Remembering the Royal: A Jazz Inspired Neighborhood Park
This senior project is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture Degree in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Professor Brian Katen - Program Chairperson
Professor Terry Clements - Project Advisor, Senior Project Coordinator
Acknowledgements Relationships are so special and I would like to take the time to dedicate and thank all the amazing people in my life, who have helped me throughout this incredible journey. Firstly, my family, especially my mom and dad, you guys are my rock. You have provided me with a steady foundation, upon which to grow tall and proud. I love you to the moon and back. Thank you for your endless encouragement and support. Those phone calls were my everything and kept me grounded and driven. Then to my studio family - all twelve of you - without each and every one of you, I’m not sure I could have made it here. You were always there for support, encouragement, an escape, or just a laugh. I am eternally grateful and blessed to have met twelve of the most amazing people. You all have my heart, love and gratitude. Special thanks to Melanie Kearney and Lillian Preston for being my best friends through and through since first year. Also, thanks to Wanda Best, Teresa Stephens and the Upton Planning Committee for welcoming me into their community and allowing me to participate in community meetings and answering my questions. Last but not least, many thanks to my advisor, Terry Clements, for her patience, encouragement, support, wisdom and guidance. Special thanks to Ben Johnson, Dave McGill, Mintai Kim, and Brian Katen, and the rest of the LAR faculty for their willingness to sit and listen to my questions and work through them with me, I am so thankful to have your support and you are all truly inspirational professors. I know it took a while to get there, but I made it! Thank you! 2
Introduction: Page 4: Initial Ideas and Goals and Objectives Page 6: Site Context and Regional Role Page 8: Layers of Place and Setting the Stage Page 10: Legacy of Pennsylvania Avenue Timeline Page 12: Understanding Upton Neighborhood and Neighborhood Character
Analysis and Development Page 14: Mikyoung Kim’s Quote and Layers Page 16: Case Studies - Walter Hood and Julie Messervy Page 18: Rhythm Models and Jazz Song Structure Analysis Page 20: Surrounding Neighbors and Neighborhood Context Page 22: Neighborhood Context and Neighborhood Analysis Page 24: Neighborhood Analysis and Site Analysis Page 26: Site Synthesis and Narrative Development Page 28: Community Programmatic Votes and Programmatic Development
Table of Contents The book is color coded by stages within the design procress. The layout and spreads are meant to tell a narrative about this neighborhood, this project, and my senior project design process. The layering of analysis from musical jazz studies to neighborhood and site studies created two threads in the analysis process, which needed to be threaded together. The concept development allowed for the layers to build off of each other transforming into the development of the design and ultimately, final development of the Royal Theater Monument Park.
Design Work Page 30: Walter Hood’s Quote and Concept Diagrams Page 32: Jazz Concept Studies and Form Influences Space Page 34: Design Development and Spatial Development Page 36: Master Plan and Labeled Master Plan Page 38: Section Elevation Page 40: Site Plan and Design Illustratives Page 42: Site Plan and Design Illustratives
Conclusion Page 44: Upton Narrative - Design Critique and Conclusion Page 46: Works Cited
regenerative fabric.
LOCATIO MEMORY
MEMORY
RHYTHM
RHYTHM
PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT
LOCATION
MEMORY
economic transitions RHYTHM
SENSE OF PLACE
LANDSCAPE
cultural change
overlap of layers. creation of moments.
historic patterns
Initial Ideas Public Urban Open Space + Systems - Through case studies and site visits to various successful urban open spaces, I will begin to develop a criterion for which to evaluate landscapes, then transferring the critical eye to my urban site location. I would like to learn the elements critical to a public urban open space and how it can be connected to a greater overall landscape and system? Narrative + Memory Landscapes - The study of sense of place can be generated through the thought of memory and narrative landscapes. The idea of places being carried through memories, something intangible yet so powerful, is important to regeneration of Pennsylvania Avenue. The stories, memories and senses should be incorporated back into this landscape for the education of generations. How to make an unrecognizable place come alive from a memory? People + Music - The fundamentals of the power of music/difference between music and sounds will be researched. What are some impacts of these things on humans? Can it draw back memories? Then to more narrowly focus on the redesign of the Royal Theater Park, the African American jazz culture and history during the 1920s-1960s will influence the direction of my research process. Jazz Theory - The basics of music history - fundamentals of the production and process of music theory - will ground the content rooted in a musical landscape. The focus will sharpen to the history of jazz and the basic elements breaking down this musical genre. Improvisation will then be compared and metaphorically laid over this urban landscape as a potential design approach. How can music influence the landscape?
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Educative Landscapes - Because of the elementary school children having direct and immediate access into the park, these concepts and research topics will be framed with the intention to reveal an interactive and educational landscape, teaching the existence of music in the landscape. A specific section of the park may apply to the younger generation, but the whole park should be linked back to jazz ideas. What are ways to educate in the framework of each topic above?
Best Neglected Monument Royal Theater Monument Pennsylvania and Lafayette avenues Baltimore City Paper Posted 9/22/2004 In its heyday, the Royal Theater in West Baltimore’s Upton neighborhood was one of the premier stops on the chitlin’ circuit, a collection of theaters and halls in all-black neighborhoods that thrived in the pre-civil-rights era. Reputedly home to the toughest audiences, the Royal Theater hosted the likes of Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, and Redd Foxx (a former Upton neighborhood resident) until its demise in the early 1970s. While the Upton neighborhood struggles to regain its former grandeur, a reminder of its glory days can be found by standing under the marquee of the Royal Theater monument, a brick and concrete structure on a lonely corner. Like a miniature Graumann’s Chinese Theater, the monument features space for cement hand- and footprints of celebrities. To date, the gold-glitter hand prints of Smokey Robinson are the only ones to grace the sidewalk. There’s plenty of room at the monument for more prints and space for plaques and other information about the jazz greats who once lived, worked, and partied in Upton—a neighborhood that once earned the distinction the “Harlem of Baltimore.” A little TLC and props would go a long way to making the Royal Theater monument something to crow about.
Panorama of current site today - Royal Theater Monument pictured to the left with Furman L. Templeton Elementary School pictured on the right
Goals and Objectives Goal: Reestablish a sense of place and reinvigorate Pennsylvania Avenue, the once
Objectives: - Create an outdoor location for impromptu music or jam sessions, allowing the art and sounds of music to be heard by the community again
premiere African American street during the Jazz Era between the 1920s
- Have a central gathering space for the community residents to come together and share social interactions while promoting community capital
and 1960s, through the redevelopment of Robert C. Marshall park, while
- Build for flexible spaces, allowing the community members to improvise within the landscape
celebrating the life and sound of jazz, the values of Upton neighborhood, and the evolution of this site as a space influenced by music. This will be an urban community park, intended for use by the neighborhood and its residents.
- Improve overall image of neighborhood for increased outdoor and street activity, while emphasizing the neighborhoods existing historic and cultural past - Allow the neighborhood to feel a sense of pride in their community once again, improve existing narrative - Educate the community and the youth about the history of jazz and promote "placemaking", making them feel that their neighborhood is important
Layers of Place
Site Context Site Context Site Context
Historiccultural cultural footprint allows allows for connection of Historic footprint for conprogrammatic activities like the movies and performances nection of programmatic activities like the to be present once again, reconnecting the invisible layers with the community to be present once movies andpresent performances again, reconnecting the invisible layers with the present community
Site Context
Baltimore. Maryland Baltimore. Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore. Maryland
West Baltimore
West Baltimore West Baltimore West Baltimore
1936
Pennsylvania Avenue Pennsylvania Avenue
Site Context
Pennsylvania Avenue Pennsylvania Avenue
[Baltimore, Maryland] Known as “Charm City,” Baltimore is popular today for the success of the Inner Harbor and it’s urban public spaces. With hundreds of identified districts, Baltimore has been dubbed “a city of neighborhoods.” It is also culturally rich with music, literature, and the arts rooted in the city.
[West Baltimore] There are nine official geographical neighborhoods making up West Baltimore. Today, it may be known more for its crime but it offers unique culture, endless streets of old Baltimore rowhouses with their historic Baltimore marble stoop, and available parklands.
[Pennsylvania Avenue]
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2014
The Avenue was the epicenter of the city’s African-American culture from the turn of the twentieth century until the 1968 riots. It is a legacy of local arts and shopping, music and entertainment, and culture and traditions. Today, the Avenue is struggling but the community has many activist groups to keep their history alive and resonant.
These overlaid images of a 1936 Sanborne Map and the current 2014 aerial view of Pennsylvania Avenue and the Robert C. Marshall Park shows that the footprint of the Royal Theater, the largest and most well known theater to the West Baltimore community, along the entertainment district of Pennsylvania Avenue, sat within the current lot. This opportunity to reveal invisible layers brings the past into the present and future, allowing those entertainment and musical influences to take root once again. Today, the park is named after Robert C. Marshall, a brother of the first African American Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, both of whom grew up in the neighborhood, just blocks from the site. This shows the legacy the neighborhood played within many aspects of the civil rights movement and the progression of African Americans. Although, with the presence of the Royal Theater Monument now on the corner of Lafayette and Pennsylvania, the park could be renamed and commemorated for the neighborhood’s influence on jazz music, nationally and globally. This would provide the park to become an expression of jazz, both literally and metaphorically.
Chitlin’ Circuit Cotton Club Wilt’s Small Paradise The Apollo Theater - New York City NY The Fox Theater - Detroit MI
Robert’s Show Lounge Club Delisa The Regal Theater -Chicago IL
Madam CJ Walker -Indianapolis IN
Uptown Theater - Philadelphia PA
The Howard Theater - Washington DC Hippodrome Theater - Richmond VA
The Royal Peacock - Atlanta GA
Second Carver Theater Whispers - Birmingham AL -Greenville MS
Ritz Theater - Jacksonville FL
Victory Grill - Austin TX
Regional Role Chitlin Circuit - During the years before the Civil Rights movement got underway, segregated American cities helped give birth to a touring circuit that provided employment for hundreds of black musicians and eventually brought about the birth of rock ‘n’ roll. It was an American musical phenonmenon flourishing throughout the South and the East for about two decades beginning in the late 1930s. As a safe haven for comedians, musicans, and African American entertainment, these venues housed African American culture during a time when blacks’ rights were suppressed.
The Royal Theater - Opening in 1922, as the Douglass Theater, it came to be known as “The Royal” along “The Avenue”. One of the most famous theaters along West Balitmore’s Pennsylvania Avenue - a corridor for entertainment, shopping, and living - the theater brought jazz to Baltimore. The streets were alive with music, people, and culture. An era that made the Upton Neighborhood and Pennsylvania Avenue as the geographical center and commercial spine of Baltimore’s black community, offering steps of opportunity for African Americans at different rungs on the economic ladder.
Downtown Baltimore
Lafayette Avenue
ue n e v A a ani v l sy n n Pe
circa 1945
circa 2013
Layers of Place The idea of a place over time has always been of interest to me and the work I am drawn towards. This neighborhood had a very vibrant past, full of life, musicians, entertainment, and community. Today, nearly all the remnants from that time are demolished and have been for about forty years since the 70s and the period of urban renewal. There is an opportunity, though, to regenerate and reestablish the site of the Royal Theater into a community locus once again, just with now an urban neighborhood park - allowing for the improvisation of people and activities, in addition to trumpets and saxophones. This image shows the overlap of place and how these layers begin to fade into the background, but also presents the question of how do we bring those layers back to the front, making them visible once again? Today, the neighborhood is a different landscape and a different place than it was back then, meaning the neighborhood’s needs are different and this project seeks to find those needs and resolve them through the redesign of the current Robert C. Marshall Park into the Royal Theater Monument Park. “The key to the future is partly in the past.� Some initial questions were what will it provide and how will it perform? How will a sense of place be established and received within the layers of characters existing within the neighborhood? Can there be an improvisation of stories, activities, music? How can jazz be transformed into space? Will jazz be interpreted metaphorically or literally - regardless, how can there be an expression of jazz on the site?
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Sphinx Club circa 1946
Making the Scene
Crossroads Red Fox Peyton Place
Regent Theater circa 1948
Tijuana Club
North Avenue
Arch Social Club Ubangi Lenox Theater
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Fulton Avenue
Royal Theater circa 1942
Baker Street
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Setting the Stage Pennsylvania Avenue was black Baltimore’s “downtown”, it’s “Broadway.” Old West Baltimore nurtured some of America’s most important jazz musicians. Elmer Snowden, Cab Calloway, and Billie Holiday call this area home. Local performers with loyal followings lit up stages along the Avenue. Chick Webb played the Avenue, identifying Baltimore as an important jazz town. Lively, world-renown entertainment venues lined the Avenue including the Ritz, Club Casino, Sphinx, Comedy Club, Gamby’s, and the Avenue’s Cafe - transforming the Avenue into a twenty-four hour attraction, with daytime shopping and nighttime entertainment. Vocalists, musicians and entertainers began their careers on Pennsylvania Avenue and ended up changing the face of R&B in America. The Royal Theater sat more than 1,000 and became Pennsylvania Avenue’s biggest entertainment jewel until demolished in 1971.
Club Astoria
Edmondson Avenue
ia van syl e nn nu Pe Ave
Ne Mom Roya Club w ’s l T Fr A R h o Ne lbert esta eate lic ura r w T Alb he nt ert ate r Co tto R Hall n C itz lub
SITE
The Old Mill
¯
1900
1800
civil rights movement
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) 1909 - Second largest local chapter formed on Dolphin Street Old West Baltimore - became the center for the local and national Civil Rights Movement, often meeting in churches throughout the community.
In 1820, Baltimore’s African American community was the largest in the nation, and by the time the Civil War started in 1861, there were 26,000 free blacks and approximately 2,000 slaves living in Baltimore.
By the 1900s, nine blocks along what was considered “the bottom” developed before the Civil War as a mixed-race neighborhood became a residential “hub” for African-Americans in Old West Baltimore.
community development
musical presence
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1926- Douglass Theater 1916- Regent Theater opens. renamed to Royal Theater
2000
2000
Interdenominational Ministerial - included Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance -Alliance included ministersministers from all from all partscity, of often the city, led by prominent West Baltiparts of the ledoften by prominent ministersministers from Oldfrom WestOld Baltimore. They collected money,and printed and distributed more. They collected money, printed distributed literature,literature, and urgedand urged men to and register black menblack to register vote.and vote.
urban renewal urban renewal
1971demolished - Royal demolished 1971 - Royal
Educational events: Continuing on to the next generation, the legacy of place and music + Baltimore jazz musicians' stories linger within the neighborhood, as do new talents, a renaissance of jazz music is possible + The youth is an active part of the community, present and prevalent, they exist within the history of the neighborhood + Students at Templeton Prep academy participate in choir and murals illustrating the importance of song, dance and rhythm during a youth's upbringing figure 1
figure 2
figure 3
Cultural events: Bringing the history and economic development back to the Avenue + Cycle For Hope - Baltimore citizens ride through the streets during the summer stopping at Robert C Marshall Park for a respite, actively engaging in community events + Cadillac Parade and Royal Theater March - fun and exciting cultural tradition + Arabbers - Horse and Buggy Markets - opportunity to set up arabbers market location in the park boosting social, economic, and cultural activities. figure 4
figure 5
figure 6
Understanding Upton Neighborhood All images from the community, this neighborhood stays active with traditions and events celebrating their past and bringing together the present. Figure 1 - Just a piece of a mural painted on a retaining wall on the Furman L. Templeton Elementary School site. The whole mural represents music, dance, and instruments - a beginning in the process of engaging the children and teaching them about the history of the neighborhood and jazz songs Figure 2 - This little girl strikes a pose as I was leaving from a site visit in the fall. She danced all the way to the base of the monument from the music playing out of cars passing by on the street Figure 3 - The Furman L. Templeton school choir enjoying the outdoors and celebrating music in the Henry Garnet Park, just a block from the site. Figure 4 - Neighbors from all over Baltimore are in the street, along Pennsylvania Avenue, cycling for hope, a city wide bicycling festival in the summertime.
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Figure 5/6 - Images from a Pennsylvania Avenue Easter parade - celebrating their traditions of the Cadillac Parade, from the jazz era of Pennsylvania Avenue, and the Arrabers Market, from the early twentieth century, when the Avenue functioned as an agricultural route to Pennsylvania.
Musical events: Bringing jazz back to the Avenue through a collective memory with stories + Dedication to the Billie Holiday statue drew fans, musicians, and community members to honor her voice, life, and legacy + "Music in the park" - carried on by Upton's 'The Avenue Bakery' during summer months + Bring music back to the Royal site with the construction of a new stage in the original location of the Royal Theater figure 1
figure 2
figure 3
Community events: Building social captial and neighborhood aesthetics through beautification + Garden of Hope - community garden within the neighborhood to build healthy bodies and minds + Beautification of Furman L Templeton Elementary school, greening the neighborhood one vacant lot at a time + Community is invested in making their Neighborhood both beautiful and functional
Youth events: Promoting active health and wellness figure 4
figure 5
figure 6
+ Children participate in after school activities by joining school teams and staying active + Robert C Marshall park currently used as ball fields, recreational play space for the students + New design will need to incorporate an open green for active space
Neighborhood Character All images from the community, this neighborhood stays active with traditions and events celebrating their past and bringing together the present. Figure 1 - Community members gather for the dedication of the Billie Holiday Statue, a testament to her lasting presence in the neighborhood and impact she had on jazz music Figure 2 - Two swingin cats sit outside a community node, the Avenue Bakery, listening to musicians and remembering the heydays Figure 3 - An image from the Pennsylvania Avenue Redevelopment Collaborative website, the interest of engaging the youth and teaching them jazz is still present in the ideals of the community today Figure 4/5 - A little boy and teacher help beautify Furman L. Templeton Prep Academy, while another young man helps in the Garden of Hope Figure 6 - The various middle and elementary schools present within the neighborhood work as a system of recreational spaces to accomodate different sporting needs, such as football, lacrosse, softball, baseball, basketball and tennis, keeping the children active and healthy
“ Layered engagement of program expands experience of place.� - Mikyoung Kim of Mikyoung Kim Designs
Layers In order to develop a neighborhood park, the elements of jazz will have to be considered to link this park to its context and provide a deeper sense of place. The use and understanding of existing historical and musical layers will help assist in the development of the park. The following case studies look at the opportunity to utilize music as an approach to design and music as a way to design, to inform my design process.
Durant Park - Walter Hood Focus: Development of sixteen designs for the theoretical transformation of an existing neighborhood park in West Oakland exploring, developing, and applying the design vocabulary derived from blues and jazz Approach: Designing a park for a roster of characters inspired by “human action and process”, using structures and plant forms to create spatial sequences Organizing Notes:
CULTURE
SPACE&ORDER
FRAMEWORK
THE SOUL
Case Studies: Walter Hood - Improvisational Design Improvisational design is the spontaneous change and rhythmic transposition of nonobjective compositions and traditional design elements within a spatial field created by a distinct framework (classical or abstract). Change and transpositions are guided by individual expression, combined with social, environmental, and political multidisciplinary analysis, traditional design strategies, and an understanding of common, everyday objects and practices, otherwise known as the familiar. These nonobjective compositions are free of programmatic constraints: they are silent forms and compositions awaiting identity. In the context of improvisation, existing design archetypes and traditional forms are reshaped into new and unique forms through the incremental transfer of ideas to provide the familiar objects in space, reinforcing the image of the community, and extending the tradition. The process of improvisation clearly departs from the notion of a specific design hegemony, and it positions the designer within an environment for creativity. As a method of inquiry, improvisation generates a new series of goals: 1. Spontaneous change as a cultural norm - cities and commmunities are in constant flux, and places should be adaptive and allowed the freedom of individual or community expression. 2. The expression of the self - the designer is not relegated to the role of facilitator or planner, but gives formal interpretations. 3. Reinforcing the image of the community - the familiar validates the existence of multiple views of life in the city, even those that are outside the normative view. 4. Extending and enriching the tradition of environmental design - improvisation utilizes previous canons as a framework for departure, but demands individual responses. It promotes change by concentrating on the collective and individual familiarity for each component in relationship to the specific place or culture. The familiar unfolds in the invention of particular elements, spatial relationships, or patterns derived from particular practices that reflect attitudes and values over time.
Analysis: Studying Walter Hood’s approach to the design development of Durant Park, influenced my approach in the design development of the Royal Theater Monument Park. The dialogue Walter Hood creates between the essence of improvisation and the essence of a neighborhood park and how the two can relate to each other, led me toward the development of the site as a neighborhood park with the community’s needs and soul in mind. A very specific framework of culture, space and order, framework, and the soul influenced his design, also shaping my “organizing notes” across the site. The opportunity to reinterpret the familiar with a lens of jazz expression will allow the design of the park to be stronger and more catered to the soul of this particular community, while allowing for the improvisation of people and activities to bring energy and music to this once highly active urban theater. Also, his iterative process highly influenced the development of my design process - allowing for the study of multiple spatial forms to influence and guide the design. 16
Toronto Music Garden - Yo Yo Ma and Julie Moir Messervy Focus: Creation of a garden structured around Johann Sebastian Bach’s First Suite for Unaccompanied Cello alongside Toronto’s Harbourfront Approach: Curving paths move visitors through six garden “movements” that flow from the different moods, feelings, and forms evoked by the music Organizing Movement:
PRELUDE
ALLEMANDE
COURANTE
SARABANDE
MENUETT
GIGUE
Case Studies: Julie Messervy - Toronto’s Music Garden “Interpreting Bach with Nature” The garden’s design illustrates components of the suite’s six movements: “An undulating river scape with curves & bends - The first moment of the suite imparts the feeling of a flowing river through which the visitor can stroll. Granite boulders from the southern edge of the Canadian Shield are placed to represent a stream bed with low-growing plants softening its banks. The whole is overtopped by an alley of native Hackberry trees, whose straight trunks and regular spacing suggest measures of music. A forest grove of wandering trails - The Allemande is an ancient German dance. Interpreted here as a Birch forest, the movement invites the visitor to swirl inward to various contemplative sitting areas, that move higher and higher up the hillside, culminating in a rocky vantage point that looks over the harbour through a circle of Dawn Redwood trees. A swirling path through a wildflower meadow - Originally an Italian and French dance form, the Courante is an exuberant movement that is interpreted here as a huge, upward-spiralling swirl through a lush field of grasses and brightly-coloured perennials that attract birds and butterflies. At the top, a Maypole spins in the wind. A conifer grove in the shape of an arc - This movement is based on an ancient Spanish dance form. Its contemplative quality is interpreted here as an inward-arcing circle that is enclosed by tall needle-leaf evergreen trees. Envisioned as a poet’s corner, the garden’s centerpiece is a huge stone that acts as a stage for readings, and holds a small pool with water that reflects the sky. A formal flower parterre - This French dance was contemporary to Bach’s time. Its formality and grace are reflected in the symmetry and geometry of this movement’s design. Hand-crafted with ornamental steel, a circular pavilion is designed to shelter small musical ensembles or dance groups. Giant grass steps that dance you down to the outside world - The Gigue, or “jig” is an English dance, whose jaunty, rollicking music is interpreted here as a series of giant grass steps that offer views onto the harbour. The steps form a curved amphitheatre that focus on a stone stage set under a weeping willow tree; a place for informal performances. Shrubs and perennials act as large, enclosing arms, framing views out onto the harbour.”
Analysis: Studying Julie Messervy’s concept inspiration and design of the Toronto Music Garden influenced my design development of the Royal Theater Monument Park. Her interpretation of the song into physical landscape elements, curves, and spaces influenced my development of studying jazz song structure and the ability to translate the essence of the song elements into landscape forms, either spatially or physically, so that moments of the park are organized by head, vamp, or solos.
Rhythm Models With each color band representing a different instrument, I began to model the spatial relationships throughout a jazz song, allowing for the different “instruments” to have their climaxes and solos. There is overlap, rises and falls, beginnings and endings, and spaces created by the width and height of the paper’s arches. This model allowed me to think about the creation of spaces inspired by jazz instruments and songs and question how they interact together. Where is the overlap and what is the spatial sequence created by the movement of the song? 18
This model was a representation of movement throughout a song. The planes of transparency are to visullay overlap each other, however never actually touch, demonstrating waves within a song, or the rhythm carried throughout a piece of music. Each plane is its separate note, all aligning to create a song or rhythm throughout the model. The rhythm sound waves are most visible when moving the model around, allowing for different notes to have there solo moments.
This diagram model was created while listening to Miles Davis’ “So What”. Each color strand represents a different aspect of the song - bass, drums, percussion, solos - illustrating all the different layers which make up a song. The pins are representative of important moments in the song. When the pins all line up is when all the instruments are working together in unison. The orange and blue threads begin and end internally to the song, representing solos which vamp in and then vamp out, leading toward the end. This model helped with thinking about the creation of “moments” - when everything works in unison and the ability to allow for improvisation.
HEAD VAMP
SOLOS
VAMP HEAD
Jazz Song Structure Analysis Form: The repeated and contrasting sections in the design of a composition Head: The written melody of a tune (previously composed, not improvised), usually played as the first and last chorus in a jazz performance Vamp: One chord (or a brief chord progression) which is played over and over; a numerously repeated section of music, usually two or four bars in length Solo: The passages of a tune during which one musician improvises within the context of the tune; that person is known as the soloist Structure: Most jazz tunes utilize a recurring chord progression that serves as the structure of the tune; the way in which the different sections of the progression are grouped determines the form of the tune (“Jazz in America”) Common Sequence: 1.first chorus: the melody instruments (e.g., the horns) play the head, that is, the composed melody of the song 2.middle choruses (undetermined number): each musician in turn improvises a solo using the form as his/her guide, knowing the chord progression of each section (the chords provide the impetus for what notes can be played by the improviser); each soloist can improvise for as many choruses as he/she desires 3.last chorus: the head again (called the “out” head as the musicians are taking the tune “out,” that is, ending the tune)
UPTON NEIGHBORHOOD and surrounding neighbors 3 mile diameter
2 mile diameter
Druid Heights
SandtownWinchester
Harlem Park
1 mile diamete r Madison Park
Heritage Crossing
0
0.25 0.5
1
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ÂŻ
Surrounding Neighbors The historic Royal Theater site is centrally located within the heart of the Upton neighborhood. Positioned along Pennsylvania Avenue, the spine of the triangular shaped neighborhood outline, the park is highly visible and accessible. The entire neighborhood of Upton is accessible within a half mile radius. From the site, the edge of the Inner Harbor of Baltimore is only a mile and a half away. This image is showing how the site of the park can be accessible to not only the community of Upton, but also provide neighborhood park amenities to surrounding neighbors, who are within a five to ten minute walking radius. These neighborhoods and communities all make up the identity of West Baltimore, with Upton and Druid Heights comprising the core of historic Old West Baltimore.
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UPTON COMMUNITY NODES 1/4 MIL E WALK ING
POST OFFICE SALON UPTON METRO RETAIL SHOP SALON AVENUE MARKET
PARK
HISTORIC BROWNSTONES
RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION RECREATIONAL FACILITIES
RETAIL SHOP
MIDDLE SCHOOL PARK
BARBER SHOP PUBLIC HOUSING PROJECTS
RADIU S
RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION
RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION
BILLIE HOLIDAY MONUMENT
ROYAL THEATER MONUMENT ROYAL THEATER HISTORIC SITE
RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION PUBLIC HOUSING PROJECTS
RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION
PUBLIC HOUSING PROJECTS
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION
CAREER CENTER
RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION
RETAIL SHOP
PUBLIC HOUSING PROJECTS PUBLIC HOUSING PROJECTS
LAFAYETTE SQUARE
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
0
25’
50’
100’
After urban renewal, the physical aesthetic of Upton neighborhood and Pennsylvania Avenue dramatically changed. Public housing projects are now the main view from the once known “Avenue”. Religious Institutions are still heavily prevalent and important to this community, being places of gathering and healing. The youth is very present within the neighborhood due to the numerous elementary schools located close by, creating a multi-generational neighborhood. With a majority of the neighborhood being accessed from within a 1/2 mile diameter, the opportunity for the park to be a centrail locus is highly feasable, targeted toward mainly Upton neighborhood residents and a few bordering neighbors.
Neighborhood Context
After urban renewal, the physical aesthetic of Upton neighborhood and Pennsylvania Avenue dramatically changed. Public housing projects are now the main view from the once known “Avenue”. Religious Institutions are still heavily prevalent and important to this community, being places of gathering and healing. The youth is very present within the neighborhood due to the numerous elementary schools located close by, creating a multi-generational neighborhood. With a majority of the neighborhood being accessible within a 1/2 mile diameter, the opportunity for the park to become a central locus is highly feasible, targeted toward mainly Upton neighborhood residents and bordering neighbors. Also, with the park’s proximity to multiple residential housing projects and apartment buildings, the site becomes a desired and functional open space for the neighborhood and community to gather, while providing a release from the urban fabric.
PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE HERITAGE TRAIL: Walk through Baltimore’s premier historic African American neighborhood, journey through history and stories M
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Religious Institution Religious Institutions
Social/Musical Hub Social/Music Hub
Schools Schools
Historic Locations/Museums Historic Location/Museum
Residences Residences
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Neighborhood Context “A Walk Through Historic Old West Baltimore” - Pennsylvania Avenue Hertiage Trail takes you through Baltimore’s premier historic African American neighborhood. Here, you will meet civil rights leaders, artists and musicians, visit historic African American churches, and relive the glory days of Pennsylvania Avenue, once a world renowned entertainment district. Along the Trail, you’ll find colorful and historically-rich story signs and site markers that introduce you to the Baltimore African Americans helped build (Pennsylvania Avenue Heritage Trail). The Royal Theater Marquee Monument is marker 11, along the Heritage Trail, just at the corner of the current Robert C. Marshall park. Existing within a current historical layer of the neighborhood. there is an opportunity to integrate the new Royal Theater Monument Park into the Trail framework - becoming a cultural and historial destination for the neighborhood and visitors to the Trail. 22
Neighborhood Inventory
Preferences and children"s and clothing frequently. Shopping at discount stores. For exercise, theya take their to nearby city parks andshows. playgrounds. Preferences -- Residents Residents buy shopbaby at discount stores products, but preferfood, the grocery closemost to them. Residents enoy their daytime and and department prime time TV, watching game shows, variety of children sports, and entertainment news Avid newspaper readers who stay current. Social Security: Demographics - Forty percent are aged 65 years or older; with the median age of 44 years. Most live alone, but with a blend of different racial groups. Socioeconomics - Living on very low and fixed incomes because of retirement, their median household income is $17,000. The service industry provides more than half of the jobs held by these employed residents.
Land use
Residential - These communities are dispersed around business districts and city parks. Many residents rely on easily accessible public transportation.
Demographics
Preferences - Residents shop at discount stores but prefer the grocery close to them. Residents enoy their daytime and prime time TV, watching game shows, a variety of sports, and entertainment news shows. Avid newspaper readers who stay current.
ANALYSIS: The Upton Neighborhood and surrounding areas are comprised of mainly young families or single renters. The Social Security set anchoring the "bottom" of Pennsylvania Avenue requires an accessible landscape, both on the streets and through public transportation. This neighborhood is multigenerational, both within the family dynamic and from neighbor to neighbor. The presence of the elementary school makes youth visible within the context of the neighborhood. A common ground for the young and old, working and retired, and transitioning and rooted will be provided in the redesign of Robert C. Marshall park.
Analysis: The Upton
neighborhood and surrounding areas are comprised of mainly young families or single renters. The social security set anchoring the “bottom” of Pennsylvania Avenue requires an accessible landscape, both on the streets and through public transportation, This neighborhood is multigenerational, both within the family dynamic and from neighbor to neighbor. The presence of the Elementary School makes youth visible within the context of the neighborhood. A common ground for the young and the old, working and retired, and transitioning and rooted, will be provided in the redesign of the park.
Land use
MediumDensity Density Commercial Medium Commercial Park / Greenspace Park / Greenspace Medium Density Commercial Private community facilities Private Community Facilities Park / Greenspace
Private Institutional Private institutionalFacilities facilities Private community facilities Public InstitutionalFacilities Facilities Public Institutional Private institutional facilities
MediumDensity Density Residential Medium Residential
Analysis: There is little residual commercial life along Pennsylvania Avenue after the restructuring of the neighborhood, due to urban renewal.
Metro Renters: ANALYSIS: There is little residual commercial life along Pennsylvania Avenue after the restructing of the neighborhood, due to urban renewal. The commercial stores that do exist today are mainly salons, carry-out restaurants, convenience and liquor stores, and a few community nodes, The commercial stores that do exist today are mainly salons, carry-out restaurants, convenience and liquor stores, and a few community nodes, Demographics - young, educated singles, just beginning professional career. May be sharing housing with a roommate to help with high rent costs. Median age is 32.1 suchrecreational as the recreational andlegendary the legendary Avenue Market.Life, Life,though, though, is Designated as one Baltimore's such as the centercenter and the avenue market. is still still present presentononthethestreet. street. Designated asofone of Baltimore’s years, younger than the US median of 37 years. Young and diverse. "Main Streets", with the mantra: "Main Street: Where Baltimore Happens", the African American population still occupy the street. Public and with the mantra: “Mainpresence Street:within Where Happens”, the African American population still occupies the street. Public and Private institutions have a heavy thisBaltimore urban residential neighborhood. Socioeconomics - Household income around $50,000, with approximately 60 percent of employed residents working in the professional and management occupations, most “Main Streets”, ANALYSIS: There is little residual commercial life along Pennsylvania Avenue after the restructing of the neighborhood, due to urban renewal. private institutions have a heavy presence within this urban residential The commercial stores that do exist today are mainly salons, carry-out neighborhood. restaurants, convenience and liquor stores, and a few community nodes, in the service and industry sector. More than 80 percent have attended college; 17 percent are still enrolled in undergraduate or graduate schools. such as the recreational center and the legendary Avenue Market. Life, though, is still present on the street. Designated as one of Baltimore's Preferences - These renters buy clothes and other merchandise from traditional stores or online from favorites. They take their clothes to the dry cleaners. Active Metro "Main Streets", with the mantra: "Main Street: Where Baltimore Happens", the African American population still occupy the street. Public and Vacant Building Lot within Opportunities Private institutions have aand heavy presence this urban residential neighborhood. Renters residents work out regularly, and take advantage of their urban milieu, go dancing, visit museums, go to the movies, or eat out. They listen to alternative, jazz, classical music, all-news, and public radio. Old and Newcomers: Vacant Building and Lot Opportunities Demographics - Transitional neighborhood residents: Beginning or retiring from their careers. They range in age from their 20s to 75 and older. Their median age is 36.3. There are more singles and shared households than families. Socioeconomics - The median household income of $40,000 is below the US median. Educational attainment, college, and graduate school enrollment are above average. Preferences - Their purchases reflect the unencumbered lifestyles of singles and renters. They spend less at the grocery store than larger households. Their leisure activities vary with age but exercise by walking, swimming, and going bowling. Urban Rows: Demographics - The smallest of all the Tapestry segments, shrinking due to urban renewal projects. The median age is 32.5 years. Household types include married couples, single-parent families, and other families. Grandparents are caregivers in many households; many homes are multigenerational. Nearly 70 percent of the residents are black. Socioeconomics - The median household income is $30,000. Some households supplement their wage and salary income with Supplemental Security Income or public assisLand tance. Nearlyuse half of the employed residents work in white-collar occupations. Residential - Row houses and single-family dwellings comprise 76 percent of these households. Gentrification is beginning, although the housing vacancy rate of 19 percent in these neighborhoods is still higher than the US rate. Most built before 1950. Many residents rely on public transportation. Preferences - Relatively few homes have air conditioning or central heating; others rely on separate room air conditioners, ceiling fans, and space heaters. Internet access is not widespread within these neighborhoods. Music is a big part of their daily lives. They download music from the internet, read music magazines, and listen to urban and contemporary hit radio. City Commons: Demographics - Single-parent families or singles who live alone comprise of these very young households. Median age of 26.7 years, with approximately half of the households having children; some households are multigenerational, with adults still living at home or grandparents who provide child care. Not ethnically diverse, but 81 percent of the population is black. Socioeconomics - Double the national level, 31 percent of residents who work are employed in service occupations. More than 60 percent of the residents aged 25 years and older have graduated from high school. The median household income is $16,000. Preferences - Residents buy baby and children"s products, food, and clothing most frequently. Shopping at discount and department stores. For exercise, they take their children to nearby city parks and playgrounds. Social Security: Demographics - Forty percent are aged 65 years or older; with the median age of 44 years. Most live alone, but with a blend of different racial groups. Medium Density Commercial Socioeconomics - Living on very low and fixed incomes because of retirement, their median household income is $17,000. The service industry provides more than half of Park / Greenspace the jobs held by these employed residents. Preferences - Residents shop at discount stores but prefer the grocery close to them. Residents enoy their daytime and prime time TV, watching game shows, a variety of Private community facilities sports, and entertainment news shows. Avid newspaper readers who stay current. Metro Renters: Demographics - young, educated singles, just beginning professional career. May be sharing housing with a roommate to help with high rent costs. Median age is 32.1 years, younger than the US median of 37 years. Young and diverse.
Socioeconomics - Household income around $50,000, with approximately 60 percent of employed residents working in the professional and management occupations, most in the service and industry sector. More than 80 percent have attended college; 17 percent are still enrolled in undergraduate or graduate schools.
Public Institutional Facilities Medium Density Residential
Residential - Approximately 90 percent of the housing is apartments, 37 percent in high rise buildings
Preferences - These renters buy clothes and other merchandise from traditional stores or online from favorites. They take their clothes to the dry cleaners. Active Metro Renters residents work out regularly, and take advantage of their urban milieu, go dancing, visit museums, go to the movies, or eat out. They listen to alternative, jazz, classical music, all-news, and public radio. Politically, these neighborhoods are liberal.
Old and Newcomers: Demographics - Transitional neighborhood residents: Beginning or retiring from their careers. They range in age from their 20s to 75 and older. Their median age is 36.3. There are more singles and shared households than families. Socioeconomics - The median household income of $40,000 is below the US median. Educational attainment, college, and graduate school enrollment are above average.
Residential - More than 60 percent rent; approximately half in mid-or-high-rise buildings, with nearly 14 percent in two-or-four-unit buildings. Six to ten housing units were built between 1969 and 1989.
Preferences - Their purchases reflect the unencumbered lifestyles of singles and renters. They spend less at the grocery store than larger households. Their leisure activities vary with age but exercise by walking, swimming, and going bowling.
Urban Rows:
Demographics - The smallest of all the Tapestry segments, shrinking due to urban renewal projects. The median age is 32.5 years. Household types include married couples, single-parent families, and other families. Grandparents are caregivers in many households; many homes are multigenerational. Nearly 70 percent of the residents are black. Socioeconomics - The median household income is $30,000. Some households supplement their wage and salary income with Supplemental Security Income or public assistance. Nearly half of the employed residents work in white-collar occupations.
Residential - Row houses and single-family dwellings comprise 76 percent of these households. Gentrification is beginning, although the housing vacancy rate of 19 percent in these neighborhoods is still higher than the US rate. Most built before 1950. Many residents rely on public transportation.
Preferences - Relatively few homes have air conditioning or central heating; others rely on separate room air conditioners, ceiling fans, and space heaters. Internet access is not widespread within these neighborhoods. Music is a big part of their daily lives. They download music from the internet, read music magazines, and listen to urban and contemporary hit radio.
City Commons: Demographics - Single-parent families or singles who live alone comprise of these very young households. Median age of 26.7 years, with approximately half of the households having children; some households are multigenerational, with adults still living at home or grandparents who provide child care. Not ethnically diverse, but 81 percent of the population is black. Socioeconomics - Double the national level, 31 percent of residents who work are employed in service occupations. More than 60 percent of the residents aged 25 years and older have graduated from high school. The median household income is $16,000. Residential - More than three-fourths of the households rent from multiunit buildings, primarily with fewer than 20 units. One fourth of the housing is single-family dwellings.
Preferences - Residents buy baby and children"s products, food, and clothing most frequently. Shopping at discount and department stores. For exercise, they take their children to nearby city parks and playgrounds.
Social Security: Demographics - Forty percent are aged 65 years or older; with the median age of 44 years. Most live alone, but with a blend of different racial groups.
Socioeconomics - Living on very low and fixed incomes because of retirement, their median household income is $17,000. The service industry provides more than half of the jobs held by these employed residents. Residential - These communities are dispersed around business districts and city parks. Many residents rely on easily accessible public transportation.
Preferences - Residents shop at discount stores but prefer the grocery close to them. Residents enoy their daytime and prime time TV, watching game shows, a variety of sports, and entertainment news shows. Avid newspaper readers who stay current.
Neighborhood Analysis ANALYSIS: There is little residual commercial life along Pennsylvania Avenue after the restructing of the neighborhood, due to urban renewal. The commercial stores that do exist today are mainly salons, carry-out restaurants, convenience and liquor stores, and a few community nodes, such as the recreational center and the legendary Avenue Market. Life, though, is still present on the street. Designated as one of Baltimore's "Main Streets", with the mantra: "Main Street: Where Baltimore Happens", the African American population still occupy the street. Public and Private institutions have a heavy presence within this urban residential neighborhood.
Analysis: This area of Old West Baltimore is currently heavily burdened with high vacancy numbers, both in buildings and lots. The ANALYSIS: This area of Old West park willBaltimore act as anis currently urban heavily burdened with high catalyst revitalize vacany to numbers, both the in buildings and lots. neighborhood, ANALYSIS: Thisincreasing area of Old West Baltimore is currently social capital. heavily burdened with high vacany numbers, both in buildings and lots.
Private institutional facilities
Public Institutional Facilities Medium Density Residential
Looking critically at the neighborhood inventory of demographics, land use, and lot opportunities, an analysis of each began to influence a design. Understanding the demographics of the neighborhood, allows for narratives to be developed around specific “characters” in the neighborhood. This then assists in the thinking of who, how and why people will use the site, leading into the development of specific landscape elements catering to those answers. The land use is further investigated on the following page, looking more critically at present day community nodes and the relationships of various places in the neighborhood to the park. The mapping of the vacant lots is to show the opportunity of green open Vacant Building and LotinOpportunities space within a neighborhood revitalizing urban communities, improving their social capital, economic development, and overall health.
LEGEND Medium Commercial High Commercial High Density Residential Medium Density Residential Community Node Cultural Institution Bus Stop Metro Stop Alleys and Pedestrian Connection Vehicular Connections Node - Site and Pedestrians Node - Threshold Existing Park Space Municipal Public Facility
ÂŻ 0
250
500
1,000 Feet
Neighborhood Analysis 24
Pennsylvania Avenue functions as the main commercial spine within a very residential neighborhood. Just north of the park is the Historically Registered Neighborhood of Old Marble Hill, culturally rich with history and architecture. The current open space is mainly associated with the public schools within the area, with only recreational functions. With the park centrally located and just south of the commercial spine, the park could function to revitalize these neighborhoods and generate social capital within the neighborhood.
Br St.
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Site Analysis
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Site Analysis Looking specifically at the site and its surrounding context, it is bounded to the northwest and southeast by cultural institutions - a Baptist Church and F.L. Templeton Elementary School - each having very specific demographics and times of the day associated with their activity but the park has the opportunity to facilitate potential church picnics or children’s play areas. To the northeast and southwest are residential rowhouses and apartment buildings. The rowhouses located within the block are historic structures from the 30s. However, the apartment buildings across the street are more modern and were most likely part of the building during urban renewal. Both allowing the site to function as a neighborhood park - facilitating Upton neighborhood activities and residents.
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Opportunity for Residential Connection Visually across street
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Site Synthesis 26
From the analysis, specific opportunities arose throughout the site. Although, because the site is currently just a grassy open space, it was difficult to work off of existing conditions to generate opportunities and constraints. Engaging the cultural corner, there is an opportunity to create more of a space around the monument, linking the Billie Holiday Statue and the Royal Theater Monument into an entry plaza. The next opportunity was to re-present the prescence of the Theater, somehow marking the location of the building’s footprint, creating a link to the history of the site, revealing a currently invisible layer. Programmatic areas are arising due to the proximity of specific neighborhood elements, such as the elem. school or the connection across the street to residents.
NARRATIVE MAPPING
TENNIS COURT
ENTRY
STAGE
HARDSCAPE
RECREATIONAL SPACE
MUSIC
COMPOSED MELODY
COMMUNITY IMPROVISATION
HEAD
WEEKENDS FOOD
FARMER’S MARKET
RESIDENTS
OUTDOOR DINNERS
ARRABER’S MARKET
WELCOME
PROGRESSION OPEN SPACE
JAZZ
SOCCER
TREES
FOOTBALL
FESTIVAL SPACE
RUNNING
PLAY
IMPROVISATION
PLAY
RECREATIONAL SPACE
COMMUNAL GATHERING
TREES
COMPOSED MELODY
THRESHOLD
REPETITION
HEAD
MONUMENT
HISTORY
BEATS
JAZZ
MOUNDS
FAMILY
TREES
PATHS
GRID
ROYAL THEATER
PICNIC HILL
CONTINUAL RHYTHM
MOUNDS
SPACE
CURVES
SOLOS SPLASHPAD
CHILDREN
SEAT WALL
TERRACES
PERFORMANCES
CURVES
EUBIE BLAKE BREATHING SPACE UNDERLYING STRUCTURE VAMP
BREAK
VAMP
RHYTHM
OPPORTUNITIES
REST
LAWN
SIGNALING
RHYTHM
VAMP
CONTINUAL RHYTHM
JUXTAPOSITION
SOFTBALL
PLAYFUL
SATURDAY MORNINGS
IMPROVISATION SOUNDS
SEAT WALL
COMMUNAL GATHERING
SPACE
MUSIC
VIEW LAWN
DOG PARK ENTRY
BILLIE HOLIDAY CAB CALLOWAY
Narrative Development As a way to bring together the different layers of neighborhood use, musical history, jazz theory, and organization of space, this diagram was created as a mapping of different ideas and opportunities within the park site. The essence of the theater is pulled out and projected onto the site. Functional uses are then developed around those jazz theory ideas, relating it back to the purposeful use of it as an urban neighborhood park. Specific ideas illustrated within this mapping are very temporal, while some are more permanent structures, but this diagram was a way to bring past, present and future uses and ideas together within the site, thinking about park features and how relationships can then begin to develop from space to space.
SITE VISIT: FURMAN L. TEMPLETON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MARCH 13 2014 2PM PLACE TO HOST JAZZ EVENTS
A Jazz Festival planned for September 2014 illustrates the community’s interests in celebrating their jazz history and a space can be designed allowing for such events.
RECREATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
Currently the park has two baseball cages, when speaking with Wanda Best, the Upton Planning Committee head, she stated that open recreational space is important for the site to function as a network of associated elementary school fields for various sports.
INTERPRETIVE PLAYGROUND
With association to the elementary school, the space closest to the school may be utilized as an interpretive/musical/playful play space.
FARMER’S MARKET
The Upton Neighborhood is considered to be in a “Food Desert”. A Farmer’s Market would provide fresh produce, an economic source, and temporal community space.
COMMUNITY GARDEN
The Garden of Hope founded by Teresa Stephens, a long-time member of the community, is located two blocks southeast of the site. About 0.25 acres, the garden is maintained and used by the community, holding about 75 plots.
DOG PARK
Mrs. Stephens recommended an enclosed space to bring dogs. This would provide a safe, leash-free exercise zone for the dogs to run and the owners to engage in conversation.
BASKETBALL COURTS
There is presently an associated basketball court with the elementary school. However, there is the potential to change the existing tennis courts into basketball, or maintain.
WALKING TRAIL
With the neighborhood being multigenerational, a walking trail or path would become part of the elderly community’s everyday. A place for passive exercise but also a place to be seen and find your neighbors.
PLACE FOR AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS
To again link the park and the existing activities of the elementary school, a designed place for after school clubs would benefit the school, kids, and engage in the park.
- URBAN THEATER - BAND - CHOIR - CHESS CLUB - HOMEWORK
Colors representative of neighborhood diversity.
Community Programmatic Votes After meeting with community members, the executive planner for the Upton Planning Committee, and speaking with some children from Furman L. Templeton Elem. School, this list of important programmed activities was created. These programmed activities are based out of the community’s needs and desires – representing the heart of the community, with the essence of jazz embedded into some of the spaces recommended. Understanding what can and could happen here, then helps design for those opportunities. 28
Economic Area - Farmer’s Market
Recreational Area - Tennis Court
Recreational Area - Softball Field - Open Lawn
Royal Theater Monument Plaza
Royal Theater Footprint Grove
Children’s Play Area
Recreational Area - Basketball Court
Community Center Space Dog Park
Furman L. Templeton Elementary School
N
Billie Holiday Statue
Programmatic Development Based off of the list of programs created after the site visit, a diagram illustrating where these activities would best be suited was created to begin the spatial layout of the park. A mapping of programmed areas - with existing and proposed - is developed to illustrate how the spaces connect and flow. The main circulation path is shown to link these places together. Each area has its associated occupancy of space - depending on the activity. Entrances are shown, linking the park to the urban fabric and community.
“ Improvisational design is the freedom within a prescribed framework to reshape the old and familiar into new spatial forms which reflect the soul of the self and community.” - Walter Hood “Blues and Jazz Landscape Improvisations” ‘93
Spatial Sequence diagram:
Jazz Concept Diagram:
HEAD HEAD (structured composition)
HEAD (structured composition)
HEAD
P VAM
VAMP (progression + breaks )
VAMP (progression + breaks )
MELODY
P VAM
COLLECTIVE IMPROVISATION/ SOLOS (improvisation)
ODY
MEL
OS
OS
SOL
SOL
HEAD
OS SOL
HEAD
MELODY HEAD VAMP COLLECTIVE IMPROVISATION
Concept Diagrams The experience of the journey along the main path - the melody curve - enters in through various composed or structured plaza entrances - the head - progressing through the site spatially - the vamp - allowing for a rest before the signaling of the solos or - collective improvisation - where there is the most energy and spontaneity. The spatial relationship and essence of these jazz song characteristics are interpreted into the design of the park, both literally and metaphorically.
The opening and closing heads are associated with the entrances because the head is played at the beginning and end of a jazz tune, turning the entrances and exits into the beginning and ends of a musical composition. Vamps are created to signal a change in spaces - from the head and into the solo. The mounds are associated with this jazz characteristic to mark a transition into the main community center. Their purpose is to lead or progress one into a solo, cueing when to begin. The community center plaza, the dog park, and the children’s play area are all representative of solos, coming together to form the collective improvisation zone, where all elements are individually improvising, but concurrently and harmoniously.
Curves Within a Grid - Movement and expression within a structured rhythmic grid, the curves or melody is laid over the underlying structure, allowing for freeform movement within rhythmic beats
Dynamic Curves Over a Grid - Multiple curves fit over top of an underlying structure or grid, allowing for multiple melodies to be heard and developed. Spaces are created within the dynamic melody, areas of compression and release.
Rhythm - Structure
Melody - Improvisation
Activate the Edges - Curvilinear forms are introduced to activate the edge, with a
Balance and Juxtaposition - Separated by an organically formed curve, the positive, gridded, occupied space to the top balances the open, negative space on the bottom
Repetition and Rest - Diagonal lines connect across the site, repeating curves and grids throughout with a “stride� or shift in form. There are breaks or rests within the continuation of the curved lines. A hierarchy of spaces is created from the use of bounded edges.
horizontal grid laid over the rest of the site
Structure and Melody - The grid - rhythm - is carried through the whole space
Directional Grid with Overlaid Curve - The underlying diagonal rhythmic
Spaces Linked by Curves - Curves create the underlying structure for which the
allowing the free form line - melody - to work together in harmony. Moments are created at the intersections of these overlaid spaces.
sequence develops the melodic cadence, juxtaposing the rigidity of the underlying structure and free form curves. The two act separately and harmoniously.
spaces are defined by informing the space and size
Jazz Concept Studies Jazz Song Structure: Basic structure of a jazz tune 32
Composed Melody // Progression // Collective Improvisation // Progression // Composed Melody HEAD // VAMP // SOLO // VAMP // HEAD
Programmed Area
Diagrammatic Representation
Song Representation
Main Circulation Path
MELODY
Royal Theater Monument Plaza + Royal Theater Monument Grove
HEAD - structure
Mound + Dog Park Central Community Space + Children’s Play Area + Dog Park
VAMP - progression/ signaling
COLLECTIVE IMPROVISATION - flexible
Mound
VAMP - progression/ signlaing
Entries + Farmer’s Market
HEAD - structure
Form Influences Space This matrix illustrates the translation of musical terminology and elements into tangible park features with specific jazz characteristics. Utilizing the metaphor of jazz song structure, the park developed to have very specific spatial qualities and relationships to each element, based off of the song structure of head, vamp, solos, vamp and head - the life of a jazz song. Having the link of programmed spaces to musical structure turns the park into a musical narrative influenced by the history and soul of the neighborhood and the overall flow of the park design as an expression of jazz.
Design Development Developing the design was an iterative process, modeled after the idea of call and response. Utilizing Call and Response: The idea of Call and Response originates from Cab Calloway, a popular Swing-Era Jazz musician who grew up in the neighborhood and performed on the Avnue frequently. Call and Response is defined as a means whereby instruments or sections of instruments in a band or combo play a passage which is in turn responded to by another instrument or section; a musical conversation: one musician or section will play a short melodic idea and is answered by another musician or section (Jazz in America). My interpretation of this jazz technique into a method of my design process was to have a “developmental design conversation,� I was able to create a draft of the design and then answer it with a new design, always allowing myself to build off of ideas and into the direction of a final design, developed from a series of ideas. The sketches above illustrate this process of always thinking and responding off of the iteration before. This method also worked in the development of making a working spatial model.
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Spatial Development From working with the design in plan and two-dimensionally, the model allowed me to begin to look critically at the formation of spaces and those relationships of hardscape, softscape, vertical elements - trees, shrubs, and topography. There was a relationship in what I developed two-dimensionally and then how it became translated three-dimensionally and then back again into a two-dimensional master plan. It was a working process - always changing and progressing, finding new questions about each section of the site with each change, until each question was answered. Eventually, the spatial relationships in the model and the spatial relationships I had created within the metaphor of a jazz song began to align, creating a relationship between what I was developing spatially and how it could be translated into a design. For example, my introduction of a mound into the design was at first just a park element, meant for a division of main and secondary pathways. However, after development and iterations the reasoning behind the design grew stronger with the link to the “vamp� in a jazz song - giving meaning to the spatial form and introducing it as an element marking a change, signaling something new up ahead. The mound also grew, to give more importance and dominance to the space, allowing each space to become a space, rather than bisected places. Also, the method of collaging hardscape and softscape allowed me to think more critically about the formation of spaces, thinking about the width of sidewalks, the material of the ground plane, and the pattern that can be created when both hard and soft features are combined - adding rhythm or repitition into the design.
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Master Plan 36
After iterations of design development, changes in the layout of the programmed areas, and finishing edits in the production of the forms, the master plan was created. The main melodic curve functioning as the “melody� running through the park, or metaphorical song, links the lower larger park space with the upper smaller park space. This main path provides a dominant form within the park giving space and meaning to the various programmed areas. Allowing the curve to develop further into a more sinuous, melodic curve began to give unity and dominance to these areas, functioning wholistically as their own individual entities which could relate back to a jazz song structure - ultimately making a beautiful song and urban neighborhood park.
Royal Theater Monument Park 1. “Royal Theater Monument” - Endorsed by the community, the monument was built in 2005 on the corner of Lafayette and Pennsylvania Avenues. The corner is activated with symbols of music - the Billie Holiday Statue caddy-corner, history - the Royal Theater Marquee Monument, and God - the cross from Providence Baptist Church across the street. Functioning as a cultural threshold into the park, the crossing under the Marquee provides a sense of action reminiscent of the Avenue’s jazz heydays. 2. “Upton Neighborhood Softball Field” - Equipped with two dugouts and a ball cage, the park has the ability to function as a recreational sports space, in combination with the programmatic activities. During the off-season, this area is open lawn, allowing for pick-up games and free play. The opportunity for softball in the park is reminiscent of the idea of playing ball in an urban vacant lot, allowing for the urban life and soul to be reinterpretted. 3. “Royal Theater Footprint Grove” - The 90’ wide Royal Theater is now occupied with a grid of trees, marking the historic presence of the Theater in its actual footprint. This area is a shaded, more private and intimate area utilizing the positive aspects of moveable tables and chairs, allowing the community to make their own spaces. The purposeful protrusion of the brick terrace into the open lawn is to continue the depth of the Theater and let it’s essence inform the rest of the site. 4. “Dog Run” - A very specific programmed area, developed from a community meeting, the dog park will provide a space for the daily dog walker to let their pup run free and get exercise safely within an urban environment. 5. “Picnic Hill” - The mounds function as an entity - representing the progressive nature of a jazz vamp - signaling the next event, the collective improvisational area. 6. “Community Center” - A space where the community will function separately and collectively - the idea of solos combining together into a collective improvisational space. This space is flexible, allowing for a range of activities and people. Large enough to function as a festival space, this area is temporal and multifunctional.
10. “Entry Walk” - A much smaller scale entry walk, the structured pattern used in the ground plane for the other two entrances is reinterpreted here in the trees. The more densely vegetated edge creates a buffer between park and residences across the street.
7. “Entry Plaza” - A secondary public entrance closest to the elementary school, this entry repeats patterns, signaling the structured characteristics of the “head.” The plaza trees are in line with the bricks in the ground plane creating emphasis on specific rhythms and beats. There is a billboard for a physical community message board.
11. “Tennis Court” - Incorporating the existing tennis court, this recreational space works within the neighborhood receational system. There are benches tucked into the walk for passive viewing of the tennis courts.
8. “Children’s Play Area” - An improvisational space, the children’s play area has its own entrance straight from the play yard of the elementary school. It functions as a playful space, an educational space, and a musical space, available for a range of ages, catering to the youth in the neighborhood.
12. “Farmer’s Market” - An economic resource in the community, these two pavilions will be able to house a farmer’s market, a flea market, family gatherings, and temporal activities. Visible from the street, the structured nature of the farmer’s market takes on the pattern from the other entries, conveying the “head” characteristics again.
9. “Play Mound” - This entity of mounds are at a much smaller scale than the first “vamp”. It is a reintroduction of the signaling, only this time, the signaling of the beginning of the end of the “song”. One of the mounds is able to be used as part of the children’s play area for a reading hill or for play.
13. “Small Performance Stage and Lawn” - A smaller pavilion is grouped with an open lawn creating a space for performances during the hours of the farmer’s market or impromptu performances by members in the community. The open lawn provides a condensed area of park space, just across the street from rowhouses and apartment buildings.
Labeled Master Plan The ultimate aim and goals for this project and redesign of the park was for it to function as an urban neighborhood park, which comes with specific programmatic activities and spatial qualities, while being an expression of jazz, which was developed in the concept and overall layout and design of the spaces. The diagram shows this overlap of neighborhood park functions and jazz terminology - showing the layers of thought, design, and function. The jazz terms work cohesively and in conjunction with their programmed areas - providing deeper meaning to their placement and overall design.
SIDEWALK
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THEATER GROVE
DOG PARK
DOG PARK
BALTIMORE STOOP
- TABLES AND CHAIRS
- HEDGES FUNCTION AS FENCE
-GRASSY MOUND FOR EXERCISE
- AMPITHEATER FOR VIEWING PERFORMANCES
PROGRESSION “VAMP” STRUCTURED BEAT “HEAD”
Section Elevation Looking at the spatial organization of the programmed areas and the flow throughout the park, the expression of jazz is always present in the design. The section is illustrating how the neighborhood park functions programmatically and spatially, with the diagrammed “head”, “vamp”, “solo” areas delineated below. A reference to the section is shown in the master plan in the upper left hand corner of the page. 38
CENTRAL COMMUNITY AREA
MUSICAL FOREST
ENTRY WALK
- FLEXIBLE SPACE FOR ACTIVITIES - SPLASH PAD AREA WITH SEAT WALL, FOR RESTING AND WATCHING
- TUNED COLUMNS WHICH CHIME WHEN RUNG - MUSICAL AND EDUCATIONAL PLAY AREA
- PEDESTRIAN ENTRANCE FROM ROWHOUSES ACROSS THE STREET
PROGRESSION “VAMP”
COLLECTIVE IMPROVISATION “SOLOS”
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ROYAL THEATER MONUMENT MARQUEE ENTRY
Site Plan Entering under the threshold of the Royal Theater Marquee Monument, one walks in between beats of ryhthmic benches, as if walking down the central aisle of a theater, progressing toward the stage. You are then met with the Heritage Trail Historical Marker, associated with Pennsylvania Avenue and the history of the Royal Theater. Continuting along the main circulation path, the mounds on either side of you create a break in programmed spaces before cueing the opportunity for improvisation. The history of the Royal Theater Footprint Grove is important to the park in marking its past, while participating in its future.
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The softball field was strategically placed in its location to maximize open space alongside the path and allow for the flow and movement of the melodic curve - the main circulation path - to fit and work through the site. It’s placement is also reminiscent of its prior location within the park - linking back to the community’s needs and desires.
“Royal Theater Monument Marquee Entry” Labeled Site Plan 1. “Royal Theater Monument Marquee” - The plaza’s hardscape pattern is structured and inspired by the “head” - the structured beginning composition of a jazz song. 2. “Rhythmic Benches” - Aligned with the diagonal of the monument, the benches create beats while moving through the entry plaza space. It is an equal yet asymmetrical space with the varying lengths and consistene spacing. 3. “Upton Softball Field” - Maintaining the previous programmed use of the park prior to the redesign, the softball field is a release from the hardscape and programmed activity in the rest of the park. 4. “Heritage Trail Historical Sign” - Utilizing a sign as a marker into the park, this sign is the present day “Marker 11” on the Pennsylvania Avenue Heritage Trail. It speaks to the history of the site and will dually work as a park map and explanation of the design.
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5. “Royal Theater Footprint Grove” - The grid of trees represents the reoccupation of the Theater’s space. An overhead ceiling is created under the massing of trees. This densely shaded area can be filled with moveable tables and chairs, where one can rest and eat lunch or stop with a neighbor. This terracelike area will be paved with bricks taken from the site, where damaged rowhouses were demolished. 6. “Dog Park Entrance” - This double gated dog run entrance allows for the safety and protection of dog and owner while exiting and entering the play/run space, decreasing potential escapes. 7. “Dog Park Amenity Station” - This area, close to the entrance/exit, will provide a water station for both dogs and owners, doggie bags, and a billboard where owners can post new information and updates. 8. “Dog Park” - The dog run area has three different materials, pea gravel, concrete, and grass for the dogs to get sufficient exercise utilizing different muscles. There is ample space for frisbee and protected by a fence alongside the path and hedges alongside the sidewalk. 9. “Picnic Hill” - A small mound, representative of a vamp in a jazz song, functions as a hill upon which to host small picnics or enjoy the shade will watching the softball game or your children in the lawn. 10. “ Open Common Lawn” - As a juxtaposition of positive and negative space, the open lawn allows for free fun open play, where the children can run during physical education or where teenagers can play a pick up football game.
Design Illustratives The ultimate aim and goals for this project and redesign of the park was for the Royal Theater Monument Park to function as an urban neighborhood park, which comes with specific programmatic activities and spatial qualities, while being an expression of jazz, which was developed in the concept and overall layout and design of the spaces. The diagram shows this overlap of neighborhood park functions and jazz terminology - showing the layers of thought, design, and function. The jazz terms work cohesively and in conjunction with their programmed areas - providing deeper meaning to their placement and overall design. The illustratives provide an overall sense of feeling and place to these labeled areas in the site scale plan. The park is brought to life when the opportunity of layered engagement occurs; when a mother brings her child to run through the splash pad area and sits next to a neighbor who is enjoying a jazz trio performance in the central community area - it is the opportunity to meet and speak with people in your community making this public open space rich and important.
“Collective Improvisation” Labeled Site Plan 1. “Crest of the Mound” - Part of the Dog Run, trees in line with pattern on the ground plane 2. “Baltimore Stoop” - Ampitheater built into the mound, an edge from which to watch Upton life, converse with a neighbor, or rest under the shade of a tree. 10. 3. “Improvisational Space” - Flexible space, the opportunity for “expression within bounds”, jazz festivals, performances, plaza space. Directional pattern of bricks in ground plane. 4. “Melody Curve” - The main circulation path releases after the “vamp”, to enter into the open lawn or into the main community center. 5. “Splash Area” - Part of the children’s play area, this splash zone has lights associated with each bubbler and can be timed to music, creating a playful, musical water feature.
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6. “Seat Wall” - While the children play and run through the bubblers, the parents rest on the seat wall within visible distance of their children. 7. “Chalk Wall” - Half mural space and half teaching space, this chalk wall is to be used as a classroom chalkboard, where a music teacher can teach a lesson plan, utilizing the whole tone chimes and then the children have space to write and practice writing music or drawing notes. 8. “Musical Forest” - These columns of varying heights and widths are tuned to the whole tone scale - a popular scale with most jazz songs - to teach the notes and sounds associated with the history of the neighborhood to the children.
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9. “Community Billboard” - At the entrance to the park, this signage will provide important updates and information about the events within the park and the surrounding community. 10. “ Story Tree and Mound” - Musically analogous to the vamp, the combination of mound and tree shade provides a hide-away from the musical forest for reading time with a teacher or parent.
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11. “Children’s Entrance” - The existing entrance from Furman L. Templeton Elementary school
Site Plan Where I think to be the most important part of the newly design park would be this central communal gathering space - representative of the “collective improvisational” part of a jazz song. This is the flexible space of the park allowing for a plethora of temporal and permanent activities. Entering in from Pennsylvania Avenue, the structure of the ground plane and lines of trees guides one into the space. This area is a smaller representation of the “opening head”, with the repitition of pattern from the Royal Theater Monument plaza. Then the edge of the mound and the cover of the trees release one into the open space, which could hold festivals, performances, proxemic and dystemic spaces, playful children running through the splash area, all which would be visible from the curved seat wall and four-tiered ampitheater. This zone is considered the “collective improvisational” area or an area of solos because the activities, conversations, people, times of day, would all be spontaneous. There is a specific framework upon which these elements sit but the opportunities are present and available to the community. 42
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COLLECTIVE IMPROVISATION COMMUNITY CENTER GATHERING SPACE
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Design Illustratives “Musical Forest” Figure 1: Inspired by the image’s columnar poles, the idea is for these columns to be of varying width and height - each tuned to a specific note. The lowest note in the whole tone scale, C, is represented with the color purple, it being a dark and deep color, as well as the physical characteristics of it being short and stocky, creating a deeper, more hollowly tuned sound. The colors progress with each note, until reaching the highest note, A sharp, graphically represented with yellow. Its slenderness and tall height create the high note and it stands tall above the children, being visible from different areas in the park, always linking the park back to music and sound. At night these columns have the opportunity to be lit from within or below, creating a musical nightscape. “Baltimore Stoop” Figure 2: Children telling stories and enjoying the stoop, dreaming about the city beyond their front steps. An inspiration image for the ampitheater or stoops created in the central communal space. “Improvisational Space” Figure 3: Day of Hope, an event currently within the Upton community, is located at the current Robert C. Marshall park one day in the summer, passing out health, school, and kitchen supplies to families - the flexible open space of the central community area can house this festival as well as many others the community has planned now, or may have planned in the future, such as the Jazz Festival in September. “Splash Area” Figure 4: During the summer months, the interactive fountain delights both the young and the young at heart. The water dances and will play a set pattern during certain times, making it a musical feature as well. It is the perfect opportunity to play and cool off in the heat of the Baltimore summer. “Chalk Wall” Figure 5: Dually functioning as an area of self expression and a classroom’s chalkboard, the chalk wall displays scores of sheet music where the children can go create music in the musical forest, learning their music lessons outdoors. “Children’s Entrance” Figure 6: This entrance allows the children of the elementary school to be directly released into their play area during recess and into the open lawn, just across the main path. Current site conditions pictured.
Park as a Sports Field
Park as a Stoop
Park as a Classroom
Park as a Playground
Park as a Song
Park as a Yard
Park as a Stage
Park as a Market
Park as an Archive
Upton Narrative - Design Critique Imagine - it is Easter Sunday and Bethel Methodist Church just finished their Easter service and all church members are invited to a post-mass “Picnic In the Park,” just directly across the street. Crossing under the Monument and through this cultural threshold, you are greeted with the sights and sounds of your neighborhood park. The Avenue Bakery, a local community favorite, has catered the event and set up under the newly blossoming shade of the grove trees, occupying the site of the Royal Theater. Lunch is served and the church members sit and rest while speaking with neighbors and watching dog owners walk by and into the dog park entrance. Simultaneously, there is an Easter Egg Hunt hosted by F.L. Templeton Elementary School. All the children with their families have come out to the park to have an Easter Sunday Festival. The eggs are hidden everywhere - some out in the open lawn, others tucked into the mounds, some in raised planter beds, maybe some even up in the branches of the trees. Once the eggs have been collected, the families come and sit on the “stoop,” children counting their eggs and opening their candy. The teenage boys have migrated to the open lawn for a game of pick up football, while the teenage girls are sitting under the shade of the trees atop “picnic hill,” the perfect spot for watching and gossiping. In the upper portion of the park, the Farmer’s Market is open, as it is every Saturday and Sunday. Today, there are even more vendors. Local food and produce are being provided by farmers in Western Maryland and fresh meals made by the community’s historic Lafayette Market, only a few blocks up from the park. Picnic tables are full of happy families and friends, eating and enjoying the springtime and holiday. A local jazz quartet of a trumpet, saxophone, bass, and drums is performing under the smaller pavilion and families have laid out blankets and set up chairs on the lawn to listen to some “Jazz in the Park.” 44
The Royal Theater’s presence is reintroduced and the park functions as a community locus once again, and the narrative continues.
Conclusion The transformation of Robert C. Marshall Park into the Royal Theater Monument Park, functioning as a jazz inspired neighborhood park, will strengthen Upton neighborhood and West Baltimore’s public life. The park will function once again as a community locus, recalling the life and sounds of the historic jazz era; reinterpreting the meaning of an urban theater into an urban park. The legacy of the past has informed this neighborhood’s future, allowing for the redevelopment of the park to increase social captial, engage in musical history, and serve as a catalyst for redevelopment in West Baltimore. Those echoes that were present along the Avenue now have a place to ressonate within the life and improvisation of the people, stories, and activities of the community.
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Page 16 - text and images: Hood, Walter. Blues & Jazz Landscape Improvisations. Berkley: Poltroon Press, 1993. Print. text: Hood, Walter. Urban Diaries. Washington DC: Spacemaker Press, 1997. 6-13. Print
Page 1, 10-11 Timeline Images - Maryland Historical Society
Page 17 - text and images: Green, J. "Toronto Music Garden: Interpreting Bach with Nature." The DIRT. N.p., 23 Dec. 2009. Web. 2013. <http://dirt.asla.org/2009/12/23/toronto-music-garden-interpreting-bach-with-nature/>. Page 19 - text and images: Jazz in America. The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2014. <www.jazzinamerica.org/JazzResources/Glossary>.
Page 12-13 Character Images - Pennsylvania Avenue Redevelopment Collaborative The Historic Upton Neighborhood Facebook Page Page 15 Collage Image - Philadelphia Parks and Recreation/ PennPraxis
Page 41 Figure 2 Owned by Land Collective “Canal Park” Figure 3 Owned by GKK Architects Figure 5 Owned by Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg Figure 6 Owned by Dogtown Dog Park Figure 7 Owned by Mathews Nielsen Figure 8 Owned by Klyde Warren Park Figure 9 Owned by James Corner Field Operations “Public Square” Page 43 Figure 1 Owned by Domesblissity Blogspot Figure 2 Owned by Jeff Buster “Observations from Baltimore” Figure 3 Owned by Historic Upton Neighborhood Facebook Page Figure 4 Owned by David Rubin of Land Collective “Canal Park” Figure 5 Owned by Siteworks “Downtown Charlottesville Pedestrian Mall”
Page 45 Collage Image - James Corner Field Operations “Public Square Cleveland”
All other images without source citations are my own.
Works Cited Through readings and research, I have been able to be inspired from many different sources and designers, so a big thanks to all the sources above for helping me further articulate my intentions and project.
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Senior Thesis Book Sara Sanchez May 2014