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Here are a few of the DisneyHole proposals we've received. We're in the process of getting all of the proposals up on the Website.
SUBMISSIONS: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3

West Nile FunPit by Raymond Ercoli

Movie Theatre by Katherine Hill

Bowling Alley by Gary A. Papouschek R.N.

Edison Stadium by ?

a hub for aerially-suspended gondola transit by Erik Moe

Krakatoa east of City Hall by Rene Torres

Freedom park by Lemur

3 proposals by Bob Dix

Money Pit by R Reed

4 proposals by Hugh

A skylighted open arcade by Sean Solomon

Modular Micro-Offices by John S. James

Chinese Garden by Andrew Toy

Central Stage of the City by Myra Reichel

 

 

Chinese Garden by Andrew Toy

Enclosed are pictures and some background about a Chinese Garden development in Portland, Oregon. This Garden has become a big tourist attraction and a wonderful respite within downtown Portland, on the edge of it's Chinatown.

Andrew sent some photos and a link to this Website: http://www.portlandchinesegarden.org

Central Stage of the City by Myra Reichel

Could be called the Central Stage of the City – My plan shows a performance space with parking. The traffic pattern for the parking shows one way in and multiple ways out on either side of the stage. This should relieve some congestion upon leaving the space. The seating/stage area would be fenced in and gated to protect the space while not in use. The stage would be used for many performance groups (dance, theatre, puppetry, music, storytellers, etc.) as well as for lectures on the history of the city, political rallies, - microphones could be installed to the rear of the sound control area for public input. Could be used for performances from May through October including the Fringe Festival performances and graduations. The restrooms could also remain separately accessible.
My plan shows an open-air stage and seating (it could be enclosed with a roof and walls at a later date) with seating going up the hills. There would be restrooms sheltered between the 2 walls of the existing buildings, a concession stand that could remain open to 9th Street at all times. The restroom area could contain a film projecting/light center and the top seats could be handicapped accessible. In the middle section seating would be a recessed, covered sound area, the front section of seating would also have handicapped accessible seating – near both the top and the bottom handicapped seating would be handicapped parking spaces. The stage would have a loading dock on the Market Street side with access to dressing and restrooms. The parking would utilize the sloping hills and could remain accessible at all times since the seating area could be fenced and gated separately.


Click here
to see a larger image

Modular Micro-Offices by John S. James
jjames@communicationpractices.org


The Market St. hole could provide affordable downtown Philadelphia office space for thousands of individuals, small businesses, and organizations, by allowing renters to pay for just what they need -- from storage only, to a cubbyhole, to a desk in an open room, to an open or locked cubicle, to a suite of rooms, to light industrial facilities -- for half an hour, an afternoon or evening, a week, months, or permanently. Tenants would also pay for special usage -- from Internet access, to heavy foot traffic, to noise or fume generation that required special handling, to high-volume or hazardous waste disposal, to higher security requirements. This flexible, pay-for-what-you-use system would allow the facility to charge market rates and yet still be accessible to those who can use space efficiently.
Architecture: The physical architecture would be varied, including atriums, outdoor areas, and gardens, with retail, restaurants, and entertainment open to the public, and a 24-hour desk and lobby. Rental space options would include desks, locked and unlocked industry-style cubicles, flexible office designs with modular furniture on open floors, conventional office rooms off corridors, and the kind of low-ceiling open metal flooring and staircases used in some library stacks (but with personal workspaces everywhere, not just for the occasional graduate student or professor who needs a desk in the stacks). Meeting rooms of various sizes would be available for short- and long-term rental, with much lower prices at slack times when the rooms would otherwise be idle.
Example: An art group wanting truly budget space in downtown Philadelphia might rent a desk in an open area for non-exclusive use, and rent only one of the desk's four locking drawers. Or they could pay more for the whole desk. Additional storage could be rented if needed. They could pay less if they made fewer visits to the space (foot traffic could be separately priced) -- or cut costs by teaming up with other organizations to rent the desk together. Or they might rent just a locker and use public table space. They might add a voicemail, postal mail, and/or an email address if they didn't have their own. When they needed more space they could rent it if available -- and prices would be set to provide availability most of the time. Tenants could use their own laptop computers with a minimal charge for high-speed air-card access -- or could rent time on public computers provided.
Security: Security and billing would all be done through a single card key issued to each tenant. Tenants could get extra cards for colleagues, but would be responsible for how they are used -- and could cancel any one individually. These access cards would allow foot traffic to be billed separately. If desired, organizations or communities could manage separate blocks of space and restrict access to members and their guests, reducing security concerns. And tenants could decide on different security measures for different parts of the facility -- such as surveillance cameras in some areas if theft or other problems made that necessary.
Support: Office, computer, and art supplies would be available for purchase 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Other necessities like snacks, coffee, or juice would also be always available, at least at the main desk or by vending machine if the juice and coffee bars were closed. Computer technical support could be purchased any time, perhaps by telephone to someone familiar with the micro-office facility and its equipment. Other technical support purchasable in business hours could include expert assistance in meeting government requirements like building codes and taxes -- or professional editing of written materials -- or fundraising advice.
There would be many free bulletin boards both on the walls and online, helping people and organizations connect.
And tenants working late and not wanting to commute home could put their access card into a reader and reserve a cot to crash on for the night (maybe $15), or their choice easy chair in a lounge (maybe $5), or a private room at hotel rates. Tenants could also use their cards to dispense emergency cash.
Goal: Here is a self-supporting way to make Philadelphia more attractive to cultural groups and startup businesses alike. It could nurture the kinds of creativity that only happen in the small, experimental projects that often get pushed aside in a big-money culture.

A skylighted open arcade by Sean Solomon

This space should be a mixed-use park and commercial corrider. The commercial corrider would consist of a skylighted open on the Market Street side where vendors could rent spaces... more

4 proposals by Hugh

Amazon Dot Hole

Dual Mono Programming

Park and Schtup

Enemy Combatant Petting Zoo

Click here to see how Hugh displayed his proposals in clear-plastic backpacks.

Money Pit by R Reed

Nothing built, but the whole site excavated, deep, really deep...

click here to see the whole proposal.

3 proposals by Bob Dix

Giant Trampoline

Love Park II

Disney Pit

Freedom park by Lemur

A park to promote bicycle use in downtown Philadelphia. Freedom Park also brings a green space to a grey part of Philly where non-commercial community space is uncommon...

click here to see the whole proposal.

Krakatoa east of City Hall by Rene Torres

A South Sea island paradise among Philadelphia ruins

click here to see the whole proposal.

a hub for aerially-suspended gondola transit by Erik Moe


Moe and Company • emo@mac.com • 768 S 8 ST, BROTHERLY LOVE, PENNSYLVANIA 19147
RE: Call for proposals, Great Disneyhole Exposition
August 20, 2002
Dear Sir or Madam:
The redevelopment of the Disneyhole is an exciting opportunity to reinvent our region. I have personally overseen the development of the enclosed proposal from start to finish – and am excited by the vision for a future Philadelphia that it contains. This project will beautify Philadelphia, expand entertainment options, make additional french-fried potatoes available in the city, and attract tourists. It will also bring about a modernization of Philadelphia’s transportation network with a clean, silent mass-transit option that is a pleasure to ride, is unencumbered by automobile traffic, and less expensive than subways.
I am excited to hear your comments on my proposal, and those of your audiences at the Great Disneyhole Exposition. I am proud of this vision for reinvigorating the City of Brotherly Love, and hope that with assistance from the Philadelphia Industrial Redevelopment Authority construction of the project can begin within the year.
Sincerely,Erik Moe
President and Head Designer Moe & Company



please click here to see the images associated with this proposal

Proposal to the Philadelphia Industrial Redevelopment Authority
For the construction at 8th and Market streets of a world-class monument inspired by the Eiffel tower, which shall be integrated with a hub for aerially-suspended gondola transit, and which shall be accompanied by an ‘underground’ cultural center, a series of public benches and gardens, and a french fry vendor
1. Rationale / Overview
The current condition of the site at 8th and Market streets provides little use to anyone, and is just plain ugly. Moe & Company proposes to redevelop this important site in the heart of our city’s commercial/tourism district with a project that will beautify the city, attract tourism, revitalize the regional transit network, offer a much needed snack to hungry citizens, and offer formal venues for underserved cultural activities such as all-ages music shows, skateboarding, alternative cinema, puppet workshops, etc.
2. Major Elements
2.1 The Tower – The tower design is inspired by the steel beams of the Eiffel Tower, but with twisted, curving lines reminiscent of DNA strands or twisted tree trunks. These steel elements will gain structural strength by winding around each other and intersecting with platforms, staircases, and an elevator. They will lean over Market and Eighth Streets and flirt with the existing building at Ninth and Chestnut. The strands of steel will grow thinner and approach each other at they climb, but will not meet or converge at the top. The height of the tower will be equal to the height of the brim of William Penn’s hat in the sculpture atop City Hall: 546 feet. A viewing platform near the top of the tower will be accessible to the public for no charge, though there will be a 25¢ charge per minute for using binoculars mounted near the railing of the platform. Unlike other monuments, the tower will not carry an obvious message like “our city was the gateway to the west” or “these men were so great that we carved a mountain into the shape of their heads.” Instead, the tower will be an ambiguous monument to the people – who will in turn develop the meaning and significance of the monument over time. Eventually, it is hoped that this tower will replace the permanently damaged “bell of liberty” as the icon representing our city on children’s jig-saw puzzle maps of the United States.
2.2 Gondola Transit Hub and Network– Integrated with the tower will be a gondola transit hub to be operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. Escalators, and wheelchair-accessible elevators will lead up the tower to a north-south platform six stories above street level and an east-west platform nine stories above street level. The proposed initial North-South route will have an endpoint at the Philadelphia International Airport (with dramatic views of planes taking off and landing under the gondola cables) and a northern terminus at a point in Northern Philadelphia to be determined after an expedition is sent to that territory and a report is written on its general landscape and resources. The proposed initial East-West route will begin in Camden, New Jersey and end on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania with stops at the top of Liberty Place and just below the historic scrolling PECO energy sign. The gondola system will be designed such that cables can be attached to existing SEPTA busses – thereby decreasing costs and allowing for express land/air routes that will bypass center city traffic.
2.3 Underground Cultural Center – A marquee and a set of doors leading to an elevator and stairs will be the only surface evidence of this center for all things ‘underground.’ Beneath the street-level activities of tourists and businesspeople, young people in scarves and black berets will take part in activities that have previously not had stable venues and have not enjoyed support from the city. Because constructing and operating this facility will be costly and government funding likely to be contentious, the center will generate revenue by selling naming rights. Examples of possible names include The AOL/Time Warner Anarchist Cultural Compound, The Apple Think Different Arts Center, and The PNC Bank Wack-Ass Place 2 B. Facilities at the cultural center will include:

Four-Screen Cinema – dedicated to the display of independent and repertory film.
All-Ages Music/Dance Venue – No alcohol will be served. Standing room will be strictly allocated on the basis of height. State of the art footlights will be installed to ensure optimum shoe-gazing. Race and gender of performers will be audited quarterly to assure that it isn’t all about white boys rocking out.
Skateboard Park – Proposed design is an exact replica of Love Park circa 1985.
Puppet workshop/multi-purpose space – The puppet workshop in particular would benefit from the central location of the site: currently puppet-activists who seek to provoke civic discourse at City Hall rallies and disrupt Center City traffic during major events at the Philadelphia Convention Center must move their large creations across town in the hours before a rally – often on foot or bicycle. Also, anarchists would sleep here.

2.4 French Fry Vendor – Alongside the base of the tower will be a single high-volume french fry vendor serving hungry tourists and commuters with the essential snack food they crave. Design for this stand will include many small white light bulbs and other illuminated signage inspired by 1920’s amusement park and boardwalk vendors. Fries will be of the long, freshly-cut variety and will be cooked in 100% vegetable oil. Ketchup will be dispensed from stainless steel pumps into small paper cups or directly on top of the fries – never in plastic pouches. In addition to providing snacks, a retro-aesthetic, and an olfactory theme for the site, this french fry vendor will further strengthen the link between the proposed tower and the Eiffel Tower, which is in France.
2.5 Landscaping, Benches, Gardens – By developing the all ages music venue/cinema/skate park/puppet workshop aspect of the development underground and constructing a high tower with a minimal surface footprint, precious street-level open space will be retained and developed as parkland. This new parkland will serve to partially restore William Penn’s initial vision for a city in which enjoyable open space is easily accessible to all residents – a vision that has too often been blighted by buildings and high-speed roadways. Beneath the curving steel beams of the tower will grow trees, shrubbery and flowers. In the grass, it will be common to see young men tossing a base-ball – sport coats thrown aside. In the pathways, women with short hair and tattoos will walk dogs. On the wooden benches women in wide-brimmed sunhats will use the dogs as a good excuse to strike up a conversation and aging men will read periodicals or sleep as SEPTA busses silently sway overhead on the gently sagging high-tension cables. Amongst the shrubbery, squirrels and pigeons will grow plump on discarded french fries.

3 Budget

3.1 Overall costs – This project will cost more than a book of matches and less than a trip to the moon.
3.2 Additional costs associated with the project – Claus Oldenberg must be commissioned to redesign his sculpture Clothespin to be integrated aerially with the high-tension cable connecting the gondola stops atop Liberty Place and the PECO Energy Tower.

Edison Stadium by ?

In order to remain competitive and increase profits, Edison Corp along with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has decided to build a stadium to increase class size to 40,000 students per instructor...

click here to see the whole proposal.

 

Bowling Alley by Gary A. Papouschek R.N.

I have a simple suggestion. Brunswick 30 lanes, with 2 bars, but in keeping
with the historic nature of our city, the facade along market street would
be made 3 stories high and made to look like colonial Philadelphia.

 

Movie Theatre by Katherine Hill

Ok, so I don't have a formal proposal. Until five minutes ago I didn't even know this site existed. However, I believe that the LACK of deep thought needed to come to this idea validates it.

MOVIE THEATRE

Have you driven down Market Street around 9:30 on a Tuesday night. It is like a ghost town. EVERYTHING is closed. We have an abundance of hotels in the 8th & Market area that cater to the Convention Center. We have people eating out in Chinatown. We have people living in the immediate vicinity. Yet there is NOTHING "to do".

Why a Movie Theatre?
1. The lot is big enough and that is hard to find in center city. You can also build up - which you can't do everywhere.
2. Worried about competition? Riverview: You have to drive, take a cab, walk, or take a bus there. Not everyone in the city (especially center city) has a car and even if you did, parking down there is hard to find. A cab is expensive and hard to find one to pick you up. It is too far away for the people in center city to walk. Unless you live on the bus route, you have to deal with transfering buses, etc. And people who take public transportation prefer other modes over buses (at least those I know).
Ritz: Small theatre. Not mainstream films.
The Bridge: Same public transportation problem as Riverview. Hardly any parking. This theatre is mostly for the college kids of the area.
69th Street: Far away.
3. A movie theatre would help get the tourists and the visiting convention/business people out of their hotel rooms at night. Maybe it would even encourage businesses to stay open later?? Which would increase the $$ spent downtown.

A city usually means ACTION? Where is ours? Not down town.

Yes there isn't much parking (unless the theatre was put on top of a parking garage?), but parking is not needed. The movie theatre would serve the immediate area residents, people traveling on the El, people visiting and staying in nearby hotels... Maybe its location would encourage people to take the PATCO trains from Jersey to spend a night out on the town? Those dinner-and-a-movie dates could take place in the city, where we have great restaurants!

We need something that will get people out of their houses/hotel rooms. Something that will extend their night out to dinner. Something that is easy to get to. Something that will put a little life in to our downtown area (maybe pick up the tourists from the Hard Rock Cafe? maybe something that is a prelude to the bars in town? maybe something that will keep stores open past 7pm? --- what is the deal w/ that? We want to spark the city's economy, but I know that by the time I get home from work, change, take the dogs out, and I'm ready to go shopping or out on the town, everything is closed? I mean who wants to go shopping right after work?)

I know that there are a million other reasons why this could work and maybe if I wasn't typing this instead of going to lunch I would be a little more focused and a little more convincing, but hopefully there is someone out there who can see my vision and has the $$ to do something with this.

Oh, and I really like the skate park idea too! But then the cops wouldn't have anyone to chase and harrass??? Maybe the two could be incorporated? Through an arcade in there... maybe something that tailors to adults (like Dave & Busters)? Maybe add a food court? Bring in some more chain restaurants like Houlihans or Fridays? I mean we can go up a few floors... We could just create a big building of excitement in an otherwise dreary part of town!

West Nile FunPit by Raymond Ercoli

click here to see the whole proposal.

   

 

 

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