Program Document

          Creating programs has always been a very important element in any of my designs because it allows me to find out all the information I need and have it in one document that I just reference to any time I need it. It helps me to organize my thoughts and even think about things that I might not normally, like the smell of the environment. Probably the hardest part about creating this program was filling out the Space Allocation section. It is usually difficult for me to think about what needs to go where and how much space it should take up so early on in the planning process. Finding the building code was probably one of the most useful because I learned some requirements that I would have never thought of. Finally, I think that filling out the concept section will help me the most in my design because it gives me an object that I can look back to for inspiration and it will help guide me with decision making.

Site Plan Studies

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

          During studio, we got the chance to take our site plans and draw over them with trash paper to try out different areas as our site and to see how the space allocation would be in connection with everything else. I tried to plan out almost every possible site location and see how convenient it was to the underpass, which I think is important to utilize and how close it is to the police station for safety. Through my studies, I found that it would probably be better to have the train station on the south side of the tracks because then you wouldn't have to worry about building a costly bridge over the train tracks or to have the platform on one side of the tracks and the station on the other. Although I am still open to looking more deeply into other possible sites, I believe that the most convenient would be to take over the building with the battery store because of its closeness to the police station and underpass, its possibilities of parking, and its location to the tracks.

Site Plan

Spring Garden St. & S. Aycock St. - Tate St. & W. Lee

          For class, we were to create an existing site plan of the potential areas where we could choose for our site to be. We were to include a north arrow, major roadways, pedestrian walking paths, fences, buildings, parking lots, the underpass, the railroad tracks, and existing landscaping. Creating this site plan, really helped me to study the locations of everything surrounding the possible sites. It also helps me to know the relative size and proportions of all of the buildings and helped me to memorize where everything is in relation to other areas. We were to create one 8.5" x 11" site plan, and also one that was 18" x 24". This was my first time really creating an existing site plan, and I found it quite fun and relaxing because it was just a matter of transferring information.

Research Project

Greensboro History: Timeline & Historic Preservation

          Ashley and I worked as a group to complete a timeline including some of the most important events in Greensboro's history and compared and contrasted new and historical places in Greensboro to present the pros and cons of historic preservation. We used the internet and the Greensboro Historical Museum as our references for the timeline, and used the internet and some of our own personal knowledge for the information about historic preservation. Through completing this research project, I believe that I have come to understand more of what makes Greensboro historically significant and how I can apply some of that knowledge to my design work.

Research Project

Province, College Hill, Blandwood, New Prison

          After we took the tour of the Gaylon Depot, Ashley and I began working on the other part of our research project and drove around downtown Greensboro and took pictures of the Province apartments, some houses in College Hill, the Blandwood Mansion, and the New prison. We chose these places because of their significance to the history of Greensboro and how their counterparts are new. We were to focus on Historical Preservation in Greensboro, and decided to show the pros and cons of it.

The Province Apartments

College Hill

Queen Anne house in College Hill

Queen Anne house in College Hill

New Greensboro Prison

New Greensboro Prison

Blandwood Mansion

Gaylon Train Depot Visit

Friday, January 31, 2014

          Our class met at the Greensboro Galyon Transportation Center to have a tour around the train station, bus depot, and the Greyhound depot. While we were walking around the spaces, we were shown some areas that are restricted to general people in order to see how the building is connected and how they make things happen behind the scenes. We were also given plenty of factors to think of when designing our own train stations, and one of the ones that stood out to me most, was that this building is going to be around for 40 years or more, so the design will have to be timeless. The walk through the bus depot was very familiar to me because I used to ride the bus everywhere for a years, and would visit there daily, but I also learned more about the history and why they made some of the design decisions that they did. Walking though the Greyhound depot brought back some very fond memories of the first time my fiance and I met in that exact location. It was definitely a fun and learning experience getting to hear about all of the "accidents" that happened through the construction of the space and how they came to a good decision on how to fix it.

Train Station Main Hall

Train Station main waiting area

Train Station vestibule ceiling

Greensboro map on floor

Spiral staircase leading up to mechanical

Old train announcement board

Train Station floor plan

Old segregated are of Train Station

Greensboro Lincoln Financial Group buidling

Stairs and Escalator up to train platform

Lamp posts

Train tracks

Train platform overhang

Luggage trolleys

Heating and Cooling

Bus Depot

Exterior bus depot overhang

Greyhound depot

Train station floor plan

Greensboro History Research

Greensboro Historical Museum Visit

          Ashley and I visited the Greensboro Historical Museum to learn more about the history or Greensboro for our presentation. They had a timeline of important events that have happened in Greensboro, which we picked and chose from to include a few in our timeline. They also have signs up giving more information about some important events in Greensboro's history, like Vick's Vapor Rub and the first train. The museum also had a projector set up of all of the different neighborhoods in Greensboro, and when you click on one, it gives you information about the neighborhood and the houses there. This wasn't the first time that Ashley and I have been to the Greensboro Historical Museum. We keep finding that the information and presentations that they have on display are helpful and are very useful. It is also a great place just to for fun, which I plan on doing again in the near future.

Timeline

Pictures of Early Greensboro

Neighborhoods in Greensboro

Glenwood neighborhood