While studying at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, I noticed a significant issue: the town lacked a central hub to unite people of all ages, including students, families, and the elderly. Blacksburg needed to transcend its reputation as solely a college town, and that became the main focus of my thesis. My goal was to explore effective ways of connecting people and boosting the town's economy.
Drawing from my experience growing up in a European town, I realized that Blacksburg didn't have a dedicated space for its residents. The streets were dominated by vehicles, making it difficult for pedestrians to navigate. Main St., the busiest road in town, connected the south and north but was consistently congested, especially at night when students were out and about.
To address this issue, I chose to intervene near the lively downtown area. Draper St., which runs parallel to Main St. and serves as the border between Blacksburg and Virginia Tech campus, seemed ideal. While Draper St. currently accommodated both vehicles and pedestrians, it didn't experience significant traffic. I decided to remove vehicular traffic from a four-block stretch, from College Avenue to Washington St. This section housed important landmarks like the Black House and the iconic Benny pizza place. The Farmer's Market, where locals sold fresh local produce twice a week, was also located here, along with popular social spots like Rivermill and Milk Parlor. To make space for new structures like a greenhouse, hotel, apartment complex, and retail spaces, I planned to eliminate some parking lots. The urban intervention would have only one intersection, where Draper St. meets Roanoke St., allowing for shared use by vehicles and pedestrians. This intersection would also serve as a drop-off point for Farmer's Market vendors.
I firmly believe that this project has immense potential to benefit Blacksburg, not just financially but also by enriching its cultural fabric. / Master of Architecture / While at Grad school in Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA), I realized the lack of a connecting point between all the group ages including students, families and elderly people. Blacksburg should be more than a college town, and this is the main point of my thesis. How to connect people in a successful way as well as helping the town's economy.
Based on my experience growing up in a European town, I realized there is no place in Blacksburg fully dedicated to people. All the streets share vehicular and pedestrian circulation. Main St. is the busiest in town, but it is also the principal axis connecting south and north Blacksburg. This road always has traffic, and it is not safe for pedestrians, especially at night when the students come out.
This intervention should be close to downtown where activities take place. For this reason, I chose Draper St. which is directly parallel to Main St, acting as the borderline between Blacksburg and Virginia Tech campus. This street is currently design for cars and people, but it does not have a lot of traffic, so I decided to remove the vehicular circulation along 4 blocks, from College Avenue to Washington St. This portion has some important buildings such as the Black House, and the iconic Benny pizza place. There is also a very important location on this street, the Farmer Market where they sell fresh local products every Wednesday and Saturday. Rivermill and Milk Parlor are some popular social places on this street. There are some parking lots which I am getting rid of to add other structures like a green house, a hotel, an apartment complex and retail among others. This urban scale intervention will only have one intersection at Draper St. and Roanoke St. where cars will share road with pedestrians. This will also allow for a place to drop off the products for the Farmer Market.
In my opinion this project will bring a lot of benefits to the town of Blacksburg, not only financially but also culturally.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/115691 |
| Date | 09 July 2023 |
| Creators | Rodriguez Gil, Alejandro |
| Contributors | Architecture, Ruiz Geli, Enrique, Edge, Kay F., Al, Stefan Johannes |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Coverage | Blacksburg, Virginia, United States |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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