Public Square Studio

2006-12-05T16:10:00.000-05:00

Impending Final Reviews 8 December 2006

The Public Square Studio is nearing an end. The three groups are participating in final documentation, model building, diagramming, and rhetorical editing in these final days.

The three groups are interested and speculating about these subjects and how they are motivated within a re-constituted Public Square:

1. Spectacle enhancement, harvesting, and deployment in concert with city infrastructures
2. Intellectual Grazing Fields
3. Disseminated modulated Intensities, Armatures, Landscapes, and Programs

Please look for posted images, discussion points, notions, and debates later next week.

2006-11-21T13:53:00.000-05:00

Post mid-term, the Intellectual Grazing Field was trying to define itself-in architecture and in concept. The object building was struggling for its place within the field condition created on the ground plan and finally manifested itself as a large auditorium with classrooms ( as a concentration of the University Program on the square ). The Intellectual Exchange Points were defined as points of "Reflection", "Discussion" and "Lecture" and correspond to one person, more than one person and one person addressing a large group. This defined the Intellectual loop. Hence there were conversation pits, reflection pits and classrooms scattered on the square. The final outcome became a very heirarchical concept of built form on the ground plan of the square. After last friday's review, we will look at more ground plan patterns and options where these patterns transform into architecture, taking the form of the programmatic requirements of our University and Intellectual Grazing Field!

2006-11-19T23:26:00.000-05:00

An interesting dialogue began to shape between the three juries this past Friday. Each group presented three completely different trajectories for reaching a possible design. The first group was engulfed in a series of diagramming in which they would create a diagram, extract possible conceptual frameworks from that diagram, then proceed to re-diagram. This cycle of post-rationalizing diagrammatic processes without any kind of preconceived 'goal' pushed the designers to continuously reconceptualize their project in unpredicted ways. However, this cyclic process could continue indefinitely without producing design. The point of departure towards actualization of a conceptual framework is therefore extremely important, as was suggested by the jury. The second group initially devised a 'goal' (unlike the first group) and have been working towards an actualization of that concept. Pragmatic problems have dampered the actualization of this concept, whereas a move towards abstraction or diagramming (away from the pragmatic concerns of the project) could have been useful (as suggested by the jury). The third group represented the time-tested way of producing architecture. Working within a somewhat vague conceptual framework, the designers have produced a very pragmatic and willful design which addresses many of the complicated and contradictory pragmatic issues of the site. The jury recommended a re-focusing of the initial conceptual framework. None of the three presented trajectories are 'right,' but all offer advantages and disadvantages, which were all very explicitly noted by the jurors. We'll see where the trajectories end by the final jury.

2006-10-31T22:02:00.000-05:00

Midterm Jury:
The main points of dialogue at the midterm jury were:
1. What could be extracted from the series of density diagrams?
2. Where the diagrams analytic or synthetic?
3. How could the diagrams represent intensity rather than aggregation?
4. What did these diagrams say about American public space?
5. What kind of values are we, as the designers, placing on American public space?

Following the jury, our main focus has been investigating intensities, both linear and field intensities. The aggregations of 'density' in the previous diagrams have been replaced by increased or decreased intensities. The next step in our investigations will be to videotape how Clevelanders use public space now, and we will diagram those intensities. Then, rather than strictly apply those densities to our proposal, we will begin to look at ways to extract particular aspects of the intensities, which may or may not align with the intensities themselves. How these specific aspects juxtapose with the general intensities will then determine programmatic or event locations. Then, as we begin to narrow the extent of our original density fluctuation diagrams, we will focus on particular changes throughout the course of a day, and how certain ammenities or program can change throughout the day, affecting the way Americans use public space.

2006-10-31T20:37:00.000-05:00

At the midpoint of the semester, our proposal for public square centered around the concepts of transportational infrastructure and spectacle. We consolidated the bus stops into one bus terminal and constructed the "showcase tube" which is a type of public market which makes extensive use of imagery. While this design seemed to be the culmination of our precedent studies, it leaves much to be resolved. In general, it does not integrate well into the city, among other problems. With each design iteration, the problem of remaking Public Square gets more and more complex. Our team is now heading into a more intentional phase of design in which the necessities of context and progam are taking a leading role in the informing of design moves while the knowledge culled from the precedent studies is taking on a more static role as a framework or point of reference on which to build upon.

2006-10-27T01:06:00.000-04:00

2006-10-13T00:14:00.000-04:00

Downsview+University of Virginia+Walmart+Parc de la Villette+Loyola Law School+Generic City=The new American Public Space!!!
Todd and I are trying to superimpose or juxtapose the phases and adapting program of Downsview,the pavilions, hotels and central common green of University of Virginia,efficient distribution of the Walmarts, systems of points and lines from La Villette, intermediate interaction spaces,colors of Loyola Law School and "absolutely nothing" from Koolhaas' Generic City!!
As we look back at our precedent studies, we create an "Intellectual Grazing Field" at Public Square,Cleveland.Creating an atmosphere of learning,exchange of ideas for the learned; also creating more opportunities for the intellectual milieu of Cleveland!A plunge from the historical grazing field at Public Square into the futuristic "Intellectual Grazing Field"- a reinvented public space+university campus!!!

2006-10-11T12:58:00.000-04:00

After being paired up with my partner, we underwent a series of studies in which we combined design tactics from our six case studies and applied them to public square. Our case studies are as follows: Central Park, Kahn's traffic studies of Philadelphia, Boston's City Hall, Millennium Park in Chicago, Chicago's Century of Progress Exhibition, and Piccadilly Circus in London. Of all tactics and characteristics obtained through the study of these precedents, a few seemed most prevalent to us: the concept of spectacle and the use of infrastructure. For the time being, we are using these two ideas as the framework for our design of Public Square.

2006-10-08T18:26:00.000-04:00

Q: What to do with Public Square?

After applying several different strategies to Public Square, the question of what to do with Public Square still remains. To try and answer this question we've partnered up and are applying systems of strategies to discern the most logical solution to the challenge. Pictured are 3 trains of thought as to what results when: infrastructure is created (Central Park), existing infrastructure is reconfigured (Kahn's Traffic studies of Philadelphia), interior streets and specific nodes of program are created (Boston City Hall), connections to the city are made (Century of Progress), infrastructure is layered (Millenium Park) and spectacle/advertising reforms the space (Picadilly Circus). Through the 3 trials shown, these parts were applied first chronologically, second by a randomly chosen order, and third as evolutionary within the project.

2006-10-05T14:08:00.000-04:00

2006-09-28T22:36:00.000-04:00

Public Square as an Intellectual Grazing Field

This concept attempts to look at where Public Square has been and where it can go. It views Public Square as being representative of Cleveland and its economy/ ecology/ social structures/ transportation infrastructure/ and intellectual capacity. In the way that a grazing field is a place for wildlife to congregate in a space to replenish their bodies, so too will Public Square become a space where the citizens of the region will feed off of their own collective intellect.

2006-09-27T19:37:00.000-04:00

STUDIO UPDATE 27 SEPTEMBER 2006

Students have started to tackle the re-design of Public Square.

Three very different schemes/systems are beginning to emerge:

1. Multipli-cities of Spectacle Infrastructure
2. Intellectual Grazing Fields
3. Denisty-calibrated + modulated public space generators

Look for rapid progress in the next two weeks.

2006-09-27T11:40:00.000-04:00

Cleveland as a GENERIC CITY??(based on Rem Koolhaas' "Generic City" concept

STRATEGIES FOR PUBLIC SQUARE:

To not consider Public Square as a static identity that Cleveland needs

To not concentrate on the Square as a centre

To consider other important issues that could be solved with the available space at the Square

To free the Square from its historical bindings and envision it as a utilitarian space of today and tomorrow

To give the space a multiple choice usage, considering the Square a flexible fractal of the whole city

Eliminating pedestrian traffic completely and providing for rides instead

Reorganization of vehicular traffic and RTA bus routes by creating special lanes for them could be a practical solution

A mechanism that is functional, logical and is purely derived from the present day need of the "Generic City“

A Square that is new, futuristic and purely based on the need of the existing Cleveland (Generic) city

Hence a system of raising Ontario and Superior, having only the RTA hub at the ground level and creating a system of "rides" across the square to stop pedestrian traffic right at the corner where the intersecting streets meet the square.To have bridges at higher levels for people from surrounding buildings to come into the square at the ground level for buses/to get to their parking garages,hence at certain points there would be tower-like structures connecting people to the square.The height of the towes can increase with change and based on needs.

2006-09-25T20:54:00.000-04:00

Q: What does Brutalist architecture in Boston, MA, have to do with Public Square?
A: It provides the rules to create a parasitic and morphic form in the space.

While Boston City Hall (designed by Kallman, McKinnell, & Knowles in 1968) is a substantial building, the basis for the interior is the creation of space both sectionally and planar. The interior was designed to suck the City Hall plaza (designed by Pei, Cobb, Freed, & Partners in 1961) in and push it upwards into the building. This project inverts this intention to propose what physical form would result if one pictured the suction of Public Square into the vacanies in the surrounding office buildings (represented by the green forms).

2006-09-25T18:03:00.000-04:00

Q: How do you figure out if Public Square's infrastructure is being used efficiently?
A: Apply Louis I. Kahn's tactics from his traffic studies of Philadelphia and see what happens.

Pictures is a diagram showing the existing traffic patterns and proposed traffic patterns of Public Square in Cleveland, Ohio. The symbols are taken directly from Kahn's "Toward a Plan for Midtown Philadelphia" published in the second issue of Perspecta. The idea is to condense and simplify the traffic flow in a logical manner. This proposal attempts to separate the staccato movement of the RTA lines from the continuous flow of vehicular traffic that travels from Superior to Ontario and vice versa.

2006-09-25T12:17:00.000-04:00

Using London's Piccadilly Circus as a precedent case study, I began to speculate how the use of imagery could alter the form of Public Square. Unlike Times Square in New York, the use of video screens and electronic signage in Piccadilly Circus is highly limited. In addition, Piccadilly Circus houses several monuments from London's history. I analyzed these monuments and the intense graphical imagery, focusing on how they relate to the pedestrianized spaces. From this analysis of visual imagery, I deduced several tactics for how this system could be applied to Public Square. Starting with three monuments that I defined (namely the Soldier's and Saliors Memorial, Terminal Tower, and the Old Stone Church) I was able to determine where areas of intense visual imagery would be located and, consequently, the public spaces that would result.

2006-09-24T21:37:00.000-04:00

Public Square as An Organic Growth of the Urban Condition

In the analysis of the Downsview project in Toronto, it is interesting to look at some of the processes proposed in the competition and see how they might be applied to Public Square. The winning proposal by Tree City, a multi-disciplinary team headed up by OMA and Bruce Mau, looked at creating a park that would be developed in phases, and respond to its changing condition as time passed on. A framework was established to identify where the major program elements would be located and subsequently connected by a system of "1000 paths". The proposal took into account that in five years, ten years, and fifteen years from now, the condition of the city and the programmatic needs of the park would change. By setting up only an initial framework for the park, these shifts in program can be managed and still not compromise the main principles that organized the park in the first place. In addition to the framework, the concepts behind Downsview relied on sustainablity both in terms of finance and ecology. The park was to create sociological and physical connections with the city but still operate independent from government and external infrastructure.

An approach similar to the Downsview proposal can be used at Public Square as well. The primary difference in the two projects is scale with Downsview being 100 times the size of Public Square. It is also important to note that while Downsview may be considered an urban park it is actually locate in the suburbs of Toronto, 11 miles form the CBD whereas Public Square is open considered the heart of Cleveland's downtown. Aside form the differences in context though, the approach to creating a phased, financial and ecologically sustainable downtown park is still in the best interest of Cleveland. The idea of building a framework for Public Square rather than a complete design might be conducive to gaining public interest in the park. It seems that there have been many proposals through the years to design a public space that would be used by the citizens of Cleveland and also become a draw for people to come downtown. But many of these proposals have failed to create interest in changing the space and perhaps the greatest incentive for changing the space is the lackluster design the is built there right now.

By creating an initial framework of infrastructure that can redefine the physical characteristics of the space, specific program elements and financial structures can take shape in the future. By creating a framework for the park design to grow out of, an open ended design solution is created. This can spark interest in the future of Public Square amongst all parties that have a connection to downtown Cleveland. With an open ended design solution the framework can guide the project into a certain direction but will also be flexible enough for community leaders to bring more input and creative solutions for the final design. It might also be important to note that Cleveland could be a completely different city several years from now. Advances in technology and healthcare may finally transform the economic engine of Cleveland from one that is an outdated manufacturing base to one that relies more on intellectual property. This major economic shift could have a dramatic effect on how the space that represents the "heart of the city" would change in response to the different program needs. The city could also remain where it is today as a severely poor city with no long term potential for growth. The needs of this civic space would vary differently which is another reason for establishing a framework for the park to grow from.

2006-09-21T16:39:00.000-04:00

"Generic City" as Koolhaas describes.... and I think of Public Square in Cleveland,trying to find strategies for the "questionable" public space in the middle of a jungle of skyscrapers....
-Is the Public Square really the identity that Cleveland desires ,or does an ever changing city need a static identity at all?Does it need to preserve its history when history's disappearance is inevitable as the seconds multiply and minds get busier..??
-Is it really necessary to concentrate on the centre and try and compress the evergrowing city?Is it required to keep the Public Square as Public Square when the place suits other important issues of today
-Can we let Public Square free from its historical bindings and let it grow as it is required today and in future?
-Can we look at Cleveland as a growing city of multiple choice and the Square as just another fractal that is more flexible in use/form?
-Eliminating pedestrian traffic completely and providing for rides instead;also reorganization of vehicular traffic and RTA bus routes by creating special lanes for them could be a practical solution
-To develop a flexible mechanism that should change with change in needs of the city-a mechanism that is functional,logical and is purely derived from the present day need of the "Generic City"
-A Square that is new, futuristic and purely based on the need of the existing Cleveland (Generic) city.

2006-09-20T13:57:00.000-04:00

The Century of Progress Exhibition of 1933 and 1934 in Chicago was used as a precedent for Public Square. After studying the makeup of the fair, I decided that the experiential qualities of the fair were of greater importance than the formal characteristics. To me, the essence of that world's fair was in the spectacle it created through the use of lighting and color. I translated this spectacle of light and color into a notion that Public Square can become an electrifying, even dizzying space of activity and motion through the use of light, video screens, projections, and other sorts of visual communication. Of course, this brings to mind places such as Times Square or Picadilly Circus. I was also intruiged by the temporal nature of the fair and how that could manifest itself in Public Square as an ever-changing form and experience. To sum-up this case study of the Century of Progress Exhibition as a precedent for a new Public Square, I would conclude that Public Square would then become a place of ever-changing spectacle where visual effect is more important than substance.

2006-09-20T00:18:00.000-04:00

Let go of meloncholic notions of loss of public space....says Koolhaas.....
Reading his ' generic city ' concept....and thinking of our public square....where did the essence of the public space go....did the advancement in media just snatch it away from our lives??...or has it lost its appeal in totality!...
The way cities grow...and the way people live today...is totally different from the conditions of the past....hence the change in the use/need of the Public Space!....can architecture really change it today?...does urbanism really exist in this era of standardized building forms and skyscrapers?
can cities/spaces still be made?what does the aesthetic program of modernism have in store?...the abstractions and repetitions seem interesting and boring....
so where does this take us when we think of bringing a change in Public Square....!
There has to be something new.....an experiment...something that has to bring back the essence...and not just by the design of what a public space would have been in the past...or viewed as today.....but a new urbanism????

2006-09-19T22:48:00.000-04:00

The former site of a slaughterhouse in Paris....Parc de la Villette was designed by Bernard Tschumi to be an urban cultural park..
The design is a superimposition of 3 systems: Points(Point like activities),Lines ( linear activities) and Surfaces(Surfaces activities)..
Points or Folies as Tschumi calls them are intense areas of activity placed according to existing site characteristics.
Lines are the orthogonal system of high density pedestrian movement and the curvilinear paths across thematic gardens.
Surfaces are large expanses of left over surfaces
STRATEGIES FOR PUBLIC SQUARE
1.Exploding programmatic requirements-distribution of built mass throughout the site.
2.Minimal interference with the existing setup of the Square-preserving its historical importance,also to avoid problems regarding traffic and RTA bus stops.
3.Points, Lines and Surfaces:
As the site is much smaller, also to create more interest,it is a distorted grid, derived from the existing bus stops at the Public Square.
The lines/vectors of movement are derived based on function and just by following the direction of one grid point from another.
The Surfaces are just the 4 patches of land,used as they are,rather the 3 available patches and the fourth one with the Soldiers and Sailors is retained only with the addition of pathways.
Such a system has been adopted so that the importance does not shift , from the bus stops to the newly built structures.Also to make the bus stops not just bus stops but buildings with various functions hence buildings that are specially designed for the particular function, also to serve as bus stops.
Also,not all of these points/nodes would be built forms; as of now, only the ones within the square and the rest would be incorporated in future for other functions.
Also,considering the traffic counts,redirecting the traffic from West 2nd flanking the top left chunk of the Public Square to allow for the entry to the plaza.
An effort to change the view of the Public Square from one of traffic/chaos to that with better defined areas,activities and forms.

2006-09-19T21:04:00.000-04:00

One of the many problems with Public Square is its obvious disconnect to the city. The square has little vehicular traffic traversing through, a mere 17% of all traffic that approaches the space proceeds through. Furthering this disconnect is that of the pedestrian traffic. Although roughly 20,000 pass through the square on foot, few stick around. During the middle of the day one would be hard pressed to find more than a few wonderers.
One precedent studied to give insight into the issues concerning Public Square is Steel Cloud. Done by Asymptote for the Gateway Competition in 1989, this project sought to address many of the same issues [it is important to notes this project was never realized]. Los Angeles like Cleveland maintains a disconnect between spaces. In the case of L.A. the freeway causes a fissure separating abutting sides. The solution here was a very aggressive monumental structure linking both sides once again, while simultaneously engaging all traffic, pedestrian and vehicular.
This strategy applied to Cleveland would seek to encourage vehicular traffic through the square and would provide various program to attract pedestrian usage.

2006-09-19T08:15:00.000-04:00

STUDIO UPDATE [19 SEPTEMBER 2006]

The studio continues to engage in precedent analysis and the deployment of precedent tactics into Public Square. The students are testing the tactics of precedents of varying scales and scopes, including the following: Central Park (NYC), La Villette (Paris), High Line (NYC), Steel Cloud (LA), Millenium Park (Chicago), Downsview Park (Toronto), Kahn's Philadelphia Traffic Studies, Rockefeller Center (NYC), Piazza d'Italia (New Orleans), Loyola Law School (LA), University of Virginia, and 1933 Century of Progress Exposition (Chicago). Some of the studies can be viewed in various posts below. More should be posted soon.

Students will execute one more round of predecent analysis, research public space altering technologies, and then commence the re-design of Public Square. Initial designs will begin to be posted and discussed by the end of September.

2006-09-18T17:29:00.000-04:00

Q: How do you figure out what to do with Public Square?
A: Find a space 141 times larger than it, dumb it down to the basics, and insert them into Cleveland's Public Square.

Pictured is an interpretation of applying Central Park's basic infrastructural layers (designed by Frederick Law Olmstead) to the 6 acres of land that is Public Square. The submerged transverse roads that connect NYC's city grid across Central Park become a widened midsection of Superior (or Ontario - depends on which way you spin it) with the programatic element of a bus interchange for the many RTA buses that cross through each day.

A "worker path" is then layed over the vehicular thoroughfare. This has been derived from the three other layers of paths which Olmstead had carefully planned in Central Park - carraige paths, riding paths, and pedestrian ways. While the "worker path" does not meander as the paths in Central Park do, it is there for a specific purpose - the ease of pedestrian travel across the busy, city vehicles below. By lifting this off the ground, it removes a person from a seemingly chaotic mess below as Central Park was designed to become a refuge for the masses trapped in a filthy 19th NYC.

2006-09-17T20:56:00.000-04:00

This model represents an application of a contemporary precedent, the High-Line in New York City. The High-Line is an adaptive reuse of an unused existing historic elevated railway into a park (utilizing a gradient of hardscape and softscape) and event space utilized soley by pedestrians. The competition for this project was held in 2004 and won by Diller Scofidio and Field Operations. To apply this precedent to Cleveland's Public Square, I first looked at all of the historic vacancies around Public Square and found that Terminal Tower, May Company, and Higbee's all had from 25% to 100% vacancy rates. The next step was to begin to weave a linear element around the Terminal Tower and through the other two buildings. This linear insertion is being conceptualized as an adaptive and changing element which could occupy other buildings if they become vacant or retract as buildings become occupied.

2006-09-12T16:13:00.000-04:00

STUDIO UPDATE [12 September 2006]

The studio has been involved in information and data gathering, analysis and diagramming. The students were free to pursue any information that may inform, influence, or reflect the constitution of Public Square. How many people drive through Public Square everyday? How many people engage with the RTA Transit system via Tower City or Pulic Square? Who owns all the land surrounding Public Square? What is the current vacancy rate around the Square? Where do tourists go when they visit Downtown Cleveland? How many people live downtown? How many people live downtown? What are the professional and educational attaninment demographics of downtown residents? Many of these questions were answered or will be answered.

We will be looking at infrastructural, architectural, and technological precedents, discerning strategies and tactics, and applying the systems to Public Square in the next two weeks. As we begin testing and designing, images will be posted.

2006-08-30T09:54:00.000-04:00

Welcome to our studio blog. For the fall semester we will be speculating about the function, relevance, and constitution of Cleveland's Public Square while contemplating the churning character of American common space.

Students will be routinely posting their research, analysis, and design work throughout the semester.

Please see the studio brief below.

This studio seeks to investigate the notion of the American commons, how it should be created and what would substantiate its constitution. We will study and analyze different precedents, conditions, technologies, and projects. The studio will speculate and hybridize tactics, systems, flows, and data and then incorporate normative programs with alternative space functions and utilizations. Buildings, infrastructures, fragments, enclosures, etc. will then emerge, informed by the analytical and speculative milieu.

Architecture and Urban Design are not separate endeavors. This studio seeks to inculcate the integration of the architectural projects within the ensemble and planning conceit. The architectures which will evolve throughout the design process will not reside as autonomous objects, but rather will further engender the informed pursuit of the speculation.

The studio does not seek to wax romantically about the historic public square. New formulations about American common space will be requisite. The resulting projects will be speculations about the future of American common space and public architectures, how these spaces will function, how these frameworks will be construed, and how these architectural amalgams may be anticipated to change.

Our research and speculations will focus upon the redesign of Cleveland's Public Square and the design of a civic / government building.