Charles Donnelly Park Final Presentation Material.
Concept: Resilience
Precedents: Stanley Saitowitz, Architect The Holocaust Memorial ; Michael Van Valkenburgh’s Allegheny Riverfront Park, Pittsburgh, PA; Maya Lin’s Vietnam Memorial, Washington D.C.
The initial visit of the park and meeting the people in the community was interesting. I found it amazing that the people were so adamant on living in the New Orleans area despite all the consequences they may endure. They described their struggles as a family, community and region. They displayed an attitude of resiliency and perseverance to remain in this area.
I wanted the park to unite the people there with the people that had lost lives from the natural disasters that had occurred. I wanted to allow the park to be a remembrance of the past and at the same time stand as a foundation for the future. In this development the park’s entirety would become a memorial symbolically to the Resilience of New Orleans. The wall moving throughout the landscape is iconic to the perseverance of the city of New Orleans and the people within that community. It symbolizes the foundation or “bedrock” that is never changing and always present. At times the visual structure is not observed, but it proceeds to move, grow, and adjust even if it is not seen or underground. This is the same with the perseverance of the people of the community when recovering from affects from hurricanes or other natural disasters.
Plan and Sections:
Plan_ 
Sections_ 
Plan_I wanted to keep the park possibilities very interactive for the people to use as a park. I did not want to incorporate a large amount of constructed elements within the park. I did studies of large swooping curving forms throughout the site. I began with the study of the wall placement in relation to the site. I wanted to consider the purposes it would serve for the people and determining the amount of room each separate space would require to achieve the functions of the community’s program. I chose to begin with the wall because I wanted ti to be the most permanent element in the landscape. In thinking that the wall is the foundation of the site, it would be the most dominate. I wanted to incorporate areas of gathering or available for more passive activities. In the studies I allowed the concave areas created by the curving walls to be the gathering spaces. These spaces would allow for people to sit along the wall and in the spaces facing each other. Reinforcing the idea of unity; the type of unity that appears when the community must overcome a natural disaster. After determining where the wall would be positioned I wanted to layout the circulation of the site. In maintaining the idea of the wall being the most dominate element within the landscape, I wanted the circulation to be right beside the wall reinforcing the dominance of the constructed materials. The paths would be created out of a crushed limestone or a decomposing limestone. the circulation was finally developed into two major paths moving diagonally through the site. The circulation did not include a walk around the edges of the site in order to remove no definite separation from the park with the community, and also to try and direct people to move into the site rather than around the edges. I wanted to develop the idea of succession moving out from the walls into the landscape to highlight the idea of rebuilding or reconstructing of the damages which occur from the disasters. the initial and most dominate level being the wall then leading to the paths, and finally to the vegetation. The placement of the vegetation was once again utilized to reinforce the dominance of the wall. I wanted to construct the idea of succession coming out from the wall. The open spaces would represent the moment in the past of the occurrence of the disasters. The plants would be increased in size and the idea of age as they move closer and closer to the wall. The planting scheme would help reinforce the spaces created within the site.
Sections_ I wanted the sections to show the spaces that would be experienced when one occupies the areas within the site. The first section shows the topography sloping into the open spaces and how the vegetation with the decrease in size pushes people into the main axial open space that is present throughout the center of site. This open space is the main areas of circulation. The second section displays the complete enclosure that would be experienced when in the northern most end of the site. And the third section conveys how people would use the spaces within the site and their interaction with the wall.
Perspective Views:
a
b
c
a_ This perspective is a view from the east entrance looking to the southwest entrance and conveys how the walls again move through the site and the interaction that the people will experience when occupying these spaces.
b_ This view is directly across the north end of the site. (Missing play equipment in the back area.) The view is from east to west at the northern end. I wanted to convey the actual space around the pavilion. Showing how, when occupied, it would and could be used. I wanted to allow these spaces to possess enough flexibility to be able to change as this landscape progresses into the future.
c_ This is a view from the south end of the site to the northeast end of the site. This perspective is focus mainly on the open spaces within the site. These spaces would be more active when the site is occupied.
Diagrams are below:
a
b
c
d
e
a_ Circulation Diagram: conveying the path system within the site. Showing how people are to move through the site.
b_ Wall Movement Diagram: This shows the movement of the wall. Where the wall will be shifting in vertical heights from 4′ to 0′-0″. The wall will hold the appearance that it will more or less keep moving but go underground. This introduces the idea that the resilience of the wall is not always visually present as it would be for the community after the impact of a natural disaster. But, it will always continue to move. The only times that the wall will rise over 24″ is when it is reacting to the topography in the strong convex spaces.
c_Permanence Diagram: This diagram created a sense of hierarchy to the elements that remained on the site after Katrina along with those that will be constructed on teh site with the design. It conveys what elements are most likely to remain if another natural disaster occurs. These elements create a foundation for the site and are the symbolic to the community in the idea of perseverance.
d_ Vegetation Diagram: This is the opposite of the Permanence Diagram. It also conveys the elements in a hierarchy of which are most likely to remain. Again, showing the weight on the site in relation to this resiliency that the community and city of New Orleans possess and act on when a natural disaster occurs. This diagram also is an idea of the elements that are able to change or be manipulated. These elements are more malleable than those of the permanence diagram. They are ever changing; the elements of an ecosystem that will be affected by the seasonal change.
e_ Program Diagram
