multimodal access design

practice: RVTR role: intern / designer year: 2018 - 2019 responsibilities: site selection, actor identification, programming, prototype design description: using a bespoke online tool, three cities (Detroit, MI, Chicago, IL, and San Francisco, CA) were investigated to identify districts with low-access to high-quality food sources, healthcare, educational opportunities, and access to public transit systems. Sites were selected based on levels of access, and prototypical architectural interventions were proposed to address the identified gaps in access. Each design responds to its specific context, and includes access-enabling instruments tailored to each districts perceived needs. The site shown here is located in Detroit’s Barton-McFarland neighborhood, just west of the city’s downtown core.

access-enabling architecture

diagram of selected instruments and deployment strategy on site. Instruments are color coded according to the type of access they provide: orange for mobility instruments, purple for education, blue for health, and green for food. The large white space is intended as a flexible use zone, for mobile instruments and actors, such as produce buses or bookmobiles.

prototype design, showing instruments on site and the architecture that houses them. The intervention’s form is derived from the triangular site, and is designed to function as both a community access point and convenient transit hub.