This project is a small part of a larger master plan for redeveloping Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. For the first half of the quarter, everybody in this small studio collaborated on an overall master plan for Over-the-Rhine. The plan called for specific redevelopment projects in strategic areas around the neighborhood. All of these locations would be linked with a streetcar loop in hopes of creating a spine that would act as a catalyst for new growth.After the master plan was completed, groups of two or three people split up to take on the more specific design projects. This area is Broadway Commons, a large area on the edge of downtown and Over-the-Rhine that used to be railroad yards, but is now just a large parking lot. This site would be redeveloped as a park and transit center which would be used to link local and Greyhound buses with the streetcar loop and a proposed light-rail corridor along Interstate 71.
Personal responsibilities included the design of the east side residential block as well as the roundabout on the west side of the site and some overall landscape planning. The residential development acts as an edge along the side of the site, it is also a buffer from Interstate 71 and Gilbert Avenue. The homes all face into the park, which will improve safety, because residents can see what is happening in the park. The houses are styled similar to those around Over-the-Rhine and in Mt. Adams in the background.As part of the residential development there is also a new incline plane going up to Mt. Adams in the background. This new incline replaces one that was dismantled nearly 50 years ago, and will act as a tourist attraction and easy way to get pedestrians up and down the hill and across the highway. The design of the incline structure takes cues from the Columbia Parkway viaduct to the south, which was built in the 1930s. The arched steel girders are common in bridge design around the Cincinnati area.