The Arizona Alley Project was Studio project that involved a design plan to change an alley in downtown Tucson into a vibrant area for tourists and locals alike. The addition of the new European style AC Hotel will draw new groups of people into the downtown area that is quickly changing into a space of active night life and a space for families during the day. The design emphasized the Spirit of Arizona through the creation of canyon-like shade structures and awnings throughout the alley.
Photos of the Site During Hotel Construction.
After completing a site analysis as part of a group project to determine the target uses of the alley, three concepts were drafted by hand and later digitized(viewed below in the final board example). Strong aspects from all three of the aspects were tied into the schematic design that aimed at featuring the historic features of the park and neighborhood surrounding it.
The goal of my schematic design was to keep local foot traffic through the alley in tact while allowing for increased car deliveries to the newly proposed AC Hotel. This design was centered around making the alley a destination spot for both locals and visitors staying at the hotel.
One of the first things people staying at a hotel for extended time do is look for food and activities nearby such as nightlife/bars. Local amenities such as the The Independent Distillery and Johnny Gibson’s provide such needs, but lack the draw to people not familiar to the area. By designing an inviting open space around the idea of a slot canyon and “the Spirit of Arizona” people not familiar with the area will be able to sample local culture, art, and environment within a safe urban setting.
Implementing materials such as stonework, rustic metals, and local splashes of art will create a site that is reminiscent of slot canyons while highlighting Arizona’s unique beauty. Shade provided by the shade structures in the shape of canyon walls in addition to lush desert plantings will help to mitigate urban heat effect during the hot summer months. Since the alley is covered by an eight story building, shade loving plants not commonly found in the lowland desert, but found along the foothills will be able to be planted here as well, increasing the biodiversity of the design. Urban wildlife, in addition to pedestrians, will be drawn to the unique space.
The Schematic Design was created in AutoCAD for correct placement of the alley between existing buildings. The AutoCAD file was created by taking a scaled aerial image and tracing over the property lines. From there the file was brought into SketchUp and a rough model was created.
Once the AutoCAD file was completed it was brought into SketchUp for 3D modeling. After a many hours of modeling was completed, the SketchUp file was processed in SUPodium, which is a program that adds photo-realism to the otherwise sketch features in SketchUp. The difference between a finished SketchUp model and a model after it has gone through post processing in SUPodium can be viewed below.
The final two boards (show below) highlighted a semester’s worth of work and tied the project together. Site analysis, concepts, elevations, and cross sections were shown with final renders and a site plan. Also included in the final was a materials board that highlighted design elements in the project and had interactive samples of wood, steel, and construction materials that users could touch/feel to get a sense of the proposed site.
The project won two of three awards for submitted work to the University of Arizona’s College of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture’s Design Excellence Program Spring 2016. The Awards for first year students were judged by outside professionals in the field.
