I will be posting to this weblog throughout the year-long design period to document my design process, ideas and more. Check back often to see how I'm doing, and add comments to the entries if you'd like.

Archive for September 14th, 2009

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Preliminary: Research Plan, Timeline, and Final Result

September 14th, 2009 by Alex Fortney | Posted in General Posts, Thesis | Comments Off

My timeline over the next year will begin with research and selection of the programs, analysis of the site and ultimately choosing one, study of precedents, development of the program and collect existing site data. I will then construct a site model and existing conditions, perform an intensive design period to generate ideas, and distill the ideas into a couple workable schemes. After selecting one, I will move into developing the final design and producing the presentation.

Throughout the year I am keeping a design process weblog on my personal website. I will also use the site to promote the project in May and a portfolio after. The website is located at http://thesis.alexfortney.com/.

I am presently leaning towards the Solvay Coke site due to its interesting location, need for environmental rehab, existing structure and rich history. However, the other two sites have strong potential depending on what program I select. I do not have a preference with regard to program and I think they are all workable. Research will lead me to an answer as well as the tendency to move towards either: realism and actual need (the School of Freshwater Sciences), ingenuity and uniqueness (Environmental Rehabilitation Company) or strong potential and flexibility (Industrial Design School). Research of these three programs will point me in the right direction. I intend to interview a director of the WATER Institute to get a grasp of their needs, talk to one or more existing environmental rehabilitation companies, and sit down with the industrial design director at MIAD and perhaps other schools to understand special needs of that type of school. I intend to make a decision about the site first, probably within the first few weeks of the semester and the program by the middle of October. Once the program and site are established I will then move into examining precedents, and filling out the program and doing a detail analysis of the site. I intend to have all of the necessary research, analysis, data and precedents in place by Thanksgiving. I will then take the remaining weeks of the semester to produce the pre-thesis book, saving enough time to have the book printed.

The winter break will be dedicated to building a physical and digital existing conditions site model to be used to place the final model into later in the semester.

The spring semester will start with intensive design charette to get out a number of ideas quickly. I will start with the structure, site and parti, and later move into components, details and connections. All of these will present them to my committee and together will pare down to a final scheme. I intend to have the scheme selected by the end of February to prepare a solid product for the interim review in April. I will then use the remaining month to produce the final product. I anticipate my final presentation to consist of a visual presentation as well as a physical model and component details.


Preliminary: Statement of Intent

September 14th, 2009 by Alex Fortney | Posted in General Posts, Thesis | Comments Off

What is a city? On the physical level it is a collection of buildings, roads and infrastructure allowing people, on the human level, to live, work and play within this physical context. Each city is unique with regard to size, quality, features, landmarks, history and more. Milwaukee is a city rooted in its industrial past and currently struggling to adapt to the post-industrial present. By most metrics, Milwaukee is struggling. Auto manufacturing jobs have left for foreign countries, not to return. Steel and metal fabrication has declined. Breweries have consolidated or shut down with Miller as the exception, who now brews most of the legacy beers. The result is a number of missing teeth in the city landscape. These vacant and dilapidated lots disrupt the city, punching holes in the urban fabric. My goal for my thesis is to design a project which repairs this fabric with a new kind of industrial building to begin to restore Milwaukee to design, innovation and manufacturing prominence.

The design of the building and site will have to be equally innovative as the technology within. The building will be extremely energy efficient, incorporate responsible building techniques, be physically comfortable and benefit its users. I see a high-tech design with exposed structure, wide spans and ultra-modern glass systems. The building will be equal caliber as the modern factories constructed in Germany and the rest of Europe designed by Nicholas Grimshaw, Richard Rogers, Foster + Partners and Herzog de Meuron.

My three programs share themes of environmental responsibility, new industry, and education. There are several other key concepts and themes that I would ideally like to integrate into the project:

  • The first one is to reinvent Milwaukee’s industrial image. Formerly Milwaukee was know nationally and internationally as the one who “Feeds and Supplies the World” and was nicknamed the “Machine Shop of the Word” due to all of the manufacturing in the Valley. That image has faded recently, but Milwaukee could now be known as the “Bioremediation Center of the World.”
  • Another concept I would like to embrace is an element of historic preservation. The Solvay site has two usable buildings remaining and the Washington Street site has several warehouses and other large spaces. Since the Reed Street is completely vacant this concept doesn’t apply.
  • All three sites have connection issues. Solvay is isolated against the water with only one access point, the Reed Street site has the potential for several connections to the south, but none to the north, and Washington Street has a dramatic change in elevation which will make connections a challenge. In all instances, the sites will be more accessible, pedestrian and bicycle friendly. Public transportation will be emphasized in all of the sites and programs.
  • The program will be a modern and unique facility. The School of Freshwater Sciences is one-of-a-kind in the country and very different from other academic buildings. A soil rehabilitation company is an unusual industry which fits perfectly into the green and energy efficient trend in building. Finally, industrial design schools exist elsewhere, but integrating the school with a production facility and the use of rapid prototyping makes it for a more distinctive program. The program will all bring cutting edge industries into Milwaukee.
  • A critical key concept, as well as the focus of my thesis, is to repair the industrial fabric of Milwaukee. All three sites formerly were busy with rail traffic, storage, tanning, and coke production, but now they are and have been vacant for a long time. These ‘missing teeth’ ought to be filled in.
  • Finally, a concept I would like to utilize is ‘industry as an exhibition.’ Basically, I would like members of the public to be able to see what is going on at the sites. Industry is traditionally placed in large boxes, warehouses, with few windows behind fences. While all of the facilities would still be secure, I will provide areas where the public can walk past the production facility at the industrial design school and see students working and visit the gallery, see the soil aeration in progress and learn about the process, and the School of Freshwater Sciences would have the dock area accessible to the public and would have additional displays describing the research advances.

Preliminary: Program Options

September 14th, 2009 by Alex Fortney | Posted in General Posts, Program | Comments Off

I am currently considering several programs for my thesis project. All of the programs are industrial, or academic institutions focused on renewing industry and the environment. These are the types of projects which will reinvigorate Milwaukee’s industrial and technology sector and provide a ‘catalyst’ project which will ideally encourage future development.

The three programs can be successfully implemented on any of the three sites, but some sites lend themselves better to a particular project.

The three programs are fairly flexible and will be modified over the duration of the project to more accurately reflect the needs of Milwaukee’s industrial and technology community.

School of Freshwater Sciences

The first program combines the WATER Institute with the UWM School of Freshwater Sciences. The WATER (Wisconsin Aquatic Technology and Environmental Research) Institute is currently located on Greenfield Avenue, less than a block from the Solvay site. The School of Freshwater Sciences is a brand new program which encompasses what the WATER does and expands the school. As a result, the University is looking for new locations for the school. One of the current proposals places the school at the former Pieces of Eight restaurant location on Michigan Avenue between the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Discovery World center. The site is nice, but not suited for a large building as it would block the lake views and compete with the two other iconic buildings. My three proposed sites are much better suited for the program.

The School of Freshwater Sciences would require a building capable of holding 200 students, 50 faculty and 50 researchers within classrooms, lounge spaces, faculty offices, laboratories, a library/research center, computer lab and other general academic spaces. Additionally, given the unique program the school will have a dock to hold its ship, the 71’ Neeskay, a fleet of small watercraft, tanks to hold aquatic animals and research projects, and a fully equipped machine shop for constructing instruments and devices. Obviously the direct connection to the water is critical.

The program is probably best adapted to fit the Solvay site given the proximity to the existing building, but the Reed Street site would also work equally well. Because of the need for connection to a waterway, the Washington Street would not really work since it is essentially land-locked.

Environmental Remediation Company

The second program under consideration is a facility for an environmental remediation company. Environmental remediation is the process cleaning up contaminants in soil, air and water, something Milwaukee is certainly in need of. There are several companies in business doing environmental remediation, and Milwaukee could very easily support another as demand for redeveloping ‘brownfields’ increases as does the goal of making ‘green’ buildings: LEED credits are awarded for using contaminated sites.

An environmental remediation company would need a very large facility to house equipment for aerating soil, filtering water, and digesting or decomposing organic chemicals. The facility would also probably need a large leach field for imported soils. There are two primary techniques for clean-up, ex-situ and in-situ. Ex-situ methods involve excavation of affected soils and subsequent treatment at the surface, In-situ methods seek to treat the contamination without removing the soils. The environmental remediation company would serve as a base for a fleet of mobile trucks to go to remote sites to perform in-situ remediation. The facility would also take in contaminated soils and water and process it.

Any of the three sites would be suited for the environmental remediation program. Solvay is clearly the most contaminated and may be ideal as a ‘testing ground’ for new techniques and long-term experiments on its heavily contaminated soil and adjacent waterway. All three sites have easy access to railways for the importing of soil and water in hoppers and tankers, or by truck from the highways. Solvay and Reed Street are adjacent to waterways, and Washington Street is near enough to water that pipes of cleaned water can be discharged into the river.
The facility itself will require space for large tanks, hoppers for holding soil, beds to oxidize soils, and a system to contain any toxins released from the soil from being released into the air. The facility will also have offices, research laboratories, incubators for breeding specialized bacterial, greenhouses for raising ‘scrubbing’ plants and decontamination areas for workers and trucks.

Industrial Design School and Workshop

The third program option I am considering is an industrial design school and workshop. Given Milwaukee’s history of manufacturing, it would be beneficial to bring more industrial design activities back to the city. MIAD (Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design) and MSOE (Milwaukee School of Engineering) as well as UWM offer components of industrial design, but these options are somewhat limited compared to what UW-Madison and other institutions offer. The industrial design school would offer students classes in design and a workshop to produce student projects, but also would operate a business. In an economic climate where higher education institutions struggle to work within limited budgets, turning a profit would be a great way of subsidizing the school’s income.

The design school and workshop would be a full campus with housing and amenities for students in addition to classroom and work space. The school would support about 500 students and 50 faculty and staff positions. Students could live in the dormitories or off-campus. Parking would be provided for commuting students, as well as access to public transportation options. The faculty would have classrooms, workshops, lecture theatres, gallery, faculty offices, business offices and production facilities. There would be a wide variety of tools used, such as plasma cutters for sheet materials, rapid prototyping for development models, a foundry for metal castings, woodworking tools, ceramics and many others. Sustainability would be emphasized and the campus itself ideally would be ‘green.’

Any of the sites would work perfectly for the industrial design school as all have access to various forms of public transportation, are relatively nearby to residential areas for housing, and have large areas for parking and green-space. Reed Street additionally has the advantage of visibility from the city and freeway, and Washington Street will benefit from its proximity to industry and has the opportunity for interesting topographic solutions thanks to the split level roadway and rail bed.


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