Group Members: Mandy Boccio, Firas Chamas, Erika Omae, Jacob Stinson
Duration: 12 hours
Manhattan, KS
The 2016 Central States Region Student Design Competition was held in Manhattan, Kansas this past October. Each of the six participating schools consisted of four members and a faculty advisor. The purpose of this 12-hour long design charrette was to propose a new regional design and pedestrian link to reconnect the public realm in Manhattan with the riverfront.
The Grass Stitch provides a framework of three distinct components that reconnect the city to the riverfront. The first component of the project is an urban village. The urban village is set within the extension of the urban grid across Fort Riley Blvd. to the edge of the existing levee. The urban village contains six mix-used structures which provides a variety of commercial, professional, and residential amenities. The current railroad is suppressed into the site to provide a more pedestrian friendly environment. The second component is a micro-forest that allows the existing river vegetation to expand over the levee and provides a counterpoint to the urban village. The micro-forest also provides a green filter to block the visual and acoustical noise of the existing city to the walking paths along the levee. The final element of the Grass Stitch is a grass pier that provides a scenic overlook and a pedestrian bridge over the Kansas River. The scenic overlook extends to the south of the urban village over the existing levee and provides a view of the Kansas River valley below. The remaining grass pier extends itself over the river to the other side and links to a new set of walking paths north to Fairmont Park.