This is the starting point for our design study.
Constraints and considerations of this plan include the following:
The intersection of two major existing roadways.
Limits of land ownership, which include three of the four quadrants created by this intersection.
Limit of land ownership to the north.
Connection to single-family residential district to the south.
Although this plan adheres to these constraints, it could better follow current principles of Traditional New Town Development in several ways:
The opportunity provided by the existing intersection as an entry point could be better utilized.
The development around the Northern perimeter could have a stronger relationship to this established node.
Secondary nodes and axis could be developed to strengthen the overall experience.
The connection to the residential development to the South could be more direct.
The existing roadways provide the principal organizational structure, with new roads providing additional intrastructure for the new project.
These streets to a large extend dictate the limits of built form, so should be studied more closely as we attempt to develop a more effective town center.
Isolating the streets in a diagramatic form helps us to find areas that could be more rationally organized in a way as to more clearly follow current principles of Traditional New Town Planning.
This diagram identifies an idealilzed development strategy which is not too far from the existing plan, with several advantages:
The center is clearly identified and supported by surrounding development.
Additional development is concentric to the establish center, creating a clear relationship between the center and the newly developed areas.
Secondary nodes are created at the corners of the concentric development.
While this idealized diagram does not exactly fit our needs, we can appropriate its principals if we modifiy it to meet our specific situation.
Clearly, one big difference between the idealized diagram and our actual situation is that we do not have development potential in all four quadrants.
This diagram removes one of the quadrants from consideration.
To make the idealized diagram fit our situation more clearly, and make it easier to compare with the existing plan, the modified diagram needs to be rotated to fit the actual site.
Several further modifications are required to the idealilzed diagram to make it better fit our situation:
A. We have more land to the West than to the East. The central North/South axis of the idealized plan it split into a major and minor component in order to add the level of heirarchy required to deal with the uneven distribution.
B. The corner nodes are moved toward the minor axis that we have created. This helps to make this minor axis more of a significant feature, and takes the heat off of the corners, which are more difficult to develop into something interesting.
C. The severed roadways in the Northeast quadrant is reconnected internally. This serves two purposes - it reduces the number of connections to the main highways and avoids the wetlands.
D. Similary, the severed roadways in the Southwest quadrant are reconnected Southwards. Again, this takes the heat off of the existing highway, and reconnects the new commercial development to the residential areas which it serves.
As a final adjustment, the organizing grid is adjusted back onto the existing topography and the realities of the existing roadways. Other minor adjustments are made to recognizes both the wetlands and the new development to the south.
Now, we are ready to put the building back in.
This time, the central intersection of existing roadways is fronted by the faces of buildings rather than sides or ends. This creates a positive space and an entry into this disctrict. Note that each building at this intersection serves not only to help create this new public space by presenting a front, but also sponsors a block of development behind it. These three buildings and the quadrants that they sponsor do not have to be the same, functionally or architecturally. In fact, the different nature of these three buildings paves the way for three somewhat different expressions in the blocks behind themselves.
The existing roadways have an existing character and presence. This will be changed somewhat, of course, by the development that occurs, and can be enhanced by the ways in which the new roadways connect to it, and how the intersection itself is handled.
However, it is equally important that we create a heirarchy of major and minor streets within the new development. This diagram shows the highlighting of the outermost perimeter road and the minor development axis with street trees, parks, and other public ammenities in order to introduce this new order.
Click here to see the impact of the new commercial core on the overall plan development.