also created an uplifting feeling for the positive habitats that can thrive in the area.
50
26.5
There was also a feeling of tension when walking alongside the cars and trucks that vibrated the overpass. Since the condensed area consisted of so many vehicles, an uncomfortable atmosphere began to form. It was an uneasy and vulnerable moment knowing that vehicles sped past us only a couple feet away. When overlooking the Los Angeles River at the sight of water, birds, and shadows that were there, a feeling of calmness swept over and the tension feelings dissipated. This helped create a more relaxing feeling when viewing the overall scenery. Seeing the connections that were made between light and formation over the changing of time gave an overall sense of space in Vernon. This helped to develop an imagery of the industrial city and the serene moments of sublime that is found within.
189 ft .85 mi
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Holistic View Vernon is far from the typical city. It’s potential lies in its own contradiction: it is a city for business and not for people. It is with this intent that the city has managed to attract large businesses and maintain its reputation as city that “means business�. However, its ecology, hydrology, and moments of sublime show that they are many more nuances that cannot be seen on the surface. There is a sort of mystique that surround all these layers. They are not immediately evident in the hum of business, rails, and trucks but they are a strong piece of the city that gives its character and reflect its happenings. The ecology of the city has the persistence of businesses in that the find the best way to be productive and successful at the larger regional scale. The hydrology of the city is connected to the ever so prominent L.A. River and like of all southern California needs to improvement in its administration to face climate change. Its moments of sublime are wondrous in that they take the classic components of warehouses and concrete and illuminate them in a different way that create a different context and meaning. Nevertheless, to understand the design potentials of Vernon, the systematic edges of the city had to be analyzed. The city is not an island. As it stands, it is surrounded by one of the most densely populated, highly urbanized, and biologically diverse areas in the nation: Los Angeles County. The hydrological and ecological resources that exists within this region are critical to ensuring the beneficial developments of Vernon. Vernon has access to resources that can contribute to the continued evolution of the city. The Los Angeles River, which runs through the city of Vernon, functions as an active threshold, highly capable of balancing conceived fragmentations within the city. The river encourages greater opportunities for the citizens of Vernon but has the potential to be useful resource for its business. The river can also be a link to balancing the dynamic processes of existing and thriving ecologies while also providing an opportunity to the city and its residents. . Vernon further connects with the ecologies of the Santa Monica and San Bernardino Mountains. The high peaks of the mountains and the interconnectivities of the coastal plain allow for diverse plant and animal communities to flourish. Los Angeles county consist of critical geographic subregions that provide for threatened species to recover. The programmatic responses for these species to thrive significantly affects the future of the ecological and urban environment. They should not be seen as individual systems that function on their own, but rather as one cohesive system. Vernon can become a part of a larger system that affects millions of people and businesses. Our mapping process reveals the dynamics of a seemingly dystopian city, often overlooked by its unappealing physical conditions and moments of intensity. However, Vernon moves beyond this fixed image and it is as diverse as any other city.
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Nature of Industry
Resources Products
Manufacturing / Processing
HUMAN LABROR
Services Machine Technology
Nature of Industrial Work
Relation Between Vernon and Work Culture Work Culture A=Time B=Costs = Quality
A
B
Vernon
Vernon is Activated by Its Work Culture Week
Work Culture Activity
Day
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Pre-Industrial
Industry Introduction
Density Increases/ Limits are Reached
The Vernon Argument It is with ever increasing momentum and characteristic efficiency that the Industrial Revolution rushed the modern era into today: the contemporary era. Machines replaced human labor with their greater production speed and their capacity to produce at a massive scale. It was an era of technological advancements that brought manufacturing and production of goods to an ever increasing population. As the initial impacts took effect people experienced a quality life and lifestyle vastly different than that of previous generations with the new production of goods. As a result, people of today have become accustomed to a fast paced world that is in continued progress. Cities like Vernon sprouted along rail lines and worked moved from the country side to the factories of the cities that could employ them. Industrial cities drew people to them and commuting to work became the norm with the successful manufacturing of cars. Industry still remains an important economic sector today and the existence of industrial cities like Vernon attest to that notion. Vernon is a city that has a dominant centralized manufacturing, production, and distribution culture that is business friendly and is focused on maintaining a strong industrial identity. Its central location within the Los Angeles region, its still functioning railroad infrastructure, and its overall connection to the Long Beach ports makes it an ideal location for business and industry to take place. It stands as Los Angeles’s main food processing and distribution hub. With less that 4% vacancy it is a competitive industrial city that draws business and economic opportunities. Looking more intensely at the industrial effects on Vernon illustrates the inner workings of the city. It has a deeply transient quality to it that is directly correlated to its industrial nature. It is most active and full Monday through Friday between the hours of 5:00am to 6:00pm. The city is emptied by the end of the day and by the time the weekend comes around. Trucks and cars compete for road space as they try to reach the same destination. Trains stop at Hub Railyard. Products and resources are transported into the city and are converted into
different ones that will be distributed locally and globally. The city runs on a series of schedules and a flux of material going through the system. Machines and people are in constant motion during hours of activity that give the city a unique rhythm and pattern. While the term industry is often associated with mechanization of machines and the technological innovations the human aspect of is often forgotten. Yet, it is the human aspect that makes industry so successful. Workers are the main elements that make industry run so well. They are the ones driving the trucks, working the machines, and moving goods to be transported onto big machinery. Vernon has a powerful workforce of 49,000. 49,000. 49,000 workers are being distributed throughout Vernon on a daily basis, Monday thru Friday, with a two day break and back again. These 49,000 workers are coming from long distances into the city and use Vernon’s transportation system to maneuver within the city. These 49,000 workers are also spending long periods within Vernon, so much so that they are in theory Vernon’s true residents. In addition, these 49,000 are bringing in revenue to the city. The restaurants, gasoline stations, and other local businesses depend on Vernon’s workforce to sustain themselves. When looking at Industry in Vernon the mechanizations of industry are taken care of but the human element is not. This human element must be addressed because the city has reached its Industrial limits. It cannot expand into residential areas and it has to work with the infrastructure that has already taken root. These 49,000 are not addressed within the cities industrial design. Streets become congested and the issue of safety arises when a truck is pit against cars in the same lane. There is not enough worker parking areas so workers have to park on the street. Some workers live so far away that it suggests some element of worker permanent/temporary housing near Vernon. The 49,000 can also be an business benefit for Vernon’s small business owners which can help contribute to the City’s funded public programs.
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The Narrative
All In A Days Work
Vernon is a city with a dominant centralized manufacturing, production, and distribution culture that is business friendly and focused on maintaining its industrial identity. It s central location within the Los Angeles region, its functioning railroad infrastructure, and its overall connection to the Long Beach ports makes it a transportation hub in Southern California. Vernon currently has less than 4% vacancy city wide, and stands as Los Angeles’s main food processing and distribution hub. It is competitive industrial city with unique economic opportunities that attracts business from all over the country. The inner workings of the city can be best identified and understood by analyzing the effects Industry has had on Vernon. Industry has given Vernon a transient quality that is activates the city Monday through Friday between the hours of 5:00 am to 6:00 pm. As a result, Vernon has developed a complex distribution network that receives a daily input of goods and resources that are distributed within a dense manufacturing network that often forces cars and trucks to compete for the narrow road space. These goods are then processed, refined, or assembled and re-distributed through the same narrow roads. To maintain Vernon’s high output a complex logistical network of goods and labor result in a constant motion that give the city a unique rhythm and pattern. While the term industry is often associated with the production of mechanized Taylorism the human aspect of it is often forgotten. Yet, it is the human aspect that makes Vernon’s industry so successful. With a powerful labor force of 49,000, workers drive the trucks, operate the machines, and assemble goods. These 49,000 workers are commuting from long distances and use Vernon’s transportation network to maneuver within the city. With only 98 residents in the city, the workforce is Vernon’s true residents. A series of inquiries arise. How can the city capitalize on this diverse group of workers? Are there opportunities that can bring additional revenue to the city and help mitigate its industrial image with surrounding cities? Can better vehicular access combined with larger parking areas for trucks improve worker mobility and create new opportunities for Vernon? Are happier and healthier workers more productive for Vernon’s businesses? It with this workforce of 49,000 in mind that “All In a Day’s Work” analyzes the daily life of Vernonite’s and looks for appropriate interventions that can improve their quality of life. The worker schedule was broken down to a cycle such as: commuting to workforce, working, breaks for lunch, working, and the commute home. Taking this into account, four different types of workers were identified to be predominantly part of Vernon. There are workers who: bike to work, drive to work, live at work, and are transient because of work. The following four projects look at how addressing the human aspect of industry can provide Vernon with economic and social opportunities.
1. Bike to Work: Bike to work looks at facilitating a transportation and distribution network that currently exists but is disconnected outside the 5 mile Vernon radius. It creates a network that calls for cities along Vernon’s periphery to establish and become integrated with a bike path system. Creating different transportation options allows the people in Vernon and surrounding neighborhoods to implement the use of the biking format. Not only does this way of transportation help reduce congestion on the road, but provides healthier alternatives for the people to utilize. With this in mind, having a healthier work force in Vernon creates a more productive and efficient worker. In order for the people to utilize this bike path system more often, a series of commercial activity and recreation hubs that facilitate a better commute for Vernon’s work force will be used. This network allows workers to live, shop, and play close to their jobs if they choose to.. By providing mixed-use opportunities people can interact with one another and create a sense of community besides just going to their place of work. In addition, the bike path is accessible by all other three projects and connects Vernonites from the inside of the city to the outskirts into neighboring communities.
2. Into the City: Into the City provides resources for three types of working communities in Vernon. The working culture that lives in Vernon, thpeople that commute to work, and the surrounding neighborhood communities. Resources that are provided are having the option to live in a mixed-use development that entails commercial, residential, and green space. The importance of these resources is what the people in Vernon rely on that is not readily available within the city. In order for the people that work in Vernon to utilize these resources, they have to go to surrounding communities that supply them. To create a more productive and efficient work force that promotes Vernon, is creating options for workers to live, consume and restore their natural state of mind. To enhance the working atmosphere and productivity of the worker is to care for the workers and their value to the city. With Vernon investing in their workers, people can invest within by spending their money in Vernon instead of neighboring cities. This is the potential to unify and in return uplift the power house that Vernon is by creating a friendlier image.
3. Park Your Car The ‘Park Your Car’ site utilizes existing architectural footings to enhance worker productivity. These footings contain heavy building masses that have the potential to phase into appropriate design elements that can benefit the working environment for the Vernonites. These elements of design consist of circulatory paths and transitional spaces from the parking structure to the workplace of the worker, captivating moments of sublime within the city of Vernon and its outskirts, and implementing bio remediation plug-in systems that can cleanse the working environment for the worker. A connection is made to the mixed-use development (Into the City) where workers will have an easy and reliable access to commercial, residential and green space. With this connection to the parking structure, a helpful mode of transition that reduces the amount of cars on the road will have a powerful impact on transportation for the working culture.
4. Semi-Truck Stop The Vernon Semi-Truck stop looks to the future expansion of the 710 freeway for safety, healthy, and economic reasons. A new truck stop would provide resources and services for a transient workforce and solidify Vernon’s reputation as the primary engine of Southern California’s economy. It would be a point of convergence where all types of systems (ecological, cultural, transportation) would come together. Recognizing the importance of truck drivers and their role in the transportation of goods in and out of Vernon demonstrates the value they play in Vernon. The tuck stop would be a part of the Work Culture Zone and be accessible through the truck route system as well as the bike path system that runs through the site. The truck route system would consist of their own on and off ramp to the 710 freeway to avoid traffic congestion with nearby streets. With trucks occupying their own road without the distraction of smaller cars, a safer driving environment will be implemented though out the city. In return, trucks will have easier transportation routes to get in or out quickly, or to rest at the truck stop. These projects look at the Vernon workforce as a way to make Vernon stronger and more productive. These four projects are examples of how addressing the human aspect of Industry and the 49,000 workers can offer social and economic benefits that create an iconic manufacturing city for the 21st century. By aiding and providing opportunities for the vast workforce, Vernon can remain as a power house that has a thriving working community. By creating a friendlier image to neighboring cities, people will want to live and work in Vernon without the need to go elsewhere. Also, creating different options of transportation routes will reconnect the once divided city as a unified piece to surrounding neighborhood communities. Overall, without the City of Vernon and the many jobs that is provided for the work culture, there would be a sense of loss and disconnect without these vital industries.
49,000 vernonites
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city of vernon
labor/time/quality
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101
Hollywood
Dodger Stadium
10
710 Los Angeles 60
LA River Vernon
5
110
Torrance
710 Long Beach
Railways Bike Paths LA River Freeways
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The Vernon Context
Downtown East Los Angeles
LA River
South Sou o th h Loss A An Angeles ngeles
Vernon Maywood
Pico Rivera
Huntington Park Intersecting connections & Neighboring Cities
Vernon is known for its industrial environment in Los Angeles County. It is located in a very unique and centralized location, making it an ideal spot for commuters to work and reside in. Since the industrial environment is such a complex and thriving region, there is a disconnect between the people that work there and the industrial work place. In order to bring these two elements together, a change ought to occur. For Vernon to become even more successful, linking businesses and the worker environment together would structure the overall work culture in Vernon. The industrious rail lines thata are placed at the edges of the city to distribute goods, the major freeways that lie at the cities boundaries, all contribute to Vernon’s industrious system at work.
they are forced to spend more time on the road. Furthermore, they prolong more hours from their families. As With the neighboring cities that border Vernon, most workers live within those regions since they are close housing opportunities. To create a stronger sense or community within Vernon, potential housing could be implemented near close neighborhoods. Overall, considering Vernons unique centralized location, it is the ideal area for industrial business and for the people that work there. Connecting these two points would allow for a more safer and prosperous Vernon.
With the 49,000 people that come into Vernon each day, a day’s work in Vernon can be quite overwhelming and stressful. Efficient methods of circulation need to be implemented, given the fact that traffic congestion starts early in the day. This effects the workers in Vernon. They are trapped by their own means of productivity.
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Urban Framework The work culture in Vernon is a crucial aspect that is seen throughout the city on a daily basis. With the contributing factor of the 49,000 people that are employed throughout the city, the work life in Vernon plays a huge role for production and businesses. Creating more business prospects, housing, and safer methods of circulation can create a vital impact for the overall work life. The quality and productiveness on a daily basis is what makes Vernon so successful in its industrial businesses. Because Vernons motto is “Exclusively Industrial,� the city is the heart of manufacturing, food processing, and logistical companies. In order for Vernon to maintain their regime, creating new business opportunities for the growth of the economy and well-being needs to be implemented. When businesses have the opportunity to expand from an infrastructural method to a mobilized way, this opens the door for prospects to increase more revenue. Overall, creating more business means more money for Vernon. The next process for the city to receive revenue would be creating temporary and permanent housing. This would create options for workers that would like to either stay a couple of nights in a hostel living system or be able to live in a compact housing system to be closer to work. This would help with the cost of living, transporting to and from work on a daily basis, and having revenue in return for the city. Also, creating safer and stronger circulation systems for transportation within the city to reduce the amount of vehicles on the roads would help with congestion. By separating the roads from industrial trucks and cars, bike lanes can be implemented on the same road with cars. This will create options for people that need to get to work safer and with less cars on the roads. Overall, the three frameworks have been developed to create efficient strategies on the work culture in Vernon has been shaped so the 49,000 people that come in and out of the city can have options on what businesses they correlate with, where they want to live and how they want to get to work.
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The Master Plan
Conditioning The Vernon Image
Truck Routes Bike Routes All Purpose Existing Commercial Added Commercial
N
0
500
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1500
3000
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The Industrial Vision
Classifying Vernon’s Industries The beginning phase of our urban framework results from investigations of Vernon’s industries and their classifications. It became apparent to us that the development of the new zone we are proposing within Vernon includes resources that the Worker can utilize in an efficient manner. Thus, the commercial zone was seen as an opportunity to develop our framework.
Industrial Rendering Slaughtering Commercial Housing Current Commercial Zone
Work Culture Zone
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Bike Route [ 62 ]
The Urban Framework utilizes the current circulatory systems in Vernon. The current bike routes along the edges of the LA River were carefully recognized and improved upon. The current truck routes were also given special attention while developing the urban framework. Creating an allexclusie truck and bike transit gives Vernon an opportunity to further embrace its all-too-powerful efficient and industrious image. An understanding of a workers daily schedule was pivotal towards condoning the framework process in this project. Transportation to work, arriving at the workplace, taking breaks between working sessions, and commuting back home, were each investigated in the urban design process.
The Urban Framework
Truck Route
Work Culture [ 63 ]
The Phasing of the Bike Routes The First Step To Develop Vernon’s Work Culture The phasing processes to initiate the development of the work culture zone, first and foremost analyzes the current circulatory conditions that exist within the city. Efficiency for the worker to get to his or her workplace was a vital component of adjusting the circualtion of the current road conditions in the city. The first step towards of this process includes the extension of the bike lane along the LA river. This step localizes the worker with that of his or her place of work.
Phase 1
Phase 2
Introduce bike lanes along the Los Angeles River as a direct transit into Vernon.
The second phase propose bike hubs as an additive amenity within this transit system
Phase 3
Phase 4
Extending the network of the biking system through the city streets to connect surrounding businesses with the worker
Add more biking amenities to serve Vernon’s biker population
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The Final Phase
The final phase of the bike transit in Vernon incorporates an extensive and integrated bike network in the city. With a series of commercial activity and recreation hubs that facilitate a better commute for Vernon’s work force This network allows workers to live, shop, and play close to their job if they choose to. By providing mixed use opportunities people can interact with one another and create a sense of community.
Bike Route
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The Regional Scale of the Bike Transit
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The proposed framework expands the current scale of the bike transit along the edges of the LA River. The expansion of the bike transit creates opportunities for the Worker that decides to bike to work. Resources for the worker are provided for through the expansion of the bike system. As a result, connections between the worker, workplace , and Vernon’s neighboring cities strengethen are made apparent through this transit system. Vernon will have the opportunity to work more efficiently as an industrious city while also keeping its workers safe and healthy.
Existing Bike Path Proposed Bike Path River
0
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1 mi
2 mi
3 mi
The Phasing of the Truck Routes Embracing A Complex Distribution System
Transportation Tension
Cars
Trucks
Bikes
The current circulation in Vernon could be enhanced through the provision of efficient routes for lighter transits and heavy transit systems. While visiting the city of Vernon, our team noticed that there are unsafe traffic congestions amongst the worker that distributes goods to and out of the city, the typical vehicular commuter, and the worker that chooses to bike to work in Vernon. Thus, careful attention was given to the different types of commuters that come into Vernon on a daily basis. A network of truck routes is introduced in the framework to condone efficiency and safety for trucks to effectively distribute goods.
Mixed Used
Heavy Transit
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Homogenous Streets
Extension of Streets
Truck Exclusive Streets
Bike
The phasing of the Truck-Exclusive streets allows Vernon to embrace its mechanical nature while also facilitating the productiveness of the transient worker.
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4 interventions in the daily life of the Vernonite
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All In A Day’s Work Bike to Work Vernon Semi Stop Park You Car Into the City
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Lives at Work
Drives to Work
The following projects collectively focus on the human aspect of industry and at the same time provide several social and economic benefits to the city of Vernon and its industrial image. [ 72 ]
The Worker Typology Conditioning Vernon’s Work Culture
Bikes to Work
Transient Because of Work
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Bike to Work
Vernon’s Biking Network After careful analysis of circulation in the city, It became apparent to us that Vernon has an inefficient biking network. Our team sought an opportunity to strengthen and develop a more efficient biking network and culture in the city.
Dodger Stadium
Montecito Heights
Vernon is already a strong industrial city with prominent infrastructures and complex industries. We want to add to the existing infrastructral landscape of of Vernon. The addition of an extensive and efficient bike path would enhance Vernon. This bike system would initiate at the edges of the LA river and leech into the city. Current inactice rail lines can also be explored to facilitate this process. Studies show that biking will save more time than driving because people would not have to compete with vehicular congestions.
5
Glendale
10
East Los Angeles
101
Downtown Los Angeles
60 10
The bike path along Los Angeles River is discontinuous from Dodger Stadium, at the 110 freeway, up through the city of Maywood. The proposal for this design consists of a 6 mi extension, that would inevitably close the gap.
5
710
The development of the Los Angeles River bike path as a a main biking trail to get to Vernon will be a direct and efficient route fo the worker to get to work. The program will provide for a more efficient form of transportation as well as an additive health benefit for the worker.
Existing Bike Path
Huntington Park
Maywood
Bell Gard
Proposed Bike Path Proposed Bike Hub
710
City Outline
South Gate
Scale
0
1mi
2mi
3mi
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Bike Path and Work Culture
Coffee
Sandwich
Bike Service
Comm. Center
Parking Garage
Soto Bike Hub
L.A
Sandwich
Ri
No Traffic
ve r
Coffee
Bi
ke Pa t
Bar
h
Atlantic Bike Hub
Truck Stop
Fruit & Conv. Smooth Bike Stand Service
Biking Typologies
30 minutes
5 miles 10 miles
1 hour
15 miles
1.5 hours
6 feet
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1.5
fe et
ens
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Process Work
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Looking into some of the reknown bike path designs in the world, we noticed that there are many distinct characteristics about them. The bike path encourages a spacious lanes that compensate for high capacities of bikers, safer routes away from heavy modes of transportation, an area where biker can rest , shading along the paths, and accessible hubs that bikers can access easily. These are elements that we would like to utilize in our design.
Soto Bike Hub
Bandini Blvd
Serville Ave
E 37th St
Lo
sA
ng
ele
sR
Soto St
Soto St
Context Map
ive
r
E Vernon Ave
Cross Section Shipping container stores Bike path Shade structure Los Angeles River
1 Bike Traveling Lanes 2 Rest Lanes 3 Open Space 4 Shipping Container Stores 5 Shade Structure
Bandini Blvd bridge
Bike path
Shipping container stores
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Shade structure
0
The design for the bike path consists of a hub with amentities for the worker. The first bike hub would be locate at the intersection between Soto St. and Bandini Blvd., which is one of the busiest intersections in Vernon. This location already has an existing and wellknown. The new bike hub will be located next to the restaurant, which is by the river. The bike hub will include a convenient store, fruit stands, a deli shop, coffee stands , smoothies stand, and a bike and repair shop. The space that would require establishing the hub is less than 4000 ft. sq. By recycling and reuse shipping containers as the main building material, the bike hub would showcase the urban yet industrial of Vernon.
Lo
sA
ng
ele
sR
ive
r
5
4 1
3 2
20’
40’
60’
80’
Bandini Blvd Los Angeles River
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Atlantic Bike Hub The second bike hub is an integrated site that would provide for and share amenities between the biker and trucker. It is located next to South Atlantic Blvd., near the exit of 710 freeway. The bike path will be elevated with the truck stop facility. Integrating spaces inside the truck stop would be convenient for the worker in Vernon.
Sitting area Truck stop facility Bike path Los Angeles River
Context Map
Di
lvd
st
cB
ric
tB
ti tlan SA
lvd Lo
sA
ng
ele
sR
ive
r
Cross Section Sitting area
Shipping container stores
Site Plan
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4 3 6
5 2 1
1
Bike Traveling
2
Rest Lanes
3 4 5 6
Sitting Area Shipping Container Stores Indoor Garden Truck Stop Cap
Truck stop facility
0
30’
60’
Bike path
90’
120’
Los Angeles River
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Bandini Blvd bridge
Shade structure
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Bike to work can be a special mode of transportation to get to work. It definitely will provide worker a healthy life and better work performance. By providing the worker the efficiency in time and work performance, it will help Vernon to become a stronger industrial city.
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Vernon Semi Stop Point of Convergence Trucks are often seen as a road nuisance. They are berated for being a source of pollution or the cause of infrastructure issues that arise. The importance of truck transportation, however, to Vernon and the national economy cannot be discredited. Trucks transport 70% of all freight that contains goods that are to be distributed throughout Southern California and the United States. Within the city of Vernon, trucks are the key distributors and means of which goods are transported into and out of the city. They replaced the prominent rail transportation system with streets and the construction of the 710 freeway. As a result, truck transportation has become deeply embedded in the modern way of living in the Southern California. The Vernon Semi Stop focuses on the worker that is transient because of work: the truck driver. The truck driver culture is rich in history and its people. It brings workers from all sorts of economic, national, and education backgrounds under a common field. It also experiences, many misconceptions about truck drivers and the corresponding truck culture that follows In today’s society there is a stigma directed at truck stops and certain language codes used by workers. Truck stops, however, are what makes working as truck driver much more manageable. They are places that provide food, rest, and resources to a worker who is always on the go and under constant stress.
Truck Transport
Trucks distribute goods to a central location that then distributes to a larger number of smaller entities.
Truck Culture
Truckers are on a stringent schedule and constant pressure to transport shipments on time. Rest is minimal and sporadic at times.
Truckers have access to resources on their route that allows them to be productive and safe.
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Site Context
Vernon Transportation Relationship Truck Transporation Distribution lvd
st
ic B
ric
nt Atla
tB
lvd LA
Ri
ve r
Vernon
ay Freew 0 1 7
Di
Transportation of goods
Long Beach
Maywood (residential) The 710 freeway is an important interstate freeway that connects Los Angeles and Vernon to the ports at Long Beach and San Pedro. Increased demand for truck transportation from the ports has increased truck traffic congestion along a freeway that was not designed to handle such an increase in traffic. As a result, traffic congestion has raised concern from cities and neighborhoods along the freeway. They have experienced a rise in air pollution and worrisome smog conditions.
710 Expansion Freeway Plans
As a result, Caltrans and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) have approved expansion plans for the 710 freeway. These plans call for an overall expansion of lanes with some alternatives for a raised elevated freight corridor that would focus on easing truck traffic congestion and control air quality. The Vernon Semi Stop also takes this into account and is designed to also alleviate traffic congestion off Atlantic Blvd. Atlantic Blvd is directly connected to the 710 freeway, Dictrict Blvd (that becomes the entrance into Vernon), and connects residential city of Maywood.
Sources: www.metro.net
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Process Work Looking at current truck stops one characteristic that defines them is their large surface areas. These surface areas are mainly used to accommodate the large turning radii of trucks that leave a lot of space under utilized. Because of this, the process of designing the Vernon Truck Stop focused more on dealing with the hugeness of the truck and the smallness of the truck driver than on its ability to hold a large number of trucks. If this duality could be resolved in some way, it would allow truck drivers to have direct access to resources the moment they park. It would also maximize space and would be designed according to truck turning radii. It would support a truck driver culture that is about efficiency and constant movement but would offer a place that could make them more productive and improve their quality of work.
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4 1 Alternative Truck Route off Atlantic Blvd. 2 Oil Gardens 3 Ecological Cap Opening
3
4 Cap Over The LA. River 5 Semi Stop Structure - auto shop - hostel rooms - truck administration building - bike path - museum space - conference room 6 Truck Electrification Park
DI
5
ST
RI
CT
BL VD
6
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1
L AT
IC T AN
VD L B
2
Point of Convergence
Segregated system that intersects but does not effectively integrate.
Bi
ke t
o
The Vernon Semi Stops causes a linear shift where existing and proposed systems can both integrate and overlap.
W or
kP at
Scale: NTS
h [ 91 ]
0
50
150
200
B’
A’ B
C’
A C
Sections Oil Gardens
Soft spaces that contains oil barrels that collect truck oil that can be reused.
Hostel System
710 Accessible Alternative Truck Route
Temporary housing system that is communal with a combination of single and multi-bed rooms.
Directs trucks from Atlantic Blvd into District Blvd.
Section A-A’
Scale: 1” = 100’-0”
Bike Path
Ecological Gap in the Cap
Bike path runs through the structure and allows it to be accessed by truck drivers.
The opening in the truck stop cap allows for eco-river infrastructures to continue to flourish.
Section B-B’
Programmatic Structure The structure is raised to elevate the worker and to maximize surface space for truck parking.
Scale: 1” = 80’-0”
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Electrification Park
Oil Garden
Cab control system allows truck drivers to turn off the engine and keep electricity running.
Also act as soft spots that can treat rainwater before it is directed onto the LA River.
Section C-C’
Scale: 1” = 80’-0”
Place of Overlays Bike to Work Path
Programmatic Structure - auto shop - hostel rooms - truck administration building
- bike path - museum space - conference room
Oil Gardens
Transportation and Distribution Truck Route
Cap over the LA River with an Eco-gap
Ecological Zone Supported by the LA River conditions
LA River Channel
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The Vernon Semi Stop can be a point of convergence that strengthens an already deeply rooted truck culture and community. While on the road, truck drivers often communicate and create friendships through their unique and colorful language code as well as warn each other for oncoming dangers or unwanted interruptions. The Vernon Semi Stop acknowledges the importance of the truck driver, the truck, and its contribution to the industrial image and success of Vernon.
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The Vernon Parking Structure A Worker’s Parking Program ‘The Park Your Car’ program address inefficient parking systems for the worker in Vernon. Thus, attention for the commuter was seen as a design potential for Vernon’s work culture. The ‘Park Your Car’ program incorporates a parking structure on site. This addition to Vernon is a physical reminder of maximizing Vernon’s most vital, dependant, and productive resource; the worker. The ‘Park Your Car’ program utilizes existing Architectural footprints of surrounding warehouses, so that parking can become more efficient for workers and businesses. These footprints contain heavy building masses that have the potential to phase into appropriate design elements that would ultimately benefit the Work Culture Zone in Vernon. These elements of design consist of circulatory paths and transitional spaces from the parking structure to the workplace of the worker, captivating moments of sublime within the city of Vernon. Temporal intensities of space and time within the structure can propel the values of work culture and invigorate the collective force of the worker. A parking structure is not limited to collecting cars; it could collect people within a space. The spatial qualities of the parking structure facilitate an expansion of operational and resourceful conditions for the worker. The spatial applications of the parking structure could potentially create an invigorating environment for the worker to be at. In addition, it would connect to the worker who looks for other resources and decides to go into the city.
Parking Structure P
The Commuting Worker x 49,000
Parking Structure
Worker Distribution Parking Structure
What a Parking Structure Could Be
P Vs. The ‘Park Your Car’ Program addresses the inefficiency of parking for 1% of the workforce in Vernon
P
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Site Context
LA
Ri
Santa Fe Ave
Seville Ave
E 37th Street
Truck Routes
The proposed bike routes along the edges of the river further extend into the cities industries. Abandoned railroads phase can into bike routes as well. It is in this way that efficiency of the worker into the workplace becomes apparent. The structure becomes a network as well. It introduces a variety of resources for the worker. Diverse worker services are introduced into the program. These services have the potential to extend further into the city and beyond, thus benefiting the overal quality of life for the worker, day in and day out.
E Vernon Ave
Bike Routes
ve r
The ‘Park Your Car’ program maximizes the networks between that of the worker and the workplace.
Shared Routes
The City of Vernon
the workers
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Process Work Understanding the metrics of a parking structure for the ‘Park Your Car’ program was essential to this component of the project. Parking structures have massive surface areas and their spatial qualities are often times overlooked at. Understanding the square footages and building footprints of a parking structure provides a variety of opportunities of what a parking structure in Vernon can ultimately be. Parking structures have the potential to not only collect vehicles, but also masses of people.
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E 37th Steet
eet
2 4
3 4
t
E
hS t 8 3
4
S Santa Fe Ave
1
5 4
1 Parking Structure 2 Shuttle Station 3 Bike Station 4 Water Basin
6 4
5 Green Pavillion 6 Transition Spaces
Bike Routes Workplace Walkways
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Seville Ave
E 37th Steet
Scale: NTS 0
E Vernon Ave [ 103 ]
50
150
200
A’
A
Embracing the Edge Condition
Green Pavillion
Sections Water Collector Water is collected on site and it can be directed into the parking structure Water Basin
Worker Services Resources for the worker are provided within the parking structure
Section A’-A
Scale: 1”=40’-0”
Green Pavillion The pavillion essentially becomes a green walkway for the worker passing to the workplace and into the parking
Transition Space The worker can rest at the transition spaces at the midpoints of the
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Stitching the Site
The parking structure in Vernon is a resourceful unit for that of the worker.The parking structure in Vernon is a cohesive unit that integrates the the infrastructures on site through the use of walkways and a water collector.
Worker Services On-Site Water Collector [Directs water throughout the site]
The parking structure has the spatial capacity to carry water to and from the site. This process can create a unique experience as the worker walks throughout the interior parts of the parking structure and along its edges on the landscape.
Water Basin [Stores water on site and it can be treated on site]
The Architectural footings of the surrounding warehouses were utilized to appropriate the maximization of the parking structure.
x
36,534 sq ft
73,068 sq ft
The parking structure can collect 1% of Vernon’s workforce. This is the first phase of the ‘Park Your Car’ program in Vernon. Overtime, the parking structure can expand into other parts of the city and it will eventually house more cars as well as people.
73,068 sq ft/150 sq ft.=
1% of 49,000 Workers Parking Space= 150 sq ft
Floor Levels
Floor Arrangements
Worker Services
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The ‘Park Your Car’ program utilizes existing Architectural footprints of surrounding warehouses, so that parking can become more efficient for workers and businesses. These footprints contain heavy building masses that have the potential to phase into design elements that would ultimately benefit the Work Culture Zone in Vernon. These elements of design in the parking structure consist of and transitional spaces that privide for the worker to get to the workplace. This process captivates moments of sublime within the city of Vernon. Temporal intensities of space and time within the structure can propel the values of work culture and invigorate the collective force of the worker.
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Into The City Point of Connections The purpose of creating a resource area in the city of Vernon is for the future residential and commercial areas that will develop and become a 24/7 site. Residents and workers in Vernon can have a center dedicated to their needs that will include housing, community center, green space, businesses, pharmacies, and restaurants. With these resources, people will spend money inside Vernon instead of surrounding cities. This will help to benefit Vernon financially and to make it a more prosperous city. In this site, mixed-use of commercial and residential buildings are developed so workers can live close to their jobs if they choose to. Commercial resources are provided so this area becomes a resource hub for the city. By providing mixed use opportunities people can interact with one another and create a sense of community besides just going to their place of work. An Industrial Garden is implemented on site to create a tranquil and relaxing environment. This is the center of all the connections and is demonstrated to show that vegetation and industrial sites can grow together. A community center is developed for the residents and neighboring cities. By Vernon becoming a better neighbor to its surroundings, this would help make their image friendlier. Amenities that will be provided in the community center are educational programs, outdoor industrial garden, coffee and breakfast cafĂŠ and services (Computer lounge, clubs, game room, activities, and city meetings). A bike route will also be located on the outside of the building along with a walking path. By developing a safe and lively place for anyone to come to, people will see that Vernon takes pride on the image of their city and the 40,000 workers that commute and live there. The site over 50 years will become more developed with more resources to offer its communities and neighboring cities. The surrounding cities will pass through Vernon and use their resources that are provided. Overall, Vernons industrial city will remain but will become a more efficient, prosperous, and resources friendly to their workers, residents, and neighboring cities.
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Into The City
Site Context LA River
Bandini Blvd.
37th St.
St.
S. Santa Fe Ave
Chamber of Commerce
h 38t
Vernon Neighborhood Relationship Opening 24/7 resources for the working culture in Vernon as well as establishing stronger connections with neighboring cities to implement these uses.
Softness vs Harshness People in Vernon are consumed by the industry which separates the landscape and its aesthetic value. For a balance to occurr, industy and landscape need to unite and grow together for the benefit of the people in Vernon.
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Process Work The vast industrial environment that Vernon portrays is its most powerful attribute yet can dismiss the sublime moments in the city. Discovering how Vernon can retain the industrial feel with a softer image for people in the working culture is a sophisticated topic that involves vegetation and industries growing together. With this in mind for the benefit of the people that work in Vernon, resources are established in a mixed-use environment. Looking further into the development and connections that these resources provide is vital for the prosperity in Vernon. In order for Vernon to change the image it portrays, opening these resources so neighboring communities can be involved is the next step for a more positive image.
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37TH STREET 5
SOUTH SANTA FE AVENUE
7
8 1
3
9
5
5
ET
H
38T
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E STR
1 5
2
3
6
4
Legend 1 Industrial Garden 2 Rail Line 3 Community Center -Community Center Courtyard 4 Bridge Connection 5 Commercial/Residential Village 6 Green Walkway 7 School 8 Childcare -Children Recreation Courtyard 9 Pharmacy/Health Center -Health Courtyard Access Points
Point of Connections Scale: NTS
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0
50
150
200
A’
B’
A
B
Both sections demonstrate the mixed-use building mass for the resources in Vernon. With a bridge that connects from Park Your Car Program to this site, brings a closer look at the daily life for the workers in Vernon. With accessibility implemented throughout this development and the natural resources provided within, a community is able to thrive
Commercial & Residential Village Green Walkway
Sections
Section A-A’
Pharmacy/Health Center Services for people working and living in Vernon and surrounding neighborhoods.
Section B-B’
Roof top gardens, green walls, and vegetation.
Scale: 1” = 20’-0”
School Education for children and adults.
Scale: 1” = 20’-0”
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Mixed use commercial and residential living.
Place of Overlays RESIDENTIAL 1.08 Acres Mixed-used development - 300+ new residents reduced distances between housing, work places, retail businesses, and other destinations. Stronger neighborhood involvement COMMERCIAL 1.00 Acres Restaurants, small market stores, boutiques, convenience stores and Mom-And-Pop shops.
RESOURCES 1.76 Acres A pharmacy, health center, school, child care and community center is offered. Services included: Coffee & breakfast cafe Clubs for childen & adults Educational and computer programs Green Space 1.47 Acres Includes an Industrial Garden, pond, bike routes, walking paths and various courtyards throughout the space.
Residential Commercial Resources Green Space Connections Mixed-use development: Development that integrates a combination of residential, commercial, resources, and green spaces, those purposes are physically and [ 117 ]
Into The City demonstrates an opportunity for the strengthening of human relationships by creating a mixed-use site. Within these regions, people can harmonize in a natural setting that is Vernons oasis from surrounding industrial buildings. Resources are provided close by to integrate close community connections and reliability. Overall, these close connections only strengthen the City of Vernon so it can thrive and continue to be a strong and prosperous city.
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Merging vegetation and industries for the work culture in Vernon to enjoy not only enhances the city, but demonstrates the working efforts of creating a stronger Vernon. With this said, caring for the people who work effortless every day in this city will create a more efficient work force for years to come.
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The Model The model for “All in A Days Work” is a sectional model that shows the connection of Vernon’s parking structure with the “Into the City” site.
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Vernon can be a city whose strength is not limited towards its manufacturing and distributing capacity, but rather its powerful, healthy, and productive workforce.
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