digital aptitudes - Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012 - 11:00AM - 12:30PM
Open: Urbanism
Tim Love, Northeastern University
From the Park to Parking: The Evolution of Suburban
Mobility
Ian Baldwin
Suburbanization began with mid-nineteenth century developments
such as Llewellyn Park, New Jersey and Riverside, Illinois, exclusive
oases of romantic landscape that would pleasantly contrast with
the bustle, noise and pollution of the city. In the early twentieth
century, streetcar suburbs democratized the concept, providing
middle-class families with closely-spaced detached homes on gridded
plots. From the 1920s to the 1970s, Garden City ideals underlay
the development of model (though by no means typical) suburbs
like Radburn, New Jersey and Columbia, Maryland. Central to their
designs were superblocks of common green space, extensive pedestrian
pathways and -- in the designers’ minds, at least-- a subservient
role for the auto.
Thus the spatial practices we refer to with the inadequate word
“suburban” continue to evolve after 160 years. We would do well
to examine the modern suburb and exurb not as a placeless anticity
but simply the most expedient and affordable version of urbanism
in an era of unquestioned auto reliance.
We know that the modern suburb is defined by capacious asphalt
roadways and sidewalks that are narrow and exposed when they
exist at all. But we know little about how that practice become a
defining standard.
Automobility and suburbanization enjoy a mutually supportive legend
that has obscured and oversimplified the origins of the physical
patterns that dominate 21st century America. This paper attempts
a first step toward excavating those origins by addressing
the relationship between suburbs and cars at their meeting point:
the street.
Laid Bare: Debating an Expanded Role for
Instrastructure at the World Trade Center
Robert Arens, California Polytechnic State University
One result of the tragic circumstances of the World Trade Center’s
demise was the possibility to rethink the site, not from the
ground up, but from 70 feet below ground level to the depth of
Lower Manhattan’s bedrock. After months of debris removal, a
space of tremendous potential emerged from beneath the rubble:
an enormous sixteen-acre void made possible by a unique foundation
system. This powerful space, which came to be known as “the
bathtub”, was a realm made sacred by the tragedy that played out
on its surface. The fact that the void was laced with infrastructure
in the form of subway and commuter rail lines made it even more
resonant. Recent remembrance ceremonies marking the tenth anniversary
of the attacks, the opening of the September 11 Memorial,
and the near topping-out of the tallest tower on the site are reasons
to reassess the rebuilding effort at the WTC. This paper focuses
on the project’s potential to involve the unique subterranean
and infrastructural aspects of the site in its approach to urbanism.
This paper examines how the subterranean world of the WTC site
(and, by extension, Lower Manhattan), once laid bare, became the
inspiration for framing not only the memory of 9/11, but all major
land use decisions at Ground Zero. Discussed are redevelopment
proposals from 2001 that explored the resultant void for its potential
to lend conceptual and physical form to the site and in doing
so reveal the subterranean world and its infrastructure, aspects of
life so vital to the city of New York yet so invisible on its surface.
These proposals, emotional and quixotic, inspired stakeholders, the
public, the master planner, and the memorial designer to give serious
consideration to the role of infrastructural elements such as
tower footprints, slurry walls, bathtubs, bedrock, rail lines and subway
lines in future plans for the site. Also discussed are the forces
that ultimately led to a diminished role for infrastructure in the final
master plan.
Although unique conditions at the WTC site make it difficult to
fully generalize the project’s lessons, the engagement of the spatial
and programmatic opportunities below Lower Manhattan’s streets
have certainly contributed to broader discussions about infrastructure
and urbanism. Discussed are projects such as New York’s High
Line and Low Line (Delancey Underground) that engage infrastructure
in the creation of urban space and expand the spatial section
of public realm to include the area both above and below the
street. These projects, the author suggests, have been nudged into
existence by the debate for an expanded role for infrastructure at
the World Trade Center.
Other Urbanisms: A Scalar Approach Towards Pervious
Design
Jen Maigret, University of Michigan
Maria Arquero de Alarcon, University of Michigan
This paper fosters the imaginative capacity of visions for Detroit’s
future urbanism by understanding the city through the lens of water.
This is a distinctly different approach to the pervasive discussions
of shrinking cities, centered around the “demise” of the
Motor City and wistful reminiscence of Motown’s heyday. Whereas
current debate is mired in circular reasoning—the solution to Detroit’s
overwhelming vacancy is less vacancy—our work positions
the consideration of urban storm water management as a key tool
for generative design strategies that encourage nested, scalar approaches
and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 17