obstacles and opportunities:-as questioned from our previous meeting, can a commuter/transfer station like Bayview MARC become a destination? How can we make "transfer as event" (Dave) ?
-multiple corridors/modes of transit meet here--the rail runs over Norfolk Suffolk Railyards (freight train?), below 895, tangent to the MARC train, and across Lombard after leaving the Marc station. Meanwhile, MTA buses and Bayview Campus shuttle buses run active.
Rather than just having a full-time parking lot for commuters (and construction workers?), how can this space be transformed by day/night? weekday/weekend?
Some quick collage speculations:
With so many corridors passing through this area, signage/communication about construction updates and related local events may be key. To add to Jesse's brainstorming list of local events that can help make these "temporary urban spaces" become more permanent but flexible and transforming:
-drive-in and walk-in talks/lectures held by the Bayview campus or other nearby neighborhoods
-transformative signage and urban furniture using salvaged construction materials perhaps--street lights, benches, bike racks, tables, etc...
RELATED PRECEDENTS
check this!
http://www.rebargroup.org/projects/pavementtoparks/
really liking the adaptive reuse of those garbage dumps into mobile tree/garden lots. Wonder what construction materials can be recycled and re-used on site?
and this!
http://www.rebargroup.org/projects/parkcycle/
Letting the community design/build mobile greens can give them the fun/freedom to flexibly change a public space into markets, meetings, tree plantings...or yoga sessions?
for really cool urbanism ideas, check out Lateral Architecture! particularly the slips project, where we could apply cool crosswalk patterning to provide traffic with clear direction
http://www.lateralarch.com/master.html
more images to come...
So you were thinking using slips and pocket parks to unify the track areas? Sort of integrating/upgrading them into community spaces?
ReplyDeleteit's one idea that can we can spin off of. I was sort of shying away from it at first cuz it's something amanda, michael, and i applied/explored in our last urban design project (in silver spring) from studio. but why not? I'm sure we can somehow re-apply/re-invent that precedent into baltimore. With a future rail running right in the middle of the road, and with construction taking up a good chunk of the road, crossing it will be pretty daunting. I guess our case is more about addressing the more immediate issue of having easy pedestrian access to both sides of the street during and after construction. And having ppl be more accustomed to crossing a road with a future light rail would be good too. We would want them to be able to cross right? esp if many of these roads are expected to be potential "main street" corridors. (And of course if this means revitalizing neglected urban spaces/pockets in the long-term, then even better!) Better crosswalk designs is also better communication for vehicles, bikes, and other traffic modes.
ReplyDeleteAgain, i think our focus should be on more immediate issues. We can really explore the experience of crossing the street, as this precedent suggests. Could the stripes of a crosswalk transform into benches/tables/bike racks at certain points. (drawings would probably be helpful, i know...) I know you had ideas on clever uses of light--different colors, vibrancies, and blinking effects for different events. And you raised the issue of safety. How can we make better-lit crosswalks. Light-walks for the light rail?
Maybe as we start proposing solutions to more immediate issues, we can further propose what those solutions could lead to in the long-run. Like what could they evolve into?