Analysis Week 1

Design

Week: 9

Date: 3-1

Submitted: LBT

NARRATIVE

City Icons, Destinations, and Their Success

 

Being a tourist, I am experiencing cities through their tourist attractions.  Not the best way for true understanding of a place, I’ll admit, but it’s how it works.  This being so; I have found that tourists, and really all people, are attracted to two main things: famous stuff and other people.  This can all work, but there is a problem in that, many times, the famous sites are only for the tourists.  This would be fine if tourists only wanted to see other tourists, but they don’t; they want to see locals doing their thing, whatever that may be.  

 

China, specifically Beijing has a good thing going.  They have and make their tourist destinations parks so that both the locals and tourists are attracted to them.  They charge full price for tourists because they can do so and a vastly discounted rate to locals to encourage them to come often.  

 

My design idea, at a much smaller and different scale, is for Ball State’s bell tower.  Current plans call for the bell tower to be located inside a street meridian island.  This is fine, if the space is only meant to be viewed and not experienced, but my plan lets pedestrians and drivers experience the space.  It draws pedestrians from the sidewalk and the north quad to make the space active while still remaining a icon for the school.

Detailed Plan of space with flower and seating stairs area

NEXT

Proposed bell tower plan

Design to integrate students and visitors