CHRISTOPHER ANDREWS ARCHITECT & TOWN PLANNER
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THE EVOLUTION OF A NEW NEIGHBORHOOD RIO VISTA CALIFORNIA RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT PART I
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A typical residential street in the new development |
Plan of vegetation and drainage |
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The town of Rio Vista on the Sacramento River is undergoing growth and revitalization as a bedroom and retirement community convenient to both the Bay Area and Sacramento. However thus far, most new development has been automobile oriented and disconnected from the existing urban structure. Yet within the older parts of Rio Vista are lively communities, with a balance of public open spaces and private porches, where children play on the streets, all within walking distance of Main Street. In this vision for a new residential neighborhood on a site in the Montezuma Hills of Rio Vista, development occurs incrementally over time. The first increment is connected to the existing town infrastructure, within walking distance of Main Street. It is woven into the landscape setting of the Montezuma Hills and preserves much of the ecologically significant open spaces of its hilltops and valleys. The genesis and implementation of this vision is based on observation and understanding of the existing landscape, particularly the topography, the flow of water, the existing road infrastructure and the vernacular typology of the old town blocks and simple houses with front porches facing onto the streets. The entire layout of the neighborhood is woven through with a system of vegetation and drainage that descends from the high point of the hilltop park through the tree lawns of the tree lined streets and shared rear yard swales, down to the low-lying seasonal wetlands areas. This system seeks to slow the flow of storm water and to use the detention of this water to promote a finer grain of topographical and microclimatic variation. In the future there this system might also provide for gray water and waste water treatment. |
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BACK TO TOWN PLANNING PROJECTS
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