McKee's Wall
FINAL MASTERPLAN
Overview: A redesign for McKee Park in Starkville, Mississippi based on conversations, documents, and meetings from the city. The process: analysis, programming, conceptual design, schematic development, idea analysis, final solution
THE PROCESS
A multifaceted analysis of the project site from both a literal and experiential standpoint. The top light diagram illustrates handicap issues, damage, grading, water drainage, and infiltration issues. The middle plan documents the undesirable views beyond the park’s boundaries, the long-distance views within the park, hardscape coverage, and the areas prone to litter. The top right plan illustrates the current open/covered zones. The three site sections illustrate grade change, and the information on the right is the soil composition. This poster aids in the technical understanding for the site.
SIDEWALK AFTER A RAIN
PRIMARY PAVILION
AS IT IS
GRASS FIELD STRUCTURE
SWAMP BOARDWALK
AS IT CAN BE
These four drawings analyze the park from the experiential standpoint both “As it is” and “As it can be”. The top two lifeless drawings show McKee Park in its current condition, while the bottom two drawings, taken from the Noxubee Wildlife Refuge, show the potential experiential and textural qualities the park could have.
A diagram illustrating the spectrum of active to passive park design, with example images. The current design falls near center and the proposed redesign closer to the passive end to facilitate a different type of experience closer to Starkville’s residents & visitors.
A simple preliminary programmatic diagram for the primary “spaces” within the park, and potential relationships they might share.
OPTION 1
OPTION 2
FUNCTIONAL DIAGRAMS - ITERATION 1
The first pass at possible organizations for the park based on function, movement, connectivity, program requirements, and opportunities.
OPTION 1
OPTION 2
FUNCTIONAL DIAGRAMS - ITERATION 2
MASTERPLAN - FIRST PASS
A first hand-drawn pass at the entire park design introducing nodes of development, naturalized water intervention and retention systems, vegetation shifts, spatial manipulation, and overall geometry.
GEOMETRIC ANALYSIS
The simplified geometry of the park highlighting the central core of development and the spurring pathways connecting back to it.
ART POINTS, WATER FLOW, CUT/FILL, BARRIERS
DEVELOPED / NATURALIZED ANALYSIS
VEGETATION ANALYSIS
These diagrams were analyzed after the preliminary design came to fruition as a means to verify or justify the technique and intent.
THE SOLUTION
The final masterplan for McKee Park (renamed McKee’s Wall for the piercing graffiti wall effectively splitting the entire site. With the scattered art points, the intent is for the park to also become a space to discover and feel curious. Much of the exiting parking remains, with modifications. The vegetation and tree cover are designed to create enclosures and boundaries in the different environments. To enable the naturalization, multiple different types of spaces are created ranging from grasslands to wild grass, manufactured lawns, and untouchable zones. The goal is to take all the ideas, principles, programs, spaces, and environments and create synthesis and cohesion - a semi-passive art park.
The Enlarged Plan takes a section of the park’s central core to begin illustrating texture, materiality, scale, and movement. The only fully manicured lawn is the perfect central circle, an homage to the standardization of “perfect” landscapes at the heart of our preconceptions and preferences. This central core is the meeting point of all textures and places - the meeting point of grasslands, plazas, pavers, and play. To diversify the water’s edge condition, areas designated for safe interaction occur along the primary plaza’s edge while naturalized conditions speckle the waterway on the core’s North & South. At very special moments, a linear arrangement of trees creates a corridor for visitors to pass through, with the terminations resulting in spectacular views. Following the shape of the waterway, a collection of shade structures create one boundary to enclose the plaza — under which swinging benches give a familiar character to Mississippi residents. To prevent blocking desirable views of water and land beyond, the western plaza seating remains short, but follows the predominant form and language.
From the enlarged plan, a focus model for one interaction within the plaza further illustrates the form of McKee’s core, as well as the balance of contemporary to traditional park design.
To prevent just a ground plane, this section provides depth and dimension to the 2D plans above. Lacking significant natural grade change, the use of planters, elevated structures, and the water’s edge condition provide vertical movement and enclosure, not just horizontal.
ART WALL PERSPECTIVE
The perspective above illustrates the art wall piercing the entire park, uninfluenced by changes in grade, vegetation, or location. The philosophy of the art wall is a controversial approach to park maintenance and protection. With vandalism and damage inevitable with any structure, the idea is if we provide a designated component that users can freely paint, damage, and vandalize without retribution, it will then protect the surrounding park. Why face lasting consequences when you have been given the opportunity to express your destructive side free from retribution?
OVERALL
SHADE & SWING STRUCTURE
OVERALL
SHADE & SWING STRUCTURE
OVERALL
VIEW FROM CENTRAL LAWN
OVERALL
TEXTURED WALK
FINAL MODEL IMAGES
The model images for this small piece of the core illustrate the dimensionality and scale of forms, textures, materials, and vegetation in relation to the human figure as well as the changes in elevation from the plaza up to the elevated lawn.
GULF COAST URBANISM
MASTER PLAN
This project, located at the intersection of Highway 90 and Cowan Road, Gulfport, Mississippi, studies the possibilities for reinvention at the welcome point to the Gulf Coast. As opposed to the strictly manicured and manufactured coastline, the project proposes a naturalized coastline with greater influences of sediment control, water quality, and stormwater management - as the EPA has designated 10 out of 11 swimming locations unsafe along the Mississippi Coast. The primary goal is to intertwine natural protective systems (coastal marshland, infiltration ponds, greenways, native vegetation, and habitat restoration) with urban development while providing a unique experience not seen elsewhere in the Gulf Coast. Of crucial importance is the existing structures and development, respecting the existing community.
CIRCULATION DIAGRAM
The circulation is organized around creating a sense of closed community development while maintaining some connectivity to the rest of the coast. The streetscape layouts grow based on the denser development, along commercial corridors, and in scenic areas. Instead of multiple intersections with four lanes of road, Highway 90 & Cowan Road are reduced to one lane in each direction while providing roundabouts instead of intersections to maintain traffic fluidity. The proposal follows a New Urbanist philosophy with primary focus on walkability and a reduction of vehicular transportation. The walkways intertwine between developed and natural areas - thereby diversifying the experience in the entire community.
DEVELOPMENT DIAGRAM
The above diagram illustrates density and development type based along existing primary circulation routes. Obviously, Cowan Road has the largest opportunity for commercial development with the inclusion of walkability (lacking currently), and the most prized development along the beachfront, where most of the money will come from, has the highest density opportunities without developing 100% of the beachfront.
NATURAL SYSTEMS DIAGRAMS
Mixing urban greenways and undeveloped natural landscapes into people's everyday lives will enhance the accountability and advocacy for protective systems, grossly ignored in most Mississippi developments and areas, while further justifying the pedestrian access. Vegetation typology based on water depth and condition is also visible above, creating a diversified experience for tourists and residents to enjoy the natural landscape.
FROM SCULPTURE GARDEN
FROM ELEVATED WALKWAY
FROM SIDEWALK
FROM BRIDGE
RENDERINGS
Scattered throughout the development are nodes or points where sculptures with a cohesive typology are proposed - visible in the Master Plan as maroon circles. For the purposes of representation, a Richard Serra style sculpture is visible in Rendering 1. The intent is to create an art-scape unique to this development that offers a magnificent sculpture for people to interact with and enjoy on a daily basis, creating a sense of unity in the community.
CAMPUS DISSOLVE
MASTER PLAN
NORTH
The connectivity of buildings, pathways, texture, greenery, and the creation of outdoor urban spaces are the focal points of this project. The process began by drawing lines between building entrances to determine pathways. From there, building typology determines the size of the walkways. From this diagram, a pattern emerged, but to soften the already hard building edges, the paths create circular spaces of various use - outdoor lawn areas, gravel seating areas, amphitheater spaces, or bioretention areas for site water drainage.
EXPLODED AXONOMETRIC
SECITONAL PERSPECTIVE
The sectional perspective above shows how each piece relates to one another, how lighting can begin to play a role in the design, and how bioretention spaces can act as visual amenities to users.
RENDERINGS
The large stone pavers are designed to allow water to flow between them while creating a texture that dissolves into the greenspaces. This idea provides fluidity and softness to an otherwise stagnant development.
SITE SECTIONS
