While studying the plan further over the weekend, I noticed that some graphical elements would quickly flash on the screen and then disappear as I scrolled through the drawing. I had seen this with my own mock-ups, which got me thinking there was more to this document than met the eye. I proceeded to open the file in a graphics program. Lo and behold - there was more under the surface!
I thought it was odd that the condos (yellow-gold) would be arranged in large, monolithic buildings. Upon further inspection, there was a good deal of extra space set aside for parking. Since there are 560 residential units in the core village area, there would have to be at least that many spaces for residents, plus a set number of visitor spots. The rest of the parking could be split between the retail part of the village and the ballpark. I'm assuming there'd be one level of garage parking, but it's possible there could be two levels. The layout of the residential-only buildings allows for large plazas above the parking, which will be needed as all of the elements are set rather tightly with limited amounts of open space at street level.
When looking at the plan it's easy to ignore the legend at the right. The legend's explanations pull everything together - sort of. The numbers deserve to be explained further - and once that's done it starts to really take shape.
- Building B1 - Ballpark
- B2 - Left field building, mixed use, 11 residences
- B3 - Right field building, mixed use, 13 residences
- V1 - Residential, 89 units
- V2 - Commercial, 140,000 s.f.
- V3 - Residential, 87 units
- V4 - Mixed use, 44 units, 48,000 s.f.
- V5 - Residential, 57 units
- V6 - Mixed use, 24 units, 56,000 s.f.
- V7 - Mixed use, 28 units, 71,000 s.f.
- V8 - Commercial, 30,000 s.f.
- V9 - Mixed use, 100 units, 77,000 s.f.
- V10 - Mixed use, 23 units, 34,000 s.f.
- V11 - Mixed use, 52 units, 29,000 s.f.
- V12 - Commercial, 3,000 s.f.
- V13 - Mixed use, 54 units, 30,000 s.f.
V9 has to be the busiest piece outside of the ballpark because it contains the hotel, a relatively large amount of parking, and 100 housing units to boot. V2 and V7 are potential homes for larger retailers.
The core village is over 20% smaller than Santana Row in terms of acreage and retail/commercial space. There are fewer than half the residences as well. While the buildings will vary in height and cladding, they probably won't be as tall as their Santana Row counterparts.
Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the ballpark's footprint. The artist placed a bitmap over the top of the footprint, but I removed it and what's left is a most unusual outfield design. There's no indication that the Polo Grounds-like outfield will carry over to the final project. Nonetheless it is a change of pace from the all too commonplace bandbox design we've seen elsewhere. This is one element I'd take with a grain of salt.
12 comments:
ML,
Will the parking you outlined be underground/multi-level with surface greenspaces around the condo's? That sounds wonderfully intriguing if true...and also expensive.
I like the outfield configuration as illustrated! It would create a unique bleacher experience in each outfield with excellent sight lines. I hope this configuration passes final muster.
There may be greenspaces, but will they be accessible to the public? There space is there for additional community uses, like a gym or pool.
How is the stadium oriented anyways? Will the sun be in the fielders or batters faces?
The batter will be facing north. It could be a tough sky for outfielders, though in the Bay Area a tough sky might have more to do with haze than sun.
Are they having parking garage in Ballpark Village? How about Transportation?
The more crowds they get like tonight's, the less they will have to worry about the buses.
Pathetic. I was there and I felt alone.
First of all, those plans make my pants tight. Second, Jeffrey and I might have been the only two people in the stands last night...pathetic is right.
The parking shown is probably dedicated to retail and residential uses, so there would be limited parking available for the ballpark. Transportation isn't laid out. If the train station plans remain as they are a shuttle will be needed from that site. Same with BART.
ML, any thoughts on entry gates with the park aligned the way it is now? I would assume that most, if not all, of the entry gates would have to be in the outfield to maximize foot traffic in the retail areas.
ML, any thought how many Stores and restaurants are in the BallPark Village? Any thought we just scan ticket ourselve instead of worker scan ticket?
Wolff said that his intent is enable to fans to walk around the ballpark village during the game, so that they could go to whatever restaurants or bars they wanted. That'll introduce technology, perhaps RFID-equipped phones or prox cards. Or it may be an extended version of the e-ticket system I used earlier this season.
There's no parking behind the grandstand, so I wouldn't be surprised if there were simply one gate behind home plate and three in the outfield.
As far as the footprint for the ballpark goes...the renderings on the A's site do have the centerfield wall at 410 but the outfield wall is nothing like the sketch shown here.
Post a Comment