SATURATING EAST BOULEVARD: FUSING WATER AND PUBLIC SPACE

by

Keihly Moore

A thesis submitted to the faculty of The University of North Carolina at Charlotte

in partial fulfillment of the requirementsfor the degree of Master of Architecture

Charlotte

2013

Approved by:

______________________________ Professor Charles Davis, Ph.D. ______________________________ Professor Peter Wong ______________________________ Deborah Ryan ______________________________ David Walters

©2013Keihly Moore

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

ABSTRACT

KEIHLY MOORE. Saturating East Boulevard: Fusing Water and Public Space (Under the direction of CHARLES DAVIS, Ph.D., PETER WONG, and DEBORAH RYAN)

In cities, stormwater is managed under ground, out of site. The status quo for many of

our systems and spaces is separation. My interest is to combine, overlap, and encourage

cohabitation - designing the opportunity for integration. Stormwater can become a

feature of the public realm, no longer hidden. How does water become more visible in

the public realm? How can building facades engage and help channel water? How can

urban sidewalk cisterns be used to define public space? How can water be seen as a

resource and a process, rather than a burden or an ornamentation? Can the stormwater be

captured, contained, and filtered in an observable way, slowing water at its source while

educating the public of its impact and ephemeral state?

It is critical to think about water management because of the increased vulnerability

of our cities. Our infrastructure is aging. Climates are changing, causing more intense

storms and weather patterns (1). With Hurricane Sandy still fresh in our minds, cities

need more resilient design by developing systems and places that are able to adapt and

embrace change. Infrastructure is designed for protection, acting 10 percent of the time.

Fusing it with public space is a value-added function for the remaining 90 percent of the

time the infrastructure sits idle. What would our cities look like if these public spaces

shared integrated functions, performing stormwater management tasks when storms

hit? Let’s think beyond technical engineered efficiencies, towards more comprehensive

approaches. Rethinking infrastructure and placemaking, this fusion of protection and

public space can create more meaningful places, providing simultaneous social benefits.

(1) http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/weather-climate/index.html

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to acknowledge the guidance and support of my consultants, Deborah

Ryan, David Walters and Sara McMillian. Deborah Ryan was pivotal in helping me to

realize the core of the goal is to make water visible in the first place - that awareness

needs to come before in-depth discussion of climate change. Our conversations always

sparked my creativity. She showed me unique solutions in other cities and encouraged

me to think at a grand scale. Her encouragement was always very timely. David Walters

provided a perspective that sharpened my urban design requirements and made sure I

kept in line with legalities. He challenged me to defined the public and private realms.

His comments reminded me of practical issues that balanced my design and prepared

me for another set of questions. I am thankful for his availability and knowledgeable

perspective. Sara McMillian was my engineering support. It was beneficial for me to get

feedback from an engineering perspective testing my architectural ideas, their validity

within an engineering perspective, as well as their practicalness and feasibility. I am

grateful for her encouragement and for the time she spent with me discussing ideas.

I would also like to extend an appreciation towards the Director’s Research Award,

which allowed me to travel to the National Adaptation Forum in Denver in April 2013.

Here I was able to talk to my ideas with a wide range of folks including engineers,

biologists, social scientists, ecologists and others. I was able to practice my thesis

question and learned how to communicate with non-designer audiences.

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Contents

A. Abstract 9

B. Discourse Narrat ive 13

C. Li terature Review Narrat ive 23

D. Li terature Map 28

E. Case Study Analysis 30

F. Project Descript ion 61

Project | Introduction 62

Project | Context 70

Project | Design 80

G. Tracking Actions + Interviews 106

H. General Bibl iography and References 109

I. Appendix | Sketches + Process Work 112

8 | Abstract + Gap

9

A Abstract

| Abstract

In cities, stormwater is managed under ground, out of site. The status quo for many of our systems is separation. My interest is to combine, overlap, and encourage cohabitation - designing the opportunity for integration. Stormwater can become a feature of the public realm, no longer hidden. How does water become more visible in the public realm? How can building facades engage and help channel water? How can urban cisterns be used to define public space? How can water be seen as a resource and a process, rather than a burden or an ornamentation? Impervious surfaces will be the key targeted area, with public space improvements and water’s visibility (or lack of) as the medium and remedy. Can the stormwater be captured, contained, and filtered in an observable way, slowing water at its source while educating the public of its impact and ephemeral state?

It is critical to think about water management because of the increased vulnerability of our cities. More intense weather extremes cause flooding to our homes and streets. Our infrastructure is aging. Climates are changing, causing more intense storms and weather patterns (1). With Hurricane Sandy still fresh in our minds, cities need more resilient design by developing systems and places that are able to adapt and embrace change. Infrastructure is designed for protection, acting 10 percent of the time. Fusing it with public space is a value-added function for the remaining 90 percent of the time the infrastructure sits idle. Many components of our cities - streets, parking lots, and plazas - are designed for a single use. What would our cities look like if these public spaces shared integrated functions, performing stormwater management tasks when storms hit? Let’s think beyond technical engineered efficiencies, towards more comprehensive approaches. Rethinking infrastructure and placemaking, this fusion of protection and public space can create more meaningful places, providing simultaneous social benefits.

These questions will be tested in Charlotte, on a nationally recognized street improvement project - East Boulevard. Three qualities make East Boulevard a prime demonstration area:1) There are two rivers within 100’ and 1100’ of the currently impervious East Boulevard corridor. 2) People walk, run, and bike frequently here; there is a strong pedestrian contingency. 3) This area is due for redevelopment. Its low density, auto-oriented land use is under-utilizing the valuable area.

(1) http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/weather-climate/index.html

| Keywords

stormwater infrastructure, public works, placemaking, climate change, urban design, landscape urbanism, urban ecology/ecological urbanism, resilient cities, public space, civic infrastructure

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B Discourse - Identifying the Gap

| Position 1: Built Environment | Architecture | Urban DesignNew Urbanists (Light Impact methodology)Michael HoughLewis MumfordBenton MacKayeIan McHarg

| The Gap: Little consideration for climate change implications or for storm water management in dense urban places.

Position 2: Placemaking / Public space / Place vs Non-PlaceEd SojaHenry LefebvreRay OldenburgKain Benfield Jan GehlWilliam WhyteMarc Auge

| The Gap: No incorporation for the environmental impacts of a place, or how to better integrate these. No thought about how to make places change over time in relation to unknown events like climate change. No thought about engineering for efficient water movement.

| Position 3: Landscape (as built by humans or as found in nature)James CornerLinda PollakElizabeth MossopElissa RosenburgCharles WaldheimCharles Law Olmstead

| The Gap: The discussion of climate change is missing. Landscape Urbanism addresses public space more than it addresses the ecological needs, while ecological urbanism addresses the natural environment without considering public space and placemaking goals. Stormwater infrastructure or water capacity needs are rarely discussed.

| Position 4: Storm Water Engineering / InfrastructureArmy CorpsDonald Watson / Michele Adamsmunicipality governments / NYC Parks and RecreationAmerican Society of Landscape Architects

| The Gap: No consideration for place and how the improvements could improve the human world. How do these measures improve the place or how people use and enjoy the place?

| Position 5: Climate Change Imperative Stephan SheppardPeter Calthorpe Town and Country Planning Association (UK)

| The Gap: Doesn’t consider the micro scale of public space or how to integrate the effects of climate change with how those could help/hinder the public realm.

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12 Discourse

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B Discourse

| Discourse

Stormwater management and public civic space are not typically thought to be cohabiting in an integrated spatial relationship. This is precisely what this paper argues: as developers of the urban realm, we should be thinking beyond technical efficiencies, towards a more comprehensive view integrating stormwater infrastructure into our public spaces and lives, creating more meaningful and useful places. Water is also not a visible part of our dense urban cities, unless it’s used for decoration. Its importance is under valued.

Water has had many relationships to city dwellers in the past: a disease carrier, a flooding force, an unsanitary nuisance, a cleanser, a source of thrill and enjoyment, a sign of survival, and a sign of prosperity, among others. Today the forces of climate change remind us about how vulnerable our cities and neighborhoods are to the unpredictable nature of water. This paper argues that water is viewed and handled too technically. Cities are built for people, and so should the infrastructure. Simultaneously, people are on the move, towards cities, especially coastal cities. With the densification of cities and the changing climate, cities need to start thinking about how to develop its own resilient strategy while making each space mean more for its people and the calculated weather changes. The vulnerability of our cities is coming into sharper focus as more frequent storms hit, flooding our homes and streets.

Today, especially in light of the latest Hurricane Sandy, Engineers, politicians and governments are “rethinking Infrastructure instead of just rebuilding.”1 Or at least, they should be. Resiliency has become another buzz word in the discussions of climate change and sustainability.

“Resilience theory, first introduced by Canadian ecologist C.S. “Buzz” Holling in 1973, begins with two radical premises. The first is that humans and nature are strongly coupled and co-evolving, and should therefore be conceived of as one “social-ecological” system. The second is that the long-held assumption that systems respond to change in a linear, predictable fashion is simply wrong. According to resilience thinking, systems are in constant flux; they are highly unpredictable and self-organizing, with feedbacks across time and space. In the jargon of theorists, they are complex adaptive systems, exhibiting the hallmarks of complexity.2

“How much shock can a system absorb before it transforms into something fundamentally different? That, in a nutshell, is the essence of resilience.” …”The concept of resilience upends old ideas about “sustainability”: Instead of embracing stasis, resilience emphasizes volatility, flexibility, and de-centralization. Change, from a resilience perspective, has the potential to create opportunity for development, novelty, and innovation.”3

Ecology’s impact on cities

“In New Orleans, for example, more than 60 percent of wetlands have been lost in the last 60 years, due partly to oil and natural gas exploration and partly to the levies that were built to keep the Mississippi from flooding the city. Ironically, the loss of these wetlands contributed very directly to the disastrous effects of Hurricane Katrina. Researchers have since calculated that restoring 1 kilometer of wetland would reduce the wave height by one meter, and now efforts are underway to begin rebuilding the southern Louisiana coastline.”5

1 Greenemeier, Larry. “Post-Sandy New York Aims to Rethink Infrastructure, Not Just Rebuild It” Scientific American. October 31, 2012. Link: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/10/31/post-sandy-new-york-aims-to-rethink-infrastructure-not-just-rebuild-it/ Accessed November 11, 2012.2 Montenegro, Maywa.“Urban Resilience.” SEED magazine. February 16, 2010 http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/urban_resilience/3 ibid4 Tidwell, Mike. “ We are all from New Orleans Now: Climate Change, Hurricanes and the Fate of American Coastal Cities.” The Nation. 29 October 2012. http://www.thenation.com/article/170894/we-are-all-new-orleans-now-climate-change-and-hurricane-sandy#

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B Discourse

Infrastructure“Infrastructure isn’t separate from us, or it shouldn’t be,” Ms. Orff said. “It’s among us, it’s next to us, embedded in our cities and our public spaces.”6

Water Sensitive Urban Design (an Australian practice)

“WSUD embraces a range of measures designed to avoid, or at least minimize the environmental impacts of urbanization, WSUD recognizes all water streams in the urban water cycles as a resource, rainwater (collected from the roof); stormwater (collected from all impervious run-off); potable mains water (drinking water); grey water (water from the bathroom taps, shower, laundry and kitchen); and black water (toilet) can all be valuable sources of water. “ –Water Sensitive Urban Design Guidelines, City of Melbourne. 7

Jessica Blood, in her master thesis, used principle of WSUD and studies the theory of using landscape as infrastructure through seven principles developed by Stan Allen. “These principles question issues of force, process, typology, scale, invisible form, structure, function and change and visible form and set up a mechanism enabling me to challenge the notion of landscape as infrastructure…This research shifts the definitions of infrastructure and landscape to include process of flow and how the landscape may act as an infrastructure not just background to the object. If we consider infrastructure as a verb, rather than an object, can the landscape become an agency for change?”8

Blood’s research objectives are “to create a development that works with the principals of water from the beginning, to understand how it may drive the design and layout of the housing and create an integrated system.”9 While I value the use of landscape as a system and as a fundamental part of the infrastructural system, I wonder how this framework can better improve our human environment. How can these landscape moves improve the quality of life in a place, making it memorable and adding value? Another important aspect Blood notes is that “In this hybrid landscape all types of space are valuable because they are considered usable parts of the system, not leftover spaces which are typically associated with the construction of above ground infrastructure objects.”10

Water as Civic Infrastructure

Kathy Poole writes extensively about water as civic infrastructure. In one publication she states the “Key Principles for establishing a Civic Water Infrastructure 11:• Protecting common resources – Identify creeks and rivers• Investing in water – Provide opportunities for engagement• Leveraging water’s biology – Establishing a hydrology network• Building upon the civic hydrological armature – Identify important civic institutions• Finding relationships – Explore relationships with other infrastructure”

Poole then goes on to illustrate three case studies:Case Study 1 – Physically Linking the City’s Civic Institutions

In Charlottesville, a “hydrological system was used to link two civic institutions: Burnley-Moran Elementary school and the Rivanna River.” A number of civic values were translated into the landscape as a result:• A neighborhood is re-connected with its elementary school and an important recreation space.• A stormwater wetland teaching garden, adjacent to the playground, strengthens the educational mission of the school.• A street is made more beautiful by turning an unattractive ditch into a linear ‘garden.’

5 Montenegro, Maywa.“Urban Resilience.” SEED magazine. February 16, 2010. http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/urban_resilience/6 Protecting the City, Before Next time, New York Times, 3 November 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/nyregion/protecting-new-york-city-before-next-time.html?pagewanted=3&_r=07 Blood, Jessica. “Landscape as Infrastructure? How landscape can precede housing development and set the parameters for its location, density and relationship to the Maribyrnong River” Master of Landscape Architecture Thesis. School of Architecture + Design, RMIT University, October 2006. http://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/eserv/rmit:6330/Blood.pdf, p 138 Ibid p 99 Ibid p 910 Ibid p 15

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• The quality of the neighborhood is raised with the proposition of new neighborhood-friendly commercial uses at the intersection of the drainage system and a busy street (High Street).• The need to explore new opportunities for riverside land are highlighted.

“By using drainage to knit together the various pieces of a neighborhood, the design shows how a hydrological system can be a way of adding meaningful uses within existing public space. It also shows how water can be a political structure, a way of structuring civic life.”

Case Study 2 – Building Community

This project united an unconnected subdivision and a shopping mall through the drainage swale that spanned both developments. “The design shows how stormwater management can be utilitarian and be more…check dams can double as bridges, linking developments that previously had no connection. And stormwater detention areas can be places where people gather – privately as a couple or collectively for a neighborhood cookout, building social neighborhood relationships.” Case Study 3 – Finding Value in Neglected Land

“By surgically removing just two dwellings, the proposal provides a model for retrofitting environmentally damaging developments into ecologically-positive spaces that celebrate both natural and built hydrology,” adding value to a currently under used, derelict area. Water used to be culverted directly from the streets to the river, without filtration. New remediation gardens filter toxins and bring the water to the surface, so residents can better see its process of movement. “The gravel cisterns connected to the street double as communal front-porches where residents can chat on a bench swing and pick up their mail.”

Reframing water sensitivities

“Stormwater management is not a series a projects or even an integrated system of measure that in addition has other benefits as if uses beyond function were merely ‘bonuses’ or ‘amenities.’ …Instead, Bellevue has framed its stormwater efforts as vital to the social and conceptual health of the community…Bellevue has taken all of water’s issues – ecology, engineering, economics, politics, aesthetics, and public fascination – and situated them within the city’s larger ideals. The stormwater plan builds what I term a “civic hydrology” framework that extents beyond stormwater or even landscape planning into the realm of ideas and every day living – the civic life of the community.”12

Poole’s definition of civic hydrology: “It denotes the potentials to use water infrastructure to build better cities and communities:• How water can structure growth, organize institutions, and catalyze city-making and reinvigoration within them.• How ecologically positive water strategies and techniques can support healthier cities for all urban residents, human and otherwise.• How water can contribute to cities rich in civic expression, of expressing what the city means to its residents.”13

Water stewardship

“The key to facilitating watershed management is through fostering watershed stewardship. In short, we need to pay better attention to the stewardship of our management. The way to move from being knowledgeable stewards of the watersheds to becoming wise managers of watersheds is through creating recognition of problems and solution, mobilizing interest, and instilling informed passion among stakeholders.”14

11Poole, Kathy. “Civic Hydrology: Water as a Civic Infrastructure.” Design Strategies for a Sustaining Piedmont. Institute for Sustainable Design. University of Virginia, 1998.12 Poole, Kathy. “Watershed Management as Urban Design: The Civic Hydrology of Bellevue, Washington.” Facilitating Watershed Management: Fostering Awareness and Stewardship, ed. Robert L. France. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2005, p 338.

B Discourse

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Our urban water systems

In our cities, the water is most often hidden, unless it’s for decoration. Under our cities runs a complex system of pipes to move water. We have built flood walls to protect property from damaging floods. We’ve dug ditches and culverted streams. We pave canals and waterways, primed for efficient removal of water. But these engineered solutions remove more than water. Neighborhoods are disconnected; divides are created. Massive concrete storm water channels sit empty the 90% of the time. Every city has these kinds of infrastructure skeletons threading

throughout the urban streets, taking up space without giving much back. While greenways in flood plains act as additional room for water, they also have a purpose when the floodplain is not in use. So, how can our permanent urban public spaces be better designed to handle floodwater during temporary rain events? Can flooded parking lots turn into a natural place making method? How can our existing infrastructure contribute towards making a better place by moving more than just water, by acting more sensitively to the environment, while simultaneously thinking of people and place? With increasing ecological needs as climate change spawns more frequent storms, and increasing population needs as people flock towards cities, the need for integrated spatial solutions to address the increasing demands for managing water is already here. Water needs to be a visual, understood, valued part of our city fabric.

The gap

Landscape urbanism, urban ecology, engineering, and spatial theory address these issues of urban water management and public space. Each position has its own angle. The gap occurs between these fields. A solution to bridging and blurring the boundaries is needed to make a more successful place, creating more vibrant, healthy cities that can be resilient to the changing climate. As Linda Pollak writes in her essay “Constructed Ground: Questions of Scale”, in the Landscape Urbanism Reader, “The instability that characterizes these [landscape urbanism] projects is a positive one that produces and sustains an openness in terms of the meaning or sense of the work. None of these projects blurs the boundary between architecture and landscape. Rather, they inhabit that boundary, through their instability, or lack of fixity, constructing as a space by oscillating back and forth across it.“15 Urban ecology, though recent history has developed a separation of humans from ecology, is trying to development an integrated approach and understand where humans fit in with the ecology of urban systems. Engineering has view points in technical, efficiency and cost issues. Spatial theory uses political, cultural significance, and studies how the forces effect how spaces and humans interact. Spaces hold different identities and meaning for different kinds of people. In essence, each of these positions hold different interests and different focus points. The key is to find the overlaps, develop and build the integration, and encourage cross pollination to reach a more comprehensive strategy.

As the discourse of cities of the future evolves, there still seems to be a separation of city systems and roles, left over from modernist planning methodologies. Infrastructure doesn’t count as public space, as it once used to when it was called public works. Streets function for one purpose. In order to build better environments, these edges need to be blurred and overlapped. To see this issue comprehensively, the value system for each partner needs to be understood and evaluated against the next. What is it that makes designers, engineers, city planners, or landscape architects think or not think about water? What are the primary motivators?

While water has historically been portrayed in urban public space environments in fountains and reflecting pools, there is an opportunity to present the process of water and merge this with the public environment. While the technical requirements of stormwater set the backdrop, how can we

13 Poole, Kathy. “Watershed Management as Urban Design: The Civic Hydrology of Bellevue, Washington.” Facilitating Watershed Management: Fostering Awareness and Stewardship, ed. Robert L. France. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2005, p 338.14 France, Robert L. Ed. Facilitating Watershed Management: Fostering Awareness and Stewardship. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2005, p xii.15 The Landscape Urbanism Reader, p 138

B Discourse

“One inch of rain in an hour over a 1000 square foot roof produces 623 gallons of water.”26

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rethink the environments we are engineering into a place for people too? Can we move beyond the techniques and strategies into a more broadly comprehensive view, taking into consideration larger planning goals, places for people and the technical necessities of a project?

Within cities there are two broad approaches considering design – that of the technical and the humanist. Storm water infrastructure is generally ruled by a technical methodology, measuring projects based on efficiency and cost. Because our cities are dense and infrastructure is costly and inconvenient when it is upgraded, the argument is to combine the needs of civic space with storm water infrastructure. This arrangement could make the high cost of infrastructure more tangible and worthy to the people if it has an element of design the people can interact with. Space constraints of the dense urban environment make a combined civic and infrastructure space more valuable and an easier option for upfitting an existing environment. Unknown, but calculated and predicted environmental stresses due to climate change and are another reason to integrate the needs of public space and stormwater infrastructure.

The comprehensive argument: convincing all the sides

Infrastructure improvement projects are costly and intensive. If a politician, an engineer, an architect, a landscape architect and a property owner were sitting at a table, what set of arguments appeal to common values in the group? If a majority of the concerns involve the economics of financing and time, depending on the situation it could be argued that combining a civic need project with an infrastructure project could save money while adding value to a place, even if it does decrease efficiency from the engineering viewpoint. This idea of a comprehensive view and argument still needs to be developed and refined, but the goal is to appeal to city leaders and change-makers in order to make these ideas happen. Can the appeal be built around the idea that the massive price tag on a project can be more easily justified because the public can see and interact with the project, rather than knowing X amount of millions of dollars is underground? Instead of hiding massive infrastructural elements, is there a way to bring them above ground and develop a new layer of civic meaning? Even though not every infrastructural move, ecological or engineered, is meant to engage people, shouldn’t there be a standard that the implementation be haptically or visually beneficial to the built environment, furthering the sense of space and identity in a place?

The following will provide an overview of the most active positions dealing with storm water management as well as other positions such as landscape urbanism and ecological urbanism that touch boundaries with stormwater infrastructural design challenges.

High Performance Landscapes, Low Impact Development and Best Management Practices

While there are many techniques and strategies focusing on containing, cleaning, and controlling storm water, most often the case studies are illustrated in less dense settings where wetlands and swaths of bioswales aid in the absorption and filtration of water. One such example of this is the High Performance Landscape Guide, a project by the Design Trust for Public Space and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation. And while the solutions address people in terms of education, stewardship, and engagement in communication, there is no mention of public space and making places for people, in addition to repairing the ecology on the site. While there are many useful strategies cited: infiltration beds, bioretention, porous pavements, green and blue roofs, to name a few, a consideration about how to use creatively use the hardscapes primarily found throughout the city is missing. Parks can act as an absorbent surface, but there are only so many parks compared to

B Discourse

Infrastructure can be for people.De Urbanisten, 2011

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impervious surfaces. Because parks or pervious surfaces cannot be put into many areas of the dense city core, how can designers and engineers work collaboratively to develop strategies that manage water flow simultaneously with the civic space requirements for people?

In addition to the High Performance Landscape Guide, another similar resource from a different angle is the Low Impact Development (LID) Manual by the University of Arkansas Community Design Center. This manual focuses on implementing solutions at the building, property, street, and open space scales. LID is an “ecologically-based stormwater management approach favoring soft engineering to manage rainfall on site through a vegetated treatment network…contrary to conventional ‘pipe-and-pond’ conveyance infrastructure that channels runoff elsewhere through pipes…LID remediates polluted runoff through a network of distributed treatment landscapes.”16 Rather than relying on traditional hard engineering that transfers pollution to another site, LID emphasizes the opportunity to treat pollution and runoff on the site.17 Here is list of 17 ecosystem services that LID advertises:1.. Atmospheric regulation, 2. Climate regulation,3. Disturbance regulation, 4. Water regulation, 5. Water supply, 6. Erosion control and sediment reduction,7. Soil formation, 8. Nutrient cycling, 9. Waste treatment, 10. Pollination, 11. Species control, 12. Refugia/habitat, 13. Food production, 14. Raw material production, 15. Genetic resources, 16. Recreation, 17. Cultural enrichment. LID is also called “water sensitive urban design (WSUD)[in other regions]...These tools are designed to pond, infiltrate, and harvest water at the source, encouraging evaporation, evapotranspiration, groundwater recharge, and re-use of storm water.”18 A missing piece to this equation is the public space sector, different from open space in that it is not a park or green space, but a hardscaped plaza. How can a hardscaped plaza provide some of these same services?

Barriers within LID methods include “uncertainties in performance and cost, insufficient engineering standards and guidelines, fragmented responsibilities, lack of institutional capacity, lack of legislative mandate, lack of funding and effective market incentives and a resistance to change.”19 These hindrances can be over come

by more research on costs, creating model ordinances and guidance documents to have better communication with engineering practices, coordinate and organize who is responsible for the water sheds to streamline planning and operations, build knowledge in the field and educate professionals, gain public support for new regulations, face financial barriers and develop new

16 Low Impact Development Manual. University of Arkansas Community Design Center, P 2217 Ibid. P 1818 Impediments and Solutions to Sustainable, Watershed-Scale Urban Stormwater Management: Lessons from Australia and the United States p. 34519 Ibid p 348

B Discourse

Light Imprint Handbook, Low, 2008

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funding streams to address extra maintenance costs, and finally educating the community with trainings and demonstrations to gain community support and understanding.20

In contrast to the previously mentioned environmentally based methods, “best management practices (BMP) have been commonly used in conventional hard-engineering to identify lot-based management facilities such as a detention pond…BMPs are focused more on engineering rather than planning.”21 While the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has advocated for public participation in education and involvement of storm water BMPs, there is no mention of designing the measure to also benefit the human environment. The categories include public education, public involvement, illicit discharge detection and elimination, construction, post construction, good housekeeping/pollution prevention.22 What values does the USEPA see in designing stormwater management solutions for people?

Light Imprint Methods

Comparing the above strategies with the New Urbanist strategy of Light Imprint (LI), the Light Imprint Handbook (Low, 2008) is a guide for storm water management for traditional neighborhood development. “Light Imprint (LI) is a planning and development strategy that emphasizes sustainability and pedestrian-oriented design.”23 Even though the New Urbanists have a system of transects that categorizes different kinds of densities, the toolkit provided here seems to be focused on lower density neighborhoods and focusing on storm water management in the context of surfaces, materials, and ecological strategies. Cost, maintenance requirements, climate, soils, and the appropriate transect zone are all noted with each strategy. The “toolbox” is divided into four parts: paving, channeling, storage, and filtration. Within each of these, there is a combination of man-made engineering and natural solutions. What appears to be missing, once again, is the

20 Ibid p 348-34921 Low Impact Development Manual. University of Arkansas Community Design Center, P 2722 EPA National Menu of Best Management Practices. http://www.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/menuofbmps23 Low, Tom. Light Imprint Handbook, A2

B Discourse

Water SquareDe Urbanisten, 2011

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discussion of public space. How can there be an integration of stormwater management strategies with the civic space people need in a city? The toolkit here seems to be mostly ecological, which is proven to work, but it is missing a sense of integration with the social built environment. There is also a greater emphasis on medium-density neighborhoods, not examining the densest cores of our cities where there is often the least amount of permeable surfaces, and the most need for water management. It is here, in the middle of the city, where green fingers cannot financially win over the profit-makers of buildings, and that the opportunity for public space can act dually as a water management tool.

Water Squares as a public space stormwater management tool

The Rotterdam based firm, De Urbanisten, has presented the most promising case study of this integrated approach basing their design on Rotterdam’s city-wide water challenges, specifically the need for more water storage capacity. This need has yielded a variety of creative solutions, from city-sponges to floating plazas. The water square solution is currently under construction. It was financed by 80% from the city’s infrastructure fund.24 Combining the need for more temporary water storage with the hardscaped surrounds of a dense neighborhood, the water square is designed to collect water from surrounding roofs and streets. As a dry place, it holds people reading, playing sports, or

sitting in the shade. Once it starts to fill with water, the place dynamics change, as does the human behavior. Toy boats and rubber boots find their way to the space. The water infrastructure, normally underground in a dense city, is brought above ground, and its function doubles when it’s not in use. These architects have shown there are suitable ways to use hardscaped sites for environmental benefit. Lacking in the discussion are the filters to clean the run off, as “…the first hour of urban storm water runoff has a pollution index much higher than that of raw sewage.”25 Maintenance is another challenge and has not been explicitly addressed. Greenways and other paths alongside rivers have had to handle maintenance after floods, so this is not an entirely new challenge. Safety is another concern as rain events can come suddenly and forcefully. “One inch of rain in an hour over a 1000 square foot roof produces 623 gallons of water.”26

Impervious surfaces pose and extra challenge. Because the “rate of increase in impervious surfaces has exceeded the rate of population growth by 500 percent over the last 40 years”27 there is a need to address these surfaces and added challenge of water runoff quantity and quality.

Ecological Urbanism

Ecological Urbanism takes its stand in a similar framework to writings of Landscape Urbanism in the way it aims to blur boundaries and work across disciplines. It has a greater emphasis on ecology, and the case studies represented in the project-rich text contain few projects focusing on the issues of water and public space. In an essay called “Situating Urban Ecological Experiments in Public Space,” the authors perfectly set the trickiness of the boundary between ecology and urbanism. “Urban environments are poorly understood in ecological terms, in part because they are complex, but also because the discipline of ecology, since its inception as a field of knowledge in the early twentieth century, has avoided people.

Public Works

“Public Works and Public Space: Rethinking the Urban Park” introduced the period when the separation and specialization of engineering created infrastructure, moving away from public works when it was more associated with architectural works with more of a civic mission. Civic and environmental goals died away with the rise of specialization and efficiency goals in engineering.

24 Personal interview with Florian DeBoer 30 May 2012.25 Low Impact Development Manual. University of Arkansas Community Design Center. P 2626 Ibid p 3327 Ibid p 27

“The rate of increase in impervious surfaces has exceeded the rate of population growth by 500 percent over the last 40 years.”27

B Discourse

21

Although this article focused more on landscape and parks rather than the integration of engineering and place making, although the author noted the difficulty in operating both functionally and poetically. This source is a reminder of the historical mindset that professionals could come back to in discussions about the integration of place and infrastructure.

Response to Superstorm Sandy

To be clear, I do not aim to attack the various troubles that arose from this particular worst-case-scenario storm, the largest storm recorded in the Atlantic Ocean.28 Going beyond design issues, the power outages, mold, debris, insurance policy hassles, fires, and tree crushed houses are not my aim. I will target the more daily rain events, the small to medium storms. This is more measurable, more predictable and more useful. The event, however, was a good reminder to the force of nature and the destructive power of water. This also presents us with a new opportunity to reevaluate our infrastructure and how we think about it. Because infrastructure is aging all across the country, the storm has giving the hit cities a chance to upgrade and try to think about how to prepare for the next event.

Designing for water in the context of Charlotte

Charlotte is not a coastal city. But it does flood and droughts have held its grasp in the past. There are a series of stormwater projects throughout town to battle the floods, like buying out and removing houses in the flood plain, advanced mapping techniques, up stream pond building for extra water capacity and there are even 10 green roofs sprinkled throughout Uptown. But still, water has little presence in the city, other than for decoration. How can the stormwater management techniques make their way into the densest part of the county, with the most impervious area?

Moving beyond efficiency towards a comprehensive functioning place for water and people

With the establishment of an integrated mind set about how to make a place work for people, ecological systems and efficiency our built environment benefit our cities. These kinds of strategies can create resilient, sustainable cities ready to handle the growing populations and uncertain weather patterns. A shift in values can produce more effective environments overall, ecologically, socially, and sustainably.

In order to understand the challenges of our water, it needs to be present and we need to care. Bringing it to the surface will start the engagement process and bring awareness to the population so that water cares a bit more meaning. Other cities have placed greater emphasis and importance of water, now it’s time for Charlotte to do the same.

28 Sullivan, Brian K. and Lynn Doan “Sandy Brings Hurricane-Force Gusts to U.S. East Coast.”Bloomberg News. October 29, 2012 http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-10-28/hurricane-sandy-may-push-record-storm-surge-into-manhattan

B Discourse

August, 2011. http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/node/605831

22 | Literature Review Narrative

23

C Li terature Review Narrat ive

| Literature Review

Under our cities runs a complex system of pipes to move water. We have built floodwalls to protect property from damaging floods. We’ve dug ditches and culverted streams. We pave canals and waterways, primed for efficient removal of water. But these engineered solutions remove more than water. Neighborhoods are disconnected; divides are created. Massive concrete storm water channels sit empty the 90% of the time. Every city has these kinds of infrastructure works threading throughout the urban streets, taking up space without giving much back. While greenways in flood plains act as additional room for water, they also have a purpose when the floodplain is not in use. So, how can our permanent urban public spaces be better designed to handle floodwater during temporary rain events? Can flooded parking lots turn into a natural place making method? How can our existing infrastructure contribute towards making a better place by moving more than just water, by acting more sensitively to the environment, while simultaneously thinking of people and place? With increasing ecological needs as climate change spawns more frequent storms, and increasing population needs as people flock towards cities, the need for integrated spatial solutions to address the increasing demands for managing water is already here.

Landscape urbanism, urban ecology, engineering, and spatial theory address these issues of urban water management and public space. Each discipline has its own angle. The gap occurs between these fields. A solution to bridging and blurring the boundaries is needed to make a more successful place, creating more vibrant, healthy cities. As Linda Pollak writes in her essay “Constructed Ground: Questions of Scale”, in the Landscape Urbanism Reader, “The instability that characterizes these [landscape urbanism] projects is a positive one that produces and sustains an openness in terms of the meaning or sense of the work. None of these projects blurs the boundary between architecture and landscape. Rather, they inhabit that boundary, through their instability, or lack of fixity, constructing as a space by oscillating back and forth across it.“1 In the Landscape Urbanism Reader Elizabeth Mossop perfectly articulates the focus of infrastructure, saying, “Explorations in landscape urbanism have focused on infrastructure as the most important generative public landscape. In the course of the twentieth century we have seen the increasing standardization of infrastructural systems as they meet higher standards of technical efficiency. These ubiquitous urban environments have been considered and evaluated solely on technical criteria and somehow exempted from having to function socially, aesthetically, or ecologically.”2 Different definitions of infrastructure should be considered. Throughout

1 The Landscape Urbanism Reader, p 138 2 The Landscape Urbanism Reader, p 171

24

the Landscape Urbanism Reader, infrastructure most commonly referred to movement-infrastructure. Where is the discussion of our water infrastructure?

Light Imprint Handbook (Low, 2008) is the New Urbanist guide for storm water management for traditional neighborhood development. “Light Imprint (LI) is a planning and development strategy that emphasizes sustainability and pedestrian-oriented design.”3 Even though the New

Urbanists have a system of transects that categorizes different kinds of densities, the toolkit provided here seems to be focused on lower density neighborhoods and focusing on storm water management in the context of surfaces, materials, and ecological strategies. Cost, maintenance requirements, climate, soils, and the appropriate transect zone are all noted with each strategy. The “toolbox” is divided into four parts: paving, channeling, storage, and filtration. Within each of these, there is a combination of man-made engineering and natural solutions. What appears to be missing, however, is the discussion of public space. How can there be an integration of storm water management strategies with the space people occupy? The toolkit here seems to be mostly ecological, which is proven to work, but it is missing a sense of integration with the social built environment. There is also a greater emphasis on medium-density neighborhoods, not examining the densest cores of our cities where there is often the least amount of permeable surfaces, and the most need for management. It is here, in the middle of the city, where green fingers cannot financially win over the profit-makers of buildings, that public space can act dually as a water management tool. This is the essence of the gap.

Perhaps this issue of mono-functional infrastructure comes from the concept that a “common technique of modernist planning has been to separate functions as a means of resolving conflicts,”4 which often produces a sterile, stale environment. Other points that were covered in the Landscape Urbanism Reader by Pollak were the notions of landscape urbanism’s temporality, like that of water, and constructed ground, a “hybrid framework that crosses between architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design to engage the complexity of the modern urban landscape. This framework invests in the ground itself as a material for design…”5 Pollak goes on to summarize Lefebvre’s spatial theory as constructed on two illusions: transparency illusion - the world can be seen as it really is, and realistic illusion – something seeming natural requires no attention.

Lefebvre constructed a diagram of space, showing the integration of scales that shows an “approach that can support a dynamic and multidimensional differentiation of space.”6 These notions of space help confirm the need for a more integrated solution. Landscape urbanists relate to the topic as they provide the discussion about public space and an interconnected system of landscapes. They use landscape in reference to infrastructure, but public space is not yet connected with infrastructure.

C Literature Review Narrative

3 Low, Tom. Light Imprint Handbook, p A24 Waldheim, Charles. The Landscape Urbanism Reader p 1335 Ibid p 1276 Ibid p 130

25

There is less conversation about specific environmental issues to be tackled, such as water management, at the city level, usually referring to more general systems.

Focusing on the technical engineering route, Design for Flooding by Donald Watson and Michele Adams put together a text covering climate change, weather patterns, the water cycle, and specific design tools for inland flooding, sea-level rise, and coastal flooding issues. There are specific architectural details offered to combat flooding, but comprehensive planning approaches or public space discussions are left off the table. The “resilient design” measures call for individual architectural solutions or for ecological preservation methods like bringing back marshes and buffering coastal areas. While there is scientific data to back up the strategies, there is no mention of the integration of spaces and human uses.

“Public Works and Public Space: Rethinking the Urban Park” introduced the period when the separation and specialization of engineering created infrastructure, moving away from public works when it was more associated with architectural works with more of a civic mission. Civic and environmental goals died away with the rise of specialization and efficiency goals in engineering. Although this article focused more on landscape and parks rather than the integration of engineering and place making, although the author noted the difficulty in operating both functionally and poetically. This source is a reminder of the historical mind set.

Ecological Urbanism takes its stand in a similar framework to writings of Landscape Urbanism in the way it aims to blur boundaries and work across disciplines. It has a greater emphasis on ecology, and the case studies represented in the project-rich text contain few projects focusing on the issues of water and public space. In an essay called “Situating Urban Ecological Experiments in Public Space,” the authors perfectly set the trickiness of the boundary between ecology and urbanism. “Urban environments are poorly understood in ecological terms, in part because they are complex, but also because the discipline of ecology, since its inception as a field of knowledge in the early twentieth century, has avoided people.”7

De Urbanisten and the Wondrous Water Square presents the most promising case study of this integrated approach providing a graphic tale describing Rotterdam’s water challenges and a variety of creative solutions. The water square solution is currently under construction. Combining the need for more temporary water storage with the hardscaped surrounds of a dense neighborhood, the water square is designed to collect water from surrounding roofs and streets. As a dry place, it holds people reading, playing sports, or sitting in the shade. Once it starts to fill with water, the place dynamics change, as does the human behavior. Toy boats and rubber boots find their way to the space. The water infrastructure, normally underground in a dense city, is brought above ground, and its function doubles when it’s not in use. These architects have shown there are suitable ways to use hardscaped sites for environmental benefit. There is no discussion involving maintenance or water quality, however.

The Great Good Place provides a good description of the social needs of a third place. The author describes what kind of places make up third places, and what some of their social characteristics are, such as location, hours, atmosphere, and sense of community. However, there is no discussion on what the physical characteristics make up a good place. When translating these characteristics

C Li terature Review Narrat ive

7 Mostafavi, Mohsen, and Gareth Doherty. Ecological Urbanism. p 356

26

through design, what guides decisions? The analysis of American culture and the behavior patterns that came from the industrial society were good reminders about how culture shapes place.For this question of how to better integrate the needs of public space with the demands of storm water management, there is a need to combine the discussion of infrastructure and public space (landscape urbanism and place making) with the discussion of ecological impact (ecological urbanism) with that of the technical measures (engineering) to make sure the performance of the intervention succeeds on the required metrics.

C Literature Review Narrative

27

28

D Literature Map

This diagram shows the relationship of the fields to the issues of public space, climate change, and storm water management. The distance from the center indicates the level of integrated situations. The farther out on the edge, the more single purpose designs intentions are found.

The middle Venn diagrams show the relationship of these key issues to the conversations that are happening in those fields.

The lower section show the scope of the fields and the related institutions, authors, built outcomes, and movements that have transpired.

The lower left edge shows the ideal situation with the appropriate amount of overlap between the fields and issues.

29

D Li terature Map

Stormwater Management

Public Space

Climate Change

Architecture | Urban Design

Engineering

Landscape Architecture

Discussion volume

Integration

Conversations around public space + climate change + stormwater management

The relationships of the KEY issues to the FIELDsFIELDS and who leads the discussions

Built form

Core Voices of the Primary Fields

The Boundaries of the Primary Fields

Key Issues

Peripheral efforts

Authors Issues

Fields

Institutions

=

+

Urban Design

High Performance Landscapes

parksparklets

plazasstreets

Tactical UrbanismWILLIAM WHYTEJAN GEHL

MARC AUGERAY OLDENBURG

DAVID SUCHERKAIN BENFIELD

REBARDAVID LEATHERBARROW

PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES

sea level rise Rising Currents -MOMAResiliency not ResistanceLiving With WaterCoexist, not ContainRetreat + Relocation

more frequent stormsmore severe storms

THOMAS FRIEDMANPETER CALTHORPE

TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ASSOCIATION (UK)

WATER SENSTIVE CITIES (AU)CLIMATE ADAPTIVE NEIGHBORHOODS

(CAN - AUSTRALIA)ANU MATHUR

USGBCPARTNERSHIP FOR SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES

NEXT GREAT CITY PHILADELPHIA INITIATIVE IAN MCHARGALEX KRIEGER

WAGGONER & BALLDE URBANISTEN

PATRICK CONDONSMAQ

PATRICK GEDDESLEWIS MUMFORD green roofs New Urbanists

Low-Impact DevelopmentInfrastructure Urbanism Smart GrowthTactical Urbanism

elevated housesfloating housescisternsland use policy

ASLAPLANYC

CHARLES WALDHEIM

NINA MARIE LISTERSTEVEN HANDEL

LAWRENCE HALPRINSTOSS

STAN ALLENJAMES CORNERKATHY POOLE

FREDERICK LAW OLMSTEADLINDA POLLAK

constructed wetlandsgreenways

High Performance LandscapesWater as Civic InfrastructureLandscape Urbanism Landscape EcologyDelta Urbanism Ecosystem Services

parks that floodlandscapes as systemsgreen streets

bioswales Water Sensitive Urban Design

green infrastructure

porous pavingstormwater planter

greenwayswetlands

bioretentioncurb cutsrain gardens

retention ponds

PHILADELPHIA WATER DEPARTMENTCITY OF SEATTLE

FLOODING RESILIENCY GROUP

DONALD WATSON / MICHELE ADAMS

ARMY CORPSWAGGONER & BALL :

DUTCH DIALOGSASLA: STORMWATER BMP

DE URBANISTEN

Green Infrastructure

ARCADISRICHARD JOHNSON

URBAN WATER RESOURCES CONSORTIUMINSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE

EPA

ARMY CORPS flood walls Green InfrastructureBest Management PracticesWatershed StewardshipEnvision certifying program

leveesdredgingchannelingpiping

Public SpaceClimate ChangeStormwater Management

Public Space Climate Change Stormwater Management

Architecture | Urban Design

Landscape ArchitectureEngineering

Civil Engineering

Landscape Ecology

Best Management Practice

Water asCivic

Infrastructure

Low Impact DevelopmentInfrastructure

Urbanism

Landscapes asinfrastructure

Single Use Space

Architecture

Landscape Urbanism

An integrated system of public space and water infrastructure

Movements

30

E Case Study Analysis

Greenways

Water and people

Plazas designed toflood (WaterSquare)

ParkletsBioswales

365 Days

People Water

During a year space is used by: typologies | time | use

Not in use*Depending on local climates

=1 Day

Surface water treatment: residential

Flood walls Parks with water features(Sherbourne Commons)

31

E Case Study Analysis

Greenways

Water and people

Plazas designed toflood (WaterSquare)

ParkletsBioswales

365 Days

People Water

During a year space is used by: typologies | time | use

Not in use*Depending on local climates

=1 Day

Surface water treatment: residential

Flood walls Parks with water features(Sherbourne Commons)

32

E Case Study Analysis : Cross Comparisons

Water square

Edge

Space

Celebrating water

Living with water

Celebrating water

Living with water

Celebrating water

Living with water

Celebrating water

Living with water

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function Function

Artistic / Aesthetic

water waterwaterwaterwater social socialsocial

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

water social

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

water social

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

water socialsocial

Public Space

Infrastructure

Urban

Rural

Public Space

Infrastructure

Public Space

Infrastructure

Public Space

Infrastructure

Public Space Public Space

Infrastructure Infrastructure

Public Space

Infrastructure

Public Space

Infrastructure

Public Space

Infrastructure

social

Function

Artistic / Aesthetic

watersocial

Edge

Space

Edge

Space

Edge

Space

Edge

Space

Edge

Space

Edge

Space

Edge

Space

Edge

Space

Celebrating water

Living with water

Celebrating water

Living with water

Celebrating water

Living with water

Celebrating water

Living with water

Celebrating water

Living with water

Urban

Rural

Urban

Rural

Urban

Rural

Urban

Rural

Urban

Rural

Urban

Rural

Urban

Rural

Urban

Rural

Water SquareRotterdam, Netherlands

Bo01 NeighborhoodMalmo, Sweden Greenways ParkletsBioswales Tanner Springs Park

Portland, ORFlood walls Sherbourne Commons

Toronto, ONCumulus – Grorud Center

Oslo, Norway

Case Study Comparative Analysis

33

Water square

Edge

Space

Celebrating water

Living with water

Celebrating water

Living with water

Celebrating water

Living with water

Celebrating water

Living with water

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function Function

Artistic / Aesthetic

water waterwaterwaterwater social socialsocial

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

water social

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

water social

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

water socialsocial

Public Space

Infrastructure

Urban

Rural

Public Space

Infrastructure

Public Space

Infrastructure

Public Space

Infrastructure

Public Space Public Space

Infrastructure Infrastructure

Public Space

Infrastructure

Public Space

Infrastructure

Public Space

Infrastructure

social

Function

Artistic / Aesthetic

watersocial

Edge

Space

Edge

Space

Edge

Space

Edge

Space

Edge

Space

Edge

Space

Edge

Space

Edge

Space

Celebrating water

Living with water

Celebrating water

Living with water

Celebrating water

Living with water

Celebrating water

Living with water

Celebrating water

Living with water

Urban

Rural

Urban

Rural

Urban

Rural

Urban

Rural

Urban

Rural

Urban

Rural

Urban

Rural

Urban

Rural

Water SquareRotterdam, Netherlands

Bo01 NeighborhoodMalmo, Sweden Greenways ParkletsBioswales Tanner Springs Park

Portland, ORFlood walls Sherbourne Commons

Toronto, ONCumulus – Grorud Center

Oslo, Norway

Case Study Comparative Analysis

E Case Study Analysis : Cross Comparisons

34 | Case Study Analysis

35

WatersquaresRotterdam, Netherlands

Living with WaterFighting Against Water

Edge

Space

Celebrating water

Living with water

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

water social

Public Space

Infrastructure

Urban

Rural

E Case Study Analysis : Watersquares

36

E Case Study Analysis : Watersquares

Elements

37

E Case Study Analysis : Watersquares

Multi-functional Space

38

E Case Study Analysis : Watersquares

Multi-functional Space

39

E Case Study Analysis : Bo01 Neighborhood

60% Functional Infrastructure 75% Living with Water 20% Space

Sculpture

40% Artistic / Aesthetic 25% Celebrating water 80% Edging

Bo01NeighorhoodMalmo, Sweden

ArticulatedGutter

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

water

Public Space

Infrastructure

social

Edge

Space

Celebrating water

Living with water

Urban

Rural

40

E Case Study Analysis : Bo01 Neighborhood

Thresholds + planters designed

50% Functional Infrastructure 80% Living with Water

Rain Gardens

85% Space

50% Artistic / Aesthetic 20% Celebrating water 15% Edging

41

E Case Study Analysis : Bo01 Neighborhood

20% Functional Infrastructure

80% Artistic / Aesthetic

20% Living with Water

80% Celebrating water

40% Space

60% Edging

Sculptural Channels

42

E Case Study Analysis : Bo01 Neighborhood

75% Functional Infrastructure 90% Living with Water 90% Space

25% Artistic / Aesthetic 10% Celebrating water 10% Edging

Waterways + Canals +Edges

43

E Case Study Analysis : Bo01 Neighborhood

90% Functional Infrastructure 90% Living with Water 10% Space

10% Artistic / Aesthetic 10% Celebrating water 90% Edging

Channels

44

E Case Study Analysis : Parklets

ParkletsPavements to Parks Project San Francisco, CA

Typical Bioswale place

Powell Street Parklet

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l.com

ww

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wel

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Public Space

Infrastructure

Function

Artistic / Aesthetic

watersocial

Edge

Space

Celebrating water

Living with water

Urban

Rural

45

ParkletsE Case Study Analysis : Parklets

Place Tool = Planter

22nd Street

Divisadero Street Parklet

Divisadero Street Parklet

46

E Case Study Analysis : Parklets

Noe Valley Parklets 1 + 2

Place Tool = Chair Noe Valley Parklets 1 + 2

47

E Case Study Analysis : Parklets

BioswalesOr Rain Gardens. Seattle and Portland

12th Ave green street. Portland, OR.

Function

Artistic / Aesthetic

water social

Public Space

Infrastructure

Edge

Space

Celebrating water

Living with water

Urban

Rural

48

E Case Study Analysis : Parklets

(above) High Point Neighborhood, Seattle, WA (below) Ballard Neighborhood, Seattle, WA

49

E Case Study Analysis : Parklets

Victoria, B.C. outside the Atrium Building. D’Ambrosio Architecture + Urban Design

50

E Case Study Analysis : SMAQ : CUMULUS – GRORUD CENTER, OSLO

Cumulus - Grorud CenterOslo, NorwayCelebrating water

Living with water

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

water social

Public Space

Infrastructure

Edge

Space

Urban

Rural

Cumulus is an urban strategy that conceptualizes public

spaces as related to the environmental dynamics of

northern living. The proposal for a mixed-used development

(re)binds the different social spheres, programmes and scales of

an existing seventies development and a new urban centre

through the concepts of water-cycling and seasonal

expansion and contraction. Collected rain is released

into public spaces at a social event in the wintertime so

that it can freeze into an open air ice skating surface. This

temporal icy plane serves the encounters of existing and incoming

communities — and in the spring it drains into the bordering

ecological areas. http://www.smaq.net/2008/01/cumulus-oslo-norwegen/?lang=en

51

E Case Study Analysis : SMAQ : CUMULUS – GRORUD CENTER, OSLO

What opportunities can be used with the seasonal changes?

What other ways can we use water as a process in our everyday lives?

How do the buildings and streets collect water? How does the drainage work?

52

Designing with the weather and climate in mind...

E Case Study Analysis : SMAQ : CUMULUS – GRORUD CENTER, OSLO

53

E Case Study Analysis : Sherbourne Common : Toronto

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Sherbourne CommonToronto, Ontario, Canada

Celebrating water

Living with water

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

water social

Public Space

Infrastructure

Edge

Space

Urban

Rural

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ndsc

apev

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54

E Case Study Analysis : Sherbourne Common : Toronto

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“Sherbourne Common is the first park in Canada to integrate an ultraviolet (UV) facility for neighbourhood-wide stormwater treatment into its design.

Collected stormwater is treated in the UV facility and released from three dramatic art features into a 240-metre long water channel – or urban river – and back out to Lake Ontario.”

http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca/sher-bourne_common

What about the question of the larger watershed? This system still does not solve other area issues with sewer overflows and wa-tershed management. (For more on this discussion, read: http://www.vanishing-point.ca/sherbourne-common)

Sittable edges >

“Light Shower” sculptures by artist Jill Anholt release the newly cleansed water into the channels before it reaches Lake Ontario.

more reading: http://www.water-technology.net/projects/sherbourne-common-stormwater-toronto-canada/, http://www.vanishingpoint.ca/sherbourne-common

55

E Case Study Analysis : Sherbourne Common : Toronto

This is tap water. This water does not drain into the stormwater system.Consideration of seasons - water park and ice rink - the space is multi-seasonal.

Was there any opportunities to expose the storm water systems? Missed learning opportunity.

It’s an Icon building, but is there anything else to do here? What about creating another amenity to add value to the place?

Nice gesture bringing the water close to the building, but it’s a sterile relationship...maybe that’s the point. Steps are good for sitting.

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56

E Case Study Analysis : Tanner Springs Park : Port land, OR

Tanner Springs ParkPortland, OR

Celebrating water

Living with water

Artistic / Aesthetic

Function

water social

Public Space

Infrastructure

Edge

Space

Urban

Rural

Rec

ent W

ater

scap

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011

57

E Case Study Analysis : Tanner Springs Park : Port land, OR

Water is pumped here from the pond to recreate the spring from a lake that is buried 20 below.

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58

E Case Study Analysis : Tanner Springs Park : Port land, OR

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This art piece collects stormwater, funneling it into the rails, through a runnel between the stairs and into the pond.

1

2 3 4

59

60 | Project Description

61

F Project Description | Quest ions + Solut ions

Climate change creates more frequent storms, and more extremes - droughts and floods. Charlotte experiences both of these.

Water is invisible in the urban realm. When you think of good water, you think about buying bottled water. Because the water is channeled underground, no one knows where it goes, and forgets it is there - out of sight, out of mind. In this region of the United States, water is not valued.

How can stormwater management become more visible in the public realm on East Boulevard?

How can public space hold more water? How can an urban environment share space more broadly and openly with water management? We are used to seeing cisterns and bioswales in the suburbs and in the country. How can we bring standard water management tools into the city in a slightly different context, inviting conversation, discovery, and awareness about the ephemeral parts of the natural environment that city dwellers often overlook because of the rigidity of the urban environment.

Our aging infrastructure combined with rapid urbanization and more climate extremes means that our built environment can no longer be designed for single use. Our streets, buildings, and public spaces need to perform more than their usual function. More layers of meaning and usefulness need to be embedded into our urban environment.

It is within the context of this added environmental and urbanization pressure on our urban environments where this design takes place.

Flooding is a temporal issue, so is there a way to layer in added social and cultural meaning with the existing infrastructure, or add to the water management function on top of the public space allocation?

With an emphasis on embedding more water management function above and below ground, this broad design scheme attempts to make the connection between the vertical and horizontal realms, creating a more seamless transition.

Architecture meets landscape architecture and becomes one urban design.

The next few pages will illustrate and introduce the issue of stormwater management on a broader scale. The design proposal will follow.

62

F Project | Introduction

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2011 Sets U.S. Record for Wet/Dry Extremes, Wettest Year in Philadelphia’s 2-Century Record, Wettest December Day in DC Climate Guest Blogger on Dec 12, 2011 at 5:00 pm (thinkprogress.org)

Climates are changing. We have to be prepared. Our vulnerabilities will be revealed.

63

Flooding is a s t rong and growing impact designers need to address.

F Project | Introduction

sour

ce:

visu

al.ly

64

F Project | Introduction

Source: Szalay, Shandor. “Stormwater Crediting: Leveraging private investment to fund urban stormwater retrofits in Philadelphia and beyond.” Stormh2o.com. 30 June 2011.

Can engineering solutions become combined with a solution that improves the human environment too?

Could these costs be more justified if they improved their surroundings and made a desirable place?

65

F Project | Introduction : Best Management Practices

Top | http://charmeck.org/stormwater/regulations/Documents/BMP%2DSM/4.1BioretentionJuly12010.pdf, pg 4Bottom | http://charmeck.org/stormwater/regulations/Documents/BMP%20DSM/4.4EnhancedGrassedSwaleMay232008.pdf, pg 4These are from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Best Management Practice Design Manual for Stormwater. http://charmeck.org/stormwater/regulations/Pages/BMPStandardsManual.aspx

How can these swales be designed for an attractive urban setting?

66

F Project | Introduction - Regional Watersheds

Top Left | Major River Basins (USGS)Top Right | Example of stream drought conditions (USGS)Center | Mecklenburg County watershedsBottom Right | Regional Watersheds - Charlotte water goes to the Atlantic

IRW

195

ULS009

ULS0

12

ULS003

ULS

006

ULS004

ULS001

ULS011 UL

S002

ULS023

ULS018

ULS020

BAC026

ULS024

SUG639

SUG642

ULS022

MCM510

IRW

188

MCM518

MCM521

MCA431

ULS

025

LLS27

7

LON

304

BRI056

IRW208

MCM

504

LONG

McALPINE

SUGAR

IRWIN

PAW

MALLARD

BRIAR

McDOWELL CLARKE

CLEAR

REEDY

STEELE

GAR

FOUR MILELAKE WYLIE

GOOSE

SIX MILE

LAKE NORMAN

McMULL

EN

BACK

ROCKY RIVER

McKEE

BEAV

ERDA

M

CLEM

LOW

ERLI

TTLE

SUG

AR

LOWER CLARKE

LOW

ERMTN

ISLA

ND

CROOKE

D

CATAWBA

UPPERMTN

ISLA

ND

Cat

awba

Riv

er

Rocky River

McAlp

ine Creek

Briar C

reek

Irwin

Cree

k

Lon gCreek

Back Creek

Mallard Creek

McM

ullen Cre

ek

Clea r Creek

Four Mile Creek

Six Mile Creek

Paw Creek

McDowell Cre

ek

Reedy C

reek

McK

eeC

reek

Gar Creek

Fuda Creek

King

sBr

anch

Toby

Cre

ek

Stoney Creek

Irvins Creek

Clarke Creek

RamahBranch

DuckC

reek

Caldwell C

reek

Gum Branch

Clarks

Creek

Dob

y Creek

Fla

t Bra

nch

Can

e Creek

WestBranch

Rocky River

Gutter Branch

McIntyre Branch

Walker B ranch

Be ards C reek

Ke nn edy

Branch

Rocky Branch

Dixon Branch

Wiley Branch

Swan

Run

Bran

ch

Little Stoney Creek

Beav

erda

mCr

eek

Merita

Branch

Stevens Creek

Sherman Branch

Cof

fey

Creek

San

dyBranch

Stowe Branch

Blankmanship Branch

Tiger Branch

Tagg

art C

reek

Caldwell Statio

n Creek

Torrence Creek

Long

Branch

Marvin

Branch

Muddy Branch

Li

ttlePaw Creek

Neal Branch

Dana Creek

Ferre

lltown

Cree

k

Porter Branch

Cata

wba River

Taggart Creek

Cata

wba River

Rocky

Branch

Ü

Watershed Basins

Inventory Work Zones (1-sq-mile drainage areas)

Data integrated with HydroNetwork (storm_edit)

Field data complete

Field data in progress

Field data in review (personal gdb)

Field data scheduled this FY

GDB loaded to Storm_Collect

5200 Independence Blvd.

FY11 1-Sq Mile Basins to be Inventoried

67

F Project | Introduction - Runoff + Solut ions

How can public space become integrated into these solutions?

sfbet

ters

tree

ts.o

rg

68

F Project | Introduction - urbanizat ion

1976 1985

1996

Urbanization (and impervious grounds) in Mecklenburg County. Source: Kunwar Singh (UNCC)

Charlotte

Protected open space

Developed Natural/ Rural Water

69

F Project | Introduction - Si te Locat ion

Context Map : East Boulevard is shown in blue. The site is within the rectangle.

70

F Project | Si te Context

0’ 200’

0

30,000

60,000

90,000

120,000

150,000

Squa

re fe

et Impervious Surfaces

Parking lotsBuilding Roofs

1401

1401

1801

1501

1500

1601

1600

1405 1409 1413 1419 1501 1511 1525 1531 1617 1621

East Boulevard Address

1608 1600 1528 1520 1514 1512 1500 1412 1801 Scott Ave

17,768 sf

planting strip buffer

parking lots

0.41 acres11,076 gallons of water runoff from 1” rainfall

140,150 sf

building rooftops

3.22 acres87,433 gallons of water runoff from 1” rainfall

271,392 sf6.23 acres169,173 gallons of water runoff from 1” rainfall

pedestrian crosswalk

pedestrian mid-block crossing

street intersection

driveway/parking lot entrance

existing buildings on site

(calculated impervious surface)

street trees

water flow direction

690’

680’

670’660’ 650’

640’

1100 ft toLittle Sugar Creek

Top | These diagrams quantify the amount of (wasted) space in this specific area. Planting strips have the potential to do so much more for both water management and people. Facing Page| Figure ground map of the area. Bar graph shows the area relationship of buildings to parking lots.

71

F Project | Si te Context

0’20

0’ 0

30,0

00

60,0

00

90,0

00

120,

000

150,

000

Square feet

Impe

rvio

us S

urfa

ces

Park

ing

lots

Bui

ldin

g R

oofs

1401

1401

1801

1501

1500

1601

1600

1405

14

09

1413

14

19

1501

15

11

1525

15

31

1617

16

21

East

Bou

leva

rd A

ddre

ss1608

16

00

1528

15

20

1514

15

12

1500

14

12

1801

Sco

tt A

ve

17,7

68 s

f

plan

ting

str

ip b

uffe

r

park

ing

lots

0.41

acr

es11

,076

gal

lons

o

f wat

er r

unof

f fro

m 1

” ra

infa

ll

140,

150

sf

build

ing

roof

tops

3.22

acr

es87

,433

gal

lons

o

f wat

er r

unof

f fro

m 1

” ra

infa

ll

271,

392

sf6.

23 a

cres

169,

173

gallo

ns

of w

ater

run

off f

rom

1”

rain

fall

pede

stri

an c

ross

wal

k

pede

stri

an m

id-b

lock

cro

ssin

g

stre

et in

ters

ectio

n

driv

eway

/par

king

lot e

ntra

nce

exis

ting

build

ings

on

site

(cal

cula

ted

impe

rvio

us s

urfa

ce)

stre

et tr

ees

wat

er fl

ow d

irec

tion

690’

680’

670’

660’

650’

640’

1100

ft to

Littl

e Su

gar

Cre

ek

72

F Project | Context - Stormwater infrastructure

1100 ft

Area waterways

Storm structures Storm channels Storm pipes

Storm structures Storm channels Storm pipes

The site is located within the rectangles above. The site is close to one major water way, the Little Sugar Creek, and another smaller creek that feeds into it.

73

F Project | Context -Soi l types + Watersheds

Soil types

Soil types are important to understand when designing for water infiltration, and soil storage capacity. Because of the widespread clay soils here, the infiltration rates are lower.

74

F Project | Context - Aerial Si te Plan

privately owned outddoor public space

public space

There is little open public space along this corridorhere. Privately owned spaces are back, away from the street. Can the street become more vibrant with publicspaces more visibly on the street?

75

F Project | Context - Aerial Si te Plan

76

F Project | Context - Current Si te Condit ions

Buffer / Edge Conditions

Wasted space?Current site water management

How can the planting strip, the buffer between autos and people, be better utilized for both people and water? When it rains, it’s soggy and undesirable to walk on. How can a buffer be urban and usable for water management, while still making us feel safer, back away from fast moving traffic?

77

F Project | Context - Current Si te Condit ions + Opportunit ies

Opportunities Implemented solutions

Water storage here?

Portland,OR

Victoria, BC

Malmo, Sweden

SeattleBuster Simpson

Boston

Buster Simpson

On East Boulevard

I appreciate these ideas that look at a common problem and attempt to answer it in creative ways.

78

F Project | Context | Si te Photos

Scott Ave | East Boulevard

Cumberland Ave | East Boulevard

Site photos | Site context These photos show the area in its current under utilized state.

79

F Project | Context | Si te Photos

Looking SW | East Boulevard

Looking NE | East Boulevard

80

F Project | Design - Inspirat ion + precedents

visible infrastructure Left to right | Berlin, Brussels, Philadelphia, Brussels

Left to right | China, China, Munich

Left to right | DeYoung Museum, Walker Art Center, Walker Art Center

Left to right | Exhibition Road, London

space

texture

shared street space

http

://th

isbi

gcity

.net

/mix

ing-

cars

-cyc

lists

-pe

dest

rian

s-sh

ared

-spa

ce-l

ondo

n/

These precedents gave me energy and confidence that other places were progressively installing creative solutions into the built environment.

81

F Project | Design - Inspirat ion + precedents

Wind screen | Ned Kahn | West Trade Street, Charlotte

water inspiration

Form inspirations

movement | response to natural environment

Left to right | Y-House, Idea Office, Japan

Left to right | Tipping bucket rain gauge, A building that measures rainfall?, Water patterning, Tributary systems

http

://ar

chda

ily.c

om

Idea Office’s Y-House was my initial inspiration for looking at how a facade can become a seat. This transition could be used in the urban realm too. Later, Ned Kahn’s simple system responsive to wind would trigger similar thoughts about how a system could respond to water.

82

F Project | Design - Si te Plan

Curbless streets encourage a shared space between water, people and vehicles.

Roof collection moving water to the street.

The white grid indicates the path of water movement

Scot

t Ave

nue

East Boulevard

Site plan in the urban context. Tying together the parking spaces, the public space, and water movement. The whole street becomes a plaza. The whole street becomes truly public space.

83

F Project | Design -Si te Plan

Public space functions in commercial and entertainment purposes. Water visibility adds a layer of environmental education and awareness.

Parking deck water collection and movement corresponds with public space. The movement of the water shapes the place.

Water is collected and brought to the bioswales, watering the trees along the way.

Developing the city from mono-functional to multi-functional.

84

F Project | Design - Space Share

Space Share : How can water be used as a medium to slow people and vehicles?

85

F Project | Design - Space Share

Roof collection - conveyance to the street

Water flow

Varied facade that channels, directs, collects

Water conveyance becomes entries, seating, and bus shelters

Water conveyance turned shelter

Water conveyance turned seating

On street parking slows vehicle traffic

Pervious paving slows water and vehicles

Suddenly we can become aware of the natural processes around us without having to go into “nature.”

Creative storage

86

F Project | Design - Retaining + Detaining

32'

60'

15'

16' 16'

Little Sugar Creek +Little Sugar Creek watershed

Flood zone

Reduce down stream flooding

Destination:

Retention

2000 sf

1000 sf1000 sf

1000 sf

1000 sf

timed release

Sidewalk Cistern : 4’ x 4’ x 15’ = 240 cu. ft | 1793 gallon capacity

Working within design standards to integrate water collection into the urban environment.

Water Quantity : 1” Rain + 2000 sf roof = 1247 gallons

Slowingcleansing

sto

rin

g

storing

1247 Gallons

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

1200

1300

1400

1500

1600

1700

1800100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

1200

1300

1400

1500

1600

1700

1800

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

1200

1300

1400

1500

1600

1700

1800

1” Rain

Water Quantity : 1” rain + 2000 sf roof = 1247 gallonsSidewalk Cistern : 4’ x 4’ x 15’ = 240 cu. ft | 1793 gallon capacity

The challenge is to work within design standards to integrate water collection into the urban environment.

87

F Project | Design -Retaining + Detaining

32'

60'

15'

16' 16'

Little Sugar Creek +Little Sugar Creek watershed

Flood zone

Reduce down stream flooding

Destination:

Retention

2000 sf

1000 sf1000 sf

1000 sf

1000 sf

timed release

Sidewalk Cistern : 4’ x 4’ x 15’ = 240 cu. ft | 1793 gallon capacity

Working within design standards to integrate water collection into the urban environment.

Water Quantity : 1” Rain + 2000 sf roof = 1247 gallons

Slowingcleansing

sto

rin

g

storing

1247 Gallons

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

1200

1300

1400

1500

1600

1700

1800100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

1200

1300

1400

1500

1600

1700

1800

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

1200

1300

1400

1500

1600

1700

1800

1” Rain

How can the facade act as a system with the sidewalk to slow and store water?

88

F Project | Design - Sidewalk Cistern + Infrastructure Visibi l i ty

Play!

Can down spoutsmorph into sittable spaces or mailboxes?

Sidewalk Cistern

Visibility and uncovering our infrastructure is a primary goal.

The facade throws water into the right place while sidewalk cisterns frame public space, acting in rhythm and public art, cluing people into their environment.

89

F Project | Design - Sidewalk Cistern + Infrastructure Visibi l i ty

Water management creating entrances and front porches

How can green roofs become more visible, and known from the street?

How can the facade structure other growing opportunities?

90

F Project | Design - Facade Studies

Facade design strategy:Work with the existing facade of Latta Pavilion to upfit it with a rain screen. This is a built example on East Boulevard, and an example of a local design type.

Base

Middle

Top

How can a facade react to water? The above studies illustrate the multitude of configurations.

Dis

play

Col

lect

Expe

rien

ce

Shel

ter

91

F Project | Design - Facade StudiesSt

ore

Art

icul

ate

Dep

osit

Enga

ge

92

F Project | Design - Facade Studies

Stopper

Critical Elements to the frame assembly

Frame attachment configuration studies

Pivot point

The goal is to make a facade become performative and move from mono-functional to multi-functional.

Benefits: Sun shading, educational, awareness and appreciation of natural systems, kinetic and public art, modular, possibility for user control of movement.

93

F Project | Design - Facade Studies

Catchment drains to cistern and walkable rain garden

Wall of tipping cups creates a water fall effect.

94

F Project | Design - Walkable Rain Garden

Sidewalk as collaged experience

Bridging panel

Stamped concrete

Stones add texture, filtration and permeability

Water weaves down East Boulevard

Grate hole aperaturesvary to allow for peering into, permeability and sustaining healthy plant growth

Redefine the sidewalk, reveal processes, open opportunities, layer functions.

95

F Project | Design - Walkable Rain Garden

Sidewalk material section and plan

These diagrams illustrate one possible sidewalk section (top) and two different views in plan (middle, bottom). The grate pattern allows a passerby to see into the system, whether it’s rocks or water.

96

F Project | Design - Grate Panel Detai ls

CL

1/2 scale panel layout example

horizontal sectionbridging panel [ smaller perforations ]

connection between panels

vertical section

plan view

grate frame

6” = 1’-0”

3” = 1’-0”

hinge

3 7 1 1““““ 4168 8

2’

2’

These modular panels are designed to be easily accessible for maintenance. The patterning of the holes evokes a fluid motion while allowing passers-by to peer in, catching glimpses of the changes happening underfoot. Bridging panels are designed to alleviate worries of heels catching. This surface is intended to catch attention and awareness of the ephemeral changes often gone unnoticed.

CL

1/2 scale panel layout example

horizontal sectionbridging panel [ smaller perforations ]

connection between panels

vertical section

plan view

grate frame

6” = 1’-0”

3” = 1’-0”

hinge

3 7 1 1““““ 4168 8

2’

2’

97

F Project | Design - Grate Panel Detai ls

98

F Project | Design - Material s tudies

Top Left, Right | Esquisse : This was a two part experiment meant to show water lines and the presence of something that is now absent, showing the signature of water. Left : The golden grate represents water, above ground and below ground. This is an imagination-required study about how to create space with water. This model can be read in plan and section, at close detail and at a broader elevation scale. The yard stick refers to the accumulation of water: 1” rainfall over 1000 sf roof = 623 gallons. Bottom | Material studies : I started with the model in the top left, working towards the lower right. A vacuum form was used to create the cups.

Bel

ow G

roun

d

99

F Project | Design - Tipping Cup Test Panel

The test panel allowed a visualization of the relationship between a few factors: cup size, location, distance, and other features on the cups that would change the water movement, such as an extension on the cups. The stoppers could be made out of a material that would create a musical tone as the cups tilted and turned.

100

F Project | Design - Test Panel Tests

Stills from a movie capture the kinetic movement of the tipping cups when filled with water. The whole facade becomes activated as the water fills and empties down the facade. A waterfall effect is seen while the clinking of the cups sounds a musical rhythm.

101

F Project | Design - Model - Walkable Rain Garden

The section of the model is seen here with examples of what the underground rain garden could look like. A french drain between the bike lane and the parking lane also drains into the rain garden. The waterway can be designed with different depths. It is over excavated to build in more storage capacity, which is important with the clay soils.

102

F Project | Design - Model - Facade Components

The tipping cups are seen here on the elevation. They also double as a shading screen. The pattern could be denser on southern facing facades to aid in shading. The screen hovers off the facade, intersecting the balconies, allowing one to occupy the space behind the screen on the balcony, changing one’s relationship to the tipping cups.

103

F Project | Design - Model - Faacade + Ground Plane

Here the tributary pattern stamped into the parking can be seen. The water is channeled into the drain between the bike lane and the parking lane. Water is also channeled to drain into the rain garden directly through the sidewalk. When heavy rains fall water flowing over the road becomes more of a phenomenon that is interesting to watch. One can also see the relationship of the facade to the sidewalk.

104

F Project | Design - Conclusions

105

F Project | Design - Conclusions + Moving Forward

What comes next?

A few thoughts arose from the conversation at my final reviews. Mostly there are questions, but there are also strategic moves that could be incorporated down the line. Here are snippets of the conversation:

Determine what is public and privately funded and operated.

Design for a flooding situation - how do the sidewalks flood?

Is there an opportunity to celebrate when the streets flood?

Architecture as performative - activation of the surface, activating delight.

Inspiring awareness of natural systems through architecture.

Generate power through the tipping buckets - work is being done!

Can each part - the facade and walkable rain garden, stand on their own? Can they be phased in separately? (Yes!)

Is this public art? Why aren’t architects designing more public art? (Tap into the 1% budget for public art.) (It could be public art.)

Cistern could engage the public when it’s full. Perhaps it’s underground, but when it’s full it seeps up and you can read the gauge.

Either develop a case to:1. Retrofit existing building stock - which would be using the screen in layers. (Could be cut out of design?)2. Integrate further into architecture, move away from the layered application.

This project could increase participation in the public - removing the disconnect.

It is presented like a menu of options, a kit of parts. (Yes, so you can pick and choose.)

This could be the only green block in the middle of a drought. (A perfect illustration of change.)

106

G Tracking Action + Interviews

Philadelphia studio

Traveling Fellowship Proposal

Interview: Ruurd Schoolderman

Win Traveling Fellowship

Interview: Piet Dirke

Interview: Douzan Doepel

Rijswijk, Netherlands

Interview: Koen Olthuis

The Hague, Netherlands

Interview: Stijn Koole

Interview: Brian Scott

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Interview: Pauliene Hartog

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Interview: Florian Boers

Interview: Tom Tavella : ASLA President

Interview: Storm water o�cials, Charlotte and Mecklenburg County

Interview: Storm water strategic analyst: Rick Johnson

Interview: Nette Compton: NYC Parks + Rec,

Interview: Chip Cannon: Urban Design Partners - Charlotte

Interview: Tom Keeling, WasmerKeeling Architects - Charlotte

Interview: Artist Jann Rosen-Queralt - Baltimore

Interview: Neil Weinstein, Low Impact Development Center - D.C.

Interview: Engineer: Sara McMillian, UNCC

Workshop: Stormwater Charrette with City of Beaufort, SC

Charleston, SC

Read | Research | Frame Question

Present: Soak Store Release Traveling Fellowship to AIA

Present: Soak Store Release Traveling Fellowship to SoA

Interview: Civil Engineer: Helene Hilger

Travel: NYC see: Van Alen Institute Exhibition: Brooklyn Bridge Park

City of the Museum of NY: Reimagining the waterfront: Manhattan’s

East River Esplanade

Hamburg, Germany

Utrecht, Netherlands

Copenhagen, Denmark

Malmo, Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden Interview: Stephanie Zeller

Aug-Dec Jan. Feb.

May

June

July Aug Sept Oct

Nov

Dec

2012

Picking up speed...

2011

Water Consultant

Tracking thesis activities

Architect

Landscape Architect

Urban Designer

Academia

Engineer

Presentations : Outreach

Artist

Travel

In order to gather as much information as I could, I spoke to as many practicing individuals as possible. Between traveling and talking to professionals, a more fuller picture of the challenges was developed.

107

Philadelphia studio

Traveling Fellowship Proposal

Interview: Ruurd Schoolderman

Win Traveling Fellowship

Interview: Piet Dirke

Interview: Douzan Doepel

Rijswijk, Netherlands

Interview: Koen Olthuis

The Hague, Netherlands

Interview: Stijn Koole

Interview: Brian Scott

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Interview: Pauliene Hartog

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Interview: Florian Boers

Interview: Tom Tavella : ASLA President

Interview: Storm water o�cials, Charlotte and Mecklenburg County

Interview: Storm water strategic analyst: Rick Johnson

Interview: Nette Compton: NYC Parks + Rec,

Interview: Chip Cannon: Urban Design Partners - Charlotte

Interview: Tom Keeling, WasmerKeeling Architects - Charlotte

Interview: Artist Jann Rosen-Queralt - Baltimore

Interview: Neil Weinstein, Low Impact Development Center - D.C.

Interview: Engineer: Sara McMillian, UNCC

Workshop: Stormwater Charrette with City of Beaufort, SC

Charleston, SC

Read | Research | Frame Question

Present: Soak Store Release Traveling Fellowship to AIA

Present: Soak Store Release Traveling Fellowship to SoA

Interview: Civil Engineer: Helene Hilger

Travel: NYC see: Van Alen Institute Exhibition: Brooklyn Bridge Park

City of the Museum of NY: Reimagining the waterfront: Manhattan’s

East River Esplanade

Hamburg, Germany

Utrecht, Netherlands

Copenhagen, Denmark

Malmo, Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden Interview: Stephanie Zeller

Aug-Dec Jan. Feb.

May

June

July Aug Sept Oct

Nov

Dec

2012

Picking up speed...

2011

Water Consultant

Tracking thesis activities

Architect

Landscape Architect

Urban Designer

Academia

Engineer

Presentations : Outreach

Artist

Travel

G Tracking Action + Interviews

108 | Bibliography + References

109

H Bibl iography + References

| Bibl iography:

Augé, Marc. Non-places: introduction to an anthropology of supermodernity. London: Verso, 1995.

Boer, Florian, Jens Jorritsma, Dirk van Peijpe. De Urbanisten and the Wondrous Water Square. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, De Urbanisten, 2010.

Bishop, Peter, and Lesley Williams. The Temporary City. London: Routledge, 2012.

Blood, Jessica. “Landscape as Infrastructure? How landscape can precede housing development and set the parameters for its location, density and relationship to the Maribyrnong River” Master of Landscape Architecture Thesis. School of Architecture + Design, RMIT University, October 2006. http://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/eserv/rmit:6330/Blood.pdf, accessed Nov. 23, 2012.

Brown, Rebekah R. “Impediments to Integrated Urban Stormwater Management: The Need for Institutional Reform.” Environmental Management (2005) 36, no.3 pp 455-468

Calthorpe, Peter. Urbanism in the age of climate change. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2010.

Carr, Stephen. Public Space. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Dreiseitl, Herbert, and Dieter Grau. Recent Waterscapes: Planning, Building and Designing with Water. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2009.

France, R. L. Facilitating Watershed Management: Fostering Awareness and Stewardship. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefied Publishers, 2005.

Gehl, Jan. Life Between Buildings. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1987.

Gehl, Jan. Cities for People. Island Press, 2010.

GreenWorks Philadelphia: Update and 2012 Progress Report. City of Philadelphia: Mayor’s Office of Sustainability www.phila.gov/green

Low, Thomas E. Light Imprint Handbook: Integrating Sustainability and Community Design. Charlotte, N.C.: dzp Charlotte, Architects and Town Planners, 2008.

Marcus, Clare Cooper, and Carolyn Francis. People Places: Design Guidelines for Urban Open Space. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1990.

Mostafavi, Mohsen and Careth Doherty. Ed. Ecological Urbanism. Lars Muller Publishers, 2010.

France, Robert L. Handbook of Water Sensitive Planning and Design. CRC Press, May 2002.

Hahn Simeon et al. “Regional Restoration Planning in the Delaware Estuary Ecosystem Valuation Along an Urban Waterfront (Philadelphia PA)” http://www.darrp.noaa.gov/pdf/DE_Regional_Restoration_Poster.pdf

Master Plan for the Central Delaware: Transforming Philadelphia’s Waterfront. Delaware River Waterfront Corporation. Final Draft June 2011. http://www.delawareriverwaterfrontcorp.com/media/summaryreport110609.pdf

Place

Water

Tactical Urbanism

WSUD

Water

Cities+climate

Public space

Water

Water

Public Space

Public Space

Green Plans

LID

Public space

Ecological Urbanism

WSUD

Ecosystems

PhiladelphiaMaster Plan

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PhiladelphiaStormwater

Places

PhiladelphiaMasterplanning

Civic Infrastructure

Water Design

Water Design

Civic Infrastructure

Landscape UrbanismFlooding

WSUD

Public Space

Green Infrastructure

Flooding

LID

LID

LID

O’Connor Houstoun, Feather. “Philly’s Proposed Green Stormwater Plan:A plan in Philadelphia to build a greener, more sustainable stormwater system may well blast green infrastructure into the mainstream.” Governing the States and Localities. September 2010. http://www.governing.com/topics/energy-env/proposed-stormwater-plan-philadelphia-emphasizes-green-infrastructure.html

Oldenburg, Ray. The Great Good Place: Cafés, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community. New York: Marlowe & Company, 1999.

Philadelphia 2035. http://phila2035.org/

Rosenburg, Elissa. “Public Works and Public Space: Rethinking the Urban Park.” Journal of Architectural Education (1984-) Vol. 50, No. 2 (Nov., 1996) pp. 89-103. Accessed 9-12-2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1425359

Roy, Allison H. et al. “Impediments and Solutions to Sustainable, Watershed-scale Urban Stormwater Management: Lessons from Australia and the United States.” Environmental Management (2008) 42: 344-359.

Sipes, James. Sustainable solutions for water resources : policies, planning, design, and implementation. Wiley, 2010.

University of Virginia. Design Strategies for a Sustaining Piedmont: Case Studies. [Charlottesville, Va.]: The Institute, 1998.

Waldheim, Charles. Ed. The Landscape Urbanism Reader. Princeton Architectural Press, 2006

Watson, Donald, and Michele Adams. Design for Flooding: Architecture, Landscape, and Urban Design for Resilience to Flooding and Climate Change. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2011.

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Manuals:High Performance Landscape Guide. Design Trust for Public Space and City of New York Parks and Recreation, 2011.

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H Bibl iography + References

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Final Presentation Layout. May 3, 2013

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I Appendix | Sketches - Related Ideas

When designing I tend to think of lots of details simultaneously. Here are a few ideas sketched as they came to me. Top Left | How can this buffer zone be better used?Bottom Left | How can grey water become part of the mix? Bottom Right | How can the debris build up become productive or useful?

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I Appendix | Sketches - Facade studies

These drawings come from earlier (top) and later (bottom) facade studies of how water can be directed visibly and more productively on the facade to the street.

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I Appendix | Sketches - Streetscape Studies

This page represents a collection of street sections and details. I was interested in exploring different patterns, and different ways to activate street furniture, such as a bench. How can these features also contribute to water storage? How can the sidewalk be used the most effectively? Top Left | Current medians have plantings, but no extra water storage - why not over excavate and invite the water in?

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I Appendix | Sketches - Streetscape Detai ls

Here I was experimenting with different street patterns to think about how water could be a mediator between traffic and people. Going beyond the sidewalk, how can the street be more integrated and act as a plaza? Top Left | Introducing curves to slow traffic.Top Right | Can plants peek through the sidewalk? How do you prevent cars from driving over the edge? Bottom Left | Can center medians collect water running off of side streets? Can these become places?

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I Appendix | Sketches - Urban Design planning

Working at a broader urban scale, the large sketch aims to program public spaces specifically for a water process purpose, like filtering, storing, etc. Top Left | Can water fill in designed reveals in the road to slow traffic? Top Right | Apartment and urban building design typologies.

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I Appendix | Sketches - Street Sect ions

Street sections are good ways to work out proportions and relationships between the horizontal and vertical surfaces. Sections are also important to order movement and traffic flow, as well as water flow.

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I Appendix | Sketches - Spout Space + Facade Ideas

Spout Spaces derived out of thinking beyond down spouts into how they could channel water and create pubic space at their intersection with the sidewalk. These apertures could be the host for other urban amenities like lighting, seating, signage, and bus shelters.

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I Appendix | Sketches - Spout Space + Facade Ideas

More details of how the Spout Spaces could shape the streetscape. They could be turned into seating for restaurants, places to grow things, or urban water falls that filter the water. Bottom Left, Right | Final wall section sketches include placement of the screen.

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I Appendix | Sketches - Final Sect ion Model Building Detai ls

These are working sketches of how I figured out how to build the section model - casting the Rockite and inserting the form work and reinforcement. Casting is tricky because you have to design backwards and upside down. I poured it so the bottom was the top.

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I Appendix | Sketches - Final Tipping Cup Design Drawings

Drawings of my tipping cup detailing. Many of the details were worked out in physical model, but I still needed to design the stops and the bracket for the frame. There seemed to be endless cup designs.

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