After our recent Project Advisory group meeting, we used the feedback to start brainstorming ways in which we can reach our next conceptual design phase of the project. As a class we’ve decided to focus on five main categories that will aid in our understanding of the problems of the East Bottoms and the possibilities that can grow from the findings.

Site Challenges:

1. Green Infrastructure and Resiliency
   Flooding has been the biggest problem in the East Bottoms in the last century and before, which resulted in almost no permanent residents living in the area. The lack of amenities means that even if people use the East Bottoms for a specific purpose, they have limited places to live and enjoy the area. Those that live and work in the area are not supported by the current amenities.

Above: precedent study— the Big U
We looked at the following projects as examples of successful Green Infrastructure and Resiliency projects. Both projects come from ONE Architecture.

Above: precedent study— Islais Hyper-Creek.

2. Transit and Connectivity
One of the other challenges in the East Bottoms is the lack of connections to Kansas City and the surrounding areas. There are many natural and built barriers that create congestion within the site such as railyards, the Missouri River, and the bluffs of Kessler park. There is also a lack of safe pedestrian and bike paths within the site, and those that do exist are in poor condition.

Above: precedent study— Loop City
The studio examined BIG’s Loop City and the Atlanta BeltLine as examples of incorporating trails and connectivity in an urban environment.

Above: precedent study- Atlanta BeltLine

3. Urban and Cultural Promotion
As an industrial area that is also located in a floodplain, the East Bottoms has many problems with blight and neglect. Silos and railways surround the existing residential community which results in its isolation from the rest of the city. The volume of rail to vehicular traffic on East Front Street and the regional interstate dictates the internal street system, making way-finding difficult. Homelessness has also visibly risen in the area, with a large homeless population that takes advantage of the neglected spaces of the East Bottoms. All of these factors have kept small businesses and retail from settling in the East Bottoms which means that the 15,000 commuters that travel to the East Bottoms for work do not use the area for any other activities.

Above: precedent study- Superkilen

Above: precedent study- North Wharf Promenade

4. Adaptive Reuse
The East Bottoms’ continual use as a heavy industrial area that is isolated from major amenities, the building stock is crumbing. There are many abandoned buildings, overgrown parcels, and underutilized public amenities. As a result, lack of safety becomes an issue for those that may want to visit the East Bottoms.

Above: precedent study- SteelStacks
The studio looked at examples of projects that reused abandoned or underutilized infrastructure for different kinds of amenities.

Above: precedent study- Japanese reuse of overpasses

1. Stormwater and Sewer Management
   The East Bottoms is a high risk area for water and sewer back ups during storms. Untreated sewage from overflows can cause serious water quality problems and health issues from pollutants. These overflow problems can also cause damage to the river, land, structures, and amenities within the site as well as the systems that are meant to take care of the runoff.

Above: precedent study- canal restoration projects

Above: precedent study-Vancouver green rainwater initiatives

Possibilities:

With the environmental challenges in the study area, we found it necessary to study other projects that had similar problems in order to brainstorm concepts. While looking for solutions, we wanted to make sure not to sacrifice the public right-of-way and the natural amenities that the site provides. With balance being a key factor, the solutions to the five focus areas revolve around sustainability and urban growth. We have also learned that design is not the only thing that revitalizes an area— other methods such as community engagement, tax incentives, and zoning will play a crucial role. We are now moving into the conceptual design phase of the project; we look forward to sharing our designs and findings in our next review!

We are thrilled to announce that the KCDC’s 2016-2018 project West Bottoms Reborn: A System of Public Spaces, has received another award. Last Friday, the project received a citation award at the AIA KC Design Excellence Awards. The jury’s comments were as follows:

This project was very interesting to us as the perfect example of a process for the community to look at revitalizing their downtown neighborhood and also for the way that the designers developed proof of concepts around the sites-- they used a very imaginative way of looking at a city, and it brought an interdisciplinary team together to look at the opportunities within the downtown area.

Congratulations to all of the students and team artists that worked on the project, your hard work made the project what it is. Lastly, thanks to all of the community members, stakeholders, and supporters that invested their time and interest in the project!

This week, for our second advisory meeting, the studio had eight individuals with distinct insight on the East Bottoms area at the KCDC to review our findings. These individuals included professionals from Port KC, KCMO City Planning, and local sustainability experts to help guide us in the right direction. With half of the semester down, the studio is focusing on analytical studies to narrow down potential sites. The materials we are using to do this includes drone footage, precedents, slide shows, and vignettes to help guide our reviewers on the character of the site. For this advisory meeting, we were looking for insights on the possibilities of each section and how they connect.

The discussion started with us considering water management, such as the levee expansion, and how to work with the challenge of potential flooding. Since the site is on a floodplain, the reviewers recommended looking at the Houston Bayou system. Houston has many of the same flooding problems as the East Bottoms and to remedy the issue they created a bayou system that is designed to flood while continuing to serve public needs through green space. This system successfully solves two problems with one solution and the studio is now investigating this precedent in relation to our site. The challenge of restoration and protection was brought up again later in the review— is it possible to use our site when it is saturated due to flooding?

Above: Houston’s system of Bayous that are designed to handle flooding

For the ‘Identity’ section of the project, it was advised that we map out the current activities of the area. Since the East Bottoms is made up of multiple identities, could this be a strength that we can capitalize on? We found that could elaborate further on the five types of sites we have discovered in the East Bottoms.

When investigating ‘Connections’, it is important to note that our site is 990 acres and has the third largest levee system in the country. Could these be used as opportunities to create more public green space? Again, the Houston Bayou project is a good precedent for how to examine potential connections. The studio is also looking at the ports and economic qualities of the East Bottoms— there are precedents around the world for port revitalization that could be beneficial for the site.

Map of current levee system along the Missouri, Kansas, and Blue Rivers in the Kansas city Region

The reviewers were enthusiastic with their feedback and we are excited to expand on our analysis in preparation for the next review!