mini synthesis.

 

As studio wraps up all of the components that I worked on since spring break will soon be finalized. In the meantime here is one component that is in the finalization stage, meaning that my professor has yet to critique this product.
A brief synopsis about the video is that I interpreted data from the book "Four Hundred Years of Agricultural Change in the Empire State" authored by Robert Bitz. It represents New York States' gain and loss of agricultural land from 1865-2007.
Looking at each model from the black to white gradation you can see that NYS has reached its peak land production the light gray and since that time it has decreased in agricultural land productivity.

kennedy square.

The Kennedy Square apartment complex in proximity to downtown Syracuse was a project that featured community development initiatives. The client, a bio-research center bought the defunct apartment block and wanted the surrounding area to be the spark for urban renewal.

The concept for my design was based on a modular form- Johnson Solid 21, which is most visible in the shape of the proposed community center. This conceptual form also generated the mixed use housing as well as the areas many open spaces. I had felt at the time that using a modular form would be a way for urban renewal to be replicated through out an area. Since the completion of the project, I now know that this is not the best way of going about a redesign of a community such as this example. A better way of thinking about it is through understanding how a community has grown over time.

Sketch of the touch and sensory garden

Regardless this is the design that I had gone with...so lets talk about it. The above section perspective shows, from left to right, the community center, sensory garden, and dog park. The community center and associated lawn area was dedicated to Emmanuel Breland a resident of the Kennedy Square apartments and the first African American in Syracuse to win a sports scholarship to Syracuse University. The touch and sensory garden featured two types of enclosures to maximize sensory awareness. Finally the dog park was to give an outlet to another type of potential user, at the time when I had suggested this amenity no one in studio could show me where a dog park in Syracuse could be found.

Section through the parking garage

Going further in to the picture to the left is a single story parking garage with roof top access. I had proposed that the parking structure have a green roof so that there could be the option for community gardening activities. Within the parking garage infrastructure would be cisterns that could collect gray water. The red brick buildings at the end of the sports field are mixed use structures; where the first floor is store front, the second is office space, and the third story is studio apartments. One feature of the store fronts is the inclusion of a zip car hub.

The picture to the left represents a section through the corner of Crouse and Water street this is the location of the Connective Corridor bus line. The plantings were to represent a successive growth pattern building up to the Crouse main street district. Pictured below is a section of the gray brick buildings which are for single families.

bear with me.

While school might be winding down the work load is ramping up. I am organizing my time so that a new posts or two will show up this weekend.

focusing on the regional food shed.

 When studio resumed after spring break our group goal for the intermittent review was to have a set of four interviews from farmers that was feasible for us to cover as main components of a food shed; agricultural production and dairy processing/distribution. 

(Image to be produced)

While there are many more components to a food shed we chose these because this is where previous semesters work within the studio has been heading towards. To clarify this remark other graduate and under graduate students from previous semesters have completed work on food sheds with topics such as production/distribution for local and imported apples and apple based products, milk production and distribution and general food shed delineation.

Our group arranged interviews with four farms that have dug deep roots into the Central New York community. Bob Evans- the yogurt and milk creator, Guy Vasta- the muck/onion farmer, Pete Holmes- the dairy cattle farmer, and Tony Emmi the crop farmer.

While I attended three of the four meetings when it came down to it I had decided to tackle Tony Emmi's farms' narrative.

food for thought.

These are some articles I have recently read that have an underlying esoteric quality to them. In society there are trends that effect our thinking patterns and and providing there is a forum to share these ideas we as a collective can begin to shape ideas in to realities. Think the noosphere meeting the book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.

• How does your contient weigh in on its amount of gravitational pull. This food for thought provides the perspective on how gravity may have shaped the world events that occurred pre-history and history. Found at BBC published 31st March.
• The infrastructure of an opium processing plant ca. 1880's in Bengal, India. Either stick with it or skip to the end to get a perspective on how the drug trade influences economies of today as well as the planned infrastructure for today's drug trade. Found at Edible Geography published April 1st.
• Everyone go out and demand from your local newspaper/magazine stand to order a subscription to SOILED a new journal for designers to share ideas about current events. If that fails you could always download the pdf version here. This issue shares information about earth, pollinators and social justice's . 
• To end this part of FFP here is an article that was sent to me by a studio colleague today regarding Walmart's in Chichago that are going smaller.  Written by Bob Niedt from the Syracuse Post published 8th April. Opposed to being referred to as a big box store it will become part of urban infill. Similar to the complex that houses the Target in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.