Design Blog: 2009

Sunday, May 3, 2009

final axon of this ginormous building

final cafe-market images

This perspective is of the cafe-serving area, the bikelane runs overhead, the back area is a more private cafe-seating area, and the left walkway leads to the auditorium and quietroom.

This perspective is of the seating-market area. You can see the bikelane running overhead, the mini-farmer's market along the left, and the cafe-serving area in the back.

In this perspective you see more private seating on the right, looking out onto the lee st side of the building. Here you also get another view of the bikelane overhead, the market, and the other seating on the side.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

. cafe+market ideas .

ideas for the cafe-market! our whole building a very narrow so space planning definitely posed some issues with the cafe-market, and finding enough space for the kitchen, serving areas, and the seating. the bike lane goes right through the cafe market, so I decided to celebrate it rather than try to hide it. the bike lane creates acceleration and movement and I think that it can really create an exciting space. in this above image I decided to have an "exit" for the bike lane above so those riding can stop at the cafe-market, and I also decided to add some seating above for more space and to be more interacted with the bikelane and the movement above.

In this image I decided to incorporate these curved panels that Stacy found interesting and was thinking about using in the bookstore and so I tried to tie that in here in my space where the ceiling height will be lower below the overhead bike lane.

In these drawings I was brainstorming and kind of semi-programming the cafe-market a little bit more and testing different forms for the space.

In these drawings I was trying to invision the bikelane going through the cafe-market and trying to see what kind of energy and feelings it creates. i also was experimenting with different kinds of spaces for the fresh-market.

updates

Here is a diagram of the cafe/market and it's relationship to the core and the bikelane

this drawing is a possible way to transition from the site into the building's bikelane. instead of a door on the building to allow entry for the bikes we can just make it work with the site

here is a diagram of the first year studio space and the relationship to the crit space, breakout spaces and resource labs

here is a quick rendering of building & street context and materiality of the building & the site

Monday, April 6, 2009

weekend team huddles

On Friday and Sunday we met as a group to discuss a variety of things for our building. Friday we had a materials charrette and considered the materiality of our building. With the feedback that we've received we've decided to have the exterior of the building be more organic and natural while making the interior and structure of the building more industrial. Our exterior materials are comprised of the green roof, and mostly glass on the facades. On the interior we are thinking of using perforated metals, polished and unpolished concretes, and maybe translucent concrete. We also settled on a color palette. We've decided to keep the majority of the palette white and then use our actual colors as accents throughout the spaces.

During on Sunday meeting we continued to explore materials. We also decided to define our concept a little bit more and have it add to our gesture. Conceptual vocabulary that we came up with included:

organic industrial embracing transparency inclusion activity movement acceleration interactive layering interlocking community enticing core

We also discussed our bike lane and the interaction between the spaces and the building and the bikelane's connection in and out of the site. We discussed circulation within the building also getting within the spaces.

We also discussed deadlines and time management, since we are approaching easter break we thought it essential since the end of the semester is near.

Below are pictures of the very cool translucent concrete:

Thursday, March 26, 2009

building update

This is our building's layers to scale the upper level and lower level with the area for equipment inbetween. Below is a perspective of our building.

Our building's core is located at the intersection of our main buildings, the studio an offices and the community spaces, the resources are adjacent to the studio and offices and the classrooms are adjacent to the community part of the building.

Our long horizontal building had allowed us to incorporate a bike lane within our building and allow for easy transportation horizontally.

plans & schedule

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

...thesis thoughts...

I'm really interested in the idea of American over-consumerism, and how the whole world has kind of been looking to our way of living as a model to how they should live their lives and so they also want to have more stuff and bigger things, creating more demand on resources and making the whole world huge over consumers. So, I was thinking that I could design some space that sets a new example for the world that hangs on the idea that less is more, the idea that you don't need as much as you think you do, and just focusing on kind of rethinking the way we live in and use our homes. I want my ideas to open people's minds and encourage more responsible living, and so I have this idea that you need to affect the individual, which will affect their home then affect the community then affect the city then the country and then the planet, and it becomes a ripple effect. So, for the kind of space I want to design I was thinking maybe a single family residence, or a multi-family apartment building, or maybe a mixed-use building that also has residences in them, and I wanted to focus on the average middle class family.