Paddock Hills District
University of Cincinnati |
College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning
Senior Capstone | Architecture Design Studio II | Rebecca Williams Spring 2013
Paddock Hills is an ordinary American neighborhood, except it lacks a central business district: a place for social interactions, local businesses, and housing to accommodate the change of household organization. This project proposes an extension of Paddock Hills to recreate the vibrancy this neighborhood once had. This is a multi-purpose development that focuses on Live+Work+Play.
This project was winner of the Directors Choice Award and recognized as the top project of the graduating class. This is awarded to a graduating student selected by the school director for outstanding merit in their field.
Network within the Community
As noted from observation and research, the residents of Paddock Hills do not have a main business district that acts as a leisure destination. As such, residents are required to get into their cars and drive in order to get groceries, dine at restaurants, or do any household shopping. This project creates a central district for residents in the area where they can have easy accessibility to work, leisure, and residence. As such, this proposal will include casual workspaces (much like Starbucks – a place for people to work other than in the home or at the office, as suggested in Rifkin’s Third Industrial Revolution), residences to increase the local population density and provide alternative housing accommodations for future changes in lifestyle (increase in apartment living/co-habitation, and accounting for transitions in scale – going from single to couple to family to empty nesters), and provide points of leisure such as entertainment facilities, restaurants, and recreational activities.
Connection within the City
A crucial component required to make Cincinnati a self-sustaining and mobile community is to implement a transportation system that offers citizens the accessibility and freedom many now find from their personal automobile. As such, a series of three transport networks can enable Cincinnatians to access this mobility while also reducing individual energy requirements. A three tiered system will reliance on to stay connected both within the city and to other nearby cities is proposed. A three tiered system make up this proposed Cincinnati transit system: First, a regional system that makes use of existing rail tracks and using fast-paced passenger trains to reach nearby cities (Indianapolis-Chicago, Columbus -Cleveland/Pittsburgh, and Louisville). Second, a network of LRT transportation that makes its way around the Cincinnati area and into the central downtown district along various existing transport arteries such as Reading Road. One ring of this network will be a part of the site. Finally, there is a local streetcar system within the downtown core and with connections to uptown Cincinnati. This tri-transit solution will give Cincinnatians the freedom to move throughout the city without having to rely on personal vehicles. They can feel connected to the rest of the city, without the burden of car ownership.