Thus Spoke Jacksonville

[DrewKB]

Hey all,

I'm a fifth-year student at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri about to receive my Masters of Architecture and for my thesis studio project this past semester I did an urban design project in downtown Jacksonville.  My thesis document that I wrote last fall was addressing a new way to analyze and develop American neighborhoods as part of the metropolitan areas that they come together to form, and I focused on Jacksonville because I am originally from Daytona Beach and due to how sprawled and lacking of an identity the downtown area currently is.  Check out my design work over the past semester at my blog, http://dkbthesis.wordpress.com/, and feel free to ask me any questions you may have.

[simms3]

^^^I took a look and I can tell you've put a lot of thought and effort into it.  I'm frankly surprised nobody else has commented.  Pretty amazing, actually.  Hope you get recognition for all of this at school!

[jcjohnpaint]

Pretty Amazing!  I did look at your site earlier and really enjoyed your work. 

[BridgeTroll]

Pretty cool stuff!  looking forward to commentary by some of our urban planners... 

[tufsu1]

I look forward to checking it out!

[BoldBoyOfTheSouth]

I'm very happy that you remember out little village.

It's very cool that you think outside of the box and dare to dream of a thriving 21st century downtown Jacksonville.

Thank you!

[BoldBoyOfTheSouth]

Have you've heard of the Jacksonville neighborhood of Murray Hill?

I, for one, would love to see how you envision the future of Murray Hill and Edgewood Avenue Sourh?!?

[benfranklinbof]

Have you've heard of the Jacksonville neighborhood of Murray Hill?

I, for one, would love to see how you envision the future of Murray Hill and Edgewood Avenue Sourh?!?

I would also like to see. I love Murray hill.

[fsujax]

Nice work. Thanks for sharing with us.

[IrvAdams]

Wow! This is great stuff, thanks for posting. There's a lot of information here. I'm sure those well-versed in urban planning will weigh in on this.

[DrewKB]

Thanks to all who have viewed and commented on the project, I really appreciate it!  It was a lot of fun to put together over the past year.

I'm not incredibly familiar with the Murray Hill neighborhood, but based on the time I've spent in Jacksonville and the article with images and descriptions on this website I can tell that it has a distinct image about it that can certainly be utilized by the whole city.  One thing I loved about visiting Riverside and San Marco in particular was how they had subtle changes in home design--beautiful brick homes in San Marco and beautiful wood siding homes in Riverside.  Murray Hill has the same thing going for it with the bungalow style from what I can tell.  Edgewood Avenue also appears to be a strong thoroughfare that adds an infrastructural element to the expressive design gestures being made.  What, then, regarding the way that Murray Hill and these other neighborhoods have formed distinct identities over the years, can be applied at the high-rise scale to downtown Jacksonville in order to create a yet-to-be-discovered level of cohesion?  That's how urban fabric--something greater than an assimilation of objects within a generated infrastructure--can form in a place like Jacksonville.

[IrvAdams]

Thanks to all who have viewed and commented on the project, I really appreciate it!  It was a lot of fun to put together over the past year.

I'm not incredibly familiar with the Murray Hill neighborhood, but based on the time I've spent in Jacksonville and the article with images and descriptions on this website I can tell that it has a distinct image about it that can certainly be utilized by the whole city.  One thing I loved about visiting Riverside and San Marco in particular was how they had subtle changes in home design--beautiful brick homes in San Marco and beautiful wood siding homes in Riverside.  Murray Hill has the same thing going for it with the bungalow style from what I can tell.  Edgewood Avenue also appears to be a strong thoroughfare that adds an infrastructural element to the expressive design gestures being made.  What, then, regarding the way that Murray Hill and these other neighborhoods have formed distinct identities over the years, can be applied at the high-rise scale to downtown Jacksonville in order to create a yet-to-be-discovered level of cohesion?  That's how urban fabric--something greater than an assimilation of objects within a generated infrastructure--can form in a place like Jacksonville.

I like that term - "urban fabric". I am from an older generation and our big thing was the automobile and you were considered prosperous the further you lived from the downtown core (and of course by the price of the car you drove). Now the pendulum has swung the other way and young people want to be in closer, more homogenous spaces with access to all amenities within walking or bicycling distance if possible. Actually, this idea is beginning to appeal to me also, after 30 years or so of sitting in traffic jams.

Again, good praise for your work. I am not a qualified expert, but your presentation looks as good or better than many that our leaders here have paid big bucks to consulting companies to produce.