site visit

eddie vaughn
site visit: sunday 9-15 @ 2:45

weather:
sunny
few clouds
constant breeze perpendicular to site
smells like Chinese food

after arriving to the area from the t the first thing i began to observe were the people. on a sunday there was very little people walking around and even fewer walking in front of the building. there was only 1 bum begging for money on the summer st side and one bum setting up camp at the doorway on high st side. on the weekend it seems that there are more families/ couples than commuters. on the st in front of the site a couple of people would walk past it on avg. about 45 seconds. the only activity going on around was the re-painting of the wall. from the t stop the site is very easy to get to. because it is so tiny the building is easily overlooked unless you know what to look for. car wise there is slow traffic on the highway side and even less traffic on the high stside. the traffic on the highway side is completely constant. not alot of honking going on. on the st in front of the building there are 2 car lanes and 1 bike lane. poor st drainage which gives me an opportunity to engage there. there is only one st light in front of the building. daylight starts early and leaves the building at 3:30. there are small sections of landscape out front that can be used to tie in the site to the area. the front door is at the same level as the tree tops from the park. as the sun starts to go down it beats really hard on the side walk. animals are walked past the building so incorporating them will bring in more people. some places around the site include, parking garage, mbta hq, cafe, hair place, vision place and an American Express building. after the observation each of these items can be incorporated into the design which will determine what kinds of sustainable techniques will be applied to them.

some of the things to analyze are the 3 major ways commuters get to the south station area. bus bike and train.

to sum up the operation of the green roof at 250 hudson by fxfowle architects, i will run throguh the main steps i picked out. before anything can happen the structure must be analyzed to see if it needs to be reinforced to support the loadof the green roof and another load from people. the next step before design is to figure out a minimum of 2 egress points and a connection between interior and exterior that conforms to ada requirements. the next thing to look at is the edge of roof condition. whether there is an existing parapet that can be used as a rail or you need to install a railing that is 42" min.
before selecting vegetation a sunlight diagram needs to be created and from this diagram we can begin to select plants to be used. the next step is to design the area while considering the following factors, public space, maintenance and what types of native plants as well as the insects and animals that are drawn to certain plants that will have an impact on the life expectancy of the green roof. the 2 last factors to think about during the design process are the wind and water. being at a higher altitude how will the plants be affected by the wind. how will water get to the plants? once these factors are solved the roof can begin construction and then inhabited by people, animals and insects.