Assignment 3- Photo-montage

assignment 2

For my comprehensive studio design project, I am proposing to design a regional destination park on Prairie Creek Reservoir. As I move along in my programming and concepts for the design of this park, I am constantly searching for precedent studies of other projects. I have always been inspired by the work of Michael Van Valkenburgh and Associates. In particular, his design firm has designed and created some interesting park design projects. For this assignment, I have chosen to focus on Valkenburghs Tulsa Riverfront Park project, which is located in Tulsa, OK. I main idea for this project is to create a new “Central Park” for the city.

Context:

            As mentioned before, the site for this project is located on the shore of Zink Lake, located in Tulsa, OK. This project started off as a design competition created by the George Kaiser Family Foundation to create a recreational, civic, and cultural park that would be an extension of the River Park that already exists in the area. The 55 acres of land just east of the River Park and Riverside Drive, has been purchased and set aside for the parks site. MVVA and associates were chosen to be designers of this project because of the success and admiration of past projects. MVVA began consultation with the community over the course of many public meetings before any initial concept ideas were developed. The plan for the park is to create a strong connection between the waterfront to the surrounding community. The park will offer a new way for residents to connect with the surrounding urban and natural environment, while building a public infrastructure that will provide educational and anti-poverty initiatives that the city faces. 

            With respect to the sites natural features the hydrology and ecology of the site programming comes from the study of the sites two relationships- the connection of the park and city, and the connection of the city to the waterfront. MVVA has proposed that the transformations between hydrology, ecology, landform, and the urban program will be layered to aid in the creation of connections between the physical of the park itself with the experience of the place. As mentioned before, the design of this new park is in addition with the existing River Park that is onsite. River Park and the space set aside for the new park, is divided by Riverside Drive, which divides the site in half and serves as physical barrier. MVVA has proposed a land bridge that will help to connect to the two sides of the park. This land bridge will serve as a visually pleasing and exciting transition between the two park spaces. An interesting idea that Valkenburgh states is that, "What we can do with the topography that creates the land bridge is make it so gentle going up to it that you don't even know you're going up in the air." Some of the existing ecosystems onsite besides Zink Lake include, Crow Creek, the trees and open meadow area located at the Blair Site, as well as the Arkansas River. 

Process:

As stated before, Valkenburgh and his associates developed ideas and initial concepts from several public meetings within the community. MVVA wanted to make sure the community had complete input in regards the design of what they wanted this space to be. So when it came to the firm’s images, they did a good job creating rich and vibrant diagrams and photomontages to show the design process of the project.

MVVA provides many simple diagrams and maps like the image above to show the design process of this park project.

This diagram is extremely informative in showing the activities of the new proposed park. The combination of the difference of color-zoned areas with the addition of labeling text that wraps around in the different shapes is very successful in showing the programing of the site. The variety of different text sizes and colors also shows the hierarchy of the importance of each activity in relation to the area it is in. This is a very important graphic diagram that shows a lot of information.

The plan diagram above is another successful graphic that shows a lot of information. The rendered and labeled plan is very legible, while the surrounding context is in a low opacity of black and white. There are then callouts from the map showing images of what activities will be happening in specific spaces of the plan. I appreciate the circular shape of the images because they pop out more then maybe they would if they were square images. I appreciate that the pictures speak for themselves without much labeling.

 This first photomontage shows what it would be like laying down or picnicking with friends right next to the waterfront. MVVA does a good showing what an open lawn space will look like onsite. They have incorporated varies types of vegetation in what looks like a beautiful fall day. They have incorporated quite a few entourage in the image, which is what helps to bring it to life.

 This second photomontage shows what the proposed water park onsite will look like. They did a good job with the lighting in the picture, which helps to show that it is a hot summer day.

Lastly, this photomontage shows what it would be like to stand in the visitor’s center on a winter day. It shows the architectural elements of what the building would look like. The building is warm, natural, and open, which allows for people to come in a warm up, while giving visitors a 360 view of the park surrounding them.

Works Cited: 

"Get The Visuals | A Gathering Place For Tulsa." A Gathering Place For Tulsa. George     Kaiser Family Foundation, n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.

Lassek, P.J. "Know Your World | Tulsa World." Know Your World | Tulsa World. Tulsa   World, 4 Mar. 2012. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.

"Tulsa Riverfront Park Project." Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. Michael Van   Valkenburgh Associates, Inc., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.

assignment 1