Studio: Precedents Part 2

Per Chris's comments: PLYarch



These speak more to my concept but are giving me some smaller-scale ideas. The first three, and even the last one to an extent, can begin to inform my roof areas.

Studio: Precedents

Some projects and pieces of projects I am looking at:

SHoP Architects: Dunescape at PS1



Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Alice Tully Hall



SHoP Architects: Wave AnalysisAnd of course the obvious in regards to wall thickness - inside the duomo in Firenze:
and Notre Dame du Haut

Lecture tomorrow 1/30

UPDATE: This lecture is actually at the Wexner Center Performance Space! See you there!

Those of you in Columbus - Winy Maas of MVRDV is lecturing tomorrow at 5:30 at Knowlton Hall. I am going, along with a co-worker or two. If anyone else is planning on attending, let me know!

Studio: Intensive Comments

:Continue to think about column form - I agree, column forms should perhaps also change throughout the spaces, especially when they pass through a floor or roof
:Could there be a way to use a smaller scale of platforms that connect the columns which would become displays? - I think the columns should stand alone and not be connected. If the columns are joined in some way, it would act to direct people and the idea is to have minimal if any direction.
:Change materiality of ramps (to glass?) to allow views to lower level ramps - I like this idea. Perhaps there can be slits of glass in the ramps, floors/ceilings to allow glimpses of above and below, and to allow light to filter through the spaces.
:Add steps to ramp surface for product display... further blurs distinction between different elements - yes and yes
:Add benches to steps... blurs line between floor display and circulation - yes
:Look at the use of different colors on the columns to visually guide customers to specific products. Perhaps shades and tones and not contrast and stark - This is something to think about. Along with the one below.
:Possible literal or material indicators for new / experienced users - Yes, I agree there needs to be something to guide you, or else no one would come back to the store after their first time, because they couldn't find anything! I am not sure what the resolution will be.
:Columns could do a similar thing as Felix with products moving through, thus being able to introduce more products without removing older. - I'm not sure I understand this comment, Paul can you explain?
:Space is dynamic, ever changing. Could the materiality of the columns change as building goes up? - yes
:Do the columns need to be vertical? What if they slanted at different angles? - I suppose they don't need to be vertical, but I did like the rigidity of the columns set against the organic flow of space.
:Environmentally temper this roof space... - I agree, it should be available for use in the cold months. This is something to think about and explore.
:I think you should explore this facade. Many opportunities can be gained - I agree, the facades are fairly unexpressive
:I love this model - Thanks Felix
:Frame views to architecture of Copley Square from playground - The roof could use some attention also. I'm not sure at this point how to express the roof manipulations to effect some change in other areas of the building
:This is a great feature... Do more of it throughout... Its exciting - Facade still underdeveloped
:Undulating landscape... How is this accomplished? I like how your concept goes from floor to ceiling - I have a few precedents for the undulating landscape, but agree that it needs further development

Studio: Intensive Final

The Intensive culminated with an informal review and presentation. I tinkered with my model a little, and produced new perspectives of the experiential concept of the space.

The roof of the AppleStore becomes these undulating ribbons that create a useable space. Some interior zones protrude into the roof area - the roof becomes the zone for using Apple products and experiencing them as they are meant to be experienced. With minimal openings in the elevations, and the mass of columns deteriorating as you move upward through the spaces, the roof is the climax of the movement - open, organic, light. While the interior of the building is at a scale for many, the scale of a room, the roof is at a more intimate scale.

The following images are in order of the movement through the spaces, from bottom to top.

Studio: Intensive Part 2

The next step was the create a study model and actually translate our ideas to 3D spaces - not 2D representations of 3D spaces. We were given only the dimensions of the site and height restrictions, along with program requirements - no indication of the facades of the surrounding buildings to play off. We first designed the inside of the space, and then the shell.


The first photo is taken of the interior of the physical model at the ground level, and the second photo is taken a level above. The concept of organic flow and combining zones led to the model consisting of folding planes, floors that become walls that become ceilings, to create program spaces and the "experiential concept." The columns that can be seen help reinforce the idea of flow through the space - as there is no clear path or direct connection, one must navigate around the columns. As can be seen in the photos, the columns lessen as one rises through the spaces and the space becomes more light.

In the Boylston Street elevation, the spaces created by the folding planes begin to break down the skin. The lower left corner is the entrance - entering into the compressed space enhances the space opening as one moves through the building. The skin of the building is set back from the site line, allowing the space inside to protrude into the streetscape.

In the Dartmouth Street elevation, the skin becomes part of the interior of the building, beginning to fold and create interior spaces. This elevation takes on a depth that the front elevation does not. The openings are large near the top of the building, allowing light into the upper floors.

Studio: Intensive Part 1

Our project began with a visit to the Cambridgeside Apple Store, observing (stalking) customers and experiencing the store as customers would. My first observation was that the store was arranged linearly, with all hands-on activity occuring around the edges of the store, and software and accessories in the middle, allowing visitors to simply walk up one side and down the other. The other observation I had was that while Apple products are meant to be inter-operable and used together, they are not arranged in the store that way. iPods are separate from the accessories, cameras are separate from the computers - part of the beauty of Apple products is their common functionality. I began by looking at ways to combine the zones.
My storyboard indicates the Apple store as a calm storefront with an organic flow through densely packed space. The edges of the zones are blurred and the interstitial spaces flow into one another.


My first two perspectives were an attempt to balance the organic flow and space packing with the technical aspects of an Apple store. The third perspective is trying to convey the limited sense of path. All three show the blurring of zones, most visible in the second and third, which are mostly unreadable.

Affordable Good-Designed Housing

_"Copycat Workmanship" - good affordabe modular housing does not have to look identical or cookie cutter, but can have identical bones and pieces that can be put together in interesting ways to fit an individual or family lifestyle.
_ Affordable housing does not have to be high-rise 1960s "utopian" which was (and is) actually for from utopian - high crime, squalor, run down. Green spaces left as park and playground sits empty and unattended due to crime. Corbusier said that a building should not be so high that a mother cannot recognize her child playing below. The anonymity involved in living in these places does not make a good living environment. High rise housing will not work in rural areas where poverty is high.
_Trailer parks allow for a sense of community, but these are not safe in many areas where tornadoes, hurricanes, or floods may be prevalent. These areas are usually on sub-prime land, near highways, away from cities, in flood plains, in low-lying areas. Usually the land is not part of the trailer ownership, and trailers depreciate in value.
_Modular housing can be built in a safe environment on the ground, indoors in heated or air conditioned spaces, by skilled labor whil do not have to drive miles a day to different job sites. Pieces can be completed quickly with no inclement weather delays. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing can all be organized and complete for each piece before making its way to the site. Many material deliveries to the site aren't required, as mass amounts can be delivered and stored safely at the interior site. Builders would no longer need to carry as much insurance or worry about material or equipment theft.

Joe's response:
_Dwell home competition as a resource/model of how high design standards can be achieved (also control craftsmanship)
_What does the term "modular" housing mean to people - poor, low-quality. What can change this initial notion?
_How do locals perceive the modular idea moving into community? Local govt intervention needed as well?
_Ways to implement green design/off-the-grid principles to help reduce the cost of ownership?

Rick's response:
_highly technical - research methods which have worked and not worked. Both from a technical detail and design/aesthetic p.o.v.
_what are the economic factors involved?
_Types of governmental funding for research/implementation?
_Design competitions?
_Can you pursue this project type with current firm? If not, are the interested?

Tim O's response:
_One thing to ask yourself is how do we minimize urban sprawl which is reducing our natural environment exponentially?
_Could you participate in the design competitions for the Habitat for Humanity house?

For reference: Wired Magazine and Dwell

Studio: 3D to 2D

I analyzed Screen Shot 1.


















Scheme 1











It seemed to me that the room appeared very small, but could easily be much bigger. The night vision camera make is hard to dicern, but it seemed as though a lot of natural light would enter the room.

Scheme 2











Going back to my diagrams, where the wall was partial to instigate the action, perhaps there is a lot of space behind the wall that you can notice, but cannot access or inhabit. The natural light in this scheme is coming from the side instead of directly opposite the mirror wall.

Shopper to Consumer

The notion of conversion is very interesting. It seems that stores just try to get people in the doors, which I'm sure helps their bottom line, but without knowing their target demographic it doesn't seem that they are using their full potential.

WalMart seems to be really harnessing the power they wield with their "Always low prices" campaign. In one of the documentaries on the store (I can't remember if it was this one or one on CNBC), they talked about how the only products that were really the lowest prices were the ones in huge racks in the middle of the aisles. But WalMart didn't put them there for you to buy them; they put them there to get you thinking about microwaves or DVDs or hand lotion, so you will head to that section of the store for your preferred brand or a movie that you actually want to see. Once there, the idea is already planted in your head that "those DVDs were only $7.88" and while you are marveling at how low the prices are, you just paid fifty cents more than you would have somewhere else. I don't shop at WalMart - but I can bet that Paco Underhill's students have followed quite a few people around the store to figure out that somehow, seeing a good deal on one item translates to "everything is such a steal!"

I think the first step is getting shoppers in - Underhill clearly states in his book that the stores he is helping are doing well to begin with, and are getting the shoppers in, but somehow are failing in the conversion department. In thinking about all of the Apple articles I have read today and hearing about the iMac, iBook, iPod, iTunes for the past however many years- they are very good at design, marketing and hype but I would have to say that about a quarter of the people in their stores at any one time actually buy anything. The Apple store in Columbus is always swirling with people - I have been in there probably about a dozen times, and I have only bought something once. My boyfriend has probably been in there twice as much, and has purchased something twice.

The idea of conversion makes me kind of sad, to think that we all are so easily influenced to buy things based on their strategic placement within the store or creative signage. As I am typing this, a Target commercial is on the TV and the song playing in the background says "Wanna gotta get it gotta get it right now" over and over. Not very subliminal...

Big Brother Investigation: Final

In analyzing the screen shots, one thing that began to jump out at me was the prevalence of mirrors. Of course, the mirrors are there to hide cameras and other behind-the-scenes action, but they also provide more interest to the images. For one, not only can you see the action that the camera is intending to show, but you can begin to get "hidden" views of the same scenes - the backs of people or action taking place just out of view. They also provide more interest to the images through their reflection of inanimate things - specifically furniture and walls. By reflecting the walls and the furniture, the rooms take on an infinity quality and seem to go on forever.

Screen Shot 1

















The mirrors and dark edges around the mirror wall first struck me. It was almost as if the mirror wall could be on a track, and the wall can move closer or farther away from the action, hence the dark caverns on either side. The dark frames around the windows enhanced this image in my mind. The dark wall is also reflected in the right-hand window, deepening the sense that the wall continues beyond.



















Screen Shot 2
















This image to me was the strongest case for the imagined transparency in the mirror wall. By reflecting not only the bed, but the pattern of the wall, it appears as if the room continues on, and the mirror wall is simply dividing it.














Screen Shot 3
















I thought about this shot a little differently. Instead of the opposite wall from the camera being transparent or mirrored and informing the actions in that way, the wall is left in the shadows to push the action away and into the yard. Although this wall is mostly glazing, it is the least transparent and most divisive of all four screen shots.


















Screen Shot 4
















This screen shot had the most solid opposite wall. The lighting in this room is concentrated to the centers of each of the walls, leaving the corners dark and enhancing the idea that the wall as detached. Another detail to support the idea is the wainscoating and chair rail - they stop at the opposite wall.

Big Brother Investigation

For some initial feedback, I am posting some of my sketched diagrams on each of my four chosen screen shots. Click the sketches for a larger image.

Screen Shot 1





















Screen Shot 2





















Screen Shot 3





















Screen Shot 4