Better Block KC

BETTER BLOCK KC 2013

KCDC Kansas City Design Center

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BETTER BLOCK KC—KCDC 2014

Contents

Project Brief KCDC

Better Block KC Research & Analysis

Case Studies Site Analysis Project Diagrams Usage Materiality

Kit of Parts Unit Structure Final Documentation Plan Elevation Details Renderings Construction Event Photos

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Project Brief

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Kansas City Design Center

For the second year, The Kansas City Design Center is participating with Better Block KC to create a more “complete street” for the downtown area of Kansas City. This event aligns with the mission of KCDC to improve the urban environment.

The KCDC supports educational initiatives that help build public awareness of the factors that influence the character of the public realm.

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PROJECT BRIEF

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Better Block KC

The “Better Block” project transforms a typical autocentric street into a pedestrian oriented route to show the potential for a great, walkable, vibrant neighborhood.

It is a demonstration tool that acts as a living charrette so that communities can actively engage in the process and provide feedback in real time.

Better Block KC 2012: Make Grand “Grand”

KCDCDESIGN BRIEF

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PROJECT BRIEF

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Transportation Oriented Design

The overall goal of Better Block KC is to engage the community and advocate multi-modal transportation including the upcoming street car.

Once the KC Streetcar is in operation, the route will connect the River Market area to the Crown Center/Union Station area.

The majority of the two-mile route will be on Main Street.

The stops will be spaced about every two blocks, which will be a total of 18 stops.

The 2013 Better Block KC site at 19th St. and Main St. was chosen to help facilitate excitement for the streetcar, and will be a future streetcar stop.

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PROJECT BRIEF

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Project Brief & Challenge Develop a Facade to support and demonstrate transit oriented development (TOD) within the vacant site. Collaborate with Local Start KC to arrange a layout of the marketplace with accessible pedestrian corridor.

Existing Site

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Event concept image.

PROJECT BRIEF

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Research & Analysis

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Facade Study The facade is the interface of two conditions, and occupies the space that is shared by both.

exterior vs. interior

public vs. private

building vs. city The facade is significant, as it designates the intitial perception of a space, and sets the tone for the entire structure. A facade conventionally denoted the program within, such as a bank vs. a market facade each convey a different meaning.

Historically, the facade was the “face” of a building; the side adjacent to the street, or city. As the most urban part of the building, the facade promoted human interaction along the street, while providing separation for the interior. The identity of a city’s streets and public spaces was created by the facades in aggregate. The facades developed their own dialogue, which affected the overall “conversation” of the city.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

Facades develop a relationship between two spaces.

Parsons Design School; New York City

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The skin of a building, and the public interface.

Facade Study

As part of our study, we also investigated the different attributes of a facade: Transparency & Layering Form & Material Communication & Ideas of engagement

The changing conditions of the facade as markers of time and space.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

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Transparency & Layering transparent: able to be seen through; easy to notice or understand; honest and open, not secretive. transmitting light so that bodies lying beyond are seen clearly. allowing the passage of a specified form. free from pretense or deceit.

When considering a facade, transparency involves removing or varying the barriers between the two conditions. This varies the degree of the accessability and openess of this intermediate space.

The degree to which on object is transparent is transparency. Transparency can be Conceptual or Literal; visual or physical.

With Steven Holl’s building, the users can litteraly occupy the space that is typically used only as a boundary. The space can be morphed into a variety of uses, and the spacial boundaries change with use.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

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Transparency & Layering “Transparency means a simultaneous perception of different spatial locations. Space not only recedes but fluctuates in a continuous activity. ” (Gyorgy Kepes, Language of Vision, quoted in C. Rowe & R. Slutzky, 1982, Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal, The mathematics of the ideal villa and other essays)

The layering produces an opposition between the actual geometry and an implied geometry; between real space which is negative or void and implied volume which is positive or solid” (Eisenman, 1975).

Jean Nouvel’s Cartier Foundation in Paris has a transparent glass facade which maintains the street wall, continues some of the adjacent building’s datum, and transparently masks (virtually) the complexity of the programed spaces beyond.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

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Form & Material Found object vs. custom made

Objects or products that are no longer considered useful may be reporpused with an entirely different fuction to change the perception of it’s utility or status.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

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Form & Material Found object : wood pallet

A pallet is designed to be a stable support for heavy objects while in transport.

As the structural foundation of a unit load, the pallet is designed to perform horizontally in compression. While there is no universal standard size, pallets are generally built in similarl sizes in order to be more usefull and economical.

For the Better Block KC project, we have found ample sources of discarded pallets. The 80 inch pallets in the left photograph were used for shipping solar panels.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

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Communication & Ideas of Engagement

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

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Communication Previous events helped the studio establish its primary goals.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

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Site Analysis

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SITE ANALYSIS

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Aerial Map

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SITE ANALYSIS

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View Diagram

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SITE ANALYSIS

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Views Looking East on 19th St.

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SITE ANALYSIS

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Views Looking South on Main St.

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SITE ANALYSIS

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Views Looking North East from Extra Virgin Restaraunt.

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SITE ANALYSIS

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Site Plan

19th St.

Confluence Parklet

Streetcar Stop Mockup Streetcar Exhibit

Parklets

Main St.

KCDC Interactive Facade

MARKET SEATING & MOVIE VEIWING

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10'

SITE ANALYSIS

20'

40'

SITE PLAN

80'

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Circulation

gathering space circulation

Main St.

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SITE ANALYSIS

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Project Diagrams

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Unit Diagram

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PROJECT DIAGRAMS

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Transparency

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PROJECT DIAGRAMS

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Interaction

customer

ity un m g m tin co sea

exiting fence

vendor

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PROJECT DIAGRAMS

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Material Language

MATERIAL LANGUAGE: stacked/ horizontal pallets MDF countertops layered/ vertical pallets existing iron fence

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PROJECT DIAGRAMS

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Final Documentation

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Elevation

ft. ft.

52 in.

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FINAL DOCUMENTATION

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STREET ELEVATION Better Block KC

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Axon

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FINAL DOCUMENTATION

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Details

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FINAL DOCUMENTATION

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Details

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End Condition

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FINAL DOCUMENTATION

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End Condition

Base Seating Space Defining

END CONDITION Exploded Axon

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FINAL DOCUMENTATION

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Vignette 1

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FINAL DOCUMENTATION

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Vignette 2

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Vignette 3

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FINAL DOCUMENTATION

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Vignette 4

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Vignette 5

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FINAL DOCUMENTATION

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Vignette 6

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Construction

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CONSTRUCTION

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CONSTRUCTION

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CONSTRUCTION

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CONSTRUCTION

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Event Photos

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Event Setup

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EVENT PHOTOS

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Event Setup

1. moving the pallets into place on site 2. assembling one of the countertops 3. installing lights inside the structure 4. arranging vegetation with the help from Family Tree Nursery

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EVENT PHOTOS

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Event Setup

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EVENT PHOTOS

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Event Setup

1. fastening the cords for the lighting to the pallets 2. guests gathered at the site around 5pm to hear Mayor Sly James speak 3. view of the assembled facade 4. Thou Mayest setting up their vendor counter BETTER BLOCK KC—KCDC 2014

EVENT PHOTS

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Vendors

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EVENT PHOTOS

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Vendors

1. Howards Organic Market 2. Thou Mayest 3. The Local Pig 4. H&C Ice Cream

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EVENT PHOTOS

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Local Start Market

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EVENT PHOTOS

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Local Start Market

1. Local Start Marketplace 2. Cultivate KC sharing information 3. Vendors inside the marketplace 4. Bread KC pop up shop

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EVENT PHOTOS

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Evening Photos

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EVENT PHOTOS

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Evening Photos

1. Later in the evening, people with food from other locations using the seating 2. Lighting incorporated into the facade allowed vendors to keep selling their products after dark.

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Evening Photos

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EVENT PHOTOS

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Evening Photos

1. Seating area in use 2. Fluorescent lighting detail 3. Countertop Detail 4. Facade illuminating the sidewalk after the event BETTER BLOCK KC—KCDC 2014

EVENT PHOTOS

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