Three classes in Fall 2009 filled my time for the Master of Architecture at U.O. - Studio Design, Spatial Composition, and a class on the ecology of Construction Materials. As always, the studio course took up as much time as I was willing to give it. Fall quarter showed me that I somewhat hindered myself by leaning too heavily on some of my past experience. With Revit Architecture software in my back pocket, I moved my preliminary designs into the digital world in hopes of making things easier when it came time to pull together a finished product and for rapid 3D visualization. I am very glad to know Revit, but have found that some things are foolish to not design by hand. Pencil and paper with trace paper can get quick sketch ideas, conceptual design ideas and facades in a way that takes 50 times longer in Revit, no matter how competent I seem to be, as I got stuck in what was comfortable for me - the digital world. Next quarter, I must be quick to jump back to hand sketching for necessary processes...
The studio project was sited on a steep slope in the port town Newport, Oregon, for a Fisherman's Association. Totaling around 10,000 square feet - the project's scope is one I have never attempted to design.
Below are a view from and to the site, just across the street from the dock.
Early massing sketches showed me different possibilities for cascading down the hill while attempting to keep natural daylighting for the majority of spaces. These type of diagrams also showed me where various types of spaces "wanted" to be. For example, the more public spaces like the cafe/bar seemed to want to be on the more public face at the street, whereas the hostel/bedrooms seemed more logical to be located up the hill and away from the street.
During the quarter, in my Spatial Composition class we were given a project to create a 3D structure out of a 2D design from a piece of paper. The patterns given were not structural patterns, but we were to develop them into plan, section, or whatever seemed to create well-crafted space. Here are some images of what I came up with from the pattern as 'plan', with some of the elements trying to step outside of their vertical location given their plan relationship.
My Construction materials class final project was dovetailed nicely with my studio project, in that we were to model at 1/2" scale the construction of one of our rooms from the Fisherman's Association with doors and windows. Heavy timber, concrete retaining wall, stick frame, girders, sheathing and whatever else your project called for, were to be detailed in model and detail drawings. My 'chapel' element seemed to be of interesting character, and worth my study for how it might actually be put together. The double-height volume opens up after entering through a single story space at the left. Dug partially into the hillside, the retaining wall mirrors the slope of the roof to provide architectural continuity in design. Highlighted elements also include the corners of the structure "chopped off" and replaced with glass corners to bring in natural daylight and to lift the eyes of visitors to the heavens.
Thank you Eric Owen Moss for your idea on cutting the corner! (image of 'the Box' in Culver City, CA was found from the web at www.ericowenmoss.com)
Here, in my final poster, you can see my hand-rendered elements, scanned and laid out for print with my chapel plans and details in the top-right quadrant. Site-plan and diagrams spill down from the top left to the floor plans, while sections and elevations rest at the bottom-right. I feel that the most compelling piece of the poster may be the perspective drawing at the top-right of the bottom poster.
Here I am in my final review discussing the project with local designer and part-time U.O. instructor Paul DeJong.
Many hours of manual labor went into this model. Lots of measuring and lots of cutting. My discussion with Paul on the project really pointed out some of the things that did and didn't work well. Designed loosely as two horizontal blocks with circulation cascading up the hill in a vertical bar separating and connecting space it seems fairly straightforward in its layout.Things that were a bit more glaring include the seemingly 'dead' space below the hostel rooms outside of the lower, more public block. After much consideration, it does not necessarily seem to be a space one would want to occupy, with such a towering element behind. Other pieces that I feel need more work would include the pedestrian easement on the right (east) side of the project. The middle portion feels like spent time designing it, but much less so the upper and lower portions of it. Notice the chapel standing out as a jewel with its triangle opening next to the roof terrace off of the vertical circulation and pedestrian easement.
The view looking down from the hillside toward the bay would be striking with what seems to be plenty of daylighting for most every space.
