Design Character Images-Lessons of Urbanism Future Land Use Map - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Design Character Images-Lessons of Urbanism

Future Land Use Map Workshop: March 4, 2020 Brian Peterson AIA, Urban Designer

Presentation Outline

• 1. Review of Preference Image Comments
• 2. Urban Design Concepts and Issues

Master Plan, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1785 “A plan of the situation of ye University—ye ornamental ground, ye adjacent village…”

Introduction: Urban Design

City Neighborhood/District Street Building

Image Comments: Townhomes & Residences

Likes:

1. Great green space/provides room for street trees 2. Parking behind buildings 3. All images are appropriate 4. Can read each unit’s entrance

1 2 3 4 4 4 4

Dislikes:

• 1. Boring

1

Image Comments: Multi-family Residential

Likes:

1. Transition from street to front door 2. Tree canopy 3. Stepbacks 4. Façade ornament (triangles) 5. Hanging planters 6. Change of façade material/color

2 1 3 4 5 6

Dislikes:

1. Lack of corner definition 2. Sterile looking 3. False balconies 4. Hard to find entrance 5. Vertical/horizontal relationship 6. Lack of articulation 7. First floor is unwelcoming

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Image Comments: Commercial/Office

Likes:

1. Wide sidewalks, good public realm 2. Integration of landscape 3. Use of glass is inviting 4. Integration of active spaces-rooftop & ground floor patio

1 2 3 4

Dislikes:

1. Looks suburban 2. Narrow sidewalk, lack of greenery 3. Boring façade, boxy 4. Buildings need to be taller than one story

1 2 3 4

Image Comments: Multifamily, Shops and Offices

Likes:

1. Generous plaza 2. Lively space 3. Preserving existing trees

1 2 3

Dislikes:

1. Not a fan 2. Boring, monotonous façade 3. Needs more green 4. Need public art

1 2 3 4 3

Image Comments: Light Industrial

Likes:

1. Buildings feature good design and have green or other outdoor spaces

1 1 1 1

Dislikes:

1. Green spaces are bland, need more trees, other vegetation 2. One story building not appropriate 3. Too suburban looking-like RTP

1 1 2 3

Image Comments: Institutional/Civic

Likes:

1. Beautiful 2. Interesting 3. Like the idea, too modern for C.H.? 4. Nice spaces, tool expansive for C.H.?

1 2 2 3 4

Dislikes:

1. Too many hard surfaces-stark and not enough trees/green 2. Too suburban 3. Entrances need definition 4. Art should be included

1 2 1 1 4 4 4

Image Comments: Parks and Green/Gathering Spaces

1

Likes:

1. Green space and active civic space as well 2. Accessible 3. Ability to use after dark

1 2 3

Dislikes:

1. Too formal for C.H. 2. Too much space shown for what is available in C.H.

1 2

Introduction: Placemaking

People prefer enclosed spaces

The public realm is positive space defined by building edges

Introduction: Placemaking

Street Enclosure: Define the Outdoor Room

Buildings define the limits

• f public space

Issue: Appropriate Massing for Large Buildings

Massing: the size and three dimensional shape or forms of the building Articulation: how the forms are divided down to create scale

Issue: Building Massing and Articulation

Issue: Building Scale

Ensure a relationship of the parts to the whole, stress verticality of an urban building, celebrate corners, entries

Issue: Building Scale-Horizontal vs. Vertical

In urban settings building massing tends toward the vertical emphasis

horizontal emphasis vertical emphasis

Issue: Building Scale- Breaking up the Massing of Large Buildings

• Avoid over-doing it with

too many ins and outs and materials

• Varying roof height can

be effective and enough

Issue: Building Scale- Separate Buildings Connected

Issue: Human Scale-Articulation

Provide human scale details, especially vital at the ground floor (moldings, trim, awnings, canopies, signage, planters,

• rnament, etc.)

Issue: Human Scale: Transition from Public to Private

Residential frontages should feature a privacy gradient from public to private, in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions

“Eyes on the street”

Issue: Human Scale-Identification of Individual Units

Works together as a whole to form the street wall but you can read the individual units

• 1. Every unit has a front door

that you can see

• 2. Same basic massing, slight

variations in color and architectural details

Tree species have a shape that helps define the public realm

Issue: Human Scale-Defining the Pedestrian zone

Issue: Commercial Retail Street Frontage-Zones

5’-10’ 3’-6’ 5’-10’

Issue: Shopping Streets-Storefront Character

Transparency: what you see is what you get Enticement: lure you in

Issue: Signage

Signage should be viewable from different pedestrian perspectives

Issue: Successful Public Places-Plazas, Squares

• People are drawn to the edges of spaces
• People are drawn to other people

Issue: Successful Public Places-Plazas, Squares

People are drawn into a space where there is a through-passage, not a seemingly dead end

Issue: Successful Public Places-Plazas, Squares

Plaza: 140 E. Franklin

ssue: Vibrant Public Spaces-Open Middle

• 1. Keep the center available
• 2. Focal point off center
• 3. Numerous subspaces to accommodate various

activities

• 4. Seating/habitation along the edges

1 2

3 3 3

Rodney Square, Wilmington DE Lakeshore East, Chicago IL

Issue: Vibrant Public Spaces-Entrance Thresholds

Make it easy for people to engage the edge of a public space

Issue: Vibrant Public Spaces-Places to Sit

If it’s 18” high, people will sit on it Allow choice with moveable chairs

Bibliography/References

Parking Structure, Central Library-Kansas City, Missouri Frederick, Matthew, and Vikas, Mehta. 101 Things I Learned in Urban Design School. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2018. Cherry, Nathan, and Nagle, Kurt. Grid/Street/Place. Chicago: American Planning Association Planners Press, 2009. Sucher, David. City Comforts-How to Build and Urban Village. Seattle: City Comforts Press, 1995. Whyte, William H., Jr. The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. Washington, D.C. :Conservation Foundation, 1980. Jacobs, Allan B. Great Streets. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press, 1993. Turner, Paul Venable. Campus-An American Planning Tradition. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1984.