ea-opportunity corridor bridge strategies-condensed

Opportunity Corridor: Underpass, Overpass and Passed-Over

Bridges and walkways as strategies for creating place.

Painted pedestrian bridge in Buenos Aires.

Destination: Underpass

A call for branding a neighborhood.

cities don’t have logos, they have

landmarks and places.

Scher proposed to transform the grim overpasses, using visual effects that

Renderings of various design interventions for the Northside Neighborhood, Pittsburgh, by Paula Scher.

Infrastructure as Public Space

LAND studio has a long history of activating spaces and making them feel like places.

Renderings developed for by Redline Greenway by Vocon and EDG (top) and Lake Link Trail by CMG (bottom).


More opportunity in the Opportunity Corridor.

Potential hiding along the Lake Link Trail.


Bridges, overpasses, and other infrastructural space along the Opportunity Corridor can serve as a point of departure for a comprehensive strategy to create distinctive places along the project’s entire path.

Second Street Bridge Project, Louisville


Strategies to mitigate imposing, monolithic forms can be combined with streetscaping and other design elements, playing off existing neighborhood assets to improve way-finding, increase permeability, and amplify the character of surrounding communities.



Best-choice interventions will consider the nature of interchange between the Opportunity Corridor and surrounding neighborhoods in terms of fast flowing and slow pooling — tunnels and traffic bridges require bold visual strategies . . .



. . . while transit stations and pedestrian bridges can be places for more human-scaled approaches.


Activation can be centered around interchanges and

can filter out along sidewalks and key

overlooks along the road and trail.

A.

B. C.

D.

E.

Overview of Spaces

Inventory of bridges and underpasses

Slavic Village

Kinsman

Kinsman

Buckeye

Fairfax

1.

2.

Slavic Village

Central

A.

B. C.

D.

E.

Overview of Spaces


Slavic Village

Kinsman

Kinsman

Buckeye

Fairfax

1.

2.

Residential

Industrial

Industrial

Residential

Transportation

Transportation

Infrastructure

Residential

Industrial

Infrastructure

Infrastructure

Slavic Village

Central

Residential

Infrastructure

Residential

Overview of Spaces


Existing transportation infrastructure in Opportunity Corridor.

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

Overview of Spaces


Site of East 55th Street Pedestrian Bridge (top) and view off existing East 89th Street Bridge (bottom)

1.

2.

Overview of Spaces


Existing conditions at East 55th Street Metro Station.

A.

Transportation

Residential

Slavic Village

Central Elements:

Bridge over Boulevard

Important Transit Station

Adjacent Commercial Complex

Adjacent Residential Units

Retaining Walls

and

Pedestrian Bridge over Boulevard connecting to Multi Purpose Trail

Infrastructure

Commercial

1.

1.

A. East 55th Street Transportation Hub

Industrial

Overview of Spaces


Neighborhood assets include the Portland-Outhwaite Recreation Center.


A. Slavic Village

Central

Surroundings:

At the juncture of the Central (to the north) and Slavic Village (to the south) neighborhoods, the site’s immediate surroundings comprise a mix of residential and vacant light industry, combined with huge swaths of infrastructure and a surprising amount of green space within view. The Portland Outhwaite

Recreation Center is a 15-minute walk. Commercial

Education, Access and Green Innovation

Neighborhood Character

Central Neighborhood

Urban Agriculture Innovation Zone

Cleveland Public Library

Cuyahoga Community College

Cleveland School of the Arts

Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority

Hundreds of new homes or renovated homes, a significant new shopping centers and increased investment

A. B.

C. Top: Green City Growers Greenhouse produces lettuce and basil for local use; Center (L): Arts education thrives

at Cleveland School of the Arts; Center (C-L): Arbor Park Village, East Central Place, and Central Commons

represent investment and commitment to complete neighborhoods with amenities like this splash pad;

Bottom: A mobile grocery truck ensures that fresh produce reaches the neighborhood.

Adjacent Sites:

Education, Access and Green Innovation


Central Neighborhood


Cleveland Public Library

Cuyahoga Community College

Cleveland School of the Arts

Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority

Hundreds of new homes or renovated homes, a significant new shopping centers and increased investment

Strategies for this neighborhood will emphasize access to existing

amenities and creation of new ones by encouraging gathering and

enjoying public space.

Connectivity and Cultural Enrichment


Slavic Village Neighborhood

Active living through neighborhood connections like Morgana Run

Bike Culture and the Cleveland Velodrome

Public Art

Broadway School of Music and the Arts

Cultural Institutions like Slovenian National Home and Sokol Center

Stress Free Housing

Top (L-R): Cultural institutions serve as community associations, gathering places, and centers for the arts,

traditional Eastern European Dance, gymnastics, aerial arts and more; Center (L-R) Public Art is helping

Slavic Village define its character; Bottom (L-R): The community is emphasizing active living, taking

advantage of its proximity to downtown and alternate modes of transportation through projects like the

Morgana Run Trail, the Towpath Trail, and the Cleveland Velodrome.

Connectivity and Cultural Enrichment


Slavic Village Neighborhood

Active living through neighborhood connections like Morgana Run

Bike Culture and the Cleveland Velodrome

Public Art

Broadway School of Music and the Arts

Cultural Institutions like Slovenian National Home and Sokol Center

Stress Free Housing

Strategies in this neighborhood will emphasize activity and self-

actualization, such as providing user-determined public spaces that

can serve multiple functions.

Overview of Strategies

A toolkit for enhancing neighborhood character

A.

Transit Hub Activation

Designing with Levels

Integrated Landscaping


Strategy: Transit Hub Activation

Concentrating interventions — of all sorts — on places populated by transit users helps those interventions reach an audience and catalyzes meaningful change in a neighborhood.

Appropriate For:

A. E.

Playful, interactive designs for bus stops.

Halladie Plaza, Powell Street BART, San Francisco

Strategy: Designing with Levels

Creative use of multiple levels can make grade changes — especially

those where several types of infrastructure come together

(pedestrian, automobile, public transit) — feel occupiable and

exciting, rather than awkward or divisive.

Appropriate For:

A. E.

Freeway Park, Seattle was designed in the 1970s but feels fresh and inviting today.

Strategy: Designing with Levels

Appropriate For:

A. E.

Levels can mean hardscaping, or can refer to how the project interacts with terrain on a large scale.

Top: HUB Park by Meridian 2020; Middle and Bottom: Victoria Park Subway Station, Toronto

Strategy: Integrated Landscaping

Improving landscaping around space already activated by foot traffic can make bridges and transit stations feel saver and more connected to community.

Appropriate For:

A. E.



Infrastructure as Art

1.

A. 1. Pedestrian Bridge

Strategy: Infrastructure as Art

Sculptural and destination bridges can be at home near a neighborhood, as part of a transit hub, or within a green space or buffer zone.

Connectivity and adjacent amenities such as trail access, seating or an overlook, planned land use, zoning and development combine to define experience.

Features large and small can make bridge infrastructure feel connected to the landscape, regardless of the

setting.

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. 2.

E.

Various artistic pedestrian bridges.

Overview of Spaces


B.

Transportation Infrastructure

Residential Kinsman

B. Kingsbury Run Bridge

Existing conditions at Kingsbury Run, with neighborhoods separated from green space.

Residential

Elements:

Double Bridge over Kingsbury Run Ravine

Multi Purpose Trail Adjoins Bridge

Residential Neighborhood on either side of Ravine

Overlook across broad green buffer zone

Retaining Walls and grade changes

Overview of Spaces


B.

Surroundings: Though access to the ravine is currently cut off to the neighborhoods on either side, the green space provides a wealth of recreation and remediation opportunities, in keeping with local aspirations for a community rec center, existing assets like the nearby Elizabeth Hyacinth Community Gardens, as well as Kinsman’s overall emphasis on green renewal. The proximity of the neighborhoods suggests sufficient users for programming and other pedestrian-scaled intervention, while the old infrastructure may be seen as picturesque.

Kingsbury Run Bridge

Remains of Sidaway Bridge.

B. Kinsman

Neighborhood Renewal and Green Rebirth


Kinsman Neighborhood


Healthy Food Access

Community Gardens and Community Drive

Push for Complete Housing

B. C. Top and Center: Rid All Green Partnership urban farm and youth education center welcomes civic leaders to

learn about their operation; Bottom (L): The Hyacinth Community Garden; Bottom (C): CornUcopia place com-

bats urban food deserts with a community kitchen and more than 50 classes; Bottom (R): Complete housing

like Hyacinth Lofts provides live-work space for musicians and filmmakers, while Burton Bell Carr’s proposed

Garden Valley Estates would rehab neighborhood housing stock with community members’ input.

Adjacent Sites:

Neighborhood Renewal and Green Rebirth




Healthy Food Access

Community Gardens and Community Drive

Push for Complete Housing

Strategies in this neighborhood will emphasize community connections, rejuvenating the urban landscape,

and sustainability.



B.


Residential Kinsman

Kingsbury Run Bridge

Residential

Living Walls

Landscape Restoration

Celebrating the Post-Industrial Landscape

Community Engagement

Playscapes

Programming

B.

B.

Strategy: Living Walls

Vertical Gardens can amend nearly any pre-existing infrastructure . . .

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. D.

E.

Vertical Garden Treatments.

The transformation of Buffalo Bayou, Houston

Strategy: Landscape Restoration

. . . while larger landscaping infrastructure projects are appropriate for areas with pedestrian access, pre-existing green space, and the possibility for connectivity to features like multi-use trails.

Appropriate For:

B. C.

Bottom Left: Aerial view; Top and Bottom Right: current Landscaping and pedestrian trails

Strategy: Landscape Restoration

Creating public space from underused infrastructure has gained popularity in dense urban areas, but green space along corridors and highway buffers should not be taken for granted. These existing amenities can be improved to create linkages, remediate storm water, and serve nearby neighborhoods.

Appropriate For:

B. C.

Top: The Yards, Washington DC; Bottom: Landschaftspark Industrial Garden in Duisburg-Nord, Germany

Strategy: Celebrate the Post-Industrial Landscape

By tying new infrastructure elements to existing materials and views, sculptural architectural components can draw out the beauty of the existing landscape.

Appropriate For:

B. C.

D.

John Hextall Bridge, renovated into a pedestrian and bike bridge with seating when the new transit bridge was built alongside, Calgary

Strategy: Community Engagement

Community engagement can include mural creation, citizen maintenance and friends of groups, or more involved art residency opportunities. They create a sense of long-term stewardship.

Top: Central Area Surface Restoration Art Project as part of The Big Dig by Andrew Leicester, Boston; Bottom:

Volunteers and artists work to beautify the greenway

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. D.

E.

Strategy: Playscape

It’s no longer just groups of skaters using under-freeway spaces for impromptu play; basketball courts, swings and even artistic playgrounds are cropping up.

Top and Bottom Left: Basurama RUS Park project in Lima, Peru ; Top Right, Mission Bay, San Francisco; Middle

Right: Jose Marti Park, Miami; Bottom Right: Underpass Park, Toronto

Appropriate For:

B. C. E.

http://europaconcorsi.com/projects/193825-Basurama-RUS-Lima-autoparque-de-diversiones-p-blico/images/3083339

Strategy: Programming

Skateparks, often started informally and then later legitimized by the city, are becoming a well-known adaptation under freeways and other transportation infrastructure, but they are not the only possible option for programming underpass spaces. Flea markets, mountain bike trails, movie screenings, art exhibitions and other performances are all beginning to appear. These strategies apply beyond high-density urban pedestrian routes, and can be tailored to fit in with a local residential or regional commuter population, especially as they are able to tie into pedestrian, bicycle or public transportation routes.

Left: Under the Freeway Flea, Wallace, Idaho; Right: Seattle’s I-5 Colonnade MTB Park;

Bottom: Urban Plaza by La Dallman, Milwaukee

Overview of Spaces


C.

Transportation

Infrastructure

Residential Kinsman

C. Blue-Green Line Bridge

Existing conditions at Grand (top) and at Colfax Road (bottom).

Residential

Elements:

Double bridge over GCRTA Blue and Green lines

Multi Purpose Trail Adjoins Bridge

Retaining Walls separates bridge from residential neighborhood

Green buffer space adjacent to residential neighborhood.

Vacant and underused land

Overview of Spaces


C.


Wide spaces and bushy overgrowth suggest an almost bucolic setting.

Surroundings:

A mix of vacant land, aging housing stock, demolition yards and successful industry abutting transportation infrastructure mean that this section of the Corridor will grow into its potential more slowly. Focusing on versatile, enduring, non-specific infrastructure will be key.

Kinsman

Rising Potential



Light Industry, manufacturing and the Orlando Baking Company

Elegant Infrastructure

A Neighborhood on the Move

B. C.

Top: Holton Avenue at East 90th Street — existing bridges and roads in this area will be the bones of

redevelopment; Center and Bottom (L): Glimpses of the Orlando company yesterday and today — the bakery

has been an important source of employment for more than a century; Bottom (R): Hillside Community Park

Redevelopment Plan at East 79th Street.

Adjacent Sites:

Rising Potential



Light Industry, manufacturing and the Orlando Baking Company

Elegant Infrastructure

A Neighborhood on the Move

Strategies for this area will focus on strong infrastructural choices that

will remain functional and beautiful through the neighborhood’s

changing future.

The include coordinating Best Practice Design Elements with

practical features like bike lanes, benches and bump-outs.



B.


Residential Kinsman

Residential

Landscape Engineering as Design

Decorative Design Elements

Coordinated Design Elements

Bike Lanes, Benches and Bump-outs


C.

Strategy: Landscape Engineering as Design

Retaining walls, artful noise barriers, and even terraforming can turn buffer space into a design element.

Left: Andrew Leicester terraforming, Minneapolis; Right Top and Bottom: Beautifying

retaining and sound walls

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. D.

E.

Strategy: Best Practice Design Elements

Even the most standard architectural and engineering elements can elevate a project. Many approaches are simple and cost-effective (for example, stamped architectural concrete), and, combined with signage, fencing and planters, can raise the project’s overall appeal.

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. D.

E.

Comprehensive design communicates character.


Stamped concrete and other details need not depart from traditional forms to enliven space . . .

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. D.

E.

Strategies in stamped and colored concrete combine to tell a story without changing the nature of the project.


. . . but can help traditional infrastructure elements appear in new ways.

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. D.

E.

Sundial wall by Creative Design Resolutions interacts with environment.

Various treatments by Creative Design Resolutions

Strategy: Coordinating Design Elements

Strategies can be combined for a coherent, whole-project approach.

Soldier Pile Wall and Ramp C. Piers by Creative Design Resolutions, Dayton, Ohio.

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. D.

E.

Strategy: Coordinating Design Elements

Third Street Bridge, Napa, brings coordinated design elements together for an enhanced user experience.

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. D.

E.

Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Streetscape, DLZ Bagley Road Grade Separation, DLZ Towpath Trail, DLZ

Various Streetscapes, Altamanu Bagby Street Reconstruction, Design Workshop

Portland Cement Association’s (PCA) Fourteenth Biennial

Concrete Bridge Awards Competition

Strategy: Bike Lanes

Even in a sparsely populated area, a piece of landscape can attract users if it provides a way to get from here to there . . .

Main Street Bridge, Columbus by DLZ

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. D.

E.

Strategy: Benches and Bump-outs

. . Or a reason to stay a while.

Overlooks don’t have to be in dense urban areas; taking in the view can be a good enough excuse to stop.

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. D.

E.

Top: Bridge at Town Lake, Austin; Bottom: Woodrow Wilson Bridge Trail

Fairfax

Buckeye

Overview of Spaces


Two views down Grand.

D.

Transportation

Elements:

Double passage under Norfolk Southern Mainline

Retaining walls reach high on either side

Industrial Zone

Residential lies beyond commercial buffer

and

Pedestrian Bridge over Railroad

Residential

2.

2.

D. Norfolk Southern Underpass

Industrial

Residential

Overview of Spaces


Existing conditions at East 55th Street Metro Station.

Fairfax Surroundings:

Double passage under Norfolk Southern Mainline

Retaining walls reach high on either side

Industrial Zone

Residential lies beyond commercial buffer

and

Pedestrian Bridge over Railroad

Residential 2.


Buckeye

D.

2.

Past, Present, Future


Buckeye Neighborhood

Historic Churches, Cemeteries and Green Spaces

Comprehensive planning and community outreach

New Initiatives for public art and culture

C. Woodland Cemetery (top) Saint John’s Cemetery, and Saint Joseph’s Cemetery add considerably to the open

space in the immediate area,

D. E.

Left: Public art, public space, and public amenities are growing in the Buckeye Neighborhood; Top: St.

Elizabeth’s of Hungary housed the first Roman Catholic Hungarian Parish in the United States; Bottom:

Woodland, Saint John’s, and Saint Joseph’s Cemeteries add to the green space in the immediate area.

One of Cleveland’s largest parks, Luke Easter Park, lies just south.

Adjacent Sites:

Past, Present, Future


Buckeye Neighborhood

Historic Churches, Cemeteries and Green Spaces

Comprehensive planning and community outreach

New Initiatives for public art and culture

Placemaking in the Buckeye Neighborhood should focus on bold,

bright, big-impact strategies that activate the community wherever

possible,

Woodland Cemetery (top) Saint John’s Cemetery, and Saint Joseph’s Cemetery add considerably to the open

space in the immediate area,



B.


Residential Kinsman

Residential

Painting

Lighting

Community Engagement

Sculpture

And Playfulness!


D.

2.

Strategy: Painting Painting is one of the simplest ways to create visual drama and a sense of place; paintings can be commissioned from professional muralists, but another strategy, which reduces costs and creates community access and a sense of ownership, is to open these unique spaces to nonprofessionals through contests or other means, allowing street artists and community groups to propose interventions.

Top: Trumbull Street Overpass, Detroit; Middle: Seart Park, Mount Wellington, New Zealand; Bottom: “Inside

the Overpass” 29th Street Mural Project, Tucson.

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. D.

E.

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. D.

E.

Painting strategies range from simple use of bright colors and bold graphics to

sophisticated Tromp L’oeil.

Strategy: Projected Light

At times quicker, more dramatic and more versatile than painting, projected light can also provide the visual impact needed to enliven an underpass, either on its own or in combination with painting or sculpture. The result is not only visually interesting, but adds an element of safety.

Top: Northside Pittsburgh, projected light rendering by Paula Scher; Middle: Ballroom Luminoso, San Antonio;

Bottom: LightRails by Bill Fitzgibbons, Birmingham

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. D.

E.

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. D.

E.

Lighting schemes can be simple, or they can play off of other elements such as sculpture and painting.

Strategy: Sculptural Installation

There are as many creative reinterpretations of underused space as there are artists to dream them.

Aspire, by Warren Langly. Sydney

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. D.

E.

Strategy: Playfulness

Even areas that feel undeserving or insurmountable can benefit from a sense of humor. Poking fun at an undesirable situation can help; af-ter all, acknowledgement is the first step toward recovery.

Feral Fence by Shannon Wright

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. D.

E.

Overview of Spaces


East 55th Street Transportation Hub

E. Fairfax

E.

Elements:

Bridge over Boulevard

Transit Stop

Overview of Spaces


East 55th Street Transportation Hub

E. Fairfax

E.

Surroundings: Adjacent to University Circle, Fairfax benefits from access to all the arts, eds and meds the district has to offer, with transit stops as additional resources. However, Fairfax is not wanting for institutions of its own; recently the Cleveland Clinic took over the historic Cleveland Playhouse with an eye to a decades-long masterplan indicating growth for years, and with Karamu House and the Langston Hughes Center, this residential neighborhood has plenty to do besides sleep.

Eds, Meds, Arts and More


Fairfax Neighborhood

Top: Karamu House players; Left: Fitness at Langston Hughes Center; Right: Rendering for the Cleveland Clinic.

C.

Historical Institutions

Age of Enrichment

Good health, good jobs, good growth

D. E.

Adjacent Sites:

Eds, Meds, Arts and More


Fairfax Neighborhood

Historical Institutions

Age of Enrichment

Good health, good jobs, good growth

Interventions in Fairfax should emphasize forward-thinking

achievement in science and play up design in service of human

experience.

Top: Grand Metrolink Station, Saint Louis. ; Bottom: Gold Line Bridge, Arcadia, California

Strategy: Work within Everyday Visual Language . . .

Bridge, transit station and infrastructure design can incorporate unexpected and welcoming elements without incurring high costs or feeling out-of-place . . .

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. D.

E.

Aiola Island Bridge across the Mur River in Graz, Austria features a sunbathing area, a trendy

bar and a coffee house.

Strategy:

. . . Or Break Out!

. . . Or infrastructure can serve as a means and an end in itself.

Appropriate For:

B. C.

Appropriate For:

A. B.

C. E.

Additional Resources:

Design Trust for Public Space: Under the Elevated

http://designtrust.org/projects/under-elevated/overview/

Penn Park: A Coherent Public Space Emerges out of a Mess of Infrastructure:

http://dirt.asla.org/2011/09/28/penn-park-a-coherent-public-space-forms-out-of-a-mess-of-infrastructure/

Reusing Transit Space Infrastructure:

http://designtrust.org/how-we-work/case-studies/case-study-adaptive-reuse/

Thinking Beyond the Station:

http://www.pps.org/reference/thinking-beyond-the-station/

Central Tunnel/Artery Project and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, Boston

http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/TheBigDig.aspx

Ohlone Greenway, Berkeley:

http://www.ite.org/decade/pubs/IR-118-E.pdf

Guadalupe trail, San Jose:

http://www.sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/12915

National Council of City Planning Officials Urban Street Design Guide:

http://issuu.com/mili.vn/docs/urban_street_design_guide

American Trails Resources:

http://www.americantrails.org/resources/trans/index.html

Buro Happold Engineering:

http://www.burohappold.com/what-we-do/

Andrew Leicester, Public Artist

http://andrewleicester.com/

California Department of Transportation Landscape Architecture Program and Aesthetic Guidelines

http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/LandArch/index.htm

Bridge Aesthetics

http://bridgeaesthetics.org/Draft_Bridge_Aesthetics_Sourcebook_March09.pdf

DLZ Architects

http://dlz.com/projects/

Mural by Christopher Stackowicz and Samantha Davis Stackowicz

http://designtrust.org/projects/under-elevated/overview/





http://www.pps.org/reference/thinking-beyond-the-station/

http://www.ite.org/decade/pubs/IR-118-E.pdf

http://www.sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/12915

http://issuu.com/mili.vn/docs/urban_street_design_guide

http://www.americantrails.org/resources/trans/index.html

ea-opportunity corridor bridge strategies-condensed

Documents

public space bridges

pedestrian bridges

street pedestrian bridge

public space strategies

street bridge project

opportunity corridor

public space activation

traffic bridges