Mockingbird Station

Mockingbird Station, Dallas, Texas 

By: Chris Harpstrite

Dallas, Texas is known for its sprawling communities, crisscrossed and encircled by beltways, but recently they have embarked on a new task, to reinvent themselves around light rail. DART, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, opened in 1996, in 2002 they had only 20 miles of light rail with an additional 24 miles planned. Thirty of DART’s thirty-four stations were located within the City of Dallas. Despite the fact that the city was a leader in 1987 in helping to develop Dallas’s very first New Urbanist development, a walkable, pedestrian friendly, mixed-use downtown neighborhood served by trolley, the city did not promote transit-oriented development around its DART stations, until Mockingbird Station right outside Dallas began development. (Dittmar & Ohland, 2004, p. 156)



Figure 4.3 Mockingbird Station Photographs. Source: East-West Gateway

Mockingbird Station is located right outside Dallas, and is a 10 acre, $105 million urban village on DART’s light rail line. A unique situation that rarely happens when developing transit-oriented development sites happened here, this project was completed using solely private investments. Investors felt comfortable enough with this project because of the promising real estate market, and they were right.

The village now consists of 211 loft-style apartments, 150,000 square feet of office space, eight screen independent film theatre, and 183,000 square feet of retail which includes: six restaurants, a bank, dry cleaner, full service grocery store, and 90 other shops within a five minute walk.

Mockingbird station isn’t a typical transit-oriented development station, while it is a pedestrian oriented district; parking ratios are similar to that of any other suburban neighborhood. However, almost all of parking is located underground, this allows the streetscape for a minimum amount of vehicles and oriented towards pedestrians.

One of Mockingbird’s shortcomings was its pedestrian connection to surrounding areas. Hughes, one of the major private project investors, stated that the third phase, an L-shaped eighteen story hotel with ground floor retail would help with some of those connection problems.

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu 

By Brad Hoepfner

If you have been paying attention to grad students this semester, a big part of our time goes into the Global Architecture class. Our current projects involve a research paper of 20 pages or so, a small structural project, and then we have a pin up for our thesis on the 8th. Needless to say, this is going to be a rough two weeks. The research paper I decided on was Machu Picchu, during one of Davey’s lectures this year he really got me interested in the site. This current blog will be my thoughts and opinions on Machu Picchu and some of the information I have started to discover.

When I first started to think about Machu Picchu and what actually made the site memorable to me was the stepping terraces cut into the mountains edge. These terraces were used for farming and irrigation and made it so the Incans could survive in such a remote location on top of steep mountain slopes. What I found out very quickly was that Machu Picchu was actually more of a royal estate than anything else. I had to analyze the program of the site and over all it was pretty simple. There were more ceremonial parts than I had first expected, but I started to find out more and more about the Incan’s culture and their rituals as I kept digging deeper and deeper. One big portion of this was how the Incans looked to their surroundings at Machu Picchu. They created different temples and monuments that looked at the phases of the sun, analyzed the stars and moon, even monumental rocks cut in the shape of the mountain they worshipped. And on top of all this the Incans were amazing engineers and stone masons that created a variety of perfectly cut, beautiful structures.

Machu Picchu was only discovered in the early 1900’s and its fame skyrocketed quickly. But sadly, the site attracts a relatively small amount of tourists each year and most of these tourists probably have a career related to architecture in some way or even just an obsession for architecture itself. Now, the locals are offering a different type of experience to the tourists, a spiritual journey where they are able to re live some of the rituals and ceremonies that the Incans may have participated in. The trail leading to Machu Picchu has become at risk to the threat of landslides from overuse and the tourists littering along it. I believe that the current state of Machu Picchu is good overall; by offering different forms of tourism, regulating the Incan trail and the site, and maintaining Machu Picchu itself by UNESCO and the Peruvian government the site has become one of the most well known places around the World and much has been discovered about the Incans themselves by excavating and analyzing Machu Picchu over the last 100 years.

Permeable Pavers II

Permeable Pavers II

By: Andrew Ewing

LANDSCAPE PERFORMANCE BENEFITS

·       

            ENVIRONMENTAL: Storm water causes several problems in Portland’s sewer system.  Heavy rains can back the sewer system up and cause many problems including sewer backups in basements.  When the pavers are added CSOs are reduced. This greatly diminishes the overall volume of contaminants that enter the Willamette River.  Permeable pavers are also a fairly low maintenance product which reduces long-term operating costs.

·         AESTHETIC: The materials they used for the permeable pavers are similar to what was used in surrounding parking lots and driveways.  This kept for a cohesive look among all the permeable pavers in the neighborhood. 

·         FUNCTIONAL: Besides being an extremely environmentally friendly product, it is being used as the “pavement” in streets rather than traditional concrete or asphalt.   

·         SOCIAL: Permeable pavers give the road a better look that adds to the streetscape.  The pavers also tie in well with the driveways that have them.

·         EDUCATIONAL: This project is a test case for the city.  They did three different scenarios with permeable pavers to see how it would handle draining the water.  It doesn’t have any direct connections to educating the public on this process. However as people notice the road changes from traditional surfaces to permeable pavers, people will ask questions and hopefully investigate and realize the advantages of them. 

·         ECONOMICAL: Permeable pavers can reduce the total volume of wastewater in the sewer system, reducing long-term costs of operating and maintaining the system.  The “Westmoreland project will help evaluate the costs of building permeable streets and their performance over time.  Several monitoring points in the project area will allow technicians to collect water samples to monitor how well the pavement infiltrates water and if it helps improve water quality.  The Portland Office of Transpiration will evaluate how well the street holds up to residential use, as well as the costs and challenges of maintaining the new surface. New methods and equipment-like vacuum sweepers-will be used to clean the streets and keep them free of weeds and debris”

·         PSYCHOLOGICAL: Roads are the ideal “hard space”. Permeable pavers are a great way to include nature into the street scape.  Permeable pavers allow water to be “absorbed” in the joints much like the ground absorbs water.

·         IMAGES:

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Construction cost for this project was $412,000. This project was designed and built by the Portland bureaus of Environmental Services, Water, and Transportation.

EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT: There wasn’t any information released yet on if it’s easy to maintain and what the maintenance expenses are. Nor have they said if it’s improving water quality.  However, if this case does turn out to be successful then it could potentially be an excellent example for future project in the Portland area. 

Japanese Architecture

Traditional Japanese Architecture

By: Adulsak "Otto" Chanyakorn

An image drawn by the author based on a photograph by Ben Simmons in Tradition Japanese architecture p.15

            I recently have an opportunity to do research on traditional Japanese architecture for our Non-Western Architecture class. Last article, I briefly explained about the Katsura Imperial Villa, one of the most distinctive residences of traditional Japanese architecture from the Edo period. While I was reading some books for my research paper, I have produced some drawings to analyze and synthesize for understanding the essentials of Japanese architecture. There are three basic architectural elements that create unique characteristic for traditional Japanese architecture.

An image drawn by the author based on a photograph by Yasuhiro Ishimoto in Katsura: Tradition and creation in Japanese architecture

            Naturalness is the first characteristic that stands out from the others. Japanese people consider nature to be part of their everyday lives. The culture is built on the strong connection and respect to mother nature. For them, there is no separation between human beings and nature. Lives are connected to the natural environment: sun, wind, mountains, stones, trees, and light. For example, the rituals and ceremonies of planting and harvesting of crops were associated with respect to nature. Japanese people believe every natural object contains its own spirit and has a strong relationship to its surroundings. The Japanese people believed man should respect nature just as he respects himself.  Hence, this ideology was applied to traditional architecture as well. Minka (farmers’ houses) were built on the strong connection to nature in many aspects such as material considerations, climate, typography, sun orientation, etc.

An image drawn by the author based on a photograph by Norman Carver in Form and Space of Japanese Architecture p.163

            Second, traditional Japanese architecture expresses beauty through simplicity. Katsura Imperial Villa is the extraordinary example of this expression. The simple form, structure, and order represent sound integration of architectural elements to create the beauty of simplicity. Simplicity is an essence that was cultivated in Japanese culture through Zen. Developed from Buddhism, Zen is not a religion, but it is a fundamental ideology towards the beauty of simplicity in our everyday life. The simple elements of traditional Japanese architecture appeal to modernists who have often tried to decode and apply this aspect to their own design principals. Even well known architectural figures, such as Walter Gropius mentioned the impression about this aspect of traditional Japanese architecture.

An image drawn by the author based on a photograph by Yoshiharu Matsamura in Katsura: Imperial Villa

Finally the Japanese tradition of remarkable and detailed carpentry skills as well as wood craftsmanship has a well-known reputation. Without this extraordinary craftsmanship, traditional Japanese architecture may not be able to reach the peak point of its time. The beautiful details were carefully articulated, then displayed small parts of wood joinery to the building as a whole, which created the harmony of architecture. It also expressed the natural quality of the timber without covering the beauty of the materials by attaching other construction material or thick coatings. The use of timber in Japan has been considered and developed over many thousands of years.  Japanese carpenters have successfully learned and contemplated this skill.  Architecture without great attention to detail and articulation may not be able to achieve a good result, and traditional Japanese architecture has demonstrated this aspect very well.

            In the modern era, everything is produced quickly to serve the needs of capitalism. Hence, this ideology requires us to produce things without considering quality as essential but focusing on quantity, which leads to the superficial level of our quality of life. Kengo Kuma, one of the well-known Japanese architects refers to this issue as the era of skin.  In contrast, traditional Japanese architecture will be a good example for us to master the beauty of our lives and see the importance of slowness. In the era of confusion as the world becomes smaller, I believe learning from traditional Japanese architecture is not only to improve my architectural ideology, but it is to refine and contemplate my human being as well.

Courtyard

The Courtyard House

By: Chris Pacanowski

Throughout all of history shelters have been a necessity, they are used as places to gather, places to live, and places to take shelter against the elements. Homes are a type of shelter which provides security, and a place to “live”. Homes have taken different forms throughout history, from mud brick houses or cave all of the way to modern homes seen today, but the thing that homes try to strive for is efficiency. Homes have always tried to be designed so that they utilize the most energy from the earth. One type of home that has survived the ages is the courtyard house. This type of home is designed in a way that there is a space in the center of a home which is open to the environment. Below is an image of a floor plan in which a courtyard is utilized in.

http://dirkruppik.girlshopes.com/courtyardhouseplan/

Courtyard homes have been seen all of the way through history and still today. The center of the building becomes an open space for its residence to gather and enjoy the environment while still being in a private area at the same time. This type of planning is still being used today in urban fabrics, not only does it create a private area but it also helps for natural ventilation and cooling. In urban environments privacy is such a key aspect of life so utilizing some type of courtyard plan in a building’s design can create a building that all people would want to live in.

Visualizing Architecture

Visualizing Architecture II

By: Sam Harshman

Today I am going to show a few more pictures from my Visualizing Architecture class.  One of the goals for the class is to throw together a "Southern Illinois picture book."  The pictures im showing today are all based on that.  Most of these pictures are from a photo shoot under a train overpass in Southern Carbondale.  For fun I am also throwing in a picture from a parade in Marion, Illinois.  (The pictures are all unedited for now.)

Picture 1

I know this is sort of a cliché picture of train tracks, but during this "shoot" it was            snowing off and on, so it had some cool effects on the picture.  One of the things that       make this picture work is that the vanishing point is in the middle.  It makes it easier to      look at the picture and know what it is about.  The other major thing that I like about the             picture is that it vanishes gradually until it all looks grey.  I'm going to put two pictures     under this one.  They are basically the same picture, except there is a contrast difference.

 

Picture 2

This picture deals with texture. I love the texture on the old piece of wood and the texture of the dead grass around it. This picture also tells a story of where the wood come from. If you notice the background is of the train tracks where this piece of wood originally came from.

 

Picture 3

I need to work on this next picture. I liked the color contrast in this graffiti so I took a picture of it. In this particular picture, the reflection of the sky washes out the colors further down the wall.

Picture 4

I took this picture a while ago, even before this class, but I like the way it captures the city of Marion.  This was during a parade that goes through Marion's town square.  The clock tower sort of captures the history of Marion.  On a second note, I used to be on a volunteer fire department, so I am sort of attached to fire trucks and anything related to firefighting.  (You may remember the picture of a hydrant a few blogs ago.)

Streetcar

7-mile Streetcar 
By: Megan Gebke

St. Louis began to spread out beyond the core of the city when transportation became more easily available. Buses, streetcars, and the automobile allowed for residents to move beyond the core into surrounding areas but still be able to go downtown with a short trip. Now some neighborhoods close to downtown lack connectivity. In the Old North St. Louis neighborhood, many people moved away when they figured out they could travel beyond the neighborhood and still be able to reach places in the city with the transportation available. The neighborhood never really recovered and left many historic homes abandoned. Today, there is one bus that goes through the neighborhood that will lead downtown. It makes it very difficult if the residents work downtown to take public transportation. With this proposal of a new streetcar that will be located parallel to the boundary of the neighborhood, it allows for the residents to travel downtown and also for outsiders to visit their neighborhood and help their local economy.

The partnership for Downtown St. Louis lined up private funding for a $200,000 streetcar study. They looked into the construction costs, potential revenue, and what neighborhood would benefit from it the most. Streetcars were popular fifty years ago and proved to be successful, but the availability of automobiles led them to be a thing of the past. Now they are the next big thing is some big cities. The first line runs east and west along Olive and Lindell. It hits several large employment and residential centers. The north-south line runs on North Florissant Avenue at St. Louis Avenue. This line would improve the connectivity between near north side neighborhoods, including Old North and Carr Square, with the Central Core of St. Louis. Each car would have a fifty person capacity and runs from 5:00am to midnight. They would come every ten minutes at peak time and every fifteen minutes at non-peak times. The streetcar’s purpose is to serve the local neighborhoods at a small scale level that MetroLink was never meant to do.

The ridership is projected at 7700 daily users, 2700 of these riders would be completely new to public transportation. Ridership is projected based on the population within walking distance which is about a quarter mile or around four blocks. Construction costs are estimated at $270 million for the roughly seven mile system. This estimate includes funding streetscape enhancements along the route including sidewalks, lighting, trees, street furniture, etc. This will make the new system more friendly and walkable. The fixed rail transit is seen as a long term investment when real estate development decisions are being made. A projection for development along the streetcar lines in the first five years after opening is $540 million and a projected $2.1 billion over twenty years.

Article from: http://nextstl.com/transportation/city-streetcar