| Site: Silicon Valley San Jose, CA Harvard University, Professor: Rodolfo Machado with Ducksu Seo Spring 2009 San Jose, located in the heart of Silicon Valley, seeks to elevate its downtown core with innovative urban design and symbolic architecture to create a place of joy, function, identity, and pride. Such a place should transform the mode of life in a traditional California suburban city by combining a pre-eminent multi-modal transit station with a strong employment base, a large residential community, entertainment, open space, and mixed uses. The City of San Jose brought in the Harvard University Graduate School of Design to assist in considering transportation and urban planning issues surrounding the large-scale transit hub. Historically a mixed industrial and residential just west of the Guadalupe River, the San Jose Diridon Station Study Area (Diridon) is at the western edge of the downtown core of San Jose. The station is served by a plethora of public transportation options including: Caltrain, ACE, VTA light rail, Amtrak, and in the future, BART and a high-speed rail connection to southern California. An airport north of the site heavily restricts the building height of the development, forcing a low, but dense design. Existing land uses of the 130-acre site include some industrial and office, but are primarily composed of on-surface parking. The plan combines an iconic new transportation hub for the region, a baseball stadium to complement the existing indoor stadium, and a series of building typologies that cater to technology based industries, upstart incubation space, and affordable housing. The open space along the Guadalupe River is expanded and strong pedestrian and road connections help to link the transit hub to the historic center of San Jose. |
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