Urban Brownfield Integration – Site Planning and Design Implementation of the Baltimore Community Center

Abstract

Many of the mid-west and eastern cities in the United States were first formed through industrial manufacturing which relied on waterways – rivers, canals, and lakes – to ship the necessary raw materials. As industry and manufacturing declined throughout the 19th century, many cities were left with large, waterfront sites, often contaminated with chemicals and empty industrial buildings. These waterfront sites – designated "Urban Brownfields" – became important potential centerpieces to the revitalization of the cities where manufacturing facilities were slowly being replaced by buildings that would better serve the modern community for tourism, office space, and land use uses ranging from parks to centers for cultural arts.

The basic premise of this thesis project is to investigate what can be done to reclaim the often-vast parcels of land that are considered Urban Brownfields – land that once held active industry, but now is left abandoned. The Allied Chemical plant site in Baltimore is a prototypical site that exemplifies many of the issues shared by these types of sites. The project is a vehicle to explore design in terms of structures and their relationship to "domesticated nature." The project development process also considers urban planning and components of growth for urban areas, as well as the importance of density. Design elements incorporate industrial imagery and considerations relative to human scale and experience – from macro to micro. Out of these goals stemmed a project that became the Baltimore Community Waterfront Park and Recreation Center.