        Grande, Ashley : Assignments11.26Cudda, Wudda, Shudda: An Essay on Fifth Street Over the past few years a lot of money has been spent on improvements to Fifth Street, the space between the Klaus Computing building and Technology Square. I have been watching a small portion of the street’s progression over the past year and a half. It is easy for me to see how there could still be a debate over whether the goal of the construction is being met or not. Since I came to Georgia Tech, the biggest annoyance I have found is the continuing work going on around campus. With all the debris, dirt and heavy equipment around, there is always a road barricaded or closed somewhere. During the time I have spent on campus prior to my switching to architecture, I would have easily said that all this “improvement” is not worth the time and money spent. Nonetheless, even this year when the portion of the road outside of Klaus and the baseball field was closed off, I found it a terrible nuisance and wished the road could have been left alone. Once I started to ponder about this road more deeply, however, I realized that there is a definite purpose to all this trouble. In the end, the hope is, to make the campus a nicer, more pedestrian-friendly space. I began to see where it is all going. Whether the work is worth it is yet to be seen. Up to this point I have observed both positive and negative sides to all the construction and projects. The street may be observed as being a public space. A public space is an area in which people can gather for many purposes, whether it is gathering, playing, resting, or merely traveling through. It is a comfortable and welcoming space that people do not feel troubled to traverse. Currently Fifth Street does not meet these criteria. To begin with, the stretch of pavement between Klaus and the bridge is currently lost in a wide variety of work vehicles and dirt. Although the sidewalks were widened, this area is not in the least welcoming. It is very troublesome attempting to travel by foot through this construction filled space. The part of this stretch that is not under construction is actually not very welcoming either. It feels a bit cluttered by the closeness of big Greek houses and oversized, decorative trees. In addition, there lacks any place to sit and gather with others and the bus stops along this part of the road have no benches or coverings to shield pedestrians from the weather. This shared stretch of road is well balanced with a moderate number of cars and pedestrians. There are crosswalks with signals placed at effective, logical and comfortable locations. The speed of vehicles seems appropriate as well. So far, I have yet to fear being run over while crossing the street here. The section of Fifth Street in Technology Square typifies a more serious effort to make it more of a public space however I feel that this attempt has failed. It boasts the wide walkways with the aesthetic appeal of the brick and cement patterns, surrounded by newer, well kept buildings, however the arrangement of benches and restaurant patios is not always convenient. I rarely see people making use of the space other than making the long trek to the management building for classes or going to dinner at one of the restaurants running alongside the road. This portion of the road feels like it was created more for the sake of drivers than walkers. The road is wide and parking runs along both sides. The traffic flows a lot faster in this strip than in the previous section. Since traffic flows more quickly, it is harder to cross the street as there is only one useful crosswalk with a signal. There are two additional crosswalks at either end of this stretch. One, however, has no signal making it tough to find a safe break in traffic. The other crosswalk does not lead to anything. It is located by the management building but it is not convenient even for going to or from there. This section of the road does have seating but it is awkwardly placed and spread too far apart to comfortably talk with others sitting there. The only place I have seen a few people sit every time I have walked by is outside the ice cream shop and I am willing to bet that it is only because the shop itself does not have its own seating inside. There is a large open space on one side with seating as well but the space is all cement without tables or even patches of grass. It too is useless. All of this wasted space, awkward seating, and the clutter of cars make the area very uninviting and overall unappealing to the eye. Another way to look at this space is as a subdivision of territory. While Fifth Street is all owned by Georgia Tech, it appears to be different territories. There is a suburban section, an urban section, and a section that looks like it belongs to the department of transportation. Section one, between Klaus and the bridge, has a small town feel to it. Since it is surrounded by houses and slower traffic it does not give off a city like feel. The second section from the bridge to the end of the road has the city feel since it is surrounded by a faster flow of traffic, cars all over, tall buildings, and many connected shops. The bridge itself, while it has a bit a grass and a tree or two built in, is still only a bridge for traffic to get from the campus side to Tech Square side. As I have mentioned previously, I have noticed that each section has completely different characteristics from each other. This is the third filter to look at this street through. Overall, Fifth Street does not work well with itself to achieve making a better space. Each of the three sections seems to carry its own theme for how it is going to look with little consideration for the other sections. Starting at Klaus, the sidewalks are mostly cement with a brick border. The largest space is completely cement. It also possesses a couple trees and some spaces along this stretch are often a myriad of shrubberies. Nearby houses of a multitude of sizes give it its suburban feel. The other end of Fifth Street, the city side, is filled with more brick and basically no grass unlike its suburban counterpart. It is more commercial and is filled with shops stacked closely next to each other. The sidewalks and brick span all the way up to the building facades. It is more of a speedy place. Both cars and pedestrians seem to move more quickly over here, giving this space a rushed feel. People meander more on the suburban stretch. The traits that these two sections share are the attempt at the brick and cement theme and a few decorative trees. The bridge on the other hand, while it still has a similar sidewalk and is given a bit of greenery, is just a giant block of cement. The bridge has very little in common with the sections that flank it on either end. One would imagine a bridge at the very least as a transitional space, a subtle blending of one space to the next. Fifth Street can also be observed by its functions and uses. The two main functions of the road are transportation and gathering. The uses I have seen on this road are walking, biking, driving, waiting, eating, and resting. There are always people, cars, and bicycles traveling back and forth between the different locations on the road. The cars usually just pass through while bikers will go to the management building or their Greek homes and pedestrians may patronize a restaurant between classes or wait at a bus or trolley stop to be transported elsewhere. In gathering, people will get together with friends and eat at Tin Drum out on the “patio” or grab an ice cream cone and sit on a bench chatting. A foreseen use of Fifth Street is that of the bridge. It is hoped that people will gather and hang out on the grassy section of the newly constructed bridge. Whether or not people will take advantage of this space is yet to be seen. The last use I have observed is resting. I often see mothers with strollers occupying a bench in Tech Square or a lazy student sitting on the sidewalk while waiting for the trolley to come by and whisk them away. Fifth Street could have been much more successful in reaching its goal if a little more thought to planning had been given and if a time line was executed. There have been many projects taken on at one time on campus. It is not uncommon to see a project left in the middle of progression for days at a time. This happened often with the construction of the bridge. Every other day I would walk past the bags of cement and the occasional slab of shrubs but rarely would I see anyone working until the very end when it became a rush to the finish. If the project had been planned effectively and efficiently not only would it have saved time to completion, it would have saved money and lessened the troubles of the students trying to get to class each day. The cost of fuel, labor, and materials are constantly going up. Putting off projects like this one is only costing those involved. Fifth Street could have been more appealing to the people it is being improved for if it was geared more towards the pedestrians who have more time to see and appreciate everything than the cars that will speed by without taking notice of what is around them. If the Fifth Street improvement could have been done in a more timely and organized manner, more people would be willing to use the sidewalks and start taking advantage of what has been done. As it is, people find the construction a nuisance and do not want to be on this road if they can avoid it. People may have gotten so frustrated during the construction of the bridge that now they are not willing to use it for anything more than crossing. A variety of color would have also helped people to enjoy it more. Cement and grass are not the most inviting, therefore, if more thought had been given to color, texture, and shape, people would have been willing to take advantage of the space. Something the developers should have looked into a little bit more is the safety of pedestrians, particularly in Tech Square. The way that entire stretch of road is set up is very dangerous to pedestrians trying to get from one side to the other. As I stated earlier, there are three places where there are crosswalks and only one with a signal that is placed in a convenient location. If someone needs to cross anywhere else they are at risk of a driver not stopping. There should have been some kind of addition for pedestrians at the end with nothing but a crosswalk, whether it was a stop sign or a light with a signal. More people would be willing to travel by foot through this area if they felt safer crossing between stores. There also should not have been parking on the sides of the road in Tech Square. This makes it hard for people to see the street before crossing and hard for drivers to see the pedestrians that want to cross the street. Parked cars also take away from an inviting feel and make it look more cramped and crowded. The addition of a conveniently located parking garage, one that does not require a buzzcard, would alleviate this distraction. I do not think that the improvements of Fifth Street have met the expectations of people at this point. It may take some time before people are satisfied with everything that has been changed. I think there is the potential for the changes and improvements to be worth the money and effort expended on them. 9.16 Disability Design and Research Stephen Sprigle This lecture covered the research involved in creating objects to assist disabled people and to help make tasks easier. It was broken into Universal design appeal and specialized assistive technology. Statistics on disability in the US were discussed with the activities done by CATEA and examples of the research done. Important terms and concepts include assistive technology, Universal Design Appeal, Specialized Assistive technology, and the example of off-loading wheelchair cushions. Universal Design Appeal: At first hearing this I thought it implied something used worldwide that looks nice. I now know in this case it refers to an item that is appealing to not only the disabled but also everyone else. It’s just something anyone can use for convenience. Specialized Assistive Technology: I thought this may have referred to something that is custom to an individual but really it is anything that can greatly improve the quality of life of a disabled person but would likely be a nuisance for anyone else. Off-loading: I was unsure of what this was but after looking I discovered it was the idea of spreading pressure more evenly for example with the seat to make it more comfortable for long periods of time. A question I am interested in is how someone in this profession decides what kinds of objects need to be made or altered to best help the disabled. Also, how does a healthy person learn what is best for someone with disabilities when they themselves do not have that problem. AEC Industry Brian Bowen This lecture talks about construction and how it relates to the economy as well as its beginnings. Integration between designing and constructing is also mentioned. Characteristics and history are discussed while integration is talked about for the purpose of trying to speed up the process and make things more efficient. Fragmentation: My thoughts were simply breaking something into pieces. Specifically here it is the breaking up of each particular group involved in constructing something which can cause a lack of efficiency. Lean Construction: I was unfamiliar with this term. I now know it involves collaboration between all sectors in constructing to promote efficiency with the best outcome. Turnkey: My only thought on this was the definition that involved a guard in jail. In this case it is a word for something that is complete and ready to use by the time of a sale. How does one successfully overcome conflicts between sectors involved in constructing something? Should those interested in such fields make as much contact with those from others to lessen the chance of conflict that would slow processes down when collaboration is needed? Geographic Information Systems Steven French This lecture focused on the studying of the geography in an area in relation to population, road systems, power and water systems, terrain, etc. It talked about the system used (GIS) to organize information to research different things about an area. Different technologies were discussed with their connections to each other. An example of its use, Urban Planning, was also discussed. Geographic Information System: My first idea with this was that is just had to do with looking at the land in an area. It is really more complex and involves all the hardware and software used in linking mapped objects. Attribute Database: I figured a list of characteristics. In particular it as an organized collection of things such as size and type of, for example, land. A database of land usage and the size of each piece. Land Suitability Analysis: The word analysis led me to assume it was a complicated study of researched material of an area. It is a collection of layered maps including utilities, terrain, natural resources, etc., used to see how a piece of land will best be used. What types of knowledge is needed to fully be able to construct and analyze the complex series of maps in the Land Suitability Analysis? How do you choose the best usage for land if there are multiple things that would be able to go in an area? As new technologies are created how can the current system for mapping information be improved? 8.29 Installation One “Smoke in the Wind” This installation is made of a bendable plastic type of material that seems to form whatever shape it is to be held in. Unable to hold its own form, small bolts are used to hold together it’s particularly cut strips in their chaotic form and direction. Its construction seems to be one that needed meticulous planning and a lot of time to get each strip of material to fall into just the right place. Its shape is very unique in that it starts off contained and organized in a neat stack but slowly explodes into a chaotic arrangement of netting and bending. When the light hits this installation, it breaks the light up into what resembles diamonds of various sizes on the ground beneath it but at the same time more light makes the weathered condition more apparent allowing dirt and stains to become visible. When in the sun this installation captures some of the heat of the day. This installation, “Smoke in the Wind” as I feel it should be called, gives the image of a fire‘s smoke flowing from the end of a branch or log. It is as though it is using its smoke in some kind of ritual to ward off something such as evil spirits. Something so elaborately constructed must have taken a lot to design to correctly give off the effect it does and must have required complicated machinery to create the right form of the material to construct it. Installation Two “Goldilocks” This installation is made of a manufactured wood in layers cut into its wavy form. On close observation it can be seen that this piece was made in parts and glued together, most likely with wood glue, in its final location. Each individual length of wood was glued while each section seems to be held together with bolted rods in what seems to be random placing in the structure. Its shape is not uniform but rather wave like until the bottom where it becomes a bench with a much rougher and defined shape. From different angle it takes on a different shape as well. From straight on its large and almost transparent where as from an angle it becomes a solid object and not necessarily as large. From a side view it almost disappears into a line until it starts to wave at the top. The feel of the object varies with where it is touched. The bench’s surface is smooth and seems to have a varnish on it making it comfortable for sitting on. The edges are rough and only seem sanded, not varnished. It always seems rather dark behind the structure no matter the time of day. Because it is wood, the temperature seems to stay pretty constant. This installation deserves the name “Goldilocks” as its golden color and wavy look remind me of long flowing hair. And while there are no bears around it still gives the feel of a fairy tale. It seems to have a magical quality to it like something flowing frozen for all time. As for the designing of it I would think because the atrium is so high up the creators felt it was fitting to make something that fell flowing from the highest level to the ground. Another image the structure gives me is that of a waterfall rushing from above or a giant vine covered wall with a vine covered log for a bench. Link to this Page
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