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.

Not an entirely random post

Is this beautiful and magnificent what man has accomplished, or are we like an infestation of the Earth? Picture taken above Boston in a shuttle plane going to NYC.




The freakishly bright object is a stadium of some sort. From above it looks like some glowing bugs congregating in some sort of a crevice area on the ground and traveling to another congregation spot.

People in the cars don't necessarily need street light to see the road, thats what headlights are for! Street lights are for people, if the streets (freeways) have no people why need lights? Like Mike Stepner suggested, if the road sans people have no lights, cars would drive slower.

Potential Case Study(ies) by Leon Krier

Atlantis Tenerife 1987
New City of Poin, Bavaria 1983
Middle Farm Quarter, Poundbury, Dorsetm 1989

Leon Krier's Lecture at NSAD on Nov. 12 2009

It is sad to say, i wasn't able to pay attention to his lecture at all. I only managed to hear the beginning of it, only the part where he didn't need to use mass transportation system at all till age 20, 50 years ago he would not consider stopping in San Diego at all, something about the lintel and shutters. Some students have negative comments about his lecture, i really can't comment on it but i did buy his autographed book! Just flipping through it, reading some bullet points here and there and the diagrams are helping me rethinking about my project. It has been 30 minutes since i opened his book and i'm only 1/3 done!

Another thing he mentioned in the lecture that i just remembered. I think it was a rhetorical question? He said something along the lines that nowadays cities continues to grow and grow to satisfy the needs of a population that grows exponentially, even if we plan for it it still stops growing, when will we see the fruit of the seed that is urban planning, is it never going to stop, and never ending like this run on sentence/paragraph?

Cities should have a growth limit, but we already have that (green belt). Densities of cities slowly increase....when does density becomes overcrowding (i forgot where i heard/read that from)? when cities have reached "maximum" density do they turn people away? When all cities have reached their limit do we have a US version of favela or slums out in "un urban" areas, or would they try to take them in....which causes crowding of people?

Which brings back the question to the area i'm trying to develop for my thesis, should i plan for the maximum FAR of my site, which will allow x number of x people and x number of residents and x amount of visitors per day? Or build to a lower FAR so there are spaces for the place to evolve and grow in areas that it needs to? I think the answer is clear, but if i use the earlier said model, revenue and production can be easily calculated and stay constant, would it make for a boring area after a while? All these questions and no answers....yet. I need to develop a stronger theory and write it out, maybe a long long manifesto....or a guide book for the residents of my thesis.....gotta think more.

Update: been 1 hr and half way through....must stop....for now :)

Marina Quays Development

Wow! I am so sold and so ready to move there for retirement. I am only missing money, a boat, and more money.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7MDZLKDAIU

Site Planning

Comments from classmates and professors:
Who is funding this?
Why do i have to please everyone
Trading is a good idea

Unfortunately i had an emotional outburst i don't remember much, but basically do what i want to do with the site, i have all the components i need and i just need to work on it more. So here i come veterens day, more work!

Downtown 92101 yr 2030 forecast