XXLINES / 1
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. PROJECTS / 22
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