by pdgaither

My Previous post looked at the new design I have developed for the final. Below are a few images of the new model I have built to further represent my ideas as I make the final push for the final review. At our peer review, I focused on material selection for the building as well as perspective views I wish to show. They will help with the relationship of the architecture to the landscape and how the two work together. Digressing to the idea of material, I am using stacked stone on the flat wall portions of my building and where the building curves I am using either a zinc paneling or a composite aluminium panel.

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Peer-Review

by fcahill

For the peer-review I focused on what views I would focus on for the final review, materials for the building and showed the skatepark research I had done in order to decided what kind of skatepark (size, materials, location) to put in the site and how it would relate to the courthouse.  The perspectives focus on the view of the building and how it relates to the site versus material.  I included to ‘model’ perspectives that I plan on rendering similarly.

After the review, it was decided that the skatepark needs to be included in the perspectives but sections would not help my presentation because my building rotates so much it would not make anything clearer.  I also decided that my model needs to be more than a massing model but more a representation of the building and site and how they work together.

My plans are in the process of changing (after talking with Chrissy) and how my program dictated my form too much so they are not included.  The next few steps will be the finalization of my plans (with furniture, wall thickness and windows) and then I will begin to figure how to build my model and what types of materials I will be using.

Program Diagram Revisited

by JP Mays

I have been working on revising my program diagram, and have developed two options.  Version 1 expands both the courtrooms and the level 1 spaces, while Version 2 only expands the courtrooms.  I can’t decide between the two, so I thought I’d ask the class’ opinion.  What do you think?

Version 1

Version 2

 

Beyond this, any other comments?  Does the color read well?  Lineweight/type?

Last-Minute Improvements

by cchlebda

At our pin up on Friday, my peers questioned the way that the design of my atrium forced courtroom visitors to enter and see the underside of a stair. This was an aspect of my design that I had known was flawed, but I did not think I had enough time to fix it. However, after being specifically called out on it within 15 minutes of my peers’ commentary, I realized it was probably worth taking the time to address the issue. Fortunately, the time I took to work on the stair issue over the weekend has paid off. The solution I have developed not only better resolves the underside-of-the-stair issue by making use of that space, but it also refines and resolves other issues I had with my atrium design that had not been worked out.

FRIDAY’S DESIGN: Atrium from Level 1 | Note how you can see security equipment from the atrium, the exit is not clear, and the user has to turn around to face the stair to see the double helix.

The solution to the stair issue was fairly simple: rotate the public stair at level 1 slightly and shift it over about 6 feet, which also shifts where the atrium access point from the security screening area is. This one change does so much for the design. (1) For one thing, it blocks the view from the atrium to the security screening equipment, which had been bothering me before because I didn’t want courthouse visitors to be reminded of the “hassle” of going through security during their already stressful time at court. (2) The entry to the atrium from security now aligns with the exit back into the cafe, so that a user in the atrium can clearly see the exit (not the security screening equipment, like they used to). (3) The lower space under the public stair is utilized as seating space. Since the stair was shifted, it was moved closer to the elevators, so this bench might be used by people waiting for the elevator to arrive. (4) When the user enters the atrium from security, he enters into the center of the double-helix stairs. This allows the user to really experience the double helix/separate circulation paths idea in a way that is not confusing (as approaching from the side might have been). The stairs as formal elements also create a linear dynamicism that might guide the user through the space.

CURRENT DESIGN: Level 1 Plan | Note how shifting the public stair to the left aligns entry into the atrium with the exit and blocks views to security from the atrium

CURRENT DESIGN: Atrium view from Security | Note how the user now enters into the atrium through the previously underutilized space at the center of the double helix stairs

Overall, I am very happy with the way I have resolved the atrium stair. It feels so good when working through design challenges ultimately results in richer and better solutions!

Print it out to mark it up

by workbymichelletodd

With the final days of the semester approaching, our studio had a collaborative pin-up so that we could provide each other insight on what we think would improve and enhance our projects. While input from peers is very important and can be very valuable in driving the design process, sometimes a pin-up is valuable in that it forces you to step back and be critical about your own work. It never fails that something looks differently from 10 feet away than it does on your computer screen or 2 feet in front of you pinned up at your desk. To prepare for the pin-up on Friday, I created two rendered images that reveal my technique that I intend to use for my final project. By having to print them out, as well as my plans, views for perspectives,  and sections, errors and improvements can be noticed more readily than if they are kept on the computer screen. With this pin-up I have realized corrections I need to make in order to make my presentation that much better for the final review.

The Usefulness of Peer Reviews

by workbymariahroth

Yesterday, Friday November 16, our studio had a peer review regarding where our designs where and our presentation style for final review.  I forgot how helpful peer reviews could be in refining my presentation style.  My peers helped me understand the readability of my presentation from a juror’s view point.  From their comments I noted all the little comments that add up on a presentation.  For example my style of labeling my floor plans, I know that adding furniture and color coding is the best style (for myself) so that everyone can easy and quickly understand my plans.  Another major category I got comments in was my rendering technique.  For one, most everyone thought that purely line rendering conveyed a good amount of information and that if I cleaned them up they are excellent, without material or color.  This was surprising to me because I thought that each perspective needed rendering, I am planning on looking into this further so I can decide if I like this technique.  Second, I learned the style of the one rendering I did, prismacolor marker, was not as successful as I had hoped.  The marker gave an unwanted grain in some area, while in other the grain greatly helped.  I was given the suggestion of watercolor pencils, so I will be looking into this technique and how I can encompass it in with my rendering style.  A third category of my presentation was my bus depot.  I had lost the readability of my bus depot within my floor plans.  This was a wake up call for me because the bus depot is something that I have worked with since the beginning to incorporate and the last thing I want to do is lose it when I present.  However, I believe small changes will fix this and allow my bus depot to read accurately.  I believe this peer review was extremely helpful and gave me many things to work on and refine for the final presentation.

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Finalizing

by cchlebda

As the final review rapidly approaches, I’ve been refining elements of my design and thinking about ways to improve the experience of the building. For the most part, the ideas are there, I’ve just been making improvements. The following is a set of drawings I produced for our preliminary pin-up on Friday. They represent the current state of my design and an narrative sequence of vignettes that I would like to render for the final review.

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The End is Neigh

by caroothers

I have worked to refine a rendering technique that can be used to accurately portray this structure as a public space filled with light.     The pin-up will be to gauge how these renderings and diagrams work together with my models and floor plans through presentation.  I am looking to combine these elements and designs in a specific way to portray my building as an open courthouse through place and metaphor.

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Site + Skin

by JP Mays

My current design efforts have taken a bifurcated track lately, focusing simultaneously on the site and the exterior envelope of the building.  Sitewise, I have been trying to develop a parametric hardscape design, seeking to define the placement of the diamond-shaped pavers by a series of paths through the site.  This ties in nicely with the final requirements for our Computational Methods class, and so I will continue to work on this until the end of the semester.

By sketching over a photo of my mid-term model, I am also trying to flesh out ideas of building skin at a finer level of detail than I had achieved by mid-semester.  I am currently pursuing a cladding scheme for the courtroom volumes that wraps a facade peppered with long narrow windows.  Perforated weathering steel (COR-TEN) or copper panels completely screen these apertures, mitigating sunlight from all directions.  This also will create a monolithic appearance for the volumes, while still providing natural light and views.  This goes back to some of my very first concept studies for screening the courtroom.  Looking back at another (diagrammatic) model, I am continuing to try to establish lookouts/elevated public space, in addition to folding the building into the landscape.

Counting down the days, tallying up the edits

by workbymichelletodd

Now that it has set in that we only have 22 days until our final review (including Thanksgiving), it has become very evident that what issues remain in my design need to be resolved. The majority of my process has been allocated to designing the courtsets and how they function as individual volumes while also providing a sense of cohesiveness. However, because most of my time was dedicated to resolving issues associated with that aspect, my entry volume had been neglected and it had become that it was stagnant and safe. The entry volume was not captivating or dynamic like the rest of my design and in result was weakening the overall presence of my building. So, for the past week I have been looking at ways to clad the volume and punch openings to make it read more dynamic. While that provided improvement, it did not provide solution.  With this in mind, I went into the weekend ready to attack this entry volume head on, determined to find a solution that worked with the concept of my building, while reading as a prominent entrance. I went through 5 iterations of working with facade details and after that 5th iteration, I came up with an entirely new design for the entry volume. Once I came up with this solution, I worked with the model on the site so that I can begin to address the landscape around the courthouse.

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Building in site