Sustainable Car Parks
Category: Landscape
Posted by: James on 2/23/2006 1:01:00 PM | Digg | Stumble It! | del.icio.us
Landscape Architecture Masters Thesis by Veenu Jayaram
Veenu Jayaram was among the landscape architecture students I met when I sat on the jury for the BrownLAb studio at the University of Southern California Landscape Architecture program. She recently completed her graduate work, and contacted us to share her thesis project.

Examining the patchwork of surface parking lots in Downtown Los Angeles Venu saw an opportunity for intervention realizing that these parking lots occupy much of the land in the Central Business District, yet are only utilized for limited hours, and for the limited purpose of temporary vehicle storage. She proposed that parking lots can serve a more dynamic program that recognizes economic realities while serving the multiple needs of the urban environment.

The proposal takes into account the studied needs within the CBD for the existing and growing residential population in addition to the daytime workers. New infrastructure, planting and programming strategies allow the space to be more flexible while remaining compatible with the need for parking space.
PROPOSAL SEEKS TO TRANSFORM PARKING LOTS INTO MULTI-PURPOSE SPACES

Creating dynamic possibilities, as operative landscapes that could be implemented as self-adaptive systems to the changing needs of our cities. The research targets the surface parking available in the city to have alternative functional qualities that transform and respond to the other social needs of the space. Surface parking in the Downtown Los Angeles takes a major portion of the urban landscape. Its magnitude and the character to function only for one purpose (parking) during the weekdays and to be idle during weekends and off business hours creates a greater attention towards it. The location nature of the land and the economical changes in the city control these surface parking lots from becoming something that is permanently built for the cause of parking.

My research is on finding temporary alternative program possibilities that could make use of these surface parking spaces. Creating a compatible prototype design that could transform to the different needs of the society and maintain a temporal quality that makes possible for the infrastructure to be available for the future needs of the city is critical in the research. The research also focuses on using ecologically sustainable methods and materials that could contribute to the environmental needs of the urban landscape.
EXISTING CONDITIONS





DOWNTOWN LA CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT SURFACE PARKING LOTS



PROPOSED SUSTAINABLE CAR PARKS, GREEN SPACE/SURFACE PARKING



PARTIAL SITE PLAN - WEEKDAY PARKING USE



PARTIAL SITE PLAN - ALTERNATE USES: SPORTS COURTS, MARKET SPACE, GREEN SPACE (URBAN FOREST/PARK), AND REDUCED PARKING AREA



PARTIAL SITE SECTION - WEEKDAY PARKING (TOP), ALTERNATE USES (BELOW)



PERMEABLE AND ALTERNATE PAVING



SOLAR POWER INFRASTRUCTURE



LIGHTING AND INFRASTURCTURE
Comments Add Comments

Hard to reconcile this with the other problems downtown
Posted by Jeff on 2/23/2006 4:51:00 PM

The homeless problem in downtown LA far eclipses this idealist dreaming. I find it unbelievable that someone could suggest such a project without even mentioning this problem. As someone who works in downtown LA, and walks around there at night occasionally, I think you should take this in to account at the very least.

Back to Top
Many problems in our world
Posted by James on 2/23/2006 6:19:00 PM

Jeff, while I agree with you that homelessness is a serious problem in LA, I am not exactly sure why you feel that it is the problem of this student to solve. While I suppose that a landscape architecture student could choose the subject of homelessness as a thesis project, it would also be "idealist dreaming" as homelessness is a serious social and political problem. Instead of shooting down the work of a student who chose to consider the environment as a serious issue (urban heat island effect is serious problem, don't you agree?), why not direct your energy towards the Los Angeles City Council, the State Assembly, US Congress, or someone else who should really be addressing the issue of homelessness.

While your point is taken in regards to acknowledging the issue as part of a project that uses downtown LA as a site, you must also realize that this is a school project - undertaken in one semester. A project that takes on too many challenges is simply bound for a bad grade, a college drop out, and another homeless person on the street... just kidding.

Perhaps you have been working on some design solutions... if so, we would love to see them. Contact us.
Back to Top
Hard to reconcile this with the other problems of the planet
Posted by Kim on 2/25/2006 6:09:00 PM

Jeff,
I can't believe you are worried about such a parochial issue as homeless people in LA when there are thousands of children in the world starving to death daily, being forced to become soldiers or killed, and/or orphaned by AIDS.
I find it unbelievable that someone would spend their time worrying about the sleeping arrangements of autonomous adults in LA without at least taking into account the dire conditions under which most of the world's children are forced to live.
Back to Top
Homelessness IS a MAJOR problem in downtown LA
Posted by Joseph on 2/26/2006 8:50:00 AM

Jeff was not knocking the student's work! He is commenting on the fact that millions if not billions of dollars are getting poured into downtown LA hoping for it to turn into Manhattan or downtown San Diego at best. Ya ya there are more problems with Mother Earth BUT downtown LA is hardly Manhattan or San Francisco where the rich and poor coexist in relative harmony: it is a VERY dangerous area after dark. Jeff is only stating the obvious... yes people WORK in downtown LA but why would anyone LIVE there with such a problem?? All this money is getting poured into downtown in the last few years but the homeless/crime problem has worsened.

So just because Jeff and I are saying homelessness is a major problem in downtown LA, DOES NOT MEAN WE DONT ENJOY LISTENING TO PROPOSALS ABOUT HOW TO IMPROVE DOWNTOWN nor does it mean we dont care about starving kids in third world countries. If we cant clean up our own cities how can we care about people in other countries???

Bottomline: Sure many people are going to live downtown LA, but it is only going to be out-of-towners who THINK if it smells & LOOKS like a downtown it must be just like NYC, DC, Chicago, San Francisco or San Diego. Until the homelessness & crime is addressed, people will eventually see the light and move out to the WestSide or Beach Cities =)
Back to Top
PS
Posted by Joseph on 2/26/2006 8:52:00 AM

and I mean literally see the light... and ocean. I mean, that IS why people move to Southern California right? ;)
Back to Top
west LA
Posted by Dave on 2/28/2006 10:06:00 AM

LA is not like any of those cities you mentioned but more because people tend to have an excessive anxiety about crime and what constitutes a bad neighborhood. Chicago and New York used to be riddled with crime rates much worse than they are now, though many people were still making choices to live there because it offered something other places didn't. The difference is LA's superficiality feeds into how people actually judge neighborhoods. This is the city of personal security services and gated enclaves in the best neighborhoods. I'm mot just talking about Downtown, but other neighborhoods that people percieve as being 'crime ridden' or dingy, maybe because there isn't enough oranged folks. I'll take downtown over traffick-chocked West LA anyday, and definitely over the beach cities....er "threes company" urbanism.
Back to Top
Homeless in downtown
Posted by JLo on 2/28/2006 1:08:00 PM

I agree with Jeff's concern. And I love this idea of a mixed use parking/park concept. But in reality, there will be people sleeping in the area at nite and yes, a "public use landscaping project" should consider the neighbor its in and what the reality of the the nite life is like. I have lived in NYC, SF, Venice, and now downtown LA and the downtown LA homelessness is a serious problem in that they have no where to go and there's tons in a small area and any project downtown should consider this. If you don't live in downtown LA, you probably shouldn't be commenting on the success possibilities of this project. For real.
Back to Top
Response to Joseph
Posted by Joel on 3/1/2006 12:23:00 PM

"Ya ya there are more problems with Mother Earth BUT downtown LA is hardly Manhattan or San Francisco where the rich and poor coexist in relative harmony: it is a VERY dangerous area after dark. Jeff is only stating the obvious... yes people WORK in downtown LA but why would anyone LIVE there with such a problem??"

I lived in San Francisco, and I can tell you the statement "the rich and poor coexist in relative harmony" is far from true. This is a big city with major problems, just like any other. Take a walk down Mason or Polk Streets if you don't believe me.

I now live in LA, and would love to live Downtown if I could find a place I can afford. As for people not wanting to live there, this tells me you haven't paid much attention to DT for several years. People are paying top dollar to live downtown, crime is down, and the streets are cleaner than ever.

The problems of homelessness and drug addiction are very real, and must be addressed. But creating places that can't be used by anyone is not a good solution. For too long Downtown developers have chosen to design their projects with that one consideration in mind. This is why so many spaces in DTLA are so unfriendly, why Downtown has so many gated, trash-strewn vacant lots. Hooray for any landscape designer that is willing to create spaces that are meant to be used, not just gated up.
Back to Top
Co-existing
Posted by Stephen Czar on 3/1/2006 1:51:00 PM

Homelessness is a huge problem, especially here in the land of LAaazzz. However, it is not the duty of urban designers to fix the sociological and political problems of an under-funded or practically non-existent health care system. It is the duty of designers to understand the built environment and suggest alternatives that may help remedy some of the less advantageous challenges of the current urban condition in question.

This project is great in its forward thinking and understanding of the ebb and flow of transient populations, i.e. the workforce that comes in and out of Downtown LA every workday. Yes, one could argue that the project might provide refuge for an already overflowing population of homeless people. But one could also argue that given the infrastructure to recreate in a (safe) environment with one’s neighbors is truly what makes any neighborhood great. A city is only as great as the people who inhabit it. Surely the great people of LA could use more free space to recreate with one another, shooting hoops, playing tennis, or just bumming around. (Pun intended.) It is up to the people to make a space a place. It is the designer’s responsibility to assist in the task of space making by providing a space which can become a place as naturally as possible.

Remember Brian, I mean Jeff, If life seems jolly rotten, There's something you've forgotten, and that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing. When you're feeling in the dumps, don’t be silly chumps. Just purse your lips and whistle. That's the thing.
And... Always look on the bright side of life.
Back to Top
Face limits
Posted by Chester on 3/3/2006 9:44:00 PM

The project shows the heart of the student, her thoughtfulness and good intent, particularly evident in the love-labored graphic images. However, the blight, crime, politics, legal barriers... of L.A. downtown or any downtown ARE beyond the solution of any student project. Please be realistic and honest to yourself. Vision, creativity, and a heart for social change in a designer are priceless indeed, but there ARE hard pragmatics, policies and far larger forces than the power of these images and other proposals by any individual design talent out there reading these threads. Accepting limits and working upon the tengibles are more than often a paradoxical advantage to all of us who design for the public realm. True activism is never about a mere academic posture and spewing "Yes, one could argue that ,... But one could also argue that..." Go argue around with that attitude at any public meeting will likely to end your cute little entry level design career. Jeff's stipulations here are comparably kind, yes?!

The recreational proposal here is not "foreward thinking", but instead, a clever and opportunistic temporary urban land-use proposal. It's not unprecedented, and that is acutally a plus to Veenu's scheme here. I was at her final review and her class indeed worked hard, under great studio leadership. And Stephen, I DO appreciate your lyrical description of L.A as a city of people. But remember, it still remains as a far more deadly and blighted urban center in the U.S., lagging behind other metropolis that have soared and recovered more gracefully in the recent decade.
Dave, "The difference is LA's superficiality feeds into how people actually judge neighborhoods." Good point.
Back to Top
Wow, nice response!
Posted by Jeff on 3/6/2006 8:40:00 AM

I seem to have touched a nerve. Good. And being someone who works downtown, and a principal at a design firm that chose to move downtwon, I think that I am qualified to comment on the situation. How many of the people that have commented above actually live/work downtown or made the effort to try and make downtown a better place? I have.

I would like to return to the spirit of my original comments. I thought it would be nice if there was at least a nod or consideration of the issue. I am all for the environmental issues, I drive a frickin prius for fuck sakes, but there are real live practical community issues that are occuring down here. And to be completely honest, not even mentioning them shows a disconnect.

It is not a security issue for me, I lived in SF in the mid 80s and NYC in the 90s and it was far worse than downtown today. But when there there are at a minimum of 10-15 shambling homless people per block downtown, you start to think about other issues. My brother in law who is a high school teacher in south central tells a poinant story that sums up where idealism gets in the way. They have computers in every classroom of his school (which nobody maintains, so they are useless), but he does not have enough books and has to buy his OWN paper and pens for class use.

I appreciate the comments and I am glad to see people attemping to address the role of design in contextual issues. A green downtown is good, but there are regional contextual issues. You would not build a skyscraper in a national park, would you?
Back to Top
Oh yeah, and Kim...
Posted by Jeff on 3/6/2006 8:43:00 AM

Starving children in Africa? AIDS? Come down to my world and check it out. Every heard of "think globally, act locally?" I think that shouting down someone for attempting to address my communities issues is pointless, and honestly the kind of attitude that got us in Afghanistan and Iraq. Maybe?
Back to Top
Populate the Car Park
Posted by Mark on 8/22/2006 8:08:00 PM

Woulkd it not be better to remove the move the population which 'need' to use the parking from where they now live, to living where they 'need' to park? Therefore no need for the car park at all.
Back to Top
Maybe this WILL help homelessness. . .
Posted by Michael on 10/10/2006 2:24:00 PM

I've never been to LA, so I'll freely admit the potential ignorance at display here, but. . . if LA residents think of downtown as a dump with little of interest, and never go there, what's the likelihood that the homelessness problem will get solved? If proposals like this entice more people into spending time there, then more people will have seen the problems and have an incentive to do something about it.

Obviously, this isn't a cure for the problem, but it's better than nothing.
Back to Top
GREEN FULLY-AUTOMATED CAR PARKS
Posted by Patrick Keavy on 7/2/2008 7:47:00 AM

Imagine a green fully automated parking garage that takes up less than 40% of the space of a conventional garage and has a tiny carbon footprint..It can be done today.
THEPARKINGGUYZ.COM
Back to Top
living
Posted by carol on 10/4/2008 7:22:00 AM

I am a 60 year old woman who due to the economic conditions may be forced to live in my disabled husband,old, leaking van with 2 animals. Due to no part of my own I lost my employment and with no income I may be foced to do this to have a roof over my head. There are numerous issues this country needs to address that are critical but this is also one of them. Would you rather have me park in front of your house?
Back to Top
Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevent to this blog entry.

Please note: Land+Living is journal of modern design. We do not sell the products featured on this website nor do we provide design-related services. If you are interested in more information about a product or service mentioned on this website, please contact the manufacturer via the links provided. Thank you!
Your Name:
Comment Title:
 
Add your comments:

Search:


Clippings


+ Archives



About
Advertise
Contact

RSS 2.0

Links:
Apartment Therapy
Archinect
BLDGBLOG
Cool Hunting
DesignBot
design*sponge
Funfurde
Future Feeder
Inhabitat
Loud Paper
MocoLoco
My Urban Garden Deco Guide Pruned
Reluct
The Dirt (ASLA)
Treehugger