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Covington Central Riverfront is a HAWT topic that everyone is buzzing about lately. Most of us know that the site was the home to the IRS processing facility for a long time, and unless you live under a rock – you’ve seen the demolition happen over the last year. But what you (and we) did NOT know was that:
Rather than a residential mono-culture of townhouse-style apartment units, the proposed City Heights redevelopment will provide a variety of housing types for the diverse population that calls the city home, everything from studio apartments to multi-bedroom single-family houses.
Though the public housing built in the 20th century addressed the problems of physical conditions, it did not alleviate the socioeconomic factors that led to these problems in the first place, and in some cases, made the problems worse through physical isolation.
The need for an outdoor market is becoming more and more of a necessity thanks to the ‘Rona. During these unprec**** times, people have begun embracing outdoor markets as a place where they feel safe enough to gather and see other people as well as getting their produce. The outdoor space feels “safer” than the cramped Kroger aisles and the location increases accessibility.
So, since we are suffering from cabin fever over here – we came up with this crazy idea during the great quarantine of 2020. Hear us out:
A good city should be like a good sandwich.
Did you know, on average, 90% of our day is spent indoors? Why not spend that time in a space that works for you? The profession of interior design is an often-misunderstood discipline as one that is just superficial decoration. Critical to the planning and creation of interior environments that are safe, healthy, and functional, the practice goes far beyond that
The key is creating diversity and density of uses that meet local needs and create a connection to the adjacent communities. In all cases, connection to the community – both physical and psychological is very important. Designers are opening the inward focus of the malls to create appeal to the exterior community. Knitting the site back into the community by providing civic life/center frequently absent from suburban development. Ironically, often redevelopment involves introducing street grids to mall sites to restore the urban connection to surrounding neighborhoods, and as with so many parts of our communities, connection to transit is key.
Do you want to know more about some of the ideas we’ve referenced in this housing series? We’ve cultivated a good list of links, that you can use to learn more! We also want to know what you thought of our housing discussion, please comment, like and share!
There are a lot of ways that affordability can manifest itself in the architecture of our homes. The first step is reconsidering zoning laws that restrict a more comprehensive and broad approach.
“We can’t forget that housing is a human right. Houses are not just for sale. Houses are for people, and we have to think of them first.” – Tatiana Bilbao
This increase of wealth relative to the supply of housing is a key cause of gentrification. Locally, demand and investment have spurred interest in OTR. In 2002 there were 3,235 units of affordable (30% AMI) there. In 2015, that number was reduced to 869 (Community Building Institute). Currently, average rents in OTR for 850 square feet are over $1,600 per month and rising.
The point is not intended to discourage new housing development, but to avoid a crisis in housing where what is provided is out of reach of most of the community. These considerations are important issue for all of us.
It is important to have some understanding of the framework in which housing is designed, constructed, accessed and occupied in order to address housing problems.
In this new period of urban renewal, it begs the question, “What is the architecture of our time?”
We believe the guidelines essentially guarantee a false and bland uniformity by describing the restrictions in such detail that all designs will be essentially the same. There's a reason buildings looked the way they did in the 19th century. Aren't there different opportunities in the 21st? Our cities are living organisms, not period backdrops. New construction should proudly claim our point in history.
In urban planning there is a concept called a “urban transect.” The urban transect divides development patterns into six categories, from lowest intensity (rural preserve) to middle intensity (general urban) to highest intensity (urban core). The urban transect concept is useful because it organizes complex patterns into an understandable map and it clarifies how one category transitions into another.
Covington is currently in the middle of a redevelopment boom, with new projects going on in MainStrasse and downtown. Historically there are two categories of commercial property development, and each respond to either the automobile or pedestrian. Covington has examples of both development categories. Which is best for Covington?
How can we change our perceived notions and give them new identities? How can we reclaim these areas for the community and create new positive memories? How does this impact the surrounding area?
Just because a city is suburban doesn’t mean it has to act that way. The City of Villa Hills approached us with the idea to grow the city, to increase density and diversity of housing without building large apartment complexes and to create central, mixed-use spaces.
From a design perspective, the integration of large-scale developments like convention centers, casinos, shopping malls, or stadiums into a city’s urban fabric hasn’t always been done well.
Our last post posed the question, “why doesn’t infill development fit in our communities?”
We talked about some reasons: economic factors, contradicting construction methods, scale, and most of all, a disregard for context. Being the ambitious malcontents we are, we refuse to believe we're stuck.
In our everyday work, we are constantly designing based on what we know. The beauty of a hypothetical competition like this is the invitation to take on a design that may not work in our current world.