Infill Design |
As cities continue to sprawl, farmland and open space that surround metropolitan areas is disappearing. The life and excitement that was once found in the heart of a city is dying at a rapid pace. One popular solution is to use vacant and underdeveloped land in urban areas for "infill" buildings (Smart, 1985). These often multi-story and high-density structures help bring people of all kinds together as a unified community. When designing an infill building, it is important to consider the existing context. Proportion, materials and color, facade composition, and street relations, are a few design elements that should relate to the structures already existing on the street (Milford, 2001). The potential uses of infill projects are infinite. Common uses are office space, retail, restaurants, and residences. Often, one structure will have a mix of uses, such as retail on the lower floor with residential apartments or condominiums above them. One such example is a proposed infill for Fort Pierce, Florida (Figures 1 & 2). This project optimizes urban space by reducing the need for vehicular transportation and meeting various needs in one location. These goals can be reached by building new infill buildings with the uses already decided, like the Fort Pierce project, or existing infill can be converted to accommodate new demands. This was the case in Issaquah, Washington, where a historic meat shop was converted into a real estate office to meet contemporary needs (Figure 3). Infill design is an important concept for today's rising needs. Undeveloped land is becoming more rare within downtown business districts, so it is important to use what land we have effectively. This requires designs that have high capacity and that take existing context into consideration, responding to their surroundings in a way that will be sustainable for a long time. Infill Design ResourcesIssaquah Historical Society. http://issaquahhistory.org/sites/finneysmarket.htm , 2002. Milford, DDA. www.meetmeinmilford.com/DDA/Design-Infill.htm , 2001. Smart, Eric. Making Infill Projects Work. Urban Land Institute, Washington D.C., 1985. Trias, Ramon. Building Types for Town and City Buildings. www.tndhomes.com/phd04.html , 1998. |
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Figure 1: Proposed mixed-use infill for Fort Pierce, Florida (Trias, 1998)
Figure 2: Floor plan of proposed mixed-use infill for Fort Pierce, Florida showing a typical hierarchy of mixed space (Trias, 1998).
Figure 3: Reuse of a historic building in Issaquah, Washington (IHS, 2002 |
Infill |
Redevelopment inDes Plaines ILIn Des Plaines, Illinois, the town is involved in downtown redevelopment and facade rehabilitation. The hope is to encourage the owners of the downtown businesses to make their storefronts more presentable. The citizen's vision is to add a community center to downtown Des Plaines by making a market plaza with commercial, residential and retail infill in a four acre area. The area would include a center gathering, the market plaza, as well as a health club, restaurants and parking to serve the residents as well as the rest of the community.
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Figure #28-Perspective.
Figure #29-Plan of the site.
Figure #30-Perspective. |
Rear and Side Facade |
Facades Away from the Street In the rear portion of the buildings, placing terraces is recommended in order to provide more outdoor living spaces and for the light source for the rooms (see Fig.18).
On unites facing vehicular-pedestrian alleys, or public ways, it is permissible to retain lack of openings for a privacy (see Fig.19).
On street corner sites, the side facade is to be considered as a front facade. Architectural projections such as oriel windows or recessions are inappropriate. Design emphasis is still on front. (see Fig.20). |
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Fig.18 Rear Facade Suggestion by Gary O. Robinette
Fig.19 Side Facade without openings
Fig.20 Side Facade with openings. |
Bibliography |
Gary O. Robinette, "How To Make CIties Liveable". Van Nostrand Reinhold Company inc. New York, New York 1984
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