The Chaire of Pierre : MAPS Mini Assignment

Question 1

What’s missing from MAPS-Mini? What did you keep wanting to report but didn’t find on the survey tool?

The MAPS-Mini is obviously an abbreviated version of the survey but it was lacking a lot of important questions about safety and parking. We feel that the parking situation determines a lot about the visibility of pedestrians and the general feel of the street. This also impacts the safety of pedestrians because it provides a barrier from traffic. Parking is an important factor especially for people who live on the immediate street and should be addressed.

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Question 2

Did you find public realm mattered more or less to you than private realm? Why?

 The public realm mattered more to us because there is a lot less that city planners can do about existing private structures. We like to focus on public things that are actually able to be changed. The things in the public realm such as the beat and broken sidewalks and lack of pedestrian cross walks at both intersections were the things we were worried about most. These can be fixed with a little government intervention.

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Question 3

What issues do you think would be more important to community members as opposed to planners?

Community members would be more interested in the aesthetic qualities of sidewalks, the buffer zone, and the general look of the street. Community members would also care more about safety, parks, and places to sit. Planners probably care more about traffic patterns, building setbacks, buffer zones and sidewalk size, along with all of the legality of their decisions in the planning of a busy down town street. It would be nice to see city planners also take into account the things that community members want in their area like Norman Krumholz from Cleveland advocated.

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Trolley Market : Blog Assignment 5 – The Chaire of Pierre

Trolley Market

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The existing site of Trolley Market is situated south of Franklin Park at the intersection Oak St. and Kelton Ave. This area on the east side of Columbus is mostly residential and right by one of the nice parks of Columbus, so there is not much of a need for more housing or another park. We wanted to create a new purposeful use for this area that was not too intrusive to the existing infrastructure. One of our member’s home town has a local restaurant that is situated right in the middle of a residential area that she was very fond of. The locals in her town have adopted the restaurant into their culture and it is their preferred place to gather. In the northeast corner, we want to repurpose the one building into a locally themed restaurant and bar. We want to make these two separate buildings connected by a patio area. Our restaurant, “Trolley’s”, would be a small business that will add local attraction to the area. We are making it a priority to utilize the buildings already there instead of rebuilding new structures to instill historical integrity in the area. Plotting a restaurant on this site seemed like a good idea to us because there aren’t many other dining options in the immediate area.

The southwest building that it already there will be turned into a fresh food market called The Trolley Market. Like the northwest structure, we will be simply restructuring the building that is already there. We will, however be adding a greenhouse on the east side of the building to keep up with our produce production in the winter. One of our priorities was being able to provide fresh healthy food to residents in the surrounding area. By creating a garden, a market, and a greenhouse, we have created multiple options for local residents to reach these needs. We found inspiration for our market area from the Quincy Market in Boston, Massachusetts. Clearly Trolley Market will be on a much smaller scale but will resemble the vendor style farmer’s market.

Quincy Market (www.bostonglobe.com)

Quincy Market
(www.bostonglobe.com)

We’ve created a garden area using approximately one-third of the site. Here we will grow fresh produce to be sold both in the market place, as well as be used in the restaurant. All of our areas on site are easily accessible, and have paths to get through the garden and to arrive to each section. We designated the area between the restaurant and the garden for a parking lot. We have one-way entrance and exit lanes to make traffic flow easier. We plan to incorporate landscaping around the perimeter of our site to make it look appealing.

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As mentioned, we want to use as much of the existing structures as possible. Understanding the age and condition of the property, much of it will need to be refurbished. The historic value is very important to us, so the size of the buildings will be determined by pre-existing conditions. The redevelopment of brownfields is often something that is overlooked, but when done properly, can allow developers to save/maintain historic places. By saving these structures, we are creating a link to the past of when The Old Trolley Barn was in use.

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We believe that the neighbors to the site will be happy with what is being done with the property. Our development proposal is in our opinion non-intrusive, and will incorporate community involvement.

The Chaire of Pierre : Resubmission Activity 3 Designing/Planning “Local Development”

Uptown Gardens

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Our sign is made of Limestone with the lettering and designs chiseled in. The designs represent Uptown Garden’s core values which are to be clean, sustainable, and to honor Ohio’s history.
Our sign is made of Limestone with the lettering and designs chiseled in. The designs represent Uptown Garden’s core values which are to be clean, sustainable, and to honor Ohio’s history.

Columbus has been spearheading its downtown urban development with a theme of preserving the historic buildings that are in existence and merging the surrounding buildings with progressive green innovations. The town has enormous pride in itself and the new development around High, Gay, and Long Street are reflective of this due to the quality of thought that has gone into the area. We believe that the buildings should display Columbus’s desire for a more sustainable and green model of design of buildings by having efficient passive and active HVAC systems, using sustainable and long lasting building materials, and having a green space and solar panels on the roof. Our Uptown Gardens multi – use building will attempt to cover all three of these desires in a pleasing way that fits in the existing area and also encourages similar development in the future.

The arches on the front façade of the building facing east serve two purposes. First is for the aesthetic property of Columbus being the ‘City of Arches’. We like keeping this theme going along because it makes Columbus stand out from other cities and even if it is not anything astounding, it is still something Columbus can call its own. The arched windows are also grouped in three to represent Long, Gay, And High Street. The second purpose is that the windows will be set back in the arches at a scientifically determined depth so that it provides optimal shading from the sun at the peak hours of the late morning in the summer reducing the energy needed to cool the building, while also allowing some light in for the winter to help heat the windows.

The materials we are planning to use are brick, limestone, and energy efficient glass. The brick ties the building to the road that will be going underneath the building and connecting the access roads to the parking garage. It is symbolic of how this building will try to tie the existing area into the new building. The use of limestone in the arches and columns will show how this building will be built to last a long time and exemplify the solidarity of the structure. The two large columns bordering the side extremes of the front façade will be symbolic of supporting the green space on the terrace and the solar panels on the roof that will reduce the carbon footprint of the building over a long time. The main goal of Uptown Gardens is to create a long lasting structure the will tie into the existing area while creating the least amount of disturbance on the environment as possible.

Front View: High Street

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The front side of Uptown Gardens will face High Street. With multiple stories used for retail, the bottom portion of the building will be made with brick along with glass doors and windows. The upper half of the retail section will be used for apartments also being made out of brick. We have created tall pillars made out of limestone to separate the retail sections. The center of the first floor will have a tunnel entrance to the underground parking area.

North Side: Long Street

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South Side: Gay Street

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The north and south view facing Long and Gay Street will give the tenants’ and the people of Columbus additional access to enter our Uptown Gardens. We wanted to reassure the tenants that no matter how busy the retail stores became, they should not have any issues entering their apartments; also creating a better flow for the retail stores and eliminating a clutter of people entering and exiting the stores. We really focused on creating a symmetrical perspective for each side of the building. We strategically placed our variety of windows all around so all the occupants could gaze at downtown Columbus at any given time.

Top View

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For the rooftop of Uptown Gardens, we first and foremost wanted to make sure we could supply our apartments and retail stores with renewable and clean energy. To achieve this, we covered the roofs of the apartments with solar panels, and decided upon this so they can be on the highest point of our complex to capture the most direct sunlight. For the balcony experience, we wanted to try and capture a sense of community for our tenants, and did so by creating a community garden, as well as an individual garden square per apartment, and a greenhouse to access year-round. As well as the gardens, we have created a washing station for the tenants to have easy access to wash their fresh food without having to worry about making a mess in their own kitchen. Lastly for recreation, we made an outdoor kitchen space, infinity pool to overlook scenic downtown Columbus, as well as a park for kids and families to enjoy.

The Chaire of Pierre : Assignment 4 Local Neighborhoods and Food Environment

Fourth Street in the Weinland Park area is extremely busy, and there are very limited cross walks. Most food in the area is on the west side of Fourth Street and the closest grocery store is as well. There are many abandoned stores, and most of the housing is on the east side of Fourth Street. The closest grocery store is Kroger on High Street which is a decent walk away. A lot of people in the area walk or use COTA so this is an issue. The 4Th Street Garden is a nice option for close, healthy food, but there is limited space to grow food. It is helping the problem, but it would have a larger impact if there was a larger quantity of produce. There are a couple of other similar gardens so there has been some progress. The most convenient places to get food are corner stores which lack healthy options, and carry out food places which are tasty, but not nutritional.

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We would call the Weinland park area food insecure. There are good things happening with the arrival of these urban gardens, but we still believe there is a lot of work to be done because there is no variety of food options. The neighborhood can’t be called a food desert by definition because the Kroger on High Street is technically in the Weinland Park district, but it is in the least accessible place and far away from most of the residents in need. There are also not enough fast food places to call it a food swamp.

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What Weinland Park needs is a grocery store with food options, but that is not a reality in the world we live in. A company would look at the area and see no potential for profit. In a completely economic analysis of building a store in the area there would be every sign to stay out you can think of. Until this fact changes some better temporary options would be to get some smaller produce markets to move in to some of the abandoned stores, or set up a system of food truck style produce trucks. The urban gardens are great, but they can definitely be improved.

The Chair of Pierre Activity 3: Designing/Planning “Local” Development

GreenPlex 

Our sign is made of Limestone with the lettering and designs chiseled in. The designs represent GreenPlex's core values which are to be clean, sustainable, and to honor Ohio's history.

Our sign is made of Limestone with the lettering and designs chiseled in. The designs represent GreenPlex’s core values which are to be clean, sustainable, and to honor Ohio’s history.

Columbus has been spearheading its downtown urban development with a theme of preserving the historic buildings that are in existence and merging the surrounding buildings with progressive green innovations. The town has enormous pride in itself and the new development around High, Gay, and Long Street are reflective of this due to the quality of thought that has gone into the area. We believe that the buildings should display Columbus’s desire for a more sustainable and green model of design of buildings by having efficient passive and active HVAC systems, using sustainable and long lasting building materials, and having a green space and solar panels on the roof. Our GreenPlex multi – use building will attempt to cover all three of these desires in a pleasing way that fits in the existing area and also encourages similar development in the future.

The arches on the front façade of the building facing east serve two purposes. First is for the aesthetic property of Columbus being the ‘City of Arches’. We like keeping this theme going along because it makes Columbus stand out from other cities and even if it is not anything astounding, it is still something Columbus can call its own. The arched windows are also grouped in three to represent Long, Gay, And High Street. The second purpose is that the windows will be set back in the arches at a scientifically determined depth so that it provides optimal shading from the sun at the peak hours of the late morning in the summer reducing the energy needed to cool the building, while also allowing some light in for the winter to help heat the windows.

The materials we are planning to use are brick, limestone, and energy efficient glass. The brick ties the building to the road that will be going underneath the building and connecting the access roads to the parking garage. It is symbolic of how this building will try to tie the existing area into the new building. The use of limestone in the arches and columns will show how this building will be built to last a long time and exemplify the solidarity of the structure. The two large columns bordering the side extremes of the front façade will be symbolic of supporting the green space on the terrace and the solar panels on the roof that will reduce the carbon footprint of the building over a long time. The main goal of GreenPlex is to create a long lasting structure the will tie into the existing area while creating the least amount of disturbance on the environment as possible.

 

Front View: High Street

IMG_5372

The front side of GreenPlex will face High Street. With multiple stories used for retail, the bottom portion of the building will be made with brick along with glass doors and windows. The upper half of the retail section will be used for apartments also being made out of brick. We have created tall pillars made out of limestone to separate the retail sections. The center of the first floor will have a tunnel entrance to the underground parking area.

North Side: Long Street

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South Side: Gay Street

IMG_9983

The north and south view facing Long and Gay Street will give the tenants’ and the people of Columbus additional access to enter our GreenPlex. We wanted to reassure the tenants that no matter how busy the retail stores became, they should not have any issues entering their apartments; also creating a better flow for the retail stores and eliminating a clutter of people entering and exiting the stores. We really focused on creating a symmetrical perspective for each side of the building. We strategically placed our variety of windows all around so all the occupants could gaze at downtown Columbus at any given time.

Top View

IMG_5403

For the rooftop of Greenplex, we first and foremost wanted to make sure we could supply our apartments and retail stores with renewable and clean energy. To achieve this, we covered the roofs of the apartments with solar panels, and decided upon this so they can be on the highest point of our complex to capture the most direct sunlight. For the balcony experience, we wanted to try and capture a sense of community for our tenants, and did so by creating a community garden, as well as an individual garden square per apartment, and a greenhouse to access year-round. As well as the gardens, we have created a washing station for the tenants to have easy access to wash their fresh food without having to worry about making a mess in their own kitchen. Lastly for recreation, we made an outdoor kitchen space, infinity pool to overlook scenic downtown Columbus, as well as a park for kids and families to enjoy.

The Chaire of Pierre: How to Think Like a Planner| City DNA

2207-209 Neil Ave

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  • This property has good access and parking close to campus due to the large parking lot to the rear and the street access from the one-way alley.
  • The parking lot to the rear was expansive and seems to be a large waste of space, a parking garage would reduce the space needed for the same amount of parking and would allow for more efficient use of land with such great location.
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  • The side setback from the alley was 4-5 ft. which seems too close.

 

Norwich Avenue

  • The sidewalk was 4 ft. wide which was too narrow for our liking. Only two people can fit and it is not very comfortable.
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  • There is not a lot of bright street lighting, and the street lights were only on one side of the street.neil ave
  • The street felt very narrow even though it was a one-way. It was close in measurement to Northwood in width of street and right of way but the front setback of the houses at around 10-15 ft. causes a feeling of claustrophobia.
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  • The corner property on Williams St. and Norwich Ave. had a very large front setback which made it look completely out of place. There is a front parking lot and it is an apartment building, both of those characteristics are also out of place compared to the residential house look of the rest of Norwich.

 

Williams Street Alley

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  • The alley has a dual use of an alley and a parking area, the parking and alley are not efficiently organized and varies from property to property, and the boundaries of the alley need to be crisper and more defined.
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  • The north half of Williams St. alley had street parking on one side of the alley making it tough for cars and pedestrians to navigate.5

 

Northwood Avenue

  • The setbacks of the houses were 20-30 ft. on Northwood which made the street feel a lot wider than Norwich even though the measurements of the road were pretty close.
  • The sidewalks were different widths (4.5 ft. South/ 7 ft. North side) but both had good quality. They were nicer to walk on with the larger setbacks. The buildings on Northwood and Norwich are similar but because of the wider side walks and setbacks, Northwood was a lot more pleasant.IMG_26021
  • The brick wall on the south side of Northwood confused us in its use. It seemed to be in front of apartment buildings and have no purpose other than appearance or protection.7a

 

Neil Avenue

  • This commercial building looked very out of place in the residential area it is in, it may have fit in while it was built a long time ago, but now it sticks out. It looks like an old post office, and is now used as an office building for a real estate company so at least it is being used for something useful.building
  • Tommy’s Pizza- the parking is beneficial for the business but there is no set entrance or exit which makes it dangerous for pedestrians. It is also ugly.