THESIS STATEMENT 2.0

Problem:

The American Dream needs revising.  At the exponential rate we grow each year, we are unable to support the lifestyles previous generations worked so hard to obtain.  Aspirations of raising 1.5 kids in a suburban two-story cookie cutter dwelling, with two yards (a front and a back) are no longer a realistic dream. This vision fails to take into account the increased number of singles, the working poor, the elderly, and pressed middle-class families.  To strive for lives like this promotes urban sprawl to no end, destroys remaining habitat, distances us from one another, and further increases our dependence on the automobile.

An Outlet:

As we have begun to move into this century, there has been a lot of attention and focus on making sustainable architecture, propagated by LEED, Living Building Challenge, and the 2030 Challenge.  We are at a point where achieving sustainability at the building scale is almost effortless and our design intentions should be directed toward realizing sustainable living for future town centers, urban areas, and eco-districts.  Metro, a local elected government for the Portland metropolitan area, has devised the 2040 growth plan and identifies said Regional Centers.  Similar to a concept found in landscape ecology the 2040 Growth plan begins to organize future growth based on Patches and Corridors; Patches being existing and potential urban areas, and corridors being Light Rail Transit.

Vision/Thesis:

In an attempt to realize and increase the vitality of future Regional Centers and Eco-districts, implementation of district scale transit in conjunction with regional transportation in the form of streetcar would increase mobility, become a catalyst for focusing future growth and work to promote a healthier lifestyle free from the automobile.

Execution of Model: A Solution for Gateway.

Gateway’s adjacency to regional transit and derogated fabric deems it both a Regional Center and an Urban Renewal Area, making it the ideal candidate for realizing this urban model designed around alternative transit.  This Regional Center possesses the opportunity for strategizing phased future density in an area that is currently lacking a critical mass and lends itself the ability to rethink the ‘urban core’, concentrating its development in response to the existing urban ecologies.

A performing arts center will act as an anchor; signifying arrival into Gateway, become a backdrop to plaza activity, and work to facilitate extended use and activity for this lifeless area.  Community performances, debates and lectures could all be held in this edifice.  To Compliment this program and add furthure economic boost a mid rise hotel is part of this node development. This project will further more reinforce the harmonies between: Interior and Exterior, Site and Building, Fabric and Object.