UNDERGROUND COMMONS:Humanizing an unfriendly place.

2011 Graduate Thesis Michael BarakatJohn MacDuffie Woodburn

The South Broad St Concourse

Could this be the new underground commons?

UNDERGROUND COMMONS:Humanizing the South Broad St Concourse (an unfriendly place).

The Philadelphia South Broad Street concourse is unfriendly. The University of the Arts has no common area. Could these issues two be a match for each other? This was a project about how community, environment, and culture can provide answers to architectural problems.

Historical Study of the Concourse

Observation of users.

Visualizing concepts and interviewing for expert feedback.

Data Mapping

Underground commons project structure

Does the environment shape the man or does the man shape his environment? It’s a question often argued about amongst well, everybody. I wanted to put an end to this argument by creating

Human Centered Design and Architecturean environment that was based in the ideas and thoughts of the community around the project. The Concourse is a place fraught with turmoil and confusion. It is fully functional, but distant from the

Isolating key problems of public space in the area.

User Engagement

Re-Concepting

Presentation of concepts to users and stakeholders.

life of center city Philadelphia. In order to connect the South Broad Street Concourse to the life of the city we interviewed experts, the community, and fully embraced the Human Centered

Design Process to create new solutions to the problem of a troubled public space.

The Project focus is here

City Hall

A Look at the Concourse

As you may notice from the photos above the concourse is a strange place. It’s normally pretty barren. You can walk through most of the day and see only a few people. It was built to accommodate high volumes of human traffic during peak hours. But, aside from being a concrete shelter from the elements, there is very little to attract users.

What is the Concourse what does it do?The landscape also varies greatly. Some places are well polished and cleaned several times a day. Others see very little use and are sometimes used in ways beyond the originally intended design. You can see this in the picture of the skateboarder on the top right.

Learning the Concourse

Student /Commuter

Student and commuter usage map

trolley

subway

walks

a

a

b

b

c

ConcourseExit Immediately / walk to destination

walk in concoursepartially to destination

Exit / walkto destination

b

c

walk to destination

Num

ber of Days

Morning Rush Hour

Female Movement

Male Movement

10 minIntervals

Broad Street Programs

Concourse traffic patterns

Learning the Concourse

I Commute through the Concourse

times a week. It makes me feel

good / bad (circle one). I’m in this

area minutes long. This

space seems dangerous / safe

(circle one).

Learning the Concourse30 Responses

Commuter Perception of the Concourse

Survey Conducted in South Broad Street Concourse. 30 surveys were completed out of the

310.

Makes me feel BAD47%

Makes me feel

GOOD40%

Dangerous79%

Dangerous33%

Safe21%

Safe100%

Safe67%

Neutral13%

Perceived Safety

Seems Dangerous

Seems Safe

Neutral

Feeling Perception{{

Makes me feel bad

Makes me feel good

Neutral

Commuter Travel time through the Concourse

Survey Conducted in South Broad Street Concourse. 30 surveys were completed out of the 310.

The duration of being in the Concourse or the amount of time commuting through the

Concourse does not change people’s perction of safety or how it makes them feel. In each

catergorgy (often, occusionally, rarely) people’s percption of the space is split in the middle.

Occasionally 27%

Rarely 13%

Often 60%

50%

44%

25%

75%

50%6%

25%

25%

Travel Duration

Spend 10+ minutes in area

Spend 5-10 minutes in area

Spend 1-5 minutes in area

Travel through the Concourse (weekly)

Often: 10 + times a week

Occusionally: 5-10 times a week

Rarely: 1-5 times a week{{

Time in Concourse to Perceived Safety

Survey Conducted in South Broad Street Concourse. 30 surveys were completed out of the 310.

No correlation between the amount of time spent in the Concourse to how the Concourse is perceived as safe or dangerous.

Perceived Safety

Seems Dangerous

Seems Safe

Neutral

Travel Duration

Spend 10+ minutes in area

Spend 5-10 minutes in area

Spend 1-5 minutes in area

54%

39%

7%

13%

47%40%

50%50%

Safe43%

Dangerous50%

7%{{

Time in Concourse to Perceived Safety

Survey Conducted in South Broad Street Concourse. 30 surveys were completed out of the 310.

Only correlation here is how occasional commuters perceive the Concourse to be dangerous.

Perceived Safety

Seems Dangerous

Seems Safe

Neutral

Travel through the Concourse (weekly)

Often: 10 + times a week

Occusionally: 5-10 times a week

Rarely: 1-5 times a week

Occusionally 27%

Rarely 13%

Often 60%

61%

49%

25%75%

50%

25%

25%

25%

{{

This is not a bench.

Space Problemsaround the Concourse:University of the Arts

The Concourse has loads of problems, but many of them stem from the lack of steady population. If the Concourse had a population maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad place. But building a long lasting user group for meant looking outside the Concourse

The problems that the South Broad Concourse could Solve.for a demographic that would stay. After looking in the area we saw that the University of the Arts had a need for space. We also saw that between Rittenhouse Square and Washington Square park there are no relaxing public leisure spaces.

A better concourse needs to do three things in Center City.

To accommodate other users what would the South Broad Street Concourse need to become? It would have to be a place that reflects the needs and desires of the community. The map above is an expression of the different concentrations of the various

Human Centered Design and Architecture

Adapt

Connect

Multi-Function

City Hall

Walnut st

Bro

ad S

t

businesses and building types in center city.

A successful concourse design will have to take these synergies into account. It would have to connect to them, adapt to them, and provide multi-functionality to the users.

Artificial Hills on Broad Street

Artificial Hills on Broad Street Underground Road for Cars

Concepting

Project concepts ranged from creating artificial hills onto Broad Street (thus allowing for higher ceilings in the Concourse), inverting the Broad Street and the Concourse (having the roads all underground), to ideas of creating the area into an actual cave. We chose a group of potential stakeholders that could potentially buy-in to developing the South Broad Concourse. These initial

Who is buying in? Project partners and stakeholders.concepts were then visualized in the form of renderings for each stakeholder: Parks Association, Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, and For-Profit Development Corporation. These concepts were not solutions to the needs of the City. Later, the feedback we heard from the populace at UArts transformed our final design concept. They looked like the ideal Concourse partner.

Parks Association

Mural Arts Program

For Profit Development

Stakeholder Scenarios

Final Concept

Humanizing the Concourse meant tying it into the flourishing natural community of its Center City surroundings. The final idea is the UArts Underground Commons. What makes this different than the typical commons, campuses, and other universities is that this space is public and private. Most other universities have an open

The Underground Commonscampus but often these so-called open campuses are void of anything beyond the universities’ needs. They do not mingle with the surrounding community. This underground commons allows for UArts to have a truly open campus that would enable the surrounding community to feel apart of the community at UArts.

A place for walking

Concerts and dancing

Inflatable Bubble Rooms

Fully Inflated Membrane

Deflated Membrane

Inflation Equipment

There are three components to the system: a path, temporary objects and rooms, and permanent objects and rooms. The path holds the system together. The programs, activities, of the buildings on the street, shape it and its shape reflects the magnitude of the synergies. Along the path are permanent and temporary structures that adapt to the changing path. The structures are inflatable bubbles. The bubbles inflate for use as a room, and can then deflate when more area in the Concourse is needed for other activities. The bubbles contain resources for the University of the Arts. Two of them are permanent, and house a Student Union and a Performance area. The other bubbles are temporal areas that collapse when not in use. Around the area are seating units that can be moved for different vantage points. Around the path are open spaces with features that offer users the ability to treat the space like a typical outdoor park. Full Spectrum light, moss columns, and even artificial grass will bring this natural feeling into the Concourse.

Functional

Inflating

DeflatedHow Does it Work

Inflatable Rooms

MossWater RetainingBonding Agent

Weekly Misting

Concrete

vMoss can drastically change the appearance of a space because it can take the shape of whatever surface it grows on. Thus, it creates a profound texturing. Moss needs four things for successful growth. Fortunately the Concourse has most of these things naturally: Moisture, shade, humidity,

and low ph (in the form of concrete). Moss can grow on any hard surface as long as the moss can adhere. This requires a rough surface or bonding agent. One of its best qualities is that it requires very little upkeep. It takes in all its nutrients through its leaves from humidity and moisture. So it only needs a weekly misting.

Moss Walls and Columns

UNDERGROUND COMMONS:Response, feedback, reflections, and the future.

When the project was presented to the community it was very well received. They had been waiting for an intervention from someone for a long time.

But, for many it was still hard to see past the South Broad Street Concourses many problems. At this point, this concept for could fulfill any potential needs of the University of the Art’s future. In order to enact this project, we realized the importance of having the local community and constituencies to buy in to the project.

The next step would be to present this project to real stakeholders to get more feedback, support, and capital to make the Concourse a better place for everyone.

University of the Arts