Scenes Introduction 1. Icebreaker: Photomontage 2. Vital Neighborhood Study 3. In Depth Analysis on Paths 4. A Utopian Vision 5. Mission Bay Study 6. Mission Bay South Site Visit 7. A Design Proposal
Introduction In the very beginning of the semester, the course was introduced to a concept which is about the relationship between architecture and film. They are related in terms of ways in which they deliver film makers’ and or architects’ message behind their work; what subject is being presented, how that subject is presented, and why it is shown in the way it is seen rather than any other possibilities. If filmmakers use strategies such as zooming in and out, panning horizontally/ vertically, and showing views from bird’s & worm’s, eye views, similar principles are used by urban actors or architects to emphasize their intention in order to clearly communicate their messages and ideas behind their work.
Examples of similarities that we may find in film and architecture are: -Conflicts of new & old, outside & inside -Recalling direct& indirect -Light & dark which create mood and contrast - Story/narrative -Contrast between high and low -Time+ 3D space -Motion -Conversations -Repetition -Familiar & unfamiliar patterns/theme variation
Scene 1 Icebreaker: Photomontage Assignment: The course was asked to create a three-dimensional, wall mountable photomontage that communicates the most significant aspects in which how we engage in The City, considering the meaningful experience and relationship between us as urban actors and the city of San Francisco.
Understanding the processes of film making/designing set a stage for us to critically think about what to shoot, how to shoot and how to present the shots to the audience when we make our photomontage. The product of my first iteration of the photomontage was based on my inspiration from “The Triplets of Belleville,” where the author uses exaggerated/multiple points of views. There was a scene where a dog descends the stairs, then as the camera changes view from the dog’s direction to a view where the dog was heading, viewers’ perspective changes dramatically such that one wouldn’t have anticipated. Illustrating that unexpectedness in perspective change within a ambiguous space mainly drew my work. If one looks at it in glimpse, the space is somewhat realistic, as there are objects, such as buildings and stairs and a person, that are proportional to each other and in perspective. However, if one pays a little more attention, the scene is completely bizarre and maybe provocative. An architect may be successful if s/he can design such space that creates curiosity and desire in individual to explore more of that unfamiliar stair or pathways.
Message: A set of interesting and mysterious pathways may add vitality in the city, as they attract people by creating various experiences. One would want to fallow those paths in order to discover what’s beyond them that may reward one after taking either the risk or the pleasure of walking along that path. Also, there may be a sense of satisfaction and past and present time and perspective as one change his or her position and point of view while or after going up the stairways.
In order to have a clear direction in completing the photomontage, we wrote down ways in which we would approach this assignment and shared our ideas. At this point, I was interested in looking for busy areas/ squares or streets and analyze why, how, where, when, and what kind of people occupy those areas. Also, the concept of vitality became more important, so, understanding what is vitality and how it may be achieved also were questions to ask myself. vi·tal adjective 1.of or pertaining to life: vital processes. 2.having remarkable energy, liveliness 4.necessary to life: vital fluids. 5.necessary to the existence, continuance, or well-being of something; indispensable; essential: vital for a healthy society. Vital City, thus, can be understood as a place that provides the necessities of the people in order for them to thrive.
Some fundamental concepts that may help determine the vitality of a city: -Demographics/ Income/Education -People -Neighborhoods -Commerce -Technology -Housing: Apartments/Lofts/Studios/Live-work -Services: Hospital/ Dry clean/Hair saloon -Eco Friendly/ Sustainable communities -Creative Communities
Vitality may also be depended on followings elements: -entrance area of space -along public transportation -parking lots -food -music -orientation/sunlight -protective edges -color/material/structure of buildings
Tenderloin
Mission
La=no/Asian Restaurant/ Bars Art galleries
Sunny Mixed Use
Comparing and contrasting different neighborhoods can help measuring vitality of the city.
While my 1st montage was composed of images taken from my walk from Market Street to Telegraph Hill, images used this time were from different areas of the City in order to show how broader range and multiple layers of aspects, all which are integrated with each other in creating vitality. Having to visit different parts of the city, including Yerba Buena, Civic Center, Golden Gate Park and Mission, I noticed that actually presence of various aspects is required to fulfill the notion of vitality. Having beautiful architectural forms alone, for example, can’t attract people. Beautiful weather, view of nature and sound of music may need to accompany the built forms, spaces between and inside of which also have to provide human physical needs such as quality food and comfortable & artistic environment for sociability. A thought that drew my work, then, was that every single of these aspect becomes a beat of series of beats that create a wave of vibration or a pulse. While each of the image may represent a beat, in general, they become part of a bigger /main composition, which represents the concept of vitality.
Scene 2 Neighborhood Study Assignment:
Based on discoveries and impressions that we had on our icebreaker exercise, It was time to pick a neighborhood that we defined most vital and analyze it in terms of five forms of a city that Kevin Lynch describes in his book, “Image of the City.” We had to identify the forms, namely, -District -Edge -Path -Node -Landmark, within our chosen neighborhood and present their characters and relationships using Google SketchUp as a tool to prove and communicate our points.
A neighborhood I chose to study was the Civic Center. Although I wasn’t that familiar with this area, the decision was made based on the impression that I had about the Civic Center Plaza. About four years from now, I walked down to the Civic Center BART station for the first time after my school. It was a time when I took ESL course over at City College’s Alemany campus on Eddy street between Van Ness Avenue and Polk Street. I may have taken the Polk street for the walk. I remember that a sense of awe that I felt once I was brought into a very broad and sunny space at the end of the walk along the Polk Street. The plaza was/is surrounded by beautiful architectures and filled with many people walking around during a rush hours of a warm spring day. Icebreaker exercise was also helpful by the fact that it made us to physically go to different parts of the city and make observations. I realized how the plaza is surrounded by important cultural/public spaces, such as Asian Art Museum, SF public Library, and Opera House etc. Another reason that I chose this area was the fact that it has gotten some of the important forms, such as landmark and edge that we had to identify.
Issues of the first iteration. 1. Use of Google SketchUp.
Using while learning an unfamiliar tool in order to study a bigger concept such as urban design was a big challenge. Although learning how to draw lines and boxes was not as difficult, working with a model that had street/district scale was little bit frustrating because of layers of issues that would follow a project that started incorrectly in the first place.
2. Understanding key terms.
Although terms, such as Landmark and Paths, were easy to understand and identify, terms such as nodes and edges, were little bit confusing to understand, thus were not easy to identify from my chosen area until the class went over these terms with concrete examples.
3. Time management.
Because much of the time was spent for going out to take photos and figuring out SketchUp, there wasn’t much time left to deliver the five forms in depth with accompanying explanations ( although I did have a work title, name tag and the key terms or the 5 forms that were assigned to their corresponding images).
Things to consider for the next iteration: -Quantities/physical aspects -Dimensions -Properties -Scale -Contrasts Presentations: -Pan -Section -Elevation -Perspective -Diagrams Questions: What makes each of the forms get defined? How are they related to each other?
One of the key in producing more meaningful and informative presentation was to visit the area multiple times to get delighted by discoveries and really understand the essential physical aspects that make that place vital.
A fountain near the Art Ins=tute of California at the end of the Farmers Market
Seat by the south side walk of Asian Art Museum
Thing that I did not know before became noticed during my 4th visit after we discussed more about elements that make places vital.
Café on the porch of the Asian Art Museum
Tako trucks at the UN Plaza ( near the fountain)
Second Iteration
Observations that were made based on peers’ work -If we say that a place is vital, we need to define the ways that make that place vital. -If people gather, examine for what kind of reasons they gather. -If you are examining a BART station on Mission and 24th street, for example, it needs to be defined as busy besides only being a place for departure and arrival. -We also need to look at things in relation to things near them, defining what the ratio, differences in sizes are. -We need to ask ourselves questions while we make statement/ include images, to see if others can understand what we are trying to address. -Examine what are the features of active intersection; if it is the adjacent cafÊ, services, retail stores, or other things that activate sidewalks. -If we compare two pathways, we need to make a conclusion which pathway is more vital. -Give counts of the stores or restaurants that are making that pathway vital. -Show numbers, graph or picture of the density within feet block or area. -Annotate the picture, assuming that not everybody knows that information. -If you define something, explain why, as if we don’t know anything about that area.
Scene 3 In Depth Analysis
Assignment:
After generally identifying the five essential forms that create a city image, we had to choose the strongest part of our study and deepen that area including the variables that are important for vitality.
I decided to focus on studying Paths by comparing and contrasting Van Ness Avenue and Polk Street. The variables that I considered were: 1.Orientation
Both Van Ness Avenue and Polk Streets start from Market Street on the south and travel northward to the Bay. Thus the amount of sunlight provided for the streets throughout the day is roughly equal.
2. Scale/width The differences in the scale of the 2 street is immense. While the Van Ness Ave has width of 125 feet including its 15 feet side walks on both sides, Polk Street extends only about 65 feet in width and has 12 feet wide side walks. Â
Van Ness Ave
Polk Street
3. Traffic amount/transportation system Van Ness Avenue is San Francisco's major north-south transit route. The 47-Van Ness and 49-Van Ness/Mission lines both operate on the heavily used corridor, with 16,000 daily boarding. It also designated as State Freeway 101.
Van Ness Avenue Source:hOp://www.sfcta.org/van-‐ness-‐avenue-‐bus-‐rapid-‐transit-‐about
Polk Street Source:hOp://blog.=mbuk2.com/2011/04/20/polk-‐street-‐ showstopper/
The 19-line Muni bus travels Polk Street, and compared to Van Ness Ave, it has much less vehicle traffic and more bicyclists friendly with designated bikeway on both sides.
4. Activities that take place along the paths Similar to Geary Boulevard, Van Ness Avenues is a traffic thoroughfare where larger stores, car dealerships, and chain restaurants are located. Although the street may more vital in the southern area by the Opera House during nights, it would be only around time either before or after a show. In contrast, Polk street offers outdoor high-end restaurants, cafes, retail stores, and night clubs that make the street much more vital.
Van Ness Ave during the day Source: hOp://www.sleeptrain.com/store/san-‐ francisco-‐van-‐ness.aspx
Polk street at night Source:hOp://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/ar=cle/Polk-‐Street-‐neighbors-‐seek-‐to-‐limit-‐ bars-‐4305155.php
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Comparing the two pathways, I conclude that
-The density and variety of the restaurants and services that are along the ways create more vitality. There are range of different types of restaurants, e.g., Italian, Chinese, seafood and retail, sports wears, saloon etc. -Street with- narrow, not major street has more neighborhood environment, and has cozy atmosphere -Night life after the work hours also major vitality -Variety in “things to do� list because people spend their spare time or weekend with their friends and families so that in order for a place to be vital there should be so many different activities that one can engage in -Accessible parking lots- most of the time busy places in San Francisco are hard to find a parking spot for free or cheap. So areas that provide parking will draw more people than places that have no parking lots -Safety is a major consideration for vitality. People want to go to areas that are reputed for their safeness -A lot of people pay attention for their fitness, so places near fitness center, especially park can bring more people in the area. - Places for singles/nigh clubs is another major criteria for vital place -Affordable housing, especially cheap apartment complex for students and professionals and families. -Kids kids friendly - A natural attraction should be at the end or at some point along the pathway besides other commercial attractions
Reflection Compared to a person that I was a couple of weeks age, at this point, there were many things that I have learned that would help me go on to the next level. Getting a general understanding of Urban Design was one of the main outcomes of the first few weeks of the semester. There are many variables that need to be current to help a place to be likable and sociable, thus vital. Architects don’t only design a beautiful building, but they need to consider many different, such as social, political, economical, cultural and environmental factors, in order to create a space that people want to occupy. Trying to study aspects that create vitality while organizing them under Kevin Lynch’s five forms was little confusing. Because although I was able to identify the forms that Lynch describes in his book, some of the found forms were not necessarily vital. But later on, when I focused on one form and compared and contrasted two examples of that form, it became more clear how one can evaluate a vitality of a place. Being able to use Google SketchUp at a point where I could communicate my ideas visually was also a critical outcome of the assignments to be able to work on the next homework, which was to create a Utopian District.
Scene 4 Utopian District Assignment: Based on the city image analysis, we were asked to design hypothetical urban district that illustrates our vision through presentations that are well organized, easily read, substantively meaningful, relevant, and credible using Edward Tufte’s Six Principles for the Analysis and Presentation of Data.
Some of the important deliverables were: 1. Title: “A Utopian Vision: Applying successful urban design concepts,
principles, and strategies to create a vital City Image”; 2. Name, date, ARCH 103 Spring 2013; 3. List of at least 6 urban design concepts, principles, and strategies incorporated into the utopian vision; 4. Key Plan, with graphic scale, north arrow, and notes that relate this key plan to the graphic aspects of the utopian urban vision 5. Detailed plans with annotations to describe the organization or logic of feature areas within the district; materials used; etc.; 6. Elevations that describe edge conditions; 7. Sections that describe the relationships between edge conditions, landmarks, nodes, and paths 8. Storyboard: Perspective vignettes that chronologically describe a pedestrian’s journey through the utopian district. Images must be accompanied by captions.
Before getting started, basic conclusion I made from looking at Newman’s “Defensible Space” was that big scale/ high-rise buildings usually attract crimes, so my district should consists of small scale buildings within well organized blocks with a lots of services and spaces that would engage social activities for broad range people.
Based on my conclusion made from the previous assignment, messages that had for our utopian district were:
1. Park for public use 2. High density of mixed use: dining/services/residents /educational facilities/ entertainment/cultural spaces 3. Permeable blocks 4. Discouraged thorough traffic within the mini neighborhood but accessible main transportation hub that bounds the neighborhood 5. Encouraged foot and bicycle traffic 6. Interesting edge condition Â
There were number of problems that my presentation had, as it was our first iteration and that there were many things that we had to address step by step. Weakness: -no clear vision -no clear statement of the 6 concepts that drew the work -unorganized/ hard to read -don’t have a journey that would lead the audience through the district -lack of different views, such as elevations and sections to let the audience have a clear understanding of the relationship between human to building heights, and about the general information that is provided.
When presented our Utopian Vision for the second time, there were three designated student jurors do peer critiques and the criteria for the their critique were: 1. Clear Communication of The Vision 2. Clarity of Content + Organization 3. Credible evidence supporting “The Vision” 4. Effective + accurate use of terminology, concepts, principles, +approaches to vital urbanism
Weaknesses: -At this point, my Vision for the Utopian district wasn’t clear to my jurors. Based on my initial idea on creating a mixed-use-mini neighborhood, a vision may have been “Intellectual and Hyperactive Heterotopia within San Francisco.” It was my responsibility to know and be able define and conclude what my vision is. However, I think the problem occurred, as we were not asked to clearly define our vision before we designed the district and try to assign one afterwards. - If the key plan was color coded, the concept of “mixed use” might have seen clearly. -It was pointed out that the key plan should have been on the left in order for the audience to digest the information more efficiently, but locating it on the right can also help one to conclude all the information that was provided to be seen at first. Strengths: -my intension to provide a virtual journey through the use of images texts that correspond to the plan view was successful as the the plans was lied out horizontally to be read from left ( where south main entry is) to right( where library and ocean locate on the north)
Obviously, our ideas could have developed much further with more exciting design concepts if there was a chance. However, on of the most critical lessons to learn, perhaps, was about applying what we gained from previous exercises, such as looking at existing urban design of San Francisco and design principles of Lynch, to our design process. Also, it was about being able to clearly communicate what is designed and how various concepts and physical forms correlate to others visually and verbally. In terms of applying the lessons learned to the next project, I did okay as I was actually realizing that how my knowledge from the previous exercises and discussions during class were driving my work. I think that addressing a visual clear communication is easier to fix, which will come with more practice. However, I have found myself really struggling with being able to clearly communicate my ideas in words. There are number of factors that create this situation, which may be addressed by examining my thoughts and design ideas from multiple points of views and question them before presenting them.
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Scene 5 Mission Bay Study Assignment: We had to choose three key terms about urban design that would help us to start analyzing our site, Mission Bay, which as a result would direct our design ideas for the final project.
1. Enclave noun -A portion of territory within or surrounded by a larger territory whose inhabitants are culturally or ethnically distinct. source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclave_and_exclave
Mission Bay may be considered as an enclave of the city of San Francisco. In general, it is a physically distinct and isolated enclave as the neighborhood is mostly abandoned among the general public. Mission Bay South is bounded by the Bay on the east, while the 7th Street and Interstate 280 on its west and Mission Creek on its north separate the area from rest of the City. As a result of this geographical isolation, the Mission Bay had been an abandoned “wasteland� for rail yard and industrial use until it became a new site of the UCSF Research Campus about a decade ago. There are a few residential buildings, industrial business, bioengineering labs and empty streets that mostly landmark the neighborhood besides the UCSF campus. Muni serves the students and industrial workers. There is not so much night life happens here besides a few bars located along Terry a Francois Boulevard. There is frequent criminal activities such as car break-ins and theft.
2. Heterotopia noun -in terms of Pathology, it means misplacement or displacement, as of an organ. -in terms of space, heterotopia means ''other place, '’ and according to shvoong.com, “between real social and utopian space lies heterotopia.”
Mission Bay may be an example of heterotopia, as it exists in the real world, unlike utopia, and that it is envisioned and on its way to be a world-wide scientific, medical and educational facility. There is a vast space to be occupied by a UCSF medical campus, a hospital complex, bio- and genetic-research organizations and firms, plus commercial offices and housing for all the employees and students and researcher. The place will ultimately have an ultra-modern look, with sleek architecture and avant-garde urban parks and public places.
3. Armature noun -The continuous qualities of streets, blocks and infrastructure can create a framework, or armature, which connect and hold the city together. The armature at the street scale can connect urban elements. source: http://my.safaribooksonline.com/book/design/9782940439416/2-context/55
Thus, use of armature, a basic element in urban design, can enhance the level of vitality of the Mission Bay by connecting the area with other enclaves or districts in City. There should be multiple armatures that link the area with other enclaves directly and fast creating more easy and open access to the Mission Bay for its vitality.
Access: SF Muni - The 15 comes to the corner of 3rd/16th. The campus is just West of this drop off. BART - The BART station drops off at 16th and Mission. From this point, one can take the Red Line UCSF Shuttle on the South Side of the Street in front of the Burger King.
Features: Terry a Francois Street is a unique street that begins in the AT&T Park parking lot and runs a few blocks down the eastern waterfront. The street is very plain and acts only as a transportation street down the side of various parking lots and various docks. Nearly half of Terry a Francois Street runs by nothing but flat land with nothing but machinery and dock buildings. With the SF Giants playing nearby this neighborhood probably gets a lot of foot traffic through the area on game days.
Mission Bay Neighborhood is a Great Place For: -Internet Access -Medical Facilities -Parking -Quietness
Not Great For
-Shopping Options -Clean & Green -Public Transport -Childcare -Park & Recreation -Night Life
Who Lives Here -Singles -Professionals -Families with kids -Retirees -Tourists
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The central part of the Mission Bay has been occupied by the UCSF Campus development, which is bounded by the 3rd Street on the east, 16th Street and the future medical center on the south. And multi-family housings will be constructed on the north of the campus. The area marked in red is part of the designated space for Salesforce Campus, who proposes commercial offices.
The site marked in red is my site proposal based on following reasons. 1. It is located adjacent to the UCSF campus although this area of the campus is devoted to parking garage. 2. The western edge is bounded by the main transportation line, and there are the major stations right between the UCSF campus and the site. 3. Mission Bay waterfront bounds it on the east although Terry A Francois Blvd runs In between the site and the water’s edge. Anything that gets built on this site could have a view oriented toward the perfect view of the bay. 4. The Hearst Tower, or the UCSF Housing, is located on its north-west which would let the visitors have a incredible view of the bay. 5. On its north-west corner is where the UCSF Mission Bay Housing locates. Â
Conclusion on the research. The current Mission Bay South neighborhood has already developed as a home for people of various groups, students, professionals, singles, families with kids, and elderly. And there are usually private buildings that have their own special functions, belonging only for those who study, live and work in them. Although there are some public green space, where individuals can hang out, there isn’t any special and attractive public space in the neighborhood that brings those isolated group of people together to create greater vitality. I believe that the vitality of the neighborhood will increase significantly, if those isolated communities are brought together as means of enjoyable, cultural and sociable space. According to Urban Institute’s Arts and Culture Indicators Project ( ACIP), who helps policymakers to make better decisions for neighborhoods and cities, opportunities and presence of arts and creative expressions play a vital role in healthy place to live. I hypothesize that if a space favors/ promotes art, it is enjoyable and becomes more sociable. It will call for diverse range individuals not only from the area for lunch breaks, but also communities from the neighboring districts for weekend adventures.
Scene 6 Mission-‐Bay-‐South Site Visit
The field trip to the site for our final project has been one of the most important steps in terms of our class objectives and student learning outcomes, one of which is to create architectonic solutions to a set of project requirements. Experiencing the site in person would give an important insight for each of us differently than doing a virtual research.
Documenting what we observed during the visit in photograph would be one of the simplest ways that would help us develop our program and design proposals. As we photograph, It was suggested that we consider -Skyline -Building breaks -Themes -Spaces -Building materials -views of/to a building
There were things that work well. Attractive contemporary architectural elements and easy access of transportation right by our site, promoted use of bicyclists and seats along main paths Â
There were things that may not be working as they should be. Undesirable outdoor dining spaces ( no wind/ sun protection, no privacy) and quad ( not clear whether it is encouraging or discouraging occupants)
Play between geometrical shapes and light and shades
Interesting landmarks that maybe incorporated into our design
Themes in materials and colors
Scene 7 Design  Proposal  Assignment:
Based on our research and conclusions made on the Mission Bay South, the class was asked to propose programs that will inform our design and promote more vitality in the Mission Bay Neighborhood.
“Public Contemporary Museum” in the Mission Bay South The idea was inspired by the Olympic Sculpture Park of Seattle Art Museum. The Park has transformed a nine-acre industrial site into open and vibrant green space for art. This new waterfront park gives Seattle residents and visitors the opportunity to experience a variety of sculpture in an outdoor setting while enjoying the incredible views and beauty of the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound. The project was developed on a site that used to be an industrial one, which is very similar to our site in the Mission Bay South. While the area is bounded by water front on the east, the Seattle downtown is on the north. There is also railroad between the main structure and the waterfront, which promoted more interesting design ideas, such as building a pathway that crosses over it.
My first design proposal is to create a public contemporary museum while incorporating it with the existing unique characteristics of the site. The main attraction of both locals and tourists leis on the outdoor space, which should be free to enable accesses to all types of people. There will also an iconic architectural design get built, considering the context, orientation and characters of the site, inside of which will be occupied by indoor public spaces for mixed uses, such as restaurant, small boutique and retail stores etc. There will be pathway(s) that lead crowds from the main building to the waterfront or vise versa. That pathway will branch off to smaller pathways, spaces between which, there will be extensive landscape architecture complemented by contemporary art pieces or sculptures. The pathways ultimately meets at the waterfront and extends into the water providing a pathway over the water. The old broken bride structure becomes a main part of the “contemporary art museum� to be compared and contrasted with the new modern structures displayed for the museum, as the pathway over the water allows people to walk not on them but right by them, creating tension and sense of old and the new/ past and present. The street, Terry A Francois, is a very wide street that runs in between the waterfront and the site. Creating a tunnel and having the pathway over it will actually can add more interesting elements, such as sloped pathways or stairs which will increase the visual and or walking experience along the pathway.
To be continued‌