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?
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!
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.
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.
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.
Level 1 Plan
I spent the past week working through the problem of designing two different, crisscrossing vertical circulation paths (public and private) that could never touch in my reconfigured atrium. Initially, all of my schemes involved long stairs that would stretch across the atrium and over each other, but I kept running into problems of not having enough headroom under crisscrossing lengths of stairs. Also, because the public and private sides of the building reverse at Level 2, even when I finally got the stairs to work properly, I ran into issues extending a walkway across the atrium from the public elevators that were located on the opposite side.
Finally, I discovered a breakthrough solution–having the stairs spiral around each other, like a double helix, and moving the public elevators to the center of the atrium, rather than one side or the other. This way, I wouldn’t have any headroom issues, the public and private paths would never cross (just spiral around each other), and the elevators would only need paths to span across half the atrium on any given floor level. In my most recent (and likely final) iteration of this idea (depicted here), the stairs closest to the eastern wall of the atrium are stacked on top of each other, and the stairs towards the center of the atrium crisscross to achieve some of the dynamism I liked about my intial crisscrossing schemes.
Public Atrium Stair at Level 1
Public Atrium Stair at Level 2
Atrium at Level 2; Public Elevators can be seen on the left; Private Stair in the foreground with the Public Stair in the background
Now I have an atrium that truly reflects my concept: the intertwining of public and private spaces.
This week, I’ve been working mostly on implementing my new idea for crisscrossing public and private circulation paths within a more centralized atrium space. It’s been kind of a trial and error process of testing various slopes and angles of staircases to try to get a combination that actually works (leaving enough headroom under the stairs as they crisscross). These are some images of the design where it is right now. I’ve moved into Revit, which is helping me quickly test different stair types. I’ve just been using the program’s default materials, railings, stairs, etc. for now. My focus has been on developing the shape and functionality of the space, and I will focus on details later. The atrium still has a ways to go, but it’s getting there.
Atrium from Level 2
View from Alternate Dispute Resolution into courtroom
Level 3 Courtroom – Witness’s View
The week has been spent attempting to dissect the transition of the building to the site. Attempting to use the slope of the site to relate to the section of the building, and how it positions itself within the site. Looking at how the lines of the building fold to meet the ground or attempt to fold twice to create a floor condition. With the site’s sloped condition, the lines are able to produce a double fold and create a floor plate which allows for the spaces below the main floor to open up.
Two days before midreview, my project underwent a midlife crisis.
After I finished my model Wednesday night, I reevaluated my design and realized that my courthouse, while highly functional, was incredibly boring. It had no “soul”–nothing that made it unique. It could have been any courthouse, anywhere. So, I went back to some of the original concepts I had at the beginning of the semester and thought about how these could make their way back into the project (“intertwining public and private spaces” and the idea of pulling the park over or through the building). I started sketching ideas that kept the existing functionality of the latest design iteration, while making the building much more interesting.
I realized that in my past few iterations, the lobby was like a completely separate building from the courtrooms, and I even had a thickened “wall” of circulation separating the two. When I modeled it, the lobby also seemed out of scale with the rest of the building. Moving forward, I want to bring the lobby/vertical circulation into the courtroom part of the building, giving the user more of a “choice” than just walking down a really long corridor to his final destination. I also want to experiment with different, crisscrossing paths within a central atrium, which will literally “intertwine public and private spaces” in an interesting way, similar to the public bridges that I was already starting to experiment with in the previous design’s atrium.
Level 1 – New Scheme
[space + justice] 
