Speed of Encounter

by fcahill

With this site analysis, I looked at how the site was experienced by different modes of transportation: car, bike, and walking.  I started by looking at how one can arrive at the site with current access roads as well as looking at the proposed area changes of the Bryant Park Development (BPD) as current and accessible.

I first looked at the roads that surround our immediate site for pedestrian, bike and car access and broke it down from most to least accessible for pedestrians and cyclists.  This also included the Greenway as a way that would provide access to the site (which BPD proposed) as an additional way that cyclists and pedestrians could access easily from surround areas.Charlotte has also implemented a bike-share for the city and I located the bike stations, the roads with bike lanes and roads that should have bike lanes in the uptown and surrounding area.  The two closest bus routes that would bring people to the site are the Airport Bus Route and the Freedom Drive Bus Route which 7 days of the week.

At this point, I went and visited the site and experimented with how a building and site are seen when driving, bicycling or walking past.  For each pass, I noted the distance, the speed and the time it took me to get from point A to point B.  I used the Charlotte School of Law along Suttle Drive as a my test building.  While driving I noticed much less of what was surrounding me, especially because the building in question was close to the road whereas when I was walking I noticed not only the building but it’s surroundings, the views from all directions and how much I hoped there was shade along the way.

Procession + Threshold

by Anna Raines

The forms of (and relationships between) physical and/or psychological thresholds and processions within any courthouse experience led me to explore the physical thresholds encountered during a procession through our site. My original site section in pencil and gauche on clayboard (Freedom Drive to Wilkinson Blvd looking East) was transformed through the layering of images collected traversing the site and the separation of the site section into segments creating a physical space corresponding existing thresholds on the site (ie: Stewart Creek, W.Morehead Street, wooded areas, parking lots, etc.).

Fabric of the neighborhood

by JP Mays

As I began to investigate our site, I wanted to understand the human fabric of the neighborhood of which our site is a part, Ashley Park.  I researched census and other demographic data, but wanted to translate that in a visual way.  I started by making a network of the main streets, defined by two wooden bars representing the four-lane roads Freedom Drive and Wilkinson Boulevard, to the north and south respectively, with wire and jute for the intermediary streets.  The amount of the colored paper was based on the percentage of the particular demographic info; for example, 67% of the area of the neighborhood is in dark green, representing the percentage of the African American population.  Woven perpendicular to the colors are the black and white strips, which represent 15.8% unemployment and 20% below the poverty level, respectively.  The unwoven regions are the predominantly industrial or commercial areas.

Demographic Connections

by workbymariahroth

My site analysis is a study of specific demographics at the site and the immediate surrounding context.  The categories are as follows (clockwise from the top): Median House Income/Median House or Condo Value, Most Common Industries, Transportation, Year House were Built, Most Common Occupations, & Class of Workers.

I studied these demographics in particular because I believe they can relate to the design of a new modern public courthouse.  Each of the categories has influence on others, which allows them to relate and play off of each other and influence the design of my courthouse.

Walkability and Success of a Community

by workbymichelletodd

When first approaching a creative site analysis, I was overwhelmed with all of the raw data that speaks of the community of Ashley Park, but not for Ashley Park. While the demographics are helpful in studies, what I found to speak to me after visiting the site was how vast and discontinuous it seems even though there is a relative close proximity. This realization led me to become interested in the walkability of the site and how that can be connected into the success and well being of a community. With the future hopes to promote pedestrian activity comes the ambition to create a community that is more urban and helps promote a stronger community. The aims is to introduce walkability as a branch of community by promoting interaction.

With this in mind, I began to construct a creative interpretation of the site analysis. Because Bryant Park and the Charlotte School of Law Building are anchors and more staid on the site, they are a more permanent and prominent color indicating how they create strongholds on the site. To indicate the retail/commercial aspects, the pieces are indicated in a red hue. The residential components are yellow. The lighter the red hue, the more removed it is from the residential areas, relating a decrease in walkability. The lighter color of yellow indicates less dense, single family housing; the bolder yellow indicates high density residential areas. By placing these colors together, there is an interaction revealed, indicating the strong sites to introduce a potential courthouse that can compliment the area. By constructing this piece on a plexi, there is a stacking effect showing the contrast between the existing (bottom of the plexi) and the proposed site modifications (on top of the plexi).

Site Analysis

by cchlebda

Activating Public Space

by cchlebda

According to the article “Modern Courthouses and the New Green,” the idea of a courthouse in the square is specific to American society (Dibble 30).  A courthouse square can slow down the courthouse entry approach for visitors, helping them to orient themselves on the site with or without an over-sized, imposing facade like those used in many modern (i.e. large, glazed atria) and colonial courthouses (i.e. portico with pediment and columns). Also, a square can create a welcoming atmosphere, visually inviting the public to enter the courthouse. The law exists for the people, so the courthouse and the space surrounding it should be designed to invite the public to participate in the law.

The idea of bringing people to the courthouse through urban design, i.e. through the creation of usable, public space directly adjacent to the courthouse, was of particular interest to me as I researched historical and modern precedents. I looked for examples that would demonstrate a variety of ways to activate the courthouse square.

One of the modern courthouses I researched was the Alfred A. Arraj Courthouse in Denver Colorado. The architects of this courthouse, HOK and Anderson Mason Dale Architects, created a urban space at the front of an entry pavilion that encourages passersby and users of the courthouse to enter the square and stay. The square features fountains, planters, and benches, all of which contribute to a pleasant and inviting atmosphere, while also providing security against vehicular threats to the courthouse.

Another way to incorporate alternate public uses into the space surrounding the courthouse is deomonstrated in the Colonial-era Boston Town House. The Town House was originally located at the center of Boston in the middle of a public square. It was a two-story building with courtrooms on the second floor and a market on the ground floor. By incorporating this alternate, mercantile use into the courthouse, the designer(s) encouraged an always active atmosphere around the courthouse.

Works Cited

Dibble, Tim and Fiona Cousins. “Modern Courthouses and the New Green.” The Court Manager 22.4 (2009): 30-41. National Association for Court Management. Web. 3 Sept. 2012. <www.nacmnet.org>.

Defining the Words Our Country Stands Upon

by pdgaither

Justice :

Justice – n. 1) fairness. 2) moral rightness. 3) a scheme or system of law in which every person receives his/ her/its due from the system, including all rights, both natural and legal.

Obstruction of Justice – n. an attempt to interfere with the administration of the courts, the judicial system or law enforcement officers, including threatening witnesses, improper conversations with jurors, hiding evidence or interfering with an arrest. Such activity is a crime.

Law :

Civil Law – n. 1) a body of laws and legal concepts which come down from old Roman laws established by Emperor Justinian, and which differ from Englishcommon law, which is the framework of most state legal systems. In the United States only Louisiana (relying on the French Napoleonic Code) has a legal structure based on civil law.

Common Law – n. the traditional unwritten law of England, based on custom and usage, which began to develop over a thousand years before the founding of the United States.

Due Process of Law – n. a fundamental principle of fairness in all legal matters, both civil and criminal, especially in the courts. All legal procedures set by statute and court practice, including notice of rights, must be followed for each individual so that no prejudicial or unequal treatment will result.

Rights :

Civil Rights – n. those rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, the 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution, including the right to due process, equal treatment under the law of all people regarding enjoyment of life, liberty, property, and protection. Positive civil rights include the right to vote, the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of a democratic society, such as equal access to public schools, recreation, transportation, public facilities, and housing, and equal and fair treatment by law enforcement and the courts.

Constitutional Rights – n. rights given or reserved to the people by the U.S. Constitution, and in particular, the Bill of Rights (first ten amendments).

All definitions were taken from Law.com from the legal dictionary.

I wanted to take somewhat of a deeper look into the words that give us, as Americans, our freedoms. These words are the real foundation of every courthouse. They must be upheld and abided by for the judicial system to function properly. In particular I take a lot from the due process of law. It states that for every single person, there is protection and fairness “especially in the courts.” I think that this is something that needs to be displayed within the design of the courthouse. Courthouses are the backbone of our freedoms and what unites us under the same laws and expectations of peace and rightness.

COURTHOUSE FACADES: Possibilities other than “Official Style”?

by workbymariahroth

When one speaks of courthouses automatically the image of a classical façade of columns and pediment come to mind.  With this visual also comes the thought of not a very public inviting space.  However, in this era of design is it possible to reinterpret a typical courthouse façade and make it more inviting to the public?

Historically, the exterior design of courthouses is composed of a high plinth, classical columns, raised pediments and is typically colored white.  The white color is often just a product of the material being used, often times granite or marble.  These materials are often used to signify the importance and high quality of the building.  These materials and design are often why the public doesn’t feel as invited into this space that should be theirs.  Interestingly though, not all historic courthouses take on this “official style”.  Dating as far back at early 1700s in the United States courthouses strayed from this popular notion.  One particular example that looks nothing like a courthouse and more of a plantation home is the Queen Anne’s County Court House, located in Centerville, Maryland.  Courthouses come in many different varieties of design, however historically it has always been the classical “official style” that has been ingrained in everyone’s mind.  Therefore in this modern era is it possible to redesign the notion of what a courthouse looks like to the public?

Google “modern American courthouses”, the result: some modern but still that classical “official style” everyone knows of.  Though, take some time to actually research the subject and you will find that there are quite a bit of modern courthouses, they just aren’t well documented (yet) or known.  Such examples of modern courthouses are: Wheeling Federal Building and US District Courthouse (Wheeling, West Virginia!), Sandra Day O’Conner US Courthouse (Phoenix, Arizona), Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse (Las Vegas, Nevada), Federal Building and US Courthouse (Islip, New York), Wayne Lyman Morse US Courthouse (Eugene, Oregon), US Federal Courthouse (Brooklyn, New York), US District Courthouse (Orlando, Florida).  These are just a few of the examples of modern courthouse within the US, look outside of America and one can find many more.

So even though we are designing contemporary/modern courthouses can/will this change the notion of the courthouse to the public?

Accessibility: Ancient History?

by fcahill

Something I find interesting about courthouses is accessibility.  There are obviously many forms of accessibility regarding the courthouse but one I would like to focus on at the moment is locational accessibility.  This could be a form of openness, but on a greater scale.

Going back in history, one thing that seemed to crop up most of the time was that the courthouse was in the center of town. Possibly in a square.  It generally didn’t popup in the middle of nowhere, or so many miles outside of town-it needed to be where most of the people were or congregated.  Even as towns became cities, the courthouse remained within the city and even today many courthouses are built within the city.  But it seems as though many are not.  As time has gone by, new courthouses are being built outside the city, to the point where many people have to take the time to drive, take the bus, or use some form of transportation to get to it. (Clarification: as people because suburban-dwellers they relied on the car for everything, so even to get downtown they had to drive, so I’m not focusing on them).  So, up until recently, it seems as though the courthouse was a centrally located place in town that was easy enough to get to, OR (as many people have mentioned personally) it was passed while walking in the city each day.

This being the case, our courthouse is not exactly centrally located.  Many people drive by it on their way to work or home or shopping.  But it is a very busy road and would be difficult to cross.  Hence, some thoughts. How is this site going to be accessible?  How are we going to make it so that anybody who is curious enough to venture in our direction can, without endangering themselves because they have to walk on roads? Cross big roads? Bike in heavy traffic?  Is it possible to make it more safe as a designer? I’m not talking about making sure there is enough parking for people once they arrive or have enough bike racks or a close bus stop.  So if we are thinking about making this a mixed-use facility, we want people to venture over; can we make them feel comfortable doing so?