Atlanta Beltline Regional Masterplan:

Creating Community Spaces for People in the Reynoldstown Neighborhood

by

Thomas Preston Brame

A Senior Design Project

Presented to the College of Environment and Design

University of Georgia

Under the Direction of:

Professor Verma

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Bachelor of Landscape Architecture

Athens, Georgia

Spring, 2012

Atlanta Beltline|Reynoldstown Region

1 | Title Page

Table of Contents

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Statement of Purpose

Site Location

Inventory / Analysis

Concept Designs

Final Masterplan

Site Plan

Section Elevations

Perspectives

Planting Plan

Staking Plan

Grading Plan

Construction Details

Signature Detail

Acknowledgements

Table of Contents | 2

4 | Statement of Purpose

Statement of PurposeMy ideas started simply. Keep the trees, was one thought. Connect the neigh-borhood was another.

Reynoldstown is a lucky place, because it has been preserved in a time when there were still pedestrians, a time when people walked. There are still blocks and sidewalks.

It also has an industrial feeling that’s beautiful. It’s worn in and the bricks are aged.

Designing for a smaller community meant for me keeping the right scale and proportions. A grandiose plaza here would be wrong, because it can add nothing but empty space.

The integral elements I incorporated in designing are trees, water, walking space, and community.

Ecological ImpactThe importance of the boardwalk is that it avoids cut and fill, or cutting down all the trees and grading the soil to be flat. I loved the idea of a medieval past of people walking through a forest to each others’ houses.

Stormwater raises and lowers streams, making it unpredictable and difficult for creatures to live within or around the water.

This water running off hardscapes into watersheds typically carry a lot of chemicals and contaminants. I real-ized I wanted to take the polluted water, typically hidden underground in pipes, above and naturalize it.

I selected pervious brick pavers which allow some of the water to infiltrate the soil slowly. What doesn’t is carried along in pervious pipes, which have holes in them, to a rain garden. When the rain garden fills, the water is piped into vegetated swales, where it flows to a constructed wetland for a final infil-tration. The site is designed to give the water that falls many viable routes to return to the watershed cleansed and have the rate of flow slowed.

Aesthetic InspirationsCascading water is beautiful. The sheet fountain draws inspiration from mod-ern graphic design and in the river drops of the Tallulah Gorge.

I modeled the café after tall rowhouse brick buildings in the neighborhood. A grid of shade trees in plaza contin-ues the native hardwood stand into the hardscape. The raised platforms give that important vitality to space and in-tegrate with the boardwalk.

The design, by an attempt at accom-modating people, sun, wind, trees and water, fulfills the planning necessary for small sites that are “physically and psychologically [...] comfortable,” as stated in The Social Life of Small Spaces by William H. Whyte.

Site Location | 5

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6 | Inventory & Analysis

Building Use

Inventory & Analysis | 7

Streets

8 | Inventory & Analysis

Site Conditions

Inventory & Analysis | 9

Photo Inventory

10 | Preliminary Concepts

Concept 1

Preliminary Concepts | 11

Concept 2

12 | Masterplan

Masterplan

Boardwalk Urban Forest Garden

Roof-top Cafe

Masterplan | 13

14 | Site Design

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Site Plan

Site Design | 15

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Rain Gardens

Pervious Pavement

Perforated Pipe

Vegetated Swale04

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PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

16 | Section Elevations

Sunken Plaza with Honey Locust TreesFountain Planter

Shaded Open Plaza Fountain Platform PlatformTrain TracksRain

Garden

Section Elevation A-A’

Section Elevation B-B’

Section Elevations

Sunken Plaza with Honey Locust TreesFountain Planter

Section Elevation A-A’

Section Elevation B-B’

Perspectives | 17

Site Perspectives

18 | Planting Plan

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QP

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IT EA

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Planting Plan

Planting Plan | 19

AG AR BN EA

GT

Amelachier x grandiflora‘Autumn Brilliance’

Gleditsia triacanthos intermidia

Acer rubrum ‘October Glory’

Betula nigra Equisetum arvense

Itea virginica Panicum virgatum ‘Northwinds’

Quercus phellos

IT PV QP

Plant  Schedule  SYMBOL BOT.  NAME   COMMON  NAME ZONE SIZE BLOOM  TIME FEATURES

TreesAR Acer  rubrum  'October  Glory'   October  Glory  Red  Maple 4  to  9 Height:40'  to  40'  

Spread:  30'  to  40'March;  Red  flowers   Brilliant  red  fall  color  from  

October  to  November;  Low  maintenance

AG Amelanchier  x  grandiflora  'Autumn  Brilliance' Autumn  Brilliance  Serviceberry  Tree 4  to  9   Height:  15'  to  25'  Spread:  15'  to  25'

April;  White  flowers Produces  edible  fruit  which  are  very  popular  with  birds;  aXracYve  orange  fall  color

BN Betula  Nigra   River  Birch   4  to  9   Height:  35'  to  50'  Spread:  25'  to  40'  

N/A AXracYve  exfoliaYng  bark;  yellow  fall  color

GT Gleditsia  triacanthos  intermidia Thornless  Honey  Locust   4  to  9   Height:  30'  to  40'  Spread:  25'  to  35'  

May  to  early  June;  Golden-­‐green  flowers  

AXracYve  fine  textured  foliage;  very  urban  tolerant  

QP   Quercus  phellos   Willow  Oak   6  to  9   Height:  60'  to  75'  Spread:  40'  to  50'  

N/A Tolerant  of  urban  environments  

Shrubs  &  PerennialsEA Equisetum  arvense Horsetail 3  to  9   Height:  1'  to  4'      

Spread:  6"  to  12"  N/A Evergreen;  very  tolerant  of  

wet  soil;  vigorous  spread  by  rhisomes

IT Itea  virginica   Virginia  Sweetspire 5  to  9   Height:  3'  to  6'      Spread:  4'  to  6'  

May  to  June;  White  flowers Shade  tolerant;  Flowers  aXract  buXerflie;  drought  tolerant  

PV Panicum  virgatum  'Northwinds' Northwinds  Switchgrass 5  to  9   Height:  4'  to  6'      Spread:  24"  to  30"

July  to  February;  Yellow  Flowers

Tolerates  dry  and  wet  soils;  verYcal  form;  stays  upright  through  winter

PD Phlox  divaricata Woodland  Phlox 3  to  8 Height:  8"  to  12"    Spread:  8"  to  12"

April  to  May;  Violet-­‐blue  flowers

Tolerates  dry  and  wet  soils;  verYcal  form;  stays  upright  through  winter

Plant Schedule

Plant Photos

20 | Staking Plan

Staking Plan

Grading Plan | 21

Grading Plan

22 | Construction Details

Retaining Wall Detail

Construction Details | 23

Pervious Paver Detail

24 | Construction Details

Bike Rack Detail

Construction Details | 25

CIP Stair Detail

26 | Signature Detail

Sheet Fountain Detail

Signature Detail | 27

28 | Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementI would like to thank my Wife Helen for being patient with me through late nights and crazy last minute fixes to projects before deadlines. Also for her artistic eye and attention to detail.

I would also like to thank my Mom and Dad and Mr. and Mrs. Burdette. Without you all’s help finishing would have been impossible and I am so excited to cel-ebrate graduating with you soon.

Thank you to Professors and others in the college who taught me and helped me grow including: Prof. Cannady, Prof. Davis, Prof. Spooner, Prof. Buitrago, and more. A special thank you to Prof. Coyle who let me into the major despite my less than stellar academic record.

Lastly, I would like to thank the other staff at the school who make the College of Environmental Design worth spending 5 - 6 years in. Audra Lofton, Marsha Grizzle, David at Broad Street Studios, and the night cleaning crew in Caldwell. Thank you for the special years here.

-Sincerely,

Thomas Brame

BibliographyAtlanta Beltline www.atlantabeltline.org

Perkins and Will www.perkinswill.com

Blend America Clothing - Seattle Building Massive Edible Forest Filled With Free Foodhttp://blendamerica.com/2012/03/seattle-building-massive-edible-forest-filled-free-food/

Acknowledgement | 29