HISTORIC WEST CARRIaGE TOWN INFILL PLAN

strategic neighborhood scale infill for one of Flint’s oldest neighborhoods

The intention of this masterplan is to establish and visualize a pattern of contextual, human-scaled infill development for the West Carriage Town Community of Flint, Michigan.

We were given several design directives to address in this plan...

1. Consider existing building types. Carriage Town is rich in building type & style diversity. New infill must pay homage to the size & scale of existing building stock.

2. Consider previous planning work. The design team should familiarize themselves with the City of Flint Masterplan & Capital Improvement Plan. Establish points of synergy between this plan & work that is already complete or currently underway.

3. Address Public Infrastructure. The plan should propose recommendations for public infrastructure improvements that would further enhance the neighborhood and the surrounding district. This might include ‘road diets’, crosswalk improvements & installations, sidewalk improvements, and green space.

4. Produce Inspirational 3D & 2D imagery. The masterplan should include practical but inspirational imagery of all elements of the design proposal. This includes schematic level site plans, visualizations of the specific building types, and also 3D renderings of the design proposals from an aerial & street level - showing how they fit into the context of the neighborhood.

In response to our directives we devised a plan that is replicable and can be used by a variety of developers.

• Buildings are components of a ‘Kit of Parts’ that allows for maximum flexibility for the future and adaptability against market & social forces.

• As much as possible we embrace the alley or the creation of an alley to provide improved functionality of parcels.

• Our plan establishes a street hierarchy and provide suggestions for streetscape improvements.

• Finally, our plan embraces the small parcel lots as a framework for instituting a pattern of neighborhood scale infill and a foundation for the skilled and newbie local developers.

In summary our plan visualizes growth for Carriage Town that respects the scale & character of the neighborhood’s existing fabric. But it also charts a path for how to best streamline more needed housing development in the area building off of the Flint Homeowner’s Initiative previous work.