3 comments:
werner said...
Ken,I see you are drawing 4 floors in your elevations.Yoyr (only) plan so far shows two. Are you proposing to revise th eplan any time soon?
September 10, 2007 5:27 AM
Ken Ballard said...
I will repost the plans (dorm) as they have changed a small bit... each dorm sleeps one and there is still a jack-n-jill bath between two rooms, with one small lounge-pod per level.In scheme one, the 2nd and 4th flor swings out towards Mass Ave and in scheme two all four levels stack with a breal inbetween the 2nd and 3rd levels. I will repost when I get home.
September 10, 2007 8:19 AM
werner said...
Ken, together with the plans I understand the "swinging-out-thing". I appreciate the framed entrance to the academic building, but the proportions are not comfortable at all. The opening is oppressively low and the span way too big. We do have a building here in Boston, where a dormitory wing spans a courtyard below. The span is about the same as yours, it is twice the widths, but the opening is at least four stories tall (see link: http://www.boston.com/news/galleries/magazine/2004/0222/harvard3.htm ). The space underneath is hardly ever used. Turning the idea into a gateway seems more promising. But I think you would have to reduce the span and turn out the third floor instead. I don’t understand the horizontal openings (on the left floor 2 and on the right floor 3); they seem useless for occupancy, difficult to build and rather unsightly, especially in the city context.In plan the stair wrapping the elevator does not meet code: Exit stair cannot contain any non-stair related element (incl. elevator)
September 11, 2007 8:51 AM
werner said...
Ken,I see you are drawing 4 floors in your elevations.Yoyr (only) plan so far shows two. Are you proposing to revise th eplan any time soon?
September 10, 2007 5:27 AM
Ken Ballard said...
I will repost the plans (dorm) as they have changed a small bit... each dorm sleeps one and there is still a jack-n-jill bath between two rooms, with one small lounge-pod per level.In scheme one, the 2nd and 4th flor swings out towards Mass Ave and in scheme two all four levels stack with a breal inbetween the 2nd and 3rd levels. I will repost when I get home.
September 10, 2007 8:19 AM
werner said...
Ken, together with the plans I understand the "swinging-out-thing". I appreciate the framed entrance to the academic building, but the proportions are not comfortable at all. The opening is oppressively low and the span way too big. We do have a building here in Boston, where a dormitory wing spans a courtyard below. The span is about the same as yours, it is twice the widths, but the opening is at least four stories tall (see link: http://www.boston.com/news/galleries/magazine/2004/0222/harvard3.htm ). The space underneath is hardly ever used. Turning the idea into a gateway seems more promising. But I think you would have to reduce the span and turn out the third floor instead. I don’t understand the horizontal openings (on the left floor 2 and on the right floor 3); they seem useless for occupancy, difficult to build and rather unsightly, especially in the city context.In plan the stair wrapping the elevator does not meet code: Exit stair cannot contain any non-stair related element (incl. elevator)
September 11, 2007 8:51 AM
I agree that there is something interesting yet odd in the space that would be created under the second level. The difference here vs the MIT dorm is the space its self, at the MIT dorm is appears to want to be a sun bathing plaza or some sort of social gathering space whereas I feel that my 'under the dorm' area is the "gateway". The idea of engaging the public with a public space (gallery) in normal public (pedestrian) area intrigues me... I also have some reserve about hoe that space will feel to be in... my thought process goes instinctual back to last semester to Herb's class and how social awareness in regards to our built environment is often thrown out the back window and "good" design often becomes architecture for architects... Who uses these spaces and how do these spaces get used and why are they being used? I think the appropriate answers to these questions follow as such: students, faculty, guests, public will be engaging this 'underneath' space, the space, minimal in size (the area that would actually be used) is minimal (20-25 feet), and the primary use would to be to enter into the 'business' end of the campus... studio and admin areas.
American Hertiage Dictionary defines "Gateway" as such:
gate·way (gāt'wā') n.
1. An opening or a structure framing an opening, such as an arch, that may be closed by a gate.
2. Something that serves as an entrance or a means of access: a gateway to success; the gateway to the West.
3. Software or hardware that enables communication between computer networks that use different communications protocols. Also called router2.
1. An opening or a structure framing an opening, such as an arch, that may be closed by a gate.
2. Something that serves as an entrance or a means of access: a gateway to success; the gateway to the West.
3. Software or hardware that enables communication between computer networks that use different communications protocols. Also called router2.
The physical passage from the street scape to the campus naturally creates the gateway, the question is more of, will the passage be right? The clear height of the dormitory above is currently 11'-4". I would like to use roughly 40' bays with 4' W flange beams carring steel trusses... that would mean that the entire structure would have to grow an additional 8-10' to accommodate the section.
The horizontal openings, if one can recall the dorm section, is the area above the green roof and the summer breeze "wind catcher" (that will need some sort of mechanical fan to help draw the air into the rooms and then exhaust out). I agree that there is some sort of a difficult task of construction... but I don't feel that it is a reason to abandon it, just that it wil require some great engineering and detailing.
3 comments:
Ken, I’m glad you are taking up this discussion. We tend to take words and try to make architecture out of it. This needs to be done in a very careful way. With most terms we are associating a lot more than is to be found in the dictionary. Take gateway for example. Comparing your definitions with your product, one might nod “yup, it’s sort of an opening, could (with a large budget) have a fence or a gate, it is serving as an entrance”. But comparing with the series of images you found that express gateway to you, you realize you are missing one dimension in your gateway that all others have: a sense of importance, pride, strength, et cetera. All things that have to do with the proportions of the opening and the space created underneath. Your current space has the quality of a highway underpass. It is low, wide and shallow (depth). Although, as I mentioned before, I applaud you to the gesture, it helps resolve the “train wreck of the two geometries colliding”, as it established hierarchy between the two: the housing and Boylston is # 1, the academic building along the pike # 2. Now you need to work on the proportions. And as I said before, maybe one floor up would do wonders… using a four foot beam for a dormitory structure is a bit strange. It can be done (I would expect in even less space. But what is wrong with a few intermediate columns? why couldn’t you have full floor height trusses at the front and the back, just like a bridge? I don’t think you should use the limitations of the structural system you choose to make a crummy space.
In the first assignment we dealt with space making. I had asked you to create space with very limited elements. Everybody created more or less comfortable spaces. Space first, is the motto. It is sometimes very hard to create good space in the first place and than to keep it when the “ruthless gang of facts” is attacking it on all fronts (structure, climate, budget, code, et cetera). For your “breeze catcher” I need to see either quality of space added a real use for this sad space. I can’t imagine that the catching of the breeze in Boston requires this monstrous contraption. I’d like you to either investigate realizing the “breeze catcher” within your structure, after all you have a single loaded building, hardly a problem to get thru ventilation going!, or you draw the entire building section and make the mechanical aspect really work together with Chris. I will not accept something half-backed with some fancy words attached.
I'm looking at the section you've drawn, and the airflow path shown by the blue squiggly lines. As you've said, you'll need "some kind of mechanical fan" to help draw the air into the rooms. I think you need to develop this concept quite a bit more. Where is the fan? What does the intake slot look like in plan? How does the air get out of the space? How do you keep the spaces warm? All these questions need answers for the scheme to be plausible.
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