Brooklyn-based Popular Architecture shared with us their proposal for the Downtown Fargo Urban Infill Competition. More images and architect’s description after the break.
The elephant in the room of this competition for a 250,000 SF mixed-used development is its need to include a 500 car parking ramp, to be owned and operated by the City of Fargo, that the City wants to build as soon as possible. Typically treated as structures that are mere means to an end, parking ramps are usually pushed to the least prime pieces of real estate, with their designs emphasizing a hard bottom-line efficiency of structure and organization.
While parking is frequently physically peripheral, it has a central role as an intermodal node, negotiating the transition between vehicular and pedestrian movement. We think the experience of this transition could be greatly enriched by activating the parking ramp’s latent connective possibilities.
Our project does this by performing several simple operations on the Carl Walker-designed ramp already proposed to the City for the northeast corner of the competition site: the first is to rotate the ramp into the center of the block; the second is to split apart the ramp’s spiral, pushing three levels underground to create a void space in its middle that extends the City’s existing pedestrian Skyway system.
The Skyway is further extended by a broad stair connecting all upper levels of the ramp as well as a roof park. The pedestrian and the vehicular are intertwined for their mutual benefit.
Freeing the perimeter of the block and expanding the Skyway into the center create a “plug-in” condition for four buildings that activate the entire site. Together with the ramp, the buildings define three plazas able to serve more public programs on Broadway, more quiet ones on 5th Street North, and the existing US Bank on 2nd Avenue North. Above grade, the buildings create a “drive-in” condition where parking with direct access to programs such as offices, restaurants, health clubs, and stores topologically extends the street. The ramp becomes customized infrastructure, tailored to the specificities of its Fargo site in a way that unleashes numerous potentials.
The massing of the four buildings is determined by the 12pm sun angle of the December 21st winter solstice. Through maximizing winter gains for the apartments on the upper floors, the project proposes using the Passive House approach for heating: by using high levels of insulation and airtightness, it becomes possible with good solar and internal gains to heat with a heat recovery ventilator (HRV), where naturally warmed internal air being exhausted transfers its heat via the HRV to incoming fresh air. The overall goal of the approach is a factor 10 reduction in energy consumption.
Architects: Popular Architecture Location: Fargo, North Dakota Design Team: Aurelien Boyer, Prae Lorvidhaya, Casey Mack Client: Kilbourne Group / Downtown Fargo Urban Infill Competition Environmental Engineering: Arup Project Area: 250,000 sq ft Renderings: David Huang Graphic Design: Omnivore
