crunch time.........again

I have been super busy in studio as of late working with my group to refine our building shell design as well as work on the atrium that i am designing. With all of this have to managed to neglect my blog for a few days now. It's time to catch up.

The design work is done for the most part, if that ever really happens. I've been working on my presentation drawings for the past few days now. Also started on our final model this afternoon and should be finished by Sunday afternoon. I also hope to complete a larger model of the atrium staircase surround to show some of the details. The detail drawings have been fun to work out, Thank God for Graphics Standards. I have been trying to place these images or at least place holders in our presentation template try and find a way for this thing to be as exciting as I think it is.

I really want to throw out some of the same ol same of presentations like boring plans and interior elevations, yawn. I hope to finally be able to visualy explain what we have spent all this time working on. With so many layers built up to make this space I plan on using a series of axons that show this process. Also I hope to include an exploded perspective view of the circulation core and foot bridges.

Man, I need to get back to work I want to leave with a few drawings that have helped me figure out some proportions for my models and computer models.

inspiration hits 1st thing in the morning

As I woke up this morning the sun was shining in through my window, of course right on my face. It got on my nerves at first but then I realized how the leaves were blowing around in the wind and filling my room with all of these wonderful shadows. It immediately reminded me of my studio project and how light and movement have played such a key role in the overall design of the atrium so far. I have been struggling with ways to dramatically filter the light coming into this key area of the building. I'm not really sure yet how the maple tree outside my room and it's early morning choreography will help influence these design decisions but it sure got me excited about he whole day.

Say Cheese

I was looking at some random blogs the other day and found this picture, it was taken from an article in Playboy magazine. This site has work from thousands of designers from products to art pieces and back again. If you have a few minutes I would recommend taking a look.
www.lushpad.com

Round 3, Here We Come

Thursday we had our last group review before the final. Now it's really time to turn it up a notch and change gears from the group work and focus more on our individual work. These images begin to show a more refined version of my previous post. We have managed to filter and refine our concepts and establish an architectural language that can carry throughout the entire building as well as define the interior space.






I am working on the atrium of the studio arts building as I have mentioned before. Since this space houses much of the buildings vertical circulation as well as the main entrance everyone that comes threw the building will interact with this space. Since the atrium is more of an enclosed space between the two classroom wings not a key structural component of the building I want to focus my work on a design that embraces this fact.



Some of the components that need to be within the atrium are.

-vertical circulation
Stairs/elevators
-foot bridges from the studios to the classroom wing
-observation deck
-main crit. room

I have spent a great deal of time working with my group to develop a material language for the building and specific spaces that help to inform the students and visiters of their uses. I hope to continue to play off of this palette of materials and forms to create an atrium that maintains a similar design language as the exterior to truly empisize that the idea of being a break between these two buildings.

Core No More

Through our group design work thus far, the idea of having a central core for circulation has given way to more of an open atrium space within the main studio building. This space will still act as the main entrance and hold the main vertical circulation but will no longer act as the anchor point for the structure.


These images show how the structure of the building will begin to frame this open space/atrium. This has given me the opportunity to work outside of the constraints of the building framework and core. As a group we have worked towards a more simple form that can act as a pallet for more organic interior gestures and forms. We also feel that if we could find a way to showcase and record the movement of the students and guests that would change day to day, it could bring an artistic life force to the studio building.

Group meetings, round one

Here are a few of the schematic drawings we worked on tues.night for our groups shell and form of the studio arts building for studio.

More to come tonight!

The studio wing as well as the classroom wing were elongated to take advantage of the views toward campus and down town as well as to allow for more natural light. Also the core has been enlarged to allow for more of a gesture of a gateway.

one more material

Jimmy reminded me that I had forgotten a few of the materials that I had been researching. I can't believe these slipped my mind.

You can always use extra security, or just a good laugh. Any way you look at it lasers are awesome!

sunny = sketch

Friday was such a nice day outside and I had found myself with a few extra minutes to spare. With some persuading from Suzanne and Patrick, I decided it was time to do a little sketching. It's not a masterpiece but it was fun.



A nighttime shot of the library entrance from a few weeks ago. I really liked the light qualities and I was already talking about the library anyway.

materials study

As a charrette, we were asked to research six materials and incorporate them into our group's design scheme. As reference for my fellow classmates I am posting my information. Good luck.

Travis Hicks has to be one of the coolest teachers ever!

On St. Patricks, our professor Travis came to class with two amazing gifts for our studio. He had cleaned out his desk at work and brought us several boxes of old magazines Metropolis, Architectural Record, Interior Design among others. Thanks. The other gift, that was what sealed the deal. Travis walked into studio carrying under his arm a black box that appeared to be an instrument case. He then told us that if we did well in our reviews he would show us what was in the case. I guess we did ok, the following video says it all.

Thanks Travis for sharing something so special with us.

A Little Something to Think About

Over the break I have been looking over a lot of the old magazines I have massed over the years and found one that could prove to be rather resourceful for our studio this semester. In the Aug. 2004 issue of Architectural Record there is a rather lengthy article about campus buildings, The New Academic Village. Here are a few images from one of the buildings, The Smith College Campus Center by Weiss/Manfredi Architects in North Hampton, Mass.

Birthday Review with Paula

On feb. 19th our studio had a review for the design work completed thus far on our current project. We had been given a week to individually produce ten initial schemes for our Lee St. studio project. Our critique went well, and we were fortunate enough to have a special guest, Paula Carr, to sit in and give everyone some great feedback. Paula, an alum. of Iarc, was in town to give a talk at UNCG about design and the excitement and passion that drives us all. It is always refreshing to see someone that was in our shoes not all that long ago doing so well and enthusiastic about the design world. So many of us become bogged down by the pressures of school and lose the spark and passion that brought us here. For me, Paula's visit to our review was encouraging and informative.

For the initial context and layout of my work on this project I began by taking into account what I felt to be the strongest connection to the community that the site has to offer, the surrounding views of the city. Since the entire site rests on somewhat of a ridge, there is the opportunity for multiple vistas.

The diagrams below show how the building orientation was inspired by the line of site to several local icons, Downtown, Koury Convention Center, UNCG's campus as well as several of the surrounding neighbourhoods.

These site lines began to define the shape of the building forms. Footprint, volume/building height, and orientation were all influenced.

These images are from the pin-up and aim heavily towards the process of the forms and spacial considerations of the ten schemes. Some of the forms are variations of each other exploring different avenues.

After a brief brainstorming session this morning we began to highlight gathering spaces on campus as well as major pathways and bus routes. we gathered images from other edges of campus, aycock st., spring garden st., tate st. and market st. to document how signage and campus image is manifested in regards to the public.


We also finished our topo. model of the site and here are a few images.

Working in the shop today to finish the topo model for class on Tues. Sara and I also hope to map out some of the transport routes for students, park & ride, HEAT and the city bus, as well as walkways and bike lanes. we hope to find out how these stops relate to the other edges of campus and see how well new stops and routes could be integrated into our programing. I hope to post some photos and our findings later today.

Found this last night looking for info about studio, pretty wild.
www.hobonickels.org