Studio Process: Future City_03_Interpreting the data

Houston

Over the past week we have been reading articles, collecting information and looking for interesting points we can base a project around. For myself, I started thinking about how we move, communicate, how technology will evolve and how all of these topics will come together. On the first day, I made about four different topics of interests. The topics included: how we build, how we move, how we interact and how we work.

How do we build?
The first topic dealt with Houston's history with flooding and a part of global warming. I think many of my peers remember how badly Houston kept flooding in the 90's. Or maybe it just seemed like a huge deal because I was so young, but looking back I just remember playing in my flooded backyard. I digress. Looking at maps that predicted where the flood line would be if our icecaps melted showed the Gulf of Mexico would be well into Texas and knocking at the door of our hill country. Texas being Texas, most of our coast is relatively flat. There wouldn't be much in the way to keep the gulf from coming inland. Anyway, I thought it would be cool if  there was a way for the city grid to float with the tide. As the water receded, the structures would stay in-place leaving room for more infrastructure. Next flood comes and lifts the city up, including the newer infrastructure, and the process would repeat itself. each city block would be independent from the rest of the grid as far as moving vertically. Well, that issue was quickly shot down after discussion. I realized that even if the block was independent from the rest of the blocks, they would all move at the same pace because.... Houston is flat.

How do we move?
I think most of us are aware that we're slowly moving towards having autonomous cars. We have the technology and we're executing on that technology. We can even go and purchase a car that can park itself with a press of a button. How do autonomous cars move? GPS. Last week I was driving home on an evening so rainy that I could barely see the lines on the road. I thought it would be cool if the 'dots' in the road could communicate with my car to keep me in my lane regardless of the weather conditions. I know there is a short stretch of highway that is completely filled with solar panels and other forms of technology. But, to do an entire highway or even a loop system would be insanely expensive. So, how about we shrink down from thinking about the entire road to thinking about those little 'traffic dots' that notify us when we're moving out of our lane. I figured the 'dots' could easily be integrating within the roadways, could communicate with each other, send data to the city, and can communicate with the vehicles. While this was really interesting and we are moving towards having 'smart' roads, this was shut down too because while very interesting perspective, these topics didn't create 'space' in the city.

I commute to school from quite a distance (30+ miles). I proposed an upgraded HOV lane that was able to have your autonomous car 'plug' into. Almost like a a hybrid of how we get onto a highway from the feeder and a train system. When you're commuting from a distance that takes more than twenty-minutes, you start to realize how much time you have wasted when you could have been working or doing something. I mean, how cool would it be to be able to write this blog from the comfort of my vehicle without having a worry? I'll continue with this topic later in this post.

How do we work?

Downtown Houston.

I think for anyone that has walked through downtown Houston, you might have noticed how many parking garages we have. About a third of downtown Houston is parking. What would happen to those parking garages if we no longer needed them? How would they change the city? Could we redesign those parking garages into livable or workable spaces? I think so! Why not? Then, I started integrating the 'ferry' system I mentioned above and what if I could design a system that takes the vehicles and was able to park or 'plug-in' into a spot in the work/living space. If you no longer need to drive your car, your car becomes an extension of your office. The car no longer becomes a vehicle, but a cell that takes on a completely different form. It would be able to enter the base of the structure and taken on a conveyor belt-like system that plugs into a small section of the workspace from x-amount of hours. Once you're finished you could unplug, ride the conveyor down and get on the rail to your next location. This would allow this 'parking space' to be used by another person for x-amount of hours. Meaning, that 'building' is continuously used. Normally, we all check out at 5-ish and the building stays empty from 5-8 the next day. Right now, just a thought.

How do we communicate?

Green: Parks, Pink: Parking garages (not showing parking lots), Red: Main St.

I think we all have dreams of a future city being highly dense. I listen to my classmates talk about high dense Singapore is or Hong Kong and how everyone is on their mobile device. Nobody pays attention to their world. They're more concerned with how many 'likes' they received or how a celebrity is living their life. I think with more of these technological opportunities, we become more and more unsocial. I mean, every time you step out of the door you see someone you have never seen before. And guess what? More likely than not is that you will never see that person again even if you live within a certain area. I proposed having an app that would silently collect data on each person you come within a certain amount of feet. You wouldn't get any notifications, but at the end of the day you could see how many people you have crossed paths with and if you have actually interacted with them before.

This app idea needed to manifest itself into a physical space to relate to the project. So, what if I proposed a certain area/s of downtown Houston to be free of technology. Like, once you enter this park, you are unable to use technology because you cannot get wifi or any other signals within this space. 


Conclusion
Out of these proposals; I have decided to integrate the physical park-like space without technology signals, the ferry-like transportation system that brings your 'cell' to the city and the redesign of the parking garage. The progress of the proposal consists of being able to ride this rail-like system to the city. Once downtown when you start approaching this 'technology free park space', you go underneath the park and are able to enter the parking building from the base of the building (Which is still underneath the park) and ride this conveyor system to your work/living space. Keep in mind the form of the 'car' will no longer resemble a car, but become a cell that once 'plugged-in' would become part of the aggregate that becomes the building. I hope that all made sense. It is still really early in concept and further development and decisions need to happen, but that's the beauty of the design. I want to keep main street as a tradition main street. I think that shouldn't change. Houston is desperately needing more of that traditional main street walkable environment. I am hopeful I can develop these parks that can aid to a more walkable main street.

I just wanted to show this is an image of a highway in Dallas that was sunk just so a park can be built above the highway. The Office of James Burnett

Studio Process: Future City_02_Falling in love with the city

Downtown Houston

The past week we have been documenting and collecting data about how we use our city. Houston is a commuter city. You (almost) have to have a car to get around this city because everything is so spread out. Sure, there are adequate means of transportation services within the city, but for a lot of us that live 'outside of the loop' [Loop 6-10] there isn't much of a choice other than to use a park and ride. The problem with a park and ride is it turns a thirty-minute car ride into a three-plus hour transportation waiting nightmare to get to a specific location.

Step one: Document our route home

Beginning route through downtown. A city for parking

Ending route home. Sorry about the uncleaned windshield

The first part was to document our route to or from the studio to our home with a series of photos. It felt like any other day. I was driving home seeing the same thing I always see. I usually take a route right through downtown, because I would rather get stuck in traffic watching people than on an overpass looking at other cars. I figure at least the people walking are getting somewhere. Yeah, it was a pretty normal day -- there wasn't much going on other than trying to figure out interesting points to document through photos while trying to drive.

So, an interesting point here is that I am documenting the process from inside a car. The environment inside my car is constant. Meaning, my comfort level is pretty much the same other than the stress from driving. I am able to control the conditioned air, my field of view isn't changing and I am experiencing the city from a specific point that doesn't move (car seat). It almost feels like I am watching TV.

But, I do get some value from the exercise. I usually am aware of my surroundings, but I never payed too much attention to the changes in density throughout the route. The urbanscape (urbanscape meaning everything but the traffic of cars and people. Like the buildings and developments) density starts high and tapers to less dense areas. Then, density gets less dense and more dense and less dense aaaannnnd a little more dense.

Step two: Visit and document the site

My focus is site 1

On the map above are the areas of Houston our studio is using for our project. We visited all three locations and walked the majority of each site. The difference between walking through an area and driving through an area are completely different. Walking is a much more dynamic activity than driving and you're able to be more aware of your surroundings. *Side note* Even though we walked through all three sites, I will mostly talk about site one.

Look at that section! Photo taken off of Main street in front of Greyhound bus station.

First off, It was a GORGEOUS day! It really was perfect weather for anything outdoors. When you're walking, you're actually there -- you're not in a car, you're on the sidewalk experiencing the sidewalk environment. Meaning, moving through different elevations, feeling different textures, smelling different scents, interacting on some level with different people and hearing much more sounds than just being in your car. It doesn't matter if any of that I described is enjoyable or not, because it is about the experience. Its like when I go to a bar. I hate the smell of people smoking, but I don't mind it at all when I am at a hole-in-the-wall bar. Why? Because that is just part of the experience that makes that place unique.

You're able to have a sense of being vulnerable. I think being able to have a sense of vulnerability or a sense of the fear of the unknown is like a shot of tequila! It just opens-up your awareness and gives you the most bang for your buck to take in your surroundings. You try walking through a group of some sketchy lookin folks with an exposed camera you've saved up for and don't think about holding that thing a little tighter #IJudge. But, that is the beauty of the environment! There is a mix of all different sorts of people. You interact with the homeless person next to the businessman next to the student running for the train to make their job. You see the faces of struggle trying to make it through the day from the pan handler and from the person with the $5 coffee that couldn't wait to get off of work. You see the mother with child taking the metro just wanting to get home. The small group people hanging outside a convenience store because they 'aint got no' place to go or just want to catch up with their buddies. You see a grungy-lookin' fella looking like he is having a bad day instantly smile like a kid on Christmas morning when he walks past a beautiful woman. All of this within a city block. To hell with reality TV, give me a highly dense urban block at 5 o'clock! You cant replicate that experience by driving through an area in the safety of your car. You need that slower, more 'in your bubble' experience to appreciate your city. As designers, we do much more than just design buildings. If you notice, I didn't describe much of any building. We design environments for a better society.

Granted, Houston being Houston, we still have a long way to go to have a decent downtown environment. Nearly a third of downtown is just parking, the underground tunnels close at 5-ish along with the rest of downtown, downtown isn't really designed for people to live and support the are and it isn't pleasurable walking next to hugely massive scaled buildings with nearly zero street interaction. But, there's a gem in there. You just have to walk around to find it.