Nicholas Hannah - Clemson University Graduate Portfolio 2023 (Resilient Urban Design)

NICHOLAS HANNAH

CONTENTS

Connected Corridor Charleston, SC Mars X-Hab Mars, Milkyway Galaxy

4 10

Coastal Discovery Museum Hilton Head, SC

Mayor Joe Riley’s Fellowship Beaufort, SC

18 28

CONNECTED CORRIDOR

In the Urban context, there is an immense amount of history woven into the fabric of Charleston, SC. In order to connect the multifaceted history of this town, it’s important to study the way portions of local communities, surrounding architecture, and ecology interact with one another in order to connect the corridors on the Charleston peninsula

• NO PEDESTRIAN WALKING PATH • OPPURTUNITY FOR PATH THAT CAN CONNECT NEARBY NEIGHBORHOOD 3 3

• GREENSPACE IN UNDERPASS IS UNKEMPT AND UNDERUTILIZED • PARKING MAY NEED TO BE RELOCATED • NO SENSE OF LOCATION

• FLOOD AND MITIGATION CONCERN • OPPURTUNITY TO IMPLEMENT WATER FEATURE THAT CAN BOTH MITIGATE AND EXIST AS AN ATTRACTION 4 4 6 7

TACTICAL URBANISM IMPLEMENTATION

PHASE 1: IDENTIFY A SMALL PROJECT LIKE ADDING BIKE LANES AND STREET LIGHTING TO INCREASE PEDESTRIAN ACCESS AND ACTIVITY

PHASE 2: IMPLEMENT NEW ADDITIONS TO SELECTED SPACES, IDENTIFY WAYS THE PUBLIC ENGAGES WITH THE NEW IMPROVEMENTS AND COLLECT DATA.

PHASE 3: FUTURE PERMANANCY

PARTICIPATORY URBANISM IMPLEMENTATION

PHASE 1: IDENTIFY ISSUES THAT BOTH THE PUBLIC AND PROFESSIONAL WORLD CAN WORK TOWARD SOLVING

PHASE 2: WORKSHOP ENGAGEMENT WITH LOCAL RESIDENTS, WORK ON WAYS TO INSTALL THEIR VISION

PHASE 3: FUTURE PERMANANCY

WATER

Water placed vertically along green space and walking paths

NEIGHBORHOOD ENGAGEMENT

Green space strategically placed along Lowline in conjuction with water features

FLOOD MITIGATION

Reed beds and Rain Gardens help filter runoff water Hardscaping throughout Lowline utilizes pervious surfaces to help filter floodprone areas.

PROGRAMING

Public seating and Bathrooms Neighborhood market vendors

MOBILITY

Vehicles have designated public parking

New pedestrian walking path Expanded walking path intersects with Lowline Designated area for bike docking and maintence

NORTH SECTION SOUTH SECTION

MARSx HABITAT

Design is a profession that must be able to adapt to any environment. When encountering a place that challenges our natural way of thinking, it is important to consider what we are already used to and break down the barriers of logic in order to create something new

TOWER BAS

Th he geometry of the tower base.

BOOLEAN OPERATION

Next, several organic shapes wer placed together and cut out of the circular block. Spaces were left bet ween some of them, in order to create columns and voids.

BEGINNING OF FORM

Once the boolean operations had been completed, th tunnels and spherical spaces emerged, perfect for transportation and live/work spaces.

BASIC SHAPE

Then the design needed to be cropped and rearranged to be he esizing of the turbine above, while still leaving enough surface area on the walls for the plants.

FINAL FORM

Th roughout the underground space, and rovides many spaces for plants to row in and round the living areas and walls.

The proposed turine blade will be made of scrap metal from various partgs of the spacrecraft used to make the voyage to Mars. The idea of having something vertical and thin that could enhance the wind energy collected from the tower which is constructed around the stack effect is most important when solar power wont be as viable of an option as wind power on the red planet.

Four blade design idea’s were experiemented with, keeping in mind that we want to generate as much power as possible. Furthermore, the blade was rotated at different degrees, two at 45 degrees and two 22.5 degrees, in order to find a proper twist for the blade. After picking one, The blade was then extended vertically, further accentuating that blade so that it can slice through martian air more efficiently.

Rotated at 45 degrees to increase blade twist severity which, in turn, increases wind production

Experiemented with the idea of having multiple blades extend from the center outward.

This iteration focuses more on trying to cover as much surface area using the blade as could before it would no longer cut into the wind as efficiently.

Having multiple blades was the key, this iteration pushes that idea forward by experiementing with curved tips tha may help increase harness more wind power.

This blade iteration was replicated after a typical wind vertical axis turbine

COASTAL

DISCOVERY MUSEUM

The Coastal Discovery Museum bridges the boundary conditions of the site spanning three natural ecologies from the open field and maritime forests of Honey Horn to the brackish marshes of Jarvis Creek. As the visitor progresses through each ecology, the spaces encourage a physical connection between visitor and environment, the architecture advocates a discovery, education, and appreciation of the Honey Horn coastal initiative.

We set out to base our design around being on a secluded space on the coastline of Honey Horn. We wanted to be able to give visitors a welcoming experience that ended up with them admiring the views from the coast as well as being emerged in nature.

MARSH

Small Gallery Large Gallery

Stair Core Kitchen Storage

FIELD BUILDING

Museum Store Mezzanine Stair Core Entrance/Lobby Library Administration Restrooms Meeting Rooms Connector Tree Walk

FOREST BUILDING

Stair Core

Elevator Seminar Rooms Exhibit Intake Tree Deck Women Men

Makerspace

Art Studio

Classrooms

Auditorium

North Pavillion

South Pavillion

RILEY MAYORS’ DESIGN FELLOWSHIP

RILEY MAYORS’ DESIGN FELLOWSHIP

The City of Beaufort has seen an influx in the tech industry with increasing professions out of college pointing toward the cyber security profession. Because of this, an expansion of the workforce housing as well as the support for small businessess in the tech field are both great projects to add to Beaufort. However, these are long-term projects that, done right and not rushed, can really elevate Beaufort to the next level and make them a more inclusionary place for the younger generations to come. Projects like those would take time and more support from others. With the University of South Carolina Beaufort being in the area, stem jobs will definitely need more support, and Mayor Murray has mentioned his want for there to be more in-house support before bringing in developers and other industries from the outside in. Working with and supporting the people of Beaufort who have aspirations in the STEM field will be key to making long lasting relationships with Beaufort residents. This can also be a huge oppurtunity for Military personell who are transitioning back to civillian life after serving our Country and help provide jobs in the cyber security field.

Beaufort, SC

Estimated population density

When looking at Beaufort, it is important to note the spread of the population across the water-surrounded bodies of land. Due to the fact that Beaufort has a heavy population of retiree’s, most residents stay on the central island, while others reside on Port Royal as well as other

surrounding areas. Central Beaufort holds the most homes of residents, followed by Port Royal. Surrounding islands like Hilton Head Island and Cane island also have high population density.

Beaufort, SC Flood map

With flooding being one of the greater issues that Beaufort faces yearly, it is important to map flood-prone areas. Builders in high flood-prone areas have been working with neighboring towns such as Charleston and

Savannah to help design in ways that will be able to last the threat of increasing sea levels

PRE-WORKSHOP

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

STRENGTHS

OPPORTUNITIES

• Unique historical town with connection to water/ marshlands

• Mixed use environment, business hub, arts district, historical district, tourism industry is also booming as always

• History as a coastal city has connections with other southern coastal cities like Charleston and Savannah

• People generally enjoy being in Beaufort

• Combining tourism with the water for more opportunities to show people the beauty of Beaufort

• Tourism hubs could expand in ways that benefit the current residents

• Expanded and improved public amenities (southside dog park & trail, Washington street park, etc.)

• Opportunity for transparency and to sustain the publics’ trust as a relatively new mayor

• Diversity in the workplace, and in the public hub of the city

Mayor Murray, who is a third generation Beaufort native, has a vision for Beaufort that would connect a popular street into Marina Harbor as an expansion plan, help push the development of workforce housing, and redesign another busy street near their local University using urban design methods. One thing that has been well established is that large-scale development is not what the people of Beaufort want, as it could obstruct their way of life, so small-scale projects are what the Mayor of Beaufort has been in talks with to start. This town thrives on it’s walkability and accessible spaces that aren’t crowded which help residents enjoy the beauty of the City.

WEAKNESSES

THREATS

• The Urban planning committee could use some more hands

• The landscaping like historic oak trees were torn down for development

• Location makes Beaufort possibly natural disaster prone

• The current Mayor inherited problems from the previous mayor who was there for over 2 decades. Will have to work to reshape the identity of Beaufort if Mayor Murray gained a bunch of problems to deal with that serve as a setback in the first few years of his term.

• The landscaping like historic oak trees were torn down for development. Developers could bring an overhaul to the natural environment fabric if not carefully done right

• Cities like Savannah and Charleston continue to work with planners and try to work toward battling climate change impacts on the coast.

• Gentrification

• Hurricanes, Flooding & erosion

• Small businesses could suffer if money isn’t spent properly

• Too much attention to historic districts could harm present day needs & issues

With the workforce housing project and the Baby Boundry project both being more fit for long-term solutions, we shift our focus area to the Marina Harbor expansion project. One thing that all the citizens of Beaufort can agree on is that they all make use of

the Marina Harbor and Bay street as it’s one of the more famous spots for leisure activity and walking.

Part of the Marina expansion is figuring out how to connect Bay street to Safe Harbor Beaufort. After doing in-person site research with Mayor Murray, we realized that some issues with vehicular traffic

could effect pedestrians who are walking bay street and looking to make their way into the Downtown Marina.

Upon arrival at Safe Harbor Beaufort, you walk into a mixed-use parking lot with minimal greenspace right on the edge of the water. This parking lot appears to be overcrowded as it is the home of the Beaufort Carriage tours, Janet’s walking history tours, and a parking lot for vehicles as well as tour busses.

The best direction would be to relieve some space taken up by the Horse Carriage tours and public garbage disposal area that mutliple restuarants and businesses use and relocate them elsewhere. This could make more room for greenspace as well as give more options when redesigning how parking will work here. It’s also

important that we open up the connection between the underutilized greenspaces along the water and conect them back to Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park.

We start near the west end of Bay street where you can see the final destination being Safe Harbor Beaufort. Right away, you can see a number of oppurtunities for a pedestrian walk way that caresses the water. A boardwalk would be ideal and may have to be raised in case of

king tides that may come in. There is also an oppurtunity for landscaping that can survive being immersed in water and even filter out bad water along the path.

There is a lot of oppurtunity for participatory urbanism projects here that could help bring the community together. Participatory urbanism projects typically include working with the group of people who will benefit from a specific project. So working with the community to implement something like a local community garden or parklet would be ideal. Mayor

Murray mentioned that this was a popular spot during peak Covid-19 Pandemic social distancing times as people would come out to sit, socially distanced, and enjoy a sunset on the edge of the water. This is a great place to revitalize that vision for people to enjoy once again.