2020 MUD Final Studio Designs

U. C . B E R K E L E Y M A S T E R O F

U R B A N D E S I GN

a d v a n c e d d esi gn proj ec t s

Dewi Bleher (Architecture) Sussen, Germany

Veronica Alatorre (Architecture) Monterrey, México

5

3

6

Asma Boutrick (Architecture) Algiers, Algeria

7

Zijing Chen (Landscape) Suzhou, China

8

Sean King (Landscape) Baltimore, Maryland

10

Amalia Carmona (Architecture) Lubbock, Texas

Zhuping Li (Architecture) Guangzhou, China

Eshana Masud (Architecture) Dhaka, Bangladesh

e t s Wenjie Wu (Urban Design) Beijing, China

ma

Jaime Varas (Architecture) Valparaíso, Chile

ign 2

Daniela Orellana (Architecture) Guayaquil, Ecuador

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es

ba r u

11

r of

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table of contents

1

stu d io in tro duct ion

2

th e p ro je c ts

02

The Haitian Trail Veronica Alatorre

06

The Dilemma Lands Dewi Bleher

10

Information Mothership Asma Boutrick

14

Urban Code-Switch Amalia Carmona

18

Urban Pollination Zijing Chen

22

Communal Grid Sean King

26

Urban Resilience & Informality Zhuping Li

30

Retrofitting Stability Eshana Masud

34

The Unlocked Santa Fe Dam Daniella Orellana

38

Recombining the City Jaime Varas

42

Light the Blighted Wenjie Wu

3

clos ing remarks

studio introduction | 1 Although the Berkeley Master of Urban Design program began only in 1993, urban design education has long played an important role in the College of Environmental Design. For many decades architecture faculty such as William Wurster, Richard Bender, Vernon DeMars, Charles Moore and Donlyn Lyndon added important urban dimensions to their work while planning faculty such as T. J. Kent, Jr., Corwin Mocine, Sidney Williams, and Francis Violich took a physical approach to city planning. In the late 1960s Donald Appleyard and Roger Montgomery joined the College, followed by Allan Jacobs in the 1970s. Many of these professors had appointments in several departments, allowing them to work across disciplinary lines.

Like the field of urban design, the program has continued to evolve over the years.

Throughout all these changes, certain things have remained constant, such as the multidisciplinary nature of the program, governed by a faculty committee from the Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning departments. The program continues to maintain a strong connection with professional practice, drawing lecturers and reviewers from local firms. In recent years, the program has attracted a highly diverse group of students from around the world who, bringing their knowledge, experiences and questions with them, have added a richly global dimension to the program.

Currently, Urban Design as an academic discipline and a professional specialization faces a vastly expanded set of challenges. Urbanization has become planetary, calling for new scales of intervention, far beyond the city limits, as suburbs, rural and even wilderness areas are shaped by development. At the other end of the spectrum, small, human scaled projects have taken on a new importance. Uneven urban development raises complex questions of how to balance global trends with highly specific local demands. Designers are confronted with contradictory urban dynamics that produce both enormous mega-cities and declining “shrinking cities.” In all of these circumstances, designers now must also address environmental problems that are inevitable outcomes of climate change. These issues include pollution, energy use, sea level rise, loss of biodiversity and many others. Social inequalities add another important set of concerns with equity an increasingly important issue.

S t ud i o I nt ro duc t io n

F o re w o rd b y Marg aret Craw f ord C h a i r, MUD E xec tui ve Co m mittee

This year’s final advanced design projects fit into this enlarged arena, demonstrating a global reach as students take on challenges in a multiplicity of settings in urban, suburban, rural, and wilderness sites in North America, Asia and Africa. The groups they propose to serve range from Bangladeshi women to rural Tanzanians to midwestern suburban immigrants, even including non-humans like bees. Some students focused on excavating the existing qualities of their sites, while others introduced radical new technologies, including non-place technologies such as social media. Whatever their site or approach, all of the students took on demanding issues that pushed the boundaries of urban design. Congratulations to you, MUD class of 2020, for your courage, thoughtfulness and creativity!

V E R O N I C A A L AT O R R E

T h e Haitian Trail:

Establishing a pilgrimage route laying the foundation for future development.

Site Location: Haiti | Advisors: Margaret Crawford + Christopher Callot Due to its persistent struggles, Haiti is commonly identified as being in a constant state of emergency and continuously needing assistance from NGOs. These forms of aid are sometimes intertwined with economic interests and political agendas that do not serve local priorities.

Haiti has a complicated history, which has been exacerbated by continuous international intervention. It currently suffers from major environmental and economic problems.

The goal of this thesis is to alleviate some of these tensions by designing a National Pilgrimage Trail for Haiti. This project takes a holistic approach, linking existing places of worship with other places where future development and local activities can occur. This ‘linear intervention’ prioritizes local and market realities and addresses them by synthesizing religious movement and development within a natural setting.

The reason for addressing this issue started when I considered the global crisis that occurs when proposing development in vulnerable settings. There is an enormous struggle to provide fast, cheap, and massive developments that are also sustainable, resilient and just. This issue is extreme in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. There, the struggle between development and preservation is a constant debate.

My approach was to use research to identify the path of the trail and then define how it could create guidelines for future development. The route is the main tool to justify the location of future services. I introduced a new physical and visual landmark that can expand to hold different services. In different places along the trail, depending on the context, the landmark can be transformed, acting as a way finding tool that stitches places together to create meaningful nodes.

PLACES

1 km2

the haitian trail | 3

LA VISITE NATIONAL PARK

FURCY

PORT AU PRINCE

SAUT D’ EAU

MIREBALAIS

MERCHAND DESSALINES

BAHON

CARACOL

QUARTIER MORIN

FORT PICOLET

1,850 m

ELEVATION

JACMEL

ROADS

INTEREST

0m

Adjacent to roads and highways Near roads and highways Not official roads. In the mountain ranges

190,000

137,000 50,000

274,000 127,000

17,000

6,236

19,000

ELEVATION

Population total 11 million

POPULATION

3,000,000

4 | the projects The main action undertaken was the research to define the path of the trail and how this could act as the guideline for future development.

This route works as the main tool that justifies the location of future services, therefore, a new landmark that can expand to hold different services is also introduced. This landmark transforms depending on the context and acts as a way finding tool that stitches places together to create meaningful nodes.

SMALLEST SCALE A gateway Landmark Way finding

MEDIUM SCALE A resting spot Shading and sitting Kiosk with info on walls

LARGE SCALE A community center Bigger gathering area

X LARGE SCALE Lodge destination Seeding for future development Grow with time

the haitian trail | 5 TOPOGRAPHY OF HAITI Meters 0.000 - 200.000 200.000 - 480.000

North section Fort Piccolet

480.000 - 760.000 480.000 - 760.000

Cap Haitien

760.000 - 1080.000 1080.000 - 1480.000

Quartier Morin

1480.000 - 1960.000 1960.000 - 2660.000

Caracol Park

Boundary Central section Proposed trail Points of interest

Bahon

Merchand Dessalines

Fort Culbute

Mirebalais

Saut D’ Eau

South section

Port Au Prince

Furcy

La Visite National

Park

Jacmel

0

10

20

Miles

40

Di l e mm a Lands:

Reconsider the suburban experience in the Twin Cities

DEWI BLEHER

Site Location: Shakopee / Minneapolis, Minnesota | Advisors: Chris Calott + Julia Grinkrug This thesis proposes a new approach for looking at Urban Identity.

It explores the relationship between suburban growth and the socio-economic phenomenon of the reverse commute, both in terms of commerce and leisure. The discontinuities between the initial intentions behind the places explored here and their current interpretation lead to inefficiencies in use. Thus, these spaces are in a state of dilemma,these Dilemma Lands are ill-defined places that are ripe for re-definition. They are currently underutilized because of their strangeness but in reality are excellent places to reconsider the suburban experience.

In the Twin Cities, this dilemma is embodied by the conflict between those looking for a change and the homogeneous and conservative suburban culture. In fact, the gap between the progressive downtown Minneapolis and the expanding horizontal Metropolis continues to grow.

In order to bridge this gap, my project redesigns the physical spaces of Dilemma Lands in order to invite both parties to engage with one another.

By injecting character into the Dilemma Lands and opening them up to the public, they become places of friction. This tension encourages a process of participation and interaction with the design. On the southern edge of Minneapolis, the Dilemma Lands are connected through a corridor along the Minnesota River. A series of interventions that juxtapose stereotypical Minnesotan activities and building scales aims to contradict their current state. As a result, this project imagines various alternatives to supplement the current absence of suburban identity and considers the many ways in which different individuals may come to coexist and grow with them.

dilemma lands | 7

8 | the projects

S e c t i o n a t c u r re n t h i g h w ay

Remove f en cing & repl a ce wit h gre en strip

1

A p l a t f o r m c re a t e s a v i s i b l e landmark element on the highway

V isib le signage for c rossings Safe Pro t e st - High wa y I ns ta l l a ti on

S u m m e r Ca m p

S e c t i o n t h ro u g h su m m e r c a m p

2

1

Camp

Ser vi ce Hut

T h e Wo r k s h o p Hut

Wa t e r f ro n t Tr a i l

U nb ou nd Educ at ion - Summer Ca m p

Savage: O ld Down town

Re cre a t io n a l P a r k

S e c t i o n t h ro u g h S k i H il l

B ur ns vi l l e Sa ni t a r y Ski Hi l l

3

Hea vy Ind u s t r y

3

Act ivit y Cent er

Mi n n e s o t a River

2 Gas re cover y s ys t em

P ro t e c t i v e c l a y c a p

Prot ect i ve l i ner R ecrea t ion fo r All - La ndf i l l Sk i H i l l

S k i H ill

4

6

dilemma lands | 9

Va l l e y f a i r A m u seme n t Park

Shakope e In du st r ial Are a New Shakopee Spine

Co m m u n it y Cre e k

5

4

5

T h e Di l e mmaL a n d Exh i bi ti o n

S o l a r Pa n e l F a r m

S o la r P a n e l F a r m

Wa t e r-Tre atme n t Pl an t

6

I ndus tri a l B oul ev a rd

C ommu nit y Unboun d

I n v is ible H e r it a ge

Africa

Ta n z a n i a

Njombe Region

In for m ation Mo the r ship :

A Catalyst for Enabling Regional Ownership and Self-Reliant Development in Rural Tanzania

ASMA BOUTRIK

Site Location: Tanzania, Africa | Advisors: Margaret Crawford + Chris Calott + Julia Grinkrug The influx of rural migrants to mega cities in Africa has produced uneven growth, slum urbanization, and economic inequalities. The digital divide between the urban and rural areas exacerbates this condition and results in a lack of opportunities in rural areas where access to information is limited. Current scenarios of urban growth favors urban migration to cities over rural investment.

This thesis offers an alternative spatial strategy that emphasizes regional ownership and decentralized systems in rural Tanzania. The main premise is that access to information can be a catalyst for all types of upgrades and improvements. Wi-fi towers and Institutional anchors/centers serve as catalysts for development in a remote rural area. These centers will provide connectivity, technology, and community services supported by a sustainable/eco-friendly infrastructure that utilizes the local natural resources. These informational tools give power to the people to create their own development.

I believe this power starts from access to information and education, and that this can enable efficient use of resources. My role as an urban designer is to design those spaces, buildings, the sub-systems (power & water), and direct them to create growth. This will enable self-reliant economic growth, support local entrepreneurship, expand educational opportunities, upgrade agricultural innovation, and trading productivity.

The project is physically based in a regional town center in the Njombe region with satellite centers in surrounding villages. East Africa is an appropriate site since there is a culture of technological leapfrogging, a scenario in which communities leverage new technologies to rapidly adapt and evolve. This phenomenon creates an atmosphere suitable for transformative intervention. I use Afro-futurist imagery as a way of connecting the local with a global technological future.

information mothership | 11 F u t u re E x p a n si o n

A r r i v al / Tran spo rtati o n

In form a ti on Anc hor

M a r k e t , E x c h a n g e , & M ee ti n g Po i n t

Fig 88 Aerial View: The pieces of this framework come together to provide a central infrastructure that defines the area for the new center and allows for organic growth.

N j o m b e To w n

12 | the projects

the design framework

1 . I n t e r n e t To w e r

The Wi-Fi tower and institutional center becomes the anchor for a new market and transit area, pulling its figural form from the cosmic radial beams of Afro-futurism and connectivity radiation, where the center becomes the mothership and allows for community growth. This 30-meter high tower provides a mesh-network that is supported by solar energy. This lowcost, low-energy system will be built by locals and be an informational tool that gives power to the people to create their own development.

3. Power Generation

Solar panels on the roofs of the main building will provide power to the mesh network and central functions. The panels can be incrementally integrated with the emergent street market, covering an area of approximately 12,000 sq. meters and generating enough power for current and future phases of development. The total power generation could reach 3,600.000 KWh/year given that the local PVC panels generate 300 KWh/sm per year, which is the power required for a 72,000 sq. meter building on an annual basis.

2. Water Harvesting

The water collection system requires a sustainable prototype for development and growth.

The main collection area is the highest zone of the plaza with the main reservoir integrated into the tower. The catchment areas are in the lowest elevation, integrated with the open green spaces with the Internet for public use. The water is collected and cooled by the wind to provide passive cooling by the wind to provide passive cooling for the servers and the return hot water can be recirculated for use, creating a close loop that supports various functions.

4 . Tr a n s i t + M a r k e t I n t e g r a t i o n

The transit, located at the entry to the center, connects the villages and cities. Along this spine is the market and plaza, which are delineated for future development. The market will be defined by armatures that provide power sources for traders to plug into and appropriate the space for their needs. This structure can support the solar panels that allow for future expansion.

information mothership | 13 To w e r P l a z a T h e Marke t

Th e Village Timber L ogi s ti c s

Lupe mbe Village

Arri v a l & Tra ns po r t a t i o n Tr a n sp o r t a t i o n

N j o m b e To w n

In f o rmati o n A n ch o r I n t e r n e t G a rd e n

T h e M o t h e r sh i p

C o l u m b u s, New Mexico

S TMUADLEI A N TC N AM MO ENA A AR

Pu e r t o Pa l o m a s, Chihuahua

U rban Co de- Switc h :

A landscape of exchange in the US-Mexico Borderlands Site Location: Puerto Palomas, Chihuahua + Columbus, New Mexico | Advisors: Chris Callot + Scott Elder Code-switching describes the act of customizing speech or language to the audience being addressed; however, people who live in multicultural communities code-switch not only linguistically, but spatially.

Culture, identity, and experiences influence the way we move through the built environment. These factors shape how we interact with space, share space with others, or modify space to meet our needs. This thesis poses the question: how can the action of code-switching influence spatial design thinking to generate a new trans-border experience in the US-Mexico borderlands?

The ‘borderlands’ are an environment of conflict, between languages, cultures, and nations. This dichotomy results in a hybrid-experience, a “synthesis of duality, a third perspective.” 1 A landscape of exchange characterizes this amalgamation as everything, from commodities and resources to privileges and people, flow across the border.

This condition is not an all-encompassing event sweeping across the borderlands. Rather it is a series of unique and nuanced occurrences of singular crossing points in relation to the landscape and the community they are situated in.

This thesis proposal presents a design strategy that synthesizes the systems of flows and exchanges with the spatial landscape of Puerto Palomas, Chihuahua and Columbus, New Mexico. The sprawling Chihuahua Desert separates the sister-cities, creating a three-mile divide between the communities. The proposal emerges from the need to activate the spatial divide by catalyzing the diverging flows of water and dust across the expanse. Through a series of interlinked interventions, the approach subverts the political realities of the region and engages the communities to participate in a new landscape of exchange.

urban code-switch | 15

L: Water Management

ca

T le:

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S

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XS S

: Th

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T he

Acequia

Ne

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ale :

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L Sc

ater Ma eW na

tio

Th

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Palomas, CH

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urban strategy

ge in

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le ca

t ra

XL S

territorial strategy

Columbus, NM

XS: Constellation Network

S: Acequia Network

XL: Dust Migration

M: The Urban Hinge

16 | the projects existing arroyos/ watershed from mountains

XL | the dust migration The bi-national dust migration will be mitigated through seasonal grassland plantings that balance the local agricultural harvests.

Ja n

underground water management system

L | water management The existing arroyos are channeled into an underground system that collects and guides the water towards harvesting cisterns for collection and community use.

Fe b

c De

xs constellation network

No

rch

v

Ma

XS | the constellations A series of XS design moments connect the invisible dust and water features of the site. These moments allow for human scaled engagement with the territorial flows that freely cross over the political demarcations.

X S : wate r e du cati o n

t

Oct

April

p Se

Ma y

water harvesting cisterns

grassland seasonal plantings

ne Ju

Au

g

Legend

X S : du st mo n i to ri n g

Dust Migration Water Management Constellation Network Water Harvesting Cistern Grassland Plantings

July

Watershed - Existing

circulatory framework At-grade circulation occurs within a country and below-grade circulation occurs between countries hydrological framework New street acequias improve the micro- climate conditions at the existing crossing and connects to the secondary crossing and harvesting cisterns. programmatic framework The Academic District: NMSU +UAC

project title | 17

At-grade circulation

Below-grade circulation at wall

Landforms protect from flooding

Tree-lined acequia streets

New Mexico State University + Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua Educational: Clinical Psychology Department (NMSU)

Community Activation

Educational Innovation (UAC)

Harvesting Cisterns

Academic District

Economics + Human Rights: Economic Development Extension (NMSU) Human Rights Advocacy (UAC)

Descent Gateway

Regional Hydrology + Ecology + Meteorology:

The Crossing

Agriculture, Consumer, + Environmental Sciences (NMSU) Ecological + Environmental Engineering (UAC)

c ommun i ty a c ti v a ti on

t h e c ro ssi n g

t h e su b m e r si o n

th e acade mi c di stri ct

U rban Po llination:

Rethinking Sacramento as a New Bee City

ZIJING CHEN

Site Location: Sacramento, California | Advisors: Harrison Fraker + Louise Monzingo + Julia Grinkrug + Eric Reeder Native bees provide not only incalculable value for human society by pollinating crops and flowers, but also play an important role in maintaining the function of the whole ecosystem and biodiversity.

In order to mitigate the habitat fragmentation and the lack of adequate native pollinators due to mass urbanization and mono cultural agriculture production in the Central Valley, this project will create new habitats for native bees, while providing spaces and activities for people to observe, learn and interact with the native pollinators.

Focusing on Sacramento City and its surrounding farms, this project will involve different parties in the region, proving multiple approaches and scenarios. Strategies include a long-term peripheral corridor along highways i5 and I80, the redesign of the Capitol Mall as a demonstration area, infrastructural interventions and mapping stewardships.

This project aims to not juxtapose human and non-human within an urban context but to let them connect and benefit each other, while making the capital a more resilient, sustainable and bio-diverse city.

Am e r i c a n R i v e r Pa r k w a y

urban pollination | 19

Ra i l y a rd D ev el opm e n t C api to l B u i l di n g & Park

To we r Bri dge

C ro c k e r A r t M u se u m & Pa r k

S o u th si de Park

20 | the projects Green Infrastructure Interventions

Trees and shrubs that are suitable for foraging should be planted along the river bank and highway medians, where there is limited pedestrian access, to ensure the habitat connectivity while at the same time protecting people who are allergic or afraid of bees.

Vehicular Circulation

Proposed building for habitat maintenance and event curating agencies

Elevated platform for educational and recreational purposes

Light Rail

Government buildings will be able to implement green infrastructures as an exemplary action.

Pedestrian + Bike Shared Path

Existing open spaces and parks will be designed to be habitat patches. New facilities, such as bee houses, and relevant relandscaping is required.

Platform / Pedestrian only

Public Installation

Manufactured Bee Planter

Flower Archway

Street Planter

Bee/Bird Baths

Street Light with Flower Basket

Green Wall

Green Roof

urban pollination | 21 S t r a tegy 1

Strategy 2

S trate gy 3

Re du ce t he vehi cl e l a nd by ha l f

Ma k e t h e c e n t r a l l a w n i n t o a h a b i t a t s t r i p , with a bioswale in the center and nesting b a re s o i l s e x p o s e d t o s u n l i g h t .

B u i l d u p an e l e v at e d pl at fo r m fo r h u man i n t e r ac t i o n an d a st o r m w at e r sy st e m l e ad i n g t h e fi l t e re d r u n o ff w at e r t o t h e S ac r ame n t o Ri v e r.

Chi na

Guangdong

Guangzhou

U r ban V i l l age s i n do w n t o w n

Kan gl e V i l l age

K an gl e Vi l l age Exi sti n g C o n di ti o n s Le ge n d An c e st o r H al l F ac t o r y Wo r k sh o p

U rban Res ilienc e & I nfo r ma lit y:

Catalyze industry upgrade and culture heritage in urban villages through social media

ZHUPING LI

Site Location: Kangle Village, Guangzhou, China | Advisors: Peter Bosselmann + Margaret Crawford In times of rapid urban expansion and transformation, informal settlements have become an increasingly global urban phenomenon. Because of the formal city’s incapacity to satisfy all of its residents basic needs, many people’s only alternative is to live outside the regulations.

In some ways, planning creates unplanned and formality creates informality.

Thus these informal settlements work like a sponge to absorb all the demands and issues that spill over from the city. They function to protect both its residents and the formal city from uncertainty and inadaptability during urban transformations.

My goal is to emphasize the key role these informal settlements play in creating an entire urban resilience system and to analyze the diverse possibilities that could occur there due to their unique histories and situations.

Based on my research about spatial justice, social stratification, and distinctive informal urbanization in Pearl River Delta, I choose Kangle village in Guangzhou as my site. In order to preserve its affordable living environment, I upgraded and catalyzed local industry, recalled its collective memory, responded to the natural environment and made sure that every group had access to engage in this process, all improving its comprehensive urban resilience.

urban resilience + informality | 23

Kan gle Village P l a n Stra tegy LEGEN D Ope n Spa ce Sys t em Build open space systems that can service both original villages and migrant workers. Focus on waterfront space and build bridges between 2 sides to connect all education resources

Pu bl ic Spa ce Sys t em The public space system will protect cultural heritage and folklore.

Ancestry still plays an important role to connect people; thus the view is opened towards it, from the other side, to bring a sense of ceremony back to the site.

Edu ca t i on Sys t em Education systems include a worker training center and a fashion design school, one for designers and one for high-tech workers.

Online Sales System Photography Spots Online Sales System In s - F a m o u s S p o t s The key to building an ins-famous place is to extract local features then romanticize and exaggerate them. This will attract influencers’ attention and investment, giving a chance for future industry upgrade.

O ff l i n e S a l e s S y s t e m C o m m e rc i a l S t re e t O ff l i n e S a l e s S y s t e m P e d e s t r i a n S t re e t This strategy provides a comfortable shopping experience and sensible products for businessmen and customers.

M a st e r P l a n o f Ka n g l e Vi l l a g e

24 | the projects

Handshake Alley

Family Workshop

Mixed Residence Industry

Camera rental store 1F Retail

Main Entrance

Traffic Alley

Commercial Entrance

Traffic Alley

reconstruct ion str a t eg y of w orkshop g roup s

urban resilience + informality | 25

original workshop group

transfer temporary roof construction into transparent photography studio

exhibition

embed live streaming room into workshop building

promotion

build watchtower in middle of this group to connect the function

connection

Comm unal Grid:

Regenerative energy in Bakersfield, CA for environmental and social empowerment.

SEAN KING

Site Location: Bakersfield, California | Advisors: Christopher Callot + Julia Grinkrug + John Ellis The future of renewable energy is constantly evolving, as advocates appeal to financially secure individuals and groups to promote sustainable values and technological advancement. But access to renewable energy resources must broaden beyond the advocacy of sustainability into opportunities for community resilience. In the future, sponsors of energy systems must consider the resources of local communities in ways that engage social and environmental factors. California policymakers envision transformation to 100% clean energy by 2045. This initiative will be important for producing and distributing energy in the urbanized regions in the Central Valley.

Successfully implementing clean energy as a renewable alternative throughout California, depends on the local level, with features specific to regional and urban conditions. This project identifies approaches at the state, regional, city, and neighborhood scales, illustrating ways to create renewable resources along with opportunities for progress, growth and equity.

Climate change presents an additional threat to populations already exposed to environmental and social injustices that impact livability and access to services. The Central Valley and surrounding areas of dispersed urbanization are projected to grow in both population and diversity in the immediate future, so providing benefits to local communities must be a priority for the state.

My thesis proposes a regenerative energy model at the neighborhood level, including reallocating existing public streets into production corridors for renewable solar energy to be distributed into adjacent blocks. At the district level, the Sunset Oleander community of Bakersfield becomes a site for district-wide renewable geothermal energy.

An existing freight rail yard and brownfield sites throughout the community that borders downtown are converted to address degradation and pollution exposure. These solutions offer a framework for energy reliance that can be implemented at the larger city level.

communal grid | 27

California Power Grid

Community Energy Hub Land area energy projections in acres California (2015 study): 975,000 Central Valley City (2020 census): 10,000 *Bakersfield, CA

Central Valley Focus

City Level / Renewable Energy

Geothermal

Wind Turbine

Solar Array

Biofuel

28 | the projects Geothermal Wind Turbine Solar Regenerative sites

Kern River

*Mix of agriculture + renewable energy technologies

Energy Regeneration *Co-Beneficial Sustainable

Movement Corridor

Focal Intersections Market Corridor

Network

Production Corridor

Proposed Urban Form *Complimentary growth

YARD INFILL RAIL Urban Fabric - Land Use

Community Energy Zone

Existing Pattern *Urban Isolation

Aqueduct System

DISTRICT LEVEL ACTIONS AND FOCUS Bakersfield Proposed Land Use *District clusters

Open Space

YARD

*Green infrastructure linake

INFILL RAIL

Existing Pattern *Urban Isolation

Energy Regeneration - Open Space

Campus Section

Downtown

communal grid | 29

Rail Tracks Crossing Collage

Regeneration Yard Intervention

R e tro f itting Stabilit y:

ESHANA MASUD

Building a riverside community infrastructure to empower self-dependency of rural women in Bangladesh Site Location: Meghna River Belt, Bangladesh | Advisors: Harrison Fraker + Julia Grinkrug + John Ellis The financial livelihood of women residents in the rural areas of Bangladesh have long been ignored. Due to the social ideologies in those communities, where the male members of the family are primarily responsible for the household income, this situation limits women’s ability to support themselves, be it economically or socially. In addition, there are few available work opportunities that would allow these rural women to be financially independent.

Change, however, is already afoot. Currently, young rural women are moving to cities to find jobs to help provide for themselves and their families back home. A significant amount of these women end up working in the RMG (ready-made garment) industry where the majority of the overall workforce are female.

This expanding marketplace provides a high availability of jobs (since labor is cheap in Bangladesh) and doesn’t require a major educational background. The prospects of this type of employment continuously adds to the population flow into the already dense capital city of Dhaka. Few of these women move because they want to experience the city life, but because they have no job options in their hometowns. In order to address these issues, my project provides these women with new economic opportunities.

The vision is to create a multi-functional communal system that will provide rural women a series of spaces where they make use of the abilities in craftsmanship that they already possess, encouraging them to create and sustain a livelihood of their own.

retrofitting stability | 31

Below 5m Steps

Natural Landscape at 5m

8m

Above 5m Floating dock

Fill above 5m

Raipura

8m

7m Fixed Pier

Levee

Sections: River access systems

J A I M E VA R A S

Narsingdi

Existing parameters Roads ending near a river bank Ferry terminals Ferry route

32 | the projects Sections: Public Realms

Trade institute

Arcade

Residential

Parking

Workshop

Inn

Mixed Use Workshop Zone

Arcade

Courtyard area

Mosque

Arcade

Pedestrian walkway

Shaded walkway

Temporary retail kiosk

Stepped access used during low tide

Central Core

Plan of Public realm beside river bank

Parking

Inn

Public Realm beside river bank

Arcade

Arcade

Retail

Waiting area

Walkway over levee

Floating pier

retrofitting stability | 33 School

Path to agricultural fields

Trade Institutes Workshops Admin/NGO/Banks Hospital Mosque Retail/temporary stalls Main road Pedestrian road

Detention ponds

Public

Public transport station

Personal

Exhibition area

Market Stall

Hostel

Ferry station

Courtyard

School

Class

Proposed layout of linear street typology

DANIELA ORELLANA

U n l oc king the Sant a F e D a m:

Spanning Infrastructure and Strengthening Communities across San Gabriel Valley, CA Site Location: San Gabriel Valley, CA | Advisors: John Ellis + Harrison Fraker + Margaret Crawford The Santa Fe Dam, located in Irwindale in the San Gabriel Valley, is a flood control structure built in 1941. Even though the Dam has never been used at its full capacity, powerful storm runoff events moved high sediment loads downstream into the basin where they scoured and buried vegetation and physically altered its ecosystems.

Due to continued accumulation of sedimentation, there has been a reduction in its water storage capacity by 11%. In addition to these problems with natural processes, risk management and climate change, residents living in disadvantaged and isolated neighborhoods nearby suffer from a dramatic lack of open space and social infrastructure.

The creation of a park inside the Santa Fe Dam will provide open space and places for recreational activities in a disadvantaged neighborhood located in an area contaminated by past industrial use.

However inside the dam, a marvelous place left to nature exists. New flood-able trails, a swimming lake and beach area inside the dam, as well as a nature center, parking houses and a new metro station will make the park accessible to the surrounding communities, thus unlocking its full potential, while conserving its original purpose of flood control for the entire San Gabriel Valley.

New urban development in the proximity of the park will create affordable housing and encourage community engagement.

unlocking the santa fe dam | 35

Smart Irrigation System Watering along the trail is adjusted by the weather conditons of the Valley.

The Santa Fe Dam has never been used at its full capacity / Basin empty most of the year

In dry seasons, the landscape experience will remain along the trail and protect the habitat of endangered birds, least bells Vireo and Coastal California Gnat catcher.

Canopy captures and stores Stormwater from rainy seasons

Return Period Santa Fe Dam 50 years - 475 ft.

Smart irrigation system watering along the trail is adjusted by the weather conditions of the Valley.

Source by US Army Corps of Engineers

Canopy captures and stores storm water from rainy seasons

California Native Drought Resistant Plants Dam Embankment San Gabriel River Diverted River

36 | the projects

Santa Fe Fe District Santa DistrictQuarry Quarry 5690ac-ft ac-ft 5690 Nature Center Nature CenterQuarry Quarry 3630 ac-ft ac-ft 3630 Spreading Grounds Area Spreading Grounds Area 1000ac-ft ac-ft 1000

496 496ftftNGVD NGVD

Total Capacity Total Maximun Maximum Capacity 30880 30880 ac-ft ac-ft

481 ft NGVD 481 ft NGVD 475ft ft NGVD NGVD 475

Historic Maximun Storage in 1966 Historical Maximum Storage in 1966 14400 ac-ft 14400 ac-ft

Dam Embankment

460 ft NGVD

460 ft NGVD

San Gabriel River Diverted River 10320 ac-ft Added Capacity

Dam Embankment

Existing Condition

San Gabriel River Diverted River

Water Storage Optimization Flood risk Management Water Storage Optimization forforFlood Risk Management inside Quarries in the SantaFe Fe Dam Dam Northern AreasAreas Inside Quarries in the Santa Northern

Spreading Grounds

10320 ac-ft Added Capacity

the unlocked santa fe dam | 37 8 12

11

9

10

14

13 18

17

15

16

2

3 1

Santa Fe Regional Park: 1 Dam’s Loop 2 River Walk 3 Wildflowers Scenic Drive 4 Camping Area 5 Picnic with a view 6 Charlie Produce Factory 7 Playground

4

7

Spreading Grounds: 8 Duarte / City of Hope Station 9 Swim Beach Area 10 Splash Pads 11 Trails Entrance 12 Metro Bridge

5

Santa fe District: 13 New Station 14 Nature Centre 15 Miller Street 16 Miller Factory 17 Quarry Bridge 18 Santa Fe Plaza

6

0.15

0.30

0.60 miles

In Japan

2.6

Millions Tons per year Food Produced Locally 1 person needs 0,66 Tons per year 2.644.414 Tons

61%

Of the food is Imported

1.000.000

Acres of traditional farming To fill the gap 1 person needs 0.66 tons per year 2.664.414 tons

Global sites of food consumption and production

R e com bining the Cit y:

Leveraging social-ecological and food systems to save Osaka’s downtown

J A I M E VA R A S

Site Location: Osaka, Japan | Advisors: Harrison Fraker + Julia Grinkrug + John Ellis Japan has been implementing a “compact city” approach for the last 18 years, densifying what is known as the Tōkaidō Belt; a region of fifty million people in the core of the country. This is a unique phenomenon where cities keep growing but not sprawling.

Osaka – the “Kitchen of Japan” has been affected by the national compaction process, due to local migration of people moving from disinvested rural areas towards urban centers; Osaka has lost 40% of its urban agriculture during the last decade.

Revitalizing the relationship Downtown-Periphery can save Osaka poetically and practically. The soil on the periphery is deteriorated and produces low quality vegetables.

The young are not willing to work on farms while an aging population cannot take care of the peripheral patches. Relocating farming to downtown will release enough land to allow reforestation at the edge of the city. This change will reduce the carbon footprint and at the same time revive local food production.

The project redevelops 9,8 Acres near Osaka’s food district, using vertical farming typologies in an urban repair proposal. The new food production district can produce the same as 1,666 acres of traditional farming, feeding 636,636 people with locally produced food. By reforesting 1,666 acres of gradually released land, Osaka’s Carbon Footprint can be reduced by 74% by 2050 going from 58.9 to 15.3 MT/CO2 per year, Osaka´s Carbon Footprint will be similar to cities like Rome (IT) or Austin (TX).

recombining the city | 39

Existing condition Downtown Dotonbori, Osaka 1 km 2

Masterplan Downtown Dotonbori, Osaka 1 km 2 Canal re-development initial concept

40 | the projects

Vertical Farming Blocks

Vertical Farming Roofs

Section introducing freeway re-use with retail and PDR activities in ground floor

Affordable Housing

PV Canal Canopy Freeway Re-use

Educational center where vertical farming can be exposed in a sensorial environment

Downtown street food market under a hanging garden

recombining the city | 41

420,000

Tons per year

636, 636

People can be fed with

Food Produced Locally

Food Produced Locally

1 person needs 0,66 Tons per year

1 person needs 0,66 Tons per year

15%

MT/CO2, Per Year Carbon Footprint

Global Ranking N 156

PV Panel Canopy

VF Urban Room

Urban Forest Freeway Re-use

VF Building

DU Building

L i ght the Blighted:

Revitalizing disinvested neighborhoods along the Cuyahoga river in Cleveland

WENJI WU

Site Location: Cleveland, Ohio | Advisors: John Ellis + Harrison Fraker + Stefan Pellegrini The modern world focuses on regions that are developing toward a prosperous economy and overall population growth, often neglecting declining cities. Cleveland is an exemplary Shrinking City, undergoing a steady loss of the U.S. population since 1950. Despite the loss of US residents, the city’s immigrant population is increasing due to a local Citizenship & Immigration Services office, leading to an overall increase in the number of city residents.

The selected tri-peninsula site is disinvested by the city and has lost much of its population as a result of redlining. Historically, it suffered from heavy industrial development, resulting in large-scale environmental contamination. Additionally a demographic boundary of segregation divides white and non-white communities, with the population predominately African American. Major challenges include the derelict state of the site, which is dominated by parking, the legacy of pollution, and the need to stabilize the lives of the remaining population.

Three economic drivers at each peninsula create new job opportunities and provide public infrastructure. In the Main Peninsula, closest to downtown, a new mini-campus of Cleveland State University provides accessible education and boosts development in the neighborhood.

The Columbus Peninsula is planned for the 2030 World Sustainable Urbanism Expo and establishes a new station on the existing subway line, connecting the site to the airport. The Scranton Peninsula incorporates a health campus and Wellness Trails System based on the existing bike paths. The three peninsulas work together to provide affordable housing, resilient landscaping, and connection to the adjacent neighborhoods.

Through the creation of mixed-income neighborhoods, the activation of the waterfront, and the promotion of healthy walkable lifestyles, this thesis establishes a new urban pattern that revitalizes these disinvested neighborhoods in a sustainable and resilient way.

Land Use

Job Creation

Pedestrian Network

Street Network

Public Transport

Zoom into peninsula

light the blighted | 43

44 | the projects

Apartment building

Mid block lane Townhouses over apartment Private Backyard Underground Parking

Retail

Townhouse A

Townhouse B Apartment

Common space for apartment

Landscape and green areas

light the blighted | 45

The 11 students of the class of 2020 are the 24th group to complete the Masters of Urban Design program.

MUD students represent a small but significant tranche of graduate urban design study at the CED that includes an urban design concentration in the professional degree MCP program as well as the post-professional MUD program.

MUD students are generalists who bring their previous professional experience in architecture, landscape architecture, and planning to the interdisciplinary design tradition at the CED and spend an academic year immersed in the urban laboratory of the San Francisco Bay Area. Their professional perspective and trajectory sets them apart from many of their colleagues as they build a foundation in urban design, theory, and research and collaborate with students in the other advanced degree programs. MUD students often serve as unifiers across design disciplines as they practice design leadership with other students and faculty.

As the capstone of the MUD curriculum, the Advanced Design Project provides an opportunity for students to apply what they’ve learned during their brief yet intense foundational program to a specific geography, program, or design problem. With the ADP, nascent urbanists bring their assumptions under new scrutiny and take up defensible positions that express their respective urban design thesis relying upon iterative testing, design exploration, and the support of their peers and mentors.

The CED provides a setting rich in institutional knowledge that allows and encourages students to build upon past design work and research and has encouraged much growth and evolution since the early years of the program. Over the past two decades, MUD students have leveraged the department’s resources and support of urban design travel and research to expand the definition of urban design, from an initial focus on the design of public spaces, quarters, neighborhoods, streets and corridors in the early years of the program, to the design of regions and territories in recent years. They have sought to confront a range of contemporary issues, from the disinvestment, disorder, and inequity of urban cores, to the retrofit of suburban places, and the adaptation of environments impacted by climate change and sea level rise. Along the way students have gained an immersive understanding of urban design’s overlap and intersection with economic forces, social and political systems, infrastructure, sustainability, cultural heritage, and natural systems (including geology, hydrology, geomorphology, and climate).

The increased availability of extensive satellite mapping data has helped to make project sites at every corner of the globe accessible and feasible and has enabled larger and more complex urban design projects; what may have needed a travel visa, a costly site visit and hours of documentation 20 years ago may today only require access to Google Earth. And the broad efficacy of 3-D modeling software has expanded students’ ability to both analyze data and effectively demonstrate their design outcomes.

Coming into 2019, the MUD students were poised to have what should have been another “ordinary” year of urban design stretching, building upon the work of previous classes, raising some new questions and answering some old ones while collaborating to explore project sites and themes under the guidance of faculty and reviewers. Then, 2020 happened. The advent of the pandemic greatly limited many students’ abilities to visit the ADP sites they had chosen, and lecture courses and design studios went online. Over the summer, students strived to make meaningful projects from the solitary of lockdown, as the California landscape was ravaged by unprecedented wildfires, nationwide protests over systemic racism and police reform erupted, and much of the program’s informal support structure vanished.

Despite these setbacks, the class of 2020 persevered pushing forward big ideas and grand projects. Students used social media to connect with local residents of their sites, who provided reporting and took site photographs, gaining unique perspectives that were otherwise likely to be overlooked. Interim reviews – which had traditionally been very effective in the iterative development of urban design concepts, transitioned to online formats that allowed the “pinup” to evolve seamlessly over the course of the entire semester. Students adopted new strategies for visual communication, leveraging digital workspaces and animations. And the breadth and scale of projects reached new levels, among them: A national trail through Haiti, a district energy strategy for the State of California, a food production strategy for a shrinking metropolis in Japan, a sustainable land use strategy for western Tanzania.

The final ADP reviews have traditionally served as a reunion of locals: MUD graduates that have remained in the Bay Area, current and incoming students, faculty and staff, urban design professionals. This year, online reviews brought together a more international group, including broad and inclusive participation representing 5 continents – a testament to the continuity and community that has been created through 24 years of the program.

The need for urban designers, and multi-disciplinary design leadership, has never been more crucial. The summer of 2020 served as a reminder of the critical and pressing issues facing the built environment, and the abilities of Berkeley’s MUD students to respond in kind. These 11 will join the 184 students that have completed the program since 1997 in making their own important contribution.

C lo sing R e m a rk s

S te f an Pe lli gr ini, RA, AICP, MUD (2001) Le c tu re r in Ur ba n Design (2007 - present )

THE 6FT APART PHOTO Attempting graduation pictures during the Covid-19 pandemic

GOODBYE - ADIOS - HASTA LUEGO - ZÀIJIÀN - AUF WIEDERSEHEN - TSCHÜSS - WADAEAAN - KHODA HAFEZ - CIAO