Optimizing Flows: Baltimore Reuse

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OPTIMIZING FLOWS LAURA SCHMITZ + GEORGE BEANE

Optimizing Flows addresses two opposing conditions – abandonment and growth -- by capitalizing on Canton’s location at the confluence of various transportation networks, and suggesting an alternative to the current process by which vacant buildings are disposed.

The project proposes one central building, the “Knot,” in which salvaged materials are organized and processed in their journey to and from the port, along rail and road networks.

The Knot – housing several discrete functions linked symbiotically through program and space – also becomes a channel for recreational movement: people walking, jogging, cycling or skateboarding, move through building at different floors, elevated above the heavy loading and unloading occurring on the building’s ground floor. High above the truck and rail paths, passersby observe the unloading, processing and packaging of industrial materials. The procession becomes an educational opportunity, an occasion to better understand Baltimore’s industrial past and the harbor’s links to its future.

Outside, the paths also reorder the site’s barren industrial landscape, creating new recreational spaces, and topography built from the rubble crushed and processed in the plant.

The combination of practical and poetic functions, operating at a number of geographic and economic scales, suggests a novel, and optimistic future for the site and the city.

PROJECTS / 20

CITY VACANCIES 2012 > 600

13.7%

DISP

CITYWIDE VACANCY (2000)

15.4%

CITYWIDE VACANCY (2010)

$13K - $40K

COST OF DEMOLISHING A BALTIMORE ROWHOUSE

00

$180M

ESTIMATED COST OF DEMOLISHING ALL OF THE CITY’S VACANT HOUSING

245

> 600

NUMBER OF PROPERTIES DEMOLISHED (2012)

City vacancies 2012

RELYING MORE EXTENSIVELY ON SHIPPING TO INCREASE EFFICIENCY TONS EXPORTED: NETHERLANDS: 3M GERMANY: 500K FRANCE: 876K UKRAINE: 500K CHINA: 6.5M JAPAN: 2.3M BRAZIL 1.4 SOUTH KOREA 2.1M

NY/NJ: now dredging to 50ft Philadelphia: 40-45ft Baltimore: currently 50ft Norfolk : also 50ft

Charleston: 45ft to 50ft Savannah: 40-45ft Jacksonville: 40-45ft

Miami: 40-45ft Port Everglades: 40-45ft

Increased efficiency by RAIL shipping . . . AND RELIEVE CONGESTION ON 1-95 & NORTHEAST

I-95 B&P TUNNEL

NORTHEAST CORRIDOR RAIL LINE

01 HOWARD STREET TUNNEL 02

03 03

Panama Canal lock expansion 2014

SHORT SEA SHIPPING ROUTES BALTIMORE BELT LINE RAIL LINE

01 RAIL BOTTLENECK 03 CANTON SITE 02 SEAGIRT MARINE TERMINAL US Atlantic Port depths

INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING ROUTES

Relieving congestion on I-95 + Northeast Rail PROJECTS / 21

THE KNOT:

MATERIAL TRANSFER + PROCESSING/ SOCIAL & EDUCATIONAL SPACE/ THE KNOT: ARCHITECTURAL SPECTACLE

MATERIAL TRANSFER + PROCESSING / SOCIAL & EDUCATION SPACE / ARCHITECTURAL SPECTACLE

RAIL NETWORKS

CONNECTION TO GREEN SPACE: RECREATION PATHS

ROAD NETWORKS TRUCK DELIVERY PATHS

ROAD NETWORKS TRUCK DELIVERY PATHS

BALTIMORE BALTIMORE REUSEREUSE

PEDESTRIAN GRID: PEDESTRIAN PATHS

RETAIL CENTER PROVIDING DIRECT SALES OF BUILDING MATERIALS AFTER LITTLE OR NO MATERIAL PROCESSING.

RECYCLING CENTER RECYCLING CENTER RECYCLING SALVAGED MATERIALS FOR RESHIPMENT TO REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL BUYERS, AFTER SOME PROCESSING (CUTTING, SORTING, ETC.).

THE KNOT: MATERIAL TRANSFER + PROCESSING / SOCIAL & EDUCATION SPACE / ARCHITECTURAL SPECTACLE

04 GROUND FLOOR

03 2ND FLOOR

4TH FLOOR PEDESTRIAN

BALTIMORE REUSE

RECYCLING CENTER

RETAIL CENTER PROVIDING DIRECT SALES OF BUILDING MATERIALS AFTER LITTLE OR NO MATERIAL PROCESSING.

RECYCLING SALVAGED MATERIALS FOR RESHIPMENT TO REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL BUYERS, AFTER SOME PROCESSING (CUTTING, SORTING, ETC.).

06 GROUND FLOOR

02 3RD FLOOR

04 SECOND FLOOR

03 3RD FLOOR

3RD FLOOR TRUCK DELIVERY

04 GROUND FLOOR

06 GROUND FLOOR

03 2ND FLOOR

02 3RD FLOOR

2ND FLOOR CYCLING + SKATEBOARDING

SEAGIRT MARINE TERMINAL

SEAGIRT MARINE TERMINAL

SEAGIRT MARINE TERMINAL

SEAGIRT MARINE TERMINAL 04 SECOND FLOOR

03 3RD FLOOR

GROUND FLOOR RAIL DELIVERY

RAIL NETWORKS

ROAD NETWORKS: TRUCK DELIVERY PATHS

“Knot,” is the central building in which materials are organized and processed in their journey to and from the port, along rail and road networks. Building scraps are loaded and unloaded here; some are recycled into usable new forms before being shipped to regional or international, while others are cleaned and retailed in an adjacent indoor/outdoor market area.

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CONNECTIONS TO GREEN SPACE RECREATION PATHS

PEDESTRIAN GRID PEDESTRIAN PATHS

4: 3: 2.

G:

pedestrian truck delivery cycling + skateboarding rail delivery

PEDESTRIAN GRID PEDESTRIAN PATHS

a.

01

b.

05 04 06

c.

02 03

g.

d.

08

07

e.

h.

HIGH DENSITY RECREATION MULTIPLE PROGRAMS MEDIUM DENSITY RECREATION MULTIPLE PROGRAMS 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

MATERIAL STORAGE UNLOADING / TRANSFER ZONE RECYCLING PROCESS PLANT MATERIALS PROCESSING / SORTING (RETAIL) MATERIALS STORAGE (RETAIL) BALTIMORE REUSE (RETAIL) PARK PAVILLION ARTISAN WORKSPACE

A B C D E F G H

SKATEBOARD PARK PEDESTRIAN BOULEVARD TRUCK DELIVERY #3 WATERFRONT ACCESS DOG WALK TRUCK DELIVERY #2 TRUCK DELIVERY #3 CYCLING PATH

LOW DENSITY RECREATION MULTIPLE PROGRAMS LOW DENSITY RECREATION SINGLE PROGRAM EVENT SPACE

PROJECTS / 23

public spectacle: pedestrians on top level observing material and people flows

bicycles + recreation bicycles + recreation zone skateboards zone skateboards

truck trucks path path

Knot

Knot

material material piles piles

pedestrian pedestrian path path

SECTION A SCALE: 1 : 500

pedestrian pedestrian path path

truck

trucks path path

SECTION B SCALE: 1:500

PROJECTS / 24

recreation recreation zone zone

Knot Knot

bicycles + bicycles + skateboards skateboards

pedestrian pedestrian path path

truck trucks path path

material material piles piles

ground level efficiently is situated between rail and road

recreation spaces and paths of travel are syncopated across site

bike path through industrial side of site, a place of inverted flows of accumulation materials and people

distant distant salt pile salt pile

pedestrian pedestrian path path

recreation recreation zone zone

pedestrian pedestrian path path

SECTION A

SCALE: 1:500

SECTION B

SCALE: 1:500

Danville Danville Ave. Ave.

PROJECTS / 25