Urban design lecture project_Yu-Ting Huang

Spring 2015

ARC 403+ LA 403 Interdisciplinary Urban Design

LECTURE Project

Instructor: Luis Hoyos Name: Yu-Ting(Kelly) Huang

#0110571976 May 2015

ARC-403_Urban Design Lecture Project Yu-Ting(Kelly) Huang (#0110571976)

May 2015

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Contents

Interested READINGS ............................................................................................................ 2

Theory Responses I ............................................................................................................... 2

Theory Responses II ........................................................................................................... 4

Theory Responses III .......................................................................................................... 6

Theory Responses IV .......................................................................................................... 9

Theory Responses V ......................................................................................................... 12

Project DISCUSSIONS ................................................................................................ 15

Lecture//Project Responses I ............................................................................................ 15

Lecture//Project Responses II .......................................................................................... 19

Lecture//Project Responses III ......................................................................................... 21

Urban Position and Diagram ................................................................................ 22

Photo Essay of Site .............................................................................................. 25


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Interested READINGS Theory Responses I

Article I: Jerde Transfer by Daniel Herman

Article II: Unreal America by Huxtable

I. While Gruen Transfer mentions creating a shopping experience using a

threshold, moment when shoppers’ purposive behavior, movements break down under

barrage of excessive stimulation, Jerde Transfer tries to bring the formlessness of a city

into a shopping center that is confusing and overstimulating, creating more bodily

assault with the space. Also the three steps “amplification, bombardment of the senses,

entertainment” are the means by which City Walk or Fremont Street change the modern

flaneur into an addicted consumer. For a master plan that contains not only the shopping

center, I want to implant Jerde incoherent spaces and shopping pattern into other

buildings, including the factory in our project. The factory is rehabilitated and will be

used as a place where creativity happens, and it also suggest the designers and visitors

“how” creativity happens by means of several nonlinear space arrangement which

makes them juxtaposed, staggered, displaced, or even dislocated. We use the factory to

symbolize the place to incubate ideas, so instead of creating the consistent products

through production and assembly line, we insert the studios in a more incoherent

pattern. The visitors from outside can enter from the main axis(runway), but once

getting inside, the sinuate space leads them to explore more about the factory(the

creative working space), just as how thoughts are formed and developed. Hopefully it

will work as it is in the shopping center, stimulating more experience and relation with

the design.

II. What is entertainment and what’s the ideal place for it? Do people go for

entertainment in order to escape from the reality? Just like wishing something

happening in a movie happens in the real life, we imitate good things and sometimes

even improve them to create our own and imagined space, pretending that we have it

originally. However, to what extent do we accept the fake, especially the real fake like Las

Vegas? We intend to create things with ingenuity, but in respect to “space making,” and

combining with re-defining terms such as “gaming” instead of “gambling”, the value

changes and we no longer consider it fake or wrong. “Once the substitute, or surrogate,

is considered the more acceptable experience, remarkable things occur.” The article ends

in the conclusion that “the outrageous is essential”, and as long as the instant sensational

and aesthetic gratification is accomplished, the market reaches its commercial purposes.

So, are consumers somehow controlled, before even recognizing they are in the artificial

environment which the markets create? Or are they prefer this control? The topics such

as “Real and Ostensible”, of “Identity and History”, and of “context”…etc., all give ways to


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the total sensational gratification by new technology. I’m still wondering if it is the

consuming culture of America, of the culture all around the world. But I think even so the

space should have its uniqueness, based on the site and the scale, and the people. While

in our project there is a runway that also creates a virtual or symbolized stage, we need

to think how and from what perspective people treat and would use this kind of space.


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Interested READINGS Theory Responses II

Article: Here’s How American Cities Can Learn From Italian Piazzas

Source: Website article bY A. Ghigo Ditommaso (APRIL 16, 2015)

http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/italian-piazzas-the-future-of-public-space

When all the ages and architectural or stylistic movements all somehow tried to

relate back the old Italian or Greek/Roman archetype, a lot of them only take the

appearance of the element and hoped to create the similar life and event in the field

(also called place making). In addition to the easy and simple “contextual” reason, this

article analyzes the factors which led to the failures of American plaza, and tries to

rethink the possibility of taking advantage of the key principles and the spatial

characteristics that their design entails, hoping to reinterpret the old Italian city plaza.

The following are a few aspects of the successful plaza, but relating back to our site

in West Hollywood, we still face the challenge of “context”. Our major intention is

therefore upon the way base our design on these rules in which lies the spatial value.

Successful Plaza

(i.e. Piazza Maggiore)

The American

context

(i.e. San Jose City

Hall Plaza)

Keywords:

1. Center the hearth of the city’s daily life

(Naturally formed, is related to

daily life, and has historic source

with which people can identify)

The location is

arbitrary

Center;

Urban fabric/history

*Value: Identification

2. Path The piazzas are nodes of the

pre-existing pedestrian patterns.

Can be traversed

in only one way;

inactive after City

Hall operating

hours

Life,; Change—

different people and

route

*Value: Interaction

3. Edge Active and permeable ground

floors. The monumental scale of

the churches and palazzi is

broken down to the human scale

with the insertion of

fine-grained bustling

commercial activities

Surrounded by

irrelevant space—

vacant lot,

multilevel parking

garage, gas station

and the parking

lot for a big box

retail complex

Permeable edge;

human scale;

commercial activities

*Value: Accessibility


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4. Stage(

Arena

)

A place for a theatrical play in

which people spontaneously

take the role of the actor and the

the spectator. A place to linger

and hide.

Theater—actor and

spectator;

balance(microclimate

, views…);

*Value: Visual

accessibility (to share

life and power)

Design Issues and Goals

The project aims at creating another center that combine the entertainment

and shopping/hotel function. It’s different from the old European city center which

has been developed along with the citizen’s life; however, because the area has its

own history and characteristics, such as demographic and commercial condition—

central area of the boutique stores, clubs for gays, design center and park…etc.— it

has the potential to become a new central gathering place that fits in people’s daily

life.

In addition, by creating connecting paths and permeable edges from each

side(including the hotel that blocks the side toward Santa Monica Blvd.), we hope

to bring people to the center, while they come here as part of daily life to dine, shop,

and exchange their ideas. Also, inspired and hoping to reflect the history of the site,

one of the spatial values we want to create is the see/be seen platforms/stages and

passages, where their creative ideas can be easily shared and expressed.

In all, by using different elements above(center, permeable edge,

double-layers paths, stage/platform) to create a public space in WeHo that follow

the concept “where and how” creativity happens, we hope to stick to the core

value—a successful place/plaza starts from people’s life and their behaviors. Since

people’s ultimate identification of a place stems from where the things and events

happen, we hope to create a place where they can share and identify it as a part of

their life.


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Interested READINGS Theory Responses III

Article I: Street_Block_Building by Moule and Polyzoides

Article II: Methodologies and Practices by Dutton

However the urban environment is structured depends on the designers who

follow the rules of building set by the government. Any rule constituted would result in

how people live, for example, the American urban tradition cut the city into grids, and it

not only formed the structure of landscape, American people’s live model—there habit

of working, commuting, leisure life and entertainment, was formed under this model.

According to the New Urbanism, the single family house and car shape the American life.

So every place needs a parking lot and before people can gather together, they need to

drive, usually through highway. The urban city has its inherent structure, no matter how

well it functions; however, people in different period can reform this structure based on

the previous experience.

In reviewing the chaos which is caused by the conventional city-making model and

ineffective zoning policy, the New Urbanism seeks a fresh paradigm to reaffirm the

notion of public realm. The first article mentioned “an accessible(socially and physically)

shared place can be guaranteed at the most elemental scale through the urbanist

principals”…and “the tenets prefer human scale over that of the auto, balance private with

public interests and employ simple and physically determined methods over those that

are complicated and solely legal-minded.” Although a good design is always simple, when

dealing with the urban topic I wonder how simple this can actually be, and how zoning

really can be constituted and thus function well. Since when facing the urban issue such

as WeHo or other new development or reform project, there is too much to consider

(what the faculty call “the prevailing context”) and we end up trying to build a big

framework and hoping nothing is missing, based on the previous research, experience or

policy and modification. The CNU, experts like CIAM in the 1920’s, in the end of the 20th

century tried to reform building industries and society, which is the goal of early

modernist. They claim a way and attitude of designing method that is rooted in the

historical precedent, and values the cultural variety. They also attempt to transform the

framework of architecture in professional and project level: (1) profession: develop and

disseminate ideas and practices at the professional level; (2) project: redefine the urban

“project” that de-emphasize the singular act of design and favors.

In reframing the project, they focus on three scales: the Regional; the Neighborhood,

District, and Corridor; and the Street, Block, and the Building. Although having the


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similar connection with the government agencies and development organization, the

CNU used the bottom-up way and started its influence more from the local level. They

both hope to seek social community, but CNU focus on promoting compact

neighborhood design and ameliorate the impact of the automobile. And while

questioning about the individual buildings and cars that are often conceived as private

and self-referential, it seeks a fresh paradigm to guarantee and to order the public realm

through individual buildings. About the public realm, they claimed the form is realized

by the deliberate assembly of streets, blocks and buildings:

Purpose Method

1. Street: not the dividing line, but the communal rooms and passages.

Pattern Connectedness and continuity within

the network

Main and alternative path

Hierarchy Street balance between vehicular and

pedestrian load(rhythm of building

form and waikability)

Distances between intersections

Figure

(Scale?)

Shift in scale within street section Landscape, building edges and

vertical streetscape elements.

Detail Proper use by pedestrian Minimalize block radii to slow cars at

the intersection

2. Block: unfold the building fabric and the public realm

Size Single buildings can reach the edge

of blocks and parking forced to be

located away from the sidewalk.

250-600 ft.

Configuration Block are to be lotted for all types od

buildings and density, and that all

the sides can define public space.

Lot of different width and depths;

Alley absorbing parking and serving

load.

Streetground Extension of the public space Division of parkway, sidewalk and

setback; lobbies and major

groundfloor interior space extend out

Streetwalls Enclosure of the street Mass (height, mandated setback)

elements on the elevation

Parking Accommodate the pedestrian is the

priority over parking

Cars be accommodated in the middle

of blocks; parking garages to be

regular buildings for future use and

need significant public face?

Landscape Trees along the blocks establish Species of trees and the patterns of


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overall space and scale of street and

sidewalk.

(Consider artifacts from man’s

historical contact with nature)

their placement; Public open space

types for inhabitation

3. Building: the relationship between each other determines the characteristics

Use Balance between functionalism and

universal flexibility; organize the

building types by common

ingredients

Building be designed by its type, not

solely function, for future adaption;

Density Density regulations be stated

independently of building use and

parking

Replace the FAR zoning regulations

with building envelope guidelines

Form Each building and garden is of a

particular formal type and they

share the characteristics and

generate the cohesive framework

within the city, keeping the historical

continuity in towns and cities.

Frontality shall allow 3 scales of

architectural expression(public

character of the street; semi-public

nature of open spaces interior to the

block; one that responds to the

service nature of alleys and

backyards)

Coding: The code which is resulted from the specific street, block, and building design rules will

balance and eventually generate the public realm by their individual interests and actions.


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Interested READINGS Theory Responses IV

Article I: The Split Wall: Domestic Voyeurism by Beatriz Colomina

Article II: Queer Space by Aaron Betsky

How is the space constructed as interior? What is the hidden mechanism related to

it— its controlling look and the looked control that is caused and influences the traces

one leave and imprint in the interior? This article compares Loos’s room with Le

Corbusiesr’s in the viewing created by space. Loos designs the interior space in the most

economical way—his theory of Raumplan means not only designing by floor

plan(horizontal) but also by the height needed in each functional

room(vertical/multi-layered). The accomplished interior space is therefore a

congregation showing a more complicated relationship and sequences of multi-level

parts of individual rooms. Here the spatial-psychological device can also be read in

terms of power, regimes of control inside the house. In framing a view, the theater box

also frames the viewer. On the other hand, Le Corbusier reverse Loos’s interior to be a

place to be observed.

Construction of

the Interior

Loos Le Corbusier

Metaphor Theater box

(Benjamin’s metaphor: a theater box inside

the house)

Architecture is not simply a platform that

accommodates the viewing subject. It is a

viewing mechanism that produces the

subject. It precedes and frames its

occupant.

Space(sequence

and

organization)

e.g. Müller house(1930): raised sitting area

looking onto other space and turning one’s

back on the exterior.

e.g. Villa Savoye: open window

and ramp.

View/voyuer Raised and directed toward interior. To

look out into the large space beyond, but

Directed toward

exterior(frames of landscape).


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also is the object of another’s gaze The house is seen as frames

for a view, which is temporary

through promenade. Window

is a screen for communication.

Wall Occupied Dematerialized

Other forms of

representation

Domestic drama: scenes and props. Scenes and props(male

objects)

Effect/purposes intimacy and control( also sexuality of

space(symbolic space))

Perception in motion.

Split 1. Between Sight and physical sense. (For

Loos, interior space is Mind’s

eye(pre-oedipal space), it’s about the

fabric but not the clothing( which the

analytical distancing which language

entails )). He privileged bodily

experience over mental

construction(sense before visualize).

2. Between interior and exterior

3. Covering(Major) and

Structure(Secondary)

1. Looking and seeing

2. Outside and inside

3. Landscape and site

The house is a mechanism for

classification (it collects views

and classify them).

The house is immaterial.(a

series of visitors’ view like

montage)

Subject Stage actor Movie actor

Inhabitation Inhabitation is about the spectator Inhabit first, placing oneself

afterwards. (To inhabit means

to inhabit the picture. ”

Architecture is made in head.”)

The author’s argument connects sexuality with the space. I only doubt if it’s a kind

of stereotype. However, applying or creating the similar viewing strategy in the space is

possible. Although our project is not related to a residential building, the exterior and

interior has been merged, and the way to see and be seen is mixed into the building and

the landscape which connects the outdoor dining area and walkway with the interior.

There may be ways that people who stay in restaurant or hotel can monitor or voyeur

the central square, and places that can see and be seen. A challenge is to create an

enclosed and continuous space, since the connected parts provide public accessibility

and need some mechanism to control, to ensure the hiding place still creates the sense of

security to allow people to be themselves. From the landscape’s perspectives, the

merging interface also needs to respond to and enclose the exterior.


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<Table: Concept, Space and view control>

slice cube Platform

(one layer)

Tectonic

(multi-layer)

- light

- Circulation

-open space

- see/be

seen

- volume

-gather

- be seen>see

- display

-connect (extend)

-connect(to

different layer)

space open space Work/stay/

plan

Pass/Stay/Perform Dine

Office ● ˙ ˙see the factory

cubes

Factory ● ●be

seen>see

●see ˙stacked volume

Dinning ● See

(connected to

the passage)

Passage ˙arcade/atrium ●see+connect ˙connect with the

dinning area

Stage ●be seen

Hotel ˙atrium? ●View(st.

monica

blvd+inside)

●(visually)stacked

volume

Park ● ˙ ●


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Interested READINGS Theory Responses V

Article I: Defining the Urbanistic Project by Joan Busquets

Article II: Where and How does Urban design Happened? by Alex Krieger

<Table. (The”●”shows there’s stronger relationship between the type of project with the stage)>

10 Approaches of

urbanistic project

(by Joan Busquets)

Example Urban Design as…. (by Alex Krieger)

1. Bridge connecting Planning and Architecture

2. Form-based category of public policy

3. The architecture of the city

4. Urban Design as Restorative Urbanism

5. As an art of place making

6. As Smart Growth

7. The infrastructure of the city

8. As Landscape Urbanism

9. As visionary Urbanism

10. As community advocacy(or doing no harm)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10

A. Synthetic Gestures e.g. Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao

Key buildings with urban synergy ˙ ● ˙ ˙ ●

B. Multiplied Ground e.g. Lille Intermodal station

Convert urban

artifacts/infrastructure and/or

high-density reuse

● ● ● ● ● ●

C. Tactical maneuvers e.g. Maragueria housing Project in Évora

Infrastructural spinal cord as a

spatial syntax

˙ ● ● ●

D. Reconfigured Surfacces e.g. Schouwburplein in Rotterdam

Reconstruction of fine-grain

open(public and communal)

space

● ● ● ●


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E. Piecemeal Aggreagation e.g. Battery Park City; Paris around the Seine; ease side of Amsterdam

In intermediate scale(18-25

blocks), work on urban fragment

to address city issue by

architecture and services

● ● ● ˙ ●

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10

F. Traditional Views e.g. Seaside, Florida. ˙ ˙ ● ˙ ●

G. Recycled Territories e.g. Emscher Park in Germany

Dynamic qualities of territoriy

and the intrinsic logic of the

natural environment

● ● ˙

H. Core Retrofitting e.g. Toledo city center, Spain

The updating of historic cores by

reorganizing the traditional fabric

● ● ˙ ●

I. Analog Compositions e.g. New strategies for London proposed by the Task Force agency

https://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/business-economy/vision-and-strategy/infras

tructure-plan-2050/progress/connectivity

Rethinking the master plan and

its scale. “Project” orientation

with “open” city(at small and

intermediate scales)

● ● ● ˙ ● ● ● ˙

J. Speculative Procedures e.g. Blur Building of Diller + Scofidio

Experimental investigations

based on theory, philosophy,

hydraulics, the computer, etc. to

formulate new planning

principles

● ˙ ● ● ● ˙

The foundation of urban design, according to 1956’s Harvard conference, is the

intersection between planning and architecture. But urban design is not equal to city


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planning. It’s part of it, with it reminded me that it requires most imagination and

artistic capacities. It’s wider than the scope of Architecture, Landscape architecture, and

the City Planner.

In the earlier century, the architects were asked about their vision of city. Why can’t

the emperor be called the urban designer? They plan and govern the city, and some of

the plans are under the category of traditional city revivals which integrate and recover

the infrastructure. However, it relies ona more integrated strategies to fit in the user and

the context.

About West Hollywwod: West Hollywood is known as the home of the

entertainment industry, and is a mixed-use area of residential zone and commercial zone.

Since our project stems from adaptive reusing the historical factory and making it a hub

of creativity production, I define out site it as the type of Core Retrofitting, and we hope

to reorganize and trasforming the traditional fabrics. Also, by following the master plan

we try to create spaces in new scales and layers in the project to differentiate it from

other district. Combing with the landscape the space can be easily used and enjoy by the

passengers or shopper.


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Project DISCUSSIONS Lecture//Project Responses I

Topic: Buildings and Spaces for Retailing

Lectured by Luis Hoyos, April 13, 2015

Article : The Exposed City by Nadia Amoroso

From 1900, retail has become one factor of a successful building. It has been

developed as a prototype. The 1850’s crystal palace not only displays the modern

material(tectonics of architecture), its commercial purpose—the stands below reveals

the essence of retail: the need for exchange the products. Whether naturally formed or

intentionally planned, there are certain forms of retail which influence the way people

shop(move) and stay. To lead people’s route and connect two spaces, the connector and

the passage is very important; along the linear passage like arcade, one not only crosses

a space which usually has higher ceiling of a series of adjoining arches, the condensed

shops along each side are very close to the passengers and can attract people very easily.

What breaks and intersects with paths are nodes for lingering and taking rest (usually a

wider public space like square). A building with shops in different levels can emphasize

design of vertical connector which can be a enjoyable place when one moves in it (e.g. Le

Grand Magasin du Printemps, Paris, 1882). Putting it in a bigger scale, Kevin Lynch

believes there are elements by which the city is conceived. While a plaza or square

gathers people and forms the node, neighborhoods, parks or areas create the district. So

not only can a department store or mall create the enclosed parcel of shops by

consciously creating an interior commercial area consist of paths and nodes, the

combination of cluster of shops aggregated or connected to city walkway, buildings and

landscape, edges(river, walls, avenue), or landmarks(artificial or natural) all bring about

a complete shopping experience in a district or city.

Having a purpose for shopping, or entertainment, one gets to know how a site is

organized. Does a certain cognitive mapping influence a consumer’s behavior? How do

people identify the shopping region? Do people have preference for a certain spatial

syntax for shopping? Whether a person with a clear intension and shop in a specific

store or not, understanding the mental cognition(hierarchy, points of reference, etc.) and

his/her imagination and interpretation of a city or shopping district, combining with

other perceptive or cognitive stimulation(signage, , (iconic)target/landmark, thematic

element, etc.) are helpful to designing a shopping space.


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River can be the edge of a shopping District.

(Source:

https://sociorocketnewsen.files.wordpress.com/2015/0

2/ac-21.png?w=580&h=435)

Thematic shopping mall

https://photosatthespeedoflife.files.wordpress.

com/2011/11/venezia.jpg

Although the legibility of a space is helpful in way finding, sometimes the

unexpectedness or breaking of rule is more interesting, e.g. The Horton Plaza breaks the

city pattern(context) and creates several locking spaces, but since it follows the

dumbbell theory and stick to a central open space which has more visual vertical

diversity (through the cutting of the building where the central part acts as both node

and path, with the colorful and vibrant signage) it’s still successful. Similarly, the Circle

Center in Indianapolis, although raised to a different layer and hid in the buildings, its

connection through different blocks still keeps the integrity of the interior.

Horton Plaza breaks the city pattern/order and change it into human scale


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In some shopping area in old European cities, shops grow with the buildings,

sometimes without a master plan. It creates a more complicated, but vibrant city pattern.

Irregular shapes of path or node, in terms of visual effect, can be confusing and

disturbing. However, it creates more human-scaled space, and there still can exist the

order. It’s easy to find something unexpectedly when you make a turn into a valley, which

generates more fun and a closer relationship with the building itself, although the stores

need to find the way to make themselves known to the public.

Irregular city pattern of European City

(Source:

https://s.yimg.com/cd/resizer/2.0/FIT_TO_WIDTH-w568/b

87f70c04860e468d18a9610a2f934df689db835.jpg)

Thematic shopping mall

Source:

http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/hong-kong-

wan-chai-pedestrian-mall-14369946.jpg

There are also some retails combined with the public transportation station, so that

whenever people use the public transit system, they shop in the store in the same

building as well. The city of West Hollywood and LA has a different mode of

transit—automobile. Therefore, the parking and the visual accessibility from the car is

more important.


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<Table: The projects’ retail pattern and attributes>

Mo

ve

(Ho

rizon

tal)

Mo

ve

(Vertical)

Stay

linear

No

nlin

ea

r Cognitive(Lynch’s mapping)

Space Plan/section

Path

Ed

ges

Distric

t No

de

Lan

d

mark

Arcade(Hotel)

co

nd

ensed

and

smaller

scale ● ● ● ●(glass

box,

signage)

Square/plaza/platfo

rm(every building)

● ● ● ●

(central

stage)

Pavilion

(Factory(for the

studio))

● ˙

Stair

c ● ● ●

(historic

theme)

Sliced space

(Office and Retail)

● ˙

Stair/

ramp

● ˙ ●

Terrace

(Dining and park)

● ● ● ● ˙ ● ˙

(Tectonic

)


May 2015

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Project DISCUSSIONS Lecture//Project Responses II

Topic: Urban Design, Urban Landscape Design, and Urban Architecture Design

Lectured by Bob Harris, May 4th, 2015

Although a long-term regional/urban design is composed primarily of architecture,

it’s based on urban landscape design. Urban landscape acts as a vital role, in aesthetic

value it acts as a person’s outfit, appearance or personality, it influences how people

perceive architecture; in a more substantial aspect a space created by landscape

influence if a space is welcoming and comfortable that people want to stay or rest.

Landscape is the interface between human beings and architecture. It is through

landscape that People approach a building. It also mediates the relationship between

buildings and the cities. While it used to focus on edges to a new area between water and

land, or the seam between architecture and landscape, or any line separates territories.

In the end, such lines become thick bands.1 The porous band is a new area where many

things can happen, both human interaction and its interaction with nature or building,

or even city. It’s interesting to regard this seemingly meaningless landscape as

something meaningful.

The lecturer mentioned the philosophy of how we approach urban landscape

design. Any action is an intervention/remodeling of the natural environment—a system

which has its own mechanism and has been running throughout the time. It’s a

long-term and continuous process. Especially when the world is unfinished, messy and

uncertain, it’s not necessary to proclaim a “sustainable design,” since the urban

landscape architect should always start from how to balance their work with the existing

world. The urban elements are interdependent—a wall/facade not only encloses an

interior space, it encloses a public room! The street cuts through the city, and the things

happening on the other side of the street also have a relationship. So we need to create

the sense of place based on these details, making this thick edge not the line anymore.

In Taiwan, it is until recent year that I found people enjoy the landscape and open

space in the city, so I used to think of landscape as only designing or decorating the

surrounding of buildings, such as the path or open space. I think it’s because in the

earlier years the city land use is mainly developed for commercial purposes.. Few people

would spend money on creating public space. The policy evolved and the government

started to encourage leaving more space when building a housing or public project. But

still, when people don’t have the sense of urban landscape, the things which are

designed are just artificial object, without a deeper involvement to our life. It is until this

project and coming to the United states and seeing how people treat the space here, that

1 Balmori, D. (2010). A landscape manifesto. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.


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I noticed how urban landscape is such an important matter in architectural design. It

influences how the buildings can/cannot be accessed, used, by providing a connection, a

path, a node, or a resting place. It interacts intimately with the architecture. It’s part of it.

So I think urban designers and landscape designers act as vital roles in helping the city

become a better living place.


May 2015

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Project DISCUSSIONS Lecture//Project Responses III

Topic: Hotel Basics

Lectured by Thomas S.Ito, May, 2015

From designing a hotel to operating a hotel, it takes a really long time and

complicated progress. To accomplish a hotel building, it definitely needs not only

architects and constructors, but also developer, operator, investors, and lenders. As a

result, I think I should have the responsibility to know that “the best design” doesn’t

mean “the best hotel”, as an architectural student.

However, the design is still very important when all else being equal. At that time, a

well planned,well designed asset is going to be of greater value than a poorly planned

one. It’s challenging but interesting to deal within the reality and design. Among all, I

think the most different part of the design from real world to school is the consideration

of budgets. A design would be totally different when architects started to consider the

budget, source of costumers, goal of hotel operating, instead of only the space feeling

and atmosphere. For example, the budget affected the construction level, the class of a

hotel defined the size of rooms, etc. The design was always based on surveys and

accurate statistics. It shows the fact that any building which has relation to the

commercial activities has to be calculated carefully, because everything is all about

making profit.

Researching more detail about the budget allocation, I discovered the hotel design

guidelines are really interesting. It shows that the higher the hotel class, the higher the

money percentage of public areas. It means that the designer emphasize more on the

public place to create a brand image of a hotel instead of only making hotel rooms

luxurious. The brand of a hotel is really important, every hotels that runs well for

decades because they operate their brand image really well. Therefore, creating

fantastic and comfortable public spaces is really important when designing a hotel. For

our design project, we want to create a branded environment by culture depth, so we

preserve the factory and make it into part of a hotel as the hotel lobby. We keep every

public space open and have good environmental quality.

I think a design only succeed when the designer see him/herself as a user and

experience all the progress. “Guest experience” really gives lots of clues for

designing spaces in different part of the hotel programs. When guests approach the

hotel, identity extends to the street to rise anticipation and curiosity are necessary.


May 2015

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Final Introspection Urban Position and Diagram

The project begins with the goal of revitalizing the old factory as a city design

center for the West Hollywood public. The film production industries, as well as the

way the new ideas and concepts are produced, need a process of diverging and

converging. To preserve the spirit of West Hollywood, produce, display and realize

the design idea and process, we need places for people to think, be stimulated, and

exchange their idea. To respond to its role and context as area of the boutique

stores, clubs for gays, design center and park…etc., we hope to reveal its potential

to become a new central gathering place that fits in people’s daily life. Therefore,

inspired by it, one of the spatial values we want to create is the see/be seen

platforms/stages and passages, where their ideas can be easily shared and

expressed. The overall circulation breaks the interior and exterior interface, and

the differentiate spaces in buildings functioning for different purposes are carefully

connect and shifted(both horizontally and vertically), that people can smoothly

move and roam in the site.

In all, by using different elements above(center, permeable edge,

double-layers paths, stage/platform) to create a public space in WeHo that follow

the concept “where and how” creativity happens, we hope to stick to the core

value—a successful place starts from people’s life and their behaviors. Since

people’s ultimate identification of a place stems from where the things and events

happen, we hope to create a place where they can share and identify it as a part of

their life.


May 2015

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May 2015

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May 2015

25

Final Introspection Photo Essay

About WeHo ONEfactory: There are many ways people can access the site.

But the hotel, acting as a landmark and providing the view toward the north

hill and south central area in our site, has two arcade with high ceiling that

provide sun and visual stimulation. The balconies facing the central area

respond to the extruded studios in the factory adapted into the idea center.

The terrace gradually ascending to the second layer of the connector, is a place

to see the performance, and be seen as an essential part of the process of

creativity production.

Main Entrance of Arcade connecting the central square.


May 2015

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The extruded elements(balconies, studio, glass boxes, etc.) stimulate the interaction of

views and thoughts.

The adaptive reuse of the old historical building connected to each building in two layers

of the site.


May 2015

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The space in different scale and different vertical positions(haning studios in the

factory).

The outdoor connectors of platforms ot the office building.

Documents

Urban design lecture project_Yu-Ting Huang