Site Plan Ideas

This is not elevation work, but I felt that my site and building needed some work. I will have mostly glass on the first floor with second floors cantilevering to shade below on the south and west sides. There is a central atrium in the east building and studios will be on the upper floors of this, depending on how the massing works out in sketch UP. The west building will have housing on the upper floors. I'll be working on this 3Dimensionally next.

Intensive Presentation

Parti in progress

Distance M.Arch Building Vision

Environmental Program

The distance intensive building I will be designing, has not only a spatial and design program with requirements but also an Environmental Program. The goal of the program is to establish desired outcomes from the construction of this new building and its thereafter existance. I have prioritized the goals which are most important to me below:

High Priority Goals
1. Consume less energy than the average LEED Certified building of similar size and function
2. Rescue industrial and construction materials headed for landfill and use them for 50% of the building make-up
3. Provide adjacent buildings on its block and the building itself with sufficient greenery to provide cooling effect equal to their warming effect. The entire block would be neutral. http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn11862

Lower Priority Goals
1. Contribute less than typical amount of water to storm system
2. Implement a ventilation system that employs a combination of strategies for less energy consumption and better air quality efficiently
3. Utilize the sun's maximum potential for lighting and heating purposes

Comments welcome

Preliminary Program

This is really fun. I like to dream. See my program here:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dscn5hk_2dwxw2d
It is important to me that Blue (Public) and Yellow (Private) spaces get good sunlight levels. Certain support spaces can be shared between public and student/admin spaces. It is important to me that there be small getaway spaces. Places to be alone for rest, contemplation, or be able to communicate on the phone comfortably with family members. I want to create niches in which sound reducing, comfortable materials and furnishings and an architecture of being away improve the experience for the intensive student. I also feel it is critical for living areas to be away from the work space, at least seperated by floor level.

Living Level

See a complete description of main spaces here: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dscn5hk_3fcxdd6

Climate Analysis

Ecological Footprint Results

FOOD: 5.4 GLOBAL ACRES
MOBILITY: 2 GLOBAL ACRES
SHELTER: 4 GLOBAL ACRES
GOODS/SERVICES: 5.4 GLOBAL ACRES

TOTAL FOOTPRINT: 17 GLOBAL ACRES

Considering the amount of available usable acreage per person, if everyone lived like me, we would need 3.8 planets.

What I wonder is, if you add up every person on the planet's global acreage, what percentage of global acreage are we using? More than 100%? Is that possible? People are dying of famine in Africa- if we moved them, could we support them? I don't want generalized answers either, if anyone has any detailed information, please share. But I think these are questions to ponder while doing what we can here.

Radial transitions

Ideas don't come from computers

New model in deliverable format to come...

Boston Climate Questions

In researching Boston's climate via the Climate Consultant software, I have stumbled across several questions. I am early in the process, so I am sure more will come.

1. Does "annual' mean average in cases such as temperature and windspeed where there is an average low for each month and a record low for each month? I notice there are also "design" lows, which I am not sure what those refer to.

2. Would annual percent of sunshine be the opposite percent of annual cover?

3. For fun- did anyone notice the "record" low for January temperature in Boston was 6 degrees? I'm pretty sure it was colder than that when we were there this past January.

I have learned that dry bulb temperature is what we think of as air temperature. Wet bulb temperature has to do with the cooling effects of water.

Transitions 2

Here is another view into a more pronounced entrance, with a more defined small space, and less division between areas 1A and 1B. Lead transitions are meant to guide you to exploring every area of the space and eventually out by gradual transition.

Spaces and Transitions

With a defined space allotment, a defined set of structural and spacial components, and a fixed object of focus; it seems at first that the number of solutions to the problem should be limited. I found that the opposite was true. In fact, I found it difficult to settle on one set of "transitions" over another, each being a valid answer to a problem. Below represents an answer to a spacial problem that has none of the architectural factors we normally use to drive design. Generally form generated by concept and site factors tend to have more influence on me. This is similar to the experiential perspectives we explored last semester.

Below is an arial view of this week's sketch problem.

This plan identifies the spaces. Please see the key below for explanations.