Precedent Studies - The Gates, NYC

The following images explore one of the precedents we have looked at, The Gates, an installation in Central Park, New York City in 2005. The research of this lead to looking at Japanese torii gates. As well as information regarding the installation, the first sheet outlines why we see this as a relevant case study.

_development . . .

Briggate overlay on two images of the River Amazon. Can Briggate be compared with a river?

THOUGHTS??

Tending the Tributaries 1 - Bus Station

The top image here shows the existing main routes from the bus station to Briaggte. The second image is an initial exploration of how these main flows could be re-directed and redefined to create new tributaries which enhance the experience of the journey. This is very crude, but I'll be working it up from this point into a more substantial diagram.

Briggate's historical grain

These images represent how the building grain on what is now the pedestrian section of Briggate has developed since the 18th century. These images were produced using the historical maps. Not considering individual plots, the massing of the buildings seems to have evolved in a circle over the past few hundred years; although I think this contradicts with the burgage plots history we discussed earlier in the week (more on that in response to Rick's post yesterday). I would suggest that the plots were initially built directly next to each other but the need for access to the rear created the alleyways and yards apparent in 1815 and 1850 altered this. By the 20th century some of these yards were filled in and by 2008 few remain. The 1850 and 2008 images provide the clearest comparison I feel. Anyway, something to develop.

_ light node development

Development of creating nodes in and around Briggate city centre for people to follow. Potential areas to develop.

_redefinition group discussion 23rd Oct . . .

Development of redefinition:

BRIGGATE- REVITALISING THE FLOW BE TENDING THE TRIBUTARIES.

-flow of people to tribute to Briggate, 2 main focus- TRAIN AND BUS STATIONS.

-diagram showing the tributaries [streets, arcades etc] running into the main river [Briggate]

-nodes becoming islands in the river to break/dam/direct the flow of people around and to Briggate. Abstract photo shopped images.

-3 main areas broken down to work on: Bus station areas- Karl. Train Station area- Rick. Arcades- Ed. To explore existing area uses, flows, direction and access to Briggate. Proposed areas for islands and redevelopment.

- Briggate as a River- case study to overlay a famous water way ie. Venice, River Amazon over Briggate to follow.

Tutorial Meeting 21st Oct . . .

Discussion with Steve Moran about definition and progression to redefinition.

Number of books to note that can be useful

• Courtyard and Alleways of Leeds by Stuart Fell
• Navigation of Cities by Kevin Lynch
• Lamberts Courtyard by Stuart Fell.
• The Image of the City by Kevin Lynch- grain, landmarks and nodes, how they work in cities.

-Creating a narrative to tell the story of project. Idea of making story/character to talk in to Presentation.

-How Briggate used to be the traffic interchange. Relation to old maps and how the main street used to be. Split into Burgage Plots originally creating more ginals and arcades which have slowly been built up over years.

-IDEA that Briggate is a main river flowing down with tributaries flowing off and into the other streets. Linking to the bottom to the existing river at the bottom of Briggate.

NARRATIVE ARCHITECTURE - NATO Organisation

squint opera - picture a city

Connecting the City, Part 2.

Following yesterday's images I have developed the following which shows this molecular structure as it is and as it could potentially be. This is just an idea to get us going.

Following the comments, here's another version of the above image with the lower diagram changed so that only the new/altered connections and nodes are in colour and the arrows have been removed.

Connecting the City, Part 1.

two steps backwards . .

Briggate can be viewed and defined in plan form but none of its architectural richness is reflected by this. Mapping patterns along the elevation leads to a greater understanding of the streets social character, architectural merit, building use,negatives and positives and highlights the fall that occurs that might not be apparent when using just a plan to define the space.

refining the concept

_ 16th Oct Group Discussion

GROUP MEETING KEY DISCUSSION POINTS

• Linking the nodes,: highlighting a series of important spaces and areas for a series of events and possibilites eg. green spaces, urban tree houses, as well as including existing ones such as city square. 
• Horizontal and vertical elements in a molecular type structure.

• Briggate as a pier: bringing people above the ground level and sea of consumerism. 
• Gives the opportunity to reduce decaying spaces to improve the physical and visual links. These will form ket new nodes in the city.
• Creating a molecular structure throughout the city.
• Briggate as a core of ocean events.

• DEFINITION . . . 'A decaying sea of consumerism'
• REDEFINITION . . . 'Core of a vibrant ocean of events and possibilites' 

Other elements to add such as future tasks and development of project.

urban treehouse

look at this chaps words/pics from - https://www.madisonsquarepark.org/programs/madsqart.aspx + http://madsqhuts.wordpress.com/

For nearly three decades, the career of Japanese-born artist Tadashi Kawamata has been, in a word, transformative. His public installations, also known as “displacements,” transform the spaces they occupy, as whole environments are turned inside-out. Under Kawamata’s direction, complex and chaotic architectural growths of raw lumber, found objects and construction scraps bloom around existing aspects of the urban landscape. Playing upon the dialectic of construction and destruction that characterizes the life cycle of public space, Kawamata’s artistic practice is finely attuned to a site’s history, use, and physical characteristics. His building style is organic and improvisational, with little predetermined. Beginning with his acclaimed installation at the 1982 Venice Biennale, Kawamata has developed a site-specific, thoroughly engaged and unique synthesis of fine art, architecture, and sociological experiment. The result has been transformative—not only of countless public environments, but of the very concept of contemporary public art. Tree huts in particular are an emerging focus of Kawamata’s work; a crystallization of Kawamata’s interest in the architecture of shelter and of the insertion of private objects into public spaces as a method of renegotiating the meaning of both. Tadashi Kawamata: Tree Huts will mark the artist’s first exploration of this theme on a North American site following tree hut exhibitions at Art Basel 2007, in Trondheim, Norway, as part of the Generator 2007 program and at Galerie Kamel Mennour in Paris, 2008. In keeping with Kawamata’s emphasis on a unique creative process, the artist-in-residency program will invite visitors to witness, explore and interpret the evolution of the first Mad. Sq. Art project to be entirely fabricated in situ, and Kawamata’s first public installation in New York City since his landmark Roosevelt Island Smallpox Hospital project in 1992. About Tadashi Kawamata Tadashi Kawamata was born in 1953 on the Japanese island of Hokaido. Since the early 1980s, his ambitious, site-specific sculptural installations have won him worldwide acclaim as one of the preeminent artists of the past two decades. Combining the disciplines of sculpture, installation art and architecture with socio-historic and geographical research, Kawamata has made an international reputation by fashioning humble materials and found objects such as untreated lumber, chairs, barrels and construction scraps into poetic and transformative interventions into public space. His “Project on Roosevelt Island” (1992), in which Kawamata surrounded the island’s derelict Smallpox Hospital building with a massive and complex web of simple wood scaffolding, remains one of the most well known and highly regarded solo public art works in New York City’s history. Kawamata’s work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions, both in Japan and abroad, most notably at the Venice Biennale (1982), Documenta VIII (1987), the Saõ Paulo International Biennale (1987), Documenta XI (1992), the Contemporary Art Biennale in Lyon (1993), Exhibition for the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, Geneva (1995), Munster Skulptor Projekt (1997), the Chapelle Saint-Louis de la Salpetrière (1997), the eleventh Sydney Biennale (1998), the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial (2000), the fourth Shanghai Biennale (2002), the Busan Biennale (2002), and the Valencia Biennial (2003).

Movement Study

Time Study

Redefining Briggate

Following on from the previous diagrams showing the uses of Briggate's buildings this image suggests how the insertion of public space may begin to redefine the street.

fighting back the decay

the image below indicates areas along the elevation of Briggate that we feel portray a negative image and could form a basis for our redefinition

Portland Aerial Tramway

The Portland Aerial Tram is an aerial tramway in Portland, Oregon carrying commuters between the city's South Waterfront district and the main Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) campus, located in the Marquam Hill neighbourhood. It is the second commuter aerial tramway in the United States (after New York City's Roosevelt Island Tramway). The tram travels a horizontal distance of 3,300 feet (5/8 mi, 1 km) and a vertical distance of 500 feet (150 m) in a ride that lasts three minutes.

The tram cost $57 million to build—a nearly fourfold increase over initial cost estimates, which was one of several sources of controversy concerning the project. A round-trip tram ticket costs $4; the tram is free for OHSU employees, patients, students, and visitors.

The tram consists of two stations and a single intermediate tower. Two tram cars operate on parallel track ropes and are pulled in unison by a haul rope which is driven by an engine at the lower terminal; when one car is at the upper terminal, the other is at the lower terminal, and vice versa. The lower station is located beside an OHSU facility in the South Waterfront neighbourhood, adjacent to a stop on the Portland Streetcar line, which connects the South Waterfront neighbourhood with downtown Portland. The upper station is located adjacent to OHSU Hospital, on the university's Marquam Hill campus. The two stations are exactly east and west of each other separated by a horizontal distance of 3,300 feet (5/8 mi, 1 km) and a vertical distance of 500 feet (150 m). The maximum vertical clearance between the tram and the ground is 175 feet (53.4 m)^.

The tram route crosses over Interstate 5 as well as major thoroughfares such as Barbur Boulevard, Oregon Route 10 (Naito Parkway), and Oregon Route 43 (Macadam Avenue). The intermediate tower is located east of Interstate 5 close to the South Waterfront station. As a result of this configuration, much of the journey is significantly elevated above the ground, making the tram easily visible for some distance, and providing tram riders with good views of the eastern metropolitan area and the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington. The alternative to riding the tram is via public roadways which require a 1.9 mile (3.1 km) route with numerous stoplights and intersections. This route includes a short stretch of busy U.S. Route 26, as well as twisty Sam Jackson Park Road which ascends the side of the Tualatin Mountains to the hospital campus.

Hate Something, Change Something

. . . . ed's thought for the day

do we need to look at the way Briggate links with the rest of the city, currently there isn't a great link from the train station, woodhouse lane, and the new resi across where I am, do you think it is worth focusing on these connections? i think they wants to see an 'intention' objectively there isn't currently much wrong with Briggate, it works very well as a shopping street, its the value that we are going to add to this that we need to bring across perhaps? going back to the issue of engaging people with their surroundings is our intention to reduce the permeability across the city but strengthen a series of connections, creating spaces - connection places.

I think that we only need to identify the places of decay, its a tricky one because if we remove+add stuff all we are doing is creating a proposal, is it worth looking to the streets that connection to Briggate for their redundant upper spaces? it would end up of as a cool diagram of this line linking boxes across the city identifying new public spaces that link back to Briggate

City Lounge by Carlos Martinez

City Lounge is an outdoor space in the center of St. Gallen, Switzerland, that has been designed by Carlos Martinez in collaboration with Pipilotti Rist, as a result of a design competition to create a public living room.

A red carpet flows all around the buildings, recreating places to relax, places to converse, places to park, fountains, even fake cars you can climb on.

Taken from http://coolboom.net/landscape-design/city-lounge-by-carlos-martinez/

Briggate Pier and masterplanning

Faced against the 'sea of consumerism' that is Briggate, our initial discussions today have lead us to evolve the idea of a 'Briggate Pier' rising over the sea and providing a fresh outlook on the architectural interest above the bland shop fronts. Currently, nothing manipulates or dictates people's movements down the pedestrianis
ed streets besides individual preference, an object or obstacle in this space would force people into a different form of action and engagement. The notion of a pier, continuing at a level platform from the north end of Briggate's pedestrianised zone would, would force this change.

The questions we need to ask are:

• What do users currently get from the space?
• How would the Pier affect this?

The Pier would act as a means of connecting the street to surrounding building's and spaces, physically and psychologically.

This needs to fit in as part of a larger masterplan and we need to address this on Thursday in more detail. My initial thoughts are that perhaps we revisit the 'beach' idea and create a series of playful, fun activities, spaces and architectural interventions around Briggate with the Pier acting as the focal point. These interventions do not have to happen at ground floor level, from our redefintion we discovered a lack of interaction above the ground floor, this would beginto re-address this.

Thoughts, comment, complaints?

Karl

Mapping Briggate

The first image here shows the uses of those building directly accessible from Briggate, a relatively straightforward and clear image.

The second takes this information and presents it in a diagrammatic form, with each unit being given the same sized block of colour. The three left-hand images represent the west hand side of Briggate, the diagram clearly showing the dominance of retail, whilst the right-hand [east] image shows there to be a more even mix of leisure and retail units, although this information incorporates the parts of Briggate not on the pedestrianised area. The two green sections represent an as of yet undecided re-definition of the street.

Unblocking the blockages - Thoughts from the Urban Design Compendium

places for people - continuity and enclosure
enrich the existing - character
make connections - legibility
work with the landscape -
mix uses and from - diversity
design for change - adaptability

context, vision, social dynamics, trade space for place, recycle,vistas, focal points,texture,flooring as public art, loose the seating down the edge create 'gossip groups' at nodes

is it important that we strengthen the active frontages of Briggate? frequent doors, window and opening help to animate the public realm but how can we 'deconsumerise' this?

Leeds a city with one/two/three

Leeds a city of . . . .

Hate Something, Change Something, Make Something Better

Just going to write as I think so sorry if its not in any order.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uFKqVsWR4S4 Not all the crap about diesel engines but I like the what the words are saying.

I suggest we put a series of questions to ourselves before we can perhaps move on

What do we want to redefine?

Why do we want to redefine it?

How are we going to redefine?

I think if we can answer these questions we will have a unshakeable foundation for whatever we produce. Is it an idea for someone to do some hardcore 'redefinition' precedent research? Examples of where they have only changed one thing and it has had a dramatic effect ie Lyon introduced subsidized bike hire to remove traffic from the city centre. I think that whatever we do it has to strengthen Briggates Identity. I am quite happy to have a look at this today.

Blackpool seafront is a prime example of redefinition, and worth you perhaps having a mooch at.

I like the concept of the visuals Karl sent over, turning Briggate into a British rambles. I don't think food should be the whole thing though.

Does whatever goes out behind the facade want to start to bleed out onto Briggate.

Do we need these big shop frontages? If you regulate them like the VQ then the place becomes mundane?

Are we wanting to do something more with the facade of these buildings?

Is it one thing running down or a series of things?

I feel that whatever we do has to be high impact, it cant just be sticking some hanging baskets up, there is the whole thing of vertical and horizontal axis that we have played upon.

Do we do a alsop and turn Briggate into a beach?

More questions that answers im sorry but just trying to get all my thoughts down and it might spark something in one of you!

Ed

Redefining Briggate

Gents

My thoughts on Briggate and where we go next.


I've attached two images (oma_section and seattle library) which I've come across in researching my final project, both on the Seattle Public Library by OMA. One isn't very clear as it's quite small (I'll send a bigger one if I can find it). These are really simple images that show how the programme is inserted into the building and how they relate to each other. I wonder if there's any scope for doing something similar to what we're doing, but taking a step back and inserting a 're-definition' into the patterns we've created. So it isn't a proposal but forms the basis for one.I don't have a clear vision of what the redefinition is though, although it's obviously going to be along the lines of re-invigorating the lifeless sea of commercialism. It doesn't necessarily have to be drastic, maybe just a subtle re-invention with a clear identity? Or do we go all out and do something a little more adventurous?



As an example, if we decided to re-define Briggate as a place of international cuisine (plucked at random) then maybe the diagram looks something like the third image (briggate-food)? Just an idea, the content is irrelevant.

Thoughts?

Karl

_define - A1 Presentation

_define - Powerpoint Presentation

These images show the final images which we prepared for presentation on Thursday 9th October.