ALTERNATIVE, SINGLE FAMILY HOUSING, MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING AND MIXED-USE HOUSING FOR RICHMOND CITY, SUBURBS by DESIREE M. K. LACAS B.A., The University of British Columbia, 1992 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF T H E REQUIREMENTS FOR T H E D E G R E E OF MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE In T H E FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES School of Architecture We accept this p^esis as conforming to the required standard T H E UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA April 1998 © D e s i r e e M. K. LaCas, 1998 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of C School of ArchrfoditrO The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada DE-6 (2/88) ABSTRACT The objective of this project is to propose the addition of a new layer of housing in the typical Post WW II suburban residential context in order to provide more housing alternatives for today's diverse population. This project was also an exploration of ways that this new housing could address the transition of zones from residential to other uses such as commercial, industrial and agricultural. I chose Richmond as my prototype site for exploration because I believe it is typical of many suburban communities throughout North America. The image in North America of the traditional family of a married couple with young children with an employed husband and homemaker wife that characterized the 1950's and 1960's doesn't match today's demographics. Today other types of family structures account for nearly 79% of the households created, the fastest-growing household type is the single person living alone, which comprise 23% of all households and single-parent families account for 14% (Canada Census Statistics 1991 and projections). As household composition becomes more diverse I believe architects must develop new forms to accommodate these changes. The residential landscape we inhabit today is largely the result of Post WW II prosperity and values. In the 1950's the single-family house became the standard and bankers, builders and developers continue to concentrate the bulk of capital resources of housing on the model of the single family detached house despite the demographic shifts to new types of households. Today many individuals and families are experiencing difficulties in finding housing that meets their particular needs. The design solutions for the nineties will not work unless they challenge gender stereotypes glorified in the Post WW II pattern of development. This pattern of development implemented rigid zoning that separated activities of public life such as places of wage work from the activities of home life. Private life and public life, private space and public space are bound together despite cultural pressures to separate them, I believe even more so today more with emergence of the home office. In this project I explored ways to create more flexible forms of housing and much richer and complex sets of transitional spaces in order to accommodate the activities that are required to connect private life and public life effectively for today's population. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract . . . . . . . . . ii Table of Contents . . . . . . . iii Acknowledgement . . . . . . . v Aerial Photo of Richmond . . . . . . 1 Lower Mainland Seen From Space . . . . . 2 Photographs of Richmond . . . . . . 3 Map of Richmond Traffic Patterns Map of Richmond Residential Streets . . . . 4 Map of Richmond Zoning . . . . . . 5 Map of Richmond Drainage System . . . . 6 Map of Proposed Richmond Water Parkway . . . 7 Comparison of Footprint Map of Kitsilano Blocks To Footprint Map of Richmond Block . . . . 8 Zoning Map of Richmond Site Block . . . . 9 Map of Proposed Zoning for Site Block . . . . 10 Photograph of Site Looking South from Alexandra Road Photograph of Site Looking North from Alexandra Road . 11 Photograph of Context Model at 1:500 Photograph of Design Model at 1:100 . . . . 12 Site Plan and Section at 1:250 of Alexandra Court and Alderbridge Court Housing, Richmond, B.C. . . . 13 Photographs of Design Model at 1:100; Alderbridge Court Street Elevation Alderbridge Court Lane Elevation . . . . 14 Photographs of Design Model at 1:100; Alderbridge Court Street Elevation Alderbridge Court Elevation . . . . . 15 Alderbridge Court Ground Floor Plan at 1:100. . . 16 Alderbridge Court Ground Floor Plan at 1:100. . . 16 Alderbridge Court First Floor Plan at 1:100 . . . 17 Alderbridge Court Second Floor Plan at 1:100 . . . 18 Alderbridge Court Third Floor Plan at 1:100 . . . 19 Alderbridge Court Section BB at 1:100 . . . . 20 Alexandra Street Elevations at 1:100 and 1:200 South Court Elevations at 1:100 and 1:200 . . . 21 North Court Elevations at 1:100 and 1:200 Lane Elevations at 1:100 and 1:200 . . . . 22 Photographs of Design Model at 1:100; Alexander Court Street Elevation Alexander Court Lane Elevation . . . . 23 Photographs of Design Model at 1:100; Alexander Court Garden Elevation Alexander Court Garden Courtyard . . . . 24 Alexander Court Ground Floor Plan at 1:100 . . . 25 Alexander Court First Floor Plan at 1:100 . . . 26 Alexander Court Second Floor Plan at 1:100 . . . 27 Alexander Court Section AA at 1:100 . . . . 28 Alexander Street Elevations at 1:100 and 1:200 Court Elevations at 1:100 and 1:200 . . . . 29 North Court Elevations at 1:100 and 1:200 Lane Elevations at 1:100 and 1:200 . . . . 3 0 Three Block Maps Illustrating Three Distinct Street Patterns 31 Map and Diagram of Site Block Prototypes . . . 32 Map and Diagram of Transitional Model. . . . 33 Map and Diagram of Subdivision Model. . . . 34 Map and Diagram of Mixed Use Model . . . . 35 A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T I w o u l d l i k e t o t h a n k m y c o m m i t t e e S h e r r y M c K a y , S h e l l y C r a i g , M a r t i n L e w i s a n d L i n d a W h i t e f o r a l l t h e i r t i m e a n d s u p p o r t t h r o u g h t h e t h e s i s p r o c e s s . T h e i r i n t e r e s t a n d s u p p o r t o f m y i d e a s , c o n t r i b u t e d t o a v e r y r e w a r d i n g e x p e r i e n c e . V The Urban Quilt The beauty of the urban quilt depends on the contrast of its pattern and the quality of it's fabric Reproduced with Permission of Advanced Satellite Productions Inc. The Site: The Lower Mainland of British Columbia as seen from Space. The City of Vancouver occupies the peninsula in the upper left and beyond. Richmond the island is in the center bordered by the north and south arms of the Fraser River. The site indicated by the red dot is located in the more urbanized area of Richmond compared to the less populated agricultural area to the east. Do to rapid population growth there is increasing pressure to expand housing into these agricultural lands. In this proposal I suggest a way of densifying the existing urban/suburban areas in order to avoid using valuable farm land for housing. 2 Images of Richmond Richmond Traffic Patterns left: My project began with the mapping of Richmond overall. On this page and the next few pages I mapped out the traffic patterns, residential street patterns, zoning and drainage system. A clear picture emerged from this exploration. Richmond is characterized by having large blocks as a result of it's agrarian roots. Within these blocks the street structure is fortress-like with many cul-de-sacs, making it difficult to traverse through. It is easier to traverse along the edges . Richmond is also characterized by rigid zoning, with residential, commercial, industrial uses clearly separated. Lastly Richmond's landscape is very flat bordered by the north and south arms of the Fraser River. In order to drain stormwater run off there is an extensive ditch system with major drainage ditches along the major arterial roads with pump-houses on the north and south to pump the water out into the river. Richmond Residential Streets 4 5 6 Parkway Recreational Destinations Major Destinations above: After a thorough investigation of Richmonds attributes I proposed the possibility of a Water Parkway. The Water parkway would utilize the existing drainage system in Richmond.The Parkway would also serve as a corridor to allow movement by bicycle, walking or automobile to the various neighbourhoods, destinations and to the dykes along the Fraser River. 7 r^r^, m 1—M '"»>• HI HTTPO*! gnu" 3—Mil n——*>nfl H ! S 3 T 1 h^ Jf-rvji-Bi! HMHR ggeo In the process of mapping Richmond I thought it would be informative to make a comparison to a typical Vancouver block. The Vancouver block has a grid street pattern compared to the fortress-like street pattern of the Richmond block. In fact two Vancouver blocks fit inside one Richmond block. p j ^ P W^rfl E ? 3 5 ^ r^sssq W^m'W^S^] 0! °°°° j^jfj^l ^jfjf Wpaaxtit bmawdp^ frWofoobod; b^'VOT "q°°y'?M j ri'ttio Vancouver Kitsilano Block Richmond Site Superblock 8 - ^ " c a n n o n V • IV TJ ! aqa;ri poJQ padO fg-hy * DID H 0DQ;[!'Dn;D D :ajn.aj.a|oa t ^ t s j & E ^ S g Legend R e s i d e n t i a l • C o m m e r c i a l • S c h o o l s / I n s t i t u t i o n a l N ? above: The site block is typical of Richmond neighbourhood blocks. The block is strictly zoned to separate commercial and industrial from residential use. The typical block is large and with a fortress-like structure; making it difficult to traverse through by car and by foot. There are not a variety of housing options because there are predominantly single family homes. 9 Legend Residential Multiple Residential Mixed Use • Commercial I Institutional above: This is the proposed block after studying the conditions of the present block illustrated on the previous page. The proposed block has a denser neighbourhood with more varieties of housing. Mixed use and multiple residential are along the edges with commercial on the heavy traffic routes. The block has been broken up into smaller blocks to encourage more community interaction and to improve local circulation. The addition of the park-like streetscapes promote a "Garden City" image. 1 0 Photograph of Design Model at 1:100 12 CO Photographs of Design Model at 1:100 Alderbridge Court Street Elevation Photographs of Design Model at 1:100 Alderbridge Court Street Elevation Alderbridge Court Elevation 16 17 1 8 19 20 21 Photograph of Design Model at 1:100 Showing Alexandra Court Street Elevation Alexandra Court Garden 24 30 Patterns of Residential Inhabitation left and betow: The last step of my project was to apply my prototype model to different condtitions in Richmond. I identified three distinct patternsthat exist in Richmond blocks. I identifiedthese blocks according to their pattern .The "linear" block consists of long thin lots, with a few straight streets cutting through. The "fortress" block consistsof small lots with a very circuitous street pattern. Lastly the "site superblock" the block in which I developed my prototype, is a combination of the fore mentioned block patterns.The next few pages illustrate howl applied the prototype model to these different conditions. i r Site Superblock cjrrnniviiuuu'MHWiininiMfT Linear jurTTiiriHiiiiiMiiiiiiHiiiirrrumju-1 •JIIIIIIIIII: • ' J U i i m i l l -iHUiiinn 111iniiitimmninmincr Fortress 3 1 Site Block Model n r Superblock IT 3 E m i l am A Detached 2 Family Residence B Detached Res idence /Of f i ce Mul t ip lex j ! C Res iden t ia l /Commerc ia l D Townhouse M ixed Use E Car Or iented Commerc ia l Block Lot 32 Transitional Model 1\ iiit-ifiiHi iiiiiiiiiiiiiifTTmmri • —S i i M n i r i v\ t— LL - l H m i i H i i 111 iiimiMimii 111 I I H I U C Fortress Superblock b J K T T T l L I f i l , A Detached Residence/Office B Detached 2 Family Residence CTownhouse Mixed Use Multiplex i D Residential/Commercial 1MI 1 I 1 ! H M l 1 ( Block Lot 33 Subdivision Model juhatt i i i i iMi i i iHi iHi i i inrrnntDU-iiMiu n Block 34 Mixed Use Model ik Hu- l l DJB = [— L! JL. j . 3HID mm i IB £3111 n inrara tn LTJJTJI mm u :TrrniiMiiuiiiiiiuiiiui)iMrr L i n e a r S u p e r b l o c k -\ 1 T A B 1 C _P_ F 1!! 11 1 I a A Detached 2 Family Residence B Detached Residence/'Office I'J TTTTT I rTTTTTC B l o c k Multiplex C Residential/Commercial D Townhouse Mixed Use E Car Oriented Commercial 35