East Lansing 2030 | Collegeville Re-Envisioned

[el2030]

LEVENBETTS

STRATEGIES: parking, daylighting, programmatic

[el2030]

LEVENBETTS

Diagram: Heliocity

A solar code for a northern city.

[el2030]

WXY

East Lansing Commons

At the district level we researched the foursquare check-ins (https://foursquare.com/infographics/500million) to uncover primarily student activity in relation to cultural and non-profit institutions. This reveals a heat map of activity which will be analyzed further for future programming needs and gap analysis along the Grand River and Michigan Avenue edge.

[el2030]

WXY

Regional Desire Lines

Studying at a regional level, East Lansing remains an important hub culturally and has a place to support the larger Michigan network. Shown above are the existing airport bus lines to Detroit, Flint, and Grand Rapids, as well as the proposed Amtrak rail link from Grand Rapids to Detroit. This parallels the historical Grand River trail diagonally across the width of the state, now being re-inscribed with new modes of transportation and potentially a new line of exchange for ideas. One of these modes could be an Air to Art bus hybrid, linking the airports toward national and international dialogue as well as connecting to old and new significant art and architecture destinations.

[el2030]

DIGSAU

CONCEPT: Rampscape

[el2030]

WXY

SITE

Our proposed locations for interventions are broadly along the border between the University and the City. The areas outlined in green above note the location of a potential large-scale connector, a framework for further investigation as a new civic commons. The sites designated 1 and 2 are new potential bridge sites along zones where the Red Cedar approaches Grand River and Michigan Avenues. Highlighted yellow is the key zone in which the University and City interface, a number of privately owned potential development sites related to this infrastructure. This edge can serve as a dense inhabited wall, a filter related to a variety of lanes, paths, shortcuts, and streets which interact. In total these could achieve a new pedestrian friendly loop, including the Red Cedar River / Lansing River Trail.

[el2030]

PLY

SITE: Along Michigan Ave. from Harrison St. to Grand River Ave.

8.15.14

[el2030]

DIGSAU

PROGRAM

[el2030]

WXY

Planned Connections

Today these infrastructures are again being updated and overlaid with new transportation amenities, most notably the expansion of the Lansing River Trail and the proposed Bus Rapid Transit that will continue a historic trend.  

[el2030]

WXY

Regional Place

The image above represents the nearly 30 passenger trains which stopped at four stations in Lansing each day. We are interested in understanding the city at this regional level to determine its identity and place within the larger network. This concerns not only the physical connections, but also the new industries and ideas shaping the knowledge economy. 

(Image source: Michigan Department of Natural Resources, http://www.hal.state.mi.us/mhc/museum/explore/museums/hismus/special/lans1897/train.html)

[el2030]

BIONIC

CONCEPT DIAGRAM

[el2030]

URBANLAB

PROGRAM: Clustered Quad

Clustered Quad at MSU is designed to accommodate several densely packed uses such as student housing, academic facilities, learning and leisure environments, shopping areas, and open spaces. Clustered Quad is a small city in itself, but is also designed to complement and help strengthen East Lansing’s college-oriented downtown area just across Grand River Avenue. Downtown East Lansing is within a short walk for hundreds, perhaps thousands of MSU students living and learning in the Quad. By creating a higher, concentrated population density, the Quad and downtown area will become connected “co-environments” friendly to the presence of people living, studying, working, shopping, visiting, and spending time together. Increased cooperation between university and city will promote the continued economic growth of both. Increased social interaction between students and East Lansing residents will strengthen community ties and increase a sense of pride of both. Increased walkability will decrease reliance on cars and diminish the automobile footprint of the larger community.

[el2030]

URBANLAB

CONCEPT DIAGRAMS: Clustered Quad

[el2030]

WXY

Infrastructural History

Lansing/East Lansing has long acted as the connected heart of Michigan.  Historic transportation infrastructure gets re-inscribed, re-purposed, and re-invigorated.  Over 200 years ago Native Peoples as well as European traders used the Grand River, Red Cedar River and the Huron River with the connection of 3 mile over land portage to traverse the vast White Pine Forest of the Michigan Lower Peninsula on water.  Footpaths then traced the water passages. These paths were later widened to accept wagons.  These roads following the water ways often flooded creating muddy and impassible routes. To improve key routes, roads were planked over to enable consistent grading and raise the road to evade flooding.  Around 100 years ago, these key routes became the preferred sites for the Michigan trunk road system which later became the backbone of the state's interstate highway system.  2030 will mark a date almost 100 years hence.  What type of destination will East Lansing be then, with what type of transportation and connectivity?

(Image source: MSU Campus Archaeology Program, http://campusarch.msu.edu)

[el2030]

URBANLAB

SIGNIFICANCE: Clustered Quad

Clustered Quad is designed to connect various existing, new and proposed building projects while forming a strong sense of identity, centrality and community for the MSU campus. Clustered Quad is dense with new programmatic possibilities in close proximity to East Lansing’s main business, residential and entertainment district.

Currently, the MSU campus is a sprawling collection of loosely associated buildings. Although MSU has identifiable points of architectural interest such the football stadium or basketball arena, they have a single function and are utilized only on special (infrequent) occasions. Although the stadium and arena are not considered examples of iconic architecture, they are critical “social spaces” that greatly enhance student experience and shared culture. MSU needs more of these social spaces (what university doesn’t?).

Clustered Quad is planned as a series of social spaces – at varying scales – activated by a variety of close-knit programs. Historically, a quadrangle – or quad – is an enclosed space, typically rectangular in plan, completely or mostly edged by buildings and/or landscape elements. Quads are most often found on college campuses but other clustered buildings assemblages also utilize quads to organize large spaces into smaller places. Pedestrian walkability is crucial, as is a sense of both security and shared (interior/exterior) space.

A major goal of this investigation is to design Clustered Quad to become a new and lasting recognizable symbol for the MSU campus. Many campuses become known and remembered for historically important aspects of their built environments. These symbols become important beacons for students, and add national character and stature to universities. Does MSU currently have an equivalent public persona or an image that Americans universally acknowledge and respect? If not, then it’s time to begin conceptualizing one...

[el2030]

STOSS

CONCEPT: Bog Carbon Sinks

[el2030]

STOSS

CONCEPT: Hyporheic Boulevard

The hyporheic zone is an important habitat, key zones are the river substrates that provide important habitat both above and below the riverbed. The hyporheic zone provides inherent ecology, insect habitats as well as a source for nutrients. Being able to maximize this area is the goal of the hyporheic blvd by manipulating the local flow using methods such as bed raising and stream narrowing. Narrowing the stream in the east side of East village will increase flow coming into the hyporheic blvd. To accommodate the increase in flow a set of topographical manipulations are constructed as shallow angulating stream beds to increase the lateral area of the hyporheic zone. Another integral part of the project is the use of the several open drainage ways located within the city to redirect storm water into the hyporheic blvd which acts as pockets that store and release water into the hyporheic zone acting as an alternative to the natural groundwater. This process intensifies the hyporheic zone resulting in a nutrient rich habitat capable of performing as a high capacity carbon nest.