new sketches

New Design

This is one of 16 new images I've uploaded to my picasaweb- too many to blog, so please go have a look and let me know what you think!

Regent Street Images

Above is the situation as it is being proposed by the engineers doing the work on the parking garage- the curb edge on the right is where the gutter currently is. there is room for parked cars on the left and 2 lanes of two-way traffic.

This is imagining the 9' of parking space to the left reclaimed as usable space underneath the shade of the trees. This is valuable space and will not be needed when the parking garage is put in-

This is imagining the space with a more contiguous paving surface, both in material and in elevation. there could be the gutters put in that are found in many places- the trench gutters that are still traversable by wheelchair- by combining these moves, we can imagine the space begin to feel like one space and the priority given to pedestrians.

This is the ideal situation- the street ahead has been converted to a one-way street going north and narrowed to 14'. Trees are added to the right side and the 'landing' area widened to 12.5'- enough for standing, resting, waiting, sitting. the street is narrow enough to cross without fear and still handles one-way traffic to connectwith 26th from the south. The area under the trees would be further developed to accommodate pedestrian movement at any point, and strategies will have to be implemented to protect the root zones from compaction.

Roundabout

So, Jody and I were talking about this area in the above drawing. I'm considering a heavier 'greening' of the plaza than previously- meaning getting more green plants in there- for shade, coolness, etc. A biophilic wonderland. ok, maybe not, but before i had considered keeping the entire space wide open and not having trees run W-E on the site to keep a clear view from library to CM.

We could maybe have both- with different plant material. The crepe myrtles have topped out at abot 15' tall and if we had elms in there - or some other UPward growing material, the view could be preserved while providing shade for the sun-weary denizens of Bryan in the summer as they traverse to the downtown region and back.

Another thought- illustrated above and below- this line of trees bisecting the space- they seem to be pointing to something- so why not give them something to point at? a Roundabout. to slow traffic. to create interest. to be the culmination of the linear forest.

and while we're at it, why not move the fireman's monument there? it's off-limits to interaction of any type anyway, and it could be honored by becoming a focal point in the area- AND it would be closer to the old firestation. Not illustrated here are the various changes to be suggested in paving material and street-narrowing shenanigans. more on that later.

Fireman's Monument

When I spoke with the Carnegie librarian and mentioned maybe moving the monument, she just about flipped out. It's interesting dealing with such a real site and with things that people feel very passionate about. Evidently it was a BIG deal to get the monument moved from the cemetery where it stood for a long time to this park. it's now chained off so people can't stand on it or do anything else to it- i guess there was some vandalism at one time.

You can see the pictures above the ceremony that took place in 1996 when it was moved. The building that's now the children's museum was the fire station for a long time, so this definitely needs to stay in the plaza and in a prominent place to honor the memory of these firefighters and appease the folks in the city who vigilantly hold on to tradition and artifact.

The bell and monument both I think could be repositioned and given greater honor and purpose than they currently have- the monument doesn't really say much about its purpose and the bell is just there to ring- no historic reference to what it actually was at one time.

Historic Images

I went to the Carnegie Library today and spoke with several ladies there that knew a LOT! Very helpful. These are images of the site before... well, before a lot of things- in the first image above, the old municipal building, now the children's museum, stands with a Municipal Park in front of it. If we were to see this view today, we'd be standing on 26th street looking south right at the north entrance to the new library building, which was built over this park.

This image below is taken from 26th street, looking east and you can see the north edge of the park.

This is the OLD fire station, no longer around, and the bell tower houses the bell that is now in the plaza- that was the bell that would call the fireman to attention to get them movin'!

And this shows the park looking north from the 2nd story window of the municipal bldg, now the children's museum. it really looks like there are palms of some sort in the center planting beds. very very interesting photo.

topos and tilts

The topography of the site is very flat- from corner to corner it's 225' and drops a grand total of 2'... wow. So the model below is exaggerated a bit... 

And this is something I've been thinking concerning the kinetic landscape- since the 'natural' ground plane is so flat, what if the ground plane itself was something one could interact with? There are several examples in contemporary landscape architecture of rotating planes- even entire plazas rotating with planted trees and all, so why not a ground plane see-saw?

This could be at several scales- one where the length of the one below was 10', 20' even? longer, thinner ones? shorter ones? would be a great interactive bit for big and little kids alike. 

The construction of such a feature would be thrilling to figure out- cor-ten steel, 1/8" margins, 10" thick solid steel center pivot- the result would be visceral, a real treat, i think...