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.

Project 4A - Interim - Design Development

Some images from the interim presentation. The main idea was to convey the essential concept of the exterior facade system and its direct relation to the interior facade system as well as the concept of the open court and oculus, emphasizing the importance of visibility and transparency between programmatic elements in the design.

The first two images are initial facade studies undertaken for purposes of designing the mock up model and for exploring the effects of exterior multi-hued panels on the interior of the facade.





The next series of images shows some massing explorations that led to the manipulation of the exterior facade in relation to the interior facade and building envelope to insure proper distribution of daylight and sunlight based on programmatic requirements and solar orientation of the building.

North - Maximize daylight.


East - This is the side most of the colored panels will be found on. Minimize morning glare, maximize translucency. The north side of this facade is where the cafeteria will be and is raised to allow for it to open up to the exterior.


South - Minimize direct sunlight, shade and raise facade to expose main entrance to the complex and allow southernly winds to sweep in and ventilate the interior.


The steel framing skeleton for the exterior facade system. I decided to separate it from the building in order to allow maximal flexibility to the interior structure which has yet to be fully developed and in order to isolate the heat gain of the steel on the exterior from the interior building envelopes.


Facade system assembly - This exploded axonometric shows the facade system assembly on the east facade from exterior to interior:
Multi-hued polycarbonate panels
Spider connection system
Light-weight steel web
Heavy-weight steel support system
Double pane windows with reflective frame to deflect light into the interior
Steel framed polycarbonate panel system interior facade
Light-weight concrete slabs (200mm)
Interior partition system (likely aluminum framing)


The building on site (pre-landscaping)


A render of the building on site (pre-addition of colored panels)


Finally, a glimpse into the next and final phase of the design development, a proposed building plan program layout. This is a work in progress.

Project 4A - Interim - Model

Some images of the mock up model built for the interim presentation in the process of building and of the final testing of the model for the desired effect, a transferring of defused multi-hued light into the interior through the translucent facade.
Model scale is 1:5.

Step 1 - Due to the double curve of the facade system, individual components had to be laser cut and carefully kept track of.


Step 1.1 - Smaller individual component (the spider connections) had to be assembled. Originally these were 3D printed but as those prints were flawed, I assembled these from the remains of the 3D print and quickly laser cut pieces.


Step 2 - The outer facade grid is assembled. Note the heat gun in the background. This was used for curving the plexi used for the interior facade mock up in a time consuming process (use a vacuum form in the future if you have one people).


Step 3 - The mock panels are attached to the grid via the connections.


Step 4 - Not really a step, its just the assembled model. Note the curved translucent 3 mm plexi behind the outer facade. This is the interior facade mock up.


Step 5 - Testing. In order to better replicate the comparative intensity of the sun and to highlight the desired effect, the model was laced in a dark room with a direct light shining on it. The effect can clearly be seen.


Step 5.1 - What it looks like from up close looking at one of the opening that will eventually be in the interior facade for natural ventilation.


Step 5.2 - Up close at the opening, looking out onto the exterior facade at dusk.