As a result of streets with missed opportunities in Kenton we decided to intervene on Willis Blvd, potentially at the intersections of N Fowler and Washburne Avenues. As most streets that are designed as collector streets [streets primarily used to carry traffic from local to arterial streets] are typically no more than 60 feet wide, Willis is a total of 96 feet. The extra square footage are grass islands and sidewalks.

43% of the Columbia Slough Watershed is natural area and we want to use those strong natural systems to inform our design decision. To do this we have decided on greening the blocks along Willis Blvd as stated above. Our large-scale bioswale intervention will help to raise awareness of the importance of these systems by engulfing their commute with natural systems, whether it be via foot, bicycle or car. By strategically implementing various types of green systems we will be able to control stormwater runoff, enhance the quality of life, and create community engagement opportunities.

The next step in our project process will be to further refine our intervention typologies and placement, our narrative and to make a clear and concise argument for what makes our project relevant to the neighborhood of Kenton. Below is the start of refining our project — all images are works in progress and may not reflect all the research we have collected over the term.

(more…)

DenCITY_update of 2-3-2014_Cutright_Vanderhoof

Here is video of our curated tour of density in Portland now and what is projected. We wanted to see where people thought two types of density (population and buildings)  were both currently, and projected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6ApWpOa2Wo&feature=youtu.be

Hunger is one of the greatest pressing global issue today; Unlike famines that receive emergency-aid, chronic hunger affects 842 million people to suffer from a silent, yet invisible predicament on a daily basis. Although America is known as the land of plenty, 1 in 6 Americans in the United States struggle with hunger. Many people believe that the problems associated with hunger are confined to small pockets of society, certain areas of the country, or certain neighborhoods, but the reality is much different; many hard-working adults, children and seniors who simply cannot always make ends meet are forced to go without food.

On a local scale, The Oregon Food Bank along with their network of food pantries are the only mediators in solving hunger in Oregon as well as Southwest Washington.. It was an enlightening experience speaking with the Director of Operations John Kolsterman at the Oregon Food Bank to identify  problems with the current system; Although the Oregon Food Bank offers great aid to those in need, it is still faces a variety of  problems. Some of which are food freshness, food contamination, waste management and disposal. The biggest problem that they currently face is with logistics;  Fresh produce must be delivered to its 270,000 clients within 15 days and  the Oregon Food Bank’s goal is to reduce it in half (less than a week).

With that in mind, I propose to incorporate SPIN Farming (Small Plot INtensive) to mediate this problem by increasing fresh produce supply through local means of farming. SPIN farming utilizes unused/underused plots of land to grow highly nutritious vegetables, turning water intensive lawns and backyards as well as community gardens into productive grow plots. I believe the incentives for such a concept can be justified through both intrinsic and extrinsic value to the growers such as increasing property value, improving communal ties and awareness, as well as tax breaks and monetary benefits while encouraging and supporting sustainable farming practices on a smaller scale. SPIN farming can be suitably scaled  through various grow plot options; Many of which are low-cost, high productivity forms of growing highly nutritious, healthy vegetables for both Oregon Food Banks clients and the growers.

In entering into design we asked two main questions.

• How do we address the problems of this type?
• How do we do this while maintaining identity and discouraging displacement?

We put together a questionnaire to ask the residents about their space. The feedback we got was valuable and the tenants gave us a lot more information than expected. The designs presented are informed by the feedback from the residents of Brigadoon and how they currently use their space.

Progress
Water is a growing concern amongst the cultures of the world. Here in the northwest there happens to be an abundance of water at the time. This will not be the case for long as global warming and pollution have created awareness that our actions are finite. As new construction techniques continue to advance, a major design function is the rainwater capture on site. By containing the water that falls upon the site or structure, that water is able to be used for irrigation and other activities depending on the infrastructure set up to handle the water. This saves the owner from having to purchase water that is being brought in from off-site (as the city has to import water from the mountain range having outgrown the natural reservoirs, and built impervious surface to keep from replenishing through the natural hydrologic cycle). One of the largest carbon footprints of impervious surfaces are parking lots and ramps that make up the majority of non commercial or residential use lots. These ramps contain the most potent pollutants as cars are one of the biggest threats to the environment. The dripping of toxins and exhausting of carbon dioxide (amongst many other pollutants) at idle, starting, and driving, all collects in the lots and ramps. The rain water then washes those pollutants into the storm water drains, which until recently fed directly into the river. The Big Pipe project in Portland helped to alleviate some of the tension on the system and began separating the waste from residential and commercial use from the storm water drains. This was crucial as overflow situations created a torrent of black water material rushing into the river untreated. Although this will work for now through the Big Pipe size increase, as time has taught us, we will again outgrow the old system and need to find a new way of dealing with water.
Parking ramps are a perfect place for intervention as they contain some of the most unhealthy environments, but are also a way of our daily lives (and not being replaced anytime in the foreseen future). Incorporating an adaptable structure that would capture the rainwater, treat and purify, then reuse it for vegetation on site will help to mediate the air quality in the area. To do this a phase-able system is needed. The size needs to be able to vary and fit all types of ramps across the city. A canopy like structure that sits above the cars can act as shade, (alleviating the excess heat ramps create) rainwater protection, (keeping people dry as they go to and from their cars) and rainwater capture devise (starting the purification process), as well as being aesthetically appealing to all as nature has proven to be a healthier environment then plain concrete buildings.
The project at this time consists of a collection of statistics that describe the rain fall in Portland, the taxes on not capturing rain water, incentives to capture rainwater, the size of the systems needed to cope with the amount of water on each particular site, as well as the codes that can help to push the cover to 50% of the top floor of each unit with vegetation within the next few years. (this is currently being enforced on new parking surface lots.)
The type of filtration system is being analyzed with the help of some agronomists and green wall experts. The goal is to find the correct vegetation that will be the most beneficial for the environment as well as be aesthetically appealing and economical. Also the plants ideally will grow on a hydroponic system that will be designed and incorporated with the canopy coverage as well as the vertical gardens to keep the overall mass of the installation to a minimal. Interviews are being conducted with a local planner, agronomists, as well as the parking lot owners and attendees to find out more information.

We are addressing the issue of a lack of community space and neighborhood identity in many urban living environments.

The Type:

We started by defining 4 major factors present in an apartment typology we are looking at that negate social interaction between community members.
• The site being cut off from a larger neighborhood by having only businesses in your surrounding area.
• The site being adjacent to a busy street and having the main exit face onto that street, which makes the community isolated.
• The lack of shared community space.
• A lack of usable space outside the entryway to homes that could act as social medium between the home and the rest of the community.

We choose to confront this typology through designing specifically with the residents of the Brigadoon Apartment complex in the Cully neighborhood of NE Portland.

Our goal is to engage the community, stimulate economic development, and readdress how streets are currently being used in Portland by temporarily closing streets. The map below is of the downtown streets, showing which ones can and cannot be closed through a series of criteria such as average volume of traffic and whether or not public transit runs on that street. We discussed the necessary steps in temporarily closing Portland’s downtown streets, with the process taking between 4-6 weeks after the proper paperwork has been turned into the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

There have been projects in other major cities such as New York and San Francisco that have reimagined how best to use their streets and sidewalks. New York’s data collected from street transformations that included larger pedestrian areas shows that it is not only beneficial economically, but that people’s perception of the areas improved as well.

Our next steps will be designing a full range of outdoor furniture that will be rented to community organizations and businesses interested in increasing pedestrian interaction around their stores as well as to the City of Portland for events. We would be providing temporary seating, tables, bicycle racks, booths for vendors, as well as stages. The furniture will be designed to reflect Portland’s unique culture while focusing on being easily transportable. In addition to the furniture we will be providing the businesses and communities with the necessary step-by-step information needed to obtain the street closure permit.

Let’s face it: every person needs air to breath. Good air quality is important for human health and with the rising population growth in urban areas, it is vital to maintain a healthy air quality for urban residents. Yet, how many people know about the current air quality in there region?

Portland, OR meets all the federal benchmark regulations for good air quality, yet, in comparison to other similar-sized cities, Portland is falling behind. Air quality is correlated with human activity such as vehicle transportation, and the consequences directly affect health. As the area becomes more attractive, the growing number of people living in our region will create a paralleled increase in vehicle associated emissions (such as CO2 and diesel particulates), growing industries (such as benzene and wood burning toxics), which correlates with air quality and health of our city.

In 2013, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) projected the air quality for the metro area in 2017. This modeling was funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and conducted by DEQ, revealed that at least eight of the nineteen identified air toxics will exceed health standards. This assessment rose from EPA funding for Portland to monitor air toxics in the region.  DEQ identified the highest priority air pollutants. Air toxics such as NO2, CO, SO2, and diesel particulates were ranked the most important to reduce in the immediate future.

Our objective is to raise individual and group awareness of immediate air quality and the toxics in the air that affect daily and chronic health concerns. We aim to create a digital mapping interface that will analyze data from individual devices that are used by urban residents. This device, which is in development as to how it can monitor specific air toxics as a model for further toxic monitoring, will have features such as: a toxin sensor, a LED light which will illuminate when surrounded by unhealthy air levels, and a GPS tracker. The device will monitor one toxic to act as a surrogate which can be built upon in the future of monitoring other toxins. This is intended to give instantaneous notifications to the user of current air quality to immediate environment, as well as provide data to the mapping website. The website can be accessed by all and act as a comprehensive 3D model of air quality in correlation with human movement (understood through walking, biking, or driving).

The mapping interface can then provide insight into design intervention opportunities in locations where air toxins are the unhealthiest. By linking daily human movement with monitoring one air toxic, that contribute to a larger database of information, we can make more informed design decisions for new development and investment: we can create a healthier, more intelligent city.

From our pin up, the main concern was with the realization of a monitoring sensor that will be able to function in real life. Thus, the first step is to understand the technical aspects of monitoring sensors. To do this we are working with DEQ to understand the logistics of sensors and their accuracy. At the same time we will start creating the online map layers which will collect and represent the data in a user friendly manner and language.

 

About 2047 students live in campus housing, of which only 400-600 students are freshmen. All freshmen that live in campus housing are required to sign up for a meal plan. The meal plan consists of a specific number of meals that they eat at Victor’s cafeteria (food is cooked there) in Ondine (one of the dormitories on campus) and dining dollars that they can spend at three different locations on campus; two coffee shops and a cafeteria that houses various food chains. All the food sources that fall under the meal plan are owned by Aramark (a company that provides services in food, facilities management, and uniforms) or have a contract with them. I surveyed freshmen that live on campus regarding their opinions about the food served at Victor’s in Ondine, the dining dollars and implementing a healthy, fresh and local food source into the freshmen meal plan. Their responses were as follows (for more detailed response check the images below): Food at Victor’s: about 44% think its okay and 33% would not eat it if they did not have to pay for it. Dining Dollars: about 51% love them. Healthy, fresh, local food source: about 72% think it is a great idea. I am suggesting to add a third category to the meal plan package. It is a point system, where each student receives a specific number of points to start with and uses them to buy produce from a community garden on campus and then prepares the food in a community kitchen. Students earn points by teaching other students how to cook something (this will add an educational and cultural layer), help clean up the kitchen, or help maintain the garden. The students will then spend the points earned in the community garden and the cycle continues.

 

 

 

 

 

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