Focusing on the existing sites south east of the intersection of Grand and Broadway within the Lloyd district I created this model to diagram a few main factors of this area.
1) To the southwest the Willamette River flows north. Many bridges cross it, but of the most distinction is the Steel Bridge, shown by the double arrows in the bottom left corner of the photograph. These arrows represent the double deck of five modes of transportation that cross it everyday.
2) Just over the bridge, a few pocket parks pop up. Here they are represented in clusters of green-knotted ribbon. No green space of mass exists nearby.
3) The roads convolute just beyond the bridge in an organic mixture of curves and confusion. I pass through this area everyday, and still don’t understand it.
4) In the center of the model, the freeway is represented. It acts as a huge barrier between the Lloyd district and the river, although some sights can be had underneath it. The yellow ribbon running through a recycled journal spine represents this barrier of noise, mass, and speed.
5) A few landmarks stand out within this area. Primarily the Rose Garden and the Metropolitan Exposition Recreation Commission. These large wide buildings set the tone of a grand scale. Further east are high-rise buildings, which also set the precedent for tall buildings within the area.
6) Just beyond the freeway, the streets begin to organize themselves again, breaking off into a few main axes for MAX, bicycle, and cars. The streets form a grid with numbers running north south and names running east west.
The observations from making this diagram of the Lloyd district has helped me decide on an empty lot just to the east of the freeway for my site.