Thesis Book

Think RationallyLeveraging Constraints for Innovation

Sloan Springer Master of Architecture Thesis Syracuse University Spring/Summer 2011 Advisors: A. McDonald, B. Coleman, T. Brown, R. Rosa

Think RationallyLeveraging Constraints for Innovation

CONTENTIONTerminology Case Studies Public-Private Toolkit References

CONSTRAINTSUrban Analysis Events & Activities Contextual Analysis Green Water Redevelopment Site Analysis Programming Detail Studies Process Diagrams Axonometrics Plans Elevations Sections Details Renders Documentation Bibliography

PROPOSAL

Sloan Springer Master of Architecture Thesis Syracuse University Spring/Summer 2011 Advisors: A. Mcdonald, B. Coleman, T. Brown, R. Rosa

ContentionThroughout history, public space has been seen as the connective tissue of urban fabric. From Pope Sixtus Vs plan for connecting key spaces in Rome, Haussmans vision for creating grand avenues through Paris, or John Nash and his development of a bustling route between two prominent parks in London, public space has driven economic development through connections for centuries. But these examples only came to pass through the will of a monarchy. In an ever-urbanizing democratic society, opportunities for the actual interface between public and private space are often left wanting. Despite the fact that development is now driven exclusively by market value and economics, the full potential of an interface between market strategies and architectural design is rarely capitalized upon. The contention of this thesis is that by leveraging public space for private development, critical opportunities can be capitalized upon to not only decentralize capital costs but to set up new potentials for design innovation through the constraints of the project. Through the use of such strategies as public private partnerships, a process for interfacing the design of public space with that of private architecture can be established, where both begin to inform that of the other, increasing value and maximizing the utilization potentials of the spaces for both public and private sectors. The city of Austin, Texas, considered the Live Music Capitol of the World, is known for its unique urban outdoor lifestyle, blending the amenities of a rich urban context with the laid-back atmosphere of more rural settings. Few other cities allow for the ability to visit art galleries and music venues then, within walking distance, go kayaking and hiking. In an effort to further bolster this atmosphere, the city is pursuing several large developments aimed at increasing density while also increasing the public value of private developments. One such endeavour is the Green Water Treatment Plant Redevelopment, consisting of 2 million square feet of retail, office, housing, hotel and public space. Situated in between the proposed hotel and recently completed Austin Music Hall, the developments proposed main public plaza holds significant potential for leveraging the interests of the hotel and music hall, as well as setting up a key urban public space for the entire development and its connection to the city, capitalizing on the uniqueness of Austin. This thesis seeks to demonstrate the potentials of rethinking the interface between public and private space, and the relationship between architect and developer; designing through critical analysis and rigor to capitalize on the constraints of the project and thus maximizing both market value and architectural innovation.

Think Rationally | M. Arch Thesis Sloan Springer | Syracuse University

TerminologyAgENCy ability of architecture to perform an action [see performance] CONSTRAINT limitation or restriction to a project that cannot be waived or removed CONTENTION key point or assertion of an argument INTERfACE physical or immaterial connection LEvERAgE ability to exert significant influence for a greater gain PERfORmANCE moment where architecture itself becomes an active participant PRIvATE entity whose finances are unaffiliated with the government PubLIC entity that seeks to promote general welfare RECIPROCAL relationship where entities provide benefit to each other TOuRISm activity that generates income in multiple sectors simultaneously


Case StudiesPlan for Rome | Pope Sixtus V Regent Street, London | John Nash

As the Roman Catholic Church gained more power during the early days of the Renaissance, it became necessary to position Rome once again as a center for culture and religion. One major detriment to the city was the fact that it lacked a wholistic means for navigation. Prior to accepting the title of Pope Sixtus V, Cardinal Montalto began developing his plans for reinvigorating Rome as suitable for the center of the Christian world. He created an organisational structure connecting key monumental spaces and architecture, allowing for pilgrims to easily find their way around the city. Visual connection and sense of space were key factors in driving the plan, and so several obelisks were relocated to the intersections of main trajectories between spaces to aid in creating such connection. This was one of the earliest precedents in urban design where development of public space created new opportunities for private development, and furthermore reestablished the prominence of the city of Rome. By envisioning public space as a connective fabric, the plan creates a sort of main artery to which the private aspects of the city are inextricably linked, thus allowing for the public prominence of the city to activate a whole new level of private development. One of the first planned developments in London, Regent Street represents an attempt to break free from the medieval street pattern of the city. The plan connects Prince Regents residence at Carlton House up to Regents Park, passing though several key spaces. Due to the financial state of the country following the Napoleonic Wars, a large portion of the development was funded by private developers, including Nash. Planning guidelines were setup that dictated everything from architectural style to material details in order to preserve a cohesive feel. Regent Street is still considered a crucial part of the urban fabric of London, and its shops and cafes are enjoyed by tourists and Londoners alike. Regent Street serves as an excellent precedent for public-private redevelopment within an existing urban fabric. By establishing a cohesive set of codes and guidelines for development, the plan is able to create a strong public artery between two prominent public spaces without direct visual connection. Because of this, the promenade acts as a dual catalyst for increased public traffic and private financial gain.

Public Artery Private Sub-Arteries

Compressed Public Traffic Public-Private Street Front


The High Line | James Corner Field Operations & Diller Scofidio + Renfro

Schouwburgplein | West 8

Before

Running over a mile-and-a-half stretch of abandoned railway tracks in lower Manhattan, the High Line has become an arterial life-line for the redevelopment of the Meatpacking District and Hudson Rail Yards. The park, in effect, provides significantly increased pedestrian traffic for the many shops, restaurants, and other businesses in the district, both new and old. This creates a reciprocal relationship where the park capitalizes on its connection to diverse program, and developments leverage the park for increased exposure. New projects created show this relationship by blurring their boundaries with the park and allowing for spaces that simultaneously exist as the park and the development. The High Line acts as a power strip in which surrounding businesses can plug in to, further activating the area and establishing a dual-level public-private infrastructure.

Designed to fill a void in a mixed-use area, the Schouwburgplein acts as a public social interface for the surrounding buildings. The plaza functions as a flexible, adaptable space that allows users to create their own configurations, essentially bleeding the private into the public. It is considered to be a city stage, where the interplay between public and private venues and activities generates a uniquely-Rotterdam feel. By creating a space that offers users the ability to project their own wishes for an environment, the plaza becomes itself an indeterminite zone catering to the changing of the seasons and of the urban landscape.

After

Typical

Flexible


The W Hotel Dallas | HKS

Standard Hotel | Polshek Partnership

The W Hotel in Dallas, Texas is situated in the heart of Victory Park, one of the most vibrant areas in all of downtown, host to the American Airlines Center and Dallas Arts District, as well as high-end shopping, restaurants, and several connected green spaces. Rather than establishing an exclusive enclave for hotel guests, the hotel operates as a key centerpiece connecting the entire plaza. The grand living room and lounge are as integrated into the urban fabric as they are the hotel, providing an open space for pedestrians and hotel guests alike to interact, all-the-while putting the busy plaza on display.

Blending in to the surrounding high traffic street fronts, the Standard Hotel capitalizes on this by pluging in to the key public spaces through and adjacent to it. By placing its lobby, restaurant, and living room lounge along the public plaza, the hotel gives over its ground level program to the urban public realm, and cantelievers its private features out over it.


Rome v Austin

Regent St v Austin

High Line in AustinThink Rationally | M. Arch Thesis Sloan Springer | Syracuse University

Schouwburgplein in Austin

W Hotel Dallas in Austin

Standard Hotel in Austin

Public-Private Toolkit

A reciprocal relationship exists between public space and private development, but maximum potential is rarely achieved. This toolkit of strategies pose to leverage public space for private development and vice versa.


In order to maximize user experience through visual and physical connectivity, public amenities of private developments could be transferred to the public sector. Various incentives could be given to the private development in return, creating a reciprocal partnership for the betterment of the public and consequently for the financial betterment of the development. Low2No

The traditional notion of generic flexibility of space is seldom capitalized upon. Typical flexible spaces ultimately end up serving a minimum number of options due to the indecisiveness of human nature. Strategic insertions of calculated flexibility can maximize viable opportunity for users. By analysing desired uses within the space and creating a predefined range of options, usability and value are increased along with the number of options actually capitalized upon.

Schouwburgplein

Typical space planning only accounts for planar qualities, not utilizing the additional opportunities of the third dimension. As a way to capitalize on the essence of space, its sectional properties must be developed. By multiplying the ground plane and manipulating the section as well as the plane itself, a more complex and multi-use space can be created, with additional program and possibility embedded within it.

Multiple opportunities lie in the diversity of programming within a project. Through architectural alchemy, these opportunities are leveraged by blending diverse program to create unique and innovative results that not only perform the same tasks as the original program but simultaneously allow for additional and often unexpected possibilities. The High Line TKTS Times Square

What do you get when you cross a parrot with a centipede? A walkie-talkieFrancisco Sanin

+Think Rationally | M. Arch Thesis Sloan Springer | Syracuse University

=

Adjacent program offers unique opportunities for partnerships that can leverage constraints and capital resources for both public and private development. By identifying and analysing such critical adjacencies, such partnerships can provide further influence for design innovation and financing. Additionally, other outside resources may be possible through further analysis of specific program connections in the city.

Establishing a connection between critial points in the city and tapping in to the public avenues between them allows for a reciprocal relationship where development blosters public use, and in turn public use further supports the development of the avenue. Through analysis of these connections and avenues, they can begin to inform the design of the developments both public and private programs to maximize potential interactivity and interconnectivity.


PRECEDENT References STUDIES STRUCTURESHilton Hotel | OMA Floating Box + Landscape

PRECEDENT STUDIES STRUCTURESMarsupial Bridge | LA Dallman Striated Theater

ZKM Media Center | OMA

Folded Plaza to Facade

TKTS Times Square | Perkins Eastman

Urban Theater

Educatorium | OMA

Folded Ground Overlapping

Pompidou Center | Piano + Rogers

Continuous Plaza

ICA Boston | Diller + Scofidio

2 Theaters


PRECEDENT STUDIES PLAZASPlaza de Armas | Cuzco, Peru Fragmented Amphitheater

PRECEDENT STUDIES STRUCTURESThe W Hotel | Austin

Imam Square | Isfahan, Iran

Programmed Edge + Landscaped Plaza

Rockefeller Center | New York, NY

Programmed Edge + Sunken Spectacle

Le Palais des Congres | Strasbourg

Pioneer Courthouse Square | Portland, OR

Programmed Amphitheater


Constraints


Agency, Joshua Prince-Ramus

Downtown Austin, TexasAustins unique atmosphere has had a profound impact on tourism to the city. Few other cities boast such a diverse range of activities and events. From its art, music, and film venues, such as the well-known Austin City Limits and South by Southwest music festivals, to the beautiful and serene Barton Springs natural swimming hole and Lady Bird Lake Trail, Austin offers something for both the cultural urbanite and the outdoor enthusiast. The influx of people and economy, due to such events as Austin City Limits, South by Southwest Music Festival and the University of Texas football games, has bolstered the city of Austin and is fuelling the steady increase in development within the city. This economic engine should be capitalized upon in all city projects, using architecture to leverage the benefits of tourism for better design and value while simultaneously providing for and supplementing the tourism itself.


urban History

1873 Grid University of Texas South Congress Extension West Expansion East Expansion

Think Rationally | M. Arch Thesis 1838 Sloan Springer | Syracuse University

1873 | Downtown Grid

1882 | University of Texas

1980 | Barton Spring Preservation Lady Bird Lake Development

2007 | MetroRail Service

urban Analysis: movementPedestrian VehicularMLK , Jr. Blvd .

Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium

Frank Erwin Center

lvd

.

Lam

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State Capitol

Con g

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Ave

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Red

Sixt

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Austin Convention Center

urban Analysis: Walkability5 minute increment

Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium

Frank Erwin Center

State Capitol

City Hall



urban Analysis: block Heights

Congress Ave Bats

The Austonian Condos

Frost Bank Tower

ARTHouse

Texas State Capitol

Congress Avenue SectionThink Rationally | M. Arch Thesis Sloan Springer | Syracuse University

Events & Activities

Longhorn Football

Events Pay Free Activities Pay Free Longhorn Basketball Texas State Arts FestivalSOUTH BY SOUTHWEST MUSIC FESTIVAL

Texas State Capitol Blues on the Green

Kayaking

Con

Hiking/ Biking

Trail of Lights Barton Springs ACL Festival

2nd

stric t Republic Square Farmers Market 4th St E nter tain men t l Dis trict

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6th

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Congress Bridge Bats

South Congress Retail District

Event Attendance | Average per day of event (thousands)90

75

Austin City Limits 75,000

UT Football 85,000

60

45

30

15

UT Basketball 12,000

South by Southwest 17,000

UT Baseball 6,000

Blues on the Green 2,000

Austin Film Festival 7,000

0

JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC


Contextual AnalysisMonarch

Rio Grande Lofts Republic Square Federal Courthouse Gables 4th Street Entertainment District

West Avenue Lofts 360 Condos

Austin Museum of Art

Shoal Creek Trail

Austin Music Hall

Austin Ballet AMLI W Hotel & Condos/ Austin City Limits

AMLI

Mixed-Use Residential 2nd Street Retail District

Austin Central Library Mixed-Use Residential Lance Armstrong Bikeway

City Hall

Lady Bird Lake TrailThink Rationally | M. Arch Thesis Sloan Springer | Syracuse University

2nd Street Retail District

Mixed-Use Residential

Austin Central LibraryMixed-Use Residential


green Water RedevelopmentBy far the largest single development undertaking in the history of downtown Austin, the $750 million Green Water Redevelopment is slated to bring over 2 million square feet of retail, office, and residential space to perhaps the most booming area of the city. Located along the shore of Lady Bird Lake and Shoal Creek, the development joins additional ventures to redevelop the Seaholm Power Plant for adaptive reuse, and the new Austin Central Library. This new complex stands to create a significant impact on the urban fabric of the city, and offers potential for unique solutions for urban space.

Gables

Republic Square Austin Museum of ArtDis tric t

W Hotel & Condos

360 Condos Rio Grande Lofts

4th

nt St E

er

m tain

ent

AMLI

Proposed Mixed-Use Residential Austin Ballet Austin Music Hall

AMLI

Austin City Limits

City HallDis tric t

West Avenue Lofts

Sh

oa

lC

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Proposed Plazaek Tr a il

Proposed Mixed-Use Hotel

2nd Proposed Mixed-Use Residential

e St R

tail

Proposed Central Library

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Proposed Site

Site Axon

Site Section


Site Plan


Access Interface

Critical Connections

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SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST MUSIC FESTIVAL

Proposed Mixed-Use Residentialistr ict

Proposed Mixed-Use Residential Austin Ballet Austin Music Hall Proposed PlazaBird La rail ke T

2nd

St R

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Sh

oa

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Proposed Plazaek Tr a il


Proposed Mixed-Use Residentialy Lad

2nd

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Mixed-Use Residential

Proposed Central LibraryBi rong kew ay

Proposed Central Library

ce Lan

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Lady Bird Lake Trail


Edge Conditions

SW - NE Section | Between Rio Grande & Nueces Streets

Southwest Edge | Cesar Chavez Street Front & Lady Bird Lake Trail

Northeast Edge | Austin Music Hall

NW - SE Section | Between Second and Third Streets

Northwest Edge | Shoal Creek Bank Stabilization & Proposed Central LibraryThink Rationally | M. Arch Thesis Sloan Springer | Syracuse University

Southeast Edge | Nueces Street Extension & Proposed Street Front

Weather AnalysisAustins climate is characterized by long, hot and humid summers with mild, dry winters. Most of the yearly rainfall occurs in spring and fall, with relatively few overcast days during the summer. Within immediate proximity to the city are several bodies of water, including Lady Bird Lake downtown, Lake Austin, Lake Travis, and the Colorado River. These create a lush vegetative environment, paired with the primarily limestone hill country. This mix of natural landscape and urban density gives Austin its unique feel and provides residents with immediate access to both city and rural amenities.

Shadow Range Sun Path Primary Wind DirectionDate | 1.1-12.31 Time | 00:00-24:00


AH

Psychrometric Chart | Austin, TXDate | 1.1-12.31 Time | 00:00-24:00 1. 2. 3. 4.

30

Selected Design Techniquespassive solar heating thermal mass effects natural ventilation indirect evaporative cooling25

20

15

10

Comfort

5

DBT (C)

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Optimum Orientation | Austin, TXAnnual Average Underheated Period Overheated Period

Wind Frequency | Austin, TXDate | 1.1-12.31 Time | 00:00-24:00

345 330

N kW h/ m 2.70 2.40

15 Best 30 W orst 45315 330 NOR T H 345

50 km/ h

15 30

hrs 484+ 435 38745

315

40 km/ h

2.10 1.80

338 290 242 19360

300

1.50 1.20

60300

30 km/ h

145 96

Documents

Thesis Book