Thoughts_Site Visit

i felt that our trip to pittsburgh was very beneficial. it is nice to have an image of the site that we are designing for. the remnants of the carrie furnace were quite beautiful. the built-up of layer upon layer of growth was particularly intriguing to me. each component was designed an constructed without regard to aesthetics, but rather strict utility. interestingly, the combination of these utilitarian buildings and devices creates a very nice aesthetic.


img_1.1 - complexity of the carrie furnace

the 'waterfront' development was extremely disappointing. all the literature that i read about it praised it for its reuse and preservation of historic components. it was in reality just a strip mall on steroids. the historic relics were relegated to islands in the parking lot. there was no effort by the planners to situate these relics so that they could be engaged by the public. the series of smokestacks, which are a the advertised icon of the site and were purported to be the greatest achievement in preservation on the site were situated behind the movie theater (which was of course a giant metal building with a foam facade) and served only to bound the parking lot. again, there was no effort to create an area that visitors could occupy to experience these icons of the industrial age.

it was also interesting to see a steel factory that was still in operation, just slightly up the river from our site.


img_1.2 - the edgar thompson works

the city of pittsburgh, especially the downtown area, was also quite nice. i was intrigued by a local building typology: row houses made up of several very slender and deep buildings, all of varying height.


img_1.3 - downtown pittsburgh / rowhouses

the pittsburgh children's museum was a great building (not too related to our project). it was a very elegant reuse of historic buildings with a modern intervention.


img_1.4 - childrens' museum / rear


img_1.5 - childrens' museum / main entrance