Progress Report P4B - 5

I know we've submitted this project and I present tomorrow but I jut wanted to post a short series of photos I took of the sectional model I produced for this part of the submission which shows some of the simple, yet flexible, reconfiguration options of the small performance area.

Image 1 - Performance area from within the facility. The glazed wall on the ground floor is the internal facade of the cafeteria and as can be seen in the model, the panels move to open the cafeteria to the courtyard in good weather. The hold in the model here represents the edge of the pool. The second floor glazing looks into the performance area and would make use of "smart glass" (glass that becomes opaque when an electric current is passed through it) in order to make it darker when necessary.



Image 2-5

These images show the interior of the performance space and if you pay attention to the seating podiums, you'll notice they sit on a rail and can be adjusted to accommodate a small variety of show types. of course, during nice weather periods, the glazing overlooking the courtyard with the pool could be opened and shows involving the pool might be exhibited or shows involving the large polycarbonate wall of the training center opposite the performance venue.

Don't Forget to Clean Up

The studio is relatively safe right now but understandably in the mass push to get things done things might get neglected and order, cleanliness, and organization will give way to messy anarchy.  Please remember that a relatively clean studio is a lot safer than a messy one.  People can slip on dust, get blinded by flying rotary tool bits, or trip over electric equipment amidst all the model making.  Please take precautions in ensuring that models, computers, and others are not injured during this deadline.  A moment of cleaning up things would be both therapeutic and safe... unfortunately we do not have things like the Portrash to help out...

<48 hours until a major portion of your undergraduate education comes to an end...

Progress Report P4B - 4

Trial of integration between the exterior facade and the complex.



Image 1 - Looking from the south, the exterior facade shields the complex from direct sunlight.



Image 2 - Looking from the north, the facade shrinks to let in maximal daylight. The loading dock can also be seen here, secreted and hidden from the complex by the only hard solid walls in the complex.



Image 3 - A look at the south facade form the interior revealing the translucency of the polycarbonate panels.

Progress Report P4B - 3

Started looking into interiors. Unfortunately, lost a day and now have to focus on the model instead but hopefully will have enough time to go and revisit these as it is clearly evident they need work...

Image 1 - Ramp ascending along the south facade up to the "theater/small training space" in daytime. (Still no ceiling on this one so over exposed)



Image 2 - Interior of large training facility during the day. It should be evident that it gets sufficient daylight to light the interior.



Image 3 - Interior of large training facility at night. Lit from above.

Physical Model - Prep

Ive been working on my laser files for tomorrow morning. I like to approach models by creating a 3D model of my scale model according to the sizes of materials avaliable in the shop. This helps with getting the laser files together as well as having a reference avaliable when your assembling the model. It helps with knowing if your model won't work without wasting time once things are cut.

Progress Report P4B - 2

Finalized the steel structural system for the building. Very similar to the one seen in prgress with some minor adjustments for sizing and added floors as well as considerations for new potential live loads.




Image 1 - Steel based structural frame.

Context Site Plan

For anyone who would like to use it...

http://www.4shared.com/file/QFB_4MYL/Site_Context.html




Render of the file contents.

Progress Report P4B

The building is slowly taking form, almost as if it were being constructed... There is much yet to be done but a general idea of the overall form and program can be gotten from the images below, in particular, the sheer vastness of the training facility.

Also, using the model in progress to get a feel for what might be interesting places to take exterior rendering shots from. The interior is also being explored and I will post more on that later.



Image 1 - View from southeast



Image 2 - View from northwest



Image 3 - View from main entry stair up to entrance.



Image 4 - View from submerged cafeteria outdoor seating area, up to the curtain wall.

Crazy night...with models.

I did it with a model. Jealous?


A potential roof idea. Walkable, allowance for northern light/possible southwesterly wind scooooop. Stay tuned.

Thoughts on structure...

In the interim submission for this project I focused on the exterior envelope, that protective and aesthetic facade the mediates heats gain and daylight and serves as the monumental and iconic presentation of the building to the surrounding context. The building itself was left simply as massing at this stage (Image 1).
I also delved into the assembly of this exterior skeleton's structure, proposing that it be assembled of 2 layers of steel structure, a heavier but simpler sub-structure overlaid with a lightweight super-structure. This allows the exterior facade to be independent of the building, minimizing the need for intermediary structure and minimizing the transfer of heat directly through conduction (Image 2)

I am now delving into the lightweight steel structure that will comprise the frame of the facility buildings itself. Steel allows for the flexibility of design and large spans that accommodate the program. It requires relatively simple foundations (which minimizes impact on the ground and requires less digging in the caliche).
With companies such as Schuff Steel Company Southwest based in Las Vegas and the large amount of steel discarded form casino projects, it is highly feasible that local steel could be found and reused in the project, allowing for savings and even LEED points for local extraction and recycled content.

The framing system is based on 2 radial systems of columns with a maximal depth of 20m in the training facility and 8m-10m in the opposite structure. At their widest, bays are 8m wide (roughly 3m at the narrow end).
Given a desire for maximal space ceiling heights due both to program and daylight penetration, most of the facility is on the ground floor. There is only one section with a second story, 3m above grade.

Image 1 - Training Facility with attached classrooms and office. The training facility has maximal span and height. Cross-bracing is achieved via the curved round HSS that run horizontally and the large cross-bracing on the flat interior side. The classrooms and office space will have a curved wall that will shade itself. The frame will be clad in polycarbonate panels, 3m high and 1.5m wide.

Image 2 - Performance center/cafeteria/design studio and other program. Here the structure for the long ramp up to the second story can be seen as well as the OWSJ flooring system and roof frame. Most of the facade here will be undulating but the whole facade will be polycarbonate panels, as with the other side (some here will be completely opaque though rather then translucent).

Image 3 - Gives an impression of the complete building structural system. The pool, a concrete structure in the middle of the facility and a small basement level and depressed, retaining wall landscape treatment have been omitted as they are all bellow grade and consist of rammed earth and concrete mix.

Missing: I have not been able to find a precedent for the framing of the sloped roof on the building in Image 2 (the major facility). HSS are out of the question, even though the roof will not be supporting much live load. Wide flanges ("I"-beams) are an option but it seems to me that it would be too complex to assemble and weld them at an angle. Trusses seem the most viable but on an angle? I can't seem to find an example of how this might be accomplished effectively. Perhaps I need to reconsider the roof structure...

Ideas people..?


Image 1 - Building Massing and Exterior Envelope


Image 2 - Exterior Envelope Structure


Image 3 - Training Facility Structure


Image 4 - Performance/Cafeteria/Design Studio Structure


Image 5 - Complete Building Structure

On the seventh day...

Much has happened between, but now it is time for a much needed update.

The Cirque training centre has given me much difficulty. Initially, I began with the idea of using words to guide my design process. Cirque defines itself with three; dexterity, grace and daring.

I tried to create a form that encapsulated all of this by designing something that gave visitors a feeling of floating, or bringing them to another plane that they couldn't be on otherwise.

That led me to this:

Forms hovering above the ground, with the idea of ascension present in most of the early schemes. However, the bulkiness of the program, such as the height of the training spaces made it feel much less graceful and dexterous than I intended. And so, I scrapped it.

Then I read. Rick Joy is an architect from Tucson, Arizona who seems to be getting some attention these days. His semi-recent book, desert works, has a foreword by Steven Holl, and an introduction by Juhani Pallasmaa, which is where I have found my new inspiration.

Pallasmaa writes about the desert in a way that made me think of it as something other than just sand and rock.

"The immense emptiness of desert landscapes such as the African and Australian Sand deserts or the all white expanses of snow above the Polar Circle, radiating a strange appeal and emotional power. These settings erase the traces of man and evoke an experience of timelessness. The total absence of vegetation exposes the naked skin of the earth and turns the landscape into a tactile and muscular experience. Landscape becomes an extension of the human skin.

...

It is probably the sublime vastness and the sense of a divine void that has attracted these artists. The desert floor provides the tabula rasa for creative work that breaks from the confined and conditioned spaces of cities and museums. It gives a new context to the endeavours and products of modern man. A rusting carcass of a car appears brutal in a setting of lush greenery, but appears a fragile memento of human vulnerability and the vanity of human effort under the desert sun."

This has inspired me to think of the flat landscape as something much more than a spot to 'place' the building, but to think of the ground as something that will become a part of the building.

But what form will it take? How will it be fully resolved? Stay tuned.