#Functional Diagrams
After going through the inventory & analysis process, the next step is to investigate how the site should be laid out. Functional diagrams are quick sketches of how to do this. For this stage in process, we made two diagrams of our sites. I sketched these out initially and then finished them in Illustrator.
When looking at the site, the main circulation corridors for the site are apparent. Both of the diagrams connect to the existing roadways in Parkside Apartments and tie into the existing street grid at Jackson Street to the east and Curry Street to the south. The main entrance on Jackson Street is flanked by commercial properties that address the main street. Parking for these properties lies in the back and ties into the main circulation routes. The base of the saddle functions as the main node for the site, surrounded by mixed use. At the Curry Street entrance, multi-family housing lines the entrance road, followed by single-family housing closer to the node. Single and multi-family line the street heading west. A buffer protects the drainageway, and a greenway connecting the site to the nearby schools runs through the site along the buffer and over to Moncreif Park. A cohousing development accessed from the maintenance yard driveway is connected to the rest of the development by the greenway. The large swale running between the two made it necessary to do this.
For an alternate diagram, a community house was placed in the center of the node, with a roundabout surrounding it. The circulation routes essentially stay the same, as well as the commercial properties on Jackson Street. The community house is surrounded by mixed-use buildings on three sides, with a view out to the buffer flanked by multi-family housing. This plan has a gradient of density emanating from the node outward, with single-family housing along the edges. The greenway and buffer stay the same, and the cohousing development is replaced by an orchard/forest garden. The decision to do this was based on questions of access from the maintenance yard driveway. It would also be possible to have a cohousing development inside of a forest garden if the access is question is available.