West Bottoms Analysis

the west bottoms Analysis.2010 Kansas City Design Center | Urban Design Studio 2010-2011

Central Industrial District Association Kansas City Industrial Council Unified Government. Kansas City, Kansas

Kansas City Design Center Urban Design Studio 2010-2011 Edited by Jesse Husmann

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historical

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contextual

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experiential p

the west bottoms The West Bottoms is an area in the heart of the greater metropolitan area of Kansas City. It lies at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers and occupies land in both states. It is a triangular district bounded by the two rivers and the Bluff to the East.

It was once the economic center of the city, back when the railroads and stockyards were the lifeblood for Kansas City. The flat terrain of the floodplain was ideal for the railroads to come through, and with the advent of the stockyards, the West Bottoms became an essential link between the West and the East, the South and the North. The same attributes that made the area prime for the networks of railroads also created the threat of disastrous floods. After the floods of 1903 and 1908 many of the residential, retail, and passenger rail services vacated the West Bottoms and relocated to higher ground. The economic center moved to the current downtown, and what was left in the West Bottoms was largely stockyards and other industrial uses.

After the 1951 flood the West Bottoms was all but abandoned by Kansas City. The stockyards suffered immense losses, and there was a further exodus from the area. Even today, the threat of the floodplain affects development and prospects in West Bottoms.

And despite the recent revitalization of Downtown, the River Market, and the Crossroads, very little of that development has moved westward, into the Bottoms.

Today it is largely by-passed by locals and visitors alike.

The interstates cut across the West Bottoms above most buildings, and well above the street level. The traffic

02 moves by seemingly without noticing or impacting the area below, but there is an impact. The highways have created new barriers and borders, further fragmenting the West Bottoms from the rest of the city and even within itself. There are now several distinct districts within the West Bottoms, each with its own character and potential for growth.

The West Bottoms clearly differs from the larger context of Kansas City. There is a constant rush of traffic above, while an active industrial, freight and train traffic creates a constantly changing, dynamic environment within the area. The buildings have a unique density and texture that is not found in many places in the city. The area is vibrant and has a life all its own. All of these elements

combine to create surprising spaces, some temporary, some accidental, but very distinct to the area. And though the sense of abandonment and neglect is strong, the sense of life, character, spirit and potential is far stronger.

Today the area is referred to as the Central Industrial District. The industrial element is a huge part of the heritage, character, and life of the area, but there are presently opportunities to allow for more residential and retail development and growth in the area by rezoning much of the district as mixed-use. This opportunity has the potential for creative interventions, emphasizing the West Bottoms’ continuing relevance for Kansas City.

historical

industry + infrastructure

historical study This study seeks to build an understanding of the history of the West Bottoms through changes in the built environment. Through the Kansas City Library’s Missouri Valley Collections, containing maps and drawings of the area dating back as far as 1869, in addition to a large number of historic photographs.

Most important among these materials were the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, which detail information about every building in the West Bottoms over a sixtyyear period.

Supplementing the Sanborn maps with aerial photography and historical drawings, we created a series of maps of the West Bottoms spanning 1869 to 2010. We then combined these maps and analyzed the differences between them in order to better understand the physical history of the area. Concurrently, we expanded our photographic study to better understand the visual history of the site, including several prominent features such as the Kansas City Stock Yards.

We came to two important conclusions through this process: the inseparability of buildings and transportation infrastructure, and the tenuous relationship between economic activity and the floodplain. The built environment developed with respect to the rail lines that served the area; the decline of rail traffic combined with the construction of the interstate system led to the recent general neglect of the West Bottoms. Second, catastrophic flooding periodically devastated the site and led to a persistent exodus of economic activity. These two forces and their economic ramifications have combined to give this heavily industrial area the character it has today.

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stockyards

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1895

1909

1939

flooding

american royal + kemper arena

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historic preservation This study involved the existing building stock in the West Bottoms. It assessed the structures based upon their significance in physical character using historical documentation and physical appearances. The buildings, particularily the facades rather than the current functions of the buildings, still hold the integrity of how they were originally built and can serve as anchors to part of the future development in the area. The buildings highlighted in the study are historically important; each building has been found to have historic integrity and to be integral for the future development of the area, surrounding building stock, and the historical heritage of the West Bottoms.

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railroad study

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The growth of Kansas City is directly related to its rail network--specifically the construction of the Hannibal Bridge, the first bridge constructed to cross the Missouri River. When Kansas City was chosen over Leavenworth, Kansas as the location for this bridge in 1869, the crossing sparked immediate growth.

This resultant growth of commerce and industry directly associated with rail in turn sparked an explosion of population. In 1860, the population of Kansas City was a mere 4,500, growing to 56,000 by 1880 and 164,000 by 1900. The rapid economic growth was most visible in the area directly east of the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers, where large amounts of trade were brought into the area, the largest being livestock. This area, known as the West Bottoms, became the main rail center of Kansas City. The creation of the Kansas City Stockyards and Live Stock Exchange brought the railroad network to its peak. Damages caused by a series of floods in the late 19th century prompted the move of the passenger rail stations to higher grounds, and the 1951 flood caused much of the industry to leave the West Bottoms as well. The demise of the Kansas City Stockyards is attributed to the large decline in rail traffic in the late 20th century.

This series of chronological railroad maps show a progression in seventy-year intervals, starting at the construction of the Hannibal Bridge. There are currently five railroad lines operating in the West Bottoms, and the extended map of North America shows how these five railroad companies connect on an international scale.

1869

1895

1939

1963

2010

contextual

Stockyards District Condition

South side of 16th Street

Roads

Parking

Open Space North side of 16th Street

Green Space

Pedestrian

Pedestrian

river study The rivers are inherently tied to the West Bottoms physically, historically, and culturally. We are interested in the duality of the current river condition: desire for connection to the river and yet protection from the river. In order to study this condition, we examined historical maps, photos, and diagrams of the rivers, as well as studying the relationship of the West Bottoms to the rivers in plan and section, and gaining a general knowledge base of the hydrology of the area. All of this cumulated in the following four conclusions: 1. The river is an essential part of the natural condition.

2. The threat of flooding continues to be in the consciousness of those in the West Bottoms.

3. This consciousness leads to both protecting the land from the water and blocking the water from the land.

4. The current and potential relationship of the area to the river is the next logical area of study.

The study began with developing an understanding of the natural condition of the rivers: each river has its own impact on the area. The Missouri River to the North was the original source of discovery and development. It is a waterway that extends from Montana to the Mississippi.

It is wide, fast, and known for its ever-changing course.

The Kansas River is smaller in reach and size, and more stable in its course. However, there were repeated floods of the Kansas that devastated the West Bottoms until the 1950s when a massive flood control project was started. Even with these flood controls, the threat of flooding still affects the mindset of the area.

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Pedestrian Bridge Condition

Woodswether District Condition

West side of Mulberry Street

East side of Mulberry Street

12 The major analytical part of understanding the natural condition took the form of tracing both the floodplains and the changing boundaries of the river(s). As a result of these studies, we were able to see how the river affected the development of the West Bottoms, whether through adding land (through shifting currents and silt left behind by flooding), or temporarily subtracting it (by inundating the district).

Parallel to these natural conditions, a major theme in our findings has been how the man-made protection from the river flooding becomes a barrier to the river. These interventions along the river take the form of floodwalls and levees. Areas of disconnection were also created out of the historical development of the riverfront. Two unique riverfront experiences have evolved: the northern edge is removed from the river through layers of industrial buildings, railroad infrastructure, and floodwalls, while the western edge is largely disconnected by fields of scrap yards and used rail cars. There is, however potential for accessing the river toward the South near the Livestock Exchange building and Kemper Arena.

Finally, we examined the experiential component and explored the West Bottoms’ current relationship with the rivers. Although the current relationship of the West Bottoms to the rivers is limited, the potential for reconnection is great. Already this analysis is revealing more areas of exploration including precedent research relevant to occupied levees and industrial riverfronts.

What started out as a study of the natural features of the area is expanding into real potential and areas of real study/development.

topography study The study of topography built off of existing plans and took two major forms: vertical sections and elevational scans. The plans show major patterns and densities of contour lines. The sections focus on major topographical features in relationship to built features.

The elevational scans focus on what occurs at given elevations.

Both of these analytical studies pull instances of information out of the volumetric whole, showing how the landscape builds upon itself. The sections, taken every 150’ through the site, emphasize the relationships between the rivers, the West Bottoms river plain, the bluff, and downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The scans, taken every 10’ (and 2’ through elevations occupied by buildings in the West Bottoms), emphasize elevational relationships between regions--where the tallest buildings occur, etc.

These drawings not only provide a visual understanding of the topography, but also form a base-work for future design, making the visualization of relating one piece of the city to another easier.

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SCALE 1:10,000

EAST / WEST

SECTIONAL STUDY

0

500’

1000’

2000’

4000’

SCALE 1:10,000

NORTH / SOUTH

SECTIONAL STUDY

0

500’

1000’

2000’

4000’

contextual patterns

orders of the city

Boundaries, topography, texture, hydrology, rail, the street grid, elevated highways, trails, and flyover zones are each taken into a separate series of study to determine the ‘order’ of the city. Each series focuses on a single element in a certain scale of context: built scale, imposed systems, contextual patterns. Using each series as a reference to a single element can determine where connections are present within the West Bottoms and the greater context of Kansas City. Crossreferencing the series establishes a correlation between the orders.

imposing systems

The existing condition in West Bottoms is comprised of interconnected systems, both natural and built, that order urban space and its use. Placing the systems into defined scales provide a means of analysis for each series on its own terms as well as in relation to others. This study serves the purpose to form a base understanding of individual systems and the complex interactions occuring in the West Bottoms.

built scale

The extrusion of defining orders into single entities allows the visible perspective between each system and the interactions that take place to be further understood.

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experiential

highway scans

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Kansas City is a city of car culture; views of the city from the car influence our perception of the physical city. The West Bottoms is particularly affected by this characteristic phenomenon because major elevated arteries cut through East to West. This creates a stark difference between the perception of the city by those passing through and those at ground-level. This study manipulates mass, density, and time to achieve a perspective capturing the essence (what is essential) of this “other” city.

In order to capture this “essence,” we scanned the city using video. We then selected stills at even intervals and converted the images to massed forms. The resultant images were compressed into both a single, comprehensive frame and a series that starts to move towards the form of a landscape. These landscapes are separated by texture, creating a smeared effect that shows both texture and smaller interventions on that texture, such as the silo moving through an otherwise low, spread-out texture of the surrounding industrial buildings.

19 These composite images show the city as a function of time. When passing through an area, time does not appear linear but time becomes embedded. It is embedded in both a frame and in your memory.

This series of maps and diagrams illustrates the character of interaction between urban elements and the elevated viewer. The elements rise up in an effort to be visible, or compress themselves and become a new ground-plane; they spread out and change, or obscure themselves altogether. The changing wills of different textural areas creates a sequence of interactions with this city that is different than that of a ground-level tour. In a way, two different but parallel cities exist in the West Bottoms: the one that is viewed from ground level, and the one viewed from above.

ad hoc spaces A common practice in the creation of new American cities is planning by a grid. The grid has been an American standard in city planning, which the West Bottoms is defined by. The river, railroads, and later highways all lead to the formation of the gird and to the order of the city. The grid provided the framework, but other forces such as flooding and shifts in transportation led to a loss of building stock in the West Bottoms that constituted the grid. The loss of these buildings produced unintentional, ad hoc spaces. These spaces are unique, as they were never intended to happen in a gridded city. This ad hoc space is also what gives the West Bottoms its unique quality and character. Our goal is to study those spaces that help create the character of the West Bottoms and understand the spatial relationships that make them unique and interesting.

Space cannot be understood in one view or one diagram, but through multiple forms of analysis and representation. Photos were used to capture the essence of the spaces and analyzed to establish spatial maps. These maps were used to create digital spatial studies and physical spatial models. These studies will enable us to understand why these are critical spaces and define ways to treat these spaces in the design vision of the West Bottoms.

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kansas city design center | urban design studio 2010-2011 1018 Baltimore Avenue Kansas City, MO 64105 816.421.5232 http://studio.kcdesigncenter.org/

Vladimir Krstic

vkrstic@ksu.edu

Emily Baize Leandra Burnett Amy Finnerty Chris Hinton Jesse Husmann Chris Koch Alex Miller Sarah Murphy Dan Nixon Jared Nook Alyssa Parsons Sarah Pink Kyle Rogler Stephanie Schulz

emily.baize@gmail.com leandraburnett@gmail.com amymfinn@ksu.edu chinton@ku.edu jhusmann@ksu.edu ckoch@ku.edu amiller3@ksu.edu smurph10@ku.edu danny1@ku.edu jnook@ku.edu amp@ksu.edu sapink@ksu.edu krogler@ksu.edu sschulz@ku.edu