Reconnecting and Designing the Town’s Pathways
The expanding village of Jenišov is on the Czech-German border, in the region of Karlovy Vary. The general flow of traffic is mostly from two main highways that split the town. The question then isn’t about the main movement of cars in and out of the town but how the pedestrians move within. How do people move within the streets, between houses, to the play areas, and the local bar? How do they connect with each other? In this small community, where everyone knows one another, people’s daily movements and activities go through smaller well-trodden paths.
At one time, big cities were smaller settlements and main roads were routes and paths. Walkways between plots would become cherished passages as towns continued grow. In Jenišov, there is an opportunity to design and cultivate those broken paths, knowing that they can affect the entire atmosphere of the town and enhance its identity.
These broken and incomplete streets give the town a disconnected feeling, which could be mended by giving it some unifying characteristics.
This project will try to offer a sustainable and coherent solution that is implemented throughout the town. It should connect the people physically, emotionally, and aesthetically, and give the town an identity that resonates with the locals and makes the town unique.
1 Introduction
--- ‘What is architecture?’
--- Brief
---Analysis
---Design Guidelines
---Concept
2 Design Intervention
--My intervention
-- Site Map
-- Before and After Design Implements
-- Public furniture, Material, and vegetation
-- Construction Details
3 Closing
-- Bibliography
-- Biography and Contact
A year ago, a small town on the Czech- German border reached out to our school. They humbly offered a workshop for ARCHIP students which would entail some firsthand research and local communication with the people of the town, Jenišov. This workshop sprouted a whole new field of opportunity not only for the town but also for the students. We grew close to the town, having fond and not so fond memories of the town from walking in the rain, but overall, we grew to have a small attachment. In going back almost a year later, revisiting the town for a new project, I started to analyse the town and its center.
The streets of Jenisov are incoherent in a few ways. Sometimes they start in one place and stop 2 meters ahead of you for no reason, where in other places the gravel has eaten away the pavement. Other times, they are falling apart and don’t fulfull their function at all.
If the sidewalks are intact, then they only lead you in one straight path through most of the town. If you want to cross the street, there is only one crosswalk for over 300 meters and there isn’t always another sidewalk on the otherside to cross over to.
Some of the paths may be intact and may take you from place to place, but they don’t have a consistent material that makes the path. It will range from a gravel path, to dirt, to concrete, to cobblestone.
To improve this problem, it is important to have consistencty in the three ways above, connection, material, and aesthetic. Having a put together, straightforward path that makes your walk enjoyable, will not only improve how the town looks, but it will increase the number of people that will choose to walk through the town.
Having vegetation on both sides of the path creates a narrower yet more beautiful pathway.
The plants and flowers would be small and undisturbing to
Having vegetation on both sides of the path creates a narrower yet more beautiful pathway.
The plants and flowers would be small and undisturbing to the sidewalk.
Having it just on one side of the path creates a better balance of a wide enough sidewalk and color from the plants.
However, with a smaller population, there won't be as many larger groups of people walking together.
for the locals.
Publice spaces range from the park you go to fish to the sidewalk that you walk on to get from one place to another safely. Of the many elements of public spaces, the first that should be fixed are the sidewalks.
Sidewalks make a way for pedestrians in the car heavy world that we live in today. They create a safe and scenic way to go through a town and experience what it has to offer.
Sidewalks should be easy to find, comfortable, safe, and fulfill their purpose of transporting you from place to place.
If a town doesn’t have sidewalks, it is like a beautiful picture without a frame to complement and support it.
Heavy Traffic Streets
- Have two-way traffic - Roads have a width of 7-12m
- Main roads will be paved - sidewalks will vary in material by location and surrounding functions.
The busiest roads can make a pedestrian feel the most alone. It doesn't
Heavy Traffic Streets
The busiest roads can make a pedestrian feel the most alone. It doesn’t take much to change the atmosphere of deserted, sidewalkless, roads to a more comfortable place.
-Have two-way traffic -Roads have a width of 7-12m
-Main roads will be paved -sidewalks will vary in material by location and surrounding functions.
Cross Walks
- Implemented on the high trafficked streets and at junction points
- minimum width of 2m
- Painted Surface accompanied with 'slow' sign within 5m of the crosswalk to warn drivers.
Lamps
- The lamps will be placed every 6m
- At every crosswalk and corner
Cross Walks
- Implemented on the high traffic streets and at junction points - Minimum width of 2m
There are currently very large street lights that are commonly used in cities where there are more than 2 storey buildings or for highways. This creates a less personal atmosphere for people in the town. By having shorter lamps that are closer together, the town will be better lit in the evenings, encouraging beautiful evening walks to enjoy the sunset over the valley.
- Painted Surface accompanied with 'slow' sign within 5m of the crosswalk to warn drivers.
Dustbins
- Placed at Crosswalks and near benches
- Every 10m
- Easily Accessible to trash trucks
Encouraging the locals to take care of their town! It is not a very dense town, so having the trash cans spaced every 15m should be more than enough.
Benches
- Placed where the sidewalk is at least 2m in width
- If placed where there are narrower sidewalks then the bench will sit into the sidewalk edge.
- Bench for 2 people
- Placed close to a street light
There are so many beautiful moments in small towns like Jenisov. Allowing the locals to have a nice spot to sit down and take a break during their walk or meet in conversation with some
MAIN ROAD
MAIN ROAD
This
The bridges of the town are similar to paths in that you can see where the town desired to cross and made it possible.
These bridges are not large and obtrusive but instead minimal and simple. They have great potential not only to be able to guide people towards a new discovery or place, but also to create a beautiful moment within the town.
It’s the small things.
The intention of this project is to take the small things and improve them. To take the things that make everyday life a little bit better and enhance them, in hope that this will encourage the town to continue to grow with more purpose. To encourage the town to look forward to developing their home with a more solid identity that they are proud of.
In my analysis, one of the first things that stuck out to me were the pathways of the town. I could imagine kids from the neighbourhood using the small paths between the plots as shortcuts to each other’s houses. Creating memories of playing tricks on neighbours, running to go and meet a friend who is home from the summer; or even physically creating the path to get to a friend’s place.
From walking around, 10 specific moments made an impression on me, which I have used to show not only the design guides but also how these moments could be captured through a different lens.
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2 3 4 5
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The new residents of the town drove past the center, waiting for pedestrians to cross the road, and breathed in their new home. The quaint streetlights, the simple signs to the important things in the town, the luscious trees and blooming flowers, all encompassing a moment in time.
STRUCTURAL DRAWING- FRONT VIEW
NOTES: - GALVANIZED BOLT, 170mm x 20mm - STEEL PLATE, 210mm BASE, 300mm LENGTH,15mm THICKNESS. CUSTOM WELDED 100mm FROM BASE PLATE. - RAILING WELDED
Gazebo Detail
TIMBER COLUMN 250mm x 300mm
OVERLAPPING
TIMBER BOLTS
STEEL PLATE FOUNDATION CONNECTION
COBBLE STONE
FINE GRAVEL
COARSE GRAVEL
STEEL JOINT CONNECTION
CONCRETE FOUNDATION
AIR GAP
TIMBER BATTEN
STEEL PLATE CONNECTION
TIMBER BOLTS
I have picked all of these shrubs and floewrs because of the climate, colors, and characteristics that they have during certain periods of the year. Each of these plants complements the others in bright ways and will liven the landscape of the town when placed together. The plants and shrubs will be placed in groups along certain parts of the sidewalks and in gathering spaces like the gazebo, sports center, and path through the water tower. Though a little higher maintenance than others, they will really bring the town and its streets to life.
