riggs pearson skepnek.
2011's People's Choice Award /
International Living City Design Competition
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 Downtown Main Street |  |  |
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Research & Design Competition
with ZGF Architects, Portland, Oregon
January 2011
SYMBIOTIC DISTRICTS / Towards a Balanced City
As the building blocks of cities, neighborhoods are the right scale to accelerate sustainabilty - small enough to innovate quickly and big enough to have a meaningful impact. Yet in a city, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and neighborhoods balance assests like water and energy between each other to meet city-wide needs. Our approach explores the symbiosis between five EcoDistrics in Portland and how strategies in a signle district, Gateway, contribute to the city's overall performance.
PROCESS:
Below is a collection of images that show the development of the diagrams, illustrations and presentation board layout. A little taste of the thought process.
Everything was designed and produced within a one month period.
 BIG MOVE: Green InfrastructureSite research and analysis. |  BIG MOVE: Rich Street LifeSite research and analysis. Urban infill |  BIG MOVE: AgricultureSite research and analysis |
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 BIG MOVE: EnergyDistrict energy systems, sharing resources. |  BIG MOVE: GridBreaking up the big box store zones into walkable neighborhood blocks. |  PETAL: SiteSite opportunities. |
 PETAL: WaterDistrict water systems. |  PETAL : EnergyDistrict energy systems. |  PETAL: HealthCreating healthy streets. |
 PETAL : Materials |  PETAL : EquityCreating social equity for the community. |  PETAL BeautyCreating beauty in the urban environment. |
 PROCESS: Main Street IllustrationDeveloping a sense of place through illustration. |  PROCESS: Main Street IllustrationTexture, material and beauty |  PROCESS: Main Street IllustrationWho will be here? |
 PROCESS: Main Street IllustrationCreating 'There'. |  PROCESS: Communicating IdeasThe competition presentation boards were very limited on space. I therefore created a series of mock presentation boards to figure out how we would fit all our ideas onto two small boards. |  PROCESS: Communicating IdeasWith limited space to present our ideas, I had to create our final presentation layout as we produced work. Working within a finite space, it forced me to make every image and graphic carry the weight of several images. |
MY PART /
While working with ZGF Architects, I managed brainstorming, direction and design, of a nine company, 30+ multidisciplinary team for the International Living Future Institute's 2011 Living City Design Competition.
I believe great design and strategic thinking are team sports; you need a mix of disciplines and backgrounds, but eventually someone has to go away after the brainstorm and turn the ideas into something that can be communicated and executed, that's where I thrive, translating ideas into visual narratives.