Integrated Design 4
We began the semester looking at water and one of the biggest outcomes besides learning where water comes from and how it moves was the discrepancy in foreclosures from this one block and the rest. And that began my semester long study of how the neighborhoods, Indian Village, West Village, North Village and Islandview are so different.
I then looked at a number of different fundamental characteristics in these neighborhoods ranging from a larger scale of the whole neighborhood to a smaller scale of just one particular street in each neighborhood; these streets being Iroquois, Seyburn, Parker St. north of Kercheval and Parker St. south of Kercheval. The specific characteristics I looked at included: average footprint, setback, property owned porches, vehicular resting areas, private and public, monetary value, circulation, gray and green infrastructure, hierarchy, program and publics, proximity of vegetation, location and size of window and doors, material, and location on street.
I looked at all of these characteristics to figure out what leads to greater value and resiliency within these neighborhoods. All of that lead me to the following five conclusions: Within the area of study, regardless of neighborhood, houses become more valuable as the location get closers to the ends of the streets, houses become more valuable as the setback increases, the material used on the exterior of the building does not have an effect on the value, houses with no or small porches are more valuable than houses with large porches, and property that is the most private is the most valuable while property that is mostly private is the least valuable.
I then captured a collection of the houses in my area of study that complied with these outcomes. I noticed tension with the conclusions and observations of my study versus what society believes makes a healthy urban community. For example, I concluded that that houses that are thriving in these neighborhoods are the ones with smaller to no porches while sociological studies show that porches are a great connection for person to person contact as well as connecting with nature. My studies also concluded that the properties with more private space promotes all aspects of health, whether physical, mental, or social. On the other hand, I did see some overlap between my conclusions and sociological research. For example, my conclusion stated that a house becomes more valuable as the setback increases, increasing the amount of front yard, which runs parallel with sociological studies that show people have a higher well-being and lower mental distress when living around greater amounts of green space, and the physical accessibility of a front yard directly realted to created a sense of community. Another instance where I saw overlap was as the location of the house gets closer to the ends of the streets the value increases, being the most valuable at the corners. Sociological research proves that homes in the center of the block are more likely to be broken into while homes on the corners provide for more visibility of the street. All of these instances serve as base of my design response.
I learned from an earlier study of mine that my chosen neighborhood is 95% residential and 5% commercial, meaning that a good portion of my research is based on residential findings thus far. I then applied the same technique that I used for the residential studies to analyze commercial spaces, parking and parks/landscape, leaving me with a set of rules for each category.
I then used the rules that my research gave me to start forming the mass of the building. I first let the masses live independently to ensure I was staying true to the rules, and then I started to combine them to start the creation of the building.
​Keeping in mind all of the rules that my research has provided me as well as thinking about circulation and sunlight is how the form adapted. This just shows my master plan along with a section and a few elevations.