West Bottoms Reborn: A Vision Study for a System of Public Spaces (Pt. 3)

TEMPORARY DESIGN RESERVED FOR CURRENT USES

P2.4 233 Placekeeping Investigations

Design Boundaries The original understanding of the site boundaries understood the site as incorporating both space underneath the viaduct, as well as the lot to the south. After further investigation, there was never a clarity in the ownership of the lot to the south. With ownership never being established the site became both a permanent public space (site underneath the viaduct) and a temporary space (open lot to the south).

Y

P2.4

SITE VIEWSCOPE

Viewscope Central Avenue Viaduct 234

P2.4 235 Placekeeping Investigations

Design Concept The concept of the platforms was to have a space defining element that could adapt to the need for the design to understand the creation of a public space as being both permanent and temporary. The design for the site of Central Avenue Viaduct include platforms that were designed to take full advantage of all the views possible from within the site. Since land ownership could not be established in the open lot to the south, there was an inherent need for the platforms to be movable. The movability of the platform allowed for it to occupy both the space underneath the viaduct, as well as the lot to the south depending on the occasion and activities at the time. The platforms were designed so as when there is no need for them to occupy the site they could be removed and stored elsewhere. The adaptability of the platform also allowed for activities to occur in different places around the site where they would best suit the event.

The main layout for the platforms was to have them face Hickory Union Moto since majority of the activity and vehicular traffic occurs on the north side. The platforms are pushed back to allow for the entirety of the space underneath the viaduct to be occupied, and yet are large enough to be seen and entice traffic to further explore the site.

However, the platforms can be moved quite easily and can be rearranged to capitalize on the different views from the site. The platforms can become sitting for those viewing Strawberry Hill or Downtown KC or they can become the backdrop for performances or different activities.

P2.4

Central Avenue Viaduct 236

P2.4

Site design plan 237 Placekeeping Investigations

Water Management The original paving of the site allowed for water to sit and make the site not occupiable during certain conditions. The current downspouts coming from above the viaduct all flow into the underside and allow for puddles to accumulate. The water underneath the viaduct and on the lot to the south remains for long period of time and creates a multitude of problematic situations that could hinder activities occurring on the site. To solve the water management problem on the site, design elements are placed underneath the downspouts which carry the water to planting locations where a small amount of water can be used to water the plant life. The remainder of the water from the downspouts that is not used by the vegetation is then brought down under the ground into dry wells. The dry wells act as retention containers to accumulate large amounts of water during peak times and then slowly release that water into the water table over time. The process of the dry well allows the combined water system in the area to not become overwhelmed, as well as eliminating the problem of standing water on the site.

P2.4

Water Management design plan Central Avenue Viaduct 238

P2.4 239 Placekeeping Investigations

Platform Design 1

The platform was designed to illuminate the existing views underneath the site as well as adapt to ever changing light conditions. The platforms were designed specifically WESTfor BOTTOMS the intentionREBORN of being able to use either one platform for a small activity or utilize all the platforms to occupy the entire space. The platforms act differently spatially whether it is being utilized as a singular unit or as a system of combined elements. By peering through the slits in the fins, they act as framing devices which point out specific desired views to areas around the city. The platform acts as a territorial defining element to designate specific locations on the site that are housing activities and are meant to be occupied. During events the fins can act as the backdrop for possible performances occurring on the platforms.

P2.4

December- January- February

March- April- May

June- July- August

September- October- November

Platform position during different months Central Avenue Viaduct 240

HOLES FOR LOCK-IN-PLACE

[DECEMBER - JANUARY - FEBRUARY]

1

[JUNE - JULY - AUGUST]

[JUNE - JULY - AUGUST]

December- January- February

[MARCH - APRIL - MAY]

P2.4 [SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER - NOVEMBER]

March- April- May

[SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER - NOVEMBER]

[JUNE - JULY - AUGUST]

September- October- November

Platform position during different months 241 Placekeeping Investigations

Open & Comprassed SPATIAL PROGRAMMING BY CONFIGURAIION

AL AVENUE VIADUCT

UNIT PROGRAMMATIC CONFIGURATION

SPATIAL PROGRAMMING BY CONFIGURAIION

SPATIAL PROGRAMMING BY SPATIAL PROGRAMMING BY CONFIGURAIION SPATIAL PROGRAMMING BY CONFIGURAIION CONFIGURAIION

UNIT PROGRAMMATIC CONFIGURATION UNIT PROGRAMMATIC CONFIGURATION UNIT PROGRAMMATIC CONFIGURATION

Linear space

SPATIAL PROGRAMMING BY CONFIGURAIION SPATIAL PROGRAMMING BY CONFIGURAIION

Linear space Linear space Linear space

UNIT PROGRAMMATIC CONFIGURATION Semi Enclosed

UNIT PROGRAMMATIC CONFIGURATION Linear space Open & Comprassed Open & Comprassed Open & Comprassed

Semi Enclosed

Open & Comprassed

Linear space

Semi Enclosed Semi Enclosed Semi Enclosed

Linear space

Enclosed SpaceEnclosed Space Semi Enclosed

Enclosed Space Enclosed Space

Open & Comprassed Enclosed Space

P2.4

OGRAMMING OGRAMMING

WEST B

UNIT PROGRAMMATIC CONFIGURATION

UNIT OPERATION CONCEPT UNIT OPERATION CONCEPT UNIT OPERATION CONCEPT

Enclosed Grid Enclosed Grid Enclosed Grid

Enclosed Space

Open & Comprassed

Open & Comprassed

22.12

22.12

22.12

27.24

27.24

27.24

186.77

186.77

186.77

27.24

27.24

27.24

22.12

22.12

22.12

7.78'

7.78'

7.78'

2.27'

2.27'

2.27'

1.84'

1.84'

1.84'

7.78'

7.78'

7.78'

2.27'

2.27'

2.27'

3.69'

3.69'

3.69'

2.27'

2.27'

2.27'

7.78'

Open Grid (Multiple Figuration) Open Grid (Multiple Figuration) Open Grid (Multiple Figuration)

7.78'

7.78'

Enclosed Grid

Semi Enclosed

Enclosed Grid

Semi Enclosed

Multiple platform configuration Central Avenue Viaduct 242

Enclosed Grid

SPRING EQUINOX [WITH PLATFORM] 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM SPRING EQUINOX [WITH PLATFORM] 10:00 AM 10:00 - 6:00 PM SPRING EQUINOX [WITH PLATFORM] AM - 6:00 PM

CLOSED CLOSED SPACE SPACE

HOT MONTHHOT SOLAR [MAY -SOLAR SEPTEMBER] MONTH [MAY - SEPTEMBER]

CLOSED SPACE

SPRING EQUINOX SOLVAR OVERLAYS SPRING EQUINOX SOLVAR OVERLAYS SPRING EQUINOX SOLVAR OVERLAYS

HOT MONTH SOLAR [MAY - SEPTEMBER]

PRIMARY SUN DIRECTION [THROUGH PANELS]

PRIMARY SUN DIRECTION [THROUGH PANELS] PRIMARY SUN DIRECTION [THROUGH PANELS]

WIND DIRECTION

OPEN SPACE

P2.4

OPEN OPEN SPACE SPACE

WIND DIRECTION WIND DIRECTION

Overlay of solar map for cold months

FALLEQUINOX EQUINOX[WITH [WITHPLATFORM] PLATFORM] FALL FALL EQUINOX [WITH PLATFORM]

CLOSED SPACE CLOSED SPACE

HOT MONTH SOLAR [MAY - SEPTEMBER]

CLOSED SPACE

FALLEQUINOX EQUINOXSOLAR SOLAROVERLAYS OVERLAYS FALL SPRING EQUINOX SOLVAR OVERLAYS

COLD MONTH SOLAR [OCTOBER- APRIL] COLD MONTH SOLAR [OCTOBER- APRIL]

PRIMARY SUN DIRECTION [THROUGH PANELS] PRIMARY SUN DIRECTION [THROUGH PANELS] PRIMARY SUN DIRECTION [THROUGH PANELS]

OPEN SPACE

P2.4

OPEN SPACE OPEN SPACE

WIND DIRECTION WIND DIRECTION WIND DIRECTION

Overlay of solar map for hot months

Central Avenue Viaduct 244

P2.4 245 Placekeeping Investigations

Timer/Switch

Platform Design Details LED Strip

Integrated Circuit

Relay

The platforms are designed to occupy both the spaces underneath the viaduct, as well as the lot to the south depending on event conditions. The wheels on the underside of the platforms allow for the platforms to be easily moved around the site. A multitude of different configurations on both sections of the site were researched. The platforms have been designed to function as a singular unit or be combined to become a larger unit within itself. Each configuration of the platforms has its own characteristics and sense of spatial definition. The behavior of the platforms change based on user interactivity and site location. The viability of the platform is very much dependent on the understanding of the platform as an interactive object as it is the users who decide to utilize the platforms either as spatial defining elements or as framing devices.

The material for the fins was specifically chosen to capture light from either side of the viaduct. The polygal allows for the fins to act as light well objects which bring light from the exterior of the space and disperse it to the interior (which is predominantly shady).

During the night time the fins on the platforms illuminate the area as well, the led lights attached on the interior fins provide ample light to house events/performances during the night as well as the day. With the intention of the platform to follow the activities on the site it was important to establish an understanding of that. The fins are understood as beacons of activities, and with the illumination at night they reinforce this ideology.

The construction of the platform was designed in a way to be self-sustainable to require the very least (if any) amount of maintenance. The battery that is connected to the led lights is connected to photo voltaic panels. During the day when the fins on the platforms are dispersing sunlight into the space underneath the viaduct they are also receiving solar energy from the sun to power the lights at night.

Battery P2.4

Central Avenue Viaduct 246

P2.4 247 Placekeeping Investigations

LED Light Strips

Translucent Plastic (Polygal)

P2.4

Central Avenue Viaduct 248

Stud Construction

P2.4 249 Placekeeping Investigations

Conclusion The platforms for the site have become interactive objects that were gifted to the community to create a public space that is ultimately curated by the community. The platforms are site tuning devices that allow users to manipulate the space to properly fit their needs for that specific time. The adaptability of the design allows for the platforms to be moved to accommodate events and activities, while simultaneously adapting to the ever-changing natural elements. The key design elements of the platform prove the concept of the design and the need for it to be ever-changing. The wind patterns and sun patterns of the site determine the placing of the platforms underneath the viaduct and then the users determine the exact orientation of said elements. This allows for consistent change in territorial space on the site which is truly what the past and present history of the site mandated. The finding that land ownership could not be established is the foundation for the design to be truly adaptable and tunable to the site.

P2.4

Central Avenue Viaduct 250

P2.4 251 Placekeeping Investigations

P2.4

Image by Mike Sinclair

P2.5 255 Placekeeping Investigations

P2.5

Union Office Public Placing Project Team:

A System of Public Placing

Lead Artist: James Woodfill Union Office Collaborating Artist / Exhibition Curator: Annie Woodfill Survey Artists: Megan Videmschek, Kylie McConnell, Baron Mattern Text written by Annie Woodfill

P2.5 257 Placekeeping Investigations

Part 1: Impulse - A visceral Survey A response to observations of the Forester Viaduct and the surrounding area was commissioned from artists Megan Videmschek, Baron Mattern and Kylie McConnell. This activity resulted in a number of drawings, photographs, videos and charts, along with extensive conversations about the visceral and perceptual nature of the area.

Clipboards and a small variety of papers and markers were provided to the artists for an activity that mimicked the idea of surveying. These excursions started to investigate material impulse on a basic level in regards to the construction of memory while placing oneself in a new and ambiguous environment – as Baron said, “Learning to think the thought of being between things.”

Survey as Drawing: Think about public space. What is it and how are you moving through it?

What are the different logics that you encounter?

What ideas of listening form? Pathways?

How do the impulses with materials affect how you clarify spatial placement?

Think about finding systems existing in the area. Can they be defined as zones?

These were but a few of the many themes that evolved through discussion that acted as starting points for the work. Using the materials at hand – pencils, markers, tape, paper, language, cell phones – the artists negotiated an economy of materials and gestures that serve as bullet points in an infinite list of ways we can interpret the activation of public space.

Drawings and collages by Megan Videmschek (MV), Kylie McConnel (KM), Baron Mattern (BM) and Annie Woodfill (AW), individually and collaboratively, as follows: pg. 262, KM; pg. 264,clockwise from upper left, MV,BM,MV/AW, KM; pg. 265, AW; pg. 266, KM; pg. 267, MV; pg. 268, BM; pg. 269, BM; pg. 270, MV; pg. 271, MV. A System of Public Placing 258

P2.5

Within the survey area these artists have focused on the memories of their trajectories.

As the artists drifted through the area archiving their experiences, each with a uniquely developed way of communicating ideas through materials and mark-making, their compositions are in negotiation with the idea of moving through space. What note-taking strategies can be quick, what can fit on the clipboard or in a pocket, what can be noted for later analysis? The shorthands that emerged reveal an appreciation for the ability of economical gesture and the pragmatic to be an interface for the ephemerality of the site.

P2.5 259 Placekeeping Investigations

P2.5

A System of Public Placing 260

P2.5 261 Placekeeping Investigations

P2.5

A System of Public Placing 262

P2.5 263 Placekeeping Investigations

P2.5

A System of Public Placing 264

P2.5 265 Placekeeping Investigations

P2.5

A System of Public Placing 266

P2.5 267 Placekeeping Investigations

Part 2: An Installation A series of wayfinding markers temporarily inhabit the infrastructure throughout the area underneath, on top of, and surrounding Forester Viaduct in the historic core of the West Bottoms District, with their placement informed by a series of walking videos conducted during the early stages of the WBR project as well as the survey undertaken in the area

by Union Office collaborators. After also surveying the light poles owned and maintained by Kansas City, MO, jackets were wrapped around select poles and columns.

The Public Placing markers are responding to the conditions of the site, both harmonic and dissonant, and act as amplifiers to those conditions. These markers act as variable parentheses, marking the nebulous boundaries that form and dissolve as we move through the area. These visual cues for seeing space, form and color point to and exchange information with the plethora of background phenomena in the area.

A System of Public Placing 268

P2.5

A System of Public Placing is a process of going out and getting lost - wandering. In the form of signals, and resisting a clear functional role, the devices inserted into the environment point to the beauty in the pragmatic, appropriating wayfinding impulses in service to “way-losing.� Right now, the West Bottoms has a density and a vagueness that inspires/prompts/triggers exploration. There is a lack of articulation within the deteriorated boundaries of a post-industrial landscape that allows us to access our imagination of its past, present and future. Streets have expanded into fields and alleyways have congealed into streets; buildings surprise us with anomalous curvatures and unexpected angles to coexist with the railroad and other patterns of industry; highways and viaducts have been rediscovered as hallways from the underneath, preserving history and providing sanctuary; deteriorating structures and sidewalks reveal their relative transience and start to negotiate with the wildlife; overlooked surfaces have become the parameters of reactionary artistic compositions and substrates for marking impromptu territories. The contingencies of the movement of product and the flow of water, and a visceral relationship with large scale transportation affect a kind of impermanence that draws artists, cultural dialogue, nature watching, and even tourism.

Spaces become verbs and to exist in the public space here is to inhabit through invention/invent ways of inhabiting.

P2.5 269 Placekeeping Investigations

P2.5

A System of Public Placing 270

P2.5 271 Placekeeping Investigations

P2.5

A System of Public Placing 272

P2.5 273 Placekeeping Investigations

P2.5

A System of Public Placing 274

P2.5 275 Placekeeping Investigations

P2.5

A System of Public Placing 276

P2.5 277 Placekeeping Investigations

Part 3: An Exhibition The exhibition titled A System of Public Placing was an installation of the survey works from artists Megan Videmschek, Baron Mattern and Kylie McConnell, in dialog with a variety of visual and structural cues culled from the archives of student works at KCDC. This installation was in collaboration with a broad exhibition of KCDC work regarding WBR, along with works by WBR artists Carmen Mareno and Miranda Clark.

Megan’s emotionally inspired lists of graffiti tags and expressionistic drawings, Baron’s light-pole video interactions and spatial memory games, and Kylie’s vellum layered collages were carefully arranged among each other next to redacted KCDC studies of light, planes, wind and sound from the beginning phases of the WBR project. Photographs with initials at the bottom are extensions of an online archive of the “West Bottoms Survey” images housed on a research-community free-sharing website called Are.na.

http://woodfill.us/public-placing

https://www.are.na/annie-woodfill/v_2017-candid-ebb https://www.are.na/annie-woodfill/west-bottoms-survey https://www.are.na/annie-woodfill/west-bottoms-reborn

Installation Images pg. 260, 274, 275, 276 Courtesy Mike Sinclair. All other images courtesy the artist.

A System of Public Placing 278

P2.5

This exhibition shows all of these impulses as the formative notes for methods, as well as reminders of experience, in their context, as material processes create gestures that are in direct conversation with the surroundings. Activating the space with the conversation of remembering and interpreting the space, these displays are shown, not as archives, but as active agents. Adjacent to the KCDC surveys and data renderings as a means to a hyper-articulated end, these exercises pause within what resembles the initial surveying stages of that process, to drift and indulge in the suspense of the abject unpredictability that floats around in the West Bottoms.

Related websites and research platforms:

P2.5 279 Placekeeping Investigations

P2.5

A System of Public Placing 280

Image by Mike Sinclair

P2.6 283 Placekeeping Investigations

P2.6

Rebirth

P2.6 285 Placekeeping Investigations

Introduction I was first introduced to the West Bottoms as a young artist in 2005. The West Bottoms was a flood of adventure destinations, that ranged from abandoned train bridges and riverfront fires to trash boat regattas, pirated venue spaces, DIY initiatives, and urban exploring. It was a playground for a wide variety of creatives, artists, explorers, and adventurers. The empty stockyards was a jungle gym of haunted houses, performance venues, galleries, and speakeasies.

The West Bottoms in its presence holds the preservation of the histories of both Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas connected through the outlining waterways and neighboring river communities. This space is an ancient intersecting gateway where the Kansas and Missouri Rivers confluence. The West Bottoms has preserved architectural structures due to repeated flooding, giving us a unique opportunity to engage with histories and provide an understanding of our lives, communities, and our identity through the transformation of place.

My first initiative on the West Bottoms Reborn Site was to evaluate the ecosphere- all that resides within the working ecosystem of the West Bottoms. Including and accounting for human activity as a primary factor present in the larger living network.

This dichotomy begins with the earth as a foundation for evaluation. From there, I made observations concerning soil, plant life, wildlife, and human life - documenting the co-habitants and interconnected relationships that inform and affect each other.

Intent

Rebirth 286

P2.6

As a team member of the West Bottoms Reborn Project, I outlined my intended role to act as a design consultant in the realm of architecture via arts, culture, and technology.

As a part of my work I hosted a series of activities including walking tours, lectures, cultural investigations, workshops, social platforms, and map-making exercises. This civic engagement served as a means to reveal interconnectivity. The collaborative cross-disciplinary research challenged the overly simplified framework of “urban fabric� and helped to unearth the complex layers of identity present in the West Bottoms —while analyzing the ecological environment, culture, history, art, architecture, and development. Through this process I explored spacial organization through multiple frames of reference and postulated the role of architecture as a stage to human activity.

Who is the Keeper?

Placemaking is a multi-faceted approach to the planning, design, and management of public spaces. Traditionally placemaking is done by a composite team of designers who build on a local community’s assets, inspiration, and potential, with the intention of creating public spaces that promote people’s health, happiness, and wellbeing. But there are varying opinions about the practice of placemaking and the verbiage.

Placemaking is a convoluted term in the sense that it designates “place” with boundaries, while also claiming to improve physical space for communities that are best capable of observing, understanding, and using the space. This concept was debated throughout the project and eventually resulted in the KCDC students changing the term to placekeeping.

“Placekeeping is a design approach and a way of thinking that celebrates the act of observation as the primary method of understanding our reality. It asserts that the nature of a place is embedded with stories and ideas that reveal authentic character. This authenticity is intended to be the basis for infrastructure which encourages understanding, compliments existing narratives, and forms places we want to live. In our implementation of “Placekeeping” we are looking to the work of artists for unique frames of observation.”

Although I have very few criticisms for KCDCs’ description of placekeeping, I found that the practice of placekeeping was not successful to its definition; in investigation, research, and implementation.

In some sense the term placekeeping insinuates there must be keepers. This was an especially interesting evolution of verbiage in that the same problematic issues found in the term placemaking are still present in placekeeping except that the language seems to be more specific - revealing the negative influences and practices that can emerge from a perspective of ownership. I have realized when the practice of placekeeping is overseen by larger entities involving Anglo- American government, capitalism, and economic development (with a history of colonization), it seems to become exactly the opposite of its claim.

P2.6

The basic fact that primarily Anglo-American governments and organizations may perceive that they have ownership over North America as well as have the capacity to envision and create public space for everyone is an absolute hypocrisy. Postulating oneself or organization to be “inclusive” while also selecting Eurocentric design for public spaces negates and fails to recognize the histories of genocide, slavery, servitude, and classism in the United States, as Anglo-Americans and Europeans continue to economically prosper, while native populations, people of color, and impoverished groups continue to suffer.

Claiming that one is capable of including everyone and securing a space for proposed inclusion does not match current reality, conditions, or circumstances. Beyond this being incredibly naive, I think it taps into an ongoing problem that runs a bit deeper, in which community work can be taken advantage of by organizations with power and control over decisions involving economic development - providing the opportunity to assume hierarchical values systems onto groups and communities excluded from the conversation.

The earth (land and planet) doesn’t belong to anyone, it is a vast interconnected being.

No one owns the Earth, and no one certainly keeps it. With this in mind, I believe it would be better to work towards a specific goal with meaningful intention, rather than assuming the capability to implement and design based on a singular cultures’ ideologies.

“West Bottoms Reborn seeks to integrate arts and cultural production a place-keeping strategy that reinforces the particular local identity of the West Bottoms while addressing critical infrastructure needs and elevating the quality of the urban space.”

- West Bottoms NEA Our Town Grant The purpose of my design study was to investigate identity as a core component congruent to the West Bottoms Reborn Our Town Grant. My thoughts were that the concept of water, as an element, would play a new role in Kansas City’s identity as “The City of Fountains”. Instead of water being used as an ornamental material, the idea of fountain would be designed to embrace water as an important source of life. As well as highlighting our relationship to water quality as a major component to sustainability.

When I considered the Native history of the West Bottoms, and looked at various aerial views of the region, I realized that there were some overlaps in the topographical maps of that area resembling the Cahokia Mounds in a neighboring city, St. Louis, MO. Much like Cahokia, Kansas City had Indian Mounds placed near the northern regions of the River, downriver from the mounds is the floodplain (ours being the West Bottoms). I believe that the designs of Cahokia Mound and the Indian Mounds in Kansas City are possibly designed by the same person or made by the same group of people. It makes sense to me that a native city would remain on the highlands, and that the floodplain and lowlands would be used as an agricultural district - allowing river waters to meander using the watersheds for irrigation and crops. It also makes sense to me that the land was used as an agricultural district by Native Americans, because it was later developed by Europeans as an agricultural district. It would have been necessary for European settlers to trade and learn about native farming and food supply to survive.

We might not be able to prove this to be absolute since Native histories have been intentionally destroyed, but it is simple reasoning and logic to imagine this transformation of the West Bottoms in the early colonization of North America.

“The West Bottoms is wild because it cannot be dominated by man. Time and time again the river reclaims it. The land belongs to the water.”

Rebirth 288

P2.6

Over the course of the project I had many conversations with many people. One sticks out to me specifically, I met with Jason Brody from KCDC one morning to talk about the overall project and advancement of work. This conversation was no different except that Jason simply asked me what I thought was the major component that kept the West Bottoms wild, a place of creative freedom and uniqueness - unable to be dominated by development. Before my response, it was like diving into my subconscious intuition and compiling all my knowledge into a single knowing.

Observation It seems to me that there are two dysfunctional relationships at the root of many current global challenges. Our relationship to planet and to others are not currently in symbiosis, because of current lifestyles and self-serving practices. If we consider self-serving perspectives in terms of survival it doesn’t quite work out‌‌. in understanding the functionality and working dynamics of tribes, communities, and social groups - it is understood that it is necessary for all to make personal sacrifices to insure the survival of humanity. This sensibility is superior in intelligence in the sense that it is understood that there are limitations to individualism, as well as physical laws in the natural world.

As our species grows we face these challenges head on, as we will be forced to relate to the entire world as large living network.

Diagram l.

P2.6 289 Placekeeping Investigations

Planet Our current relationship to the planet is in distress due to increase in pollutants, human activity, and climate change. The earth is the foundation of life, the source from which we derive. If we lose this understanding or continue to abuse the planet we could experience repercussions that threaten the foundation of human survival.

The West Bottoms is a bit of a wasteland, currently occupied by sewage overflow, toxic chemicals, and trash. Like much of the planet, the West Bottoms has become a place for waste displacement. trash has become as much of a living entity as the wildlife. It is interesting to me the process of immediacy and disposability in America. Even with recycled materials our constant material excess threatens our planet. As we access sustainability we should consider our lifestyles, habits, behaviors, and actions that contribute to the mass waste. For example, we can have thousands of recyclable spoons floating in the ocean, which is better than thousands of plastic spoons floating in the ocean‌. BUT it doesn’t get rid of the fact that we STILL have thousands of spoons floating in the ocean. Along with alternative materials, we must think of alternative systems, practices, and designs to aid in resolving the problems of excess waste and destruction. By looking at the entire living system of the West Bottoms we can begin to design for the lands and populations that have endured ecological traumas.

The entire West Bottoms brownfield is due to the industrial district waste, city runoff water, trash dumping, and current sewage overflow. The current Green Infrastructure Project will attempt to manage storm water runoff and soil contamination through a series of bioswales and cisterns. Through bioremediation it is possible to give this land, soil, and watershed a new life. Unfortunately, this will not be able to solve the major issue that the city sits on a bluff above the West Bottoms, and that all of the city runoff water, full of pollutants, continues to run down the bluff and in to the river, day after day.

My vision for attempting an alternative to address this issue was to take remediation one step further by using Mycoremediaiton, a fungi filtration system, that could be incorporated into the Green Infrastructure for the West Bottoms Reborn Project.

Rebirth 290

P2.6

Mycoremediaiton is a form of bioremediation in which fungi-based technology is used to decontaminate the environment. The most phenomenal process of Mycoremediaiton is that it restores balance to contaminated lands, damaged ecosystems, highly toxic soils, and poisoned watersheds. Fungi can acclimate to intense environments and provide ecological restoration to a habitat like nothing else on this planet.

It is sad to say that this proposal did not make it into resolution but is something I am working towards in hopes to create a design for innovative storm water solutions incorporating fungi.

The environment we seek to protect is a large bodied interconnected organism with flowing veins that keeps everything alive. By doing our part and being open and supportive to communities that are invested in the health of the river we can better understand the possibilities of a healthy future. It is an important moment in time that we talk about water quality and pollution. Due to climate change and human activity our watersheds could change drastically. By engaging topics of water and water systems we can gain knowledge and understandings that provide valuable resources and information for keeping our water supply safe and adequate for drinking.

Other At this time (2018), we face current social political conflicts that threaten human lives.

We must address ontologies of race, cultural histories, illogical reasonings, and false narratives. Current counterfactual values challenge the social structures of freedom, liberty, and morality.

Diagram ll.

P2.6 291 Placekeeping Investigations

Other or “Othership� is about the reflective or mirroring relationships from being to being. From macro to micro we all live in relation to each other. From bacterial communities to human activity, it is our condition that all forms of life are interconnected.

To contemplate our current political, social, and planetary conflicts it is necessary to examine these intricacies. In understanding what our opportunities are for change, we must also address where we see problems, and begin to attempt alternatives that provide our living systems with possibilities for freedom and sustainability.

Like that of the actual landfill, there is an emotional landfill in America. Current American political structures support marginalizing minority populations. This worldview acts much like that of the landfill, in which discontents are scapegoated or displaced on to others. These counterfactual value systems potentially threaten our world as much as the actual landfill, if not more. It is my belief that the lifestyle of consumerism has bred its way into the realms of the mind and spirit - to a place that dismisses logic, dehumanizes others, and makes specific populations disposable based on a political ontology of race and class.

There are multiple instances of marginalized populations in the history of the West Bottoms. These populations included people of color, and homeless populations. The largest homeless camp in Kansas City sits on the east bluff of the West Bottoms, and it has been there for over 12 years. The camp is considered to contain 70-120 people, including veterans and children - and this camp is currently under threat of being demolished. There is also a vast history of people of color in the West Bottoms region including Native Americans, African Americans, and Mexican Americans. These histories are rarely represented and are not brought into study and research when considering development in West Bottoms. In committing to design in a way that celebrates public space and all peoples we must choose to recognize these communities and stories within design sensibility and process.

Rebirth 292

P2.6

I have found many barriers to entry with the design community, and development of Kansas City. If we seek to change, it is important to address these issues at every intersection and approach the very real problems embedded into our lives, fields of interest, and practices. To rejuvenate a sense of life within the West Bottoms it is imperative to consider all the of these factors. If we consider co-habitants and cultural relativism we can better envision what types of activity are best suited for this geological region and inhabited space, as well as design in a way that brings life to the land and its peoples.

West Bottoms The map was made by the Kansas City Design students in 2017. After many hours of making maps and staring at the form that is the boundaries of the West Bottoms we all concurred the image most resembles the shape of a heart. In tandem with this idea we made the analogy that the river was the main artery. Even t-shirts were made, “I heart the West Bottoms”, the heart being a topographical map of the Bottoms.

Generally, I like the concept that the earth and land embody the symbolism of the heart or even the Heartland. Along with iconic midwestern identity, such as the Heartland, some Kansas City brands include a tag line “Heart of the Nation”. This verse is included in the symbol on the City’s official flag and logo.

P2.6 293 Placekeeping Investigations

Turtle Island The image is a piece I made in 2012, while working for the Missouri Department of Conservation. At the time, our facility’s pond was being rebuilt and drugged. Unfortunately, one of the red-eared slider turtles didn’t make it out and was accidentally run over by a bulldozer. The mother turtle had been crushed along with half of her eggs. I took the body and buried the remaining eggs in a nearby field. I began to rip the body apart and clean the shell, preserving the pieces that she had been shattered into. I laid them out to dry and made the remaining exoskeleton into pieces of jewelry. I made earrings and bags, wore them and wore through them.

Over the years, one piece survived, the piece shaped as a heart, identical to the shape and boundaries that is the West Bottoms. I find this form and story to be incredibly ironic in so many ways.

The name Turtle Island is used by many Native tribes, Native rights activists, and environmental activists - referring to all North America.

P2.6

Rebirth 294

Linguistic Concept Map I

P2.6 295 Placekeeping Investigations

Linguistic Concept Form The linguistic concept form for planet is EARTH or HEART. Each word sort of bleeds into the other, so if you repeat EARTHEARTHEARTH or HEARTHEARTHEART you can bend it into the form of a circle to create a continuum of each. In the same sense, if you create a repetition of each word in a linear strip and connect the ends you complete the circuit. EARTH and HEART have an innate linguistic relationship that represents a new concept relating body to planet.

Heartland The Heartland is defined as the central part of the US - the Midwest, the central or most important part of a country, area, or field of activity. Heartland refers to a tangible region but is also a cultural term describing many ideas and values, such as hard work, rustic small-town communities, rural heritage, simplicity, and honesty. The states of Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas are typically associated with “The Heartland” but this varies.

There is no consensus as to where America’s heartland is physically located. However, the American Midwest is most commonly cited as being the nation’s heartland.

P2.6

Kansas City, Mo Logo by Patrice Eilts-Jobe

Photo Carmen Moreno

West Bottoms Logo by Drew Lindsey Rebirth 296

Ontology of the Earth Ontology of the Earth, or Earth Mother, recognizes the nurturing iconism of the divine feminine. This Earth Mother can represent the personification of nature, motherhood, fertility, creation, or one who embodies the bounty of the Earth.

For me, the Ontology of the Earth is an understanding that all things derived and evolved from the Earth, and that all the finite components of our living system have a vast intangible interconnectivity. Short version, the Earth is alive. This conceptual dichotomy is present in ancient religions, indigenous beliefs, theories of evolution, and feminism. In modern society our understandings typically function based on immediate comprehensions and do not function in a way that always takes into consideration the “bigger picture� or the long ongoing cosmological narrative of transformation.

P2.6

I am very interested in integrating this worldview and perspective into the design process -as we consider the earth as a larger living and sentient being. My hope is that one day we can create a theory that can incorporate spectrums of the Ontology of the Earth from diverse cultural backgrounds. Indigenous knowledge and scientific research can communally contribute to ecology, conservation, environmentalism, urban planning, green infrastructure, architecture, and sustainability, as a means of providing ecological restoration to the earth and healing of the land.

Paloma Gustafson-Ika, modeling the Heart of the Earth, Carmen Moreno,2017 297 Placekeeping Investigations

Plantain Plantago major is an incredibly complex plant, its roots break up hardpan surfaces, while simultaneously holding together the soil to prevent erosion. Plantain does particularly well in compacted or disturbed soils. It is believed to be one of the first plants to reach North America after European colonization. Reportedly brought to the Americas by Puritan colonizers, plantain was known among some Native Americans by the common name “white man’s footprint� - because it thrived in the disturbed and damaged ecosystems surrounding European settlements.

P2.6

Plantain at the 12th street alley site, West Bottoms, Carmen Moreno, 2018 Rebirth 298

P2.6 299 Placekeeping Investigations

Walking Tours The West Bottoms Reborn walking tours and lectures are a vision of artistically driven community programming, curated and developed by project team artist Carmen Moreno. The tours were designed as an art-based process of spacial investigation. By engaging with community and place, I curated a creative team to guide the public through exercises that provided insights into history, place, and transformation.

Overview I had first devised the walking tour program to have the West Bottoms Reborn team collectively engage in a visceral process of design investigation. This type of “field work� was composed to interrupt the groove of office life and provide alternative practices in opposition to the desk, computer, and other factors of bleak office environments.

The premise behind this social investigation was to have a dialog with community members that reside within the Kansas City Metro Area, and to engage communities that once lived in the area but had been displaced. The walking tours, lectures, and workshops gave agency to artists and artist teams. This format allowed viewers and participants to exchange information and stories on specific topics that related to overall design investigation.

Over time, these exercises became public programming to fulfill the deliverables for the National Endowments of the Arts Our Town Grant and was my outcome for art-based design and development in the West Bottoms Reborn Project. The project implementation employed over 35 local artists and served over 375 participants.

P2.6

Sean O’Dell giving Graffiti Art Tour, photo by Piper Harrow, 2018 Walking Tours 300

Desire Lines I initially became interested in the concept of walking tours when investigating natural patterns in my studio work and art practice. I often wondered about natural movements and migrations, I would sometimes become enamored with watching large colonies of ants move in unison as if they were a linked system simultaneously shifting gears. It is interesting to think that we might observe symmetry and symbiotic interactions in relationship to how life moves about the earth.

These thoughts and questions perplexed me, and I wanted to understand how human life may be a part of a similar circumstance. I found myself mostly attached to how ancient trails came to be on the planet.

I found that this evolution begins with water, as it causes erosion and cuts through multiple terrains. Game follow the water supply through rough seasonal changes eventually creating a trail or path of least resistance. Humans follow the game as food supply and use the trails for navigation in route to destinations.

Destination can be a multitude of unforeseen. It’s always been interesting what can emerge in travel, from point A to point B — how thoughts and thought process can change our conscious state, not being in one place or another. Point B in the distance getting close and point A in the foreground moving into the past. Movements can be motivated by many reasons. In some cases, destination is the hunt, food supply, dinner, survival. In other moments, we travel to follow weather patterns and ideal living conditions, to see new lands, meet new people, or visit old friends. And finally, a destination can be an unknown, a place that we are called to in which we do not know its location.

P2.6 Turkey Creek, photo by Tim Amundson, 2015 301 Placekeeping Investigations

The Living System The Immortal Memory of Place is all around us, even a simple leaf acts as a genetic document of time, unique in its being neither replicable nor duplicated. Endless new information births itself, revealing the phenomenal meaning of Alive. As we understand the complexities of biological ecosystems that endure life on earth for vast spans of time, we can “record�, document, or experience the transformative process that represents the microcosms of a singular morphing reality.

Whenever I walk, my mind goes out into the land, environment, and the sky. This experience moves slowly through me as I absorb the living world and become a part of it. The Earth experience encompasses me as I gaze upon the landscape that millions of people have walked before, and that ancient life forms live within.

I believe the mind works or travels differently from indoor to outdoor space. When our primitive body knowledge is activated we begin to receive information in a multitude of ways. If the Earth is alive and we are alive, communication and information exchange is immanent and innate. Certainly, we account for it in many ways, but what are the anomalies and areas yet to be discovered about how we inhabit and move upon the earth. What are the rules or compass of the ecological environment? How does the altered landscape within city and civilization affect human navigation?

P2.6

Top photo by Carmen Moreno 2018, Second Down photo by Sondi Bojanic 2017, Third down photo by Christi Unbaker 2018, Bottom photo by Mike Sinclair, 2018 Walking Tours 302

Museum Without Walls Museum Without Walls is an art viewing space via cultural tourism and arts education.

The Walking Tours were an interactive format that worked to reveal the idiosyncratic characteristics of the West Bottoms. Through immersive public programming and education, the Walking Tour team empowered the community to visualize transformation of the West Bottoms by engaging in topics of art, architecture, history, and ecology.

In all honesty, the entire planet could be considered a museum of natural history, documentation ranging from the finite microbial sphere to current technological advancements. This concept really provides a view-shed of understanding the world around us. By sharing our collective understandings, it empowers everyone to recognize the layers of cultural relevance to a place.

Heritage Week Heritage Week is a series of celebrations of history and culture that recognizes the West Bottoms regional rivers, early inhabitants, and the Historic Stockyards District.

The Historic West Bottoms Association focuses on remembering the area’s role as a commercial- industrial district connecting the communities of the Greater Kansas City Area. The Historic West Bottoms Association’s goal is to remind residents of the region’s good times, challenges, and potential to re-introduce the area to new residents and tourists.

The Walking Tours were a community development initiative that would serve as a piloted program for neighborhood revitalization to increase in cultural vitality, provide education and recreational activities, and advocate for an art-based approach to design. The creation of the program was made so that stakeholders, businesses, and community organizations might continue to economically support local artists and creatives civically invested in the West Bottoms, as well as create economic development for tourism around the Arts. The West Bottoms Walking Tours serves as a map and demonstration that strategizes for community placemaking.

P2.6 Cydney Millstien leads a tour on the History of Architecture and Bridges Mike Sinclair, 2018 303 Placekeeping Investigations

P2.6

Walking Tours 304

P2.6 305 Placekeeping Investigations

Guide Guide can be a person, guide can be an action.

In following our tour guides we examined many view sheds and cycles of the West Bottoms. As we moved through stories and information we collectively began to understand the ways we can support the West Bottoms’ renewal and explore the possibilities for potential growth.

Narrative is existential, it is the way that we understand beginning and end, life and death - circumstances of human condition. Stories embody a frame of reference outside human as an observer of place, characters, and movement. This perspective can be complex and beautiful, intricate and wild, simple and accessible - a format for all to understand and share. It is a journey that reveals to us complex layers of life displaying information, transformation, and choreographed happenings through time.

Implementation April 26- 29, 2018 I ran the walking tour program with my assistant Mary Kuvet. We featured a weekend of physical walking tours, musical performances, audio guided tours, and a sound site destination series. We provided hand-drawn maps, zines, and navigational assistance at our pop-up booth Our physical walking tours included artists and organizations, they are as follows: Blindfolded Sound Tour - The King of Herrings, The Disappearance of Turkey Creek - Tim Amundson, KEEP OUT ! The Pursuit to Catalog Architectural Afterlife - Irving Jackelman , Diversion Tunnel Boat Tour - Turkey Creek Institute for Phenomenal Awareness and Healthy Rivers Partnership , Potential Bottomland Habitats - Amanda Gehin, City Wide Bike Ride - KC Fun Ride, Cowboys of Color Spacial Guest Lecture - The National Western Heritage Museum, Plants, Place, Planet - Aubrey Streit Krug with The Land Institute , Cry Me a River - Jose Faus , Graffiti and Street Art - Sean O’Dell , Architecture and Bridges of the West Bottoms , Cydney Millstein.

P2.6

On the left is the tour Cry me a River ; What the Mind Forget the Land Reclaims.

Poet Jose Faus talks to tourists about the bridges from past to present, and how to inspire and create an atmosphere that weaves a river back into the civic tapestry.

Top photo by Lindsey Rife, 2018 Middle photo by Jose Faus, 2018 , Bottom photo by Carmen Moreno, 2018 Walking Tours 306

Audio Archive and Sound Site Destination Series Participants could also listen to some Kansas City’s creative voices by downloading the GeoTourist Application, utilizing GPS for sound site location listening. GeoTourist is an open-source application you can access for free on your smart phone. Headphones were available for checkout at the West Bottoms Reborn General Information Booth and you could take these tours anytime on your own. Audio files were also available for listening through the West Bottoms Reborn Website.

The audio archives featured audio tours, storytelling, history, interviews, and original compositions featuring artists Jose Faus, Amado Espinoza, Allen Chapel AME Quindaro Choir, Ericka Noguera, Gloria Austin, Nedra Bond, Carmen Moreno, Sean O’ Dell, FREED, St. Marys of Egypt Choir, Jen Apell, Kansas City Design Center, The Turkey Creek Institute of Phenomenal Awareness, and the IMP Ensemble.

P2.6 307 Placekeeping Investigations

P2.6

Walking Tours 308

P2.6 309 Placekeeping Investigations

If you are gifted the last words said from a rock above the last trace of A dead riverbed will your words flow like the rush of water that once crossed the bottom lands from one bluff to the other

our tears drenching hungry soil an embrace of the mother the earth the ground our feet soon traversed

Will they carve oxbows flood sandbars tidal pools swirl about sapling roots suckling from the banks

If gifted I want my words to go deep into this desert seed the vines that once grew food for the monarchs gliding north to south along ancestral ways before we stopped singing water songs

Will they fall like drops from the sky kisses merging with the great waters at the end of turtle’s claws swimming across blue seas pads whipping the clouds bringing rain like eagles dropping carrion onto the beaks of hungry eaglets Will they mist shimmering sheets gauzy hazy dreams and songs round the bonfires that brought us to the shores when we roamed inland highways on dugout canoes paddling from the barren lands to where water nurtured roots brought food solidified a path sprayed beads to folded tongues

Will your words be sharp enough to break concrete asphalt plastic that now chokes channels shunts creeks fouls river beds litters ocean floors turns soil into sand sharp hot and dry

I want my words to sing a new song redemption and renewal in my cheeks words with th power of prophecy Through we lost our way a beacon ahead shining on clouds full of droplets heavy solid glistening like a universe meteor showers a symphony diminuendos and crescendos like waves returning receding and flooding this parched earth this dry river bed

P2.6

into sand sharp hot and dry If gifted I want my words to go deep into this desert seed the vines that once grew food for the monarchs gliding north to south along ancestral ways before we stopped singing water songs Jose Faus

Water is Coming 310

Waters Coming On May 10, 2018, proceeding the opening reception for West Bottoms Reborn, I curated a performance that featured music from artists and communities that celebrate a spiritual connection to the water.

Waters Coming was a ceremony, ritual, and performance in Honor of Our Waters.

Featuring music and lyric from the West Bottoms sound site destination series.

We began at sunset with a Land Acknowledgment. That evening we heard from the voices of poet Jose Faus, artist Carmen Moreno, musician Amado Espinoza, singer Ericka Noguera, musician Andres RMX, artists Dario and Arelis Floresruvalcaba, musician Pedro Caldron, activist Salli Correa, The St. Mary’s Choir of Egypt, and the Allen Chapel AME Choir.

The performance featured projection mapping and footage of the Kansas River and Kaw Point - the images of water projected directly hit the flood line on the surface of the building. This was just a friendly reminder that the waters once dominated this region and could one day reclaim the West Bottoms.

The projection footage was produced by artist 2007 and myself.

P2.6

The Conch Shell I blew the Conch Shell at Kaw Point - the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri River, at the Central Avenue Viaduct Bridge, and at the “Pink Heaven Bridge” for one week before our ceremony. These locations were the top, middle, and bottom of the West Bottoms river boundaries.

I also blew the conch in the Liberty Courtyard performance space.

311 Placekeeping Investigations

Traditionally, the Conch is used in indigenous cultures by men for religious ceremonies.

It holds a powerful weight, is only used on special occasions, and is seen as a feminine “object� or life form.

Walk to the River Our group took a walk to the river three days before the ceremony. We visited the river and Central Avenue Viaduct Bridge, read water poems in English, Spanish, and Indigenous languages.

P2.6

Water is Coming 312

P2.6 313 Placekeeping Investigations

P2.6

Water is Coming 314

P2.6 Images from Waters Coming, 2018.

Left Image: St.Marys of Egypt Choir, photo Consuelo Cruz Above image: by Zane Parks Middle image: Allen Chapel AME Choir , photo by Zane Parks Bottom image: by Larry O’ Donnell Right image: by Steve Gardell 315 Placekeeping Investigations

P2.6

Water is Coming 316

P2.6 317 Placekeeping Investigations

Requiem, It is difficult to love something that will die In the landscape of desolate objectivity Some softness is sloshed against my heart It reseeds all bitterness it releases aspirations of perfection You enter the room and all of me changes plates shift, shells defining bodies I have betrayed the best part of me I have turned my back, my song I am suffering I am grounding all that was and is wrong I feral you no more you are my faith defied, you are the one that hides Electric pulse slop this current Stop the hate of one passed Rebirth take me Knowledge let me be unlocked One cycle at a time Fellow me far away from heartbeaten path To moon and earth.

Template of my home.

-Cachi

P2.6

Conclusion 318

Conclusion In reflecting on the West Bottoms Reborn Project there is one moment that sticks out to me the most. I had joined Healthy Rivers Partnership one morning for a river clean-up. I walked along the river bank with high school students picking up trash and quietly pondering life. Gazing over the river and all the pollutants that lie on the edge of the bank I knew in a deep core of my being there was nothing I could do to stop the destructive behaviors that contributed to this scene. I could pick up trash along the river my entire life, but it wouldn’t stop the trash from continuing. I don’t know how to stop the trash from coming even in all my attempts to rethink and re-envision, they all fall short of defeating the beast that continues to invade. Despite my will to push back against this force I plop down on a river rock, accepting my defeat, and the ongoing defeat and abuse of individuals and people whom live life outside the realm of consumerism. I am powerless to such entities. Never-less, I walk the river bank following the trail of a never-ending pain, unsure how much my effort or voice will ever affect the future. A realist in nature, I know there is only so much one person can do, either way things turn out, it feels good to be doing the right thing in this moment, or as close to the right thing as I can get. Actions small and simple in nature, sharing with others a walk, a path - of accepting the devastating truths of a haunted past, broken spirits, and toured land. I find myself at the edge of my time spent here nearing a channel, a movement pulling me forward.

Artist Biography

To embark upon a journey of Rebirth, renewal, and rejuvenation, it is vital to incorporate multiple diverse communities into core team design and attempt to engage in dialog with diverse cultural backgrounds, opinions, perspectives. It is imperative to Listen and take into account other world views and agencies if we wish to be successful at upholding the practice and definition of placemaking. I am a person who feels deeply about the beauty and mystery of life. I am motivated by difficult existential questions and am always inquisitive. I am a person who believes in the power of transformation.

I have an innate connection to the earth, planetary body and literal soil. I come from generations of peoples who have practiced a deep care and respect for the land. This sensibility and nature is innate to my character and creative identity.

P2.6

I maintain a studio practice of experimentation and open-mindedness. In applying the sensibilities of science to art, I attempt to create visual language that transforms my emotional-intuitive experiences into innovative installations, performances, and interactive design.

I was born to a Mexican Man and American Woman; my cultural identity is a part of my story - both Indigenous and European sensibilities reside in my being and artistic practices unfolding new traditions and inherited knowledge. I do my best to listen to wisdoms that have been passed on and let their accumulated presence guide me through life. I am devoted to my journey through the unknown. As I develop my voice, I will continue to share. As I continue to live, I will continue to create.

I know no other, wish infinite.

P2.6

Conclusion 320

Image by Mike Sinclair

323 Conclusion

Part 2 Conclusion The project’s conclusion provided an understanding of the accomplishments and importance of the processes that were conducted throughout the entirety of the project.

The assumption, at the very outset, that art and architecture had synergistic ideologies, was challenged in this comprehensive process. The process became complex; while art tried to address issues of urban design on a conceptual platform, architecture’s intent to translate solution from conceptual to realistic provided a platform to condense a conclusion. This process was the most essential aspect of the project as it was key to the creation of a unique framework through which public space can be understood. Breaking down the original thought of individuals to condense a group thought, without any pre-conceived notion was critical.

The original pre-conceptions encircling what a public space should be was further challenged by the collaboration with artists and studies encompassing a diverse set of ideas. The interactions with stakeholders and artists led through the complex process contesting different points of views establishing a communal ideology and value system to understand public space. The process was the initial scratching of the surface of an idea of public space being born out of life-related functions (including infrastructure) that does not mark the end of possibilities within the space by establishing a concrete spatial definition, but instead becoming armature for discussion that reveals a staging of possibilities within the spaces. Through the means of our labor and with the help of others, the theoretical framework led to a physical design conclusion that provided an amplitude of possibilities for these spaces. During the final transformation of the sites, we were able to engage with the community and the spaces, utilizing the sites materiality and physicality. Transformation of the sites enabled us to lead the project from its theoretical realm of ideas to physical possibilities within the space.

The notion of the end of the project was the orchestration of the entire exhibition.

Through the exhibition we were able to present the project and engage the site. The exhibition was the platform from which we could speak about the project in its place and engage with specific locations and spaces. The project was not about completing a design and then claiming that these are the best options for public space in the West Bottoms. Instead, the project was much more of a critical intervention to reveal, or unlock specific possibilities, to provide the staging for the qualities of the places. The design executions were a much more complex and comprehensive process, the final execution was an instigation of a moment through which some of those possibilities were revealed. This instigation only lasted for an instant and was a staging for the possibilities rather than a definitive conclusion. With the staging of the possibilities, we provided the foundation for others to explore those possibilities further.

Conclusion 324

1. Kansas City Design Center 327-328

2. Embedded Artists 329-330

3. Acknowledgments 331-332

Part Three

325 Appendix

12th Street Alley 326

P3.1 327 Appendix

The Kansas City Design Center The Kansas City Design Center is a nationally-recognized, nonprofit, partnership among local civic leaders, professional designers, and the architecture and planning programs at Kansas State University and University of Kansas. The KCDC supports educational initiatives that help build public awareness of the factors that influence the character of the public realm. The KCDC also works to strengthen the educational experience of future design practitioners by engaging university faculty and students with real-world issues facing Kansas City’s built environment. The 2018 urban design studio consisted of seventeen interdisciplinary graduate students and a handful of staff.

P3.1

Kansas City Design Center 328

P3.2 329 Appendix

Embedded Artists To ensure comprehensiveness in the formation of the system of public spaces, three professional artists were embedded into the West Bottoms Reborn design team. These artists include Miranda Clark, Carmen Moreno, and lead artist James Woodfill, whom all brought their unique perspectives to the project. The project could not have been done without the help of the artists and their willingness to provide their opinions and expertise. With the help of the artists, the team was able to attempt a comprehensive understanding of the complexities of the project. The collaborating team of artists was able to provide ideas that challenged the pre-existing ideologies and through their help create a richer more diverse project.

P3.2

Embedded Artists 330

Acknowledgments The Kansas City Design Center is thankful to all the individuals, organizations, and institutions who have made our studio project and publication possible. We owe each of them a debt of gratitude for their trust and support.

First, the studio would like to thank the National Endowment of the Arts for their firm belief that arts help us understand and express our world, which results in creative innovations that better all of our lives. The Our Town grant makes it possible to explore the power of art and artists in the creative processes of designing a public place.

The Kansas City Design Center studio is made possible by the William T. Kemper Foundation and the Hall Family Foundation. We thank them for their support.

We extend our gratitude to each of our project partners. The studio thanks Miranda Clark, Carmen Moreno, and Jim Woodfill for their time, guidance, and creative perspectives that inspired us to think deeper about our approach to site investigation and public space design. We thank Megan Crigger of the Office of Culture and Creative Services as well as the Historic West Bottoms Association for their passion for the West Bottoms’ rich history, vibrant culture, and profound potential.

We must express our gratitude to all of the stakeholders, residents, and other supporters of the West Bottoms who contributed their knowledge and questions during our public meetings. Your continued investment into this project will help ensure an outcome that can appeal to everyone in the West Bottoms. We thank the various organizations and institutions that provided valuable knowledge and support for the studio, including: HNTB and BNIM, the Kansas City, Missouri and Unified Government of Wyandotte County Planning Departments, the KCMO City Manager’s Office, Kansas City Water Services, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and Mid-America Arts Alliance.

Various staff of the Kansas City Design Center provide invaluable support to our studio. We thank Jason Brody for his extensive urban design knowledge, Sarah Kraly for managing the numerous details that keep the studio afloat, and Kohl for his unending emotional support.

Finally, the studio must thank Vladimir Kristic, our studio director and professor. His passion and dedication to the studio has instilled a deeper understanding of not only the urban realm but also of the designer’s responsibility and capability to improve our world. Kansas City’s public realm is incrementally becoming more beautiful, thoughtful, and sophisticated due to the collective efforts of Vladimir and the Kansas City Design Center.

P3.3

331 Appendix

Stakeholders Testimonials “I consider the West Bottoms Reborn project to have been a great success in bringing the community together to celebrate the West Bottoms and to create some new ways to appreciate public spaces.

Many of us who have a long-standing connection to the West Bottoms have known that it is a special, lovable, quirky place. From the beginning to the end of the West Bottoms Reborn project, its leaders recognized those characteristics and social spaces that make the West Bottoms unique. The West Bottoms Reborn project found ways to complement that essence and build upon the attractive elements.

The KCDC’s approach to the project gave architecture students the opportunity to be empathetic curious researchers, as well as innovative designers. I attended the first public open house where the students asked members of the West Bottoms community to give input into the 3-d models through a number of qualitative interview tools. Over the subsequent school year, KCDC students went into their studios and came up with concepts, prototypes, drawings, ideas, and data visualizations which they displayed in a few public open charettes. The final showcase of all the installations was an incredible weekend. The convergence of performance, design displays, art openings, prototype furniture, and community celebration as the sun set on a perfect spring evening was unforgettable. It was a showcase of innovation and talent as well as a chance for our community to celebrate the West Bottoms. It was really impressive!

There were also some public events that brought together students, artists, and community leaders, and had fascinating discussions. The KCDC and The Office of Culture and Creative Services (OCCS) of Kansas City, Missouri came up with some excellent programming that brought together thought leaders on the subject of “Creative Placemaking” –or as Roberto Bedoya terms it “Creative Placekeeping.” I attended three separate public events on the subject of having the community involved in dialogue and collaborative process for Art and Public Spaces. They were all terrific.

All in all, the West Bottoms Reborn project brought some exceptional programming, art, and people together, and produced impressive results. I learned a lot about the community who loves the West Bottoms, and how we can work together to bring out the best in our public spaces. The West Bottoms has a rich history. I have a sense that the present and future of the area is vibrant, optimistic, and very interesting. There is a great deal of potential to enrich the West Bottoms with art, and with the creative spirit of local participants.”

-Cathy Beaham Smith “The West Bottoms Reborn came at a great time for the West Bottoms. Though the Bottoms renaissance began over 20 years ago, rediscovery and redevelopment of an area such as the Bottoms goes through a series of stages. Art is a crucial component in reestablishing a neighborhood’s uniqueness and charm. Sometimes the introduction of art in public spaces is forced and ill-timed but the NEA Our Town grant couldn’t have come at a better time. KCDC’s understanding of the Bottom’s and the increased awareness and recognition of the area created a momentum that optimized the impact of the West Bottoms Reborn project. Thanks much to you, Vlad and Megan how special the Bottoms is and for recognizing the opportunity.”

-Scott Brown P3.3

Acknowledgments 332

333 Appendix

12th Street Alley 334