Monday, November 1, 2010
Project 05: Site Selection Narrative
My site functions as a threshold between the City of Providence and the Narragansett Bay. The hurricane barrier and the new I-way overpass mark the gateway to the Providence River, which moves through the heart of the city. Bald Point Park, directly across from my site, features a public boat ramp that serves as a launch point for people travelling to the lower bay via the Port of Providence.
In past decades, my site was a destination. It flaunted waterfront venues and amenities that attracted visitors from land and sea. Today, however, my site is desolate and deteriorated due to the manipulation of boundaries. The old highway system, diagrammed in red, used to serve as a threshold between the waterfront and the dense East Side of Providence giving both areas distinct identities. Waterfront bars, social venues, parks, and a community sailing center drew people through the threshold of infrastructure to my site.
Today, my site is a departure point. The new I-way project, diagrammed in blue, bisects the waterfront serving as an extension of the hurricane barrier with mechanical flood doors that guard all pass through streets. The I-way breaks up the waterfront into two incomplete entities blurring the threshold between the East side and the waterfront and actually serves as a physical and visual boundary to water access. Through eminent domain, the state acquired and cleared nearly all of the highlighted land in the diagram above, creating a vacuum.
My thesis project aims to transform the identity of this site through the exploitation and calculated manipulation of thresholds and boundaries restoring its’ status as a gateway and destination. It will combine different programs and building typologies into a unified whole that will engage different audiences of people coming to the site by land or sea in their pursuit of various amenities.
I intend for my project to work in conjunction with proposed plans for the new maritime museum being constructed in the old power plant building and the new waterfront park. I intend for my intervention to serve as a starting point for the redevelopment of the remaining parcels of reclaimed land (approximately 20 lots). This would be an inside out way of working that is contrary to the typical master planning process. If my intervention encouraged future development then, in effect, it would validate my thesis ideas.
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