Dallas City Block in Texas by SLAB architecture, PLLC

Article source: SLAB architecture, PLLC 

The World’s populations continue to migrate towards cities. In the case of our country, people are again returning downtown to live and to work. To make our future cities healthy and livable, it is imperative that urban development embrace sustainable design strategies and adopt necessary guidelines and regulations. The city block– the basic DNA of urban planning–provides the appropriate scale for intervening and speculating on the future well-being of our cities.  Sustainability, in its broadest definition, includes a range of issues from environmental technologies, lifestyles, community integration, to education and economics. Our project aims to address these essential issues and illustrate through a design proposition that sustainability can be a catalyst for both change and innovation.

Image Courtesy © SLAB architecture, PLLC

• Architects: SLAB architecture, PLLC
• Project: Dallas City Block
• Location: Dallas, Texas, USA
  
• Project Team: Jeffrey Johnson and Jill Leckner (principals); Jessica Dobkin, Aimee Duquette, Adam Koogler, Magda Wala, Sid Wichienkuer
• Size: 661,000 SF
• Date: 2009

Image Courtesy © SLAB architecture, PLLC

Among sustainability’s multi-faceted opportunities, the GROW-your-BLOCK project believes that active participation is essential for a visionary sustainable development. Engagement not only promotes enthusiasm, but also supports hands-on education and experimentation.

Image Courtesy © SLAB architecture, PLLC

With education and participation at the forefront, this project is organized around two key programmatic elements: The first is a ‘Wellness Loop’ which provides an experiential narrative on the topic of ‘Wellness’ (Mind, Body, Nourishment, Nature, and Play).

Image Courtesy © SLAB architecture, PLLC

The second, an ‘Arable Land Loop’, expands on the cooperative community garden model and creates a functioning arable farm within the block. Both loops twist through the complex, continually enticing residents and visitors.

Image Courtesy © SLAB architecture, PLLC

Image Courtesy © SLAB architecture, PLLC

Image Courtesy © SLAB architecture, PLLC

Image Courtesy © SLAB architecture, PLLC 

Tags: Texas, USA

Categories: Housing Development, Mixed use, Residential

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 31st, 2016 at 7:57 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.