Abstract
This thesis examines design strategies for mixed-use developments that promote a sense of community. This sense, expressed in various ways including placemaking and other urban design considerations, is especially important to young professionals (ages 21-29) because they seek belonging and connectedness in their surroundings. The specific objective of this thesis is to explore design elements that create a sense of community within a mixed-use, urban development and apply these design elements to a hypothetical mixed-use development for young professionals. The targeted site is the historic Coca Cola Building within the All Saints District of Tallahassee, Florida, a district adjacent to an area currently slated to be part of the Gaines Street Revitalization Project. This project is a city initiative intended to revitalize and redevelop the Gaines Street Corridor and reenergize this downtown area into an arts-based live-work area. The site functioned as a bottling plant for the Coca-Cola Company in its original context; therefore the industrial character of the area inspires the concept of the design. The design incorporates the factory aesthetic of the industrial power loom, which embodies the ideas of urban fabric and weaving members of the community together to form a single tight knit community. This design proposal explores fostering a sense of community among young professionals via reenergizing an existing building that is part of the local urban fabric. In order to achieve community, the design incorporates such elements as activity stations, as well as grouped seating arrangements created to allow for social interaction among young professionals. The design also includes venues such as a gallery space where members of the community may display their own work, allowing for placemaking through personalization. By employing suitable elements and principles of interior design coupled with an attention to urban placemaking, this proposal’s goal is to anchor the All Saints District community with a vibrant built place for living, working, and playing.
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