Concept Model

by mcanadayuncc

Music – Community – Courthouse

The park amphitheater space will provide a venue for local music and will be the flex space of the courthouse.  Music brings people together as a community.  Ideally, this program will open the courthouse to the public as a less intimidating space and become more inviting.  How does music connect to law and the aspects of a courthouse? 1) Community. 2) 1^st amendment: freedom of speech.

Music and interlocking figures are the motifs most prevalent in my concept sketches and models to appeal to the idea of music bringing people together as a community.

Music: an art of sound that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the element of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color.

Could this, with the exemption of the word sound, not be a definition of architecture?

What is considered music (architecture) and what is considered merely crude unorganized noise (anti-space), often varies culture to culture.

Music (architecture) is emotion.

Organization of specific sounds (materials) and tones (techniques) set within a certain time structure. It is one of the oldest forms of human artistic expression.

Music (architecture) brings people together. – community

Music gives a solid emotional foundation and a sense of emotional regulation – emotional shifts – “drug-like” – music (architecture) can alter sense of perspective, sense of time, sense of distance, and mood.

Music is a vacation from reality.

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layers_of_site

by mcanadayuncc

 

{Sky

Landscape

Stratification}

topography-entrance-layers of entry-bounding lines-boundaries-lines of “site” (sight)

The three layers:

1)  The stratification of the earth: The park amphitheater stone setting. The courthouse stair. Entry. Circulation. Fossil. Patina. Foundation.

2)  The mediating ground plane: outstretching land bound by the forest edge and man-made transportation edge (the highway). The public. Private. The courtset. The courthouse.

3)  The view beyond: the emersion into the sky, the focus on the sky. The views of the city beyond. The overarching views of the law. Transparent. Open. The vast beyond.

Precedent Analysis

by mcanadayuncc

Precedent Study:

… “but above all, the courthouse: the center, the focus, the hub; sitting looming in the center of the county’s circumference like a single cloud in its ring of horizon, laying out its vast shadow to the uttermost rim of horizon; musing, brooding, symbolic and ponderable, tall as cloud, solid as rock, dominating all: protector of the weak, judiciate and curb of the passions and lusts, repository and guardian of the aspirations and hopes”…

-William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun

The courthouse in the square is uniquely American. To open gathering spaces in the center of towns can be found both in classical antiquity, as the Roman ‘agora,’ and throughout Europe dating back to medieval times, as Italian piazzas and Spanish plazas. In “The Central Courthouse Square in the American County Seat traces its roots to early eighteenth century settlements along the east coast…” Over 1,000 courthouse squares were built in counties through- out the United States.

John Joseph Moakley United States Court- house in Boston, Massachusetts is located on Fan Pier.

-2 courtrooms for the Court of Appeals -25 courtrooms for the District Court -40 judges’ chambers

-Circuit law library

-Office of a United States Congressman -Offices for the United States Attorney -Extensive support facilities for the United States Marshals service and Pre-Trial and Probation services

-Day-care facility

-108′ high sky lit Rotunda, Great Hall shaped by a 372′ long sloped glass conoid

-Outdoor arcade

-2.3-acre landscaped park

Waterfront amenities

-Cafe

-Information center and excursion boat ticket office in an arcaded waterfront loggia -spaces for exhibitions, lectures, meetings, and dining in the Great Hall of the court- house

Materials

-Glass

-Water-struck brick with granite trim

 

The United States Courthouse in San Diego, designed by Richard Meier, consists of a sustainable modern tower and plaza for public use. This new architecture is integrated with the surrounding existing federal buildings and engages the urban fabric of San Diego.

The circulation of the main tower is located on the East facade to allow views overlooking the public plaza, city, and South Bay.

This slender tower is surrounded by a glass facade and oriented such that natural light enters the building from the East and West. The courtroom as well as most of the building is naturally lit with diffused sunlight.

The lobby is an elliptical volume with a glass roof allowing for sufficient day lighting and many levels of circulation to provide a playful transitioning space for visitors and employees

San Francisco Federal Building- Morphosis uses sustainable design to maximize energy efficiency to create a high quality workspace that redefines bureaucratic culture.

“The project has developed around three primary objectives: the establishment of a benchmark for sustainable building design through the efficient use of natural energy sources; the redefinition of the culture of the work- place through office environments that boost workers’ health, productivity, and creativity; and the creation of an urban landmark that engages with the community.”

A tall, slender tower that provides an energy efficient work/public environment through its shape, orientation, and integration of structural, mechanical, and electrical systems.

Public

-Free standing cafe

-Conference center

-Fitness center

-Daycare center

Circulation

-Places for employees to gather

-”Chance encounters”

-“Democratic layout”

-Work areas at the buildings perimeter

-Private offices and conference spaces are the core

-Skip stop elevators Crossectional interaction

-Sky gardens, tea salons

-Large open stair

-Flexible floor plans

-Elimination of corner offices

Energy Efficiency

-”Living skin”

-Integration of structural, mechanical, and electrical systems -natural ventilation – 70% of workspaces (6th floor and up) -natural light – 90% of workspaces

Folded perforated metal building skin shades the window walls of the North facade.

Computer operated panels open and close with the change of seasons/climate to provide comfortable, naturally ventilated temperature adjustments.

by davidgilmanking

My initial step was to take the courtroom, what I perceived as the symbolic heart of the law, and move it from its coveted central location in the courthouse to the exterior.  I wanted this move to both serve as a symbolic gesture of the interconnection between the law and the surrounding community as well as to physically allow the community to see into the courtroom as ‘law’ takes place.  I built what I saw as an early parti model as seen below that separated and moved the eight courtrooms to the outside to serve as cornerstones to the courthouse itself.  I then played with the shape of the courtrooms in relation to each other.

At the same time I was looking at the macro level, I was also thinking about the micro-climate of the courtroom itself.  It was important to my concept to interconnect the activity in the courtroom with the public.  I wanted to erode a wall and literally make the courtroom feel as if it was spilling outside.  In order to remove distractions to those inside and to serve as a security measure, a wall would divide the two spaces.  This wall would serve as a ‘Translation Wall’, a wall that would have different levels of opacity to signify the varying ways people interpret and read the law.  This translation wall would pierce the structure as a figurative and physical threshold.

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