Response to the comments

Thank you, thank you....
I agree that this type of conversation is extremely valuable and inportant.. and most times we use "fancy" words to express things that the architecture miss or fail at. I reall want this space to work (the "underneath") but feel that it will not really be the gateway it could be. As far as the structure goes... I will send it out to Kurt in pdf format... The framing plan really is for the 2-4 floors (they did not include the "breeze catcher") the exterior walls will be the ICF material and they will be constructed on the concrete over steel deck as this stacks up. The ground floor will be ICF on the grade slab. I will do a quick exploratio of a full section and structural system.

The use of collums I have been avoiding (to be honest) in hopes of keeping the linear/horizontal feel of the Boylston street scape. I will look at alternate options to achieve the root of linear.

There is so much to say and discuss... But at this stage is will be create,post,test,fail,rework and repeat...

This all said, I still need the deliverables... a functional building, a sense of space and an experiance that is natural to the site, BAC and profession.

As I continue to work through these things I am confident that all will work with solid backing without hiding behind fancy words...but supported by the root of the fancy words.

Posted via email from my cool Q.

Structral system - Studio/Admin

The structural system for this building will be virturly the same as the dorm... the roof system will be different and i will look at how that all goes together this weekend.

Kurt... if there are any suggestions for the curved steel truss systems... that would be a great help. I do have a few resources here... and will call upon them.

Structural systems... Dorms

Clear span capablities...
As the plans started to take shape, simple/formal/clean lines emerged and the natural selection for the structural system seemed to be ICF, open web steel trusses and concrete over metal decking at both floor slab and roof deck.
The largest width being 25' at the circulation areas (9' and 16'-8" bays), the majority of the width being 18' at the living areas (three 24' bays) and a small section having a width of 21' at the lounge pod area (13'-8").

at the ground level, the roof deck will detail to the ICF as in Detail B

reposted...

Comments to the forefront...

This series of comments I felt may get lost in the shuffle and I wanted to address some of these comments in one location... these comments come from the 'Elevation schemes revises...'

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

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.

Dorm Room Plans

Detail Vignette

Site Study - explorations of entrances...

okay... is it to late to have this up for debate? the second story of the dorms is at 11-12 feet above the side walk.... creating a covered area (where the blue lines are) a series of plaza of steps step down into the site 3-5 feet... during this transition the public space of the main building will start to engage the public realm as it climbs up the stairs under the dorms...

a clearer site plan and detailed (connections) sections to come.

Elevation schemes revised...

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.

Elevation schemes

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.

Intensive - Mid Crit

Some comments from the crit are listed below with some responses as to how these may need to be addressed:

comment - the current site plan feels a little under developed

response - revised site plan speaks more to a fully developed plan where the circulation and site movement patterns are more deliberate.

comment - the symmetry is hurting the resolution... how to get from one to another... studio to main entry from the site 'entry'?

response - the symmetry of the two buildings (dorm and admin/studio) are in response the the major axes (Boylston and the 'Pike'), there is a subtle axis created by the below grade parking in response to the Boylston Apartment Building adjacent to the site.

comment - must look at shading elements for the South facade...

response - the placement and sizing of the South facing glazing in addition to shading elements will play a part in the design and function of the dorm rooms. The dorm rooms are used sparingly and I believe that there is a way to allow morning sun in to aid the awaking of the students and also eliminate the heat gain from the sun during the day.