S-14
Rail-Lots

With Maggie Tsang (Instructor), Peyton Chiang, and Jefferson Xia
Houston, Texas
Nov 2022

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Project Description

In Houston, the expansive railway network and its adjacencies can be thought of as a powerful spatial tool. A linear and continuous developmental pattern in the city emerged through our field study along the code-informed easements of Winter Street’s Union Pacific railroad in the Sixth Ward. Similar to the interstate highway as discussed in Easterling’s Organization Spaces, the fragment of the railway network on Winter Street presented a “linear system parallel to a national network”. The complexity of the linear system reveals itself in its seemingly unending length, as well as its large number of adjacent sites.¹ Considering inherent violence within these layers of human-centric, single-purpose infrastructures, Rail-Lots hopes to treat these existing conditions of Houston opportunistically and find space to re-code these organizational systems for the enrichment of the city.

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It is through the basis of subnature, as defined by David Gissen², that one can recognize a systems-based urban redevelopment scheme driven by the presence of operational train tracks. In contrast to Gissen’s observation that “it is highly unlikely that cities will ever have networks for the distribution of dust or smoke [as resources]”³, Rail-Lots exposes evidence of the active train on Winter Street as a producer of noise, smog, and debris that induces vacancy and creates distance in the urban fabric. The train becomes an agent that dictates the logistics along the railroad, potentially allowing for concurrent ecological restoration and gentrification resistance through the devaluation of land. The reimagination of these leftover spaces establishes a new socio-ecological network that coincides and diverges with associated redundant networks as it traverses urban, natural, and infrastructural landscapes across Houston and North America.

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Project Logistics

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A typological approach to intervention was constructed by defining the architectural/landscape objects of the project. Here, three existing conditions were examined and responded to: the corridor, the shallow lot, and the deep lot. The program changes systematically depending on the width of the easement or the depth of the lot in each given area. In these spaces, a bioswale also runs along the side of the rail, acting as both a barrier and a gutter for stormwater collection. By specifying what the architecture and reintroduced plant species can be and how we are implementing these changes, we can begin to understand our site as a novel urban ecosystem and rethink ecological restoration as a discursive field.

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To realize these interventions, a fictional foundation that would both acquire and design for these spaces is established. This foundation would include two parties; the management agency would be in charge of logistical operations such as the acquisition of land and the maintenance of these spaces while the design agency would be responsible for identifying which potential sites to acquire as well as the design strategies for the chosen sites. A three-step phasing strategy explains the operations of this foundation.

Fictional Implementation

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Neighborhood: A homeowner meets their neighbors in the community’s new retention park. They walk down the corridor often, watching the ducks that inhabit the retention pond fed by stormwater collected by the bioswales on a rainy day.

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Utility: An officer of the research station oversees prairie burning and mowing operations. She coordinates the biannual burning with the governmental railway office directly adjacent to the rail lots, and enjoys the shaded walk from her parking space to the research center every weekday.

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Underpass: A train watcher sits under the bridge, observing as the train passes overhead. In his notebook, he writes down the time and catalogs the photos he’s taken throughout the day. Although this is the last train of the day, he looks forward to biking by the bayou home, catching the afternoon breeze.

Footnotes1: Easterling, Keller. Organization Space (2001).
2: Gissen, David. Subnature: Architecture's Other Environments (2009).
3: Gissen, David. “Epilogue.” Subnature: Architecture's Other Environments (2009): 212.

Captions
337: Catalogue of undeveloped lots along Winter Street’s Union-Pacific railroad infrastructure
338: Network diagram superimposing the Houston highway system over the bayous to reveal disconnections in the ecosystem
339: Network diagram superimposing the existing railway network over the bayous to reveal potential connections in the ecosystem
343-344: Intervention typologies S: 18’ Easement - hybrid path, 12’ Easement - pedestrian path
345-346: Intervention typologies M: 20’ Shallow lot - commercial corner, 30’ Shallow lot - field station and pond
347-348: Intervention typologies L: 100’ Deep lot - corner retention pond , 100’ Deep lot - field station in pre-existing/new wild land
349: Site map of First Ward, indicating the three sites explored in this project
352: Imaginary non-profit “Foundation” management model diagram, with objectives phased out.
353: Three phases proposed along with the “Foundation”, with the end-goal being housing densification and biospace expansion along a railway easement
354: Plan of “Neighborhood” site on Winter Street
355: Plan of “Utility” site on Winter Street
356: Plan of “Underpass” site on Winter Street
361-362: Model diorama and section of “Neighborhood” site on Winter Street
363-364: Model diorama and section of “Utility” site on Winter Street
365-365: Model diorama and section of “Underpass” site on Winter Street - a unique, redundant site rich with potential for several networks
367: Process image taken during model photography session
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