Saturday, March 17, 2012

Site Analysis

I drew this series of site analysis diagrams earlier in the week. Each one reveals specific characteristics of the site. My hope is that these will drive my decisions when designing the park.

Hydrology

As discussed in an earlier post, I did a grading plan for the proposed park, yielding the necessary clearance for the interstate below and graded as flat as possible. The park can not go any lower than that grading, but it can build up from there if needed. Using that plan I drew a hydrology diagram showing where the water would naturally flow and collect on the deck. Again, this will likely change as the park is designed, but this is a good starting point. Not the lowest points on each deck. These may be logical places for water collection.


Pedestrian Circulation


This diagram shows the pedestrian circulation through and around the site. I used thicker lineweights to show the routes most traveled, particularly the East/West corridors. The surrounding buildings are either existing or proposed. The proposed buildings are from Erin Gray's design on the site last semester. The dashed lines represent the deck where it will not be on grade with the topography due to interstate ramps or lower terrain. The solid lines representing the deck are where it will be on grade with the existing topography. The key point to this diagram are that the entrances to the park mostly fall along the streets and at the corners of each deck.


Vehicular Circulation


This diagram shows the vehicuar circulation around the site. It includes the city streets, the interstate and the ramps leading to the interstate. Since I have been staring at these maps for most of the semester, I have a good understanding of how the ramps work. This diagram was drawn so that people who have not spent as much time with the project can gain a quick understanding of the flow of traffic arround the site. It also includes the additional roads proposed by Erin Gray last semester. Key points from this are that this park is surrounded by ramps. The streets running parallel to the decks are one way streets, which is easir for pedestrain crossing. The streets running perpindicular to the decks and running through the park are much busier. Like the pedestrain circulation, there is heavier East/West flow. Broadway is the busiest of these crossing streets and will also host the new BRT line. This will certainly be considered in the design. Division and 12th South are less traveled and have only 4 lanes.


Primary Structure

Here we go again. I think I touched on this as I was making the initial deck grading. This project would require a team of structural engineers. I am not a structural engineer, nor am I an architect. I do want to have enough understanding of the structure to draw up the basics. I know there will be verticle walls running parrallel to the interstate to serve as beams. Upon these walls will be the joists, which will run perpendicular to the interstate. This diagram shows the primary walls running parallel to the interstate, one on each side and one down the center between the lanes. This configuration does allow for on and off ramps.


Tree Planting Zones and Secondary Structure

The diagram above shows not only the primary walls, but also some secondary walls that would allow for areas between the outermost interstate lanes or ramps and the city above to be backfilled with soil or perhaps used for water storage. The primary purpose of this would be to allow for the planting of larger trees. This may be difficult on much of the deck due to shallow soils. The green hatching represents areas that would be suitable for larger tree plantings with the additional structure and backfill. The section drawing helps illustrate the idea. The solid green represents areas suitable for large trees simply by backfilling the primary structure.


The joists would look something like the option on the left. The option on the right allows for more soil depth and tree plantings between the joists, but it will cause problems with freezing. The option on the left also allows for free movement of water along the deck. Loads have yet to be calculated and are dependent on the design.
 

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