Handout

This is just a trifold handout for the Duluth Multimodal Transit Hub.

Thesis Display

Here is the final product.  Now I only need to work on the presentation.

Final Boards

Here is a look at one of my final boards.  At this point in the process I am finishing up my model and I will be plotting the boards soon.  Every thing needs to be installed on Monday in the dispay space.  My presentation is set for May 6th at 8AM. 

Test Shots

Checkpoint

Here is an update of my progress.  I do not have mullions or major structure for the glass curtain system, so the glass has not rendered in this image.  Hope you enjoy! 

Up until this point for the last couple of weeks, I have been working on windows and shading devices.  Also, I was keeping in mind the structure, and flow of spaces.  I had opened up some areas to flow better and provide little nooks for interesting places for people to rest in.  I think I have vested too much time in the shading devices.  So much in fact that they are reading as seperate items.  Too many different pieces if you can see above.  I have been thinking of a way to simplify the ideas and make them more congruent with the language of the area.  This new idea will encompass the entire roof making one fell sweep that has a single sun shading system developed with it. 

Another part I will be working on is the connection and relation to the site.  This includes site development, concepts related to the surrounding area and the expanded program. The design of the site will continue the spiraling lines that reach out into the context.  Some ideas so far are, hard and soft landscaped items, vertical plants/ trees, and other building elements that strecth out.  The concepts relating to the site, I am looking for elements to help influence the design.   For instance, material pallette and stylistic gestures.  The expanded program relates to the connection concept.  Increasing program activities support the connectivity concept.  The project give the city amenities that provide overall connections interlaced with other activities throughout the area. 

It appears I have lots to do.  Time is getting cut shorter and shorter.  The boards and drawings are due in two weeks.

Midterm

Here is the most up to date version of my project.  This is what I had presented for my midterm reviews.  Everything went well.  Things that were pointed out were things I had been thinking about, however it was good to bring it to the forefront again.  Some things will become more apparent as I generate the final presentation.  The major piece that needs some work is clarity within the space.  How does one know where to go?  Simplifying space will help to clarify to users where to go. 

Quick sketch

Here is a quick sketch of the main building component.   This part has the atrium/ great hall, circulation towers and the restaurant lookout.  I have been working on putting the digital model together in revit.  I have my midterm review on wednesday this week.  So you can look forward to some floor plans, elevations and perspectives toward the end of the week.  

New Light

I decided to take a little bit of a break to get a fresh start again.  When I came back to it I decided to stray away from the cables and came up with these two ideas.  Where the grey parts over the interstate are the elevated park and the other part of the grey the park is extended over parking.  The white is the actual building housing the rest of the program.  This way I was able to separate the parking element from the rest of the building (however it will still be integrated.)  In the second image I have included some cable stay structure, it is not as daunting as previous cable stay ideas.  The brown curving piece is a pedestrian birdge by cable stay.  I have found it important to include the design of the bridge and park.  They are important to include because for one they otherwise would not be created and two it speaks better toward an integrated urban plan.  I feel better about this concept than any others.  Some things I will look at changing include: employing the swirling effect, puncturing through the building (as in the first image,) and rearranging some programmatic spaces to take advantage of views.  

Double Arches

This concept was derived from a system that has been used on several stadiums.  This one does not really address the park, but I would imagine the park structure to be like those up the interstate with elements that carry through.  Though it does not show here I would really like to emulate Roche/Dinkeloo Arch.  Oakland Museum.  They have the building peaking out of the ground through a series of roof gardens and terraces.  This concept does not display any notion of connections other than the cable structure itself. 

Another idea off of this one is to shrink it down and use a similar structure over the park, suspending down from two space trusses. 

Again, I am working on a digital model to put this concept into to be able to give a little bit more contect to it.

Spiral

This concept is a little larger than the others.  I was inspired by the Bavinger House, a cable stayed house designed by Bruce Goff.  This concept tries to alieviate the disconnect from the building to the park.  Each dowel in the model is actually a mast which cables will suspend from to hold up floors.  The problem is that it is single directtional.  If I take this concept further, I would try to incorporate other directions that the spiral comes from.  I am also working on a digital model to help give some better context to the connections of the building to the rest of the city.

Early Concepts

These two concepts look at different ways to hold up the park.  They did not address any part of the building other than being almost column free.  This scale is too small to work with, the next ones will be a little larger.   Again, the cable structure was looked at as a way to visually reach out.  The park is also an attempt to functionally reach out and bridge the interstate.

Cablestay structure

The project has been about connections.  More in depth it is about reaching out to the community connecting people and places.   Cable structures and masted structures seem to best display that that concept.  So I have been doing some in depth studies on those systems. 

Programmatic

This multimodal transit station will include a highspeed train station, visitor center, car, bike, and segway rentals, parking garage, main hall/lobby, skywalk link, bus stop, deli, coffee shop, bar and restaurant.  The program will include expansion for other personal rapid transit (prt) for whatever the future brings us.  The program will be about 13,000- 15,000 sq. ft.  depending on how large the parking structure turns out to be.  I am also proposing an expansion to the park system that bridges across I-35 adding about 6 acres of park. 

A Collection

This is the site context model I have been working on and will continue to work on.  It is a work in progress.  I apologize for not having images from when I started.  It began as two series' of sections through the city.  Each were perpendicular to eachother.  So I had a grid across the city.  I then placed paper mache over the grid to get a surface.  This way I was able to get the surface relatively close to the topo map.  As you can see now I have plaster over the top.  Eventurally it will be nice and smooth with some surface buildings.  The scale here is very small, 1" equals about 250'.  To give you a little more perspective, it is just short of 2 miles lengthwise.  From the lowest part of the model (about at my site)  to the top of the hill is an elevation change of 650' just short of 3". 

The Incline

I have been doing some research on the area and found something interesting, the Duluth Incline.   The Incline ran on 7th Ave. W. from Superior St to Skyline Dr.   It dates from about 1891-1939.  In some versions the trolley cars were large enough to hold a horse and carriage.  For some time it was the only and safest way to the top of the hill.  It was also motivated by development at the top of the hill.  There is a bar downtown that gets it name from this. 

http://www.shorpy.com/Duluth-Incline-Railway

http://www.salmelaarchitect-clureproject.blogspot.com/

Duluth Collage

Here is a small collage of what I have found Duluth to be.  Although, if you have been to duluth there is much more to it.  Some of these are my own while the others are findings from flickr.com.   The past week and a half I have been working on some site analysis and a small scale model.

Nodes Knots Connections

I see a transportation terminal similar to a doorknob.  Just as the doorknob is the handshake to a home, a terminal is a handshake to a city or region.  So I was wondering what makes duluth such a great location, a location that draws so many people to it?  Duluth already has a history of being a transportation hub, transporting goods.  This shipping hub is the inner most port of the country, linking the midwest to the oceans.  Mix that with the natural resources in the area, iron ore, taconite and timber and the region booms.  Today, the port is still used to export iron ore and taconite as well as import goods for the midwest.  This along with the parks and trails have opened up tourist attractions that draw people to the area.  People want to experience the history.  People want to experience nature and wilderness.  The city of Duluth exists because of its natural resources, yet the built environment tries to respect nature.  The area shows a balance in support of nature and the built environment. In the end they are each interconnected and supporting eachother.

Site Information

Region- Upper Midwest
City-Duluth, MN

Site- A portion of the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC) parking lot

This site (orange) was chosen because of its location and convenience to a cultural entertainment and tourist center in Duluth. First, it has local to the BNSF right-of-way, which is important for a high speed rail line. Along with that, it is near the Historic Depot (in purple.) With emphasis towards transportation, it was important and appropriate to be able to link to the skywalk which ends in the DECC.

Landmarks and tourist attractions are numerous. Adjacent to the site are: Bayfront Park, Great Lakes Aquarium, The Depot, William Irvin Ship. Other major local attractions include: the Aerial Lift Bridge, Canal Park, Grandma’s Saloon and grill, and Enger Tower to name a few.

Bing Maps, Google Maps, DECC.org

Some background info

Last semester was spent researching the subject and finding case studies.  In the end I will be publishing a thesis book holding all of my findings and my design for the Multimodal Transit Station in Duluth, Minnesota.  Time this semester will be spent reviewing, editing and making due changes to the document.  The design is taking place on a hypothetical site in Duluth.  The project allows for a holistic approach to the design process, I hope to be sharing some of that with you soon.  I will be getting some things on here to show some of my research.

Statement of Intent

The influence of conditions set by the transportation infrastructure often dictates the design of the built environment at the junction of the two, the node.

The transportation infrastructure allows the transfer of people, products and resources from point A to point B, the endpoints or nodes of a transit system.
Transportation infrastructure lies within the right of way which ultimately influences the design and shape of what happens at the nodes.
Built environments at those nodes must adapt to the demands and changes within the transportation infrastructure for a seamless society to function within the built environment.

The transportation infrastructure ultimately influences a set of conditions upon the built environment at the nodes.

The built environment needs to be the forerunner subjecting the transportation infrastructure to the needs of the built environment.

Advances in transportation technology or simply a new development, for better or worse encroach the size and access of an urban site as well as the mode by which we get there. A cumulative approach with a focus on the built environment at these nodes provides a better functioning city or town environment.

Welcome

Hello!  I would like to welcome you to my design thesis blog.  I have created this blog to show you, colleagues, friends, family or any other onlookers what I am working on in my final semester at North Dakota State University.  I have also decided to use this as a form of documentation.  Though it is not possible to put everything on here due to timing, media and space; it will serve as marking checkpoints, breakthroughs or other changes throughout my thesis project.  I will try to keep up with my work.  Since I have been working on it for a semester already, I am already behind!  I am striving to make this project the best it can be.  I am using a free spirited approach and letting it take me where ever it needs to go.  Please, by all means, feel free to make comments, suggestions or even pose a question.  I look forward to seeing what this semester has in store for me and I hope you enjoy my adventure.