Thesis: Saturating East Boulevard: Fusing Water and Public Space

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SATURATING EAST BOULEVARD: FUSING WATER AND PUBLIC SPACE

by Keihly Moore

A thesis submitted to the faculty of The University of North Carolina at Charlotte in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture Charlotte 2013

Approved by: ______________________________ Professor Charles Davis, Ph.D. ______________________________ Professor Peter Wong ______________________________ Deborah Ryan ______________________________ David Walters


©2013 Keihly Moore ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


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ABSTRACT KEIHLY MOORE. Saturating East Boulevard: Fusing Water and Public Space (Under the direction of CHARLES DAVIS, Ph.D., PETER WONG, and DEBORAH RYAN) In cities, stormwater is managed under ground, out of site. The status quo for many of our systems and spaces is separation. My interest is to combine, overlap, and encourage cohabitation - designing the opportunity for integration. Stormwater can become a feature of the public realm, no longer hidden. How does water become more visible in the public realm? How can building facades engage and help channel water? How can urban sidewalk cisterns be used to define public space? How can water be seen as a resource and a process, rather than a burden or an ornamentation? Can the stormwater be captured, contained, and filtered in an observable way, slowing water at its source while educating the public of its impact and ephemeral state? It is critical to think about water management because of the increased vulnerability of our cities. Our infrastructure is aging. Climates are changing, causing more intense storms and weather patterns (1). With Hurricane Sandy still fresh in our minds, cities need more resilient design by developing systems and places that are able to adapt and embrace change. Infrastructure is designed for protection, acting 10 percent of the time. Fusing it with public space is a value-added function for the remaining 90 percent of the time the infrastructure sits idle. What would our cities look like if these public spaces shared integrated functions, performing stormwater management tasks when storms hit? Let’s think beyond technical engineered efficiencies, towards more comprehensive approaches. Rethinking infrastructure and placemaking, this fusion of protection and public space can create more meaningful places, providing simultaneous social benefits. (1) http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/weather-climate/index.html


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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to acknowledge the guidance and support of my consultants, Deborah Ryan, David Walters and Sara McMillian. Deborah Ryan was pivotal in helping me to realize the core of the goal is to make water visible in the first place - that awareness needs to come before in-depth discussion of climate change. Our conversations always sparked my creativity. She showed me unique solutions in other cities and encouraged me to think at a grand scale. Her encouragement was always very timely. David Walters provided a perspective that sharpened my urban design requirements and made sure I kept in line with legalities. He challenged me to defined the public and private realms. His comments reminded me of practical issues that balanced my design and prepared me for another set of questions. I am thankful for his availability and knowledgeable perspective. Sara McMillian was my engineering support. It was beneficial for me to get feedback from an engineering perspective testing my architectural ideas, their validity within an engineering perspective, as well as their practicalness and feasibility. I am grateful for her encouragement and for the time she spent with me discussing ideas. I would also like to extend an appreciation towards the Director’s Research Award, which allowed me to travel to the National Adaptation Forum in Denver in April 2013. Here I was able to talk to my ideas with a wide range of folks including engineers, biologists, social scientists, ecologists and others. I was able to practice my thesis question and learned how to communicate with non-designer audiences.


C on t e n t s

A. Abstract 9 B. Discourse Narrative 13 C. Literature Review Narrative 23 D. Literature Map 28 E. Case Study Analysis 30 F. Project Description 61 Project | Introduction 62 Project | Context 70 Project | Design 80 G. Tracking Actions + Interviews 106 H. General Bibliography and References

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Appendix | Sketches + Process Work

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| Abstract + Gap


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Abstract

| Abstract In cities, stormwater is managed under ground, out of site. The status quo for many of our systems is separation. My interest is to combine, overlap, and encourage cohabitation - designing the opportunity for integration. Stormwater can become a feature of the public realm, no longer hidden. How does water become more visible in the public realm? How can building facades engage and help channel water? How can urban cisterns be used to define public space? How can water be seen as a resource and a process, rather than a burden or an ornamentation? Impervious surfaces will be the key targeted area, with public space improvements and water’s visibility (or lack of) as the medium and remedy. Can the stormwater be captured, contained, and filtered in an observable way, slowing water at its source while educating the public of its impact and ephemeral state? It is critical to think about water management because of the increased vulnerability of our cities. More intense weather extremes cause flooding to our homes and streets. Our infrastructure is aging. Climates are changing, causing more intense storms and weather patterns (1). With Hurricane Sandy still fresh in our minds, cities need more resilient design by developing systems and places that are able to adapt and embrace change. Infrastructure is designed for protection, acting 10 percent of the time. Fusing it with public space is a value-added function for the remaining 90 percent of the time the infrastructure sits idle. Many components of our cities - streets, parking lots, and plazas - are designed for a single use. What would our cities look like if these public spaces shared integrated functions, performing stormwater management tasks when storms hit? Let’s think beyond technical engineered efficiencies, towards more comprehensive approaches. Rethinking infrastructure and placemaking, this fusion of protection and public space can create more meaningful places, providing simultaneous social benefits. These questions will be tested in Charlotte, on a nationally recognized street improvement project East Boulevard. Three qualities make East Boulevard a prime demonstration area: 1) There are two rivers within 100’ and 1100’ of the currently impervious East Boulevard corridor. 2) People walk, run, and bike frequently here; there is a strong pedestrian contingency. 3) This area is due for redevelopment. Its low density, auto-oriented land use is under-utilizing the valuable area. (1) http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/weather-climate/index.html

| Keywords stormwater infrastructure, public works, placemaking, climate change, urban design, landscape urbanism, urban ecology/ecological urbanism, resilient cities, public space, civic infrastructure

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Discourse - Identifying the Gap

| Position 1: Built Environment | Architecture | Urban Design New Urbanists (Light Impact methodology) Michael Hough Lewis Mumford Benton MacKaye Ian McHarg | The Gap: Little consideration for climate change implications or for storm water management in dense urban places. Position 2: Placemaking / Public space / Place vs Non-Place Ed Soja Henry Lefebvre Ray Oldenburg Kain Benfield Jan Gehl William Whyte Marc Auge | The Gap: No incorporation for the environmental impacts of a place, or how to better integrate these. No thought about how to make places change over time in relation to unknown events like climate change. No thought about engineering for efficient water movement. | Position 3: Landscape (as built by humans or as found in nature) James Corner Linda Pollak Elizabeth Mossop Elissa Rosenburg Charles Waldheim Charles Law Olmstead | The Gap: The discussion of climate change is missing. Landscape Urbanism addresses public space more than it addresses the ecological needs, while ecological urbanism addresses the natural environment without considering public space and placemaking goals. Stormwater infrastructure or water capacity needs are rarely discussed. | Position 4: Storm Water Engineering / Infrastructure Army Corps Donald Watson / Michele Adams municipality governments / NYC Parks and Recreation American Society of Landscape Architects | The Gap: No consideration for place and how the improvements could improve the human world. How do these measures improve the place or how people use and enjoy the place? | Position 5: Climate Change Imperative Stephan Sheppard Peter Calthorpe Town and Country Planning Association (UK) | The Gap: Doesn’t consider the micro scale of public space or how to integrate the effects of climate change with how those could help/hinder the public realm. 10


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| Discourse Stormwater management and public civic space are not typically thought to be cohabiting in an integrated spatial relationship. This is precisely what this paper argues: as developers of the urban realm, we should be thinking beyond technical efficiencies, towards a more comprehensive view integrating stormwater infrastructure into our public spaces and lives, creating more meaningful and useful places. Water is also not a visible part of our dense urban cities, unless it’s used for decoration. Its importance is under valued. Water has had many relationships to city dwellers in the past: a disease carrier, a flooding force, an unsanitary nuisance, a cleanser, a source of thrill and enjoyment, a sign of survival, and a sign of prosperity, among others. Today the forces of climate change remind us about how vulnerable our cities and neighborhoods are to the unpredictable nature of water. This paper argues that water is viewed and handled too technically. Cities are built for people, and so should the infrastructure. Simultaneously, people are on the move, towards cities, especially coastal cities. With the densification of cities and the changing climate, cities need to start thinking about how to develop its own resilient strategy while making each space mean more for its people and the calculated weather changes. The vulnerability of our cities is coming into sharper focus as more frequent storms hit, flooding our homes and streets. Today, especially in light of the latest Hurricane Sandy, Engineers, politicians and governments are “rethinking Infrastructure instead of just rebuilding.”1 Or at least, they should be. Resiliency has become another buzz word in the discussions of climate change and sustainability.

“Resilience theory, first introduced by Canadian ecologist C.S. “Buzz” Holling in 1973, begins with two radical premises. The first is that humans and nature are strongly coupled and co-evolving, and should therefore be conceived of as one “social-ecological” system. The second is that the long-held assumption that systems respond to change in a linear, predictable fashion is simply wrong. According to resilience thinking, systems are in constant flux; they are highly unpredictable and self-organizing, with feedbacks across time and space. In the jargon of theorists, they are complex adaptive systems, exhibiting the hallmarks of complexity.2

“How much shock can a system absorb before it transforms into something fundamentally different? That, in a nutshell, is the essence of resilience.” …”The concept of resilience upends old ideas about “sustainability”: Instead of embracing stasis, resilience emphasizes volatility, flexibility, and de-centralization. Change, from a resilience perspective, has the potential to create opportunity for development, novelty, and innovation.”3 Ecology’s impact on cities “In New Orleans, for example, more than 60 percent of wetlands have been lost in the last 60 years, due partly to oil and natural gas exploration and partly to the levies that were built to keep the Mississippi from flooding the city. Ironically, the loss of these wetlands contributed very directly to the disastrous effects of Hurricane Katrina. Researchers have since calculated that restoring 1 kilometer of wetland would reduce the wave height by one meter, and now efforts are underway to begin rebuilding the southern Louisiana coastline.”5 13 Greenemeier, Larry. “Post-Sandy New York Aims to Rethink Infrastructure, Not Just Rebuild It” Scientific American. October 31, 2012. Link: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/10/31/post-sandy-new-york-aims-to-rethinkinfrastructure-not-just-rebuild-it/ Accessed November 11, 2012. 2 Montenegro, Maywa.“Urban Resilience.” SEED magazine. February 16, 2010 http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/ urban_resilience/ 3 ibid 4 Tidwell, Mike. “ We are all from New Orleans Now: Climate Change, Hurricanes and the Fate of American Coastal Cities.” The Nation. 29 October 2012. http://www.thenation.com/article/170894/we-are-all-new-orleans-now-climate-change-andhurricane-sandy# 1


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Infrastructure “Infrastructure isn’t separate from us, or it shouldn’t be,” Ms. Orff said. “It’s among us, it’s next to us, embedded in our cities and our public spaces.”6 Water Sensitive Urban Design (an Australian practice)

“WSUD embraces a range of measures designed to avoid, or at least minimize the environmental impacts of urbanization, WSUD recognizes all water streams in the urban water cycles as a resource, rainwater (collected from the roof); stormwater (collected from all impervious run-off); potable mains water (drinking water); grey water (water from the bathroom taps, shower, laundry and kitchen); and black water (toilet) can all be valuable sources of water. “ –Water Sensitive Urban Design Guidelines, City of Melbourne. 7

Jessica Blood, in her master thesis, used principle of WSUD and studies the theory of using landscape as infrastructure through seven principles developed by Stan Allen. “These principles question issues of force, process, typology, scale, invisible form, structure, function and change and visible form and set up a mechanism enabling me to challenge the notion of landscape as infrastructure…This research shifts the definitions of infrastructure and landscape to include process of flow and how the landscape may act as an infrastructure not just background to the object. If we consider infrastructure as a verb, rather than an object, can the landscape become an agency for change?”8 Blood’s research objectives are “to create a development that works with the principals of water from the beginning, to understand how it may drive the design and layout of the housing and create an integrated system.”9 While I value the use of landscape as a system and as a fundamental part of the infrastructural system, I wonder how this framework can better improve our human environment. How can these landscape moves improve the quality of life in a place, making it memorable and adding value? Another important aspect Blood notes is that “In this hybrid landscape all types of space are valuable because they are considered usable parts of the system, not leftover spaces which are typically associated with the construction of above ground infrastructure objects.”10 Water as Civic Infrastructure Kathy Poole writes extensively about water as civic infrastructure. In one publication she states the “Key Principles for establishing a Civic Water Infrastructure 11: • Protecting common resources – Identify creeks and rivers • Investing in water – Provide opportunities for engagement • Leveraging water’s biology – Establishing a hydrology network • Building upon the civic hydrological armature – Identify important civic institutions • Finding relationships – Explore relationships with other infrastructure” Poole then goes on to illustrate three case studies: Case Study 1 – Physically Linking the City’s Civic Institutions In Charlottesville, a “hydrological system was used to link two civic institutions: Burnley-Moran Elementary school and the Rivanna River.” A number of civic values were translated into the landscape as a result: • A neighborhood is re-connected with its elementary school and an important recreation space. • A stormwater wetland teaching garden, adjacent to the playground, strengthens the educational mission of the school. • A street is made more beautiful by turning an unattractive ditch into a linear ‘garden.’ 14 Montenegro, Maywa.“Urban Resilience.” SEED magazine. February 16, 2010. http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/ urban_resilience/ 6 Protecting the City, Before Next time, New York Times, 3 November 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/nyregion/ protecting-new-york-city-before-next-time.html?pagewanted=3&_r=0 7 Blood, Jessica. “Landscape as Infrastructure? How landscape can precede housing development and set the parameters for its location, density and relationship to the Maribyrnong River” Master of Landscape Architecture Thesis. School of Architecture + Design, RMIT University, October 2006. http://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/eserv/rmit:6330/Blood.pdf, p 13 8 Ibid p 9 9 Ibid p 9 10 Ibid p 15 5


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• The quality of the neighborhood is raised with the proposition of new neighborhood-friendly commercial uses at the intersection of the drainage system and a busy street (High Street). • The need to explore new opportunities for riverside land are highlighted. “By using drainage to knit together the various pieces of a neighborhood, the design shows how a hydrological system can be a way of adding meaningful uses within existing public space. It also shows how water can be a political structure, a way of structuring civic life.” Case Study 2 – Building Community This project united an unconnected subdivision and a shopping mall through the drainage swale that spanned both developments. “The design shows how stormwater management can be utilitarian and be more…check dams can double as bridges, linking developments that previously had no connection. And stormwater detention areas can be places where people gather – privately as a couple or collectively for a neighborhood cookout, building social neighborhood relationships.” Case Study 3 – Finding Value in Neglected Land “By surgically removing just two dwellings, the proposal provides a model for retrofitting environmentally damaging developments into ecologically-positive spaces that celebrate both natural and built hydrology,” adding value to a currently under used, derelict area. Water used to be culverted directly from the streets to the river, without filtration. New remediation gardens filter toxins and bring the water to the surface, so residents can better see its process of movement. “The gravel cisterns connected to the street double as communal front-porches where residents can chat on a bench swing and pick up their mail.” Reframing water sensitivities “Stormwater management is not a series a projects or even an integrated system of measure that in addition has other benefits as if uses beyond function were merely ‘bonuses’ or ‘amenities.’ … Instead, Bellevue has framed its stormwater efforts as vital to the social and conceptual health of the community…Bellevue has taken all of water’s issues – ecology, engineering, economics, politics, aesthetics, and public fascination – and situated them within the city’s larger ideals. The stormwater plan builds what I term a “civic hydrology” framework that extents beyond stormwater or even landscape planning into the realm of ideas and every day living – the civic life of the community.”12 Poole’s definition of civic hydrology: “It denotes the potentials to use water infrastructure to build better cities and communities: • How water can structure growth, organize institutions, and catalyze city-making and reinvigoration within them. • How ecologically positive water strategies and techniques can support healthier cities for all urban residents, human and otherwise. • How water can contribute to cities rich in civic expression, of expressing what the city means to its residents.”13 Water stewardship “The key to facilitating watershed management is through fostering watershed stewardship. In short, we need to pay better attention to the stewardship of our management. The way to move from being knowledgeable stewards of the watersheds to becoming wise managers of watersheds is through creating recognition of problems and solution, mobilizing interest, and instilling informed passion among stakeholders.”14 15 Poole, Kathy. “Civic Hydrology: Water as a Civic Infrastructure.” Design Strategies for a Sustaining Piedmont. Institute for Sustainable Design. University of Virginia, 1998. 12 Poole, Kathy. “Watershed Management as Urban Design: The Civic Hydrology of Bellevue, Washington.” Facilitating Watershed Management: Fostering Awareness and Stewardship, ed. Robert L. France. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2005, p 338. 11


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Our urban water systems In our cities, the water is most often hidden, unless it’s for decoration. Under our cities runs a complex system of pipes to move water. We have built flood walls to protect property from damaging floods. We’ve dug ditches and culverted streams. We pave canals and waterways, primed for efficient removal of water. But these engineered solutions remove more than water. Neighborhoods are disconnected; divides are created. Massive concrete storm water channels sit empty the 90% of the time. Every city has these kinds of infrastructure skeletons threading throughout the urban streets, taking up space without giving much back. While greenways in flood plains act as additional room for water, they also have a purpose when the floodplain is not in use. So, how can our permanent urban public spaces be better designed to handle floodwater during temporary rain events? Can flooded parking lots turn into a natural place making method? How can our existing infrastructure contribute towards making a better place by moving more than just water, by acting more sensitively to the environment, while simultaneously thinking of people and place? With increasing ecological needs 26 as climate change spawns more frequent storms, and increasing population needs as people flock towards cities, the need for integrated spatial solutions to address the increasing demands for managing water is already here. Water needs to be a visual, understood, valued part of our city fabric.

“One inch of rain in an hour over a 1000 square foot roof produces 623 gallons of water.”

The gap Landscape urbanism, urban ecology, engineering, and spatial theory address these issues of urban water management and public space. Each position has its own angle. The gap occurs between these fields. A solution to bridging and blurring the boundaries is needed to make a more successful place, creating more vibrant, healthy cities that can be resilient to the changing climate. As Linda Pollak writes in her essay “Constructed Ground: Questions of Scale”, in the Landscape Urbanism Reader, “The instability that characterizes these [landscape urbanism] projects is a positive one that produces and sustains an openness in terms of the meaning or sense of the work. None of these projects blurs the boundary between architecture and landscape. Rather, they inhabit that boundary, through their instability, or lack of fixity, constructing as a space by oscillating back and forth across it.“15 Urban ecology, though recent history has developed a separation of humans from ecology, is trying to development an integrated approach and understand where humans fit in with the ecology of urban systems. Engineering has view points in technical, efficiency and cost issues. Spatial theory uses political, cultural significance, and studies how the forces effect how spaces and humans interact. Spaces hold different identities and meaning for different kinds of people. In essence, each of these positions hold different interests and different focus points. The key is to find the overlaps, develop and build the integration, and encourage cross pollination to reach a more comprehensive strategy. As the discourse of cities of the future evolves, there still seems to be a separation of city systems and roles, left over from modernist planning methodologies. Infrastructure doesn’t count as public space, as it once used to when it was called public works. Streets function for one purpose. In order to build better environments, these edges need to be blurred and overlapped. To see this issue comprehensively, the value system for each partner needs to be understood and evaluated against the next. What is it that makes designers, engineers, city planners, or landscape architects think or not think about water? What are the primary motivators? While water has historically been portrayed in urban public space environments in fountains and reflecting pools, there is an opportunity to present the process of water and merge this with the public environment. While the technical requirements of stormwater set the backdrop, how can we 16 Poole, Kathy. “Watershed Management as Urban Design: The Civic Hydrology of Bellevue, Washington.” Facilitating Watershed Management: Fostering Awareness and Stewardship, ed. Robert L. France. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2005, p 338. 14 France, Robert L. Ed. Facilitating Watershed Management: Fostering Awareness and Stewardship. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2005, p xii. 15 The Landscape Urbanism Reader, p 138 13


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rethink the environments we are engineering into a place for people too? Can we move beyond the techniques and strategies into a more broadly comprehensive view, taking into consideration larger planning goals, places for people and the technical necessities of a project? Within cities there are two broad approaches considering design – that of the technical and the humanist. Storm water infrastructure is generally ruled by a technical methodology, measuring projects based on efficiency and cost. Because our cities are dense and infrastructure is costly and inconvenient when it is upgraded, the argument is to combine the needs of civic space with storm water infrastructure. This arrangement could make the high cost of infrastructure more tangible and worthy to the people if it has an element of design the people can interact with. Space constraints of the dense urban environment make a combined civic and infrastructure space more valuable and an easier option for upfitting an existing environment. Unknown, but calculated and predicted environmental stresses due to climate change and are another reason to integrate the needs of public space and stormwater infrastructure. The comprehensive argument: convincing all the sides Infrastructure improvement projects are costly and intensive. If a politician, an engineer, an architect, a landscape architect and a property owner were sitting at a table, what set of arguments appeal to common values in the group? If a majority of the concerns involve the economics of financing and time, depending on the situation it could be argued that combining a civic need project with an infrastructure project could save money while adding value to a place, even if it does decrease efficiency from the engineering viewpoint. This idea of a comprehensive view and argument still needs to be developed and refined, but the goal is to appeal to city leaders and change-makers in order to make these ideas happen. Can the appeal be built around the idea that the massive price tag on a project can be more easily justified because the public can see and interact with the project, rather than knowing X amount of millions of dollars is underground? Instead of hiding massive infrastructural elements, is there a way to bring them above ground and develop a new layer of civic meaning? Even though not every infrastructural move, ecological or engineered, is meant to engage people, shouldn’t there be a standard that the implementation be haptically or visually beneficial to the built environment, furthering the sense of space and identity in a place?

Infrastructure can be for people. De Urbanisten, 2011

The following will provide an overview of the most active positions dealing with storm water management as well as other positions such as landscape urbanism and ecological urbanism that touch boundaries with stormwater infrastructural design challenges. High Performance Landscapes, Low Impact Development and Best Management Practices While there are many techniques and strategies focusing on containing, cleaning, and controlling storm water, most often the case studies are illustrated in less dense settings where wetlands and swaths of bioswales aid in the absorption and filtration of water. One such example of this is the High Performance Landscape Guide, a project by the Design Trust for Public Space and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation. And while the solutions address people in terms of education, stewardship, and engagement in communication, there is no mention of public space and making places for people, in addition to repairing the ecology on the site. While there are many useful strategies cited: infiltration beds, bioretention, porous pavements, green and blue roofs, to name a few, a consideration about how to use creatively use the hardscapes primarily found throughout the city is missing. Parks can act as an absorbent surface, but there are only so many parks compared to 17


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impervious surfaces. Because parks or pervious surfaces cannot be put into many areas of the dense city core, how can designers and engineers work collaboratively to develop strategies that manage water flow simultaneously with the civic space requirements for people? In addition to the High Performance Landscape Guide, another similar resource from a different angle is the Low Impact Development (LID) Manual by the University of Arkansas Community Design Center. This manual focuses on implementing solutions at the building, property, street, and open space scales. LID is an “ecologically-based stormwater management approach favoring soft engineering to manage rainfall on site through a vegetated treatment network…contrary to conventional ‘pipe-and-pond’ conveyance infrastructure that channels runoff elsewhere through pipes… LID remediates polluted runoff through a network of distributed treatment landscapes.”16 Rather than relying on traditional hard engineering that transfers pollution to another site, LID emphasizes the opportunity to treat pollution and runoff on the site.17 Here is list of 17 ecosystem services that LID advertises: 1.. Atmospheric regulation, 2. Climate regulation, 3. Disturbance regulation, 4. Water regulation, 5. Water supply, 6. Erosion control and sediment reduction, 7. Soil formation, 8. Nutrient cycling, 9. Waste treatment, 10. Pollination, 11. Species control, 12. Refugia/habitat, 13. Food production, 14. Raw material production, 15. Genetic resources, 16. Recreation, 17. Cultural enrichment. LID is also called “water sensitive urban design (WSUD)[in other regions]...These tools are designed to pond, infiltrate, and harvest water at the source, encouraging evaporation, evapotranspiration, groundwater recharge, and re-use of storm water.”18 A missing piece to this equation is the public space sector, different from open space in that it is not a park or green space, but a hardscaped plaza. How can a hardscaped plaza provide some of these same services?

Light Imprint Handbook, Low, 2008

Barriers within LID methods include “uncertainties in performance and cost, insufficient engineering standards and guidelines, fragmented responsibilities, lack of institutional capacity, lack of legislative mandate, lack of funding and effective market incentives and a resistance to change.”19 These hindrances can be over come by more research on costs, creating model ordinances and guidance documents to have better communication with engineering practices, coordinate and organize who is responsible for the water sheds to streamline planning and operations, build knowledge in the field and educate professionals, gain public support for new regulations, face financial barriers and develop new

18 Low Impact Development Manual. University of Arkansas Community Design Center, P 22 Ibid. P 18 18 Impediments and Solutions to Sustainable, Watershed-Scale Urban Stormwater Management: Lessons from Australia and the United States p. 345 19 Ibid p 348 16 17


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funding streams to address extra maintenance costs, and finally educating the community with trainings and demonstrations to gain community support and understanding.20 In contrast to the previously mentioned environmentally based methods, “best management practices (BMP) have been commonly used in conventional hard-engineering to identify lot-based management facilities such as a detention pond…BMPs are focused more on engineering rather than planning.”21 While the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has advocated for public participation in education and involvement of storm water BMPs, there is no mention of designing the measure to also benefit the human environment. The categories include public education, public involvement, illicit discharge detection and elimination, construction, post construction, good housekeeping/pollution prevention.22 What values does the USEPA see in designing stormwater management solutions for people? Light Imprint Methods

Comparing the above strategies with the New Urbanist strategy of Light Imprint (LI), the Light Imprint Handbook (Low, 2008) is a guide for storm water management for traditional neighborhood development. “Light Imprint (LI) is a planning and development strategy that emphasizes sustainability and pedestrian-oriented design.”23 Even though the New Urbanists have a system of transects that categorizes different kinds of densities, the toolkit provided here seems to be focused on lower density neighborhoods and focusing on storm water management in the context of surfaces, materials, and ecological strategies. Cost, maintenance requirements, climate, soils, and the appropriate transect zone are all noted with each strategy. The “toolbox” is divided into four parts: paving, channeling, storage, and filtration. Within each of these, there is a combination of man-made engineering and natural solutions. What appears to be missing, once again, is the

Water Square De Urbanisten, 2011

19 Ibid p 348-349 21 Low Impact Development Manual. University of Arkansas Community Design Center, P 27 22 EPA National Menu of Best Management Practices. http://www.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/menuofbmps 23 Low, Tom. Light Imprint Handbook, A2 20


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discussion of public space. How can there be an integration of stormwater management strategies with the civic space people need in a city? The toolkit here seems to be mostly ecological, which is proven to work, but it is missing a sense of integration with the social built environment. There is also a greater emphasis on medium-density neighborhoods, not examining the densest cores of our cities where there is often the least amount of permeable surfaces, and the most need for water management. It is here, in the middle of the city, where green fingers cannot financially win over the profit-makers of buildings, and that the opportunity for public space can act dually as a water management tool. Water Squares as a public space stormwater management tool The Rotterdam based firm, De Urbanisten, has presented the most promising case study of this integrated approach basing their design on Rotterdam’s city-wide water challenges, specifically the need for more water storage capacity. This need has yielded a variety of creative solutions, from citysponges to floating plazas. The water square solution is currently under construction. It was financed by 80% from the city’s infrastructure fund.24 Combining the need for more temporary water storage with the hardscaped surrounds of a dense neighborhood, the water square is designed to collect water from surrounding roofs and streets. As a dry place, it holds people reading, playing sports, or sitting in the shade. Once it starts to fill with water, the place dynamics change, as does the human behavior. Toy boats and rubber boots find their way to the space. The water infrastructure, normally underground in a dense city, is brought above ground, and its function doubles when it’s not in use. These architects have shown there are suitable ways to use hardscaped sites for environmental benefit. Lacking in the discussion are the filters to clean the run off, as “…the first hour of urban storm water runoff has a pollution index much higher than that of raw sewage.”25 Maintenance is another challenge and has not been explicitly addressed. Greenways and other paths alongside rivers have had to handle maintenance after 27 floods, so this is not an entirely new challenge. Safety is another concern as rain events can come suddenly and forcefully. “One inch of rain in an hour over a 1000 square foot roof produces 623 gallons of water.”26

“The rate of increase in impervious surfaces has exceeded the rate of population growth by 500 percent over the last 40 years.”

Impervious surfaces pose and extra challenge. Because the “rate of increase in impervious surfaces has exceeded the rate of population growth by 500 percent over the last 40 years”27 there is a need to address these surfaces and added challenge of water runoff quantity and quality. Ecological Urbanism Ecological Urbanism takes its stand in a similar framework to writings of Landscape Urbanism in the way it aims to blur boundaries and work across disciplines. It has a greater emphasis on ecology, and the case studies represented in the project-rich text contain few projects focusing on the issues of water and public space. In an essay called “Situating Urban Ecological Experiments in Public Space,” the authors perfectly set the trickiness of the boundary between ecology and urbanism. “Urban environments are poorly understood in ecological terms, in part because they are complex, but also because the discipline of ecology, since its inception as a field of knowledge in the early twentieth century, has avoided people. Public Works “Public Works and Public Space: Rethinking the Urban Park” introduced the period when the separation and specialization of engineering created infrastructure, moving away from public works when it was more associated with architectural works with more of a civic mission. Civic and environmental goals died away with the rise of specialization and efficiency goals in engineering. 20 Personal interview with Florian DeBoer 30 May 2012. Low Impact Development Manual. University of Arkansas Community Design Center. P 26 26 Ibid p 33 27 Ibid p 27 24 25


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Although this article focused more on landscape and parks rather than the integration of engineering and place making, although the author noted the difficulty in operating both functionally and poetically. This source is a reminder of the historical mindset that professionals could come back to in discussions about the integration of place and infrastructure. Response to Superstorm Sandy To be clear, I do not aim to attack the various troubles that arose from this particular worst-casescenario storm, the largest storm recorded in the Atlantic Ocean.28 Going beyond design issues, the power outages, mold, debris, insurance policy hassles, fires, and tree crushed houses are not my aim. I will target the more daily rain events, the small to medium storms. This is more measurable, more predictable and more useful. The event, however, was a good reminder to the force of nature and the destructive power of water. This also presents us with a new opportunity to reevaluate our infrastructure and how we think about it. Because infrastructure is aging all across the country, the storm has giving the hit cities a chance to upgrade and try to think about how to prepare for the next event. Designing for water in the context of Charlotte Charlotte is not a coastal city. But it does flood and droughts have held its grasp in the past. There are a series of stormwater projects throughout town to battle the floods, like buying out and removing houses in the flood plain, advanced mapping techniques, up stream pond building for extra water capacity and there are even 10 green roofs sprinkled throughout Uptown. But still, water has little presence in the city, other than for decoration. How can the stormwater management techniques make their way into the densest part of the county, with the most impervious area? Moving beyond efficiency towards a comprehensive functioning place for water and people With the establishment of an integrated mind set about how to make a place work for people, ecological systems and efficiency our built environment benefit our cities. These kinds of strategies can create resilient, sustainable cities ready to handle the growing populations and uncertain weather patterns. A shift in values can produce more effective environments overall, ecologically, socially, and sustainably.

August, 2011. http://www. rockymounttelegram. com/node/605831

In order to understand the challenges of our water, it needs to be present and we need to care. Bringing it to the surface will start the engagement process and bring awareness to the population so that water cares a bit more meaning. Other cities have placed greater emphasis and importance of water, now it’s time for Charlotte to do the same.

21 Sullivan, Brian K. and Lynn Doan “Sandy Brings Hurricane-Force Gusts to U.S. East Coast.�Bloomberg News. October 29, 2012 http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-10-28/hurricane-sandy-may-push-record-stormsurge-into-manhattan

28


22

| Literature Review Narrative


C

Literature Review Narrative

| Literature Review Under our cities runs a complex system of pipes to move water. We have built floodwalls to protect property from damaging floods. We’ve dug ditches and culverted streams. We pave canals and waterways, primed for efficient removal of water. But these engineered solutions remove more than water. Neighborhoods are disconnected; divides are created. Massive concrete storm water channels sit empty the 90% of the time. Every city has these kinds of infrastructure works threading throughout the urban streets, taking up space without giving much back. While greenways in flood plains act as additional room for water, they also have a purpose when the floodplain is not in use. So, how can our permanent urban public spaces be better designed to handle floodwater during temporary rain events? Can flooded parking lots turn into a natural place making method? How can our existing infrastructure contribute towards making a better place by moving more than just water, by acting more sensitively to the environment, while simultaneously thinking of people and place? With increasing ecological needs as climate change spawns more frequent storms, and increasing population needs as people flock towards cities, the need for integrated spatial solutions to address the increasing demands for managing water is already here. Landscape urbanism, urban ecology, engineering, and spatial theory address these issues of urban water management and public space. Each discipline has its own angle. The gap occurs between these fields. A solution to bridging and blurring the boundaries is needed to make a more successful place, creating more vibrant, healthy cities. As Linda Pollak writes in her essay “Constructed Ground: Questions of Scale”, in the Landscape Urbanism Reader, “The instability that characterizes these [landscape urbanism] projects is a positive one that produces and sustains an openness in terms of the meaning or sense of the work. None of these projects blurs the boundary between architecture and landscape. Rather, they inhabit that boundary, through their instability, or lack of fixity, constructing as a space by oscillating back and forth across it.“1 In the Landscape Urbanism Reader Elizabeth Mossop perfectly articulates the focus of infrastructure, saying, “Explorations in landscape urbanism have focused on infrastructure as the most important generative public landscape. In the course of the twentieth century we have seen the increasing standardization of infrastructural systems as they meet higher standards of technical efficiency. These ubiquitous urban environments have been considered and evaluated solely on technical criteria and somehow exempted from having to function socially, aesthetically, or ecologically.”2 Different definitions of infrastructure should be considered. Throughout The Landscape Urbanism Reader, p 138 2 The Landscape Urbanism Reader, p 171 1

23


C

Literature Review Narrative

the Landscape Urbanism Reader, infrastructure most commonly referred to movement-infrastructure. Where is the discussion of our water infrastructure? Light Imprint Handbook (Low, 2008) is the New Urbanist guide for storm water management for traditional neighborhood development. “Light Imprint (LI) is a planning and development strategy that emphasizes sustainability and pedestrian-oriented design.”3 Even though the New Urbanists have a system of transects that categorizes different kinds of densities, the toolkit provided here seems to be focused on lower density neighborhoods and focusing on storm water management in the context of surfaces, materials, and ecological strategies. Cost, maintenance requirements, climate, soils, and the appropriate transect zone are all noted with each strategy. The “toolbox” is divided into four parts: paving, channeling, storage, and filtration. Within each of these, there is a combination of manmade engineering and natural solutions. What appears to be missing, however, is the discussion of public space. How can there be an integration of storm water management strategies with the space people occupy? The toolkit here seems to be mostly ecological, which is proven to work, but it is missing a sense of integration with the social built environment. There is also a greater emphasis on mediumdensity neighborhoods, not examining the densest cores of our cities where there is often the least amount of permeable surfaces, and the most need for management. It is here, in the middle of the city, where green fingers cannot financially win over the profit-makers of buildings, that public space can act dually as a water management tool. This is the essence of the gap.

24

Perhaps this issue of mono-functional infrastructure comes from the concept that a “common technique of modernist planning has been to separate functions as a means of resolving conflicts,”4 which often produces a sterile, stale environment. Other points that were covered in the Landscape Urbanism Reader by Pollak were the notions of landscape urbanism’s temporality, like that of water, and constructed ground, a “hybrid framework that crosses between architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design to engage the complexity of the modern urban landscape. This framework invests in the ground itself as a material for design…”5 Pollak goes on to summarize Lefebvre’s spatial theory as constructed on two illusions: transparency illusion - the world can be seen as it really is, and realistic illusion – something seeming natural requires no attention. Lefebvre constructed a diagram of space, showing the integration of scales that shows an “approach that can support a dynamic and multidimensional differentiation of space.”6 These notions of space help confirm the need for a more integrated solution. Landscape urbanists relate to the topic as they provide the discussion about public space and an interconnected system of landscapes. They use landscape in reference to infrastructure, but public space is not yet connected with infrastructure. 3 4 5 6

Low, Tom. Light Imprint Handbook, p A2 Waldheim, Charles. The Landscape Urbanism Reader p 133 Ibid p 127 Ibid p 130


C

Literature Review Narrative

There is less conversation about specific environmental issues to be tackled, such as water management, at the city level, usually referring to more general systems. Focusing on the technical engineering route, Design for Flooding by Donald Watson and Michele Adams put together a text covering climate change, weather patterns, the water cycle, and specific design tools for inland flooding, sea-level rise, and coastal flooding issues. There are specific architectural details offered to combat flooding, but comprehensive planning approaches or public space discussions are left off the table. The “resilient design” measures call for individual architectural solutions or for ecological preservation methods like bringing back marshes and buffering coastal areas. While there is scientific data to back up the strategies, there is no mention of the integration of spaces and human uses. “Public Works and Public Space: Rethinking the Urban Park” introduced the period when the separation and specialization of engineering created infrastructure, moving away from public works when it was more associated with architectural works with more of a civic mission. Civic and environmental goals died away with the rise of specialization and efficiency goals in engineering. Although this article focused more on landscape and parks rather than the integration of engineering and place making, although the author noted the difficulty in operating both functionally and poetically. This source is a reminder of the historical mind set. Ecological Urbanism takes its stand in a similar framework to writings of Landscape Urbanism in the way it aims to blur boundaries and work across disciplines. It has a greater emphasis on ecology, and the case studies represented in the project-rich text contain few projects focusing on the issues of water and public space. In an essay called “Situating Urban Ecological Experiments in Public Space,” the authors perfectly set the trickiness of the boundary between ecology and urbanism. “Urban environments are poorly understood in ecological terms, in part because they are complex, but also because the discipline of ecology, since its inception as a field of knowledge in the early twentieth century, has avoided people.”7 De Urbanisten and the Wondrous Water Square presents the most promising case study of this integrated approach providing a graphic tale describing Rotterdam’s water challenges and a variety of creative solutions. The water square solution is currently under construction. Combining the need for more temporary water storage with the hardscaped surrounds of a dense neighborhood, the water square is designed to collect water from surrounding roofs and streets. As a dry place, it holds people reading, playing sports, or sitting in the shade. Once it starts to fill with water, the place dynamics change, as does the human behavior. Toy boats and rubber boots find their way to the space. The water infrastructure, normally underground in a dense city, is brought above ground, and its function doubles when it’s not in use. These architects have shown there are suitable ways to use hardscaped sites for environmental benefit. There is no discussion involving maintenance or water quality, however. The Great Good Place provides a good description of the social needs of a third place. The author describes what kind of places make up third places, and what some of their social characteristics are, such as location, hours, atmosphere, and sense of community. However, there is no discussion on what the physical characteristics make up a good place. When translating these characteristics 7

Mostafavi, Mohsen, and Gareth Doherty. Ecological Urbanism. p 356

25


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Literature Review Narrative

through design, what guides decisions? The analysis of American culture and the behavior patterns that came from the industrial society were good reminders about how culture shapes place. For this question of how to better integrate the needs of public space with the demands of storm water management, there is a need to combine the discussion of infrastructure and public space (landscape urbanism and place making) with the discussion of ecological impact (ecological urbanism) with that of the technical measures (engineering) to make sure the performance of the intervention succeeds on the required metrics.

26


27


D

Literature Map

This diagram shows the relationship of the fields to the issues of public space, climate change, and storm water management. The distance from the center indicates the level of integrated situations. The farther out on the edge, the more single purpose designs intentions are found.

The middle Venn diagrams show the relationship of these key issues to the conversations that are happening in those fields.

The lower section show the scope of the fields and the related institutions, authors, built outcomes, and movements that have transpired. The lower left edge shows the ideal situation with the appropriate amount of overlap between the fields and issues.

28


D

Literature Map

Conversations around public space + climate change + stormwater management The Boundaries of the Primary Fields

Public Space Climate Change Stormwater Management Architecture | Urban Design Core Voices of the Primary Fields

Engineering

Urban DesignArchitecture

Architecture | Urban Design

Landscape Urbanism

Landscape Architecture Engineering

Urbanism

Water as Civic Infrastructure

Single Use Space

Landscape Ecology

Key Issues

Landscape Architecture

Low Impact DevelopmentInfrastructure

Discussion volume

Landscapes as infrastructure

Public Space Climate Change Stormwater Management

Best Management Practice

Civil Engineering

High Performance Landscapes

Integration

Peripheral efforts

The relationships of the KEY issues to the FIELDs FIELDS and who leads the discussions

Public Space

Institutions

Authors

PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES

WILLIAM WHYTE JAN GEHL MARC AUGE RAY OLDENBURG DAVID SUCHER KAIN BENFIELD REBAR DAVID LEATHERBARROW

TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ASSOCIATION (UK)

+

Climate Change

CLIMATE ADAPTIVE NEIGHBORHOODS (CAN - AUSTRALIA)

PHILADELPHIA WATER DEPARTMENT CITY OF SEATTLE FLOODING RESILIENCY GROUP

Issues

THOMAS FRIEDMAN PETER CALTHORPE WATER SENSTIVE CITIES (AU) ANU MATHUR

DONALD WATSON / MICHELE ADAMS ARMY CORPS WAGGONER & BALL : DUTCH DIALOGS ASLA: STORMWATER BMP DE URBANISTEN

Fields

=

An integrated system of public space and water infrastructure

USGBC PARTNERSHIP FOR SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES NEXT GREAT CITY PHILADELPHIA INITIATIVE

LEWIS MUMFORD PATRICK GEDDES IAN MCHARG ALEX KRIEGER WAGGONER & BALL DE URBANISTEN PATRICK CONDON SMAQ

ASLA PLANYC

CHARLES WALDHEIM STAN ALLEN JAMES CORNER KATHY POOLE FREDERICK LAW OLMSTEAD LINDA POLLAK NINA MARIE LISTER STEVEN HANDEL LAWRENCE HALPRIN STOSS

URBAN WATER RESOURCES CONSORTIUM INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE EPA

ARMY CORPS ARCADIS RICHARD JOHNSON

Stormwater Management

Built form

Movements

parklets parks plazas streets

Tactical Urbanism

sea level rise more frequent storms more severe storms

Rising Currents -MOMA Resiliency not Resistance Living With Water Coexist, not Contain Retreat + Relocation

bioswales greenways wetlands green infrastructure stormwater planter porous paving retention ponds bioretention curb cuts rain gardens

Water Sensitive Urban Design Green Infrastructure

green roofs elevated houses floating houses cisterns land use policy

New Urbanists Low-Impact Development Infrastructure Urbanism Smart Growth Tactical Urbanism

constructed wetlands greenways parks that flood landscapes as systems green streets

High Performance Landscapes Water as Civic Infrastructure Landscape Urbanism Landscape Ecology Delta Urbanism Ecosystem Services

flood walls levees dredging channeling piping

Green Infrastructure Best Management Practices Watershed Stewardship Envision certifying program

29


E

Case Study Analysis

During a year space is used by: Water People Water and people Not in use *Depending on local climates

Plazas designed to flood (WaterSquare)

Surface water treatment: residential

Greenways

Biosw

30

365 D

=1


wales

Days

1 Day

E

Case Study Analysis

typologies | time | use

Parklets

Flood walls

Parks with water features (Sherbourne Commons)

31


E

Case Study Analysis : Cross Comparisons

Case Study Comp Water Square

Water square

Rotterdam, Netherlands Celebrating water

Bo01 Neighborhood

Greenways

Malmo, Sweden

Edge

Living with water

Edge

Space

Artistic / Aesthetic

social

water

Living with water

Edge

Edge

social

Public Space

Infrastructure

water

Urban

Public Space

Infrastructure

Rural

Urban

Rural

Infrastructure

Urban

Rural

social

so

Function

32 Urban

Artistic / Ae

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

Public Space

Infrastructure

Space

water social

Function

Public Space

Edge

Space

Artistic / Aesthetic

water

Function

Celebra

Living with water

Space

Artistic / Aesthetic

Parkl

Celebrating water

Celebrating water

Celebrating water

Living with water

Bioswales

Rural

P


E

Case Study Analysis : Cross Comparisons

parative Analysis Tanner Springs Park

Flood walls

lets

ating water

Portland, OR

Living with water

Space

esthetic

Artistic / Aesthetic

ocial

water

social Function

Public Space

Infrastructure

Function

Public Space

Public Space

Infrastructure

Space

Artistic / Aesthetic

water social

Infrastructure

Living with water

Edge

Space

Space

Artistic / Aesthetic

water

Function

Oslo, Norway

Celebrating water

Edge

Edge

Space

Cumulus – Grorud Center

Living with water

Living with water

Living with water

Edge

Toronto, ON

Celebrating water

Celebrating water

Celebrating water

Sherbourne Commons

Artistic / Aesthetic

water social

water social

Function

Function

Public Space

Public Space

Infrastructure

Infrastructure

33 Urban

Urban

Rural

Urban

Rural

Urban

Urban

Rural

Rural

Rural


34

| Case Study Analysis


E Celebrating water

Case Study Analysis : Watersquares

Watersquares Rotterdam, Netherlands

Living with water

Edge

Space

Artistic / Aesthetic

social

water Function

Public Space

Infrastructure

Urban

Fighting Against Water

Rural

Living with Water

35


E

Elements

36

Case Study Analysis : Watersquares


E

Case Study Analysis : Watersquares

Multi-functional Space

37


E

Case Study Analysis : Watersquares

Multi-functional Space

38


E

Case Study Analysis : Bo01 Neighborhood

Bo01Neighorhood

Celebrating water

Malmo, Sweden

Living with water

Sculpture

Articulated Gutter

Edge

40% Artistic / Aesthetic

Space

60% Functional Infrastructure

25% Celebrating water

75% Living with Water

80% Edging

20% Space

Artistic / Aesthetic

social

water

Function

Public Space

Infrastructure

39

Urban

Rural


E

Case Study Analysis : Bo01 Neighborhood

Rain Gardens 50% Artistic / Aesthetic

50% Functional Infrastructure

20% Celebrating water

15% Edging

80% Living with Water

85% Space

Thresholds + planters designed

40


E

Case Study Analysis : Bo01 Neighborhood

Sculptural Channels

80% Artistic / Aesthetic

20% Functional Infrastructure

80% Celebrating water

20% Living with Water

60% Edging

40% Space

41


E

Case Study Analysis : Bo01 Neighborhood

Waterways + Canals +Edges

25% Artistic / Aesthetic

75% Functional Infrastructure

42

10% Celebrating water

90% Living with Water

10% Edging

90% Space


E

Case Study Analysis : Bo01 Neighborhood

Channels 10% Artistic / Aesthetic

90% Functional Infrastructure

10% Celebrating water

90% Living with Water

90% Edging

10% Space

43


E

Case Study Analysis : Parklets

Parklets

Celebrating water

Pavements to Parks Project San Francisco, CA

Living with water

Edge

Space

www.dwell.com

www.dwell.com

Artistic / Aesthetic

social

water

Powell Street Parklet

Function

Typical Bioswale place Public Space

Infrastructure

44

Urban

Rural


E

Case Study Analysis : Parklets

22nd Street

Divisadero Street Parklet

45

Place Tool = Planter

Divisadero Street Parklet


E

Case Study Analysis : Parklets

Noe Valley Parklets 1 + 2

46

Place Tool = Chair

Noe Valley Parklets 1 + 2


E

Celebrating water

Case Study Analysis : Parklets

Bioswales Or Rain Gardens. Seattle and Portland

Living with water

Edge

Space

Artistic / Aesthetic

water

social

Function

Public Space

Infrastructure

Urban

47

Rural

12th Ave green street. Portland, OR.


E

Case Study Analysis : Parklets

(above) High Point Neighborhood, Seattle, WA (below) Ballard Neighborhood, Seattle, WA

48


E

Case Study Analysis : Parklets

Victoria, B.C. outside the Atrium Building. D’Ambrosio Architecture + Urban Design

49


E

Case Study Analysis : SMAQ : CUMULUS – GRORUD CENTER, OSLO

Cumulus - Grorud Center Oslo, Norway

Celebrating water

Living with water

Edge

Space

Cumulus is an urban strategy that conceptualizes

public spaces as related to the environmental dynamics of northern living. The proposal for a mixed-used development

Artistic / Aesthetic

(re)binds the different social spheres, programmes and scales of an existing seventies development and a

new urban centre through the concepts of water-cycling and seasonal expansion and contraction. Collected rain is released into public spaces at a social event in the wintertime so that it can freeze into an open air ice skating surface. This

water social Function

temporal icy plane serves the encounters of existing and incoming communities — and in the spring it drains into the bordering ecological areas.

http://www.smaq.net/2008/01/cumulus-oslo-norwegen/?lang=en

Public Space

Infrastructure

50

Urban

Rural


E

Case Study Analysis : SMAQ : CUMULUS – GRORUD CENTER, OSLO

What opportunities can be used with the seasonal changes? What other ways can we use water as a process in our everyday lives? How do the buildings and streets collect water? How does the drainage work?

51


E

Case Study Analysis : SMAQ : CUMULUS – GRORUD CENTER, OSLO

Designing with the weather and climate in mind...

52


E Celebrating water

Case Study Analysis : Sherbourne Common : Toronto

Sherbourne Common

Edge

www.vanishingpoint.ca/

Living with water

www.landscapevoice.com

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

www.vanishingpoint.ca/sherbourne-common

Space

Artistic / Aesthetic

water social Function

Infrastructure

53 Urban

Rural

www.vanishingpoint.ca/sherbourne-common

Public Space


E

Case Study Analysis : Sherbourne Common : Toronto

www.vanishingpoint.ca/sherbourne-common

“Light Shower” sculptures by artist Jill Anholt release the newly cleansed water into the channels before it reaches Lake Ontario.

www.vanishingpoint.ca/sherbourne-common

“Sherbourne Common is the first park in Canada to integrate an ultraviolet (UV) facility for neighbourhoodwide stormwater treatment into its design. Collected stormwater is treated in the UV facility and released from three dramatic art features into a 240-metre long water channel – or urban river – and back out to Lake Ontario.” http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca/sherbourne_common

point.ca/sherbourne-common)

54

Sittable edges >

more reading: http://www.water-technology.net/projects/sherbourne-common-stormwater-toronto-canada/, http://www.vanishingpoint.ca/sherbourne-common

www.landscapevoice.com

What about the question of the larger watershed? This system still does not solve other area issues with sewer overflows and watershed management. (For more on this discussion, read: http://www.vanishing-


E

Case Study Analysis : Sherbourne Common : Toronto

It’s an Icon building, but is there anything else to do here? What about creating another amenity to add value to the place?

Nice gesture bringing the water close to the building, but it’s a sterile relationship...maybe that’s the point. Steps are good for sitting.

http://www.archdaily.com/250877/sherbourne-common-pavilion-teeple-architects/teeplesherbournecommonpavilion06/

Was there any opportunities to expose the storm water systems? Missed learning opportunity.

www.vanishingpoint.ca/sherbourne-common

This is tap water. This water does not drain into the stormwater system. Consideration of seasons water park and ice rink - the space is multi-seasonal.

55


E Celebrating water

Case Study Analysis : Tanner Springs Park : Portland, OR

Tanner Springs Park

Portland, OR

Living with water

Edge

Space

Artistic / Aesthetic

water social Function

Public Space

56

Recent Waterscapes, 2011

Infrastructure

Urban

Rural


waterinzicht.nl

Case Study Analysis : Tanner Springs Park : Portland, OR

waterinzicht.nl

E

Water is pumped here from the pond to recreate the spring from a lake that is buried 20 below.

57


Case Study Analysis : Tanner Springs Park : Portland, OR

www.stormwaterandstuff.blogspot.com

greenfab.com

portlandmonthlymag.com

E

1

3

4

www.stormwaterandstuff.blogspot.com

2

www.stormwaterandstuff.blogspot.com

58

www.stormwaterandstuff.blogspot.com

This art piece collects stormwater, funneling it into the rails, through a runnel between the stairs and into the pond.


59


60

| Project Description


F

Project Description | Questions + Solutions

Climate change creates more frequent storms, and more extremes - droughts and floods. Charlotte experiences both of these. Water is invisible in the urban realm. When you think of good water, you think about buying bottled water. Because the water is channeled underground, no one knows where it goes, and forgets it is there out of sight, out of mind. In this region of the United States, water is not valued.

How can stormwater management become more visible in the public realm on East Boulevard? How can public space hold more water? How can an urban environment share space more broadly and openly with water management? We are used to seeing cisterns and bioswales in the suburbs and in the country. How can we bring standard water management tools into the city in a slightly different context, inviting conversation, discovery, and awareness about the ephemeral parts of the natural environment that city dwellers often overlook because of the rigidity of the urban environment. Our aging infrastructure combined with rapid urbanization and more climate extremes means that our built environment can no longer be designed for single use. Our streets, buildings, and public spaces need to perform more than their usual function. More layers of meaning and usefulness need to be embedded into our urban environment. It is within the context of this added environmental and urbanization pressure on our urban environments where this design takes place. Flooding is a temporal issue, so is there a way to layer in added social and cultural meaning with the existing infrastructure, or add to the water management function on top of the public space allocation? With an emphasis on embedding more water management function above and below ground, this broad design scheme attempts to make the connection between the vertical and horizontal realms, creating a more seamless transition.

Architecture meets landscape architecture and becomes one urban design. The next few pages will illustrate and introduce the issue of stormwater management on a broader scale. The design proposal will follow.

61


Project | Introduction

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/12/12/387811/2011-sets-us-record-for-wet-dry-extremeswettest-philadelphia-wettest-december-day-in-dc/?mobile=nc

F

62 2011 Sets U.S. Record for Wet/Dry Extremes, Wettest Year in Philadelphia’s 2-Century Record, Wettest December Day in DC Climate Guest Blogger on Dec 12, 2011 at 5:00 pm (thinkprogress.org) Climates are changing. We have to be prepared. Our vulnerabilities will be revealed.


Project | Introduction

source: visual.ly

F

Flooding is a strong and growing impact designers need to address.

63


F

Project | Introduction

Could these costs be more justified if they improved their surroundings and made a desirable place?

64 Source: Szalay, Shandor. “Stormwater Crediting: Leveraging private investment to fund urban stormwater retrofits in Philadelphia and beyond.� Stormh2o.com. 30 June 2011.

Can engineering solutions become combined with a solution that improves the human environment too?


F

Project | Introduction : Best Management Practices

How can these swales be designed for an attractive urban setting?

Top | http://charmeck.org/stormwater/regulations/Documents/BMP%2DSM/4.1BioretentionJu ly12010.pdf, pg 4 Bottom | http://charmeck.org/stormwater/regulations/Documents/BMP%20DSM/4.4Enhanced GrassedSwaleMay232008.pdf, pg 4 These are from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Best Management Practice Design Manual for Stormwater. http://charmeck.org/stormwater/regulations/Pages/BMPStandardsManual.aspx

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Project | Introduction - Regional Watersheds

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Watershed Basins Inventory Work Zones (1-sq-mile drainage areas) Data integrated with HydroNetwork (storm_edit) Field data complete Field data in progress Field data in review (personal gdb) Field data scheduled this FY GDB loaded to Storm_Collect

66 Top Left | Major River Basins (USGS) Top Right | Example of stream drought conditions (USGS) Center | Mecklenburg County watersheds Bottom Right | Regional Watersheds - Charlotte water goes to the Atlantic


Project | Introduction - Runoff + Solutions

sfbetterstreets.org

F

How can public space become integrated into these solutions?

67


F

Project | Introduction - urbanization

1976

1996

68

Charlotte Developed Natural/ Rural Water Protected open space

Urbanization (and impervious grounds) in Mecklenburg County. Source: Kunwar Singh (UNCC)

1985


F

Project | Introduction - Site Location

69 Context Map : East Boulevard is shown in blue. The site is within the rectangle.


F

Project | Site Context

planting strip buffer 17,768 sf 0.41 acres 11,076 gallons

of water runoff from 1” rainfall

parking lots 271,392 sf 6.23 acres 169,173 gallons

of water runoff from 1” rainfall

building rooftops 140,150 sf 3.22 acres 87,433 gallons

of water runoff from 1” rainfall

670’

01

70

14

680’

15

15

00

01

18

01

Top | These diagrams quantify the amount of (wasted) space in this specific area. Planting strips have 690’ the potential to do so much more for both water management and people. Facing Page| Figure ground map of the area. Bar graph shows the area relationship of buildings to parking lots.

660’ 650’


0’

Square feet

0

30,000

60,000

90,000

120,000

150,000

200’

1401

1405

1409

1413

18

01

1419

14

1501

15

01

1511

00

1525

16

00

15

01

1617

1621

1608 East Boulevard Address

1531

Parking lots Building Roofs

Impervious Surfaces

690’

1600

01

of water runoff from 1” rainfall

16

3.22 acres 87,433 gallons

1528 1520

680’

660’ 650’

1514

1512

640’

1500

1100 ft to Little Sugar Creek

670’

1412

1801 Scott Ave

street trees water flow direction

(calculated impervious surface)

existing buildings on site

pedestrian crosswalk pedestrian mid-block crossing street intersection driveway/parking lot entrance

F Project | Site Context

71


F

Project | Context - Stormwater infrastructure

Area waterways

Storm structures

Storm channels

Storm pipes 1100 ft

72

Storm structures

Storm channels

Storm pipes

The site is located within the rectangles above. The site is close to one major water way, the Little Sugar Creek, and another smaller creek that feeds into it.


F

Project | Context -Soil types + Watersheds

Soil types

Soil types are important to understand when designing for water infiltration, and soil storage capacity. Because of the widespread clay soils here, the infiltration rates are lower.

73


F

Project | Context - Aerial Site Plan

74 There is little open public space along this corridor here. Privately owned spaces are back, away from the street. Can the street become more vibrant with public spaces more visibly on the street?

privately owned outddoor public space

public space


F

Project | Context - Aerial Site Plan

75


F

Project | Context - Current Site Conditions

Current site water management

Wasted space?

Buffer / Edge Conditions 76 How can the planting strip, the buffer between autos and people, be better utilized for both people and water? When it rains, it’s soggy and undesirable to walk on. How can a buffer be urban and usable for water management, while still making us feel safer, back away from fast moving traffic?


F

Project | Context - Current Site Conditions + Opportunities

Opportunities

Implemented solutions

Buster Simpson

On East Boulevard

Victoria, BC

re?

e he

orag

er st Wat

Portland,OR

Boston

Malmo, Sweden

Buster Simpson

Seattle

77 I appreciate these ideas that look at a common problem and attempt to answer it in creative ways.


F

Project | Context | Site Photos

Scott Ave | East Boulevard

Cumberland Ave | East Boulevard

78 Site photos | Site context These photos show the area in its current under utilized state.


F

Project | Context | Site Photos

Looking NE | East Boulevard

Looking SW | East Boulevard

79


visible infrastructure

space

F

Project | Design - Inspiration + precedents Left to right | Berlin, Brussels, Philadelphia, Brussels

Left to right | China, China, Munich

texture

Left to right | DeYoung Museum, Walker Art Center, Walker Art Center

Left to right | Exhibition Road, London

http://thisbigcity.net/mixing-cars-cyclistspedestrians-shared-space-london/

shared street space

80 These precedents gave me energy and confidence that other places were progressively installing creative solutions into the built environment.


F

Project | Design - Inspiration + precedents

movement | response to natural environment

water inspiration

Wind screen | Ned Kahn | West Trade Street, Charlotte

Left to right | Tipping bucket rain gauge, A building that measures rainfall?, Water patterning, Tributary systems

Left to right | Y-House, Idea Office, Japan

http://archdaily.com

Form inspirations

81 Idea Office’s Y-House was my initial inspiration for looking at how a facade can become a seat. This transition could be used in the urban realm too. Later, Ned Kahn’s simple system responsive to wind would trigger similar thoughts about how a system could respond to water.


F Ea

st

Bo

Project | Design - Site Plan

Curbless streets encourage a shared space between water, people and vehicles.

ul

ev ar

The white grid indicates the path of water movement

Roof collection moving water to the street.

Sc ot t

Av en ue

d

82 Site plan in the urban context. Tying together the parking spaces, the public space, and water movement. The whole street becomes a plaza. The whole street becomes truly public space.


F Public space functions in commercial and entertainment purposes. Water visibility adds a layer of environmental education and awareness.

Project | Design -Site Plan

Water is collected and brought to the bioswales, watering the trees along the way.

Parking deck water collection and movement corresponds with public space. The movement of the water shapes the place.

83 Developing the city from mono-functional to multi-functional.


F

Project | Design - Space Share

84 Space Share : How can water be used as a medium to slow people and vehicles?


F

Project | Design - Space Share

Water flow Roof collection - conveyance to the street

Varied facade that channels, directs, collects

Water conveyance becomes entries, seating, and bus shelters

Water conveyance turned shelter Creative storage Water conveyance turned seating On street parking slows vehicle traffic Pervious paving slows water and vehicles Suddenly we can become aware of the natural processes around us without having to go into “nature.�

85


F

Project | Design - Retaining + Detaining

1” Rain

2000 sf 16'

16'

60'

1000

sf

1000 sf

1000

32'

sf

1000 sf

15'

1800 1700 1600

timed release

1500

Flood zone

1400

1247 Gallons

1300 1200 1100 1000 900 800 700 600

Destination:

Little Sugar Creek + Little Sugar Creek watershed

Reduce down stream flooding

500 400 300 200 100

Retention

Water Quantity : 1” Rain + 2000 sf roof = 1247 gallons Sidewalk Cistern : 4’ x 4’ x 15’ = 240 cu. ft | 1793 gallon capacity 86

Waterdesign Quantity standards : 1” rain + 2000 roof = 1247 water gallons collection into the urban environment. Working within tosfintegrate Sidewalk Cistern : 4’ x 4’ x 15’ = 240 cu. ft | 1793 gallon capacity

The challenge is to work within design standards to integrate water collection into the urban environment.

S


+ watershed

n environment.

1800 1700

1600

1500 1400

1300 1200 1100

1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100

storing

Project | Design -Retaining + Detaining

storing

F

1800 1700

1600

1500 1400

1300 1200 1100

1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100

Slowing

cleansing

87 How can the facade act as a system with the sidewalk to slow and store water?


F

Project | Design - Sidewalk Cistern + Infrastructure Visibility

Sidewalk Cistern

Play!

Can down spouts morph into sittable spaces or mailboxes? 88 Visibility and uncovering our infrastructure is a primary goal. The facade throws water into the right place while sidewalk cisterns frame public space, acting in rhythm and public art, cluing people into their environment.


F

Project | Design - Sidewalk Cistern + Infrastructure Visibility

Water management creating entrances and front porches

89 How can green roofs become more visible, and known from the street? How can the facade structure other growing opportunities?


F

Project | Design - Facade Studies

Facade design strategy: Work with the existing facade of Latta Pavilion to upfit it with a rain screen. This is a built example on East Boulevard, and an example of a local design type.

Top

Middle

90 How can a facade react to water? The above studies illustrate the multitude of configurations.

Shelter

Experience

Collect

Display

Base


Project | Design - Facade Studies

Engage

Deposit

Articulate

Store

F

91


F

Project | Design - Facade Studies

Frame attachment configuration studies Critical Elements to the frame assembly Pivot point Stopper

92 The goal is to make a facade become performative and move from mono-functional to multifunctional. Benefits: Sun shading, educational, awareness and appreciation of natural systems, kinetic and public art, modular, possibility for user control of movement.


F

Project | Design - Facade Studies

Wall of tipping cups creates a water fall effect.

Catchment drains to cistern and walkable rain garden

93


F

Project | Design - Walkable Rain Garden

Grate hole aperatures vary to allow for peering into, permeability and sustaining healthy plant growth

Stones add texture, filtration and permeability Water weaves down East Boulevard

Stamped concrete

Bridging panel

Sidewalk as collaged experience

94 Redefine the sidewalk, reveal processes, open opportunities, layer functions.


F

Project | Design - Walkable Rain Garden

Sidewalk material section and plan

95 These diagrams illustrate one possible sidewalk section (top) and two different views in plan (middle, bottom). The grate pattern allows a passerby to see into the system, whether it’s rocks or water.


F

Project | Design - Grate Panel Details

grate frame hinge

plan view

CL

1/2 scale panel layout example 3” = 1’-0”

vertical section

horizontal section

6” = 1’-0”

96 These modular panels are designed to be easily accessible for maintenance. The patterning of the holes evokes a fluid motion while allowing passers-by to peer in, catching glimpses of the changes happening underfoot. Bridging panels are designed to alleviate worries of heels catching. This surface is intended to catch attention and awareness of the ephemeral changes often gone unnoticed.


F

Project | Design - Grate Panel Details

connection between panels

2’

3 8“

7“ 16

1“ 4

1“ 8

2’

bridging panel [ smaller perforations ]

97


Project | Design - Material studies

Below Ground

F

98 Top Left, Right | Esquisse : This was a two part experiment meant to show water lines and the presence of something that is now absent, showing the signature of water. Left : The golden grate represents water, above ground and below ground. This is an imagination-required study about how to create space with water. This model can be read in plan and section, at close detail and at a broader elevation scale. The yard stick refers to the accumulation of water: 1� rainfall over 1000 sf roof = 623 gallons. Bottom | Material studies : I started with the model in the top left, working towards the lower right. A vacuum form was used to create the cups.


F

Project | Design - Tipping Cup Test Panel

99 The test panel allowed a visualization of the relationship between a few factors: cup size, location, distance, and other features on the cups that would change the water movement, such as an extension on the cups. The stoppers could be made out of a material that would create a musical tone as the cups tilted and turned.


F

Project | Design - Test Panel Tests

100 Stills from a movie capture the kinetic movement of the tipping cups when filled with water. The whole facade becomes activated as the water fills and empties down the facade. A waterfall effect is seen while the clinking of the cups sounds a musical rhythm.


F

Project | Design - Model - Walkable Rain Garden

101

The section of the model is seen here with examples of what the underground rain garden could look like. A french drain between the bike lane and the parking lane also drains into the rain garden. The waterway can be designed with different depths. It is over excavated to build in more storage capacity, which is important with the clay soils.


F

Project | Design - Model - Facade Components

102 The tipping cups are seen here on the elevation. They also double as a shading screen. The pattern could be denser on southern facing facades to aid in shading. The screen hovers off the facade, intersecting the balconies, allowing one to occupy the space behind the screen on the balcony, changing one’s relationship to the tipping cups.


F

Project | Design - Model - Faacade + Ground Plane

103 Here the tributary pattern stamped into the parking can be seen. The water is channeled into the drain between the bike lane and the parking lane. Water is also channeled to drain into the rain garden directly through the sidewalk. When heavy rains fall water flowing over the road becomes more of a phenomenon that is interesting to watch. One can also see the relationship of the facade to the sidewalk.


F

104

Project | Design - Conclusions


F

Project | Design - Conclusions + Moving Forward

What comes next? A few thoughts arose from the conversation at my final reviews. Mostly there are questions, but there are also strategic moves that could be incorporated down the line. Here are snippets of the conversation: Determine what is public and privately funded and operated. Design for a flooding situation - how do the sidewalks flood? Is there an opportunity to celebrate when the streets flood?

Architecture as performative - activation of the surface, activating delight. Inspiring awareness of natural systems through architecture.

Generate power through the tipping buckets - work is being done! Can each part - the facade and walkable rain garden, stand on their own? Can they be phased in separately? (Yes!) Is this public art? Why aren’t architects designing more public art? (Tap into the 1% budget for public art.) (It could be public art.) Cistern could engage the public when it’s full. Perhaps it’s underground, but when it’s full it seeps up and you can read the gauge. Either develop a case to: 1. Retrofit existing building stock - which would be using the screen in layers. (Could be cut out of design?) 2. Integrate further into architecture, move away from the layered application. This project could increase participation in the public - removing the disconnect. It is presented like a menu of options, a kit

of parts. (Yes, so you can pick and choose.)

This could be the only green block in the middle of a drought. (A perfect illustration of change.)

105


G

Tracking Action + Interviews

man sal opo hoolder r P ship io hip rd Sc low l s d e u w F t s Fello : Ruu ling hia s and herl Hartog rave ling terview delp t T e a e l v i n i N a e s Ph Tr In W lien am, and terd ew: Pau Netherl Boers s m A , l an rvi Inte tterdam w: Flori t Dirke Doepe e i n Ro ervie :P za Aug-Dec Feb. Jan. Int terview w: Dou erlands lthuis s In tervie t eh nO and In ijk, N ew: Koe Netherl ole w s j May Ri Ko t e, rvi Inte e Hagu w: Stijn an Scot ds i r Th tervie r :B rlan In terview , Nethe rmany ie Zelle n t e k a h In G r c h , a Utre mburg w: Step , Denm Ha tervie agen n e n ater o In penh ede wed Co almo, S lm, Sw Storm wTavell M ockho iew: Tom St Interv view: rvi r Inte June Tracking thesis activities Inte

2011

2012

Picking up speed... Water Consultant Architect Landscape Architect Urban Designer Academia Engineer Presentations : Outreach Artist Travel

106 In order to gather as much information as I could, I spoke to as many practicing individuals as possible. Between traveling and talking to professionals, a more fuller picture of the challenges was developed.

July

Aug


G

Tracking Action + Interviews

nty Cou g r u nb

Park ’s idge hattan r B n n d a y l n c, nt: M rook tte a + Re n: B aterfro arlo nt s o h i k t C i r IA n side ials, C Pa he w xhib to A te E ining t : NY estio offic SLA Pre p u n u i t o i h Q t t . g s s p e son - D.C n In : Reima llow la : A te ram n t e r e Com l F F e h o | e l t A e t o r t g Y n t fN Ce Ne Van rlot Cha arch elin ick J er ent see: seum o de iew: Trav ne Hilg alyst: R cts - rs - Cha ore Rese m | e e C p t s Y i , SC d o a u a e l n h le l: N the M splan rc Partn Baltim Deve CC ele gic a fort e Rea e A H u R v : a g a r e e Tr rE of f Be act , UN elin ign trat Stor alt inee City ast Rive ity o erKe an Des n-Quer ow Imp cMillian oak ivil Eng water s C SoA S m : h E s t t b L a i m en :C w ip to , W on: Ur n Rose stein, Sara M h e g s t t n Pres terview w: Stor i w e l ein eer: ann t Jan ello Kee harr In tervie ng F om : Chip C : Artis : Neil W: Engin er C i t l T In : a e v w w w w Sept Oct rvie terview ntervie ntervie terview : Storm e Tra I Inte I leas In In p e o R h ks tore n, SC Wor ak S esto l o r S a : Ch ent Pres Nov e

kl Mec

Dec

107


108

| Bibliography + References


H

Bibliography + References

| Bi b l i o g ra p hy : Place

Augé, Marc. Non-places: introduction to an anthropology of supermodernity. London: Verso, 1995.

Water

Boer, Florian, Jens Jorritsma, Dirk van Peijpe. De Urbanisten and the Wondrous Water Square. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, De Urbanisten, 2010.

Tactical Urbanism WSUD

Bishop, Peter, and Lesley Williams. The Temporary City. London: Routledge, 2012. Blood, Jessica. “Landscape as Infrastructure? How landscape can precede housing development and set the parameters for its location, density and relationship to the Maribyrnong River” Master of Landscape Architecture Thesis. School of Architecture + Design, RMIT University, October 2006. http://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/eserv/rmit:6330/Blood.pdf, accessed Nov. 23, 2012.

Water

Brown, Rebekah R. “Impediments to Integrated Urban Stormwater Management: The Need for Institutional Reform.” Environmental Management (2005) 36, no.3 pp 455-468

Cities+climate

Calthorpe, Peter. Urbanism in the age of climate change. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2010.

Public space

Carr, Stephen. Public Space. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Water

Dreiseitl, Herbert, and Dieter Grau. Recent Waterscapes: Planning, Building and Designing with Water. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2009.

Water

France, R. L. Facilitating Watershed Management: Fostering Awareness and Stewardship. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefied Publishers, 2005.

Public Space

Gehl, Jan. Life Between Buildings. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1987.

Public Space

Gehl, Jan. Cities for People. Island Press, 2010.

Green Plans LID Public space

GreenWorks Philadelphia: Update and 2012 Progress Report. City of Philadelphia: Mayor’s Office of Sustainability www.phila.gov/green Low, Thomas E. Light Imprint Handbook: Integrating Sustainability and Community Design. Charlotte, N.C.: dzp Charlotte, Architects and Town Planners, 2008. Marcus, Clare Cooper, and Carolyn Francis. People Places: Design Guidelines for Urban Open Space. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1990.

Ecological Urbanism WSUD

Mostafavi, Mohsen and Careth Doherty. Ed. Ecological Urbanism. Lars Muller Publishers, 2010.

Ecosystems

Hahn Simeon et al. “Regional Restoration Planning in the Delaware Estuary Ecosystem Valuation Along an Urban Waterfront (Philadelphia PA)” http://www.darrp.noaa.gov/pdf/DE_Regional_ Restoration_Poster.pdf

Philadelphia Master Plan

France, Robert L. Handbook of Water Sensitive Planning and Design. CRC Press, May 2002.

Master Plan for the Central Delaware: Transforming Philadelphia’s Waterfront. Delaware River Waterfront Corporation. Final Draft June 2011. http://www.delawareriverwaterfrontcorp.com/media/ summaryreport110609.pdf 109


H

Bibliography + References

O’Connor Houstoun, Feather. “Philly’s Proposed Green Stormwater Plan: A plan in Philadelphia to build a greener, more sustainable stormwater system may well blast green infrastructure into the mainstream.” Governing the States and Localities. September 2010. http:// www.governing.com/topics/energy-env/proposed-stormwater-plan-philadelphia-emphasizes-greeninfrastructure.html

Philadelphia Stormwater

Oldenburg, Ray. The Great Good Place: Cafés, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community. New York: Marlowe & Company, 1999.

Places

Philadelphia 2035. http://phila2035.org/ Rosenburg, Elissa. “Public Works and Public Space: Rethinking the Urban Park.” Journal of Architectural Education (1984-) Vol. 50, No. 2 (Nov., 1996) pp. 89-103. Accessed 9-12-2012. http:// www.jstor.org/stable/1425359

Civic Infrastructure

Roy, Allison H. et al. “Impediments and Solutions to Sustainable, Watershed-scale Urban Stormwater Management: Lessons from Australia and the United States.” Environmental Management (2008) 42: 344-359.

Water Design

Sipes, James. Sustainable solutions for water resources : policies, planning, design, and implementation. Wiley, 2010.

Water Design

University of Virginia. Design Strategies for a Sustaining Piedmont: Case Studies. [Charlottesville, Va.]: The Institute, 1998.

Civic Infrastructure

Waldheim, Charles. Ed. The Landscape Urbanism Reader. Princeton Architectural Press, 2006

Landscape Urbanism Flooding

Watson, Donald, and Michele Adams. Design for Flooding: Architecture, Landscape, and Urban Design for Resilience to Flooding and Climate Change. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2011.

110

Philadelphia Masterplanning

Vernon, Byron and Reena Tiwari. “Place-Making through Water Sensitive Urban Design.” Sustainability 2009, 1, 789-814. www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability

WSUD

Whyte, William H. Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. Washington, D.C. : Conservation Foundation, 1980.

Public Space

Manuals: High Performance Landscape Guide. Design Trust for Public Space and City of New York Parks and Recreation, 2011.

Green Infrastructure

Homeowner’s Guide to Stormwater Management, Philadelphia Water Department, 2006

Flooding

Low Impact Development: http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/Government/AgencyIndex/DER/ ESG/manuals.asp (Accessed 11 December 2012)

LID

Low Impact Development: a design manual for urban areas. Fay Jones School of Architecture. University of Arkansas Press, 2010.

LID

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Fay Jones School of Architecture, and University of Arkansas Press. Low Impact Development: A Design Manual for Urban Areas. Fayetteville, Ark: University of Arkansas Community Design Center, 2010.

LID


Final Presentation Layout. May 3, 2013

111


I

Appendix | Sketches - Related Ideas

112 When designing I tend to think of lots of details simultaneously. Here are a few ideas sketched as they came to me. Top Left | How can this buffer zone be better used? Bottom Left | How can grey water become part of the mix? Bottom Right | How can the debris build up become productive or useful?


I

Appendix | Sketches - Facade studies

113 These drawings come from earlier (top) and later (bottom) facade studies of how water can be directed visibly and more productively on the facade to the street.


I

Appendix | Sketches - Streetscape Studies

114 This page represents a collection of street sections and details. I was interested in exploring different patterns, and different ways to activate street furniture, such as a bench. How can these features also contribute to water storage? How can the sidewalk be used the most effectively? Top Left | Current medians have plantings, but no extra water storage - why not over excavate and invite the water in?


I

Appendix | Sketches - Streetscape Details

115 Here I was experimenting with different street patterns to think about how water could be a mediator between traffic and people. Going beyond the sidewalk, how can the street be more integrated and act as a plaza? Top Left | Introducing curves to slow traffic. Top Right | Can plants peek through the sidewalk? How do you prevent cars from driving over the edge? Bottom Left | Can center medians collect water running off of side streets? Can these become places?


I

Appendix | Sketches - Urban Design planning

116 Working at a broader urban scale, the large sketch aims to program public spaces specifically for a water process purpose, like filtering, storing, etc. Top Left | Can water fill in designed reveals in the road to slow traffic? Top Right | Apartment and urban building design typologies.


I

Appendix | Sketches - Street Sections

117 Street sections are good ways to work out proportions and relationships between the horizontal and vertical surfaces. Sections are also important to order movement and traffic flow, as well as water flow.


I

Appendix | Sketches - Spout Space + Facade Ideas

118 Spout Spaces derived out of thinking beyond down spouts into how they could channel water and create pubic space at their intersection with the sidewalk. These apertures could be the host for other urban amenities like lighting, seating, signage, and bus shelters.


I

Appendix | Sketches - Spout Space + Facade Ideas

119 More details of how the Spout Spaces could shape the streetscape. They could be turned into seating for restaurants, places to grow things, or urban water falls that filter the water. Bottom Left, Right | Final wall section sketches include placement of the screen.


I

Appendix | Sketches - Final Section Model Building Details

120 These are working sketches of how I figured out how to build the section model - casting the Rockite and inserting the form work and reinforcement. Casting is tricky because you have to design backwards and upside down. I poured it so the bottom was the top.


I

Appendix | Sketches - Final Tipping Cup Design Drawings

121 Drawings of my tipping cup detailing. Many of the details were worked out in physical model, but I still needed to design the stops and the bracket for the frame. There seemed to be endless cup designs.


122


123 malmo, sweden


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