Redevelopment of St. Clement's Car Park, Oxford. Spring 2013
Ian Williams 11063810 Urban Design & Development U37771 For the attention of Laura De Azevedo and Jon Cooper
Contents
Site Analysis: St. Clement's Car Park and Surroundings, Oxford. Section 1 - Site Analysis Introduction
Page 4
Site Analysis Access
Page 6
Land Use
Page 6
Built Form
Page 6
Flooding
Page 7
Green and Blue Networks
Page 7
Sustainability
Page 7
SWOT Analysis Summary Table
Page 9
St Clements Street
Page 11
Boulter Street and St Clements Street
Page 12
Vision Page 14
Page 16
Concept Matrix Table of Elements
Design Action 4
Page 20
Parking 1 (PK.1)
Page 39
Design Action 5
Page 21
Parking 2 (PK.2)
Page 39
Design Action 6
Page 21
Conclusion
Page 22
Section 2 - Design Code Introduction The Code
Page 24 Page 25
1:500 Plans Illustrative Masterplan
Page 27
Regulatory Plans
Page 28 & 29
Streets
Design Motif Nature
Page 20
Paving Paving 1 (PV.1)
Page 41
Paving 2 (PV.2)
Page 41
Paving 3 (PV.3)
Page 41
Street Furniture
Street & Corner Analysis
Design Objectives
Parking
Design Action 3
Page 17
Design Actions
Street 1 (S.1)
Page 31
Street 2 (S.2)
Page 32
Street 3 (S.3)
Page 33
Buildings Building 1 (B.1)
Page 35
Design Action 1
Page 19
Building 2 (B.2)
Page 36
Design Action 2
Page 19
Building 3 (B.3)
Page 37
Street Furniture 1 (SF.1)
Page 43
Street Furniture 2 (SF.2)
Page 43
Street Furniture 3 (SF.3)
Page 44
Street Furniture 4 (SF.4)
Page 44
Vegetation Vegetation 1 (V.1)
Page 46
Vegetation 2 (V.2)
Page 46
Vegetation 3 (V.3)
Page 46 & 47
Colour Palette
Page 48
Financial Feasibility
Page 50
Conclusion
Page 53
Bibliography
Page 54
Appendix A & B
Page 55 & 56
Section 1: Site Analysis
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The Analysis- This report will focus on the area known as St. Clements in Oxford. Firstly there will be a site appraisal. This will consider aspects such as access to the site and the built environment within and around the site. The surrounding area will then be looked at in detail showing land use types, the risk of flooding and parking arrangements as well as issues of sustainability such as transportation, energy and sunlight. A SWOB analysis will show the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats within the site. A detailed analysis of a local street and a corner plot twill try to establish good traits that can be replicated in a potential new design.
In this section...
The Report
The Site
The Site - St. Clements is an area of Oxford about half a mile or 10 minute walk (S2) from the city centre (Figure 1). St. Clement’s Street is a busy road and is the main arterial route leading from the city centre to Headington and beyond to London. The proposed development site is a car park located off the St. Clements Street (Figure 3). The site is used solely for parking, except for some toilet cubicles at the centre of the site, (Figure 4) and can hold up to 100 vehicles. It is used primarily by customers and employees of the shops on and around St. Clements Street. The site is also within walking distance of the city centre as well as the vibrant Cowley Road. The river Cherwell runs along the northern border of the site and beyond that is the Angel and Greyhound meadow, which is subject to frequent flooding.
Figure 1 and 2. The location of the development site within the St. Clements and wider context. Figure 3. Nature around the site. Figure 4. Public toilets at the centre of the site.
Source: Wikipedia. See Appendix A (1)
Introduction
Introduction
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Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
Source: infordiagram. See Appendix A (3)
SWOT Analysis
In this section...
8
SWOT Analysis Summary Table Strengths
Reasoning
Design Actions
Access (S1)
4 entry points into the site makes it highly permeable and easy to navigate,
Central Location (S2)
Easy walking distance to the city centre, Cowley Road and amenities on DA2. Installation of bicycle racks, as well as the bus stops along St. ClemSt. Clements Street, minimising need for cars, ents will promote sustainable travel to and from the site.
Proximity to Nature (S3)
River Cherwell runs along the northern edge, with Angel and Greyhound DA3 Make the meadow and river as visible as possible from St. ClĂŠment's Meadow over the river, Street. Encourage people to use the facilities as this will therefore promote spontaneous activity,
Weaknesses
Reasoning
DA1. Improve and enhance the current access points and also make the link between the site and Caroline Road available to traffic and access by river,
SWOT Analysis
Site Analysis: St. Clement's Car Park and Surroundings, Oxford.
Design Actions
Back of Buildings (W1)
Buildings backing onto the site leave many inactive edges with backs of shops exposed,
DA4. Secure by design with backs facing back and fronts facing outwards to create active frontages, eradicating the inactive edges around the site,
Site Dimensions (W2)
Difficult shape to work with and may be difficult to use the space efficiently,
DA5. Any space that is difficult to develop, use as natural/hard landscaping, to add to the variety and legibility of the site
Surrounding Student Accommo- Florey Building bears down onto the site and also has the potential to be DA6. Have backs facing the Florey Building so to minimise the effect of dation (W3) a noise issue as it is student accommodation, noise coming from the building. This will also minimise the chances of the building casting shadow on the new site.
Opportunities
Reasoning
Design Actions
Access to Nature (O1)
Development of the site could promote the location and help draw people into using the meadow,
DA7. Orientate buildings and design buildings that it is clear that there are green and blue networks close by
Exploitation of Views (O2)
Careful orientation of buildings could maximise the views over the river into the green space beyond to improve value,
DA8. Orientate new accommodation facing onto the river and meadow to increase property vale
Promote Mixed Use Area (O3)
Proximity to city centre and Cowley Rd gives an opportunity to create mixed us developments for different peoples needs,
DA9. Have at least one other use on the site. This will give the site variety and will ensure that there is activity at various times of the day,
Threats River Cherwell (T1)
Reasoning Risk of flooding the site due to regular flooding of the river,
Design Actions DA10. Take advantage of the slope of the site and use semi porous materials that will aid the draining process. Also keep as much vegetation as possible to help with irrigation.
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Street Analysis
Corner Analysis
Street & Corner Analysis
In this section...
Source: masterfile. See Appendix A (4)
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Street Analysis ST. CLEMENT’S STREET - When considering a new development, the surrounding area must be analysed in terms of its built form and morphological make up. This ensures that a new development fits in with its surroundings appropriately with regard to building heights and widths This analysis will look at St. Clements Street as it is in the immediate vicinity of the proposed development site.
St. Clements Street is predominantly a mixed use street with shops at ground floor level and residential accommodation above. None of the properties have any setback whatsoever. This creates active edges throughout the street with people continually crossing the interfaces between public and private, enabling a constant source of spontaneous natural surveillance, giving an impression of safety. The buildings along St.
Clements have a vertical parallel emphasis in terms of their built form and fenestration. There is great variety in terms of the look of the buildings with various different materials and colours being used throughout. The widths of the plots vary somewhat between ??m and ??m. The heights of buildings varies between 2 and 4 stories, though its is important to look at them in terms of their height in metres as is illustrated in the photo above where two 3 storey buildings differ considerably in their heights (Figure 13 and 14). There is not much rhythm to the street as building styles change every few buildings, suggesting that development took place at different stages along the street.
Morphological Analysis (of immediate area) Building Type
Terraced
Building Depth
8-29m
Height to Width Ratio
1:1.5
Building Height
6 - 10m
Building Width
3-15m
No. of Stories Stories
2, 3 and 4
Set Back
Street Analysis
Site Analysis: St. Clement's Car Park and Surroundings, Oxford.
No Setbacks
Figure 13. Vertical aspect of the built form and fenestration. Source: Author
Figure 12. The area to which my section has been based. Source: Author
Figure 14. Vertical aspect of the built form and fenestration. Source: Author
Figure 15. Section demonstrating the relationship between buildings and street. Source: Author
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Design Action 1
Design Action 2
Design Action 3
Design Action 4
Design Action 5
Design Action 6
Source: tradebit. See Appendix A (22)
Design Actions
In this section...
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Design Actions 1 and 2 DA1.
DA2.
What?
What?
Retain all entry points promoting access and make Caroline Street available to traffic.
Improve access by providing an access point to the river in the form of a jetty/ landing platform.
Why?
Why?
Opening up Caroline Street will give people more options in terms of the route they can take, allowing more convenient access to sustainable modes of transport such as bicycling and public transport on St. Clements Street.
This will provide another mode by which to travel to and from the site, thus improving access. This kind of facility will also give the opportunity for recreational boating making the site mixed use which in turn will ensure a lively, diverse usage ensuring different activity at different times, by different people.
How? DA1.1 - Remove the large fence/gate that is currently separating the site from Caroline Street
How?
DA1.2 - Ensure the site is visible from St. Clements Street by means of Pensions gardens.
Figure 37. Fence/gate currently blocking access to the site. Source: Author
DA2.1 - Provide a jetty/landing platform to the north edge of the site which can accommodate various vessels.
Figure 38. Map highlighting locations of design actions on the site. Source: Author
Figure 39. Platform and punts at ST. Hilda’s College. Source: Author
Design Actions 1 and 2
Site Analysis: St. Clement's Car Park and Surroundings, Oxford.
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In this section...
Having carried out a detailed analysis of the site as well as the surrounding area, conclusion were able to be drawn as to the type of development that might fit well within the site.

Conclusion

Reflective Statement
A vision was decided upon based on the most prominent surrounding characteristic of the site; nature. The site in surrounded by blue and green networks and it was more than appropriate to chose nature as a design motif. It was important to keep this connection to nature when considering development. The combination of nature and a development with a mix of tenures is the type needed to create a thriving development. It is the motif that had major influence on the design actions that are to be taken forward and incorporated into the design code.
Reflective Statement
Conclusion
Conclusion
I am pleased with the way the first section of this exciting project has gone. The first part of the project has taught me the importance of completing a thorough analysis, in particular of individual streets and corner plots, in terms of creating natural surveillance to ensure safety in design. Much like in U37742, the module has been invaluable in providing me with a sense of what tasks might be required of me in the world of work, when working in the field of Urban Design.
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