The Baden Project by Margot Shafran

THE BADEN PROJECT Washington University in St. Louis Landscape Studio / Spring 2016

the baden project

This project aims to reduce the load on the combined storm and sewer system in the St. Louis neighborhood of Baden, by utilizing existing roadway infrastructure to collect water runoff and divert it into a park. This park facilitates an outdoor laboratory by flowing water from each input street through a series of bioregions sculpted into the terrain and mediated by concrete walls in order to filter the water. The result is a park that supports ecological diversity, mitigates combined sewer overflow and provides demanded recreation space for the neighborhood of Baden. Like other rust-belt cities, St. Louis suffers from an overabundance of vacant land. Through the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Urban Vitality and Ecology Initiative, efforts are being made to transform some of this land into ecologically significant vegetated space that supports social and economic development.

It is in everyday life and starting from everyday life that genuine creations are achieved, those creations which produce the human and which humans produce as part of the process of becoming human. Henri LeFebvre, Clearing the Ground

Local Watershed

Baden Neighbourhood

Project Scope

Land use in the Baden neighborhood can be defined as mostly occupied single family dwellings. These homes sit on small residential lots mostly covered by impermeable asphalt or near impervious lawn. While the residential characteristic of the neighborhood seems to be thriving, the business district is fairly vacant and does not resemble the vibrant commercial district it once was.

BADEN, ST. LOUIS

Our Lady of the Holy Cross Catholic Church | 1909

Baden School | 1907

The Wedge | 1944

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church | 1873

Baden Business District | 1950s

Baden Business District | Current

Neighbourhood Welcome Sign

Baden Branch Public Library | 1960

Current Typical Housing

Elevation Along North Broadway, facing West

Elevation Along Bittner Street, facing South

MSD Buyout Parcels MSD Long Term Project MSD Short Term Project Vacant Non-residential Buildings Lot Parcels Calvary Cemetery Prairie Vacant Residential Lot Single Family Residences Duplex/Townhouse Multi-family residences Banking/Tax Preparation Trade Bars Restaurants Grocery Commercial Utilities Industrial Community Center Churches/Synagogues/Temples US Post Office Medical and Other Health Services Fire Department Library

1000'

2000'

4000'

1,000 2,000

Residential Land Use

Imperious Groundcover

4,000

6,000

8,000 residential Feet

4,000 impervious

6,000

8,000 Feet

non-residential

Legend STL_OUTLINE STL County_Vacant

LUCODE Commercial Common Ground Duplex/Townhome Industrial/Utility Institution Multi-Family Recreation Single Family Vacant/Agriculture

1,000 2,000

Legend STL_OUTLINE

FLUID DIVERSION Water is diverted through a series of linear concrete structures that demonstrate the constructed nature of the hydrological system. Within the structures, a wide range of ecologies are initiated using variable depth charters, longitudinal gradients, still ponds, channels, and cascades to encourage and regulate adventive plant, animal and bird communities. Human visitors may navigate the field by walking along edge conditions, jumping from tank to tank and even negotiating the pools and rills, depending on current depth and flow.

WATER FLOW from street into landscape water system

highpoint

lowpoint

STREET WATERSHEDS from roadway runoff

300'

600'

Scale 1”= 1200’

1200'

WATER DIVERSION FROM ROADS INTO TRENCHES

Typical water collection from streets into Combined Sewer System

ROAD TRENCH Planted with Water and Salt Tolerant Native Herbaceous Plants and Ornamental Grasses

Green Infrastructure along roadway to collect water runoff

TOWARDS ECOLOGICAL LABORATORIES

Filtration Zone Laboratory Zone A Laboratory Zone B

300'

600'

1200'

Laboratory Zone C

Scale 1”= 1200’

300’ 300’ 300’

A AA

300’ 300’ 300’ 11’ 11’ 11’

BB B

DDD

CC C

Laboratory Zone A 70’ 70’ 70’

A AA

70’ 70’ 70’

BB B

70’ 70’ 70’ 11’ 11’ 11’

CCC

DDD

Laboratory Zone B 300’ 300’ 300’

A AA

300’ 300’ 300’

300’ 300’ 300’ 22’ 22’ 22’

BBB

CC C DDD

Laboratory Zone C

AAA

filtration filtration range range A A -- highlands highlands filtration dischargerange 90% A - highlands discharge discharge 90% 90%

BBB

filtration filtration range range B B -- floodplain floodplain filtration dischargerange 60% B - floodplain discharge discharge 60% 60%

CCC

filtration filtration range range C C -- lowland lowland filtration dischargerange 30% C - lowland discharge discharge 30% 30%

DDD

retention retention basin basin --- submerged submerged retention discharge basin 10% submerged discharge discharge 10% 10%

THAT PERFORM AS FILTRATION SYSTEMS

Filtration Zone I Filtration Zone II Filtration Zone III Retention Basin Water Flow | open Water Flow | piped

300'

600'

Scale 1”= 1200’

1200'

Upper SLope Lower Slope Pond Edge Permanent Water

Upper SLope

FILTRATION ZONE A: WOODLAND Upper SLope

Lower Slope Lower Slope

Pond Edge Pond Edge

Permanent Water Permanent Water

Upper SLope Lower Slope Pond Edge Permanent Water

Upper SLope Upper SLope

Lower Slope Lower Slope

Pond Edge Pond Edge

Permanent Water Permanent Water

FILTRATION ZONE B: TALL-GRASS PRAIRIE

Upper SLope Lower Slope Pond Edge Permanent Water

Upper SLope Upper SLope

Lower Slope Lower Slope

Pond Edge Pond Edge

Permanent Water Permanent Water

FILTRATION ZONE C: MEADOW

SITE AS LARGE PATCH supports larger species with greater range of mobility primary reliance on one ecosystem for vitality lower maintenance and management

SITE AS SMALL PATCHES AND CORRIDORS supports ecological diversity through range of habitats contributes to ecological resilience by harnessing greater biodiversity potential higher maintenance requirements connects to greater number of local patches

LABORATORY ZONE A

PATCHED FILTRATION STRATEGY as a method of creating ecological patches and harnessing diverse habitats to support biodiversity

125'

Scale 1”= 500’

250'

watertable

500' La (p bor re at vio or us y Z sp on re e ad A )

contingent futures

By presenting final images of what the project can be, we have already failed our profession. Ambiguity of changing systems is an essential characteristic of any space and the layering of various ecological and social systems. A design is not a finite intervention. It is a catalyst for possible and perhaps even unpredictable futures. While this approach proposes an initial construction of street rain gardens, and filtration laboratories, this is only an initial condition with various potentials. The images presented are a potential possibility, but neglect to project or consider other possible futures based on other existing and emergent systems and the feedback between one another. In response to my initial design proposal, I reconsidered the conflicting systems in the neighborhood of Baden, and have proposed an alternative catalyst to help mitigate combined sewer overflow, engage the existing residents in the fate of their surroundings, and a strategy to help reduce soil contamination in the area. This is merely a first step with a set of directives. As human and ecological systems engage with the strategy, possible outcomes can occur. Throughout time, a reevaluation of strategy and next catalytic moves will be necessary. This design makes no promises at total revitalization of the community. Instead, it promises continuous engagement in the community through observation, data collection, and in turn, reaction. The result will be novel, and for that reason impossible to predict.

nu e rid ge Av e

Or iol

ve nu

Pa rt

nue Ave zer Swit

Ro bin

Av en u

lm ore A

Gilmore Rain Gardens

ve nu

Oriole Rain Gardens

Partridge Rain Garden

A Sub-project of The Baden Project

AGGREGATED SELF-ORGANIZING WOODLANDS As urbanization decreases in post-industrial cities such as St. Louis, their peripheries become economically blighted. They lack simple public amenities - street lined streets and recreation parklands. Let us imagine a future where the neighborhood of Baden is integrated within its natural setting and fosters a sense of community, identity and pride. Soaking the Field is a project that seeks to develop a networked water management system that integrates social and ecological strategies with the standard flood mitigation objectives of the Metropolitan Sewer District, to deliver a self-organizing social ecology to the people of Baden. Through the design of sites of exchange rather than proposals for specific designed solutions, we use devices that offer varying degrees of performance and interaction. Included in this proposition is the seeding of a SelfOrganizing Woodland with Liriodendron tulipifera, a tree species that can absorb toxins from the soil and transfer them to the atmosphere. This simple strategy begins in primary school with every 5th grade student tasked to germinate a seedling, which is then planted to create a participatory self-organizing woodland.

Potential Overflow Basin

Frede

Church

rick Str

Road

eet

Newby St reet

Garth Avenue

Newby Rain Gardens

Baden Rain Garden

Bittner Rain Garden

Future Recreation Field

1. urban millet farm 2. fishing collective 3. community hub 4. self-organizing woodland 5. land and interlude 6. detention + retention + more

r Stree

Bittne

2018

2019

2020

2022

Year 15 | Flower and Seed Production Begins Provides food for insects, birds, and mammals

CITIZEN IMPLEMENTED URBAN WOODLAND

2018 2019

Participatory method of encouraging community members to actively contribute to The Baden Project. by allocating every dwelling one tree to be planted in their location of choice according to some brief directives.

2020

2022

Year 80 | Synchronized Relationship between Daily Life and Natural Cycles

PRIMARY SCHOOLS

CONDUCT SPECIES PROPAGATION

PLANTS ARE ABLE TO GERMINATE AND GROW

3,448 DWELLINGS

PLANT SMALL TREES IN BADEN

WHICH GROW INTO STATELY TREES

DIRECTIVES Data Collection Zone • Planted by Adjacent Streets on the first Planting Day • All Liriodendron tulipifera, but some are genetically modified for improved ability to absorb heavy metals • Not planted on privately owned property • Must be planted in line north to south with 30' spacing Calvary Cemetery • A continuation of the Tree Rows for soil Data collection will continue into the Calvary Cemetery. • The species chosen should not be Liriodendron tulipifera due to its resistance to dry soils (characteristic of this sloped site) • However species must have yellow fall color so that the lines of trees are legible during the autumn months. • A suggested species is Quarcus macrocarpa (Burr Oak)

Ongoing Woodland Generation • Those not living on Partridge Ave, Oriole Ave, Gilmore Ave, or Robin Ave in the Baden Neighborhood can plant their tree wherever they would like such that their tree is no further than 20 steps from at least 2 other planted trees • After yr 3 of the project, not all tree specimens need to be Liriodendron tulipifera *Note no tree specimen must have yellow fall color unless it is a Liriodendron tulipifera, it already exists on site, or it is planted in the cemetery *The above also applies to street tree planting - however the tree must be planted within 20 steps of property line

Year 130 | Mature and Complex Woodland Results in Urban Forest

4'-0"

8'-0"

4'-0

8'-

4'-0"

-0

8'-0

4'-0

8'-

4'-

30'0"

8'-0"

4'-0

24'-0"

19'-4 "

6'-

'-0

OUR LADY OF THE HOLY CROSS MASTER PLAN The work of the spring 2016 Baden studio was to project possible futures of water detention basins under the design of the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) by creating a connective fabric of vegetated recreation space. Since the end of the studio, involvement has continued to yield a community design charrette and master plan process. The schematic design of a small community garden and master plan for the Our Lady of the Holy Cross, an anchor institution in the community, continues to achieve these goals by working to define public and private partnerships and to strengthen the physical connective tissue of the overall neighborhood master plan. This initiative was conducted by a few students with the support of the CityStudioSTL grant. The principal partner for the project is Reverend Vincent Nyman of Our Lady of the Holy Cross Church in Baden. Other involved organization include the Revitalization of Baden (ROBA), Missouri Botanical Garden (MOBOT), the Urban Vitality and Ecology Initiative (UVEI) of the Mayorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office of the City of St. Louis, and Brightside St. Louis.

Â°

61'-5

1/2"

STEERING - making decisions based on an over all vision that includes other organizations and stakeholders. - an ongoing relationship. The landscape architecture works with clients for long periods of time - agility - ability to work with projects for a lifetime

MAPPING SPECIES AND HABITAT CONNECTIONS

Missouri Freshwater Mussels CrawďŹ sh Hellbender Cryptobranchus alleganiensis

Lizards American Bittern Botaurus lentiginosus

Hawks

Rubythroat Hummingbird Archilochus colubris White Tailed Deer Odocoileus virginianus

Carolina Wren Thryothorus ludovcianus Plains Spotted Skunk Spilogale putorius interrupta Cerulean Warbler Dendroica cerulea Tree Frog

Human Homo sapiens

WETLAND/AQUATIC

MEADOIW

Water Canna

Downy Skullcap Scutellaria incana

Crabapple

Canna

Malus

Buttonbush Cephalanthus occidentalis

Tussock Sedge Carex stricta

Garden Phlox Phlox paniculata

Joe Pye Weed Eutrochium

Common Violet Violaceae

Pickerel Weed Pontederia cordata

Bald Cypress Taxodium distichum

Butterfly Milkweed Asclepias tuberosa

Cardinal Flower Lobelia cardinalis

Plankton

Wetland/Aquatic

Meadow

Spiders Crickets Caterpillars Tall-grass Prairie

Beetles Common Eastern Bumble Bee Bombus impatiens Regal Fritillary Speyeria idalia

Wooded Area

TALL-GRASS PRAIRIE

WOODLAND

Ashy Sunﬂower Helianthus mollis

Indian Grass Sorghastrum nutans

Indian Cherry Rhamnus caroliniana

Solomon’s Seal Polygonatum biﬂorum

Pale Purple Coneﬂower Echinacea pallida

Canada Wild Rye Elymus canadensis

Flowering Dogwood Cornus ﬂorida

Smooth-leaf Hydrangea Hydrangea arborescens

Prairie Blazingstar Liatris pycnostachya

Little Bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium

White Oak Quercus Alba

Wild Ginger Asarum canadense

Margot Shafran 7514 Byron Place Apt 2E St. Louis MO, 63105 margot.shafran@gmail.com margotshafran.org 513.482.0063