Through our research in class we have established a general base of knowledge concerning our project sites in Downtown of Las Vegas, Nevada. This will hopefully help us to understand, or at least get a vague picture, of the circumstances and influences surrounding the Downtown area.
What was learned?
History
The city of Las Vegas began as a little stop on the railway that snuck between the mountain peaks in the depth of the valley. The keep the passengers to stay a while, spend some money, enjoy their break from the rail, hotels, restaurants, and taverns, all featuring gambling as easy past times. Quickly the area began to grow with the past times hardly changing, soon Las Vegas reached the edges of the mountain ridge on every side and the land within is constantly changing to adapt to the constant traffic of the busy city.
Climate
Situated in the middle of the desert, Las Vegas’s climate report was not too surprising that the sun dominated the weather forecast. What did catch me off guard was the trend in rainfall in the city. Only a few inches a year but because there is very little grade change and very little material to deter the rain from just flowing down the street, that there can be what I can only categorize as flash-flooding. It allows for an interesting design challenge I am anxious to address in our future proposals.
Demographics
An overwhelming percent of the people there are living below the country’s poverty line in Las Vegas. While the age range is commonly between 25 and 35, the ages beyond and below that range are suffering programmatically in the Downtown area. The one that stood out most to me is that there are not adequate facilities for children specifically educational programs.
Districts
Encompassing the area defined by the highway wrapping around the city, each area has been categorized by the existing programs in the area. Each district seems to vary in size, but could potentially have room for adjustments in the future.
Form-Based Code
A new strategy being implemented in Las Vegas, specifically in the Downtown area. As similar building restrictions have been successful in other cities, such as Rome and Paris. The code would create a new design to be introduced to Las Vegas where service roads would reflect that of a double loaded corridor, structures would not tower over their two-story neighbors causing them to feel out of place, and sidewalks would be wide enough so more than two people can pass by one another.
Sustainability
Las Vegas is hoping to be a completely sustainable city, where the energy production out-weighs the energy consumption. The potential of capturing the sun’s energy is promising in the cloudless desert sky, even with the incredible amount of neon lights the city boasts regularly.
Signage
The neon lights that line the bright city are what really make the iconic city. Just a few examples of the city’s many lights were interesting to see.
How did it go?
Having done the transportation systems of the big city, it was surprising to see that almost all the other research topics had touched most of the topics I had documented. This seeming coincidence stressed the importance an efficient infrastructure system is for the Downtown area. Below is the first iteration of the Transportation boards I've put together.
Why is it important?
Unfortunately what I was not able to best communicate to the studio is the true importance a fully functioning and reliable infrastructure of a city, specifically the transportation system. After everyone’s presentations and critiques from one another, what would need to be altered for the next presentation is predominantly the way in which the material is presented allowing the infrastructure to be before other topics, perhaps after Las Vegas’s history, districts, and demographics to better relate the necessity of Downtown’s transportation systems.
By outlining the purpose of the transportation system more clearly, the importance can be easily communicated to others. Also, although the graphics originally used are eye-catching, it does make the bodies of text difficult to read and a bit daunting. Ken, our instructor, informed us that normally with posters of this tabloid size people become overwhelmed by large lines of text. In order to make the content less overwhelming we should format it in such a way that the paragraph’s body does not exceed 4.5”.
What will be ready for Friday is a new format for the boards as suggested by my class mates, refining the content into more manageable pieces to read, clearly defined maps for each of the transportation options, and a more easily understood introduction, importance, and take away. It has been an exciting learning experience beginning this editing process of not knowing what is expected of us, such as number of pages, depth of content, display options, etc. I am curious to what the next critique will have in store.
- kp