Mark Helder
Going through DuSable Park
A design for DuSable Park, Chicago, IL
by Mark Helder, markhe@dds.nl
One of the most distinctive characteristics of the city of Chicago is
the extreme contrast between the densely built downtown and the vast horizon
of Lake Michigan alongside it.
Lake Shore Path functions as the string in a necklace connecting the different atmospheres and locations existing along the shore.
Although the Drive is the most apparent border line, it is experienced most along the Lake Shore Path, the place for pedestrians, skaters and cyclists.
The urban planning concept links DuSable Park to the Lake Shore Path and makes it an individual happening along with the other elements of The Path.
The access to and from the park is one of the more determining factors in the design.There are three basic access scenarios, where option C offers the most possibilities for this concept.
Transformations towards a park
Create an
elevated 'park' that floats above the existing piece of land.
The new park level will be brought up to the 1st story of the elevated
highway connecting to The Lake Shore Path.
Logistically, the new park acts as an expansion-valve to the most concentrated
piece of Lake Shore Drive. Here, cars, bikers, skaters and pedestrians
are squeezed together through a relative long, dim and noisy 'tunnel'.
Halfway through, the tunnel opens up to the lake side providing air, space
and views.
An unusual higher public space in flat Chicagoland.
( like the '-El' in parkland )
The new park
follows the outline of the existing non-maintained plot.
This contrast is also translated in the use of material, where natural
features are mimicked by artificial ones.
An undeveloped
piece of land can be a luxury in the city. The double use of this plan
takes the visual and physical presence of a 'wild piece of land', and
contrasts it with artificial elements. It uses the idea of nature and
replaces it with a virtual experience of it.
'The park' can be seen, heard, smelled and observed, the imagination can
go there, but it won't be tramped upon.
To accentuate the individuality of the 'wild' land underneath, the connection with the mainland will be broken by digging a canal under the bridged highway, thus creating an island.
As often
is the case with polluted locations, nature always has an answer and usually
creates an specific biotope. This can cause the dualistic situation where
environmental biologists would rather not clean a site in favor for the
biotope.
DuSable park will be a place where animals and vegetation interact with
the city environment.
Certain trees and other vegetation grow through the raised park from the land below. This creates a physical link as well as a conceptual one.
The situation
of this park makes you think.
A permanent exposition in the tower of the bridge would tell about the
recorded history of this particular piece of land so far, and still recording..........
In the park,
experiences like walking on a path, getting off the trail and roughing
it on a sandy dune are mimicked by the decking materials.
The hardwood Pau Lope boardwalk is the main path taking you around the
park. It's possible to go off trail onto the more flexible iron mesh,
gently bending under your weight. Or use your balance and rough a dune
in the form of a steel reinforced nylon rope net.
At certain places off trail, plants and trees start to grow through the meshes and openings. With usage of the park the actual foliage coming through the mesh will allow a network of paths to develop depending on how people will use the park.
Economics
The approach
of this park lets the senses feel the complete space while building half
the square meters of the plot below. Maintenance is reduced to a minimum.
This also influences the economical factor.
Estimated costs incl. labor :
$ 100 x 8800
sq.m deck
$ 200 x 8000 sq.m steel constr.
$2000 x 200 pcs. foundation
$ 200 x 1000 m balustrade
$2000 x 50 lanterns
Totaling
$ 3.18 million
Mark Helder
Amsterdam, The Netherlands / New York, NY
Architectural Design and Engineering
markhe@dds.nl