INVENTORY
Donnelly Park is situated in Gentilly, New Orleans. It is a community garden mainly serving the neighborhoods around. Before Hurricane Katrina, Japanese Magnolia and live oaks are planted in the park. After the hurricane, only live oaks stand here. Another change is that new house in this neighborhoods tend to be more than two-story height (20’ – 30’) in contrast with one-story old house before.
IDEA EXPLORING
The idea is division. Trying to create spaces for different programs for the neighborhoods. A strong path, a gathering deck, and topography are three important elements in this design. The idea dividing means using the path or the topography to divide the park into two parts. The topography lines come into the deck and then go to the south. During the process, I tried to shift these three elements in different places and fit programs into it, as the drawing above. This is to find a stronger scheme for this design.
The above one is the master plan for the park. As showed in the plan, there are five spaces: passive (shady), active (sunny), playground, deck (building), and community gardens. Meanwhile, the sections&elevations shows the texture of each space as well as the relationship between the surrounding houses and the park. The drawing Diagram is composed of program, vegetation (grasses, community gardens, and trees), circulation, and shade (different time in one day). As indicated in the program diagram, some programs overlap. That allows the park provide as many community programs as possible. The second one is vegetation diagram. The trees are composed of existing live oaks and proposal Japanese Magnolia and native trees. The circulation also concerns the surrounding streets and traffic. Finally, the shade study diagrams attempt to show the shade areas in the park with time changing.
perspective — path view
perspective — active space
varied active programs
perspective — passive space
white & pink feeling while magnolia blooming
