Book Cover

Video

Project Goals

• Retention and adaptive reuse of the OPH for a mix of specialty retail, entertainment and restaurant use
• Retain the commercial fish activities along the waterfront, but reconfigure the use by modifying the existing facility with a structure that will efficiently accommodate commercial fish activities as an integrated component of the overall design
• Strive for maximum sustainability
• Establish the area as a cultural core of Downtown and San Diego
• Maximize views from the site
• Encourage pedestrian circulation within the project
• Minimize parking surface
• Reserve as much of the area for open space while increasing density
• Improve edge conditions of land to water, as well as site edge and road edge
• Capitalize the area as a public open space
  

Thx to Vicki something i found out today that i should've known earlier

The waterfront area managed by the Port is called state public trust land. This land that must serve statewide, as opposed to purely local, public purposes. Public trust uses are generally limited to water-dependent or water-related uses including:

• Commerce
• Fisheries
• Navigation
• Environmental preservation
• Recreation

Examples of appropriate uses are:

• Ports, marinas, docks, wharves, and buoys;
• Hunting, commercial and sport fishing;
• Bathing, swimming, boating;
• Warehouses, container cargo storage, facilities for the production of oil and gas;
• Visitor serving facilities such as hotels, restaurants, shops and parking lots;
• Wildlife refuges, scientific study; and
• Open space

Uses not permitted on public trust lands are those not related to the list above, do not serve a public purpose, and can be located on non-waterfront property such as residential, non-maritime related commercial, including department stores, and certain office uses.

and Rob Quigley's winning competition of my site with Sasaki Associates

redevelopment criteria:

• Retention and adaptive reuse of the OPH for a mix of specialty retail, entertainment and restaurant uses.
• Demolition of Harbor Seafood Mart (HSM) and development of a smaller facility to incorporate commercial fishing uses, a waterfront fish restaurant and retail spaces.
• Reconfiguration of HSM, OPH, and Seaport Village parking lots.
• New public park and plaza areas.
• Implementation of a Parking Management Program to include some or all of the following: a) on/off-site parking; b) valet/tandem parking; and, c) shuttle system or participation in a shuttle system linking the site to off-site parking.

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Youtube video statement (draft)

It is my intention to apply a recursive analytical process that will design a sustainable community that not only establish a unique identity to seaport village but will add to the rich cultural fabric that is created within San Diego. A city made up of villages that have been fractured by resent changes that are created by cultural and social shifts.
I have chosen this as the premise for my thesis given the decay of social and cultural identity that was original established upon it conception, and the lack of sustainability in this highly ecological area.
In order to elevate this area into a cultural nexus I have decided to incorporate a opera house and museum as well as integrate mix use design principles to establish a sense if community that was previously sea port village.

Thesis title

a Recursive Envisaging: post modern communities Elucidated

Recursive: pertaining to or using a rule or procedure that can be applied repeatedly.

Envisage: To conceive an image or a picture of, especially as a future possibility

Elucidate: to make lucid or clear; throw light upon; explain

This is the idea that a community resides within a neighborhood, which then resides in a city,that is located in a county encapsulated in a state making up a country (this is a specific structure only is applicable in the US) is a recursive process. Each level of detail has their own certain components that exists in all layers, that each layer has it's own distinctive quality yet follows the same rules.

knowing and understanding these components it is clear that all and future communities need to be designed following this process.

It is my goal to use my thesis to explain and adopt this process into a project.

Critical Position

The ontological centrality or identity of a metropolitan area has decayed with the constant change in society by way of cultural shifts. The rationale of this thesis is to investigate the connection between community identity and the need for compact sustainable design building within a community while developing a design solution that will facilitate the creation of an identity by an identifiable or iconic building.

Community is the creating of an established identity that is derived from share goals, values and beliefs. These elements are normally displayed within the urban environment which is then accepted by the occupants of said community. One contends that society has moved on to a more homogeneous sense of identity by patterns created by sprawl or urban growth. However community identity needs to be established so that a community can thrive within its own confines before it can be associated as part of a large group.

How can creating an iconic, timeless or easy identifiable building help foster community identity? By taking into account the social, and cultural context and integrating them in to a semi-mount cultural object. One can encourage the growth of a community while giving it a directional path that cans strength the community that it is established in.

Thesis Statement

A metropolitan area need to be design to be more compact and have an identifiable building that can create a sense of identity within the community, while achieving a sense of sustainability through passive and active sustainable system.

a Recursive Envisaging: post modern communities Elucidated

macro to micro

What makes a great city?

A great city should be blessed with culture, history and size; but most of all, spontaneity of human exchange.
Over 31 million people visited San Diego last yr, the city has over 90 museums with almost 1/5 is in balboa park, and it has history! Can i condense that in my site, and how?

Basic Program

This is intial formation of programatics elements need to establish a sustainable community with in the context of this thesis. More elements will be included or alters as research of site, conditions, and contextual analysis are developed.

CRITICAL POSITION

When the car became easily obtainable as a result of industrial revolution, cities began to change. Homes were built further and further away from the amenities and place of work while the dependency on cars grew in conjunction with the size of cities; which resulted in what we know today as urban sprawl. Subsequently, people began spending more time on the road commuting, and less time in their own communities. Urban sprawl divides the population in terms of income level, which eventually leads to ethnic segregation. The emergence of tract homes provides very little architectural stimulation and suburbia fuels the need for cars and roads. Not only are the roads very expensive to maintain, most cities lack the funds for proper upkeep of the infrastructure; the black tops also contribute to heat absorption of the sun resulting in the heat island effect.
Dependency on the automobiles cause depletion of natural fossil fuel and create pollution that contributes to global warming and the depletion of ozone layers. Still, automobiles are heavily used in urban centers because they are not designed around the needs of the pedestrians. City districts need to incorporate mixed use where people can live, work and play; be socially, culturally and economically diverse while retaining their own characteristics.

OBJECTIVE OF THESIS

To design a sustainable mixed use community within the urban fabric

• Explore different options in achieving a zero energy community
• To design a community where the residence can live, work and play
• incorporate a green link between Embarcadero plan and the Marina
• Achieving balance in pulbic and private sectors
• promote a sustainable lifesytle rather than having only green buildings
• Integrate the Ahwahnee Prinicple into design

THESIS STATEMENT

Sustainable living in the urban environment:

Metropolitan areas need to be compact in design and utilze sustainable methods in order to sustain the growing population while preserving our environment.

Thesis take 3!

During the desk crit today i finally agree with my professor again :)
I am not an urbanist, biologist, sociologist, economist (and more i think i forgot) and i should focus on architecture for my thesis project.
Since i have one of the nicest site in the world, the land is very valuable and i shouldn't try to put a farm in, but the idea of hydroponics in homes can be explored.
So...it's my intention to design a sustainable mixed use community as my thesis project.

Important words in November - Wikipedia

Landscape Urbanism is a theory of urbanism arguing that landscape, rather than architecture, is more capable of organizing the city and enhancing the urban experience

Micro-urban is an informal term for smaller cities of 250,000 or less with certain urban characteristics normally found in large metropolitan centers. The characteristics generally associated with micro-urban locations are diversity, arts, culture, technology, public discourse, and public transportation.

Micropolitan area are urban areas in the United States based around a core city or town with a population of 10,000 to 49,999

New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types.

Urban, city, and town planning integrates land use planning and transport planning to improve the built and social environments of communities.