PATCHES, FIELDS, AND THE IN-BETWEEN THE INTERSECTIONS OF ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPE IN THE [FORMERLY] URBAN
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE THESIS BRYAN RAYMOND
Abstract Youngstown, Ohio reveals a paradox common among other postindustrial cities: for decades its population, economy, and industries have been in a state of perpetual motion, yet the city itself appears to have come to a halt, lingering in a state of uncertainty. The precarious status of the city has been induced by the departure of its once-powerful steel industry, resulting in the exodus of over half of its peak population. Given its lack of density, the city is now overwhelmed by its accumulated matter, leaving its landscape fragmented and perforated with vacancy and residual spaces. Youngstown joins other Rust Belt cities in the discussion of “shrinking cities,” a term adopted to describe cities that have been impacted by a significant population loss in a relatively short period of time. In the now diffuse, low-density urban fabric, landscape urbanism holds a newfound relevance, able to take on the role of a framework that catalyzes urban renewal from a large-scale perspective. The thesis also explores the possibilities of achieving urban intensity without density. To this end, the measure of intensity must shift from the quantitative to the qualitative. Intensity is measured not from the mere juxtaposition and accumulation of urban form, but from the overlaps and tensions between dissimilar programs in the process of flux. The project will speculate on a transition of Youngstown’s landscape into a continuous natural space that involves the intensification of moments within this green network through the harmony of architecture and landscape. First, a broader vision for the city is devised, in which points with high social and economic potential are determined as starting off points for growth. Landscape is asked to take on the role of infrastructure, setting up a framework for uncertainty yet retaining a degree of formal specificity.
LAKE HURON
SAGINAW
MILWAUKEE
FLINT GRAND RAPIDS
LAKE MICHIGAN
DETROIT
LAKE MICHIGAN LANSING
LAKE CHICAGO SOUTH BEND GARY
LAKE ERIE
TOLEDO
MICHIGAN CITY
CL
FORT WAYNE
A
MANSFIELD
MUNCIE COLUMBUS
INDIANAPOLIS
DAYTON
CINCINNATI
Map of the American Rust Belt
LOUISVILLE
TORONTO
LAKE ONTARIO
ROCHESTER
LAKE ONTARIO
SYRACUSE
BUFFALO
ERIE
E ERIE
LEVELAND
SCRANTON WARREN
YOUNGSTOWN
AKRON
CANTON
PITTSBURGH
STEEL BELT
Aerial View of the Mahonong Valley, Ohio, Early-Mid 1900s
Demolition of Ohio Steel Works, Youngstown, Ohio
Satellite View of Vacant Land Near Downtown Youngstown, 2015
Vacant Blocks in Detroit, Michigan, 2013
THE CITY IN BETWEEN
BOLINDALE
NILES NIN
HO MA IVE GR
MCDONALD
R
CHRUCHILL 76
LORDSTOWN GIRARD MINERAL RIDGE 711
11
NORTH JACKSON 76
AUSTINTOWN
YOUNG
80
CANFIELD
Map of the Mahoning Valley 11
SHARON
MASURU
FARRELL
WEST MIDDLESEX
HUBBARD
The Mahoning Valley, once home to over thirty miles of steel mills that fed the regions urbanization, now remains as a scar that bisects the urban fabric of Youngstown. In this valley, one will find varoius artifacts that allude to the fact that Youngstown was somewhere in between clinging to its industrial past and forming a new narrative for itself.
MAPLEWOOD
376
FRIZZLEBURG
GSTOWN 422
CAMPBELL
680
STRUTHERS
MA
HO
NIN
GR
IVE
NEW WILMINGTON
R
LOWELLVILLE
POLAND EDINBURG
NEW CASTLE
BESSEMER
LAKE ERIE
EUCLID
CLEVELAND
LORAIN
ELYRIA WARREN
AKRON
CANFIEL
CANTON
Regionally, Youngstown’s location between the two larger cities of Pittsburgh and Cleveland remains significant. The thesis project speculates that Youngstown will become a rural city between these two denser, urban nodes, connected via a passenger rail.
Map of Northeast, Ohio and West Pennsylvania
DOVER
LD
ASHTABULA
MEADVILLE
FARRELL
YOUNGSTOWN
MAHONING VALLEY NEW CASTLE
EAST LIVERPOOL
PITTSBURGH
Upon arriving Youngstown from this passenger rail, one will immediately notice that the formerly urban city has returned to a predominately natural state, establishing a new harmony between landscape and architecture.
VIEW FROM THE TRAIN STATION
VIEW OF DOWNTOWN YOUNGSTOWN
And that its urban fabric has been reduced to an archipelago of architectural objects and nodes of activity, some as mere artifacts juxtaposed with new land uses.
CITY PLAN
At the scale of the city, Youngstown is now a Green Archipelago, in which patches of urban density reside in a field. The river valley, once a theater for industrial activity, is now a series of urban spaces connected with a hiking and biking trail alongside new, productive land uses. Along this green network, one will encounter various architectural objects that stand alone in a field, as well as various landscapes.
VIEW ALONG THE MAHONING RIVER BIKING AND HIKING TRAIL
VIEW ALONG THE MAHONING RIVER BIKING AND HIKING TRAIL
Eventually you will arrive at a point of intensity, where architecture and landscape intersect to form something urban, the site of intersections.
VIEW ALONG THE MAHONING RIVER BIKING AND HIKING TRAIL
THE SITE OF INTERSECTIONS
The next part of the thesis focuses on the design of an urban site within the city structure. Here the intersection of architecture and landscape form a point of urban intensity in a diffuse urban fabric. The potential of the site lies in its location at the center of the defined green network, its proximity to existing infrastructure, and its location along a major thouroughfare. The site is organized in a series of perpendicular bands with a specific function. These bands overlap to form adjacencies and interactions among differing landscape and building programs. Landscape bands oriented NorthSouth overlap with an urban band oriented East-West. This literal intersection of landscape and architecture forms a dynamic set of urban conditions throughout the urban band, despite the relatively low density of the site.
SITE ORGANIZATION
LAN
ARBORETUM
TREE FARM
SITE PLAN
FOOD PRODUCTION + MARKET
COMMUNITY GARDENS
TRAIN STATION
MAKERS DISTRICT + COWORKING
SCULPTURE GARDEN
CO-LIVING
BOTANICAL GARDEN
SITE AXONOMETRIC
CO-LIVING + BOTANICAL GARDEN
MAKERS DISTRICT + SCULPTURE GARDEN
FOOD PRODUCTION + COMMUNITY GARDENS