SUBURBAN SPRAWL Â
REIMAGINED
K R I S T E N FA L K | T H E S I S 2 018 - 2 019
SUBURBAN SPRAWL Â
REIMAGINED
K R I S T E N FA L K | T H E S I S 2 018 - 2 019
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CONTENTS 8
INTRODUCTION
18
PART 1 - IMMEDIATE
40
PART 2 - AN CILL ARY
52
PART 3 - DIGITAL
68
SOURCES
5
INT
INTRODUCTION
TRO Â
MONT CULTURAL Detailing the three-part program of Mont Cultural and learning about The Pepper House and greater Christiansburg
STATEMENTS Montgomery Cultural is more than just a physical space---it’s a sphere of influence. A local art and history museum in Montgomery County, Virginia has outgrown the modest 2200 square foot 1852 home and has asked for an addition to be built. Mont. Cultural not only answers to the onsite addition, but it also proposes ancillary, and digital spaces to mitigate the surrounding sprawl dominated by the cars, cul-de-sacs, strip malls, and asphalt. Mont. Cultural engages, stimulates, strengthens the community and acts as a model for other scattered communities. Design for three space types----immediate, ancillary, and digital---can mediate sprawl by creating opportunities for community building, creativity, and education.
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PART 1
IMMEDIATE Re-programming of the Pepper House and the creation of an attached addition
PART 2
ANCILL ARY Looking
at
the
shipping container
container and its potential role in sprawl
PART 3
DIGITAL Exploring the potential applications of mixed reality for the museum and greater Christiansburg
9
THE PEPPER HOUSE Â
18 5 2 The Pepper House is a historic house--originally a church manse-- that is located in Christiansburg, Virginia in Montgomery County. The first addition identifiable by wood siding was added in 1920. This house is not on the historic registrar but is greatly cherished by the Christiansburg Community. It now acts as a home for the Montgomery Museum of Art and History.
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House was Once Part of a Small Farm The house was once surrounded by a full farm complex including an apple orchard to the south and a garden, barn and corn crib east of the house. The coal house was located between the first two trees along the a smokehouse was current B drive. R I CThere K W Oalso RK on the property. The and a chicken house ice house, which was a hole in the ground Original brickbuilding withitFlemish was located to over a wood work is laid with and American bonding styles. A the east behind the house. A porch wrapped molded brick cornice built by wellaround the front and side of the house by known builder David Deyerle acts as a at least the 1920s. Inside the house, the decorative element. middle room on the first floor served as Dr. Pepper’s office. Source: 1986 interview with Mintie Dickerson, who lived with and cared for Minnie and J. William Pepper from, 1936 until 1948.
M
HEWN OAK
1755 - Lan 1827 - Pre on co 1845 - C th P 1852 - G u c ti w 1853 - N c C 8 185 t G 1873 - D
The bones of The Pepper House are made of hewn oak including the support beams and joists. Rafters are planed logs and are secured by dowel pins.
ship of the house via her father’s graduate of the Montgomery Female hool teacher in North Carolina. Her State Marshall during Cleveland’s bation officer. When he returned to 1 9 2 the 0 ADDITION r Lilburn Dunlap opened p in 1920. With Arthur Gardner,he e house. An addition was added to the first floor and hip of the Harkraderin family the 1920’s andwas is finished with wood as a rental property.siding. The structure is not integral to history of the house, but should be group. inia Tech fraternity the preserved. rchased the house from the
a: Small Town America at its Finest, 2005 Number 2 partment of Historic Resources
11
d
C H R I S T I A N S B U R G , VA The demographics of Christiansburg, Virginia and the greater New River Valley area clearly show the influence of the student population. The total population for the NRV in 2016 was 182,876 with the student population making up around 40,000. The median income in Virginia is below the US average. The median income for the New River Valley region has an average household income of $45,607 and per capita of $24,337. The top five most popular industries for the New River Valley are education services, manufacturing, retail trade, health care and social assistance, and lastly, accommodation and food services.
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N E W R I V E R VA L L E Y P O P U L AT I O N 85+ 80-84 75-79 70-74 65-69 60-64 55-59 50-54 45-49 40-44 35-39 30-34 25-29 20-24 15-19 10-14 5-9 0-5 0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
Blacksburg Pop: 44.5k
Radford
Christiansburg
Roanoke
Pop: 17.5k
Pop: 22k
Pop: 100k
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SUBURBAN SPRAWL The hallmarks of suburbia---tract homes, cul-de-sacs, shopping centers, vast parking lots----define Christiansburg’s landscape. Spread far and wide, residential, civic, and business destinations are virtually inaccessible to the pedestrian, creating a reliance on automobiles. Land dedicated to transportation is overlooked and underused. Removing underused buildings and hard-scapes that plague Christiansburg is expensive and unrealistic. To mitigate Christiansburg’s sprawl and many sprawls alike, a holistic approach should be taken---with less focus on changing and building upon permanent, physical space, and more focus on temporary, movable, and digital solutions.
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PART 1 Â
IMMEDIATE Re-programming of the Pepper House and the creation of an attached addition
Architects H2L 2019 Seoul, South Korea 18
C A S E S T U DY
SHOWROOM + CAFE Surrounded by a mix of residential and industrial buildings, this showroom and cafe carries elements of each. Concrete walls have been replaced with glass while the rest of the structure remains to convey its 1970’s roots. Granite is replicated throughout the structure and brick walls are celebrated. This is a prime example of seemingly mundane architecture being celebrated and memorialized. The building still very much conveys its roots in the 1970’s but carries contemporary ideals of transparency and natural light. The entry has been repositioned to the rear of the building---directing visitors into the courtyard. This creates an experience that otherwise might be overlooked if the original front entrance was to be used.
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BAST 2018 Toulouse, France 20
C A S E S T U DY Â
M20 HOUSE EXTENSION A newly purchased 20 meter long plot of land is fit with a large sliding glass door that allows this space to function as a living room, kitchen, winter garden, and terrace in permitting weather. The use of glass is appropriate for the nature of the original brick home and the functions that this space should serve. Sliding glass doors allow for this space to remain connected with the outdoors and do not compete with the original brick construction of the house.
21
SITE Â
EXISTING The existing site is not able to accommodate larger volumes. The parking lot as is fits one to two cars and is not suitable for event traffic that regularly takes place.
North
22
PEPPER HOUSE NORTH SIDE Â
EXISTING Note the ground level change from the south side, in which level 1 is at ground level---and the north side, in which level 0 is at ground level.
23
SITE Â
PROPOSED In order to accommodate larger volumes of people, the parking lot is to be expanded and the brick path is to be extended and made to ramp down to level 1.
North
24
PEPPER HOUSE NORTH SIDE Â
PROPOSED An entry repositioning is appropriate for the nature of the Pepper House and its inability to provide enough circulation space in the interior.
25
Existing
A
B
Connections
O L D + N E W Looking at the addition marked “A” in red, this is designed to compliment the existing Pepper house. The part of the addition marked “B” in blue is a retrofitted shipping container designed to act with addition “A” as well as act alone. Glass enclosed connections provide visual separation while allowing the three distinct spaces to act as one.
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LEVEL 0 Â
Container
Glass enclosed
Multipurpose
Glass enclosed
Restroom Storage
Kitchen/Catering JC R DW
North
27
LEVEL 1
Genealogy Library
Exhibit
Restroom Visitor’s
Office
Center
North
28
LEVEL 2 Â
Archive
Meeting
Archive
North
29
Archive
The addition as a whole respects the original structure in materiality, roof line, and clear distinction between old and new. Glass enclosed spaces connect and define the three structures while louvers filter in daylight at no expense to the collections.
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31
THE ADDITION Â
AS EXHIBITION SPACE
32
EXHIBITION SPACE Â
AS ART GALLERY
33
THE ADDITION Â
AS PERFORMAN CE SPACE
34
PERFORMAN CE SPACE Â
AS CONCERT VENUE
35
THE ADDITION Â
AS LECTURE SPACE
36
LECTURE SPACE Â
AS CLASSROOM
37
PART 2 Â
ANCILL ARY Looking at the shipping container and its potential role in sprawl
El dorado 2012 Kansas City, MO. 40
C A S E S T U DY Â
PRAIRIE LOGIC A box car is fit with perforated aluminum sides and placed in the city in an unexpected patch of prairie grass. It serves as a space for contemplation, community, and performance. This is a great example of a small, multi-use, public space. Within the walls of this shipping container a music act is able to perform, the public is allowed to go inside and chat with others or conduct individually. Its minimal interior design speaks to the versatility of its programs. Lighting is integrated and serves to create a warm, rich interior environment, and with the help of perforated screens, the interior obstructs the exterior structure of this design. The actions within the space can be somewhat experienced from the outside , but only when the visitor enters the container, only then are they fully able to experience it. 41
INCLUDED 2013 Shanghai, China 42
C A S E S T U DY Â
SHANGHAI COMMUNITY CUBES Intended for the migrants of Shanghai, the use of the shipping container provides an affordable, movable, scalable, and flexible space that can adapt with the displaced community. Although fairly modest in size, this center takes on a wide variety of functions. Flexible custom furniture solutions and durable, interactive surfaces help enforce the multi-purpose nature of this space. This space is able to accommodate childhood development, adult workshops, meeting space, classroom space, play space, and presentation space. The containers interact with the surrounding site creating opportunities to expand outdoors for activities and larger volumes of people. Corrugated metal sourced from shipping containers contains the space enforcing safety.
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SUBURBAN SPRAWL This map of Christiansburg shows shipping containers replicated and scattered with the intention to mitigate sprawl. They occupy and activate hard-scapes and glue together residential, business, and civic areas to increase walk-ability and activity throughout the entire community.
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THE CONTAINER Â
AS COMMUNIT Y OUTREAC H
46
COMMUNIT Y OUTREAC H Â
IN A STRIP MALL
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THE CONTAINER Â
AS HISTORY EXHIBIT
48
HISTORY EXHIBIT Â
IN A CUL -DE-SAC
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PART 3 Â
DIGITAL Exploring the potential applications of mixed reality
Semi-permanent
Recursive
Permanent
Flows
THESIS RESEARC H SUMMARY Â
HUMAN PERCEPTION OF THE PHYSIC AL ENVIRONMENT With the intent of engaging the Christiansburg community with their physical surrounding and inspiring heightened awareness and promoting education and creativity, it is crucial to look at the driving factors behind these potential happenings. The built environment and the construction of material space directly affects human movement, thinking, and feeling. This interaction with physical surroundings further determines interactions with other people as well as oneself (Gehl, 2011).
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Looking
at
environment
the
parts
the
looks at a multitude of factors affecting the choice of walking and cycling within a suburb.
conditions include elements of the built world,
Factors that positively influence this choice
such
infrastructure.
include a local sense of security, the presence
Recursive conditions are elements occurring in
of people in streets, the attractiveness of
nature such as plant life and topography and
these streets, and the social connection of the
these are defined as being semi-controlled by
community. The results of walking and cycling
design. Semi-permanent conditions include
include positive effects on health in getting
temporary structures and movable objects.
a daily recommended amount of exercise,
Lastly, temporary conditions include humans,
the decreased use of cars, and furthermore
animal life, automobiles, etc---as a whole--
decreased emissions and higher air quality,
called flows (Piga, 2015).
and increased community participation in the
as
there
The Te Ara Mua study in the pacific islands
are
distinguished
closely,
physical
Permanent
four
more
of
categories.
architecture
and
design of the place (Macmillan, 2018).
Construction of
Human Dynamics
Material Space
Social Life Personal Life
The entire natural and built
The way humans navigate
Interctions with others and
environment
through space and percieve
with the self
the environment
Historically, human perception has been
When done in a way that is well received to
determined by the physical environment.
the surrounding community, it must be done in
In current trends, both two dimensional
an organic manner, determined by the local
and three dimensional digital technologies
population. In the words of anthropologist
present a third reality- simulations. This is
Ulf Hannerz, “To keep culture going, people
now a determining factor of perceptions and
as actors and networks of actors have to
is able to vastly change the perception of
invent culture, reflect on it, experiment with it,
the physical environment and by doing so,
remember it (or store it in some other way),
creates a non-real environment (Piga, 2010).
debate it, and pass it on� (Hannerz, 1997)
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Frog Design 2018 San Francisco, California. 56
C A S E S T U DY
MAGRITTE + SFMOMA The Magritte Interpretive Gallery presents Magritte’s work in a new, interactive way, as it houses a series of digital windows and mirrors that insert the viewer into the art itself. From the designers: “Our goal is to help visitors connect to the themes of the exhibition in playful, visceral way, while also encouraging them to see their everyday surroundings in a new light.” This design succeeds as social media friendly. The gallery encouraged its visitors to post their experiences and interactions with the art on platforms like Instagram. SFMOMA reposted many of their visitors posts---engaging with their audience outside of the physical experience they had within the gallery. As the gallery became personalized to the visitor, this heightened their engagement. Seeing one’s own image altered is inherently captivating. That along with seeing the art turned on its head creates an exciting, visceral user experience. 57
Design I/O 2018 Cleveland, Ohio, US 58
C A S E S T U DY Â
ARTLENS + CMA ARTLENS is a series of digital gesture based games relating to the collections at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Unlike many other solo-experience augmented and virtual reality experiences, ARTLENS narrows in on the play aspect, allowing users to play and interact with the art as well as others. The collections rotate every eighteen months keeping the exhibit fresh and attractive to repeat visitors. Important to note--technology does not take center stage---it enhances the collection and promotes information and details to be absorbed by the user more intuitively. This technology also allows the CMA to keep ninety percent of its collections in storage or on loan. CMA is looking at this tech to share the worlds collections with smaller art museums that neither have the space or money to show works of art. 59
Soft Bodies 2019 London, UK 60
C A S E S T U DY
WEIGHTLESS BRICKS This is a mixed reality experience using a virtual reality headset. It is designed around the existing physical architecture and explores the entanglement with the digital world. The physical and digital worlds collide together in this experience and pushes the boundary on human perception and prompts the user to question their understanding of what is “real” and what is not. This mixed reality application injects creative landscapes into the very defined and permanent tactile surroundings.
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62
MONT CULTURAL MEETS Â
AUGMENTED REALIT Y APP The Mont. Cultural augmented reality application introduces the potential use of augmented reality for displaying the museums collections---as well as creating activations in the greater Christiansburg area. Above is the target image---the floor plan for level 0. The three dimensional model is then superimposed over the target image. The potential for AR programs like this one and mixed reality in general is limitless. This technology can help better display the museums collections, enhance user experience of art and artifacts, and is able to provide user interaction that extends beyond the bounds of physical space.
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AR APP Â
FOR ART GALLERY
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AR APP Â
FOR ART GALLERY This hypothetical application of augmented reality in the setting of an art exhibit stretches beyond educating the user upon the art--but acts as another medium for the artist to express themselves beyond the physical bounds of a canvas.
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SOURCES Â
PART 1
Museum House History [PDF]. (n.d.). Christiansburg, VA.Moon, M. (2018, February 20). New River Valley Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (p. 4, Rep.). (2017). VA. Caballero, P. (2019, April 11). Furniture Showroom and Café / Architects H2L. Retrieved from https://www.archdaily.com/914843/furniture-showroom-and-cafe-architects-h2lTapia, D. (2018, March 11). M20 / BAST. Retrieved from https://www.archdaily.com/889850/m20-bast/?ad_source=myarchdaily&ad_medium=bookmark-show&ad_content=current-user
PART 2
Gallery of Prairie Logic / el dorado - 4. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.archdaily. com/557816/prairie-logic-el-dorado/543f1ae9c07a801fe7000382-prairie-logic-el-dorado-photoGrimmer, A. E. (Ed.). (2017). Shanghai Community Cubes / INCLUDED. Retrieved from https://www.archdaily.com/482291/ shanghai-community-cubes-included
68
PART 3
SFMOMA Augmented Reality Meets Fine Art | frog case study. (n.d.). Retrieved from https:// www.frogdesign.com/work/sf-moma The Impact of Augmented Reality on Art Engagement: Liking, Impression of Learning, and Distraction. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.springerprofessional.de/en/the-impact-of-augmented-reality-on-art-engagement-liking-impress/15929122Wolf, B. (october 10, 2005). The Cleveland Museum of Art Wants You To Play With Its Art. (2018, February 05). Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/cleveland-museum-art-wants-you-to-play-withits-art-180968007/Valenzuela, K. (2014, March 04). Weightless Bricks: Virtual-reality experience | Event. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www. royalacademy.org.uk/event/weightless-bricks-soft-bodies-invisible-landscapes-architecture-programme-experience-virtual-reality Hannerz, Ulf. 1997. “Flows, boundaries and hybrids: Keywords in transnational anthropology” Department of Anthropology Working Paper WPTC-2K-02. Stockholm University Jan Gehl calls life between buildings (2011, first edition 1971 Gehl, Jan. 2011 [1971]. Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space . Washington: Island Press. Piga, Barbara Ester Adele. 2010. The simulazione visiva per l’urbanistica. It punto di vista percettivo nella comprensione delle trasformazioni urbane [online]. PhD thesis. Milano: Politecnico di Milano. Available online at: http://opac.biblio.polimi.it/SebinaOpac/.do?idDoc=0956055&tabDoc=tabloca (accessed on October 23, 2014). Barbara Piga and Eugenio Morello , “ Environmental design studies on perception and simulation: an urban design approach “, Ambiances [Online], 1 | 2015, posted on September 13, 2015, accessed November 28, 2018. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/ambiances/647; DOI: 10.4000 / atmospheres.647 Macmillan AK, Mackie H, Hosking JE, Witten K, Smith M, Field A, Woodward A, Hoskins R, Stewart J, van der Werf B, Baas P. Controlled before-after intervention study of suburb-wide street changes to increase walking and cycling: Te Ara Mua-Future Streets study design. BMC Public Health. 2018 Jul 9;18(1):850. doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-5758-1. PubMed PMID: 29986679; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6038249.
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K R I S T E N FA L K | T H E S I S 2 018 - 2 019