Scheme 1 - runs the length of the Boylstonrelating (over emphasizing) to the linear floorplan of the dorm rooms and address the residential street presence that has beenestablished from the residential building shownon the left, while scheme 2 in a lesser fashionspeaks to the massing size and proportions.With each scheme the floor plate remains thesame, there are two dramatically differentelevation ideas. Hopefully this study will help re- relate the dorm building to the site and startcreating a connection to the the studio/admin.building and site cirrculation.
4 comments:
Ken,
I see you are drawing 4 flors in your elevations.
Yoyr (only) plan so far shows two. Are you proposing to revise th eplan any time soon?
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.
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)
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.
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.
The space above the green roof and the floor above should be large enough to accomindate maintance, wich will also dictates a controlled sun pattern to fall into the larger green plaza. Another benifet to the horizontal opengings is the oppertunity for the controlled sunlight to make its way into the studio/admin. areas.
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