Boise 8th Street Cultural District in Boise, Idaho by Morgan Maiolie

Article source: Morgan Maiolie

This project looks at what makes Boise unique and builds upon those elements to create a cultural district that promotes Boise as a place. The Boise 8th Street Cultural District design embraces sustainability as a form generator. Green roofs, downtown agriculture, solar access, and responsible water use combined to form the project. The district’s highest priority is to be of and for Boise, because there is nothing more sustainable than a beautiful, lively, city where people will want to walk, bike, create, and live.

After Grove : Image courtesy Morgan Maiolie 

• Architects: Morgan Maiolie
• Project: Boise 8th Street Cultural District
• Location: Boise, Idaho, USA
• Software used: Google Sketchup, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator

Before Grove : Image courtesy Morgan Maiolie

Boise enjoys 300 sunny days a year and the abundance of sun makes outdoor living possible even in colder months. In this way, the sun could be said to define daily life in Boise. Diagram 1 shows proposed south-facing facades of buildings along the 8th Street Cultural District. The downtown street grid does not run directly north south, so to allow buildings to address the street as well as maintain south-facing facades a diagonal tilt becomes necessary.

bodo after : Image courtesy Morgan Maiolie

This diagonal is existing in a few downtown Boise buildings (Grove Hotel, Wells Fargo Building, US Bank Building) already and is proposed to be carried forward as a defining aesthetic of the cultural district. The major benefit of a south facing facade is that sun from the south is most easy to control for natural lighting and most easily adaptable for outdoor space.

bodo before : Image courtesy Morgan Maiolie

Diagram 2 addresses the potential for green roofs, roof decks, and rooftop gardens in Boise to further outdoor living opportunities and inject green space into this otherwise very dense area. Diagram 3 shows how water can be collected from impervious roofs and streetscapes and channeled toward street-side bioswales.

culture piazza after : Image courtesy Morgan Maiolie

Added stories, green roofs and patios around The Grove. Patios provide more seating and standing space for Grove events, effectively expanding The Grove. Green roofs promote a natural “grove” atmosphere on upper levels. Plan for the area around the river. Shows how bioswales enter the river as well as the anaerobic digestor connected to the library which provides heat to the building and clean water to the river and community gardens.

culture piazza before : Image courtesy Morgan Maiolie

Dancer-s Studio : Image courtesy Morgan Maiolie

Diagrams : Image courtesy Morgan Maiolie

Rendering : Image courtesy Morgan Maiolie

Bioswale section : Image courtesy Morgan Maiolie

figure ground : Image courtesy Morgan Maiolie

Grove Plan : Image courtesy Morgan Maiolie

Image courtesy Morgan Maiolie

Section : Image courtesy Morgan Maiolie

water district plan : Image courtesy Morgan Maiolie

Tags: Boise, Idaho

Categories: Cultural Center, Illustrator, Photoshop, SketchUp, Street

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013 at 7:28 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.