Millennium Park Chicago

Millennium Park was part of the Plan for Chicago done by Daniel Burnham and the most well-known structure that exists in the park is Frank Gehry’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion that opened in July of 2004 (Millennium).  The design is a structure for a performance space that is made of steel.  The steel is used above and on the side of the orchestra; area directs the sound out to people but also deceases the reverberation to the people who are playing the instruments.  In addition to the steel structure where the performers are, there is a steel structure covering for a grass area.  In the structure, there are speakers that increase the sound out to the large grass area that is two thirds of the overall seating area (Millennium).  This performance space is intended to be for the public of Chicago and that is the same as the rest of Millennium Park.  The methods and techniques that were used are very powerful because the steel does not look like it can be held up but the structure works.  The space is very inviting because of how unexplainable the pavilion is that it draws you in to learn more and try to understand the structure.  One improvement to the space that could be made is other ideas for the green space while it is not being used for performances to make people come and use the space in more interesting ways.

KL Metropolis Master Plan

The KL Metropolis Master Plan is an idea for a community that includes “residential, commercial, office, hotel, cultural, and civic buildings” folded in with the first LEED and other environmentally conscious structures (KL).  This master plan came from SOM and they designed eleven different structures on the site.  This was designed for the people of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for people to live and work in a vibrant community especially the “central business district” (KL).  This project seems to well thought out to make it possible that the project to be successful.  The stand out building is the MITCE that is the stands for the Trade and Exhibition Center.  There is a large glass facade and a large open floor plan that is open to business district but also for the public for art exhibits.  This space is very versatile because of the variety of different type of spaces that are created and can be created.  This allows for all the types of people to use the space and the makes the space successful.

High Line New York

The High Line Project is a redesign of an abandoned elevated train track into park and garden system with an expansive variety of types of plants.  The train was used to transport the goods from the industrial district before the trucking company made the train system obsolete.  The city wanted to destroy it “while Peter Obletz, a Chelsea resident, activist, and railroad enthusiast, challenges demolition efforts in court,” because he saw what the railway could be (About).  The head of the group that helped in the construction was called Friends of the High Line that was founded by Joshua David and Robert Hammond (About).  The first section of the renovation to the railway was completed on June 9 2009, the next section was completed on Jun 8 2011, and the final section was completed September 21 2014 (About).  The ideas for the different types of gardens came from the photos taken by Joel Sternfeld.  The piece represents a revitalization of this area because when the railway was abandoned the shops in the area started losing business, but when the park open not only did that revitalize the old shops but new business came into the area and also young artists started renting out lofts.  Therefore, the High Line and the surrounding area was designed and constructed for neighborhood of Manhattan and all of New York.  Out of all three of these designs, the High Line does the best job of telling a story to the people who enjoy it what the space was and what it will become.  It does this by bringing together the wild vegetation when the rail way was abandoned with the new landscaped vegetation that was brought in.  The connection can also be seen in the walkways and benches as they are constructed with wood similar to the material used for the railway and slides and bends into the natural landscape in the movement of a train.  The plants are the strongest part of the park because of the precision for which each of the plants were chosen and where they were placed in the park.  They tell a story of the natural plants that occur in the area that are taught in classes by the Friends of the High Line who also do upkeep of the vegetation.  This creates a dynamic space of relaxation, exercise, and education.  This design speaks to me because it did not just tear it down and start over but renovated and breathed new life into an old and beautiful space.

About the High Line | Friends of the High Line. Retrieved October 28, 2016, from http://www.thehighline.org/about/

KL Metropolis Master Plan. Retrieved October 28, 2016, from http://www.som.com/projects/kl_metropolis_master_plan

Millennium Park. Retrieved October 28, 2016, from http://www.architecture.org/architecture-chicago/buildings-of-chicago/building/millennium-park/

William H. Whyte grew up in West Chester Pennsylvania before he went Princeton University and joined the Marines.  He then went on to join the magazine Fortune for a time before he wrote his book The Organization Man, which “sold over two million copies” (William).  After his book, he moved on to urban sprawl and revitalization to help with the development of cities and to advocate for them.  In 1969, he helped the “New York City Planning Commission in drafting a comprehensive plan for the city” (William).  He did this after years of research on the streets of New York taking notes and pictures of the way that people moved through the city and through the plazas.  This is seen in this film The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces where he uses time-lapse photography and film with narration to explain where his ideas for the Planning Commission came from.  In addition to the film he also wrote a variety of books throughout his life such as “The Exploding Metropolis (1958); Cluster Development (1964); The Last Landscape (1968); The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces (1980); and City: Rediscovery of the Center (1988)” (William).  One of the things that he believed that could be seen in the film was how important public spaces are to a city.  “He believed that we have a moral responsibility to create physical places that facilitate civic engagement and community interaction” (William).  This has become a common idea in all towns that are being built in the urban and residential setting.  When this is not being done, it is easy to see how a downtown or residential neighborhood can become separated and unapproachable.  Whyte’s next idea is connected to the creation of public spaces; he believed that public spaces should designed bottom-up.  By this, he meant that when designing the space you should start with the way that people use it, and to make sure it is comfortable if it is not it will never be used.  The last topic that he believed in was “the power of observation” (William).  He believed that the best way to design was to watch how people interact and use spaces so that the design of the space can be as productive as possible.  His normative models for city design and urban form are the ways that people move and congregate in the cities they live in.  Whyte wanted a variety of different people strangers and friends to be able to have spaces to meet and talk in the city naturally and not be forced.  This can be seen in his film when he talks about the different cafes at the end of the movie.  At some of these cafes, he guessed there has been the start of a marriage or business deal.  He also put great importance on the street as a connection to the small urban spaces, but also to the city as a whole.  “The street is the river of life of the city, the place where we come together, the pathway to the center” (William).  Whyte wanted the street to connect the people to the infrastructure and direct them to the civic experience of the city naturally. 

William H. Whyte - Project for Public Spaces. Retrieved October 12, 2016, from http://www.pps.org/reference/wwhyte/

Boechat, J. P. (2016, January 31). The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. Retrieved October 12, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_9g5qk0kbY