The New Damen Silos

The third unit in Urban Planning was called Flow, the title of this unit is really about everything we learned throughout this term. We learned about different cities, their history, and where they came from. We also dived deeper into urban planning and learned about how we can change a city to make it better. The last Action Project asked us to pick a city and use everything we have learned about urban planning to improve a space that we have chosen. What I struggled with was building my 3D model. It was a challenge but I pushed myself to get it done. What I’m proud of is how my project came together. I think my idea is cool, I really liked working on this project, even though it was really stressful at times. I enjoyed taking this course, I learned a lot about my city, and about Urban Planning.

3D Model of Redesigned Damen Silos Created by JV, 2016*

Chinatown is an area in Chicago that shows the culture of Chinese people. The area has many shops and restaurants that are Chinese. This area is very touristy, has venues that host many concerts, has pretty good transportation, many buses in this area, two redline stops, the highway, and the river is nearby. I would say this area in Chicago makes a good amount of money, but where is it all going? The strengths this area are the culture, and the architectural design is very nice. The shops and restaurants in Chinatown are another big strength, whereas some weaknesses are segregation, and it has lots of abandoned buildings that could be used for something useful. Lots of factories are around that area, not many parks are nearby, and the area has a lot of pollution. The space needs more parks, it also needs something new and exciting that really stands out but also incorporates Chinese culture.

2D model Before Created JV, 2016*

The High Line Park in New York City inspired me, because they transformed an area that contained industrial and toxic waste, infrastructure no longer in use, into an elevated park that has lots of greenery. Gas Works Park in Seattle Washington is another project that inspired me and was built on the location of a former coal gasification plant in 1965. The abandoned plant was converted into a picnic shelter complete with tables and fire grills, while a former exhauster-compressor building was turned into an open-air play barn that houses a maze. This inspired me to change the Damen Silos into an indoor park. The changes that I will make to the Damen silos will really improve the Chinatown area. I will leave the original structure of the building, but I will repaint it, adding more colors, like red, gold, and bronze, to bring life to the building. There is so much graffiti all over the Damen Silos but I will leave some of it to represent Chicago street art. There are underground tunnels in the building, and these will become an underground slide park. I will add some Chinese art designs into the building so that way the indoor park mixes into the culture of Chinatown. I will also add a huge stage almost like a theater on the first floor so that way concerts can be held there, bringing in money for the area and city.

2D model After Created by JV, 2016.

I calculated the area of two rectangular prisms put together, and a cylinder. The height of a silo which is the cylinder is 87 ft. The base of the triangle the main building is 693 ft and the height is 722 ft. The equation for the area of the whole space was ½ x 693 x 722= 250,173 ft^2. The equation for the volume of a cylinder is 𝝿 x radius2 x height which was 3.14 X 10^2 x 87= 27,331.85 cubic ft. Since its diameter is 20, its radius would be 10. To find the volume of an irregularly shaped building, I multiplied the length, width and height of the rectangular prisms which was 28 x 28 x 25=19,600 and 75 x 50 x 25= 93, 750. Then I added both measurements and got 113,350 cubic ft. Over all I did enjoy working on this project, it was really stressful and I feel like the timing was a bit rushed. What I would do differently is really take my time with the prep work, so that way towards the end of the project everything would go much smoother.

                                             3D Model of Redesigned Damen Silos Created by JV, 2016*