This is a copy of the slide show for the presentation at Semester 5 Intensive of Thesis studies at Boston Architectural College

1. RE-URBAN:
CITy lIVING foR famIlIES WITH a SpaTIal
qualITy INSpIRED by SubuRbS
michael vala
THESIS DESIGN REVIEW
08.15.2010

2. THESIS CONCEPT
For more than half a century, it’s been the American Dream to own a home, with your own little piece of land - a place
to raise a family, in a location where there are others with similar interests and values, where everything is just a
short drive away. While, for many, this dream has become a reality, there are side-effects: traffic congestion, social
isolation, and the demise of the city as a central organizing point. By recreating the ideals that the dream is based
on - living spaces designed with families in mind, a renewed sense of community, control over individual privacy, and
a walkable neighborhood with all the necessary functions closeby - in an urban location, suburban sprawl can be
slowed down and city living encouraged by creating housing in a mixed-use city neighborhood by supplementing the
characteristics of a traditional urban neighborhood with the aspects of a suburban neighborhood that many families
find desirable; through an additive process of weaving, blending, and defining of public and private space.

3. METHODOLOGY
• DEFINING WHAT SUBURBAN AND URBAN
MEAN
• COLLECTING A CATALOG OF IMAGES
THAT DESCRIBE THE DEFINITIONS
• COLLAGING IMAGES TO ILLUSTRATE
IDEAS
• START TO WORK ON SCHEMES THAT IN-
CORPORATE THE SPATIAL IDEAS
• COLLAGE OVER THE SCHEMES
• PRECEDENT ANALYSIS REVISITATION
• WORK IN DIFFERENT SCALES (MASTER-
PLAN, PUBLIC SPACE OF NEIGHBOR-
HOOD, UNIT)

4. LEXICON
URBAN - WHERE SOMEONE COULD LIVE AND ACCESS MOST OF
THEIR DAILY NEEDS AND WANTS WITHOUT THE NEED FOR A CAR
(NOT TO SAY THAT CARS ARE NOT ALLOWED OR ACCOUNTED FOR,
JUST NOT NECESSARY). AN URBAN AREA DOES NOT NECESSARILY
HAVE TO BE A MAJOR METROPOLITAN AREA IF IT MEETS THE RE-
QUIREMENT ABOVE.
SUBURBAN - LESS CENTRALIZED PLACES WHERE A CAR IS NECES-
SARY FOR DAILY FUNCTIONS - VERY FEW THINGS ARE ACCESSIBLE
BY WALKING. HOUSING IS USUSALLY SINGLE-FAMILY STYLE, DE-
TATCHED HOMES. BY THE HOMES BEING DETACHED, PEOPLE HAVE
AN IMPRESSION THAT THEY HAVE MORE PERSONAL SPACE.
NEIGHBORHOOD - A MIX OF URBAN AND SUBURBAN; COMBINING
THE WALKABILITY OF THE CITY WITH THE MORE INDIVIDUAL SPA-
TIAL FEATURES OF THE SUBURB. INCLUDES RESIDENTIAL AREAS,
RETAIL, COMMERCIAL, SERVICE AMENITIES, COMMUNITY SPACES,
ETC. ALL WITHIN A CITY LOCATION.

5. TERMS OF CRITICISM
• IS THE NEIGHBORHOOD SUITABLE FOR FAMILIES?
• DOES IT PROVIDE MOST (IF NOT ALL) AMENITIES THAT THE SUBURB PROVIDES?
• DOES IT PRESERVE THE CHARACTER OF DOWNTOWN BY ACKNOWLEDGING THE CONTEXT OF THE
EXISTING URBAN FABRIC
• DOES IT ALLOW FOR RESIDENTS FLEXIBILITY/CHANGE AND GROWTH?
• DOES IT ALLOW FOR MULTIPLE METHODS OF INTERACTION BETWEEN RESIDENTS?
• DOES IT PROVIDE OUTDOOR SPACES THAT ARE ACCEPTABLE PLAY/RECREATION/RELAXATION
SPACES?
• DOES THE PLACE AND SPACES CREATED BY THE DESIGN ENCOURAGE AN AFFIRMATIVE ANSWER
TO THE QUESTION, “WOULD YOU LIVE DOWNTOWN IF YOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO LIVE
HERE?”

6. SITE
MAJOR HIGHWAYS
DOWNTOWN CENTER
SCIOTO RIVER
PROJECT SITE

7. SITE
1 2 3
SITE

8. SITE
FIGURE GROUND DIAGRAM OF SITE AND
IMMEDIATE SURROUNDINGS

9. SITE
DIAGRAM OF ADJACENT ACTIVITIES/ ATTRACTIONS/ AMENI-
TIES (GREEN = 5 MIN WALK, YELLOW = 10 MINUTE WALK,
RED = 25 MINUTE WALK)

10. SITE
CONTEXT AROUND SITE

11. SITE
SITE SECTIONS

12. PROCESS
URBAN-SUBURBAN STUDIES:
BY COLLAGING IMAGES THAT HAD A SUBURBAN FEELING
INTO A DOWNTOWN SCENE, I HOPED TO DISPLAY THE
TYPE OF URBAN ATMOSPHERE I AM TRYING TO CREATE.

13. PROCESS

14. PROCESS

15. PROCESS

16. PROCESS
A SPATIAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUBURBAN
AND URBAN LIVING IS THE PHYSICAL SIZE OF THE
SPACE BETWEEN PEOPLE - SUBURBAN HOUSES
HAVE FRONT YARDS TO ACT AS TRANSITION ZONES
BETWEEN THE PUBLIC STREET AND THE PRIVATE
HOUSE. IN THE URBAN SITES, THE ZONES BETWEEN
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ARE MUCH MORE CONDENSED.

17. FRONT YARD STUDIES:
PROCESS
STUDYING THE TRANSITION FROM THE
STREET THROUGH THE FRONT YARD

18. PROCESS

19. PROCESS
TRANSITIONS FROM THE STREET TO FRONT DOOR :
SKETCHES TO STUDY DIFFERENT WAYS
TO MAKE A THRESHOLD FROM THE SIDE-
WALK TO THE ENTRY OF THE UNIT.

20. PROCESS
UNIT STUDIES:
MIXING TOWNHOME & FLAT UNITS WITH BUSINESS UNITS

21. PROCESS
ACTIVE NEIGHBORHOOD:
STUDY TO CREATE AN ACTIVE NEIGH-
BORHOOD THROUGH MIXING RESI-
DENCE AND BUSINESS FUNCTIONS.

22. PROCESS
UNIT DESIGN:
THE FOCUS WAS ON THE WHOLE UNIT - FROM THE STREET TO THE
ENTRY TO THE ROOF TO THE BACK YARD. RECESSED ENTRIES ARE
PROVIDED TO GIVE THE SUBURBAN FAMILY THE SAME SENSE OF
SPACE THAT THEY GET FROM THEIR NEIGHBORS IN SUBURBIA -
THERE ISN’T SOMEONE ELSE SHOULDER TO SHOULDER WITH YOU
AS YOU OPEN YOUR FRONT DOOR. THIS SCHEME GIVES AS MUCH
OUTDOOR SPACE AS POSSIBLE, WITH THE MOST CONTROL OVER THE
INTERACTION WITH THE CITY, THROUGH ENCLOSED OR ELEVATED
(ROOF) OUTDOOR SPACES.

23. PROCESS
WEAVING MULTIPLE UNITS TOGETHER:
TESTING HOW THREE UNITS CAN WEAVE TOGETH-
ER SO THAT EACH CAN HAVE GROUND LEVEL AC-
CESS AND ACCOMODATES INDIVIDUAL ENTRIES AS
WELL AS PRIVACY FOR EACH OF THE RESIDENCES.
‘THE SPACES BETWEEN’

24. PROCESS

25. PROCESS

26. PRECEDENT
BORNEO SPORENBURG
AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
VARIED FACADES
VARIED HOUSING TYPES
CREATES COMMUNITY THROUGH
CLOSENESS
“THE DEVELOPMENT DEMON-
STRATES THAT FAMILY HOUSING IS
NOT INCOMPATIBLE WITH DENSE
URBAN AREAS.”1
1 - http://www.cabe.org.uk/case-studies/
borneo-sporenburg

27. DESIGN
CONTEXTUAL DESIGN:
IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE DESIGN IS IMPACTED BY THE
ENVIRONMENT SURROUNDING THE SITE, A STUDY OF ONE SPECIFIC
SPOT (AS A STARTING POINT) LOOKS AT THE NEW COURTHOUSE
ADJACENT TO THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF THE SITE. THE COURT-
HOUSE HAS A CERTAIN HORIZONTALITY TO THE FACADE, AND A
COMBINATION OF SOLID AND TRANSPARENT MATERIALS. AN ELEVA-
TION DEVELOPED WITH THOSE CHARACTERISTICS IN MIND LED TO
AN AXONOMETRIC STUDY OF THE SPACES FROM THE STREET TO
THE MIDDLE OF THE BLOCK.

28. DESIGN
MORE ITERATIONS OF THE AXONOMETRIC STUDIES, LOOKING AT
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE FACADE, THE STREET, AND THE
CONTEXT ACROSS THE STREET; THE SPACE BETWEEN THE UNITS,
AND HOW THE ‘BACk YARD’ INTERACTS WTIH THE UNIT.

29. DESIGN

30. DESIGN
MASTERPLANNING

31. DESIGN

32. DESIGN

33. DESIGN
SECTION 1

34. DESIGN
SECTION 2

35. DESIGN

36. NEXT STEPS
UPCOMING WORK:
DEVELOP CONNECTIONS TO THE SURROUNDING
GREENSPACES/PARKS.
DESIGN CORNER CONDITIONS FOR DIFFER-
ENT LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT THE SITE THAT ARE
UNIQUE.
CONTINUE TO DEFINE THE TERMS OF THE STUDY
- CLARIFY WHAT IS IMPORTANT FROM SUBURBIA
& HOW THAT CAN BE TRANSLATED TO DOWNTOWN
LIVING.