Focus week 2,-Trinity River Corridor Design Guidelines

Trinity River Corridor Design Guidelines project is one of the ASLA 2009 Professional Awards, i think this project is very good key study to learning from Analysis, Planning, sustainable environments., is will help Wey&Aurn project we are doing now!

Project Statement
The Trinity River Corridor Design Guidelines will establish the character and measure of sustainability for the largest green infrastructure initiative in the United States — a 9-mile urban park, floodway and transportation improvement project that will anchor the transformation of central Dallas into a quilt of mixed-use and transit-oriented neighborhoods. The scope, scale and design challenges posed by this project are unique; they also serve to underscore the role of green infrastructure in re-casting cities as sustainable environments.

Project Goals and Objectives
To create a didactic landscape unlike any other: where art and sustainability will be coexist throughout the built form, advancing the city’s most progressive goals and values, where infrastructure will be rendered green infrastructure, where vastness will be sensed and understood alongside the minute, and where Dallas will rediscover and redefine itself.”

A landscape that is at once ecologically viable, educational, offering diverse opportunities for recreation and exercise, and functioning as a connective tissue between adjoining communities.

A landscape that provides a high degree of ecological service, from carbon sequestration, water recycling and bio-filtration, to the production of energy from renewable resources.

A landscape that restores access and beauty to the Trinity River, and enhances the floodplain as an expression of the Texas Blackland Prairie.

A landscape that integrates infrastructure — power transmission, transportation, flood protection and conveyance — within the context of ecology and recreation.

A landscape that embraces art, from the conception of landforms and its material quality to the provision of venues for major works — permanent and temporary.

Key Design Proposals

The River: Practically the entirety of the Trinity River from the confluence of the Elm Fork and West Fork to the entrance to the Trinity Forest — a 9-mile course adjacent to the city’s Downtown — is proposed to be relocated to make room for the Trinity Parkway and recreational lakes. River channel meanders, an oxbow lake, emergent wetlands and multi-level riparian terraces are proposed to improve water quality and to establish the new river alignment as a viable end-to-end wildlife corridor.

Trails: More than 30-miles of trails are proposed within the floodway, facilitating jogging and walking as well as equestrians and commuter cyclists. A 20-foot wide primary trail meanders across the river, providing equal access to the park from both Downtown and West Dallas. Limited trailhead parking is provided; rather, public transit facilities are under consideration in support of the park and system of trails.

Parkway: The Trinity Parkway portion of the guidelines call for a variety of green design measures, including wind turbines (to take advantage of its perched elevation), solar panels for visual attenuation, harvested rain water for irrigation, bio-filtration wetlands for storm runoff control, and vegetated vertical walls (GSky system) to dampen sound, control glare and absorb carbon emissions. A combination of median and shoulder plantings intend to blur the line between the park and the parkway, eliciting the perception that the vehicles are “visitors” in what is otherwise a public recreation and habitat resource.

Public Art: The guidelines propose a three-part art program: site-specific temporary works scattered throughout (bi-annual events); one single major permanent work, strategically located on the Central Island; and 12 or so “Council Circles” — placed “off the beaten path” for contemplation and education, each designed by a different artist.

Eco-restorers: Working in conjunction with a national bio-filtration expert, about 3.5-acres worth of floating wetlands are proposed in the 60-acre “Natural Lake” to help naturally polish the lake waters and provide habitat for fish and freshwater invertebrates. Consisting of dispersed 80-foot diameter rings filled with aquatic plants, the restorers will offer didactic evidence of the park’s function as green infrastructure.