Follow-up to
meeting of April 14
Existing:
-
includes all building footprints extruded
according to heights currently available from the City of Ann Arbor Planning
Department.
-
If heights are not available, a height of
3 stories was assigned arbitrarily, rather than leaving the height at 0
stories.
-
Building heights are converted to feet assuming
a value of 12.5 feet per story (conversion to work appropriately with the
software). Eventually, more precise measurements of height in feet
will be needed.
-
There are buildings within the floodway in
the existing pattern.
-
Historic districts are noted in a shade of
gray darker than the rest of the core
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University of Michigan buildings are noted
in a shade of gray lighter than the rest of the core.
Tall:
-
excludes from consideration all parcels
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in a current historic district
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in the floodway of Allen's Creek
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whose centroid lies in the floodplain of Allen's
Creek
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currently containing a place of worship
-
designated as public lands of the University
of Michigan, and most others, as well
-
containing existing parking structures
-
general model considerations:
-
each story is assigned a height of 12.5 feet
-
City of Ann Arbor contour files, with contour
interval of 5 feet (spacing between successive contours is 5 feet), were
used to generate a Triangulated Irregular Network to represent the topographic
surface. The buildings, roads, and so forth were then draped over
this topographic surface.
-
Sun position: was set in the south at
a height of 42.28 degrees, simulating the position of the sun in the sky
at noon in equinox conditions at the latitude of Ann Arbor. This
setting creates lighting of the buildings; it does not create shadows of
the buildings on the ground (that is a separate process for the future).
-
within these constraints, 5,000,000 new square
feet are added as follows:
-
yellow point towers erected on lands categorized
as "vacant or surface parking." Each tower has a 90 foot by
90 foot base plate.Where suitable, they are erected on a three story plinth.
The tower heights are 9, 12, and 15 stories; distances between adjacent
towers on the same parcel are 50, 75, and 100 feet depending on height
(9, 12, and 15 stories respectively). Where possible (according to
spacing requirements), taller towers are erected at lower elevations.
-
blue buildings are erected along Huron Street
at heights of 9, 12, and 15 stories. The position is arbitrary.
-
East of Division Street (to the right on the
models) the front setbacks are 20 feet; west of Division Street front setbacks
are 0 feet. These selections are in keeping with the present front
setback pattern of buildings already present on Huron. The goal is
to keep a uniform, rather than a staggered, appearance in front setbacks
(consistent with a "Grand Boulevard" approach).
-
Rear setbacks are 40 feet; side setbacks are
10 feet.
-
Upper story setbacks beyond the third floor
are 20 feet in structures west of Division.
-
red buildings
-
setbacks and lateral information:
-
have three story plinths
-
have upper story setbacks of 20 feet beyond
the third story (except on a few small parcels that have only three story
buildings)
-
have 40 foot rear setbacks, 10 foot side setbacks,
and 0 foot front setbacks.
-
height and vertical information:
-
on Liberty Street may rise to a height of
8 stories set back 20 feet from the three story plinth
-
on 1st and Ashley Streets rise to 4 or 6 stories
(50/50), with upper story setbacks of 20 feet above the third floor, arbitrarily
placed
-
on North Main, out of the picture, rise to
a height of 6 stories and have 20 foot setbacks from the road. Building
footprint is placed on the parcel in accordance with the golden ratio.
-
In this style of plan, zoning follows spatial
pattern of buildout.
Broad:
-
excludes from consideration all parcels
-
in a current historic district
-
in the floodway of Allen's Creek
-
whose centroid lies in the floodplain of Allen's
Creek
-
currently containing a place of worship
-
designated as public lands of the University
of Michigan
-
general model considerations:
-
each story is assigned a height of 12.5 feet
-
City of Ann Arbor contour files, with contour
interval of 5 feet (spacing between successive contours is 5 feet), were
used to generate a Triangulated Irregular Network to represent the topographic
surface. The buildings, roads, and so forth were then draped over
this topographic surface.
-
Sun position: was set in the south at
a height of 42.28 degrees, simulating the position of the sun in the sky
at noon in equinox conditions at the latitude of Ann Arbor. This
setting creates lighting of the buildings; it does not create shadows of
the buildings on the ground (that is a separate process for the future).
-
within these constraints, 5,000,000 new square
feet are added as follows and subject to the following new definition of
an "Opportunity Zone" bounded by Huron on the north, William on the south,
1st on the west and Thayer/State on the east. Within the Opportunity
Zone there are conditions for extra height; outside the Opportunity Zone
parcels inherit the zoning prescribed by a new zoning plan that simplifies
the current zoning map.
-
yellow buildings erected on lands categorized
as "vacant or surface parking" may rise to a height of 8 stories built
where possible on 3 story plinths.
-
blue buildings
-
along Huron Street are (with front, rear,
and side setbacks as in the "blue" case for "Tall"):
-
8 stories on the south side of the street
(to let sunlight in)
-
12 stories on the north side of the street
-
not on Huron but within the Oppor tunity Zone
are 12 stories to the east of Main Street and 8 stories to the west of
Main Street; some of these may be built within parcels currently occupied
by public buildings (but not within University of Michigan parcels).
-
red buildings
-
setbacks and lateral information:
-
have three story plinths
-
have upper story setbacks of 20 feet beyond
the third story (except on a few small parcels that have only three story
buildings)
-
have 40 foot rear setbacks, 10 foot side setbacks,
and 0 foot front setbacks.
-
height and vertical information:
-
on Liberty Street may rise to a height of
8 stories set back 20 feet from the three story plinth
-
on 1st and Ashley Streets rise to 8 stories
set back 20 feet from the three story plinth, within the Opportunity Zone;
outside the Opportunity Zone they rise to heights permitted by new zoning,
again with upper story setbacks of 20 feet above the third floor.
-
In this style of plan, spatial pattern of
buildout follows zoning.
ANIMATION EMPHASIZING LOCATION OF NEW
STRUCTURE
ANIMATION EMPHASIZING MASSING OF BUILDINGS
Large format files of these models were
printed out by the Planning Department as posters for display at the Public
Hearing.
In addition, 11 by 17 images were printed
out and made available in limited supply.
Transparencies were produced for use with
an overhead projector
A website was made and housed originally
and for the duration of the Taskforce at: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~copyrght/ddaheight/
Virtual reality files with navigational
paths, lower left corner of Cosmo Player, were created to show fly-throughs
with navigational paths consistent from one model to the next (download
and install Cosmo Player in your browser). In Cortona, there is a
pulldown in the center of the bottom line; look for viewpoints there.
There are eight navigational viewpoints predefined in Cosmo Player for
ease in navigation (or fly through at your own risk!). In addition,
predefined viewpoints enable comparison of identical views under different
buildout scenarios. The set of eight animations below corresponds
to each of the three, existing, tall, and broad, viewed in that order from
each of the eight viewpoints. Transitional frames were inserted so
that the viewer might be able to see the new replacing the old.
Links to VR
Animations made from the VR viewpoints.
Modeling work donated by S.
Arlinghaus.
Solstice: An Electronic Journal of Geography and Mathematics,
Institute of Mathematical Geography, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Volume XV, Number 1.
http://www.InstituteOfMathematicalGeography.org/