Architectural ProgramingNewSchool of Architecture + Design

Programing. Detoxing the CityConstructed by John Bonales

Fall 2011

Typology [conditions] n. The study and interpretation of types and sym-bols, originally of a subject.

.1

Dead zones within the urban fabric are potential rehabilitaion sites. These spots are left over lots, parkings lots, brownfields, abandoned buildings and other blighted areas that are under-utilized. In Bakersfield, post-industrial downtown is full of sites like these. Low to moderate income levels are widespread in this area and food desert con-ditions dominate forcing people to travel outside of their neighborhood for basic needs. The street furniture is unkept, cracked streets and unsafe or unwelcoming sidewalks detour community members from enjoying public space. For these reasons alone it becomes critical that the proj-ect seek to reverse these habits. Links should be made to connect pedestrian pathways from the commnity to civic activity and vise versa. These blighted plots become activation points along these paths for potential growth and play. By placing projects that interject these paths own-ership by the community begins to take place. Bringing people outside of the house and onto the street is one of the first steps to recovery.

Connecting communitesPublic activation

Filtering Skins Eliminating green house gases

As the buildup of green house gases gather in the central valley, the pressure for change be-comes more apparent. CO2 and Methane are just of a few of these chemical compounds. Like most gases, they are invisible. What can be done about something in the air we can not see to contain? Nature provides that answer. What we see as potentially dangerous plants see as food. Vegetation alone can absorb high amounts of CO2, but then the question becomes what about the other toxic chemicals in the air? That is where modern technology can play a significant role. By combining these two tech-niques a prototype filtering skin can be designed.

EducationSystems of sustainabilityThis class of building are coming full circle with their projects on renewable energies and com-plete cycle decisions. They have become ex-amples of what biology and technology can do together.

Filtering Skins Eliminating green house gases

EducationSystems of sustainability

Client .2Public: City of Bakersfield

Objective [mission goals].3Proposal

Currently, Bakersfield is the target of healthcare organizations across the nation, and one of those is the American Lung Association who label the city “Dirtiest City in America”. Why is Bakersfield in the condition that it is? The area’s geology makes this clear. The city lies in the San Joaquin valley putting it in a type of sinkhole, making the area ideal for greenhouse gas buildup. This in turn leads to many social and healthcare issues for the local community. Through biology and technology we can begin to see a reversal of the negative ef-fects farming, oil companies and vehicular smog have caused to the natural environment. Bakers-field has great potential to be a clean power source and in turn be beneficial for its commu-nity members. A systems type approach based around the idea of urban acupuncture is the strategy. Networks based around rehabilitation of communities can act as catalyst for the city by cleaning the air and connecting communities. Biomimicry may hold many of the answers to the questions revolving around the healing of Bakers-field. Most of the activity happening in the city is self-destructive in nature. Massive amounts of commuters traveling to and from LA County for work each and everyday is just one example of the disconnect from natural cycles. Biomimicry teaches us that nature works in cycles and all forms of energy and production should be avail-able locally. Today’s linear thinking of birth-to-death in the products we make and use only re-sults in exponential amounts of waste. This means

we should be thinking about buildings sec-ond life, adaptive-reuse and recycling of waste and energy within a building. This project should also seek to strengthen the community as a whole and discourage suburban sprawl. A successful project gives ownership to the people, making local community members feel connected to the project. The user must never be forgotten in the design while considering these goals. If the structure is more of hin drance than benefit to human use, how can this be considered anything beneficial to society as a whole? The av-erage person spends close to ninety percent of their day indoors and when you consider the psy-chological effects the built environment can have on an individual it becomes clear why it is impera-tive that good design start with principles based off well-designed structures revolving around the user. By combining these two goals a sys-tem can be developed with specific goals and principals. These can then be applied to dead-zones within the inner city acting to-gether to re-establish connections with com-munities and allow the city to breathe better.

.4n. A particular position or point in space.

Place [location]

san francisco

los angeles

Bakersfield is what is known as the pit-stop town on the way to Los Ange-les. It was the only place along the long valley stretch wtih a developing center core in the early part of the 20th century. Discovered in the late eighteen hundreds, the area was origi-nally a tule-reed covered marshland. The climate is long hot summers followed by cool, wet and foggy winters which are ideal for a wide variety of crops. Around the same time crops and farm-ers started showing up, oil was discovered and the population boomed. Today, agriculture and oil still dominate the region but the effects of ex-ploiting non-renewable resources has begun to show face. Suburban sprawl and mass com-muter transport have taken effect as a result of being on the periphery to higher paying jobs.

Within the city core, three redevelopment plans are in place. The Downtown redevelopement, the Old Town redevelopment and the South-East redevelopement plan. Of these three areas, the Old Town site has all the right conditions for a catalyst to take shape within the urban fabric. It is a food desert, lacks public space, lacks art and community and is full of voids left over from the industrial age. These conditions give rise to adap-tive reuse and lies between the core and housing.

City

Peo

ple

Two existing lots lie on the circulation path of Mill Creek which intersects major anchors to the area.

.5 Space [location of spaces, ]

MILL CREEK PARK

CIVIC / TRANSPORT AREA

Should the relationship of the building to the street and surrounding context open vertical or horizontal? What are the circulation routes across the site and do any of these influence the form through stacking, twisting, splitting or detached? Should certain uses be grouped or isolated? What kind of materiality and assembly is appropriate to the site? Are there conditional restrictions to the site? These are questions that improve quality of space and give ties from the building to the community at large.

Vertical vs. Horizontal

Why vertical? Vertical has density benefits. One of the main factorsbreaking down a community is lack of diveristy and density. A vertical form provides space for various income types and multi-use space. The down side to this form is the disconnect from high space to lower space. The vertical form can be unapproachable in monolithic representation.

Vertical vs. Horizontal

Why Horizontal? Horizontal has a physically more appealing form in relationship to the surrounding context. Very few buildings rise above four stories in the old town dis-trict meaning a mid-rise would feel alien to its environment. Horizontal structures innately relate to the pedestrian by be-ing on the human scale making itapproachable.

MILL CREEK PARK

CIVIC / TRANSPORT AREA

Grouped vs. fractal

Why grouped? Programs which have an isoated nature tend to exclude other op-portunities for haphazard user in-teraction. The designer may have intentions for a spaces use but ul-timately the space and function over time and for various reasons changes allowing for new possiblities. These possibilities allow for an evolving architecture, some-thing dead space left out.

MILL CREEK PARK

CIVIC / TRANSPORT AREA

Materiality

This project revolves around adaptive reuse of existing structures. With this in mind, materiality should focus on retaining materials on site that can be put to a new use or remain structurally sound. The second phase is to incorpo-rate local materials that are reuseable, biodegradable and do not have negative effects on the environment in its process-ing or embodied energy. De-signing in this fashion ensures a sustainable educational environment.

Conditions

There are certain restrictions and parameters with which the proj-ect can revolve around. The main focus is connecting the site with existing circulation paths. A dominate feature is the water canal running from the central park down to the civic area of downtown. This is a perfect op-portunity to tie into and link the project. Other conditional cri-teria like low to modern income in the area begin to determine program. Because the focus is adaptive reuse this sets anoth-er restriction on site location. All three of these conditions alone tells us where and what type of architecture the site calls for.

.6 Users [Primary/Secondary/other]

Primary:Residents living in housing unitsCommercial usersMaintenence

Secondary:Public users

Secondary:Public users