SOUTH FIRST STREET, group 2

Drawing 4

South First Street

Analysis: Temperal

Master Plan Vitalize South First

Treasure Map

Where some see clutter and junk others see historic treasure of sentimental significance. This map samples the urban fabric of the Ceasar Chavez area between Lynn and Chalmers. The white gaps indicate new houses that have disrupted the old character of the nieghborhood.

Inhabitation.the People

This is an advertisment which main purpose is to give an idea of the type of people who already live in the area as well as an idea of the type of people who they, meaning developers, are trying to attract to the area.
The quotes are directly from developers websites and from the East Cesar Chavez neighbourhood plan.


This give you the basic idea of the Cesar Chavez population. This is a relatively dense area of Austin with a predominantly hispanic population. There is a high density of only spanish speaking households which can be seen here statistically as well as being physically expressed in the many signs in the area.

Just by walking down East Cesar Chavez, you get a sense of its past history. Many houses that were once residential are now used for business purposes. Our Group found it interesting that other than the businesses, not much had changed on East Cesar Chavez since the early 1900s.

East Cesar Chavez

When our group visited the site, we observed how different activities on the street acted together to form a community. We then envisioned the whole street as a body system with organs that each had a role in maintaining the life of East Cesar Chavez.

We focused mainly on circulation, movement, and history. Grouping these categories and relating them to the body system helped us reveal their importance.

Trapped Outside Fences

What is a fence? Does it make one safe? Does it appear unfriendly or uninviting to those who live next to you?

There are many kinds of fences, those meant to keep people out, those meant to box you in, and those meant to mark space boundaries, just to name some of the possible uses for a fence. For many they stand as an unfriendly symbol, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The east side of Austin has a lot of problems. After being dumped on for many years it stands as the last bastion for affordable property in town. with many that migrate through the area, criminals, transients and workers, some parts haven’t always been the safest parts of town.

While walking around I set out to find what the fences around people’s yards meant to an outsider who wasn’t used to seeing them.



What I found was that to these people, the fences were simply a way of life, they weren’t uninviting, they just marked what was one person’s from what wasn’t. They gave children a place to play and while providing some feeling of safety, most didn’t need them for that purpose.

I even met a few people who rarely locked their doors.