I've had quite the busy holiday season. I took an elective class over the winter intersession about architectural competitions. We did some research on the history of architectural competitions before taking on a competition of our own. My group decided to take on Bee Breeder's Rome Collective Living Challenge. Rome has had years of unemployment, raises in rent, housing shortages, and now many are homeless. Similar to many urban centers, it is becoming unaffordable. Our group's mission was to design a concept for affordable co-living in Rome, to not only provide more housing, but foster community interactions among the inhabitants. Our flexible design takes advantage of the unused space over the Tiber River that cuts through Rome. Large columns support what is a essentially a large bridge connecting the neighborhoods on either side of the river. The first level is completely devoted to small retail and restaurant spaces on the "street" that is created between the building's mass. The rest of the bridge is a park with several acres of walking paths, trees, and areas for children to play. The site we chose as an example has an empty lot next to the river which has been repurposed into a piazza for socializing and holding markets.
On the upper floors there are standard 2, 3 and 4 bedroom units, however a large portion of the programmed space is meant to be communal spaces, such as workspaces, libraries, gyms, lounges, daycares, and even rooftop gardens. The spaces are large, adaptable to the needs of those inhabiting these buildings, and spaced throughout so there is a communal space near every person's home. The building itself is comprised of seven different "modules" that house varying amounts of people and contain different sized communal spaces. These modules make it easy to apply this solution to any location along the Tiber River based on size and existing land features. Click here to see all the final boards for our project!
0 Comments
IQC visited Altus back in August, and since then we have compiled a booklet of our proposed changes for the city. The main ideas are:
The most ambitious recommendation is for the intersection at Katy Drive and Navajoe Street. The improvements here involved many of the basic walkability safety features for all the roads we toured. The town should create 6 foot wide sidewalks around the entire area and turn the intersection at Katy Drive and Navajoe Street into a mini-roundabout. The existing intersection is about 48 feet across, which allows room for a mini-roundabout without having to pour new asphalt or alter the street beyond painting it. There is space for a 15 foot street around an 18 foot diameter center island. Curb extensions painted on the corners and crosswalks added on all sides improve crossing safety. All of these sidewalks should include street lighting and amenities such as benches and trash bins. Our plans to improve the railroad crossing involve many of the tactics to improve overall walkability safety. Currently the crossing has no sidewalks, no railroad crossing arm or signage, and the road is very curved with a high speed limit for the area.
This past Thursday IQC visited Altus, Oklahoma, a town of about 19,000 people and hour west of Lawton. We did a walkthrough circle of the roads from the Parks and Recreation Department by Missile Park, past Altus Primary School, down Inis Street, west along E. County Road 165, and back up Navajoe Street to the Parks and Rec building. Afterwards we had a meeting to discuss our findings. Right off the bat we noticed a couple of consistent issues. There was a severe lack of sidewalks down the major North/South road Navajoe Street. Asalee Street, the road that leads from Navajoe to the elementary school, also had a lack of sidewalks, or poorly maintained sidewalks. We recommend that the city prioritize the addition and maintenance of sidewalks along these primary walking routes for children to safely walk to school, and citizens to be able to walk to the downtown area. We noticed that at the railroad tracks there was a lack of crossing arm or signage, which seems unsafe. Another safety issue was that there were no streetlights. This poses a hazard for people walking at dawn or dusk, especially in the winter months where the sun sets early. The last safety problem we noticed was a few of the intersections along Navajoe Street lacked stop signs or other signage, and the speed limit along the street seemed a little high for a residential street. Lowering this limit and altering intersections with stop signs would improve vehicular safety.
Other non-safety related observations were that Missile Park seems like an under-appreciated asset to the town. Altus had recently opened a splash pad near the park that is free for people to use. Placing better signage at the surrounding roads and wayfinding signs would increase usage of this park and promote walking in the area south of the railroad tracks. I look forward to working with IQC on our formal proposal for the City of Altus. After our visit to Comanche, Oklahoma, back in April, the IQC team got to work designing a new community center concept for the town. These are the graphics depicting our final design. The site of the previous Woodrow Wilson building is on a huge empty lot of which the city of Comanche has obtained a majority. We developed a site plan for the entire lot for the future development of Comanche's main civic center. In addition to the community center, Comanche would like to build a new city hall, a police station, and a fire station. The potential fire station, which would have 8 to 10 bays, is located at the corner of two streets, right next to a major highway to quickly respond to many areas within the county. The city hall is located overlooking the highway. There is a steep drop off right before the highway, so the city hall would have an excellent view looking east. The community center is located to the west on the remains of the Woodrow Wilson building. A roundabout to the north would connect the community center and city hall, providing some additional parking and a drop-off area. In between all of the buildings is a park. There is a linear path that creates a physical and visual connection between the two main buildings. Although not included on the plan, there is space for a police station to be constructed next to the city hall. Final Plans |
In my previous post I outlined the beginning steps of my first "real-world" project that wasn't related to school. While it took significantly more time than planned (thanks to my laptop permanently dying on me and having to juggle time with my primary job), I got it done. It feels good to have done it 100% on my own with only the aide of my partner and to have successfully navigated the world of architectural drawings. We measured the outside of the building from top to bottom, and every single room inside of it, then made it in digital form. |
The building is not in very good condition. The roof is full of holes that leak whenever it rains. There is so much water damage to all of the antiques. Walls are cracked and crumbling, old wood is rotting, and a few of the windows are broken. There is progress however. As of the end of this last week, the windows on the west and north side have been replaced and the roof is mostly fixed. Construction workers are chipping out the glass block on the north side and tearing down the wood on the sides, to be replaced likely with storefront type windows to allow more natural light inside. Work on the roof is continuing and soon enough the contents within will once again be safe from water damage. Here are some of the pictures I have taken of the exterior and interior as I have worked on site. |
Current student.
World traveler.
Future architect.
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018