Abandoned Shopping Malls

Abandoned Shopping Malls An Opportunity for Affordable, Supportive Housing in Suburbia

A thesis submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Architecture

in the School of Architecture and Interior Design of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning by

Lindsay Schweitzer 03/08/2019

B.A. in Architecture from Miami University May 2016

Committee Chair: Michael McInturf Second Chair: Aarati Kanekar

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ABSTRACT The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, states that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary social services…”1 Every human being has the right to a home. Yet millions of people still struggle to find housing that is affordable and that offers the support they need to succeed. Through the analysis of failed public housing projects throughout history, a study of economically-divided cities to determine site location, and the utilization of adaptive reuse of an abandoned shopping center, this thesis aims to provide a solution for low-income neighborhoods and their communities within. Good architectural design and proper urban planning should offer opportunities, support, and livable space for those who have been continuously excluded throughout history because of their race or income level. We may not have much say in the political decisions and financing policies that determine to a large extent whether or not homes actually get built, but we can exert professional leadership by showing what can be achieved. Affordable, supportive housing can be designed well by empowering the community through the design process, understanding the history of public housing, and utilizing new environmental movements within the housing industry. This thesis will analyze the process of public housing project development in the past and offer solutions for the future of abandoned malls and affordable, supportive housing.

Thesis Question: How can good design and thoughtful planning provide housing, services, and opportunities for low-income individuals and families in struggling suburban neighborhoods utilizing adaptive reuse of an abandoned shopping mall?

1 “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” Accessed November 08, 2018. http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/.

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[THIS PAGE WAS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK]

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my thesis chair, Michael McInturf, and committee member, Aarati Kanekar, for their guidance, input, and critique as I underwent this whole process.

I am also grateful for the rest of the DAAP faculty members that gave their input and advice at various stages throughout the year.

Finally, this thesis would not have been possible without the continued and endless support of my family and friends.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract

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Acknowledgments

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List of Figures

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Introduction

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CHAPTER 1 | Background

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Addressing the Mall

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History of Suburbia & Politics of Public Housing

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The Need for Affordable, Supportive Housing

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CHAPTER 2 | Failed Public Housing

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History of Public Housing

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The Design and Prosperity of Supportive Housing

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A Look to the Future

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CHAPTER 3 | Introducing the Site

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Most Economically Divided Cities

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Columbus Demographics & Opportunities

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Hilltop Demographics

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Site Location

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Addressing the Mall, part 2

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CHAPTER 4 | A Call to Action

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Needs of the Community & Development Plans

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Determining Program

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CHAPTER 5 | A Design Solution

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Architecture for the Poor

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Addressing the Mall, part 3

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Master Planning Design

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Supportive Housing Design

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References

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LIST OF FIGURES Figure 01 | Transformation of the Oldest Mall in the United States

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Televiciute, Julija. “America’s Oldest Mall Is Saved By Transforming It Into 48 Cozy

Low-Cost Micro-Apartments.” Bored Panda. Accessed March 05, 2019. https://www. boredpanda.com/americas-oldest-shopping-mall-micro-lofts-arcade-provi dence-northeast-collaborative-architects/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=or ganic&utm_campaign=organic.

Figure 02 | High-rises at Cabrini-Green Homes, Chicago, Illinois, 1958

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Photo by Hedrich-Blessing Collection/Chicago History Museum/Getty Images.

Mortice, Zach. “When Public Housing Goes Private.” Curbed Chicago. September

28, 2016. Accessed December 10, 2018. https://chicago.curbed.com/2016/9/28/ 13063710/chicago-public-housing-cha.

Figure 03 | Abandoned Randall Park Mall in North Randall, Ohio

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Jennings, Chris. “Dead Malls Make Way for Homeless People, Ice Rinks - and

Amazon.” GOBankingRates. June 19, 2018. Accessed December 10, 2018. https:// www.gobankingrates.com/making-money/business/repurposing-dead-malls homeless-shelters-amazon/.

Figure 04 | Mall Typology, past and present

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Image by Author.

Figure 05 | Redlining Map of Columbus Ohio, 1936

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“Mapping Inequality.” Visualizing Emancipation. Accessed September 19, 2018. https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=11/40.0075/-83.0025&opacity= 0.8&city=columbus-oh.

Figure 06 | NIMBYism in the Suburbs

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Keenan, Edward. “The Good and Bad of Toronto NIMBYism.” The Star. January 02,

2016. Accessed October 18, 2018. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/01/02/ youre-a-toronto-nimby-now-what.html.

Figure 07 | Case Study: Cabrini-Green Failed Public Housing

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Modica, Aaron. “Cabrini Green Housing Project, Chicago, Illinois (1942 -2009). The Black Past. January 05, 2010. Accessed March 05, 2019. https://www.blackpast.org/ african-american-history/cabrini-green-housing-project- chicago-1942-2009/.

Figure 08 | Impersonal Design of Public Housing at Cabrini-Green

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“Long Goodbye for Infamous Public Housing Complex.” Chicago Press Release

Services. December 07, 2010. Accessed March 05, 2019. http://chicagopressrelease. com/news/long-goodbye-for-infamous-public-housing-complex.

Figure 09 | Case Study: Raven Terrace Renovated Housing

“Raven Terrace | Weber Thompson.” Archinect. Accessed March 06, 2019. https:// archinect.com/firms/project/49544003/raven-terrace/149935508.

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Figure 10 | Yesler Terrace Before Redevelopment, 1940

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Young, Bob. “Some Question If Yesler Spirit Will Live On After Redevelopment.” The

Seattle Times. November 01, 2015. Accessed March 06, 2019. https://www. seattletimes.com/business/real-estate/some-question-if-yesler-spirit-will-live-on after-redevelopment/.

Figure 11 | Raven Terrace at Yesler Way, 2019, Google Earth

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“Raven Terrace.” 47°36’08.92” N and 122°19’20.36” W. Google Earth, 2019. Accessed 06 March 2019.

Figure 12 | Demolition of Pruitt-Igoe Public Housing, St. Louis, 1972

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O’Neil, Tim. “45 Years Ago • A Final Blow Is Dealt to Pruitt-Igoe.” St. Louis Post Dispatch. April 01, 2018. Accessed March 06, 2019. https://www.stltoday.com/news/

local/metro/years-ago-a-final-blow-is-dealt-to-pruitt-igoe/article_e2a30e7c-f180 5770-8962-bf6e8902efc1.html.

Figure 13 | Aerial View of Pruitt and Igoe, “Vertical Slums” in St. Louis, 1954

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O’Neil, Tim. “45 Years Ago • A Final Blow Is Dealt to Pruitt-Igoe.” St. Louis Post Dispatch. April 01, 2018. Accessed March 06, 2019. https://www.stltoday.com/news/

local/metro/years-ago-a-final-blow-is-dealt-to-pruitt-igoe/article_e2a30e7c-f180 5770-8962-bf6e8902efc1.html.

Figure 14 | Types of Family Structures

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Image by Author.

Figure 15 | Precedent of Successful Public Housing, Brussels, 2011

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Ross, Kritiana. “Savonnerie Heymans / MDW Architecture.” ArchDaily. March 27,

2012. Accessed March 06, 2019. https://www.archdaily.com/220116/savonnerie heymans-mdw-architecture.

Figure 16 | Strategies for Making Units Livable

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Image by Author.

Figure 17 | Successful Public Housing, ArchDaily

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Ross, Kritiana. “Savonnerie Heymans / MDW Architecture.” ArchDaily. March 27,

2012. Accessed March 06, 2019. https://www.archdaily.com/220116/savonnerie heymans-mdw-architecture.

Figure 18 | Savonnerie Heymans Public Housing Site Plan

Figure 19 | Precedent Diagram

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Image by Author.

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Image by Author.

Figure 20 | The Future of Affordable Housing - The Six, Los Angeles

Wujcik, Tara. “Brooks Scarpa.” AF Asia Archzine. Accessed March 06, 2019. https:// afasiaarchzine.com/2017/05/brooks-scarpa/.

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Figure 21 | Successful Affordable Housing Projects

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Walker, Alissa. “7 Smart New Affordable Housing Projects Making Cities Stronger.”

Gizmodo. December 30, 2013. Accessed March 05, 2019. https://gizmodo.com/7 smart-new-affordable-housing-projects-making-cities-s-1488019323.

Figure 22 | Site Location and Bus Routes, Columbus, OH

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Image by Author.

Figure 23 | Overall Economic Segregation Index, MPI, 2015

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CityLab, and University of Toronto’s School of Cities and Rotman School of

Management. “America’s Most Economically Segregated Cities.” CityLab. February

23, 2015. Accessed September 13, 2018. https://www.citylab.com/life/2015/02/ americas-most-economically-segregated-cities/385709/.

Figure 24 | Comparing 3 Cities for Site Selection

Figure 25 | Map of Columbus, OH with Selected Site Highlighted

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Image by Author.

Figure 28 | Neighborhoods of Columbus, Greater Hilltop

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Image by Author.

Figure 27 | Redlining, past and present

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Image by Author.

Figure 26 | Southwest Columbus showing Pockets of Subsidized Housing, Areas of Poverty, and Bus Routes

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Image by Author.

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Image by Author.

Figure 29 | Reference Maps for Demographics

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“See What School District You Are In: Interactive Map.” Great Schools. Accessed October 17, 2018. https://www.greatschools.org/school-district-boundaries-map/.

Figure 30 | Average Report Card Grades for Columbus Public Schools

Figure 31 | Demographics of Hilltop Compared to Surrounding Neighborhoods and Columbus Overall

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Image by Author.

Figure 34 | Aerial View of Westland Mall, Google Earth

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Image by Author.

Figure 33 | GIS Data within 3 Miles of the Site

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Image by Author.

Figure 32 | Site Location and Surroundings

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Image by Author.

“Westland Mall.” 39°57’04.06” N and 83°06’55.29” W. Google Earth, 2018. Accessed 30 October 2018.

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Figure 35 | Office Building Type

Figure 36 | Warehouse Building Type

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Image by Author.

Figure 37 | Shopping Mall Building Type

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Image by Author.

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Image by Author.

Figure 38 | Central Atrium at Arcade Providence Micro Lofts

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”Congress for New Urbanism Honors the Micro Lofts at The Arcade Providence

with a 2015 Merit Award.” Northeast Collaborative Architects. Accessed February

08, 2019. http://ncarchitects.com/nca-pinboard/congress-for-new-urbanism honors-the-micro-lofts-at-the-arcade-providence-with-a-2015-merit-award/.

Figure 39 | Precedent Diagrams

Figure 40 | Site Location and Major Roads, Columbus, OH

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Image by Author.

Figure 47 | Proposed Building Plans

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Image by Author.

Figure 46 | Proposed Program Elements

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Envision Hilltop. Accessed October 18, 2018. https://www.envisionhilltop.com/.

Figure 45 | Proposed Site Plan and Surroundings

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“The Weston Vision Partnership.” Weston Columbus. December 2015. Accessed November 16, 2018. http://www.thewestonvision.com/.

Figure 44 | Envision Hilltop Community Plan Survey Results

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“Westlanad Area Interim Development Framework.” Franklin County. June 8, 2010.

Accessed October 18, 2018.

Figure 43 | Weston Vision Development Plan Strategies

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Image by Author.

Figure 42 | Westland Area Development and Land Use Plan

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Image by Author.

Figure 41 | Location of Community Development Plans

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Image by Author.

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Image by Author.

Figure 48 | Slum Conditions in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Subhash, Vipin. “Slums Other than Dharavi That You Might Not Heard Off.” Talented

Jobless. Accessed March 07, 2019. http://talentedjobless.blogspot.com/2015/10/ slums-other-than-dharavi-that-you-might.html.

Figure 49 | Architecture for the Poor, Hassan Fathy

Fathy, Hassan. Architecture for the Poor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973.

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Figure 50 | Westland Mall Reduced to its Structural Frame

Figure 51 | Inserting New Program into the Mall

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Image by Author.

Figure 57 | Tall Ceiling Heights Humanize the Living Units

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Image by Author.

Figure 56 | Proposed Site Plan and Section Perspective

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Image by Author.

Figure 55 | Site Design Choices

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Image by Author.

Figure 54 | Proposed Circulation Strategies through the Site

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Renderings by M+A Architects. “New Easton Expansion.” Easton. Accessed March 08, 2019. https://eastontowncenter.com/easton-expansion.

Figure 53 | Precedent Site Diagram

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Image by Author.

Figure 52 | Renderings of Easton Town Center Development

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Image by Author.

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Image by Author.

Figure 58 | Habitat 67, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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Gaetan. “Habitat 67.” Atlas Obscura. May 26, 2012. Accessed March 07, 2019. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/habitat-67.

Figure 59 | Precedent Diagrams

Figure 60 | Site Model

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Image by Author.

Figure 61 | Individual Unit Plans & Axons

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Image by Author.

Image by Author.

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Fig. 1 | Transformation of the Oldest Mall in the United States into Micro-Lofts.

INTRODUCTION There is an overwhelming need for affordable and supportive housing as well as the question of where to put it, while thousands of shopping malls sit abandoned and blighted to their respective communities. This thesis addresses the abandoned shopping mall as an opportunity for new design and programmatic ideas while offering a solution for the surrounding communities and low-income individuals.

Is there a way to energize these dead facilities, to re-conceive them both as landscapes and as structures that can re-engage the community and offer supportive resources to those who need it?

Looking closely at the abandoned Westland

Mall in Columbus, OH, a comprehensive site analysis of the surrounding area and overall city will justify the choice of site and building typology for this type of housing.

A study of the surrounding neighborhoods and demographics, existing and future public transportation infrastructure, and the history of zoning and planning in the area will guide the design process for this site and program.

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CHAPTER 1 Chapter 1 addresses the mall and the history of suburbia. A look through history highlights the exclusion of poor people through zoning and redlining and introduces the need for inclusive, affordable housing for all.

CHAPTER 2 This chapter describes the poor design of affordable housing through history and the need for architectural design for all, regardless of income.

CHAPTER 3 Chapter 3 introduces the site of this thesis and the demographics and GIS data of the area. Looking at this research gives way to design opportunities for the abandoned mall.

CHAPTER 4 Chapter 4 begins to call on the community for needs and wants of programmatic elements for the site.

Looking at two development plans by the planning commissions of Columbus incorporates community involvement in the project.

CHAPTER 5 This final chapter is focused on design and proposed ideas for the abandoned mall and the future of affordable, supportive housing with a short reflection at the end.

LITERATURE REVIEW A literature review of books such as Architecture for the Poor by Hassan Fathy, Democratic Architecture

by Donald Macdonald, and The Architecture of Affordable Housing

by Sam Davis gives insight to affordable housing design and architecture for all people regardless of income. Looking at Sprawl and Public Space: Redressing the Mall

by David Smiley, World of Malls: Architectures of Consumption by Adres Lepik, and Learning from Las Vegas by Robert Venturi will provide information for commercial architectural design and how to address the mall as an architectural opportunity. Finally, Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and the Rebirth of American Urbanism by Benjamin Ross and Dream Cities: 7 Urban Ideas to Shape the World by Wade Graham offers historical analysis of U.S. cities and how their planning has shaped American life from the past and into the future. Jane Jacob’s The Death and Life of Great American Cities is influential as this thesis tries to incorporate her main points to create a walkable, livable, affordable “city” within the shopping mall’s site boundary for individuals and families of all income levels.

Fig. 2 | High-rise Apartment Buildings at Cabrini-Green Homes, Chicago, Illinois, 1958.

CHAPTER 1

BACKGROUND

Addressing the Mall History of Suburbia and the Politics of Public Housing The Need for Affordable, Supportive Housing

Fig. 3 | Abandoned Randall Park Mall in North Randall, Ohio.

ADDRESSING THE MALL There are over 1,200 enclosed malls in the United States—30 in Ohio alone—and about one-third of them are dead or dying.

As anchor brands such as JC Penney, Sears, and Macy’s continue to close stores and Americans show a preference for shopping online, more malls are expected to close permanently. This leaves large, abandoned structures and paved surfaces to deteriorate without hope for the future.

The rise of dead malls undermines the communities in which they are located, fueling further disinvestment and sprawl,

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and the suburbs in which these malls are located are experiencing demographic changes of their own with aging populations, housing, and building stock.2 Abandoned, boarded up, or rapidly dying, these malls no longer generate profits, no longer serve their communities, and drain the financial base and social spirit from their neighborhoods.

Victor Gruen, the architect most responsible for the invention of shopping centers in the 1950s, believed they should

Smiley, David J. and National Endowment for the Arts. Sprawl and Public Space: Redressing the Mall. 1st ed.

Washington, D.C: National Endowment for the Arts, 2002, 9-10.

BACKGROUND | 6

be designed to service civic, cultural, and social community needs. He saw the mall principally as an urban ordering device that could replace the messy and illogical form of the American city with harmonious and sociable urban patterns. His plan improved traffic circulation, separated pedestrian and automobile traffic, and integrated commercial and non-commercial activities by organizing them around multiple plazas and squares. Malls were originally created as open-minded spaces where a variety of people could coexist, where a wide variety of functions encouraged unexpected activities, and whose multiple possibilities led naturally to the communication that makes democracy possible. They were thought to be an adaptable building type, to continuously adjust, reinvent, and retool themselves in response to economic and social changes. Developers of these centers hoped they would provide an important centrality and focus for dispersed suburban settings.3 In modern reality, the typical one- or two-story American mall is an agglomeration of large, windowless department stores connected by doubleloaded corridors, often illuminated with natural light from skylights, and lined with smaller shops.4 A more efficient way to build shopping centers was to make them larger and place them along highways, surrounded by parking lots, where they would be accessible by residents from a number of surrounding communities. The classic American shopping mall includes 3 4 5

an isolated location and spatial orientation inwards.5 Figure 4 studies this rapid change of the shopping mall typology. Looking to the past at how shopping centers were intended to be developed and the role they played in the community, failing centers can be redeveloped to once again become integrals parts of these neighborhoods.

The mall poses three challenges: civic, economic, and design. First, a civic challenge: in suburbs where people are accustomed to driving to specific destinations for single functions, is there a way that we can recreate a combination of functions that creates viable public space? Second, an economic challenge in the fact that this viable public space needs an economic base, but how can it be sustained in places that are already failing economically? Finally, a design challenge to make physical design changes that can achieve these civic and economic objectives in a context where older models no longer apply. Can shopping centers be re-thought and reconfigured in a new way to create successful spaces for people to congregate and live?

1971 | WoodďŹ eld Mall, Schaumburg, IL

1956 | Old Orchard, Skokie, IL

Fig. 4 | Mall Typology, past and present.

Ibid, 22-24.

Lifschutz, Alex. Loose-fit Architecture: Designing Buildings for Change. Vol. 87. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, 2017, 86.

Lepik, Andres, and Vera Simone Bader. World of Malls. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2016, 92-135.

Fig. 5 | Redlining Map of Columbus Ohio, 1936.

Fig. 6 | NIMBYism in the Suburbs.

HISTORY OF SUBURBIA AND THE POLITICS OF PUBLIC HOUSING Our present zoning ordinances are largely responsible for the diffusion of communities into separate, unrelated sections without focus, identity, or community life. They have produced chaos on highways, monotony in subdivisions, and ugliness in shopping centers. With the rise of suburbia, new houses were set back on curved streets, commerce was excluded from residential districts, and the entire organization rested on a structure of legal covenants that was systematized.6 Only the affluent could afford to live in communities that met their

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high standards, and they excluded people whose incomes fell short of what was the community standard. Early zoning laws prescribed unwanted races along with unwanted land uses, and early covenants were used to exclude undesirable people, buildings, and activities from new subdivisions. High property values, homeowners’ associations, and exclusionary zoning could protect the Anglo-Saxon middle class against new arrivals.7 Appraisers judged a neighborhood’s ethnic character along with its buildings through

Ross, Benjamin. Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and the Rebirth of American Urbanism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, 12.

Ibid, 19-26.

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a system of color-coded maps—the lowest category shown in red. For years afterward, these maps were used by private banks for lending decisions, giving rise to the term “red-lining”, a discriminatory practice in which banks and insurance companies refused or limited loans, mortgages, and insurance within specific geographic areas, especially inner-city neighborhoods.

Loans for new one-family houses carried much more favorable terms than those for multifamily buildings or the rehabilitation of existing homes.8 The layout of new super blocks and cul-desacs reinforced the “suburbs’’ dependence on the automobile. With the best land already zoned for single-family houses, apartments were pushed out to the fringes of existing towns and onto empty land beyond. Far from rail stations and stores, walled off in super blocks where even the bus stop was far away, only the poorest residents would do without a car. Good transit reaches only a small portion of the metropolis, and there good schools and safe streets are often lacking. Affluent neighborhoods near rail lines kept housing scarce through the use of single-family zoning, parking minimums, and height limits.9 The right to property, in practice, was the right to build single-family houses and nothing else. The word “compatibility” became a tool to further implement exclusionary practices. A compatible land use upholds the status of the neighborhood; 8 9 10 11

an incompatible one lowers it. Rental apartments were considered incompatible with a neighborhood that accepted the same building sold as condos. Incompatible came to mean “I don’t like it and I’m not explaining why.” The “Not in My Backyard” movement was a powerful force. People were fearful of change in their lifestyles, property values, and level of security. They were fearful of the unknown, particularly of their new neighbors, who they were sure to bring crime, drugs, and noise simply because they are poor.10 All of these stem from the subtle but persistent message that those who rent, those who live in apartments, and those who need subsidies to do both are second-class citizens.

Because of this, public housing was kept out of suburbs and concentrated near downtown. Public housing became known as “the projects” bringing more lowincome residents to old neighborhoods that were already filling with the poor as a consequence of redlining and zoning ordinances. The usual approach to providing low-income housing was to build large, institution-like projects, crowding in as many units as possible. The majority of projects were concrete and steel boxes, benefiting little from architectural amenities.11 Early public housing’s mission was not so much to improve the quality of life and environment for the residents living in squalid conditions as to protect the rest of society from them. Islands of low-income

Ibid, 42-43.

Ibid, 82-189.

Davis, Sam. The Architecture of Affordable Housing. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995, 41.

Macdonald, Donald. Democratic Architecture. 3rd ed. Oro Editions, 2015, 23.

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projects that are socially, economically, and architecturally cut off from the surrounding communities compel their inhabitants to be detached and alienated. By the 1940s and into the 1950s changes had occurred in the attitudes about public housing that affected its architecture for two decades: high quality and level of amenities of the earlier projects were now viewed as extravagances, and the “towers-in-thepark” philosophy, now referred to as “ghettos”. Standards intended to protect the disenfranchised poor had the opposite effect, as the prescribed minimums were interpreted as maximums and low cost became the primary goal. The projects were the culmination of grim public policies to warehouse the poor, to move thousands of very low income people into a single enclave that ignored the needs of the tenants and denied them all but the most utilitarian features. By oversimplifying housing into a production problem, these projects did nothing to address housing as a complex issue with a critical social component, nor did it motivate any significant architectural designs.12 In the post-war years, the city was shrinking on its own and slum clearance got a new purpose—to bring the middle class back downtown—and the Housing Act of 1954 gave it a new name: “urban renewal”.

For renewal to yield a profit, the new structures had to be bigger than those they replaced. The economic logic of the 12 13 14

program led not to decongestion but to high-rises. Segregated neighborhoods, their boundaries fixed by thirty years of racial covenants, remained in place even after a 1948 Supreme Court ruling made those restrictions legally unenforceable, and the Nixon administration promoted the dispersal of low-income housing into the suburbs.13 However, by the end of the decade, public housing of all kinds was violently unpopular. The Redevelopment Companies Law of 1942 enabled government redevelopment agencies to use the power of eminent domain to assemble blocks of land by buyout and eviction, and then turn the land over to private developers at a discount sufficient for them to build for-profit housing. It was socialism for the well-to-do. For those communities that were “redeveloped” or “renewed,” Urban Renewal was devastating. Clearance tended to radically reduce housing stocks and drive up prices for what remained. On average, just one unit was built for every four units demolished. People were evicted with nowhere to go. Many of those who were left were relocated to gigantic public housing projects, stranded in superblocks from the rest of the city, often surrounded by highways and parking lots.14 A complex web of public policies subsidized and accelerated the decline of central cities, seeking to make the lives of some parts of the population better, while making those of millions of others far worse. Architecture and urban planning must share a large

Davis, Sam. The Architecture of Affordable Housing. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995, 3-29.

Ross, Benjamin. Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and Rebirth of American Urbanism. Oxford University Press, 2014, 53-55.

Graham, Wade. Dream Cities: Seven Urban Ideas That Shape the World. New York: Haper Perennial, 2016, 101-106.

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portion of the blame, adhering blindly to the views and beliefs of the future Utopia like Le Corbusier. His design tenets—the separation, exclusion, and segregation of kinds of activities and kinds of people— led directly to the results achieved.15 The “renewed” neighborhoods were empty of life. A short walk outside showed what was missing: streets full of little stores, children playing, people hanging around. Yet these were the blocks that were next to be demolished.16

CASE STUDY Cabrini-Green, Chicago, IL (1942-2010) Authorized by the Housing Act of 1937 which called for the construction of public housing as part of the effort to eliminate slums in major U.S. cities, Cabrini-Green became the first major public housing project in Chicago. Over a period of 20 years, three high rise projects were constructed, creating 3,607 units which housed over 15,000 residents, primarily for the African American poor.17 The government prioritized the poorest people, including single mothers and the homeless, to access the housing. The project was a symbol of hope for mitigating slum-life but soon became a high-rise slum itself. Cost-reducing measures taken during construction led to quick deterioration, and due to the racial biases in Chicago at the time, the maintenance funds were denied and deterioration furthered. Dumpsters started overfilling and no one cared to fix anything.

Fig. 7 | Case Study: Cabrini-Green Failed Public Housing.

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With high crime and unemployment, Cabrini Green came to symbolize the failure of city government in Chicago—and across the nation—to resolve the problems of the concentrated and isolated urban African American poor. By 2010 the Cabrini Green projects were demolished to make way for the construction of new condominiums and town homes.

Ibid, 107.

Ross, Benjamin. Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and Rebirth of American Urbanism. Oxford University Press, 2014, 65.

Modica, Aaron. “Cabrini Green Housing Project”, Chicago, Illinois (1942 -2009). The Black Past. January 05, 2010. Accessed March 05, 2019.

Fig. 8 | Impersonal Design of Public Housing at Cabrini-Green.

The Need for Affordable, Supportive Housing At least one billion people will die early deaths and will live stunted lives because of unsanitary, uneconomic, and poorly designed housing.18 Rising rents in private rental housing associated with a robust economy are resulting in a dwindling supply of decent and affordable housing available to low-income households, and in the worst-off neighborhoods, bad physical conditions coincide with deep social problems of concentrated poverty, joblessness, crime, and drug abuse.19 The housing supply is not large enough

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to accommodate all renter households living in severely inadequate or crowded conditions, disregarding income or other limiting factors.20 Roughly 75 percent of the households below the poverty line receive no housing subsidy, while homeowners receive the largest share of government housing assistance in the form of tax deductions for mortgage interest and real estate taxes. As a result $50 billion of government housing assistance goes to middle- and upper-class homeowners each year, rather than to low-income renters. It

Fathy, Hassan. Architecture for the Poor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973, ix.

Schussheim, Morton J. 2003. Housing the poor: An overview. Hauppauge, N.Y: Novinka Books, 1-6.

Ibid, 39.

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is not just the homeless or those living at or below the poverty line that need affordable housing. Varying types of people with incomes above the poverty line still cannot afford market-rate housing. Single parents, seniors, twenty-year-olds fresh on the job market, and the newly unemployed are among the largest groups.21 People with all types of life styles and needs share in the affordable housing crisis.

Low-income or social housing has long been considered a temporary way station for people who will eventually get on their feet and move into the market sector.

A way station for poor transients was believed to not need to provide more than basic shelter. But poverty and economic hardship are not so easily overcome, and the tenancy for these projects has become more or less permanent.21 The legacy of the 1980s that had regarded temporary shelter as an adequate response to homelessness must be overcome. Shelters never were and never will be an acceptable alternative to decent, affordable housing. It will not be easy to overcome the belief that it is a misguided use of money to create projects that meet the cultural or psychological needs of its residents or have the quality and amenities of market-rate housing, especially if the housing is subsidized.

It is necessary to recognize that these dwellings are long-standing homes, not way stations or warehouses. Housing is no longer a question of naked shelter only; 21 22 23

it is the demand for the reorganization of underprivileged communities into stable, sane, and healthy societies. Rather than create isolated enclaves, we need to integrate affordable housing into communities.21 The most fundamental principle is that people should be allowed to live and work where and how they like. Densities and land uses should be market driven, not master-plan driven, and new affordable housing projects must be developed with cooperation between the architect and the people. Too often public housing is done without the cooperation of either— rather a bureaucratic decision built by contractors—and it almost immediately becomes a slum. The impersonal, often ugly, steel-and-concrete slabs have nothing to do with the wishes or desires of the people who live in them. It is no wonder the projects are vandalized and crime-ridden.

Their scale, scope, and impermeability are oppressive to the human spirit.22 It is hard enough convincing suburbanites to accept mixed uses, varied-income housing, and public transit without throwing flat roofs and corrugated metal siding into the equation. Economic trends, demographics, and shifting tastes all favor apartments, yet they are no more welcome than in the 1920s. However, gentrifying neighborhoods, with their row houses and apartment renovations, show that multi-family living is hardly losing popularity.23

Davis, Sam. The Architecture of Affordable Housing. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995, 2-63.

Macdonald, Donald. Democratic Architecture. 3rd ed. Oro Editions, 2015, 27.

Ross, Benjamin. Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and Rebirth of American Urbanism. Oxford University Press, 2014, 103-143.

BACKGROUND | 13

Urbanists cannot neglect government and nonprofit housing. The existing stock of public housing is irreplaceable for those who live there, and the neighborhoods around housing projects benefit too, by retaining economic diversity as they gentrify.24 The vision and overall direction of future policies must be fixed on the goal of creating and preserving low-cost housing, jobs, and job training programs and access to the necessary health and social support services that enable people to live with the greatest degree of independence possible.25 Affordable housing must be built that is equal to—or better than—market-rate, and designed so that all people would be proud to live in it.

Fig. 9 | Case Study: Raven Terrace Renovated Housing.

CASE STUDY Raven Terrace, Seattle, WA (2015) Yesler Terrace was the nation’s first racially integrated, publicly subsidized housing community when it opened in the 1940s.

When it had become evident that Yesler’s infrastructure and aging housing units needed to be replaced, The Seattle Housing Authority began a redevelopment strategy.

They replaced all 561 public housing units with a mix of affordable and market rate units, along with adding a park, education center, and a streetcar line. Local firm Weber Thompson designed with extensive input from the neighborhood and various ethnic groups. The 83 new apartments range from one to four bedrooms to meet the needs of extended families, organizing multi-bedroom units around common areas. Expanded services for the residents promote educational achievement, better health, participation in the arts, and greater employment opportunity.26 The revitalization of Yesler Terrace created a community that honors the neighborhood’s history and cultural richness while creating attractive new housing that is affordable to residents across a broad range of incomes. In redeveloping the existing public housing, SHA is dramatically increasing affordable housing opportunities while utilizing existing infrastructure and contributing to the overall diversity of the area.

24 Ross, Benjamin. Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and Rebirth of American Urbanism. Oxford University Press, 2014, 192.

25 Macdonald, Donald. Democratic Architecture. 3rd ed. Oro Editions, 2015, 133.

26 “Redevelopment of Yesler Terrace.” Seattle Housing Authority. Accessed March 06, 2019. https://www.seattlehousing. org/about-us/redevelopment/redevelopment-of-yesler-terrace.

BACKGROUND | 14

Fig. 10 | Yesler Terrace Before Redevelopment, 1940.

Fig. 11 | Raven Terrace at Yesler Way, 2019, Google Earth.

Fig. 12 | Demolition of Pruitt-Igoe Public Housing, St. Louis, 1972.

CHAPTER 2

FAILED PUBLIC HOUSING

History of Affordable Housing Design The Design and Prosperity of Supportive Housing A Look to the Future

Fig. 13 | Aerial View of Pruitt and Igoe, “Vertical Slums” in St. Louis, 1954.

HISTORY OF Affordable Housing DESIGN Housing is hard in politics. Families have been tabulated according to size, composition, income, estimated change, and so forth. By statistical analysis, the government has determined that there are five types of families and the ideal home is designed for each, see Figure 14. It is assumed that there is nothing more they can do. And so government architects produce their irrefutable argument and build their million identical houses. The result is hideous and inhuman; a million families bundled into ill-fitting cells without

27 28

any choice on design. No matter how much science is applied to the grading of families and matching of them to their dwellings, the majority are bound to be discontented.27 Applying statistics to housing leaves families unattached to their new homes. High-rise housing developments have been called “vertical slums”—the tenants lacking a sense of territorial identification and ungoverned by ties to the neighborhood.28 The features of underdevelopment are evident in the rapidly deteriorating buildings, rising

Fathy, Hassan. Architecture for the Poor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973, 30.

Ibid, xi.

FAILED PUBLIC HOUSING | 18

statistics of crime, and the sense of lethargy and anger of the residents. Low-income projects have become worse centers of delinquency, vandalism and social hopelessness than the slums they were supposed to replace.29 Just as making more cars does not reduce transportation issues, making more units does not solve the housing problem. If the housing is not suitable, if people do not want to live in it, and if it does not fulfill expectations or aspirations of its residents, it will soon be resented and abandoned.

Government-developed projects often resembled regimented lines of concrete chicken coops. They dismiss the poor as too ignorant to be taken into consultation or say that there is no time to deal with each family individually. Too often is housing thought of as built-up structures, or stacked boxes. Attempts at low-cost housing perceive it only as a simplistic question of trying to pile up as many boxes as possible on a given site without any concern for the other spaces involved in the system. The result is the desperate effort of the poor trying to live in hardware that is unrelated to their needs.30 For decades the only housing model proposed for cities was the tower in the park. Cities had parks and landscapes shared by all, and new, tall housing detached physically and socially from the maladies of the streets below seemed like a viable solution. But the towers yielded few of the amenities that 29 30 31 32

people desired, particularly for families and their children who had to rely on elevators and insecure and unmonitored hallways to go to and from their apartments. The park below was a no-man’s land—unsafe, dreary, and uninviting. It was unsatisfactory for its residents and for the neighboring area alike.31 Traditional public housing architecture has never reflected the empowerment of the people. It has always stressed permanence and finality. People’s homes should not be permanent and final.

They should be flexible, changeable, and express freedom of choice.

Millions of dollars are spent on an inadequate system of temporary shelter and failed public housing projects, swallowing many of the resources that could be used to get to the root of the problem.32 Poverty and hardship are not easily overcome, and affordable housing projects have become more or less permanent. It needs to be recognized that these dwellings are long-standing homes, not way stations or warehouses as they have been thought to be in the past.

NUCLEAR

SINGLE PARENT

CHILDLESS

EXTENDED

STEP

Fig. 14 | Types of Family Structures.

Graham, Wade. Dream Cities: Seven Urban Ideas That Shape the World. New York: Haper Perennial, 2016, 162.

Correa, Charles. Housing & Urbanisation. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2000, 107.

Davis, Sam. The Architecture of Affordable Housing. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995, 97.

Macdonald, Donald. Democratic Architecture. 3rd ed. Oro Editions, 2015, 133.

Fig. 15 | Precedent of Successful Public Housing, Brussels, 2011.

tHE dESIGN AND pROSPERITY OF SUPPORTIVE HOUSING Because of the architectural profession’s traditional devotion to designing monumental buildings and homes for the wealthy, it has paid little attention to the housing needs of the majority of the people.

Every human being has a right to a home, and not just shelter, but a private, secure, and congenial place to live at an affordable cost. The primary goal of residential design is to satisfy the needs and wants of the people who will live in a building,33 but this has not been the case for affordable housing design in the past.

33 34

Non-profits have emerged that strive to integrate their projects into existing neighborhoods, so that their tenants can be part of the community.34 They see housing as a social and humanitarian undertaking.

On the one hand, affordable housing residents should not be the subjects of experimentation because they have little choice about where to live and an odd design serves to further stigmatize them and undermine their desire to fit into the community. On the other hand, hardand-fast conservatism dissuades talented

Macdonald, Donald. Democratic Architecture. 3rd ed. Oro Editions, 2015, 8.

Davis, Sam. The Architecture of Affordable Housing. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995, 19.

FAILED PUBLIC HOUSING | 20

architects from venturing into housing and proposing new ideas or contemporary translations of these proven types. The optimistic view is that the new generation of social housing will be different, and that in the decades to come much of it will be knitted comfortably into the texture of American life.35 The design decisions by architects and developers of affordable housing increase costs, but they also increase the quality and livability for the occupant. Private walled patios, which are common in market-rate housing, dramatically increases the livability of the unit, creating a transitional space between public and private on the site and providing a real sense of retreat and security for the occupant. A compartment bathroom, with sinks separated from the toilet and bathtub, is a feature often seen in market-rate housing that is viewed as excessive in affordable housing, where in fact it is more necessary. If there is only one bathroom in a unit shared by a family of six, separating the fixtures serves a real purpose.35 Figure 16 highlights these necessary design choices.

NATURAL VENTILATION

COMPARTMENT FOR EACH USE PUBLIC/PRIVATE

PATIO

BEDROOM

INDOOR/OUTDOOR

1

BEDROOM

2 LIVING ROOM

3

HALL

Fig. 16 | Strategies for Making Units Livable.

35 36 37

BEDROOM

Taking the time and effort to include “unnecessary” design features that would be seen in market-rate units increases the livability for the residents and extends the life of the project as a whole. However, politics, regulation, and conservative attitudes are stacked against innovation in affordable housing. It is not so much a question of whether an architect should or shouldn’t add detail to affordable housing, but a matter of seeing the necessary walls, roofs, windows, and doors as areas of opportunity for giving it vitality.36 Instead of families or individuals cycling in and out of crowded shelters each night, permanent supportive housing offers long-term housing with access to the support residents need to stay in housing. A wide range of studies show that permanent supportive housing is more cost-effective than letting vulnerable families and individuals cycle through the shelter system, mental health facilities, or jails. But more than cost-effectiveness, permanent supportive housing is largely about dignity.37 The final design may be more expensive, but if it embodies the dignity of housing, it will have a better chance of succeeding. It is not the dark, scary, dirty place where homeless people go, but beautiful housing that immediately uplifts a sense of dignity and safety for the residents. Individuals and families who need this type of housing have often experienced trauma and have been victims of many

Ibid, 52-66.

Ibid, 109-114.

Abello, Oscar Perry. “Designing Dignity in Housing for Chicago’s Most Vulnerable.” Next City. June 21, 2017. Accessed November 08, 2018. https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/designing-dignity-housing-chicago-homelessness.

FAILED PUBLIC HOUSING | 21

different systems, causing a lot of mistrust.

Mixed-use planning can lead to senior housing with an on-site geriatrics clinic, housing for the homeless that includes job-training classrooms, shelters for abused women that have counseling facilities, and housing for single parents that has a childcare center. These strategies recognize that the needs of the occupants are not limited to shelter.38 Eliminating barriers to providing these services through good architectural design is simply one way we can begin to make a difference.

Fig. 17 | Successful Public Housing, ArchDaily.

PRECEDENT Savonnerie Heymans, Brussels (2011) This project is a 100% public housing projects scheme, designed and renovated

by MDW Architecture. It is an adaptive reuse of a soap factory. It now provides 42 low-energy social housing units in a variety of spatial configurations such as studios, 1-6-bedroom apartments, lofts, and duplexes.

This variety is further extended to the type of buildings within the complex. Some parts are new, some are renovated, and some others are completely retained to their original state. These different components echo the diversity of people living in the heart of Brussels. The project offers various communal facilities that bring the residents together to organize social meetings and fun events, including a game library, miniforest garden, playground, 3D-landscaped park, and the main promenade.

The glass-enclosed bioclimatic loggias provide each housing unit with a stateof-the-art acoustical and thermal barrier requiring no expensive/complicated services to run and lowering considerably energy consumption.39 The roof has 60 square meters of solar panels and a rainwater harvesting systems for toilets.

MDW has not just designed a social housing complex, but a community for people that really approaches sustainable living.

38 Davis, Sam. The Architecture of Affordable Housing. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995, 190.

39 Ross, Kritiana. “Savonnerie Heymans / MDW Architecture.� ArchDaily. March 27, 2012. Accessed March 06, 2019. https://www.archdaily.com/220116/savonnerie-heymans-mdw-architecture.

FAILED PUBLIC HOUSING | 22

N Fig. 18 | Savonnerie Heymans Public Housing Site Plan.

MAIN PROMENADE

PLAYGROUND

MINI FOREST GARDEN

VENTILATION

EXISTING BUILDING

GREEN ROOF & SOLAR PANELS

GLASS ENCLOSED THERMAL BARRIER

Fig. 19 | Precedent Diagram, by Author.

Fig. 20 | The Future of Affordable Housing - The Six, Los Angeles.

A LOOK TO THE FUTURE If we can understand the constraints, pressures, and problems that surround affordable housing, we can see ways to do it better. Housing defines public spaces; it is something we all must look at, and it is an aspect of the visual panorama that gives cities their unique character. If it is poorly designed, poorly made, and poorly maintained, it denigrates everyone, not just its occupants. If it is well made, the occupants become an integral part of the community, rather than unwanted intruders.40 Everyone benefits from high-

40 41

quality affordable housing. We have the wealth, we have the land, we have the materials to create vital sustainable developments, but our political and economic policies fail us. Governments should recognize housing as essential infrastructure for our economic well being and as a fundamental human right, and should work with councils to build the affordable homes we need.41 Architects have a responsibility to do everything they can to create a more

Davis, Sam. The Architecture of Affordable Housing. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995, 81.

Rogers, Richard. A Place for All People: Life, Architecture and the Fair Society. Edinburgh: Canongate Books Limited, 2017, 295.

FAILED PUBLIC HOUSING | 24

humane society. True democracy involves an intermingling of people without regard for their class or color or work, and if there was more such mingling, many fears and social problems would disappear.42 Concentrated wealth does not enrich our society; it impoverishes, erodes, and destabilizes it.43 Active intervention on behalf of affordability preserves diversity.

It makes for a more livable city as well as a fairer one.44 We must stop stigmatizing the poorest in society and start helping them instead.

Architects are beginning to rediscover that affordable housing is not only a socially responsible endeavor but an artful one as well. Based not only on aesthetics but on context, appropriateness, and sound planning, these projects can represent significant architecture.45 The built environment can make a tangible difference in people’s lives, and beauty and function do not have to be sacrificed to reduce the budget. With good infrastructure, intermittent parks, and careful planning to ensure a residential, commercial, and industrial balance, we can begin to provide comfortable housing for everyone in a healthy, wholesome environment. The alternative is bleak: more homelessness and further destruction of the environment.

2602 Broadway Units, Santa Monica, CA

Msgr. Anthony J. Barretta Apartments, NY

Evans Station Trasit-Oriented Lofts, CO Fig. 21 | Successful Affordable Housing Projects.

42 43 44 45

Macdonald, Donald. Democratic Architecture. 3rd ed. Oro Editions, 2015, 43.

Rogers, Richard. A Place for All People: Life, Architecture and Fair Society. Edinburgh: Canongate Books Ltd, 2017, 303.

Ross, Benjamin. Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and Rebirth of American Urbanism. Oxford University Press, 2014, 190.

Davis, Sam. The Architecture of Affordable Housing. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995, 129.

Fig. 22 | Site Location and Bus Routes, Columbus, OH. by Author.

CHAPTER 3

INTRODUCING THE SITE

Most Economically Divided Cities Columbus Demographics and Opportunities Hilltop Demographics Site Location Addressing the Mall, part 2

LOW

HIGH

Fig. 23 | Overall Economic Segregation Index, Martin Prosperity Institue, 2015.

MOST ECONOMICALLY DIVIDED CITIES A study released in February of 2015 by the Martin Prosperity Institute conducted by the University of Toronto looked at economic segregation as the product of three factors that bear on socioeconomic class broadly: income, education, and occupation. The measure of income segregation examines the segregation of households below the poverty level and households with incomes over $200,000 while the educational segregation reflects the segregation of non-high school graduates and of college graduates. The

measure of occupational segregation combines the segregation of the creative and service classes and the working class of blue collar jobs. The study covered more than 70,000 Census tracts that make up America’s 350-plus metropolitan areas and is based on data from the United States Census and from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The study revealed that Tallahassee, FL, Austin, TX, and Columbus, OH are metropolitan areas with the highest levels of overall economic segregation.46 America’s cities and metropolitan areas

46 CityLab, and University of Toronto’s School of Cities and Rotman School of Management. “America’s Most

Economically Segregated Cities.” CityLab. February 23, 2015. Accessed September 13, 2018. https://www.citylab.com/ life/2015/02/americas-most-economically-segregated-cities/385709/.

INTRODUCING THE SITE | 28

have separated into clusters of wealth, college education, and highly-paid knowledge-based occupations that are strikingly different from its concentrations of poverty, low levels of education, and poorly-paid service occupations. Where cities and neighborhoods once mixed different kinds of people together, they are now becoming more homogeneous and segregated by income, education, and occupation.46 The top one percent and the bottom 99 percent have grown apart. In an ideal world, no one would live in poverty, yet nearly 47 million people do.

Increasing diversity and bridging the gap between economic segregation may help improve socioeconomic conditions for people of all backgrounds.47 For example, increasing education dollars—which flow traditionally from local taxes—from higher income families can contribute to the local economy and investment in public schools, ensuring that children from low-income households receive an equal shot at a good education. It is not just that the economic divide in America has grown wider; it’s that the rich and poor effectively occupy different worlds, even when they live in the same cities and metropolitan areas.46 Inequality is embedded into the economic geography of the United States, and the greater sorting of people undermines the role that cities have played as incubators of innovation, creativity, and economic progress as seen in Tallahassee, FL, Austin, TX, and Columbus, OH specifically.

47

TALLAHASSEE, FL

0

N

5 mi

AUSTIN, TX

N

0

0

#3

5 mi

COLUMBUS, OH

N

#1

#4

5 mi

Fig. 24 | Comparing 3 Cities for Site Selection.

McCann, Adam. “2018’s Cities with Most & Least Economic Class Diversity.” WalletHub. May 03, 2018. Accessed September 13, 2018. https://wallethub.com/edu/cities-with-the-most-least-economic-class-diversity/10321/.

INTRODUCING THE SITE | 29

This study served as a basis for site choice for this thesis. Comparing Tallahassee, Austin, and Columbus led to Columbus as the most viable site for a supportive housing community on the fringes of the city. Tallahassee is not a good candidate for this thesis because the population is too small for this scope of work and it is mainly a college town with limited opportunity for permanent supportive housing for lowincome individuals and families. Columbus has a relatively compact population distribution and developed transit system,48 whereas Austin occupies a much larger area with a lower density of population, and transportation to the city center is lacking.

Austin has much lower average poverty and unemployment rates than Columbus, and the median home value is twice as much, meaning investment in the area would be much more expensive than in Columbus where home and property values are low.

When comparing these three cities with the highest economic segregation, it is clear that Columbus, OH is a good candidate as a site location for permanent supportive housing.

48

Tallahassee, FL Population: 190,894 Pop. Density: 1,809 people per sq. mi.

Poverty Rate: 28.4% Median Home Value: $175,000 Increase of Home Value in a year: 4.8% Unemployment Rate: 11% Distance to Downtown: 3.5 miles Time in Car: 9 minutes Time on Bus: 30 minutes

Austin, TX Population: 947,890 Pop. Density: 3,358 people per sq. mi.

Poverty Rate: 13.5% Median Home Value: $350,200 Increase of Home Value in a year: 7.9% Unemployment Rate: 5% Distance to Downtown: 6 miles Time in Car: 10 minutes Time on Bus: 50-60 minutes

Columbus, OH Population: 860,090 Pop. Density: 3,625 people per sq. mi.

Poverty Rate: 21% Median Home Value: $147,000 Increase of Home Value in a year: 9% Unemployment Rate: 6.9% Distance to Downtown: 6.5 miles Time in Car: 15 minutes Time on Bus: 30-40 minutes

“COTA System Map.� COTA. Accessed September 19, 2018. https://www.cota.com/trip-planner/.

INTRODUCING THE SITE | 30

N Fig. 25 | Map of Columbus, OH with Selected Site Highlighted, by Author.

Fig. 26 | Southwest Columbus showing Pockets of Subsidized Housing, Areas of Poverty, and Bus Routes.

Columbus demographics and opportunities Columbus is the capital of Ohio and the largest city in the state with a population of 825,000, leading the state in growth and density as well. It was named as one of the top 50 cities in America in 2012 by BusinessWeek, and it was given an A rating

by Forbes a year later as one of the top cities for business in the country. It was recently named as one of the top cities to relocate in the country and the number 3 best city of the future.49 Even with all of this, the economic divide continues to grow and the lower-income neighborhoods

continue to suffer. Twenty-one percent of Columbus’s population is below the poverty line, and 7% are unemployed. There is an increasing interest in job creation, but little action. There is a lot of growth downtown and in better-off neighborhoods, yet many areas are seeing the highest poverty rates in decades, increasing the economic divide even more. Columbus has long been known as a test market, as its population is a nearperfect microcosm of the country. If a new model works in Columbus, it’ll work across America, experts say.

49 “Columbus, Ohio Population 2018.” Total Population by Country 2018. Accessed September 13, 2018. http:// worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/columbus-population/.

INTRODUCING THE SITE | 32

Highlighted in Figure 27, redlining was used in Columbus in 1936 as the systematic denial of various services to residents of specific, often racially-associated, neighborhoods or communities, denying them access to capital investment which could improve the housing and economic opportunity of residents. In 2013, The City of Columbus released GIS data in the form of an opportunity map that essentially did the same thing. The Kirwan Institute was commissioned by The Community Development Collaborative of Greater Columbus to assess the trends which have shaped community conditions and impacted community development in Franklin County’s diverse neighborhoods.50 The value of “opportunity” was based on neighborhood value and housing type, access to transportation and employment, health and safety in the area, education levels, and poverty rate.51 It is modernday redlining. The lighter portions of the map highlight very low opportunity neighborhoods filled with vacant lots and buildings, high unemployment rates, and isolated areas of poverty. This thesis seeks out the underprivileged areas as places for investment and redevelopment in order to give services and support to those who have been isolated and left to fend for themselves in the past. The abandoned Westland Mall and strip centers in the area of choice show the decline of the neighborhood and offer spots for redevelopment and hope.

Studying Southwest Columbus more closely in Figure 26 reveals the economic divide with pockets of extremely high poverty—over 50%—adjacent to areas with below 3% poverty rates.50 The darker gray represents higher poverty. Direct bus lines to downtown and several bus stops and park-n-rides near Interstate-270 make the western side of Columbus and the Westland Mall a viable spot for affordable housing.52 The figure highlights areas that have existing subsidized housing, but very few surrounding services. This area needs reinvestment and government interest in order to bring life back to a once-thriving neighborhood. Especially seen in Greater Hilltop, community members are interested and involved in redevelopment projects, yet the Westland Mall sits abandoned.

HOLC REDLINING (1936)

N A

B

C

D

OPPORTUNITY INDEX (2013)

Very High

High

Moderate

Low

Very Low

Fig. 27 | Redlining, past and present.

50 GIS Open Data Portal. Accessed September 19, 2018. http://data-columbus.opendata.arcgis.com/.

51 “Columbus Redlining Overlay Map.” ArcGIS. Accessed September 19, 2018. https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/ viewer.html?webmap=2c826f9c491e4ca4a16fde15051f18cd.

52 “COTA System Map.” COTA. Accessed September 19, 2018. https://www.cota.com/trip-planner/.

DUBLIN WESTERVILLE

HILLIARD UPPER ARLINGTON

HILLTOP

COLUMBUS

GROVE CITY

N Fig. 28 | Neighborhoods of Columbus, Greater Hilltop.

hilltop demographics Hilltop is one of the largest neighborhoods in Columbus, Ohio located west of the Franklinton area. The Greater Hilltop area contains newer and historic neighborhoods, schools, various stores, industrial areas, and recreational facilities.53 Greater Hilltop provides a mix of land uses, spurred from the construction of the National Road and rail lines in the 1800s. It developed east to west, stemming from the city as people began to move out of the downtown area.

The construction of the National Road, Route 40, led to a number of landmarks

settling along the road as stopping and resting places for travelers and soldiers, and the two railroad lines that ran through Hilltop by the 1860s attracted many machinists, conductors, and other workers to the area. Hilltop’s gradual transformation from a farming community to an urban community occurred in the late 1800s to early 1900s, and was quickly accelerated after the flood of 1913 as it was one of the only unaffected areas in the city. Many services and prerequisites of urban life such as infrastructure, transportation,

53 “Hilltop, Columbus, Ohio.” Wikipedia. Accessed October 18, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilltop,_Columbus,_ Ohio#Demographics.

INTRODUCING THE SITE | 34

business growth, schools, and churches were established to adapt to the sudden population increase. This growth did not last through the 60s and 70s and local shops were replaced with strip malls and large chain stores to accommodate cars more easily, and the rapid population growth created a less cohesive community due to an influx of new residents with no community ties or roots. It was at the end of this period that the Greater Hilltop Area Commission was established to provide a forum for residents to work together, to give the community a sense of direction, and to stimulate and support revitalization.54 Much of the current existing land use is residential followed by industrial that provides employment for the region.

Within the community, more than 50% of the properties are zoned for commercial uses. Institutional, parks and open space, vacant property, office, agriculture and utilities fills another quarter of the land use. The development pattern to the south and west takes on a distinctly suburban feel: commercial uses are larger, autooriented retailers and residential uses change from a traditional grid street pattern to winding subdivision streets.53 A majority of the residential land use is for single family. Multi-family residential only makes up 5% and is typically located on the major corridors such as West Broad Street and Sullivant Avenue. Commercial 54 55

uses are along the primary corridors and are mostly community-scale as well as automobile-oriented. Manufacturing is primarily located in the northwest portion of the neighborhood, just north of the Westland Mall. Economic development has been a major concern recently. Focus has been given to revitalizing the east of West Broad Street, recommending that vacant retail spaces be redeveloped to build medical uses and other professional uses of buildings in mixed-use concepts. The Hilltop is a community of neighborhoods that has a spirit of independence, inventiveness, and neighborhood pride and is an important urban resource that should be protected and sustained for future generations.54 Demographics (Figure 31) reveal that Greater Hilltop is a struggling community in need of resources, jobs, and support. After school programs, job training, and family support are the major areas of concern and need. With the highest population of the surrounding neighborhoods such as Hilliard, Grove City, Lincoln Village, and the greatest number of families, additional housing is needed in the area. The building stock is old and single family houses are being torn down at an alarming rate, with no plans to replace them or develop on other sites. The average income falls far below other neighborhoods on the west side of Columbus and roughly 20% of families live below the poverty level.55 Hilltop needs more housing, especially at

Envision Hilltop. Accessed October 18, 2018. https://www.envisionhilltop.com/. “Greater Hilltop, Columbus, OH Demographics.� AreaVibes - The Best Places To Live. Accessed October 18, 2018. https://www.areavibes.com/columbus-oh/greater hilltop/demographics/.

INTRODUCING THE SITE | 35

an affordable cost. Greater Hilltop falls into South-Western City Schools District which is the 6th largest public school district in Ohio serving 20,000 students through 15 elementary schools, 5 intermediate schools, 5 middle schools, 4 high schools, and 1 career academy.56 The Ohio Department of Education released 2017-2018 report cards for public schools in regards to 6 topics: overall achievement, progress, gap closing, graduation rate, improving at-risk K-3 readers, and preparation for success.57 Figure 30 displays the average report card grade for each school in the district, highlighting the schools children who would live on the Westland Mall site would attend. Overall, the schools in this community are struggling with preparation for success, graduation rates, and overall achievement. With schools that do not offer enough support for their students, it is necessary for the community and surrounding areas to provide opportunities for after school programs and job training to prepare individuals for success. This data will translate into design decisions and programmatic opportunities in the following chapters.

Hilliard Hilliard

Lincoln Village

Lincoln Village

Hilltop

Hilltop

Grove City

Grove City

Fig. 29 | Reference Maps for Demographics.

56 “See What School District You Are In: Interactive Map.� Great Schools. Accessed October 17, 2018. https://www.great schools.org/school-district-boundaries-map/.

57 Ohio School Report Cards. Accessed October 17, 2018. https://reportcard.education.ohio.gov/school/overview.

INTRODUCING THE SITE | 36

OVERALL REPORT CARD GRADE South-West City School District OVERALL REPORT CARD GRADE South-West City School District

A A B B C C D D F

High School

District Average

Middle School

High School

District Average

Westland Westland

South-West South-West CityCity Avg.Avg.

Middle School

Intermediate School

Grove Grove CityCity

Fanklin Fanklin Heights Heights

Central Central Crossing Crossing

Norton Norton

Pleasant Pleasant View View

Jackson Jackson

Brookpark Brookpark

Intermediate School

Elementary School

TOTAL POPULATION 2010 Census Data TOTAL POPULATION

HOUSEHOLDS 2010 Census Data HOUSEHOLDS

2010 Census Data

2010 Census Data

70%

70,000 60,000

70% 60%

60,000 50,000

60% 50%

50,000 40,000

50% 40%

40,000 30,000

40% 30%

30,000 20,000

30% 20%

20,000 10,000

20% 10%

10,000

10% Lincoln Hilltop Village Lincoln Hilltop Village Population

Population

Grove City

Hilliard

Grove City

Hilliard

Lincoln Village Lincoln Village

Hilltop

Grove City

Hilliard

Columbus

Hilltop

Grove City

Hilliard

Columbus

Households

Families

With Children

Married Couples

Individuals

Households

Families

With Children

Married Couples

Individuals

AVERAGE INCOME 2010 Census Data AVERAGE INCOME $100,000

Findland Findland Middle Middle

Elementary School

Fig. 30 | Average Report Card Grades for Columbus Public Schools.

70,000

West West Franklin Franklin

Hayes Hayes

HoltHolt Crossing Crossing

Franklin Franklin Woods Woods

Galloway Galloway Ridge Ridge

Stiles Stiles

West West Franklin Franklin

Prairie Prairie Norton Norton

Richard Richard Avenue Avenue

Monterey Monterey

Prairie Prairie Lincoln Lincoln

JC Sommer JC Sommer

Highland Highland ParkPark

James James A Harmon A Harmon

Finland Finland Elementary Elementary

Darbydale Darbydale

Darby Darby Woods Woods

Buckeye Buckeye Woods Woods

Alton Alton HallHall

Bolton Bolton Crossing Crossing

F

AGE DISTRIBUTION 2010 Census Data AGE DISTRIBUTION

2010 Census Data

2010 Census Data

40%

$90,000 $100,000 $80,000 $90,000

40% 30%

$70,000 $80,000 $60,000 $70,000 $50,000 $60,000

30% 20%

$40,000 $50,000 $30,000 $40,000

20% 10%

$20,000 $30,000 $10,000 $20,000

10%

$10,000 Lincoln Hilltop Grove City Village Lincoln Hilltop Grove City VillageMedian Household

Median Household

Hilliard

Columbus

< 18

Hilliard

Columbus

< 18 18 - 24 Hilltop Lincoln Village Hilltop Lincoln Village

Per Capita Per Capita

18 - 24

25 - 44

45 - 64

25 - 44 Grove City

45 - 64 Hilliard

65 + Columbus

Grove City

Hilliard

Columbus

Fig. 31 | Demographics of Hilltop Compared to Surrounding Neighborhoods and Columbus Overall.

65 +

Fig. 32 | Site Location and Surroundings.

mentary School

Industrial

Commercial

Multi-Family Residential

site location Figure # locates the site bounded by two major highways on the fringes of downtown, sited in peripheral or quasi-rural sprawl zones. Interstate 270 surrounds the city and Broad Street—National Road 40—is the western access to downtown. The site is situated at the corner of these two major transportation arteries, and there are direct bus routes to downtown and multiple stops surrounding the site, ideal for individuals who rely on public transportation to get around. The surrounding area is described as a suburban district with

58

various strip malls and medium-sized retail. The architectural style in these areas is nonspecific, from historically themed subdivisions and carefully controlled gated communities, to random, commercial vernacular.58 The land use to the north of the site is mostly manufacturing and industrial, with the residents in the area providing a local workforce. Just to the south of the site is a new townhome complex—Havenwood Townhomes—with over 800 living units, supplying affordable homes for this workforce. Because of this

Graham, Wade. Dream Cities: Seven Urban Ideas That Shape the World. New York: Haper Perennial, 2016, 148.

INTRODUCING THE SITE | 38

SITE ANALYSIS - 3 Mile Radius

BROAD ST SVILLE RD

Recent reinvestment has been done to attempt to bring services and businesses to the area, including the Hollywood Casino that opened in October 2012. Since then, 41 small and large businesses have either opened or expanded in the nearby area, according to Chris Haydocy, an auto dealer and president of Weston Vision, the West Side’s economic development group.58 If not for the casino, there is no compelling reason for businesses to invest here. The city and casino owner agreed to create the West Side Community fund, a $5 million effort to help pay for development and charitable projects on that side of town as part of a 2011 settlement to resolve conflicts over annexation and utilities.59 They thought the casino could step up and be an anchor for redevelopment, and the community had hoped that the casino would spur economic growth and reinvestment in the area, but recently all it has done is bring drug problems and

higher crime rates. After years of operation, little has changed outside the walls of the building, and the hope of the residents that it would bring new life into the old mall and surrounding retail properties has been lost.

New redevelopment plans at the mall itself must be considered in order to bring life back into the community.

GEORGE

land use designation, there are very few parks and trees in the area, creating the need for a public park and green space.

The figure locates the different types of schools in the area and accessible daycares within the three-mile radius. There are very few daycares and educational facilities within walking distance of the site. Keeping services, jobs, and resources within walking distance from the site is vital for the needs of the residents and ultimately the success of the project.

SULLIVANT AVE SULL

IVANT

Park Facilities

Publicly Owned Trees

City of Columbus | Data Catalog: GIS Open Data Portal

Site

AVE

Commercial Zone

Manufaturing Zone

City of Columbus | Department of Technology Geographic Information System

Site

Rush Hour Service

Standard Service

Frequent Service

Daycare

Library

Elementary

Middle

High

City of Columbus | Department of Technology Geographic Information System

Park & Ride

N

N

Commercial Zone Manufacturing Zone Daycare Library Elementary School Middle School High School Park Facility Publicly Owned Trees Rush Hour Bus Service Standard Bus Route Frequent Bus Service Park & Ride Lot Fig. 33 | GIS Data within 3 Miles of the Site.

59 Ferenchik, Mark. “Hollywood Casino – 5 Years In: Hard to Judge Effect on Area Development.” ThisWeek Community

News. January 12, 2018. Accessed September 13, 2018. http://www.thisweeknews.com/news/20180111/hollywood-casi no---5-years-in-hard-to-judge-effect-on-area-development.

COMPARE BUILDING TYPOLOGIES

Fig. 34 | Aerial View of Westland Mall, Google Earth.

OFFICE BUILDING Centralized core, low ceiling heights Natural light in individual spaces

COMPARE BUILDING TYPOLOGIES

Small building footprint

addressing the mall, part 2

Multiple stories - high density OFFICE BUILDING

Various building types were considered options for adaptive reuse. The standard office building has a centralized core that is COMPARE BUILDING TYPOLOGIES surrounded by offices that have access to natural light. It maintains low ceiling heights OFFICE BUILDING and a compact building footprint, Centralizedstretching core, low ceiling heights Natural light in individual spaces upward instead COMPARE of out,BUILDING adding the necessity TYPOLOGIES Small building footprint for an elevator for accessibility.

Overall, this Multiple stories - high density building type provides an inflexible use.

The need for an elevator OFFICE BUILDING

The need for an elevator

Centralized core, low Inflexible use of space - designed for one programmatic element Natural light in individ

A box store or warehouse typology is Small building footpri designed for a singular use with a large, Multiple stories - high open building footprint. Expansive open The need for an eleva Inflexible use of space space and high ceilings offer flexible use one programmatic ele of space and inexpensive construction. It BOX STORE / WAREHOUSE Singular use is generally one story and is walkable and Large open building footprint accessible to all. The store sits on a large High acreage of surrounding land / pavement parcel of land surrounded by high acreage Generally only one to two stories STORE / WAREHOUSE of pavement, andBOXonly has one entrance.

Walkable, accessible

Centralized Inflexible use of space - designed for core, low ceiling heights one programmatic element Natural light in individual spaces Small building footprint

Singular use Inexpensive land and construction Large open building f High ceilings High acreage of surro pavement

Multiple stories - high density

Generally only one to

The need for an elevator

Walkable, accessible

Inflexible use of space - designed for one programmatic element

Fig. 35 | Office Building Type.

Inexpensive land and

Fig. 36 | Warehouse Building Type.

High ceilings

BOX STORE / WAREHOUSE

SHOPPING MALL Singular use

Multiple, flexible uses of space

Large open building footprint

Large building footprint

High acreage of surrounding land / pavement

Becoming an obsolete typology

Generally only one to two stories

High acreage of surrounding land / pavement

COMPARE BUILDING TYPOLOGIES

INTRODUCING THE SITE | 40

OFFICE BUILDING

BOX STORE / WAREHOUSE

Centralized core, low ceiling heights

Singular use

Natural light in individual spaces

The shopping mall, highlighted throughout the area, which was further compounded Multiple stories - high density High acreage of surrounding land / this thesis, is perhaps the best typology for by the opening of Easton Town Center in pavement The need for an elevator reuse and community access. Surrounded 1999 andforPolaris Fashion Place in 2001.61 Inflexible of space - designed Generally only one use to two stories one programmatic element by parking lots with multiple entrances, Walkable, accessible Westland lost its place in the market and hasn’t gained a lot of population compared the mall can be accessed on all sides, and land and construction Inexpensive to other parts of the county. Now, an the interior offers multiple, flexible uses High ceilings abandoned 860,000 square-foot Westland of space, as it was designed for multiple Mall sits on its 73-acre site after a plague stores, restaurants, and activities. It is BOX STORE / WAREHOUSE designed to be walkable and accessible Singular use of vacant storefronts, job losses, and Large open building footprint businesses leaving the area on a monthly even with the large building footprint.

High acreage of surrounding land / pavement basis. For communities that depend on Through history, it has been thought of Generally only one to two stories sales tax revenues for essential services, as SHOPPING a center for community gathering Walkable, accessible MALL Inexpensive land and construction Multiple, space problem can be a fiscal disaster. As with high ceilings and open space, but is flexible uses ofthis High ceilings Large building footprint the malls deteriorate, they often pull becoming obsolete as shopping is done Becoming an obsolete typology their surrounding neighborhoods. down elsewhere, leaving empty footprints ripe for acreage of surrounding land / from Franklin Township have been Officials redevelopment. Its complex array ofHigh uses, pavement options with mall owners, Plaza scales, and accessibility can provideCenter for for community discussing and potential transportation hub 60 Properties, and all signs are pointing toward long-term viability.

SHOPPING MALL High ceilings, skylights, open space Multiple, flexible uses ofeventual space the demolition of the building.61 Entrance / access on allfootprint sides Large building The redevelopment has to be focused Becoming an obsolete typology Walkable, accessible more on High acreage of surrounding land /the local community and bring pavement retailers to the 35,000 plus residents of Center for community and potential transportation hub the West Side—that is all they have really High ceilings, skylights, open space wanted.

The key is to look for assets that Entrance / access on all sides Fig. 37 | Shopping Mall Building Type.

Walkable, accessible are underutilized and where value can be The Westland Mall first opened in 1969, added, to look for properties with good as one of the city’s four main midbones and in areas that are on the upswing. century suburban retail centers. Originally It is felt that if there is an economic designed as an open-air center, the mall investment, it could retain what was there was enclosed to create its current form and attract more users, generating tax in 1983. It was known as a premiere revenue that could be used for public shopping destination for the region for improvements such as streets, landscaping, several decades before sliding into a and lighting to help spur further economic decline throughout the late 1990s and development. What happens at the mall site early 2000s. The opening of Tuttle Mall in is key to the fortunes of the surrounding 1997 created a strong new competitor for area.

Large open Small building footprint building footprint

60

61

Smiley, David J. and National Endowment for the Arts. Sprawl and Public Space: Redressing the Mall. 1st ed.

Washington, D.C: National Endowment for the Arts, 2002, 49.

Evans, Walker. “Demolition Likely for Westland Mall - But What Comes Next?” ColumbusUnderground.com. December 16, 2015. Accessed October 17, 2018. https://www.columbusunderground.com/westland-mall-demolition.

INTRODUCING THE SITE | 41

The problem, which is being turned into opportunity, is that America is overmalled. Too many malls were built in the second half of the twentieth century, over-saturating the market due in part to cannibalistic development practices, wherein retailers were poached to relocated to new malls in the same trade area, leaving vacancies at older malls.

This practice led to a proliferation of dead and dying malls, ongoing for the past few decades, even before the emergence of e-tailing and the 2008 Great Recession.62 Introverted shopping centers seal off the building completely from its surroundings.

The public mall is defined as essentially the passive outcome of a merchandising plan, or a channel for the manipulation of pedestrian flows.63 When architecture almost exclusively serves the market, when it conveys no contents beyond consumerism, and when changes only occur according to its guidelines, then the result is formless building types.62 The massive scale of the mall needs to be broken down and its orientation shifted out towards its setting.

The mall needs to be externalized.

A synthesis of historical, social, economic, and design studies is necessary to seek new ways of reusing what is among the United Statesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; most popular building types. The answer to continued sprawl is to confine new construction as much as possible to developed urban and suburban areas. In most communities there is plenty of space 62 63 64 65

available. When all the lifetime carbon emissions are taken into account, the case for adaptation - rather than demolition and new build - is very strong. Malls are not only private, but public, offering diverse fare not dominated by retail or big boxes, but that integrate restaurants and other leisure venues into their commercial space.

Some malls even have major health clinics and medical offices breathing new life into them and improving healthcare access.

With a lot of square feet and room to grow, ample parking, and new marketing: â&#x20AC;&#x153;convenienceâ&#x20AC;? is about to become a design and planning term.64 In recent years, apartments and other urban functions have been integrated into the concept of the shopping mall with greater frequency.

Today, the shopping center not only opens itself up to the city but has itself become a part of public space. The next life of the dead mall needs to come from its history, as a majority of the residents of Hilltop have lived there their whole lives and have a certain nostalgia about the mall they used to shop at. Using the mall as vehicle to get someplace else and utilize its attributes to make new places is key in the planning process. Shopping has become one of the best tools for providing urban connectivity, accessibility, and cohesion. A mall does not have to be just a mall.65

Lepik, Andres, and Vera Simone Bader. World of Malls. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2016, 220.

Correa, Charles. Housing & Urbanisation. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2000, 10.

Lifschutz, Alex. Loose-fit Architecture: Designing Buildings for Change. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, 2017, 48-87.

Graham, Wade. Dream Cities: Seven Urban Ideas That Shape the World. New York: Haper Perennial, 2016, 235.

INTRODUCING THE SITE | 42

PRECEDENT Arcade Providence, RI (2012) When it was built 188 years ago, the Arcade Providence was America’s first shopping mall, hosting boutiques on all three floors.

As retailers started closing, the mall shut down in 2008. Now those shops have been transformed by Northeast Collaborative Architects into 48 micro lofts on the upper two levels and a mix of businesses, including restaurants, a coffee shop, and a new hair salon on the main level.

The adaptive reuse project respects the Arcade’s historic design, and the building’s Old World features make each unit unique.

The large central atrium lit by skylights floods each apartment with natural daylight.

The one-bedroom units range in size from 225 to 450 square feet featuring a living room, built-in furniture, storage, bathroom, and kitchen. Community ammenities include a game room, a TV room, a laundry facility, basement storage, nearby parking garage, and access to public transportation.66

UNIT UNIT RETAIL

UNIT UNIT RETAIL

N

Fig. 38 | Central Atrium at Arcade Providence Micro Lofts.

66

Fig. 39 | Precedent Diagrams, by Author.

Garfield, Leanna. “America’s Oldest Shopping Mall Has Been Turned into Beautiful Micro-apartments - Take a Look inside.” Business Insider. October 10, 2016. Accessed February 07, 2019. https://www.businessinsider.com/americasfirst-shopping-mall-is-now-micro-apartments-2016-10.

GEORGE S

VILLE RD

BROAD ST

Fig. 40 | Site Location and Major Roads, Columbus, OH, by Author.

CHAPTER 4

A CALL TO ACTION

Needs of the Community Determining Program

HILLIARD

UPPER ARLINGTON

COLUMBUS HILLTOP

GROVE CITY Fig. 41 | Location of Community Development Plans.

N

NEEDS OF THE COMMUNITY & development plans The West Broad Economic Development Strategy was adopted in July of 2005 to create a commercial district that serves existing and future Hilltop residents and employees. It promotes a mixed-use environment with buildings that have neighborhood-oriented commercial and office uses on the first floor and residential uses on the second.67 The goal of the development plan was to create a special and unique place through the use of design standards and guidelines, streetscape enhancements, and marketing strategies

to work towards the creation of a safe and clean environment for residents to live and work and where businesses can be successful and thrive. City investment includes infrastructure improvements to work with existing business owners to determine their needs and interests in expanding their investment.67 This strategic plan would create a coherent, pedestrian scale commercial district along West Broad Street and is thought to be a starting point to be applied to other parts of the major corridor.

67 â&#x20AC;&#x153;West Broad Street Economic Development Strategy.â&#x20AC;? The City of Columbus Department of Development. July 18,

2005. Accessed October 18, 2018. https://www.columbus.gov/uploadedFiles/Columbus/Departments/Development/ Planning_Division/Document_Library/Library_Documents/PDFs/WestBroadSthortizontal.pdf.

A CALL TO ACTION | 46

In May 2010, Ohio voters passed State Issue 2, authorizing construction of a casino on the former GM-Delphi site at West Broad Street and Georgesville Road. The Weston Development Partners group formed to work collaboratively and openly to develop a plan for how the Westland Area will take shape over the next several years, using the projected $400 million casino development as a catalyst for area-wide redevelopment. The Westland Area Interim Development Framework is the first step in planning for this area and includes two components: goal-oriented statements describing desired characteristics of future development, and a future land use map designating the community’s desired land uses for particular properties within the planning area boundary.68 Weston Vision Inc. is a nonprofit that is committed to the revitalization and sustained growth of the west side of Columbus in the area surrounding the Columbus Hollywood Casino. Its purpose is to serve as a strong and clear voice advocating for the mutual interests and success of local businesses, neighborhoods and governments. All Weston Vision members embrace a shared vision for the casino district with the following specific goals: economic revitalization, urban design excellence, community quality of life, and green commitment.69 A detailed list of each of these strategies is illustrated in Figure #. Goals of the West Broad Overlay are to protect and reestablish the unique

architectural and aesthetic character of older, urban commercial corridors, and to establish, reinforce, and enhance the character and pedestrian oriented development patterns of quasi urban commercial corridors. The major concern is to create a safe, aesthetically pleasing, economically viable, and pedestrianfriendly commercial corridor that makes the development more attractive and accessible to pedestrians and motorists alike.69 These development principles represent the community’s desired future—how new development looks, how it accommodates each mode of transportation, and how it fits within the entire community’s context.68 Following these strategies and proposed land uses ensures the community’s wishes are followed.

BROAD ST

SULLIVANT AVE

MULTIFAMILY

COMMERCIAL

MEDIUM DENSITY RESIDENTIAL

LIGHT INDUSTRIAL / OFFICE

Fig. 42 | Westland Area Development and Land Use Plan.

68 “Westland Area Interim Development Framework.” Franklin County. June 8, 2010. Accessed October 18, 2018.

69 “The Weston Vision Partnership.” Weston Columbus. December 2015. Accessed November 16, 2018. http://www. thewestonvision.com/.

Economic RevitalizatiON Revitalization • Jobs creation, in partnership with business and public interests • Increase commercial, industrial and residential occupancy rates / lower vacancy rates • Greater balance of uses, including office and residential in keeping with the future land use map • Appropriate mix of business for sustained growth • Leverage casino to attract complementary commercial investment Urban Design Excellence • Create a plan for an attractive, sustainable district employing best planning practices for renovation of distressed commercial, industrial and residential areas • Development patterns will include mixed uses, walkable pedestrian connectivity, connection to bikeways, compact development, reduced parking footprint, transit facilities, tree-lined streets, brownfield redevelopment, universal accessibility, etc.

• Development standards for new buildings and facilities will be developed to ensure consistent high quality Community Quality of Life • Engage residents in the redevelopment efforts and ongoing commitment to a higher quality of life • Seek to fill casino and related business positions with the local workforce • Reduce crime • Support diversity within the west side community population and promote neighborhood stability • Build community identity through district identification and branding Green Commitment • Recognizing the environmental challenges and the accompanying opportunities for creative solutions, maximize the use of environmental and energy best practices on all elements of investment and redevelopment • Development strategies will embrace sustainable design to include green buildings with LEED Certification, stormwater management, waste management, alternative energy sources, light pollution reduction, green infrastructure, among other strategies • Branding of the Weston District as an exemplary model for environmental excellence in community redevelopment Fig. 43 | Weston Vision Development Plan Strategies.

A CALL TO ACTION | 48

More recently, a community group based out of the Neighborhood Design Center has created a development and planning strategy called Envision Hilltop that gets neighborhood residents involved in community planning meetings and development strategies. The Neighborhood Design Center is a partnership between the City of Columbus and The Ohio State University that believes design is a right, not a privilege. Their mission is to connect the vision, energy, and skill of design students, professionals, and faculty with Central Ohio governments and community stakeholders. It works toward the continuous improvement of the built environment in Columbus and Central through design that is innovative, inclusive, and sustainable.70 Public and client-based projects utilize a combination of design thinking, research and analysis, community engagement, visioning, and advocacy to help communities promote economic development to improve the quality of life of their residents. Envision Hilltop has four tasks as a development plan: understand the community, research market conditions, conduct community planning meetings, and document draft and final plans of recommendations for submittal.71 Their resident survey reveals the wants and needs of community members as illustrated in Figure #. Most of these wants and needs of community members will be able to be fulfilled on the Westland Mall site, just outside of Envision 70 71 72

Hilltop’s planning jurisdiction. Community involvement and giving a voice to residents in the development and planning process is crucial in these types of projects. The contribution the client makes to a design, however ignorant or suspicious he may be, is something we cannot do without.72

|

PEOPLE • • • • • • •

Health, Education, Employment, Income

Desperate need for Senior Services Need a Hospital, Doctor Office, or Ugrent Care Engage 18-24 year olds Need for Trade School or Job Training Increase Public Transportation More economic development Reinvest in Retail, Office, and Commercial Areas to spark job growth

HOME

|

Mixed Income, Quality, Affordable, Ownership

• Opportunity for Mixed Income Housing to bring in new residents • More Senior Housing needed • More community gardens and green space • Creative use of Vacant Lots and Buildings • Community Solar Co-op to help pay utilities • Need more local hotspots (Breweries, Restaurants, etc.) to attract young owners

PLACE

|

Business, Safety, Mobility, Recreation

• Redevelop Westland Mall • Reinvest in Landscape and Streetscape along Broad Street • Need a signature destination spot • More Bus Shelters and stops • Increase Health Resources, Education, and Employment • Program Activities for Kids and Young Adults

Fig. 44 | Envision Hilltop Community Plan Survey Results.

Neighborhood Design Center. Accessed November 12, 2018. http://columbusndc.org/who-we-are.html.

Envision Hilltop. Accessed October 18, 2018. https://www.envisionhilltop.com/.

Fathy, Hassan. Architecture for the Poor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973, 40.

INDUSTRIAL

SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL

CASINO SCHOOL

MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL

DAYCARE

N

Fig. 45 | Proposed Site Plan and Surroundings, by Author.

determining program Any time there are urban areas that have gone through abandonment and neglect, there need to be pioneers and governmental input for rebirth. The hope is that the work done and efforts in Downtown Columbus, along the river, and in Franklinton will extend to the west.73 The city’s efforts to revitalize the West Side in 2015 attracted new owners for two retail properties: the Great Western Commerce Center and the Great Western Shopping Center. They are both in the West Broad Street and Wilson Road area, and their

redevelopment projects were aimed at attracting a more diverse mix of tenants including the Franklin County Opportunity Center, a neighborhood service center operated by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.73 In part of the West Broad Economic Development Strategy, a new health center was proposed to serve the Hilltop and other surrounding neighborhoods. A new health center would be a great addition to West Broad Street and the neighborhood that would provide much needed services. Several other

73 “The Weston Vision Partnership.” Weston Columbus. December 2015. Accessed November 16, 2018. http://www. thewestonvision.com/.

A CALL TO ACTION | 50

specific types of businesses have been identified as important for the community by residents of the neighborhood: restaurants, coffee shops, ethnic businesses, after-work gathering places, daycare, medical uses, and service-oriented businesses.

The key is to look for assets that can be repositioned, and the shopping center is a prime example of a location where it is capable of doing better than it is. Plaza Properties, the current owner of Westland Mall, hoped for a public street running from West Broad Street through the mall to link with the entrance to Hollywood Casino across Georgesville Road. The mall has frontage on the two busy streets, but the increased traffic through its interior could attract more shoppers and businesses.73 The hope is to accommodate social diversity, the pedestrian and the car, and satisfy the often conflicting desires for the suburban ease of big box shopping and for the liveliness of streets.74 The demographics of the area contribute to design decisions. The families, though there are differences of wealth and status, follow a communal way of life in the Hilltop.

The public buildings must provide for all the communal needs of the residents— their work and trade, education, and leisure. The mall must once again become a place where anyone can go, without an entry fee or minimum purchase, a place 74

75 76

that encourages multiple activities—some commercial and some not—a place where one can stroll, play cards or baseball, exercise political speech in groups of all sizes, listen to music, eat a meal, or just stretch out and take a nap.74 There are a variety of ordinary institutions that can be found in any urban neighborhood or rural town that could serve to diversify a shopping center: school, post office, performance stage, childcare center, speaker’s corner, public library, recreation area, internet café, teen club, playground, or prayer hall. The beneficiaries of the development—the people who would live, work, shop, and walk around in the newly urbanized areas—could add to the mix of functions and public spaces. Following the principles of higher density and mixed use, the abandoned mall can be built into a new community.75 There is great local demand for housing, but the tax revenue generated from residential development is substantially less than commercial development. As new housing is located ever farther from downtown, access to the broad spectrum of goods provided by the department stores and specialty shops situated there became increasingly problematic. The drive to downtown could be arduous and time-consuming, and parking was in short supply.76 The idea is that developers will build housing in the neighborhood and entice people who work in the area

Smiley, David J. and National Endowment for the Arts. Sprawl and Public Space: Redressing the Mall. 1st ed.

Washington, D.C: National Endowment for the Arts, 2002, 7.

Ibid, 36-43.

Lepik, Andres, and Vera Simone Bader. World of Malls. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2016, 51.

INTRODUCING THE SITE | 51

to dwell there instead of commuting, as well as do their shopping and leisure in the neighborhood instead of driving to other parts of the city, thereby adding to traffic congestion and air pollution. There must be a new pattern of development in order to achieve more functional, more livable, and more human metropolitan living, making use of concepts that include rather than ignore the given realities of cities and suburbs.77 The aim is to develop highly accessible islands of diversity and community in bleak areas of the city as the needs of residents go beyond shopping and entertainment to include medical and other services, jobs, education, and physical activity. With complex and mixed programming, as well as the clear and longterm participation of public agencies and neighborhood residents, redevelopment projects can become vital public places.

Planners have lost sight of the way actual people live, and have left them without any of their familiar social support structures.

Combined with high unemployment and heavy-handed policing, the mix was toxic.78 There is now ample opportunity for innovative designers, developers, and planners to introduce additional tactics in future projects to engage uniquely twentyfirst-century challenges. The potential to increase resilience of the suburban built environment in the places where most residents already live and work is immense. Increasing the availability and 77 78 79 80

diversity of housing, job, healthcare, and educational options can address placebased inequity. An improved landscape infrastructure can mitigate environmental risks and incorporate smart coordination of nodes of defense. Utilization of mixed-use retrofitting with new and expanded mass transit can reduce automobile emissions and provide housing for those who cannot afford single family homes or market rate apartments. It will also provide employers to another group of potential employees previously inaccessible due to limited transit options.79 The time to implement these changes is now.

For the sake of the city or town, affordable housing must be seen as a continuous part of the urban fabric. For the sake of the residents too, it must be part of something else, not a separate enclave that can be identified, isolated, or stigmatized.

The idea is to create mixed-income communities with more working families and role models for less functional families.

Community-based and developed sites promote an increased sense of local pride while discouraging crime and vandalism, resulting in neighborhood stability because residents feel a sense of ownership over their neighborhood spaces.80 Voluntarily soliciting input from residents gives them a voice to improve the projects and determine their needs, and in the process of participation they develop a personal stake in the design. The hope is that they will care

Macdonald, Donald. Democratic Architecture. 3rd ed. Oro Editions, 2015, 189-222.

Rogers, Richard. A Place for All People: Life, Architecture and Fair Society. Edinburgh: Canongate Books Ltd, 2017, 156.

Lepik, Andres, and Vera Simone Bader. World of Malls. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2016, 225.

Francis, Mark, Lisa Cashdan, and Lynn Paxson. Community Open Spaces: Greening Neighborhoods through Community Action and Land Conservation. Washington, D.C: Island Press, 1984, 14.

INTRODUCING THE SITE | 52

for it as their own and lead to the long-term success of the project.

A USDA survey shows that thirty percent of central-city respondents reported that they grow some of their own food, a figure that supports the demand for community open space in which to garden. Fifty percent of suburban and sixty percent of non-metropolitan residents were involved in growing part of their food.81 It is found that these projects are appreciated, used frequently, and perceived positively by the local residents. Therefore, the projects may contribute to an overall feeling of attachment and commitment to the community that could help to organize people to fight against displacement. Open spaces and landscapes can become central organizing social spaces instead of the leftovers that they have become. Providing as much open space as possible for landscaping and strolling can help create the atmosphere of a village. Benefits of community garden spaces include helping conserve neighborhood open space and provide green space for future generations, providing neighborhood recreation opportunities not provided by traditional parks, and providing such ecological benefits as cleaner air, cooler temperatures, and energy conservation.82 It is not just for architects but for all of us to make our towns, cities, and society better - more beautiful, more compact, more 81 82 83 84

environmentally sustainable, and fairer.83 This proposed new development is not a mall, but an integration of shopping into the rest of life, with people living, working, shopping, and recreating inside a single, planned entity.84

BUS STOP

RESTAURANT GROCERY FAMILY UNITS LEARNING CENTER

SMALL RETAIL SENIOR SINGLE UNITS REC CENTER COMMUNITY GARDENS

GROCERY

FAMILY UNITS

PUBLIC PARK

N Fig. 46 | Proposed Program Elements, by Author.

Ibid, 19.

Ibid, 196-209.

Rogers, Richard. A Place for All People: Life, Architecture and Fair Society. Edinburgh: Canongate Books Ltd, 2017, 321.

Graham, Wade. Dream Cities: Seven Urban Ideas That Shape the World. New York: Haper Perennial, 2016, 235.

Fig. 47 | Proposed Building Plans, by Author.

N

N

CHAPTER 5

A DESIGN SOLUTION

Architecture for the Poor Addressing the Mall, part 3 Master Planning Design Supportive Housing Design

Fig. 48 | Slum Conditions in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

architecture for the poor Architecture creates shelter and transforms the ordinary. Architects are both scientists and artists, solving problems in three dimensions, using structure and materials to create scale and humanize space, capture the play of light and shadows, and make an aesthetic impact. Scale helps a building to communicate, to enrich the enjoyment of users and passers-by alike, and to express buildingsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; role in city and community.85 Bringing architects, landscape architects, urban planners, and economic specialists together to strategize the revitalization

85 86

87

of their neighborhoods and downtowns,86 causes a project to be driven by social and political responsibility alike. Architecture should be a place for all people and all races, for the poor as well as the rich. There must be neither faked tradition nor faked modernity, but an architecture that will be the visible and permanent expression of the character of a community.87 Design aesthetics should express the multiplicity of society, not some ideal of perfection or political ideology.

Rogers, Richard. A Place for All People: Life, Architecture and Fair Society. Edinburgh: Canongate Books Ltd, 2017, 8-67.

Smiley, David J. and National Endowment for the Arts. Sprawl and Public Space: Redressing the Mall. 1st ed. Washington, D.C: National Endowment for the Arts, 2002, 3.

Fathy, Hassan. Architecture for the Poor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973, 45.

A DESIGN SOLUTION | 56

“There should be as many kinds of houses as there are kinds of people and as many differentiations as there are different individuals” - Frank Lloyd Wright88 Master planned industrial and residential communities that aimed to benefit the urban working poor through the access to better air quality, park and garden spaces, adequate housing and social class mixing intended to transform and improve the surrounding neighborhoods’ social and environmental character. Public space is seen as a human right, like the right to decent healthcare, food, education, and shelter. A city that cannot provide these rights is simply not civilized.89 Planning theories devised in a more conservative era dictated the design of governmentsponsored housing and how it was inserted into the surrounding landscape, and in an automobile-centered world, pedestrians were at best an afterthought, and more often an obstacle.90 Housing is a delicate balance: on one side is architecture, and on the other is the quality of management and the attitude of the public and the residents. Only the very poor, via public housing, are dominated by architects’ values rather than of their own. The principles or underlying values from which architects derive affordable housing designs are often shaped by what they view as the focus of housing: the 88 89 90 91

individual dwelling, the aggregation of units, or the community. The appropriateness for affordable housing depends on the cost, how it relates to the environment and whether it is sustainable. The architect may propose a smooth, hard-edged stucco facade as elegant, and the developer may see the stucco facade as durable and relatively maintenance-free, but the community may see stucco as cold and institutional. The lack of opportunities for building affordable housing is one thing, but to do something architecturally meaningful once commissioned is another. The context, as overly expressed by the government sponsors, has not encouraged good architecture.91

Fig. 49 | Architecture for the Poor, Hassan Fathy.

Macdonald, Donald. Democratic Architecture. 3rd ed. Oro Editions, 2015, 9.

Rogers, Richard. A Place for All People: Life, Architecture and Fair Society. Edinburgh: Canongate Books Ltd, 2017, 249.

Ross, Benjamin. Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and Rebirth of American Urbanism. Oxford University Press, 2014, 39-51.

Davis, Sam. The Architecture of Affordable Housing. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995, 83-129.

Fig. 50 | Westland Mall Reduced to its Structural Frame, by Author.

addressing the mall, part 3 The primary goal in undertaking this project has been to explore ways in which abandoned mall sites could be reused and transformed into viable, productive centers in places that have lost, or never really had, a community center. By exploring new approaches and innovative partnerships in economics, land use, planning, and design, the choice site can become not only fiscally viable, but a positive asset to its community.92 Development that utilizes existing infrastructure within urban and established suburban neighborhoods is

92

93

a priority of The City of Columbus, and mixed-use and highest density residential development is encouraged within established commercial centers and along primary corridors with access to transit,93 making the Westland Mall the best option for redevelopment.

This project was developed around the idea of creating sites that were not exclusively devoted to consumption but also offered spaces of experience for local residents.

One very common tactic, used in re-

Smiley, David J. and National Endowment for the Arts. Sprawl and Public Space: Redressing the Mall. 1st ed.

Washington, D.C: National Endowment for the Arts, 2002, 4. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Columbus Citywide Planning Policies.â&#x20AC;? 1st ed. The City of Columbus Planning Division. July 16, 2018. Accessed October 18, 2018. https://www.columbus.gov/Templates/Detail.aspx?id=2147505174.

A DESIGN SOLUTION | 58

inhabitation retrofits, is to re-use the box.

In shopping malls, anchor department store buildings might be retained while the stores between the anchors and indoor concourses are demolished. A new atrium cut into the center of the large floor plate affords natural light to the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interior (5:99-223).94 In an analysis of energy usage in a typical American shopping center it was found that some 70% of all energy consumed was attributable to artificial lighting, with heating, ventilation, and air conditioning accounting for the rest. The problems of inversion and introversion in development patterns, and ambiguity in the character of public space created within them, are not unique to new shopping developments as retail is the one use which unequivocally requires and provides an open boundary between public and private space. The deep structure of mall organization, encapsulating features of circulation, spatial development and levels of economic activity (16:38-113)95 offers great opportunity for redevelopment of flexible uses and spaces.

over a period of only twenty years. The outdoor plaza and gathering space for shopping has turned inward, enclosing shoppers and guiding them through massive hallways of retail. A mallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s typology is influenced by consumerism. These large, expansive structures offer a great deal of flexibility for new programming and successful development through appropriate master planning strategies and thoughtful circulation.

SKYLIGHT

RESIDENTIAL UNITS

COMMUNITY PROGRAMS

The scale, shape, and street relations of the shopping center building were transformed by the large volume needs of the commercial tenants (2:69).96 Having all structure in the frame and the facade meant a great deal of flexibility, even if by modern floor ratios it was a little uneconomic. The layout and circulation patterns of shopping centers and malls has changed drastically 94 95 96

Fig. 51 | Inserting New Program into the Mall, by Author.

Lepik, Andres, and Vera Simone Bader. World of Malls. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2016, 99-223.

Maitland, Barry. Shopping Malls: Planning and Design. New York: Nichols, 1985, 38-113.

Smiley, David J. and National Endowment for the Arts. Sprawl and Public Space: Redressing the Mall. 1st ed.

Washington, D.C: National Endowment for the Arts, 2002, 69.

A DESIGN SOLUTION | 59

PRECEDENT Easton Town Center, OH (2018) Easton Town Center is a 2.9 million square foot award-winning mixed-use center that drives more than $1 billion in annual sales and features pedestrian-friendly open-air town squares, fountains and parks. It serves as a precedent for master planning and site layout for a successful shopping center and mixed-use town in Columbus. Working together, Steiner + Associates and The Georgetown Company have successfully introduced many new restaurant and retail offerings that have created an energetic and engaging shopping and entertainment environment in a walkable “main street” atmosphere.97 The town center continues to evolve with a new expansion that will feature local and national retailers, breweries and restaurants, entertainment venues and hotels, plus public event spaces and social gathering areas. It has helped set the stage to establish Easton as a unique and exciting new residential community while also increasing office employment in the number one destination for corporate growth.

Through these expansions, Easton proves itself as the best example of a live-workplace project in the nation.98

Fig. 52 | Renderings of Easton Town Center Development.

97 “Easton Town Center.” Steiner Associates. Accessed March 08, 2019. https://steiner.com/projects/mixed-use projects/easton-town-center/.

98 “New Easton Expansion.” Easton. Accessed March 08, 2019. https://eastontowncenter.com/easton-expansion.

A DESIGN SOLUTION | 60

Fig. 53 | Precedent Site Diagram, by Author.

Fig. 54 | Proposed Circulation Strategies through the Site, by Author.

PEDESTRIAN VEHICULAR

master planning design As Columbus’ population grows over the next few decades, how and where development occurs will impact the quality of life in the city. The City of Columbus believes priority should be place on revitalization of Columbus’ older neighborhoods through infill development in order to provide economic opportunities and an improved quality of life for all residents. Retail development should be strategically located within commercial nodes and mixed use areas. Guided and planned development will conserve both

99

100 101

economic and environmental resources, provide access to natural areas and open space, and encourage investment in neighborhoods.99 Every development is different, catering to the requirements of the site, the local market, the anticipated occupants, and the physical environment.100 A major goal for any project is to fit it aesthetically into the neighborhood.101 Built additions, insertions, new building types, open spaces, and introducing new programs have been combined to create new public spaces within the existing

“Columbus Citywide Planning Policies.” 1st ed. The City of Columbus Planning Division. July 16, 2018. Accessed October 18, 2018. https://www.columbus.gov/Templates/Detail.aspx?id=2147505174.

Davis, Sam. The Architecture of Affordable Housing. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995, 27.

Macdonald, Donald. Democratic Architecture. 3rd ed. Oro Editions, 2015, 185.

N

A DESIGN SOLUTION | 62

structure and surrounding site. The design of the site and abandoned mall employs four strategies: externalizing, mixing and multiplying, greening landscape, and adding transportation options (Figure 55).

First, the mall needs to be externalized, the massive scale broken down and orientation shifted out towards its setting. Gradual opening-out of the introverted mall to the sky and streets outside offers a venue for social interaction as well as commerce.

These new developments are not malls, but integrations of shopping into the rest of life, with people living, working, shopping, and recreating inside a single, planned entity.

The optimum design solution integrates social, technological, aesthetic, economic, and environmental concerns102 open to the public rather than closed off as they have been before. The important principle is the creation of a sense of security, group identity, and shared collective space through the recurrent theme of a courtyard.

The courtyard is more than just an architectural device for obtaining privacy and protection. It will no longer be closed, but will communicate with the street so that is becomes public property.103 Second, mixing and multiplying various housing types and commercial shops adds to a vibrant, mixed-use development. The city itself with its vibrancy, diversity, and density is the one great amenity missing in the suburb. Jane Jacobs’ four conditions 102 103 104 105

of successful neighborhoods state that the district must serve more than one primary function: that is, the “close-grained diversity of uses that give each other constant mutual support, both economically and socially”. Most blocks should be short, to multiply people’s choices of routes, and so opportunities for interaction, and increase usable street frontage, which expands the “pool of economic use”. A district must mingle buildings that vary in age and condition, to allow economic diversity, allowing younger people and entrepreneurs opportunities, and there must be sufficiently dense concentration of people.104 Third, greening the landscape removes the vast expansive parking lots and creates open public space that is environmentally friendly to control stormwater runoff and mitigate pollution. The entire site will be “re-greened” with a series of landscaped drainage swales and rain gardens plus new trees in interconnected tree trenches. These light-impact storm-water management techniques are implemented to redress phosphorus and sediment pollution from parking lot runoff. Former Columbus Center (1989-2010), a three-story downtown mall in Columbus, OH is now a three-hectare public green surrounded with new mixeduse buildings.105 The open green space welcomes visitors and new businesses to the area as well as adding environmental benefits.

Graham, Wade. Dream Cities: Seven Urban Ideas That Shape the World. New York: Haper Perennial, 2016, 195-273.

Fathy, Hassan. Architecture for the Poor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973, 55-57.

Graham, 168.

Lepik, Andres, and Vera Simone Bader. World of Malls. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2016, 223.

A DESIGN SOLUTION | 63

Finally, adding a transit station for the many families who rely on public transportation to get around is vital for the success of this project. Connectivity within and among developments should be provided through streets, sidewalks, bikeways and multi-use trail networks. Parking should be balanced with the goals of reducing development’s impact on the natural environment, creating walkable and bike-able neighborhoods, and encouraging the use of public transportation.106 Based on the resident surveys and community development plans mentioned in the previous chapter, various needs and wants of the community are identified and located within the site plan in Figure 56.

The existing circulation from the highway to the casino will be incorporated in the site plan with a new path through the mall site, adding traffic to the new development and better linking the site into the surrounding community. An added transportation hub will bring more people to the site and add the support for those who rely on public transportation. The side elevation of the complex is important, because it is seen by approaching traffic from a greater distance and for a longer time than the facade. The most important motivation was “sanitation”, or cleaning up the neighborhood, followed by recreation, education, a place for social activities, and economic factors.107 The transformed mall is a new development that includes restaurants and retail, 106

107

flexible office space for various services such as social work and daycare, a mix of residential units including senior living, a new health facility and medical center, and centrally located public open space and community gardens incorporated into the overall plan. New parking strategies are employed to account for the demolition of the large existing surface lots such as street parking and a few small surface lots covered with solar panels to provide supplemental energy to the facility and surrounding area. The need for parking is reduced by replacing large retail with residential units and encouraging the use of public transportation and carpooling.

With stores within walking distance and buses to downtown, no one needs a car.

Density can be preserved by putting parking underground, but that drives up the price of the development and may not be affordable at all.108 Creating a compact city within the site increases density, creates mix, increases the value of public space, and minimizes carbon emissions and environmental impacts.

Density, linked to public transport, brings vitality to communities, is energy efficient, allows people to meet in person, enables businesses to prosper, and makes transport and other services viable. Compact cities mix uses and people from all backgrounds, avoiding ghettos of privilege or poverty.

From park to pavement, public space is the heart of the town, providing a place

“Columbus Citywide Planning Policies.” 1st ed. The City of Columbus Planning Division. July 16, 2018. Accessed October 18, 2018. https://www.columbus.gov/Templates/Detail.aspx?id=2147505174.

Francis, Mark, Lisa Cashdan, and Lynn Paxson. Community Open Spaces: Greening Neighborhoods through Community Action and Land Conservation. Washington, D.C: Island Press, 1984, 5.

A DESIGN SOLUTION | 64

for civic life and for the meeting of people.

Reusing existing vacant land protects green space, prevents car-based sprawl, and drives higher density. Working outwards building and retrofitting around transport hubs and central corridors creates a more livable space, and ensuring the highest quality of architectural and urban design through all of these strategies humanizes its residents.109

EXTERNALIZE THE MALL

VEHICULAR TRAFFIC TO OUTSIDE DIRECT PATH TO CASINO

WALKABLE SITE PEDESTRIAN FOCUS

GREENING THE SITE

Fig. 55 | Site Design Choices, by Author.

108 109

Ross, Benjamin. Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and Rebirth of American Urbanism. Oxford University Press, 2014, 196-205.

Rogers, Richard. A Place for All People: Life, Architecture and the Fair Society. Edinburgh: Canongate Books Limited, 2017, 277.

MEDICA

LEARNING CENTER REC CENTER GARDENS

GROCERY HOME DEPOT

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

PARK

Fig. 56 | Proposed Site Plan and Section Perspective, by Author.

AL

CASINO

LIVING

OFFICE

Fig. 57 | Tall Ceiling Heights Humanize the Living Units, by Author.

SUPPORTIVE HOUSING design Buildings work best when continually refined and reshaped by their occupants, and when architects can be artists of time as well as of space. As the concrete frame and column grid provide the structural skeleton, each floor can be individually filled out, spatially and over time, employing self-build methods because the internal partitions are independent of the loadbearing structure.110 The strategic principle of system separation is as follows: designing according to a hierarchy of lifespans means that replacement or

110 111 112

modification of shorter-life elements does not affect or damage those of greater durability.111 A true home has three qualities: it must afford the occupants as much individual privacy as possible, it must offer a reasonable sense of security, and above all, the dwelling must be congenial, agreeable to oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outlook on life.112 Prefabricated units inserted into the column grid under the existing roofing framework provides a clear solution in solving each of these problems. The individual units can be implemented on an as-need basis, providing

Lifschutz, Alex. Loose-fit Architecture: Designing Buildings for Change. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, 2017, 26-34.

Ibid, 79.

Macdonald, Donald. Democratic Architecture. 3rd ed. Oro Editions, 2015, 36.

A DESIGN SOLUTION | 68

maximum flexibility and individuality to the residents who will live there.

Figure 57 shows how much more than just light and airiness was achieved by the creation of a double-height living space.

The height humanized the space and is an economical way to gain volume and make a small space look large. Instead of the oppressive sense of confinement that a box shape with an eight-foot ceiling would have produced, people may experience a lifting of the spirit, a feeling that they control the space rather than it controlling them.

The program for housingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;based on neighborhood demographicsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;specified various unit types from 1-bedroom to 3-bedroom units on each floor. This helps generate a plan of considerable spatial complexity, one which combines the continuously varying boundary line of each apartment with the dynamics of these coupled spaces. Incorporating several different types of units within a single building allows residents to move from smaller to larger dwellings or vice versa as their needs change. It is an inexpensive way to provide some alternatives for residents.

Each unit connects via a front porch from the community spine that runs down the center of the site, to the road access at the rear via a courtyard. The central doubleheight space is covered by a large windscoop for cross ventilation and a skylight for natural daylighting.113 It is an attempt 113 114 115 116

to structure housing for the urban poor around the benefits of open-to-sky space and of centrality. Each room is entered through a courtyard, providing the family with the kind of open space which, in warm weather, acts as an additional room.

The units are arranged in a pattern of clusters so as to create a hierarchy of open spaces.114 Designing affordable housing requires imagining clear solutions to often conflicting ideas and input; it is the artful resolution of the multiple goals, aspirations, and expectations of many different people.115 Architects and project managers will identify awnings as energysaving devices, which is only part of their function. This manipulation of the budget is necessary for good design, and local agencies that want a proposed project to be accepted by the community will collaborate in the deception. Long-term operating costs are also a primary concern in affordable housing. Awnings or trelliscovered patios that extend the interior space and embellish the architecture do cost additional money, but the shading they provide reduces the need for airconditioning and so cuts down on energy costs.116 Designing would be simpler if there were no regulations. Those who learn to work creatively within them, to find opportunity within them, will likely make good and safe buildings. They want amenities that are not essential to human

Correa, Charles. Housing & Urbanisation. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2000, 28-31.

Ibid, 47.

Davis, Sam. The Architecture of Affordable Housing. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995, 52.

Ibid, 64-65.

A DESIGN SOLUTION | 69

health but are desirable for a comfortable and satisfying life. We have failed to serve many people who would welcome small but sturdy housing, and the remedy is simply to reduce the quality standards such housing is legally required to meet.117 Fluid space and good lighting can make even a small dwelling seem free and open, rather than confined and oppressive. Poor use of space, particularly awkward and inefficient circulation, is the most recurring criticism of affordable housing. If one wants to make a dwelling seem larger, eliminating, or at least limiting, hallways should be a first step. Small rooms can be made to seem larger if they look out toward the world.

Views both encourage social interchange within the unit and make the housing less alienating to those outside. Oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perception of an individual dwelling as part of a larger domain can also be enhanced by the character of the transitional space.

In multifamily housing this experience is often dramatically abridged; one merely comes to a door from a walkway and directly into a living room. There is no threshold, no sense of entering. A recess along the corridor, perhaps with a ledge, a flower box outside, and an entry space within, can provide a sense of transition and make small dwellings more dignified.118 Small gestures such as a bay window, nook, or patio are space expanders that can provide residents with some choices. The selection of materials, their color, and their 117 118 119 120

careful combination and placement are the means for enlivening buildings. Functional elements like gutters, downspouts, and window trim can take place of friezes and cornices in providing scale, texture, and energy, and reveals and shadow lines can create diversity in the facades.

Each element has an aesthetic as well as a functional role.119 It is not so much a question of whether an architect should or shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t add detail to affordable housing.

It is a matter of seeing the necessary walls, roofs, windows, and doors as areas of opportunity for giving it vitality.120

Fig. 58 | Habitat 67, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Davis, Sam. The Architecture of Affordable Housing. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995, 77-79.

Ibid, 104-107.

Rogers, Richard. A Place for All People: Life, Architecture and Fair Society. Edinburgh: Canongate Books Ltd, 2017, 187 Davis, 112-114.

A DESIGN SOLUTION | 70

HABITAT 67 Montreal, Quebec, Canada (1967) Of all the approaches that rely on technology or factory production and still recognize the need for a high level of individualization and amenity, Habitat in Montreal is perhaps the best known and most architecturally significant.121 Comprised of 354 identical, prefabricated concrete forms arranged in various combinations, these units create 146 residences of varying sizes and configurations. Each unit is connected to at least one private terrace.

The development was designed to integrate the benefits of suburban homes with the economics and density of a modern urban apartment building. It was envisioned to revolutionize affordable housing and launch a wave of prefabricated, modular development. This project emphasizes the theme of re-imagining high-density housing and improving social integration through architecture. Not only revolutionary at the time, Habitat 67 has continued to influence architecture over the years. Integrating modules, walkways, pedestrian streets, suspended terraces, air spaces, large esplanades, and monumental elevator columns, this gigantic sculpture invites the residence to the architecture.122

Fig. 59 | Precedent Diagrams, by Author.

121 122

Davis, Sam. The Architecture of Affordable Housing. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995, 30. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tribute.â&#x20AC;? Habitat 67. Accessed March 08, 2019. http://www.habitat67.com/hommage/.

A DESIGN SOLUTION | 71

Fig. 60 | Site Model, by Author.

A DESIGN SOLUTION | 72

REFLECTION

DW

DW

The biggest shortcoming of this project is the difficulty of the mall site and inability to add daylighting into a challenging building typology. Through better understanding of the existing structure and furthur daylighting studies, the livability of each unit could be increased even more. This is a the biggest reason architects and planners do not tackle these types of projects because the cost outweighs the headaches. It is simply seen as not worth it to keep these structures around when it is easy to tear them down and start over. Understanding the structure and construction techniques of the mall limited my progression on design.

DW

Focusing on the community and site aspect of the project the most limited the ability to really dive deep into the design of each individual unit and provide individuality and flexibility that the residents of the community need. The attempt to tackle all scales of the project from site design down to individual units limited the project to master one and maintain focus on one area.

DW

DW

Fig. 61 | Individual Unit Plans & Axons, by Author.

The site design and community planning was the strongest aspect of this project, integrating the site back into the community and bringing life back into the vacant lot. Adding well thought out vehicular circulation paths and pedestrian walkways creates a better community for those living here.

73

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