Goose Island’s Development Framework

WorkUniversity of Pennsylvania · Goose Island, Chicago

Goose Island’s Development Framework

A district for digital manufacturing and design on Chicago’s Goose Island

Study model of the proposal: the island’s new buildings in clear acrylic, set into a chipboard base map of the surrounding city
Study model, acrylic on chipboard
Study model, acrylic on chipboard

Project snapshot

My contribution

Role

Co-designed the proposal with my studio partner, and drew all of its drawings, diagrams and renderings

Scope

District strategy, rezoning and phasing, masterplan, axonometric and plan diagrams, perspective renderings, a study model and a project animation

With

Jungyoon Bae, studio partner • Nick Pevzner, studio critic

Project details

Location
Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois
Institution
University of Pennsylvania School of Design
Studio
LARP 602, Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning
Year
Spring 2015
Project type
Urban design · Strategic masterplan
Status
Studio proposal

00 Overview

A proposal for a Digital Manufacturing & Design District on Goose Island, a long-overlooked industrial island in the Chicago River with the potential to become the Midwest’s next tech hub. The plan builds on the island’s existing infrastructure and ties it to the energy of the neighborhoods around it.

Jungyoon Bae and I developed it in a spring 2015 studio at the University of Pennsylvania. We called it Triple Hierarchy, after the three elements the strategy rests on: connectivity, open space and city blocks. Together they were meant to draw a tech workforce to live and work on the island, with quality open space and a mix of uses.

01 Five operations

Unlock the island, then build it

The plan is carried out in five operations, in order: move the manufacturing zoning off the island, extend the commercial streets onto it, invest in parks, connect it to its neighbors, then fill it with offices and homes.

Rezoning for new development

The first step moves Goose Island’s Planned Manufacturing District (PMD) to the Elston Corridor on the western edge, between the island and I-90, reinforced there with incentives. That opens the island itself to commercial and residential development.

Axonometric diagram I, Rezoning: the Goose Island PMD outlined to be unlocked, beside the Clybourn and Elston Corridor PMDs, on a 3D model of the surrounding city
I. Rezoning: unlock the Goose Island PMD, reinforce the Elston Corridor PMD
FIG. 01I. Rezoning: unlock the Goose Island PMD, reinforce the Elston Corridor PMD
Perspective of a street in the Planned Manufacturing District: a bike lane, street trees, a brick warehouse and new towers behind
A street in the Planned Manufacturing District
FIG. 02A street in the Planned Manufacturing District

Active mixed-use streets

Next, three development cores on existing commercial corridors, North Avenue, Division Street and Halsted Street, extend their activity onto the island as mixed-use streets of shops, homes and offices.

Axonometric diagram II, Active mixed-use street: mixed-use zones where North Avenue, Division Street and Halsted Street meet the island
II. Active mixed-use street: mixed-use zones improve the streetscape
FIG. 03II. Active mixed-use street: mixed-use zones improve the streetscape
Night perspective of the Division Street mixed-use core: lit storefronts, a café terrace, a bench under a tree and people on bikes
Division Street mixed-use core
FIG. 04Division Street mixed-use core

Parks & open space

Investment in public open space follows: three parks, Goose Landing, Gateway Square and Goose Point, joined by a Green Loop into a larger network that connects to the Chicago River and the Loop. The parks are meant to raise property values and draw further residential and commercial development.

Axonometric diagram III, Open space: Goose Landing, Square Park and Point Park lifted off the model, joined by a loop along the river
III. Open space: three parks and a loop
FIG. 05III. Open space: three parks and a loop
Perspective of Goose Point Park: a lawn on a raised deck over a sheltered gathering space, with steps down to the riverfront
Goose Point Park
FIG. 06Goose Point Park

Connectivity

New vehicle bridges at Blackhawk and Ogden, new pedestrian bridges and improved access points let the neighborhoods around the island reach its parks and amenities.

Axonometric diagram IV, Additional connection: the new Black Hawk and Ogden bridges and pedestrian access points, with the commercial corridors around the island
IV. Additional connection: two vehicle bridges and pedestrian access
FIG. 07IV. Additional connection: two vehicle bridges and pedestrian access
Perspective of the riverwalk: a timber deck with people at the water’s edge, a new pedestrian bridge and the Loop skyline beyond
A new pedestrian bridge on the riverwalk
FIG. 08A new pedestrian bridge on the riverwalk

Further development

Last, flexible office space and housing fill key sites near the parks and the commercial cores: clusters of shops, homes and parks, alongside hubs of high-tech office space.

Axonometric diagram V, Relocating: light industry and office across the middle of the island, residential near the parks
V. Relocating: light industry and office, residential
FIG. 09V. Relocating: light industry and office, residential
Perspective of Gateway Square: a paved plaza with fountains and seating steps, a market under tents, new housing and the skyline beyond
Gateway Square and new housing
FIG. 10Gateway Square and new housing

02 Investment phases

Three phases, fifteen years

Investment comes in three phases over 15 years: first the land and the streets, then production space and the first homes, and finally offices, more housing and the open space that ties it together.

Investment phase 1 on the 3D city model: acquired industrial land, street enhancements, the commercial cores and industry corridor, and parcels held for parks

Phase 1: land acquisition, street enhancements and the mixed-use commercial cores

Showing image 01 / 03

FIG. 11Three phases over 15 years, one per slide

03 Masterplan

Tied back into the city

The masterplan brings it together: a district connected to the wider fabric of Chicago through its public open spaces and new connections.

Annotated masterplan of Goose Island: the North Avenue, Division Street and Halsted Street mixed-use cores, the tech office core, the industrial corridor and its light industrial buffer, recreation areas and the new Blackhawk and Ogden bridges
FIG. 12Masterplan, annotated
Circulation diagram: major arteries and circulation streets, both with bike lanes, a pedestrian edge trail along the river, and pedestrian and vehicular bridges
Circulation
City block diagram: commercial mixed-use, office, light industrial, industrial and institutional blocks
City blocks
Open space diagram: Goose Landing, the Green Loop, Gateway Square and Goose Point, with their connections to the neighborhoods
Open space
Adaptive reuse diagram: the existing buildings the plan keeps and reuses, with Wrigley International, the current UI Labs, a substation and Kendall College named
Building adaptive reuse
FIG. 13The masterplan, one layer at a time
Perspective of Goose Landing Park across the river: kayaks on the water, a raised promenade and lawn, housing and towers behind, a bike lane in front
Goose Landing Park
FIG. 14Goose Landing Park
The project animation: Goose Island located in Chicago, the design drivers (connectivity, vehicular and pedestrian corridors, open space, building blocks), then the mechanisms (rezoning, mixed-use cores, parks, bridges, development) with their renders; it ends on the credits
Triple Hierarchies: the project animation (May 2016)
FIG. 15Triple Hierarchies: the project animation (May 2016)