KIT Board Meeting Presentation

We met with the Kenaitze Indian Tribe board in Anchorage today and provided them a presentation of the plans to date, including the Master Plan, initial discussion of the elder housing units, and discussion of the next steps on the project. The materials we presented are available via our previous blog posts.

Community Housing Survey from Annual Meeting

A hard copy survey was distributed at the KIT Annual Meeting. This survey was intended to get a general feeling for people's thoughts on housing (but is not a scientific/statistically developed survey). Click on the image below to see a larger version of the results.

KIT Annual General Meeting

The design team provided an update at the Kenaitze Indian Tribe's annual meeting on October 3rd. This included a revised master plan graphic and information on the beginning of the building design component of the project. As a part of this, a survey was also distributed to tribal members asking them questions where the answers will help with designing homes that will fit their users. The answers from this survey will be summarized and shown on this blog.

There will be another open community meeting within the next month or two, so stay tuned for information if you would like to attend.

(Any of the graphics below will show a larger and more legible version if you click on them)

As guidance for our work, we found this Traditional Values Circle as developed by KIT to be a good foundation:


The master plan graphic:

The cover of the master plan document as it is developing:

Panorama of the Site

Before our September meeting we went out to the site and took photographs to develop a panorama. Click on this link (Site Panorama) to be taken to a website where you can view the panorama. You will be able to pan and zoom around the image, viewing things close-up if you wish.

Community Meeting #2

The second community meeting was held the evening of September 10th. The intent of this meeting was to keep people informed of the master plan process, and to begin to gather information from people on the design of the housing.

The meeting began with an overall introduction from Rusty Swan and the design team members (Michael Fredericks, Peter Briggs and Laura Minski), and went around the room asking people to introduce themselves and to identify the thing they like the most about their current home, or wish they could have in a new home. Answers included:

• Family oriented
• Large rooms
• Fenced yards
• Storage
• Main floor laundry (convenience)
  
• Big decks
• Yards
• Accessible (i.e. walk-in tubs)
• Ease of maintenance
• Two bedroom units
• Single level units
• Community Gardens
• Good playground (not just sandbox)
• Affordable

After this exercise, we ran through the master plan process to date.

Drawings that illustrate the site's context within Kenai and surrounding area, and the existing conditions on the site:



A drawing that begins to show the relationship between houses, shared resources and community resources.



A conceptual site layout showing the relationship between greenspace, vehicle and pedestrian access, homes, a community core and other community resources.


Drawings to better illustrate what it might be like to walk through the site from the east to the west through the central greenspace (looking south):

Drawings to better illustrate what it might be like to walk through the site from the north to south through the central greenspace (looking west):


And some photographs of developments elsewhere that have some aspects of what the design is trying to achieve. The site planning and landscape design is what these seek to show, as the architecture for the buildings will be developed with the community and respond to local form and desires.


Feedback that we received for the master plan included:

• Guest parking close to the elder units
• Future secondary site access in addition to Ames Road (either to east, north or west as opportunity allows)
• Opportunity for an ice rink
• A desire for a 'slower pace'... the master plan had aspects of "back in time"
  

Road access was also part of the discussion. The site is completely surrounded by land under private ownership, with only one public access route via Ames Road. Ames Road is an existing gravel road that connects to the site from the south. For the initial phases of the project, and possibly beyond, this access is the only feasible road connection to the site. Feasibility aside, there is a desire to have another road into the site in the future in order to provide alternative emergency services access to the site and neighborhood. An adjacent larger parcel under Kenatize ownership exists to the west of the development site, and this adjacent parcel abuts a utility easement and utility access road to the north. The City of Kenai has no plans to upgrade this service access to a public road in the foreseeable future. If and when this were to happen, this could be a potential secondary access.

After discussion of the master plan, we moved on to architecture and the first question we asked was "which room or rooms do you use the most?". The answers were mostly the same with people responding kitchen, dining room, living room and tv room. People recognized that they spent a small amount of time in their bedrooms.

Discussion on the buildigs then moved on and included comments such as:

• A desire for renewable energy (solar, wind,...)
• A desire for sustainable design (insulation, alternative energy,...)
• Radiant heating in the floors
• Spaces designed with children/families in mind
• Spaces designed with elders in mind
• Minimizing operations/utility costs
• Low maintenance requirements
• Economy of size
• Arctic entries/mud rooms
• Differently sized rooms that are flexible (the largest bedroom might be best for kids with some bunk beds)
• Good solar access and quality of natural light
• Open concept
  

An interesting part of the discussion was that sustainable design also involves trying to do more with less. People saw the community center as being an opportunity to achieve some of this:

• A larger kitchen with eating area to have larger events or family gatherings than might be possible in one of the homes
• A study room and library
• A computer room
• A shared space to allow access to healthcare and amenities such as haircutting (especially valuable to have people come on site to be available for elders)
  

• An overall recognition that the community center could allow access to amenities that might not readily be available in their home (or not affordable) but when shared could be possible

The closing discussion involved a conversation along the lines of "Who are the people that make up the Kenaitze Indian Tribe" with a specific focus on how will this neighborhood reflect those people and be their place. Words that were used included:

• Subsistence
• Fish
• Elders
• Children
• Services and programs
• sharing
• food

In addition to the above, other words came out that began to summarize ideas:

• Sustenance (of all sorts)
• Respect
• Sharing
• Joyful

What we heard from the room was that there is a concept of a core/hearth/center... where things occur around the center and support the center and always come back to the center. These are the words we try to use to describe what was said, but it's perhaps better shown with a quick diagram:


Thank you to those who participated, and we'd like to remind everyone that input or comments are very welcome within this process. Please contact Rusty Swan or us through this blog. The next meeting will be at the Kenai Indian Tribe annual general meeting on October 3rd. The time is yet to be set.

Next Community Meeting

The design team found the level of feedback from the first community meeting tremendously helpful, and has been developing a few options for the master plan for the site in addition to an overall master planning document offering more detailed narrative. The team will be back for another community meeting on Thursday, September 10th to discuss these options and ideas with you! Like before, it will be held at Tyotka's, from 6-8pm (to be confirmed). Please mark this on your schedule and plan to be there to help us! Each and every opinion in the community is greatly valued to this process!

Team Kick-off Meeting

Since the last meeting at Tyotka's Elder Center in Kenai, project planning and the development of master plan options for the Ames Road project have been moving along. On Monday, August 24th, the project team met to begin to look at things in more detail, and to begin to envision what 'sustainable design' truly should look like in this part of Alaska. The project team is composed of Wince-Corthell-Bryson civil engineers, RSA Engineering mechanical and electrical engineers, RIM First People architects, and Corvus Design landscape architecture/planning. Using the information gained at our first community meeting, we are developing and refining ideas and options for the next meeting where we will check in with the project to date, gain more input, and brainstorm on what this development will be and look like.