4 visions to bridge the gap between Downtown and Midtown (Atlanta: neighborhood, theatre)

[cqholt]

Four Visions for Midtown Atlanta - Curbed Atlanta

Every year the Urban Land Institute (ULI) hosts the Hines Student Competition, challenging urban planning and design graduate students to test their skills on a real-life case study. This year, the ULI chose a site straddling Midtown and downtown, highlighting the unrealized potential of the neighborhood. Located along The Connector, between Linden Avenue and 5th Street, the dozen-or-so-block site is a mix of parking lots and some of Atlanta's most iconic properties, including the Bank of America Plaza, Fox Theatre, the Varsity, and AT&T Midtown Center.

Four teams were selected as finalists, all bringing major redevelopment plans to the table, demonstrated through reports and visual presentations. While the proposals vary widely, a commonality among them is the preservation of the Varsity, though some did take liberties with the property, adding organic food markets and cooking demonstrations — a laughable juxtaposition to any native Atlantan. ("What'll ya have — a kale pomegranate smoothie?")

Below are snippets of the proposals produced by the finalists including a hometown team from Georgia Tech, two teams from Harvard, and one from the University of Miami.

[primaltech]

(I'll just copy/paste my comment from Curbed

Capping certain, level sections of the Connector (connecting bridges together) is fine, either way on that, but more than that isn’t needed, and would be extremely expensive anyway.

What I would rather see in the city is just general beautification everywhere, and hiding the ugly from view (incl. the highway, and any other concrete gulches or eyesores), and adding pretty stuff and green stuff as much as humanly possible.

Build a few more bridges for connectivity, and make all the bridges in the city look like 5th st plaza, where it’s a pleasant park-like stroll, and you can’t even tell there’s a highway underneath.

Also, plenty of examples along the Connector, like the hideous fence/wall along Williams St:
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.7776...7i13312!8i6656

…could be made to look like 5th st plaza as well, with a line of thick trees in front of a high wall, completely hiding the Connector. That could be done over on the west side as well, along Techwood. Basically in general you can tuck away and hide the presence of the highway, without capping it. And you can just simply build really high concrete walls alongside it, so that it looks and feels like it’s underground, without actually being so. Not visually prominent in the scene or feel of the streets above. A great example of this is GA 400 @ Peachtree Rd.

[Atlwarrior]

Close Pine Street shelter period! Its not a mystery.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by Atlwarrior

Close Pine Street shelter period! Its not a mystery.

Only if we have a solid plan on what to do with the person's displaced by closing the shelter. I mean real plans, no the usual 'just send them to Cobb hahaha' bull. The homeless problem won't just go away by closing the shelter, and we need real places to send these people so they don't just end up wandering peachtree.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Atlwarrior

Close Pine Street shelter period! Its not a mystery.

The City of Atlanta has been trying to close down the Pine Street shelter for many years, even going so far at one point as to try and get the utilities shut off there, but all to no avail.

The lady that runs the place has been extremely adept at getting around court orders and surviving through repeated city attempts to close the shelter.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by primaltech

What I would rather see in the city is just general beautification everywhere, and hiding the ugly from view (incl. the highway, and any other concrete gulches or eyesores), and adding pretty stuff and green stuff as much as humanly possible.

I totally agree, and I would start by expanding the coverage area of the Ambassador Force vacuum-mobiles. They do a pretty good job keeping the immediate Downtown area free of garbage. But the area between the connector and Boulevard is thoroughly littered with garbage at all times. It's particularly bad on Edgewood. One would think this city would take pride in the area right around the MLK sites, but I guess that isn't the case.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Four Visions for Midtown Atlanta - Curbed Atlanta

The best one is the ConvergeATL Harvard team.








Capping the Connector should always be the priority...

[Hokiehaven]

Originally Posted by aries4118

The best one is the ConvergeATL Harvard team.








Capping the Connector should always be the priority...

Agreed

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by aries4118

The best one is the ConvergeATL Harvard team.








Capping the Connector should always be the priority...

Yes, but we cannot cap the entire length. One carp should stretch from 14th to North Ave. The next cap, should start at Spring St and go to Piedmont Ave/Baker St. The third and final should be the Capital Green cap.

[CCATL]

Originally Posted by JPD

I totally agree, and I would start by expanding the coverage area of the Ambassador Force vacuum-mobiles. They do a pretty good job keeping the immediate Downtown area free of garbage. But the area between the connector and Boulevard is thoroughly littered with garbage at all times. It's particularly bad on Edgewood. One would think this city would take pride in the area right around the MLK sites, but I guess that isn't the case.

Yes, Edgewood Ave needs some TLC. The area is exploding, but basics like picking up trash just don't happen. That road is littered at all times, sometimes really bad. Putting more trash cans along that stretch could be a start.