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Yellow Dot Road
Competition
2012
“Yellow Dot Road” proposes to reconfigure the lower deck of the Veterans Memo-rial Bridge from a linear infrastructure of speed to a series of points that create new forms of infrastructure and public space for a – FAST, SLOW + PAUSE SPACE that serve to identify and organize the program of the park into a bike lane (fast), markets (slow) and performance venues (pause). In its linear extension, this manufactured landscape orients itself to the structural organization of the bridge. The three zones progressively slow down the move-variety of events for all seasons. Similar to Yona Friedman & Eckhardt Schultze-Fielitz’s Bridge city of 1960, “Yellow Dot Road” proposes a series of multi-functional floating spaces scattered through-out the megastructure space-frame of the lower level of the bridge. The strategy is a series of carved out and hovering ‘pits and pods’ that become programmatically flexible and adaptable to various seasonal activities, festivals and weekly markets on the bridge.
FAST, SLOW + PAUSE: THE YELLOW DOT ROAD
The yellow dot road running the length of the bridge is divided into three zones ment through the lower deck. At the east side is the fast lane with a wide bike path that also serves as delivery of goods for events with a series of small cargo carts. Cyclists can also rest at a ‘pit stop’ periodically located throughout the bridge. The middle zone is the main ‘park area’ with wetlands and the market. The third zone is formed by a series of event spaces (performance pits) along the west side of the bridge.
The core of the project forms a manufactured landscape of undulating ramps that are punctured by a series of circular voids (the pits) and floating forms above that serve as markers (the pods). Each pit and pod allows for different events and pro-grams to occur. The undulation of the landscape not only creates spatial zones but the change in height also allows one to transfer from one bay to another without the obstruction of the lateral bracing of the bridge.
PITS AND PODS
The landscape is punctured with pits that each offer the insertion of program. They can be filled with vegetation, markets and performances and their “filling” can change over time. Meanwhile, the “wetland pits” are the most permanent and are continually being fed by grey water coming from bathroom and market pods. The “market pits” are cyclically used throughout the year to adapt to seasonal interest and various festivals year round. The “performance” pits are open-ended in their use and can either be used for impromptu street performance or ‘ticket only’ perfor-mance venues.
Distributed throughout the pits are a series of pods. These pods serve specific functions – such as entry onto the yellow dot road, signage, bathrooms, storage and waste. The ephemeral nature of the pod skin creates a continuous experience through- out the lower deck and serves as the artificial lighting system. The winkie pods are markers for the zones to orient visitors and market pods are strategical-ly placed throughout the bridge. The adaptable and flexible system of ‘Yellow Dot Road’ becomes a continual ‘retelling’ of the story of public space.
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