ABOVE || RAIC Syllabus Midterm Studio
A 3m x 3m gate was modeled to provide scale to the composition. The resulting size of the form rises to 3 stories at the lowest point (entry vertex), and 9 stories at the highest point (truncated cone).
Architecture above 2-stories is not passively seen, as anything above becomes an activity when persons need to look up. The form enables attention to be naturally engaged and drawn upwards and into the space within.
Your approach is flanked by raised earth and intermittent trees, drawn towards a form that is part sunken towards you and part monumental.
Rising from the ground as an embedded form, translucent walls reach toward the entry as if to shelter your approach and provide protection of the revealed space behind. To the right of your approach a gateway marks the entry to the protected and 'sacred' space, and prominently marks a point of attention through a mew to terminate at the truncated cone. To the left, the facade at the ground plane curves back like a gradual curtain to reveal the courtyard space through an alternate less attentive path.
Inside the space a public forum is central to all forms, a cylindrical cutout radiates outwards as it approaches the sky and opens the space to dialogue and observation.
In counterpoint to the space, a raised truncated cone stands in isolation as a beacon of attention. The cut-out in the conical form stands as a monolithic totem that demands attention, and the truncated top flattens to follow the cutting plane of the masses. The cone creates an ongoing discussion which appears to have an end, but is grounded and is always in relation to it's surroundings.
Entering the cone which informs a gap to be filled, a hearth-like space opens up to a radial view of a shoreline and away from the spaces behind. This is a higher place than before, but is lonely and cannot be formed without the spaces before it.
BELOW || Angles of interest showing the revealing facade, the gateway entry, the mews in alignment with the truncated cone, an aerial of all spaces, and the open courtyard and beacon to the shoreline.
BELOW || A FormZ model was generated from Revit for physical modeling of conical forms. A limitation of the program was able to break down the model to too high fidelity to be usable. The truncated cone was the most usable mass generated.
BELOW || Studio Notes
Ideas presented:
- Anchoring curves / making edges dynamic
- Plans to elevation
- Voids as access / focus
- Site
- Space planning
- Anchoring curves / making edges dynamic
- Plans to elevation
- Voids as access / focus
- Site
- Space planning
Forum, place of discussion, sharing ideas, point and counterpoint.
Improvement points:
- Show the process
- Avoid precedents from history, but use concepts
- Work should be visible from 10' away
- Explain absence and presence (why removed, why included)
- Explain 'dead-ends' (ideas explored and lead to nothing)
- Colour was point of discussion (no colour would enable others to propose material)
- Visual legibility from stage to stage
- Show the process
- Avoid precedents from history, but use concepts
- Work should be visible from 10' away
- Explain absence and presence (why removed, why included)
- Explain 'dead-ends' (ideas explored and lead to nothing)
- Colour was point of discussion (no colour would enable others to propose material)
- Visual legibility from stage to stage
D2 Precedent Study
- Differences between precedents
- Why is this a landmark?
- What makes the building important?
- What does the building mean?
- What is the identity of the building?
- Differences between precedents
- Why is this a landmark?
- What makes the building important?
- What does the building mean?
- What is the identity of the building?
D2 Camping Study
- Design of items at human scale used in habitation
- Identity in parts and usage
- Design of items at human scale used in habitation
- Identity in parts and usage
D2 Italo Calvino
- Identity in theory and concept
- Identity in theory and concept
D3 Community Centre Design
D6 Comprehensive Design
- Site analysis
- Client profile
- Precedent
- Programming
- Adjacencies
- Edge conditions
- Bubble diagrams
- Site analysis
- Client profile
- Precedent
- Programming
- Adjacencies
- Edge conditions
- Bubble diagrams