Elizabeth White

Thesis: A Work in Progress

Expansive Chula Vista Commons

Connecting the 805 to the Bay

My thesis project revolves around taking underutilized land and transforming it into public space for the surrounding communities.

My site is a 3 mile stretch of SDG&E owned land, that has overhead power lines spanning the entire length of the site. The majority of the parcels are open fields, that are fenced in, and have signage advising that trespassing is prohibited.

I have developed 4 zone types: ephemeral, movement, drift, and linger.

Ephemeral represents waterways, most of which are ephemeral streams, that remain dry throughout most of the year in the warm southern California climate.

Drift represents zones that encourage slower movement through the site, such as along storefronts.

Linger represents attractions in the site where visitors are meant to stop and enjoy the activities and experiences.

Movement represents the multi use path that will span the entire length of the 3 mile long SDG&E land, connecting communities from the 805 freeway, to the 5 freeway, and the bay beyond. The ultimate goal of the masterplan is to then connect this path to the strand, and to the new Chula Vista Bayfront project which is currently being developed.

Site Conditions

This site is the westernmost site, and is roughly 450,000 SF.

There is a retail center to the north, industrial buildings to the south, and the Palomar St. transit center to the west.

Site Analysis

This map shows major transit stops, bike paths, dog parks, and skate parks. My site is shown in yellow.

The orange lines indicate multiuse paths that are seperated from vehicle traffic, blue indicate bike lanes on vehichle way shoulder, red indicates bike lanes shared with vehicles, and purple indicates bikeways on freeway shoulders.