Ground Level Progress

I am revising my layout somewhat in relation to both the criticism from the Saturday presentation in Boston, and to help further advance the narrative of metamorphosis. The essential plan massing of the building is similar, however I have carved out an area for the "event stair" - that is the "cocoon" in my narrative. I have taken the critics advice and eliminated the pavilion, as it seemed too distracting and didn't help to advance the concept much. Instead, I envision the Boylston side plaza to be populated with seating clusters - an urban abstraction of the trees in the orchard of the second level. These clusters and the "cocoon" stair will become the primary design elements on this level to advance the metamorphosis theme. The building footprint has been adjusted slightly to break up the extremely linear, blank facade and to help scale it down to more pedestrian proportions. The retail space layout is nothing more than functional in nature, as I believe the actual plan of the retail spaces are secondary to the story of the building. All for tonight...

Week 4

After wrestling with the story of "transformation" I used for my narrative, and taking Enno's advice to sharpen the concept to help advance the project I have morphed it into...Metamorphosis. Simply by repositioning the narrative, I believe that I have opened up a much more creative avenue to explore the design.

Intensive Wrap Up

Notes from crit (courtesy of Nick)
Strong edge toward street
Concern with space in front
Area around object building needs to be designed
Stair opportunity - what is the experience of stair
Develop landscape design
Work on return circulation
Open up stair - provide visual connection to space behind
What is behind it?
Don't make it feel like baseball stadium stairs
Rotate stairs 90 degrees
Activate the facade
Engage the mall entry
Issue with building proportions
Move building toward street
Strong Horizonal suggestion in model
What is going on with the brick? How is that expressed
Dead space at corner a concern
Consider moving pavilion to park area
Building could eat the pavilion
Express night/day transformation in presentation drawings

Crit notes courtesy of Michelle:
Work on space around front of building
Basic parti - good idea
Address street side
Fix the stair with better transition or views
Work on landscape
Work on bridge design
Why are the stairs covered or enclosed?
Tunnel too constricting
Rotate stair to help activate facade
What is the connection to surrounding buildings
Why would you go here?
See through facade into courtyard - important element
Work on plaza, building, and public court porportions
Engage pedestrians
Elevation expression unclear
Consider cantilevers - boxes over boxes
Brick front - feels cold
Address dead corner that will become public toilet
Pavillion in park, or building eat pavillion

What next
The main focus will be on the development of the public spaces - how to define those clearer and address their uses. The scale of the three pockets of public space I have created needs to be explored further through shifting of my building elements as required.

Next the building skin and massing will need to be addressed as to how to effectively address a reflectivity during the day, and a transparent massing for the evening transformation. I rather like the pavilion idea, though some did not, and I think it can be a very important space if refined correctly.

The stairs, too, are a major connection in my site and I will focus on improving the experience of the upper and lower transition.

New models, new plans, new site plans, new everything to be built on the basic massing I have created.

Pencils down for me

Enno, Melissa and Michelle thanks for the feedback on the first assignment. I considered closely your comments and criticisms and did my best at addressing some of the topics you all brought up.

Enno, I wasn't quite sure what I had in mind when I started assembling the presentation, and I really liked your idea of "voices of truth speaking..." Curious thing about design isn't it, that we can interject our own narratives into the work to make it our own? I have tried to push the concept of a worn sketch book filled with images and thoughts that inspire me - with quotes, images, and my babbling, as well as exploring a bit how all three of these aspects I have chosen are seemingly intertwined....plus I managed to teach myself some Photoshop along the way and had a blast building the boards.

Ladies, I took your comments to heart and tried to incorporate some tidbits of text - random thoughts on random scraps of paper - that hopefully explain why some of the images were chosen.

Text has been cleaned up, refined a bit - hopefully all the typos are gone. Shadows were added to give the pages a little pop. I tried to give the pages their own minor uniqueness with twists and rotates here and there, and I added the footnotes where required.

Thanks again for the criticism, tomorrow it all rests on the printing skills of Kinko's. Goodnight, all.

Meaningful Architecture - Final Boards

Meaningful Architecture

Test

Merely a test and nothing more