DÉRIVE SPOKANE
a mixed use development for spokane, washington
Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies
Washington State University.Spokane
John Abell, Adviser
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Following the work of the situationists, this project is an experiment in the psychogeographic nature surrounding the downtown urban environment of Spokane. The analysis of site is done via a dérive, or drifting, through not only the site, but the greater context it is part of. The discovery of the downtown core of Spokane is a personal experience based on navigation of the city with a map of Portland, Oregon.
The identity of the city is formed by the inclusion of fitness and a sense of drama in individual spaces. Imageability is a resultant of the pathways people travel and the edges and landmarks that define them. By drifting through vertical spaces in downtown Spokane, a section that suggests the various types of networks and hierarchies in the environment is created. The project site is better investigated by an additional set of rules to follow. By restricting pathways to straight lines and exiting and entering the site at different locations, a receptacle for design is created. By combining portions of the drifting studies with the figure ground context drawing, the site for live.work.play becomes a concentrated form of the spatial representation of Spokane.
The shift away from homogeneous spaces to multi-performance spaces is based on environmental conditions and alternative spatial ideas. Multi-performance systems increase in efficiency as their purposes change and adapt based on interdependencies between individual systems and their interactions within the building as a whole. The distribution of spaces over eight levels is based the experience of the verticality of Spokane.
By combining public and private spaces that are otherwise segregated throughout the city, there are opportunities to create new activity nodes. With globalization comes the widening of the area of influence, questioning local identity. The change to an “informal” type of city requires the increased involvement of citizens to balance global economics with local culture. Circulation on the site stems from the drifting process. Vertical movement is based on the lobby nodes and floor plate stacking. Horizontal circulation is intended to be varied to allow for drifting by others.