Celeste Ponce, AIA, LEED AP’s Post

It wouldn’t be Preservation Month without dedicating a post to our expertise in leading Section 106 reviews! Under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), Section 106 reviews are vital for identifying and safeguarding historic resources from potential negative impact caused by federally funded construction projects. When such projects arise, preservation specialists (like us) step in to assess the historic resources in the project's vicinity and how the project’s implementation may affect their location, design, setting, feeling, materials, workmanship, and association. One of our Section 106 projects involves the proposed reconstruction of Metra Commuter Rail’s 59th Street Station in Hyde Park. This project encompasses the reconstruction of street-level depots, new platform-level headhouses, and adjacent limestone embankment reconstruction. Located just west of Chicago’s Jackson Park at the eastern end of the Midway Plaisance, the station has served the University of Chicago and Hyde Park since the 1890s. The railroad's historical significance is grounded in the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, known primarily for its influence on Chicago’s architecture and regional urban planning, and also where traction power, the electrical system that continues to run our transit system today was unveiled to the world. Through this type of historic assessment, we determined that the proposed changes would impact the historic integrity of the surrounding historic districts and following this determination, AltusWorks played an instrumental role in advising on station design changes as well as the development of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to mitigate this affect. We take pride in our role within this public process, which identifies and preserves Chicago's historic resources while facilitating necessary improvements to aging infrastructure for the benefit of all. Pictured here: Souvenir map of the World's Columbian Exposition at Jackson Park and Midway Plaisance, Chicago, Ill, U.S. A. 1893; Library of Congress Legat Architects Ellen Stoner Anney Grish Kesha Patel #preservationmonth2024 #historicpreservation #historicplaces #section106 #metra #stationarchitecture #chicagoarchitecture #historicchicago #chicagohistory #chicago

Great to be working with Fadi Shayya, to share such innovative student knowledge exchange linked to his research. Check it out on our blog

Desire Lines With road and sidewalk construction taking place in my neighbourhood, it has been interesting to see the emergence and development of what landscape architects call desire lines, those paths that humans (and animals and water) naturally follow across an environment. Characterized as illustrating a tension between the built and natural environments and our relationship to them, they have a metaphorical significance for how work is designed. There is evidence for the success of designing around desire lines. The Illinois Institute of Technology design was informed by the natural movements of pedestrians. It is said that Broadway in New York is a desire line, following a historical shortest route between pre-colonial settlements in Manhattan that avoided swamps and hills. It's important however not to think of these as shortcuts, but as historical records where the past has a chance, if we listen to it, to inform the present and the future. What desire lines are forming in your work environment? Are you recognizing them as people making the world as well as being in it or as actions to be punished? And in your programs and systems? What desire lines are forming? Are you seeing them clearly in the snow or the grass or are they across concrete as not as clearly visible?

We had our first resident workshop this week for Re-Imagining Hannen Road. It was small and focused with only residents of the road invited to air concerns, challenges and get excited at the opportunities! We finished with a collective mapping excersise to mark the desire lines across the street. This will lead to a desire line survey. Meaningful community engagement works with users and helps them become agents throughout the process of design. This workshop was just the begining✌🏼 Thanks to Matthew Panou , Charlotte Ashworth , Poppy Knight from Lambeth’s Big Shift, Councillor Jackie Meldrum , the Landscape Architecture team Ed Wall at University of Greenwich and all the residents whom for confidentiality are not being named. **What is a Desire Line Survey?** A desire line survey may be carried out to identify which routes people would ideally like to take between two places if there was a path provided. Desire lines, also known as desire paths, are often evident where pedestrians or cyclists have worn a path between two points to minimise the distance they have to travel or to create a route that is more convenient in other ways. Sometimes a desire path is created to avoid a steep hill or a busy junction. They can be found on grassed areas between buildings on college campuses, in parks and in many urban areas. Desire line surveys can be used to identify whether current provisions are adequate. For example, pedestrians may fail to use certain crossing points on a busy road because they are not situated in a convenient place. This can have road safety implications and planners will be able to identify and provide better solutions. Planners can use information collected by desire line surveys to create paths that they know people will use. #engagement #community #urban #public #publicrealm #suds #street #landscape #architecture #a_small_studio

The Mississippi River has shaped the life and culture of St. Louis since its founding. As the river was transformed for barge traffic by a highly managed system of locks and dams, many St. Louisans lost their connection to the water that is so vital to the region. Derek Hoeferlin, chair of landscape architecture and author of "Way Beyond Bigness: The Need for a Watershed Architecture," studies rivers and how their transformation affects local perceptions and potential responses to climate change. A born-and-raised St. Louisan, he's also rebuilding the lost connection to the river by bringing students to explore a miles-long, barge-free stretch of the Mississippi just north of downtown. "Once you get people into the canoe, the mindset changes... there's something different happening out here." "The next hundred years needs to be far less about gray infrastructure — literally concrete and steel — and much more about nature-based solutions... to create more space to let the river do what it wants to do naturally." https://lnkd.in/gZ3rw2XB

🌟Firms in the Spotlight 🌟 Pittsburgh has seen an influx of new construction projects breaking ground all over the city, such as the UPMC building boom, buildings for local universities, the Pittsburgh International Airport, affordable housing in Hazelwood, and more. Read more about the major developments to watch in 2024 from NEXTpittsburgh below, including projects from Perfido Weiskopf Wagstaff + Goettel, Strada, and Gensler https://lnkd.in/er_qCeeT

Concise scholarly article explaining the planning and rationale for Spark on the Circle and how it could lead to longer-term future development downtown. Also mentions the need to convert the confusing maze of one-way streets for better wayfinding and economic development. https://lnkd.in/gANzg-un

Chicago deserves so much more than an empty lot. It's not always comfortable to tell other federal agencies they can do better - but that's *precisely* what Congress requires our agency to do. I published this op-ed in the Chicago Tribune yesterday to raise public awareness of a seemingly bureaucratic Section 106 issue that could have far-reaching consequences - opening the door to federal agencies demolishing buildings in urban locations across the country. The issue is the potential demolition of two (very cool) historic buildings in downtown Chicago. Here's what I said: "More important than the architectural and environmental value of these two sites, though, is the terrifying precedent that would be set: that it’s okay to demolish perfectly usable historic buildings in the heart of our cities.  Federal agencies could use the same nebulous logic about security concerns to radically change main streets, downtowns, and neighborhoods all over the country.  The whole notion seems ripped right out of an urban renewal playbook from the 1960s.  In fact, it was federal agencies’ cruel evisceration of our cities that inspired the National Historic Preservation Act, and the Section 106 process it enshrines, in the first place." As Chair, I only get involved directly in a handful of the 120,000 Section 106 "undertakings" every year. This one is so important because urban renewal is one "historic" thing that we should never bring back. I am keeping an eye on this process as it evolves.

BLACK HOLES Our architectural objective is to create a protective structure that promotes a sense of peace and reconciliation for visitors to the site. Our goal is to honor Lithgow's past and the communities that were built around the coal industry while acknowledging the conflicting relationship that we have with it - a relationship that includes both booms and busts. We now perceive the periods of prosperity as temporary moments of healing, occurring sporadically like booms or nodes.  We aim to facilitate reconciliation by understanding the past, present, and the projective future of the ruins and relics of the pottery site.  While we cannot predict the future of coal, we act as observers who facilitate the process of healing for the site. By remaking and resurrecting the traces that were taken out, making the footprints visible, and constructing a protective structure on top as a scab, we are making the wound visible and acknowledging the city's history. What happens underneath this scab is the healing that is being observed from above. The healing process that takes place within the structure is essential to this project, as it encourages visitors to reflect on the changes and recall that have occurred over time and the opportunities and difficulties that these changes bring. the changes can not be stopped nor avoided. The repeated presence and impermanence of different populations, including workers who followed the industry can be considered the primary transformative force that has shaped the site. Ultimately, our structure serves as an observer of the history of coal, documenting its impact on the community and preserving its memory. As visitors move through the site, they will experience an extensive sense of the history of coal, or as we interpret it, the ghost of coal - its presence and impact on the community - as if the structure is a graveyard of coal that has been unearthed for them to witness firsthand. The ghost of coal and its traces are tangible throughout the site, inviting visitors to reflect on its significance. Our project invites visitors to experience this sense of history and encourages them to reflect on the site's past, present, and future. By all this we are trying to offer a temporal stitch, sticking long enough for a strong closing-up support to take place, to lower the chances of infection and to reduce the resulting scars. Studio1- Master of Architecture-University of Sydney

I imagine that many architecture students have undertaken similar projects with older tools, technology, and other structures as inspiration, but this course at the University of Hawaii at Manoa will generate much more than completed coursework. 'Some people thought restoring Lahaina’s historic architecture after the fire was a lost cause, says William Chapman, dean of the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s School of Architecture... 'Chapman and Hyoung-June Park, an associate professor of design and computation at the School of Architecture, discussed creating a course where students would use digital tools and technological visualizations to preserve Lahaina’s fire-damaged historic architecture. The goal was to create digital reconstructions to serve as virtual replacements of damaged buildings, while also keeping in mind that these virtual versions might be a helpful tool to physically reconstruct the buildings, too.' #architecture #rebuilding https://lnkd.in/e74BQ3FH