Writing Component

Namba Parks, Osaka Japan

Designed by Obayashi Corporation

Located in Osaka, Japan, Namba Parks functions as a largely natural green space amidst an intensely compacted urban setting. It proves to be a perfect example of successful natural intervention within an urban context. Its form was derived from the dynamic pathways and circulatory patterns of the occupants and topographical elevations that serve to create a wonderful landscape while concealing much of the built environment. Pathways are created in a multitude of directions intersecting and converging into one another as an occupant navigates the spaces. Where paths meet and integrate, becoming denser as the occupant progresses throughout the site, the built environment becomes more heavily aggregated, effectively producing a spatial hierarchy throughout the entirety of the site and creating a nice transition between figure and space. A prominent formal element that is visible in plan and section is the use of many pathways along the rooftops and exterior of the built environment while still retaining a sense of invitation to the interior spaces.

Southtown, San Antonio

Proposal by Cody Clancy and Mike Clariday

Our proposed design is intended to successfully integrate the unique societies that form the area of Southtown, San Antonio. By adapting the principles of design we have gathered from past experience as well as our precedent studies, including Namba Parks, we have developed a formal and programmatic strategy that will serve the needs of the unique cultures that make up the surrounding community while allowing for maximum integration of the numerous aspects that make up the context of our project. Our site is located between The Blue Star Arts Complex, the Historic King Williams’ District, and Southside neighborhoods, establishing the basic principle that it should serve each of these communities and allow them to unify within.

Adopting elements from our precedent, we intend to create a method of hierarchy, establishing an “epicenter” between our site and the Blue Star Arts Complex, the area in which most pedestrian and tourist traffic will occur. This epicenter will allow for a densely aggregated network of pathways that will offer a dynamic course of circulatory options for the inhabitants, as it becomes less condensed towards the furthest extents of our site. These aggregations of desired pathways and the concept of maximum circulation will serve as the driving factor in the form, siting, and density of the built environment in addition to creating the necessity for rooftop landscapes as well as a topographical elevation change that will generate a connecting street from our primary site to the San Antonio River. As a whole, our proposed development is intended to create a sense of unity within these communities allowing for a commonplace of escape from a predominantly urban scenario into the refuge of a dynamic community center and natural environment.