fall 2005
LAR 696 / ARC 696:
Uvalde, Texas | Identity, Entry & Connectivity
Course Description
Uvalde, Texas is located at the crossroad of two of North America's longest highways. The intersection of Highway 83 & Highway 90 experiences a traffic flow of approximately 24,000 vehicles per day. In the summer of 2006 Tex Dot will embark on a major reconstruction of three miles of Highway 83 through Uvalde's historic core. Forced to consider the implications of this major reconstruction, the city of Uvalde has asked the design studio to probe the question of recasting Uvalde's future in its historic past, through the material of the streetscape. The studio will examine the cities cultural and spatial identity through the lenses of the pedestrian and the vehicle, and resolve the spatial future at those two scales. The studio will explore strategies of connecting the cities competing centers of history and commerce (Wal-Mart), and the connection of the natural systems coincide with this hyper intersection.
Strong emphasis is placed on precision and craft in the conceptual, schematic, and design development abilities of studio participants. Issues of the physical, socioeconomic, technological, architectural, and ideological forces that underlie the organization and form of human networks and communities are incorporated into a semester long design project. The products of the studio will be presented to the city of Uvalde several times over the course of the semester, and will be published as a document for the use of the City in the construction of the Getty Street Streetscape in 2006. The design documents will include, detailed materials and paving schemes, street furnishings, illumination, and vegetation.
The project engages in the complex reading and mapping of the city and site, the testing of innovative program strategies in unconventional sites, and demands the development of design ideas to the advanced schematic stage. At each stage, students are expected to reconcile the often-conflicting characteristics among land resources, development pressures, privacy, and commonality. Throughout, a strong reciprocity between depth of thinking and the act of making is sought.