Ben Han's Portfolio

Benedict Han | Portfolio

Table of Contents 1. Urban Design Projects

a) Initial Visualization of Pedestrian/Bicycle Improvements b) Pedestrian/Bicycle Trail Feasability Study and Pre-Conceptual Design

c) Instagramming Urban Design: #GreenwayOhlone | Berkeley, CA

d) Dumbarton Rail Corridor Development | Menlo Park, CA

e) Livermore BART Station TOD | Livermore, CA

f ) Pocket Social Spaces | t, China

2. Site Analysis

| March 2013 | June 2013 | June 2012 - June 2013 | May 2013 | April 2013 | December 2012

a) Small Affordable Housing Type | Tacoma, WA a) YĹ?ki – Concept Store Location Feasabilty Study | Kansas City, MO b) Identidying the Historical Village | GuangZhou, China c) Octavia Blvd: Hayes Valley Livability | San Francisco, CA

| November 2013 | September 2013 | December 2012 | December 2012

a) Giraffe sketches

| 2012

3. Art

Urban Design Projects

Initial Visualization of Pedestrian/Bicycle Improvements Felton, CA | March 2013 Community residents of Felton, CA, in coordination with Peoples Power of Santa Cruz, composed a report to City Council expressing a series of design recommendations for Highway 9 and adjacent streets. However, there are no visuals representing their design ideas.

The images to the right showcase one of the ideas that emerged from the community group.

The idea is for a sidewalk along the southern edge of El Soyo Heights Ave. The proposal includes the conversion of the street’s drainage system via a permeable sidewalk.

3’

3’

15’

15’

15’

10’

3’

8’

Initial Visualization of Pedestrian/Bicycle Improvements (cont’d) Felton, CA | March 2013 The images to the right showcase one of the ideas that emerged from the community group.

The idea is for a sidewalk along the southern edge of El Soyo Heights Ave. The proposal includes the conversion of the street’s drainage system via a permeable sidewalk.

Preconceptual Design

Pedestrian/Bicycle Trail Feasability Study and Pre-Conceptual Design

Components Map Zoning Building Footprints Transit Circulation

Driveways vs Sidewalks

Felton, CA | July 2013

Conversations with community residents, past published reports and People’s Power of Santa Cruz, were used as a precedence for a pre-conceptual design for a pilot project in adding pedestrian/bicycle improvements along Highway 9 in Felton CA. The identified site area was divided into 4 parts, as soon with the site analysis to the right, and a portion of the design is shown on the second page.

The main objective of the pre-conceptural design is two-fold. First, to show how feasible it is to add a pedestrian/bicycle improvement along the highway and to visualize this potential. The second is to use these diagrams to spur further conversation and build addtional community support for such improvements. The public/private right of way was also noted to indicate property owned by CalTrans, and privately owned parcels.

Part 4

Part 4

Part 3

Part 3

Part 2

Part 2

Part 1

Part 1

Legend

Legend

Zoning

Driveway Typology

Residential

Residential

Special Use

Special Use

Commercial

Commercial

Other

Formal Sidewalk

Transit Stop

Formal Sidewalk

Highway 9

Formal Crosswalk

Site Area

Other Highway 9 Site Area

0

500’

N

0

500’

N

PART 3 : Existing Conditions

PART 3 : Pre Conceptual Design Section 6

Section 6

Section 5

Section 5

San Lorenzo River

0

150’

Section 5 Existing Conditions

N

Sidewalk

Bicycle Lane

0

150’

Section 6 Existing Conditions

N

1

19’

105’

8’

Private

12’

15’

8’

102’

60’

Public

13’

8’

12’

12’

12’

12’

8’

15’

51’

5’ 6’ 4’

51’

Private

Pre Conceptual Design

Pre Conceptual Design

11’

12’

6’ 2’

5’ 3’

15’

5’ 6’

102’

3’ 5’

8’

5’ 5’ 3’

0

50’

3’ 5’

0

50’

Instagramming Urban Design: #GreenwayOhlone

Site Location

Path Quality Analysis Legend

Site Area

Obstacle 1 : very bad 2 : bad 3 : good 4 : very good

Berkeley, CA | June 2012-June 2013

This project was presented at two conferences: 1. The Educating Activists Conference hosted by the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley (2013).

2. The International Bicycle Urbanism Symposium hosted by the University of Washington, Seattle (2013).

The objective of this project is to explore the potential of Instagram as a visual community engagement tool, specifically for a needs assessment of public spaces.

The Ohlone Greenway, an off-road pedestrian/bicycle path in Berkeley, CA was used as a case study.

To evaluate the effectiveness of Instagram, I conducted a photo tour of the Ohlone Greenway, based off of the methodology of the Photovoice method.

An user interfact survey was also conducted as a means for comparison.

0

500’

0

Existing Conditions

Results show that Instagram can be a powerful tool in providing perspective to designers of user behavior; break down what parts of a specific element is working (ie green elements), and overall, spatially pinpoint assets and opportunities in a space. The design on the right shows the existing conditions, and the different types of design ideas that emerged from each community engagement method conducted at one of the pilot sites (The Intersection of Peralta Ave and Hopkins St along the Ohlone Greenway).

N 0

200’

500’ Section Cut

sidewalk

Ohlone Greenway

6’

5’

Parking

Car and Bike

Car and Bike

Parking

7’

13’

13’

7’

sidewalk 5’

6’

20’ buffer

Sample Instagram Photos Asset

Instagram-based Design

Intercept Survey-based Design

Opportunity

N 0’

N

400’

0’

Section Cut: Instagram

400’

Section Cut: Intercept Survey

Intercept Survey Results Peralta @ Hopkins 1

12

2

3 34

4

55

Path Width Path Surface Quality Green/Landscaping Elements Signage Roadway Crossings 7’

Street Furniture Walking/Biking Experience as a whole

Buffer

Mean

30’

Peralta @ Hopkins

Path Width Path Surface Quality Fresh Air

Greenery

sidewalk

Green/ No Water Feature Grass Landscaping Elements Not Enough Greenery

6’

Signage Hard to Find Path

Signage Roadway Crossings

Roadway Crossings

Street Furniture

Street Furniture

Peaceful Quiet Walking/Biking Nice way to Contact People Experience as a whole Everything Other

20’

Shortcut

Path Surface Quality Green/ Landscaping Elements

Cedar Rose Tennis Court

What do you NOT like about the Ohlone Greenway?

What do you like about the Ohlone Greenway?

Peralta @ Hopkins Path Width

Ohlone Greenway 21.5’

Median

Green 5’

Parking 7’

Car and Bike

Car and Bike

9.5’

9.5’

3.5’ Suggestive Lane

Parking 3.5’

7’

Green sidewalk 5’

6’

20’ buffer

Suggestive Lane

No Lights

Not enough benches

Construction Walking/Biking Cars Garbage Experience as a whole Noise when closed

16’

Art Work

BART Tunnel

0’

40’

0’

40’

Dumbarton Rail Corridor Development

Menlo Park, CA | May 2013

This project was part of the CEP 248: Advanced Urban Design Studio class at UC Berkeley. There were two objectives for this studio. First, under the premise of the One Bay Area plan, the primary objective of this studio is to determine whether or not the projected 2 million resident population growth can be contained via infill development within the existing boundarys of the buiilt environment. The second objective of this studio is to take into consideration the impact sea-level rise will have on the actual amount of land wihtin the Bay Area- thus incorporating flood management as a key component of each design.

This project was one of two sites chosen for this class This first site was located within Menlo Park, south of the existing Facebook campus, proposing means to mitigate sea level rise through the restoration of the Ravenswood Salt Ponds as a natural wetland while proposing new development given the proposed Dumbarton Rail Corridor Plan. The proposed development proposes a 1866 mixed-use neighborhood at a net density of 23.7 dwelling units per acre.

Design Considerations and Strategy Regional Transportation Map

Existing Land Use Conditions

Phasing

Legend Caltrain Amtrak

Legend Residential Industrial

Legend Phase1 Phase 2

BART

Open Space / Trail

Proposed DRC

Floodplain

Site Area

Facebook Campus

N

N 0’

2000’

N 0’

2000’

Flood Management Strategy Phasing

Levees = Trails & Habitat

The first page shows considerations that had to be made for both the restoration of the salt ponds and the site area itself. The second page shows the proposed design.

Marsh Typology

Legend

Legend Phase 1 Phase 2

Legend Habitat Restoration Brackish Marsh

Proposed Levee

Tidal Marsh

N 0’

1500’

N 0’

1500’

N 0’

1500’

Proposed Design

Section 1

12’ 12’10’

202’

10’ 12’ 12’ 11’ 10’ 5’

72’

60’

100’

0’

Section 2

30’ 10’

297’

10’ 15’ 15’ 10’

60’

118‘

60’

24’

150’

45’ 10’15’ 15’10’

Legend Commercial //Industrial Open Space // Trail Residential Willow Road Station

0’

150’

1 2

Proposed Flood Management Design Western snowy plover Legend Asset Open Space // Trail Residential Willow Road Station

N 0’

1000’

Mudflat

Tidal 68’

7’ Slough

Brackish 84’

10’ 6.9’ Levee

Habitat Restoration 68.6’

7’ 9’ 77’ Levee Green Buffer

Parking

0’

200’

Livermore BART Station TOD

Proposed BART route Legend Current BART Extension Plan Proposed Alternate Route Bus routes Bike Trails Body of Water Site Area

Livermore, CA | June 2012

This was the second of two sites chosen for the CP 248: Advanced Urban Deisgn Studio. This site is located within the city fo Livermore in an open, undeveloped lot of land located within a light-industrial zone.

The goal was to explore an alternative to the proposed BART extension line within LIvermore, CA. The graphics propose a transit-oriented neighborhood through the addition of a new BART Station, residential and commercial development.

The following showcases the proposed alterive BART route, a 2D and a 3D overview of the site area. The second page highlighs a detailed overview of a typical block typology, noting the proposed parking ratio and net housing density.

N

Proposed Neighborhood Siteplan

Block Typology Site

0’

3D View of Site

1000’

N

Upper Floor

Section Cut A

B

A

0’

75’

0’

75’

Section Cut B

N

Legend Commercial Space

Residential

Open Space

Site Dimensions:

363’ x 220’

Number of Acres:

1.57 acres

Number of Dwellings: 136 units Parking Spaces:

130

Parking Ratio:

0.96 spaces / unit

Net Density:

86.6 units / acre

Legend Commercial Space

Residential

Open Space

Basement

N

N 0’

100’

Pocket Social Spaces

Pocket Space Site Plan

Section A: Academy Repurpose

GuangZhou, China | December 2012 With China developing so rapidly, the government is interested in the redevelopment of a small farming village (building footprint to the right). The underlying question for this project is: “Is there a means to revitalize and redevelop urban villages without losing any of the key design features that defined such historical farming towns for centuries?”

A part to this solution was to look at significant historical buildings within the urban village and provide resuse to them that both fits the spaces’ taditional role as a community space but provide new modern uses as well.. Specifically, I looked at historic family ancestral halls, which were venues for residents of the same last name to congregate, and schools.

To repurpose these spaces, precendeces were taken from the way other ancestral halls have become modernized within the city of GuangZhou, and come up with new uses that both provide a means for the village to organize and match its surrounding uses. For example, Section B showcases an ancestral hall becoming retrofitted into a large outdoor market, to allow for more vendors and enhance the surrounding space’s already existing use as a commercial zone. Sections A and C proposes a temporary “design lab” where stakeholders can continue to collaborate on future development and a family space for the villages’ growing family population.

Section B: Outdoor Market Repurpose

Section C: North Hall Repurpose

Site Analysis

Small Affordable Housing Typology

Tacoma, WA | November 2013

The city of Tacoma is proposing municpal code for the development of smaller-sized studio/1 bedroom apartment affordable housing units within the areas zoned as a “mixed use center.”

The purpose of this map has two parts: to determine where such housing typology will be allowed and to understand how much more of the city is available for this afforable housing typology if the “mixed use center” zoning reuqirement was removed. Currently, the following criteria was proposed to determine where this new housing typlogy will go:

!

PT DEFIANCE FERRY P-R

!

POINT RUSTON

THEATER DISTRICT

!

NARROWS P-R

! !

COMMERCE ST TRANSFER AREA !S COMMERCE ST !

1. Within a mixed use center/central downtown zoned district 2. Within half a mile of a light rail station 3. Within half a mile of a Pierce Transit “Super route.” (note: defined as Pierce’s Transit’s routes 1, 2, and 3).

CONVENTION CENTER UNION STATION

!

!

TCC TRANSIT CENTER

S 25th! ST! TACOMA DOME STATION !

TACOMA STATION !

CENTER ST P-R

!

TACOMA MALL TRANSIT CENTER !

SOUTH TACOMA WEST P-R! !

SOUTH TACOMA EAST ! P-R

!

72ND AND PORTLAND TRANSIT CENTER

Small Affordable Housing Type (Mini Flats) !

Transit Center // Park and Ride

2nd Priority Outside of MUC

Miniflat_Top Priority

Central Business District (CBD)

Miniflat_2nd Priority

Mixed Use Center (MUC)

Top Priority Outside of MUC

City of Tacoma

1.5

0.75

0

1.5 Miles

¯

Source: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, i-cubed, USDA, USGS, AEX, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, swisstopo, and the GIS User Community

00

0,0 $5 inc om e< ol d

TOTAL SCORE

eh Ag e

us

Ho

Ar ea

to a

m ajo rh igh re wa de y ve lop ed

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As ian p

providing affordable general household goods to the metropolitan Kansas City community. More specifically, all items sold at Yōki – Concept Store will have design influences from East Asian cultures. This study hopes to explore the relationship between three different sites, the social/economic demographics within a 5-mile buffer of each site, and the characteristics of the surrounding built environment. Furthermore, this study will identify changes in population change, dwelling density and development within the surrounding neighborhood for each site under the desire to situate Yōki – Concept Store in a growing neighborhood.

op

Yōki – Concept Store is a new retail store

Un it D

ula tio n

Kansas City, MO | September 2013

i ng

Feasabilty Study

Dw el l

Yōki – Concept Store Location

has failed to meet most of the criteria, it is not recommended to use this site for Yōki – Concept Final Scorecard Store.

5.5 4 1

City Market

Oak Park

Zona Rosa Figure 1 : Location Suitability Analysis Scorecard Page 11

A location feasibility scorecard was used to evaluate each of the three sites considered for the store (see image to the right). Also, maps were made in arcGIS to spatialize different social/economic characteristics within the greater Kansas City region. A couple of the maps are shown on the right.

!

Page 25

Zona Rosa

Zona Rosa

!

City Market

City Market

LEGEND Dwelling Units per sq mi

LEGEND People of color to white population !

0 - 665

0-1

Oak Park

Oak Park

1-6

665 - 1308

6 - 20

1308 - 1948

20 - 35

1948 - 2884

35 - 54

2884 - 5375

Highway Figure 3 : Ratio people of color to white

Ratio people of color to white

0

1

2

4

6

Highway 8 mi

Figure 9: Dwelling Unit Density N

Dwelling Unit Density

0

1

2

4

6

8 mi

N

Identifying the Historical Urban Village

Guang Zhou, China | December 2012 With China developing so rapidly, the government is interested in the redevelopment of a small farming village (building footprint to the right). The underlying question for this project is: “Is there a means to revitalize and redevelop urban villages without losing any of the key design features that defined such historical farming towns for centuries?”

A criteria had to be made to understand the growth of the village, and identify how development should happen.

The following criteria was used in defining some of the core characteristics of a traditional urban village: 1. The traditional village in China is located on a south facing slope of a hill 2. The entrance is also on the southern edge of the village by a body of water with a large social space, often the ancestoral hall of the largest family in the town, up front.

3. the grid is defined by a vertical “comb” with narrow streets.

With this criteria, I was able to identify the historic core of this village, highlighted in the pink dotted line box.

Legend Spot Elevation lowest

highest

Historical Ancestoral Hall Historic core 0m

300m

N

Octavia Blvd: Hayes Valley Livability

Study Area

Land Use

Sound levels (db) Off Peak

Peak

San Francisco, CA | December 2012 This project won an award at the 2013 UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design Circus.

This study was designed to better understand the impact of the transformation of Octavia Blvd on the social and economic livability of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood.

The process for this study was framed to explore the livability of the Hayes Valley neighborhood on two fronts. First, a site analysis of our site area was done to objectively measure aspects of the project that would affect the area’s livability, such as pollution (noise, air), land use, perception of traffic, and observe interactions/behavior within the area. Second, a survey was conducted both via mail-in surveys and in person at Patricia’s Green. The goal for this survey was to understand people’s satisfaction with the urban design elements of Octavia Blvd, the land use of the site area and the opinion on the overall social/economic improvements of the Hayes Valley neighborhood since the elevated freeway was removed.

Our results show that there is a very strong agreement that a) the redesign of Octavia to a boulevard has improved the livability of the surrounding Hayes Valley neighborhood and b) the Hayes Valley neighborhood has made social and economic improvements since the removal of the elevated freeway. This can be seen in our survey respondents’ positive response to the neighborhood’s open space and kid friendliness; belief that the pop-up stores along Octavia are an asset and overall satisfaction with the Hayes Valley Neighborhood since the highway removal.

Study Area Hayes Valley boundary

Average Daily Traffic (ADT)

Off Peak: Vehicular

748 7392

A

1012

B

Average Daily Traffic Market : 29,788 Oak

: 23,276

Fell

: 1,760

Peak: Vehicular

A

Vacant Lots Civic / Institutional

80

Survey Results Land Use

75

70

2,552

strongly disagree disagree

B

B

neutral

agree

strongly agree

strongly disagree disagree

neutral

agree

strongly agree

2,376

Average Daily Traffic Market : 38,280 : 27,060 : 1,628

on the sidewalk

strongly disagree disagree

neutral

agree

strongly agree

in-person

in-person

mail-in

figure 21. Results

strongly disagree disagree

neutral

agree

strongly agree

mail-in

figure 19. Results

Satisfaction

Questions with regards to satisfaction were about the neighborhood’s open space, housing, retail and quality of landscaping of Octavia Blvd.

The results are a mixed bag of responses. However, with regards to Octavia Blvd, there is a strong mean and mode that people are satisfied strongly strongly strongly strongly with the landscaping along the boulevard.

Green

disagree disagree

neutral

agree

agree

disagree disagree

neutral

agree

agree

23

disagree disagree

I would like to see the retail structures become more permanent in the future

survey results I visit Patricia’s Green frequently in-person strongly disagree disagree

neutral

agree

strongly agree

mail-in strongly disagree disagree

figure 20. Results strongly neutral agree agree

The Hayes Valley neighborhood is a

survey Overall, Octavia Blvd has improved

neutral

agree

agree

disagree disagree

in-person

mail-in

These questions were intended to evaluate the value of various landscape aspects of Octavia Boulevard and, specifically, Patricia’s Green.

Both groups Patricia’s Greenare is agenerally safe placesatisfied to bring with the trees along the boulevard and highly satisfied with Patricia’s Green as an open green space.

Furthermore,children the in-person respondents have a wide range in terms of how often they visit Patricia’s Green while the residents, unsurprisingly, frequent it more often.

1,936

figure 23. Results

Overall

The air quality in Patricia’s Green is good enough to bring kids

Octavia Boulevard: Hayes Valley Livability 22

mail-in

figure 22. Results

For both in-person and mail-in surveys, the most positive answer was that respondents agree that the temporary retail structures, or pop-up retail stores, are an asset to the neighborhood. However, there was less agreement that they should become more permanent structures in strongly strongly strongly strongly the future. disagree disagree neutral agree agree disagree disagree neutral agree agree permanent in the future

Overall, Octavia Blvd has improved the livability of the surrounding area since the removal of the elevated freeway The Hayes Valley neighborhood has made social and economic improvements since the removal of the elevated freeway

Octavia Boulevard: Hayes Valley Livability 25

figure 24. results

Kid Friendliness

Survey Demographics

With regards to kid friendliness, there is an overarching agreement that both Patricia’s Green and the Hayes Valley neighborhood is a safe place to bring kids. However, there was a wider range of responses from mail-in respondents with regards to how kid friendly the entire Hayes Valley neighborhood is. A part of this could be because all of the in-person respondents were from people at Patricia’s Green. The open space is considered a kid-friendly place overall, and there was a noticeable presence of young children during the surveying process. However, this information may be biased, because many of the individuals surveyed at Patricia’s Green were already there with kids; if they did not think it was a safe space for children then they would not have brought them.

Overall Satisfaction These two questions were designed to address respondents’ overall perception of the transition of the Hayes Valley neighborhood since the removal of the elevated freeway, and whether or not there have been social/economic improvements. The results for these questions represent some of the most positive responses of all the questions asked.

Intercept Survey

26

5,500

agree

survey results

Octavia Boulevard: Hayes Valley Livability

484

agree

21

24

3,344

neutral

Octavia Boulevard: Hayes Valley Livability

Pop up Retail

very kid-friendly neighborhood Landscape Elements

in-person

4,400

Because of the nature of Octavia Boulevard as a major thoroughfare off of the Central Freeway, vehicular behavior with respect to pedestrian safety is a major concern. There is a general agreement between both groups that cars drive too fast along Octavia Boulevard though the mailin respondents more strongly feel that the amount of cars is excessive. Finally, all respondents remained neutral about cars driving too fast stronglysome disagreement to this statement. strongly along Patricia’s Green but the mode suggest strongly strongly

I view the temporary retail structures as an asset to the neighborhood

Octavia Boulevard: Hayes Valley Livability

Hayes Valley is a safe neighborhood for kids to play outside

Pop up Stores I frequently visit the temporary retail structures between Fell St and Hayes St

an open space

5,500

survey survey results Vehicular Behavior

survey results

Patricia’s Green

Mail in Survey

C

Vehicular Behavior There are too many cars on Octavia Blvd

survey

572

C

45dB

Cars drive too fast alongside Patricia’s Green

Octavia Boulevard: Hayes Valley Livability

20768

50

People drive too fast along Octavia Blvd

of the landscaping on Octavia Blvd

survey

2,376

B

55

survey results

Octavia Blvd

A

60

the Hayes Valley neighborhood

1320

C

65

survey

Hayes Valley neighborhood

15444

17512

A B Oak C Fell

Retail Surface Parking

Legend

survey results

Peak: Ped / Bike

792

836

Pop-up Store

survey

792

C

880

11616

Office

Open Space

space in the Hayes Valley neighborhood

21780

836

A

15884

8008

A B C

Off Peak: Ped / Bike

Residential

Mapping San Francisco’s Population Growth and Density Capacity

San Francisco, CA | December 2012

The purpose of this analysis is to map the population growth anticipated by the modeling that supports Plan Bay Area against the capacity of San Francisco to absorb a 25 percent growth in housing units given its current zoning ordinances.

San Francisco City and County will add 92,410 housing units by 2040, expanding to 496,350 from the 376,490 existing in 2010 according to Plan Bay Area modeling.

Using City of San Francisco parcel data, I looked at the maximum number of dwelling units per parcel as an indicator of the maximum number of housing allowed. The following formulas were used: [MAXIMUM NUMBER OF DU] = [MAX DU PER ACRE] * [ACRES] [2040 HOUSEHOLD CAPACITY PER PERSON] = [2040 HOUSEHOLD PROJECTION] – [MAX HOUSEHOLD CAPACITY] Using this method, I found that 57,260 parcels are unsuitable for zoning.

Art Projects

Giraffes 2012 Medium: Pencil Giraffes are my favorite animal.