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table of contents
The Mother Culture
Residential/Commerical
Urban Ecologies
mla thesis
automax three creeks
west end food networkurban armature worrkshop
d.c. wolfe elementaryauburn city park
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graphics
pools
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the
motherculture
mla design research thesis
The seedy, dingy, back-alley spaces of Auburn, Alabama’s downtown were always an inspiration for me. Stained by the passage of time and the sharing of ideas, the grunge of the businesses and night-life speaks in these areas of marginalized urban space. Exploring these conditions developed into a 9 month study of a landscape architecure that reveals the assets of this urban typology and questions the ethics of pristine urban space. Eventually published in the form of a magazine entitled “The Mother Culture: Exploring the Urban Margin”, this study was developed in three main phases: exploring the urban margin, dirty creativity, and designing the motherculture.
Exploring the urban margin began with a photographic inventory of these landscapes within the downtown. Clips and sections of these were formed into collages that focused on documenting information about the nature and character of these spaces. They ended up revealing the life of particulate matter and other layers that collect and settle over these landscapes. I then categorized them into collisions, residue, territories, and media.
After spending some time formulating a vocabulary and discourse surrounding the urban margin, the life of this landscape began to speak in physical and spacial specificities. The landscape revealed a process of waste streams, the less enjoyed and unboasted aspects of the urban landscape. But the conversation went much farther than just trash and scaps from downtown businesses; it spoke to an entire ecology of particulate matter, a dynamic life in the ground, the underground life of the city, the art of the renegade. Through having an interest in the traditions of shamanism around the globe, I formed a design ethic that focused on revealing the resourceful and character rich aspects of a particular site in the heart of Auburn’s downtown core. Through this iterative design research process, I: explored the value of open soil in urban space and a new method for in situ soil making for margninalized space, the potential for connecting wastestreams from the downtown and incorporating them into productive endeavours for individuals, and formulated the concept for a new type of urban social space: the motherculture.
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soil rememdiation and place making
ashpalt removalsubgrade exposureashpalt reuse
partial gravel removalstacked for acificationparent compostparent mineral clayparent myselia
acidification
connect to parent materialcreate clay and topsoilconnect to waste streams
waste streams creates new economysoil remediation creates new space
mushroom garden
asphalt reuse
mycorestoration
decomposition: fungi, algae, and bacteria are responsible for most of organic decomposition
reduction: mycelia also have the ability to break down large, inorganic and organic compounds that might be toxic to other or-ganisms
concentration: for other ele-ments (such as heavy metals) that cannot be broken down further, mushrooms concentrate them in their fruiting bodies
compost
How Do You Make Soil?
soil rememdiation and place making
ashpalt removalsubgrade exposureashpalt reuse
partial gravel removalstacked for acificationparent compostparent mineral clayparent myselia
acidification
connect to parent materialcreate clay and topsoilconnect to waste streams
waste streams creates new economysoil remediation creates new space
mushroom garden
asphalt reuse
mycorestoration
decomposition: fungi, algae, and bacteria are responsible for most of organic decomposition
reduction: mycelia also have the ability to break down large, inorganic and organic compounds that might be toxic to other or-ganisms
concentration: for other ele-ments (such as heavy metals) that cannot be broken down further, mushrooms concentrate them in their fruiting bodies
compost
soil rememdiation and place making
ashpalt removalsubgrade exposureashpalt reuse
partial gravel removalstacked for acificationparent compostparent mineral clayparent myselia
acidification
connect to parent materialcreate clay and topsoilconnect to waste streams
waste streams creates new economysoil remediation creates new space
mushroom garden
asphalt reuse
mycorestoration
decomposition: fungi, algae, and bacteria are responsible for most of organic decomposition
reduction: mycelia also have the ability to break down large, inorganic and organic compounds that might be toxic to other or-ganisms
concentration: for other ele-ments (such as heavy metals) that cannot be broken down further, mushrooms concentrate them in their fruiting bodies
compost
The MotherOn site there will need to be a mother culture of soil. This soil agglomeration will house all of the bacteria and fungal cultures necessary for the soil remediation and creation process. Similar to fermentation cultures, every time a new pile is started, soil from the mother is taken to strat the new pile.
planN1:10
The design process for the final presentation of this investigation began with a model. The key to designing within this dynamic space was framing different niches without loosing the open-ended, democratic voice of the landscape. I decided to accomplish this with stretched wires that serve as spacial armatures and infrastructure for the collection space of compost and other reused materials which this new landscape seeks to celebrate.
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Cheeburger CheeburgerHalf-Time Bar and GrillBig Dog Running Co.ArigatoStarz and Auburn SpaTacoRitaBizilia’s CafeGigi’s CupcakesFlowersmith’s FloralMellow MushroomJimmy John’s SandwichesThe Pink Room (shoes)Big Blue BagelEllie’s BoutiqueWrapsodyAvondale’s BarAuburn Barber ShopLuxury SpaAuburn ArtToomer’s Drug StoreCell Phone RepairAuburn HardwareMoe’s BBQThe Locker Room (clothes)Little Italy PizzeriaOfficesSouthern Trails (outdoor)Hudson BuildingAuburn City HallCOA Human Resources508 ArchitectsThe Coffee CatCOA Health and WellnessThe Hound (restaurant/bar)
80 lbs/day
4/wk
150 lbs/day
65 lbs/day
pa
le
tt
es
gr
ee
nM
ea
t
wastestreams
Magnolia Street
Coll
ege S
tree
t
Gay Street
Tichenor Avenue
N
site
As this project lives on, new sketches begin to form this space into an organized digestive system. One could call this a reverse digestion though. The periphery of our urban lives falls away and begins to build a garden, a motherculture for our community. However this garden is not focused as much on plants, but on the reclaimation of the particles and casts of the dynamic urban landscape.
[ n a t u r a l e n v i r o n m e n t ]
[ master in landscape architecture | auburn university ]felipe palacios | mi yan | braxton tanner
[ delineation of eco-regions ]The city of Auburn is in the middle of the piedmont and the coastal plain between the South-ern Outer Piedmont and the Fall Line Hills
[ existing tree canopy ]
[ geology | development over time ]
[ Southern Outer Piedmont configuration ]
[ topography | hydrology | watersheds | urban deveploment ]Auburn is located on the ridge between 2 major watersheds
1960’s 2000’s1980’s
3 principal geological stripes
fault
fault
[ existing open land and agricultural fields ]
urban
ecologies
introduction
One of the specific interests that I gained from my time in the MLA program at Auburn was the intricate way that the collective of all life, culture, and environment interact in cities. This encouraged me to find a voice where the binary of human vs non-human or politics vs nature could be further broken down. The following graphics are from a studio investigation of the City of Auburn and its interaction with aspects of its immediate and surrounding landscape.
west end food network! !
! !
During my time in the MLA program at Auburn, I was heaviliy encouraged to take on design with fresh and progressive ideas. This is best revealed in the design of projects oriented towards social outreach. These two pages show my design work for the West End neighborhood in Birmingham, Alabama.This design creates an educational outpost and public orchard for members within the food desert of the west side in attempt to help fill nutritional and cultural food gaps. This type of urban ecology challenges the relationship between the living collective and the city.
Cypress Tracks: team u/patch 3 Braxton tanner + grace lee urban ARMATURE workshop/march 2015
urban armature workshop
The urban ARMATURE project was a week long design blitz with landscape architect Julie Bargmann of DIRT Studios. This project perfectly reveals the sensitivity and brute strength that is required in a more holistic and honest method of urban design. The goal of this design was to tackle sections of a 1 mile stretch between Cypress Creek Nature Preserve and the Alabama River in the post-idustrial/active-industrial fringes of Montgomery, Alabama’s downtown. The entire studio was divided into different sections of the 1 mile transect. The design challenge tested the ability to respond contextually and appropriately in this tough urban landsacpe.
EXISTING CONDITIONS
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Cypress Tracks: team u/patch 3 braxton tanner + grace lee urban ARMATURE workshop/march 2015
The stream corridor that runs from Cypress Nature Park to the Ala-bama River is rich with the history of Montgomery Alabama. The tangles of rail lines, coursing of the former bend in the Alabama River, and the in-dustrial history of Alabama dance across the landscape, creating a series of unique and distinct moments. One of these special moments is here in patch 3 of the corridor. This spot has three special characteristics: the intersection of Cypress Creek and the rail, the highest number of rails within the corridor, and the intriguing juxtaposition of active industry and a long standing urban wild. The design intent for this site was very sim-ple, since the dense forest and industrial activity already speak enough for themselves. Therefore, primary goals were to increase access to the site, frame the fingering of rails across the site, and leverage the beautiful ex-isting conditions of thick canopy, stream, and industry. The first move in this design was to open up all of the rail for pedestrian and bike access. The rails then became public space, which provided a vantage point for all of the site’s sweet moments. The second objective began to connect the downtown grid into the site and explore options for further development.
Team u / Patch 3
Cypress TracksBraxton Tanner + Grace Lee
civic infrastructure
trail/ greenway to town creek park
trails with rails
civic buildingschurchesuniversity
historic district
mapping
braxtontanner
felton little park |
town creek drainage basin
pArKiNg lOtS
sTrEeTshYdRoGrApHy
cOnToUrS
renew opelika rd
The Skate Shop
Downtown
ideas for design address the following:
need for improved stormwater infrastructure
new residential around downtown
lack of recreational space for skaters and bmx
no close dog park
proximity and access to downtown
proximity to civic infrastructure
rails to trails
renew opelika rd
auburn city park
braxton tanner
conceptual plan
bioretention redevelopment:
dredgingculvert enlargement
correct weir sizenew plant palette
1:30
dog park
soundstage/amphitheatre
pavilions
bmx/skatepark
recreational streambed
new trail
section
braxton tanner1:16
recreational
streambed
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Running/Biking Trail
auburn city parkAuburn City Park has been a presence for Auburn since the 1950’s. However, the park
has fallen out of context for the demographic of Auburn’s residents. The park is also a crucial stormwater retention basin for the city. This procides a perfect opportunity for the city to impliment a thriving urban ecology for the new park. New plans for the park show the past and history of the park while creating a new program and aesthetic for the future.
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d.c. wolfe elementary
During the studio process of exploring the potential of economically tough, rural Alabama school yards, I was able to focus on a greater understanding of detail and space through modeling and more detailed construction sections.
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