program consolidation :: midterm review

My previous layouts were filled with tons of kitchens: • 1 kitchen classroom,
• 1 catering kitchen,  • 3 supplying the 2 restaurants,  • 3 rentable kitchens, and there were plans for integrating a demo kitchen on the ground level.  In reality, this amount of kitchens would be unfeasible.  Making that many kitchens requires duplication of equipment, and each kitchen has its own demands for ventilation, grease removal, and plumbing.  After talking extensively with a local caterer, I decided to try to consolidate the kitchen portion of the program.

program analysis :: kitchen usage intensities
I first tried to analyze the usage intensities of the different kitchens to see if there were any opportunities for consolidation in that regard.  The following charts, to the best of my knowledge/imagination, the potential open hours of the restaurants, as well as the anticipated usage of the kitchens corresponding to prep times and peak serving times.

Usage Intensity of Kitchens with Restaurant Hours

Revisiting the previous theme of molecular growth, I started conceiving of the program as elements on a periodic table.  In nature, some of these elements exist by themselves, but they can also combine to create compounds.

The beginnings of the "Periodic Table of Programmatic Elements"

As I mentioned, I was planning a demo kitchen on the ground floor, and I also wanted a mobile kitchen.  Noticing that the program called for both a classroom and a kitchen classroom, I thought I could create a classroom that could function as a kitchen classroom with the addition of a mobile kitchen plug-in that could also serve as the ground floor demo kitchen and the mobile kitchen.

To conceptualize this concept, I returned to my lego models, and created this one which highlights the idea of "plug-in" architectural units.

Plan view.  North pointing up.

From Prairie Ave. with fully loaded "plug-in dock."

Detail of "plug-in" architectural components.

Additionally, I fused the Trainig Kitchen (Tr), Catering Kitchen (Ca), and the Rentable Kitchens (3 x Rn) into one larger space that could be "divided" by time, not space.  These move most explicitly affected the 2nd floor, which was kitchen-heavy.  As you can see in the plans below that were presented at midterm, the 2nd floor plan is much more open and spacious. 

Here are some 3-d images that give a sense of what my project is at this point.

Perspective of building with some architectural detail.

Perspective showing pedestrian axis cutting through the building.

The building in the immediate neighborhood context.

midterm prep :: board drafts + project brochure
Our midterm review was held in The Fleur de Lis Restaurant across the street from our site.  Our professor arranged for the usual jury of architectural critics, but in addition, we were charged with getting out to the community and inviting community members and officials to the review.  Because we would be presenting to non-architects, we were pushed to diagram and explain our concepts in an accessible way.  In addition to our boards, we created a brochure to introduce our faces, our mission statements, and our project trajectories.

Project brochure (bio, mission statement, project description)
Draft of Board 1 :: context (city, neighborhood, site)
Draft of Board 2 :: metaphors (what goes in and out)
Draft of Board 3 :: molecular growth (container module + grid; adjacencies)

midterm revelations
I had struggled with the idea of what would attract people from outside the community to the project.  My primary goal was to serve the local community, and I struggled with the idea of the additional program component: Can I find something that serves the community but also attracts others without affecting the community's access to the services?  Do I interject something to the program that might not appeal as much to the community but serves to draw in others?  This question still hung over me up until the midterm presentation.

Then, while presenting my project, it came to me: as a distribution-heavy project, the strength for conversation and appeal to both the community and others was already built into the project--mobility!  The reason I was having so much trouble answering the question was that it wasn't true to my project.  This was not a "build it and (hope that) they will come" kind of project; instead, this project had the potential to start the conversation, and make the first contact.  If you want someone to come to you, why not first reach out or go out to them?

final midterm boards + model images

1/16" model in site context

1/16" model "unstacked"

Board 1 :: context (city, neighborhood, site; what goes in and out)
Board 2 :: molecular growth (container module + grids; adjacencies; phasing)
Board 3 :: drawings (plans, elevations, sections, perspectives)
1/16" model images (stackable program pieces; situated in site model context)

midterm review advice
The following are pieces of advice from our guest critics and community members, most were directed to me during my review, but some advice given to others applied to me as well, and are listed here as well:

• maximize penetration on the ground level 
• add more space open and available to the community (model garden outside or rooftop green space?)
• invest $ saved from container reclamation into making great spaces
• pedestrian axis is completely missed on the 2nd floor
• develop the outdoor recreation space; good concept, and good urban and community gesture
• see how music and performance can inform the project as well as the phasing

Questions to ask yourself:

• How do you react to where it's at and what is around it?
• How do you deal with these issues in terms of a building? of architecture?
• How can the extra component enhance and enrich your project?
• Can you do things better if you try to do less?  

The next couple of posts will focus on structure and circulation refinements that were needed after the midterm review.

building geometry + space planning

I created a few more lego models to tweak ideas I had pertaining to building geometry.  This next one pretty much solidifies the L-shape plan with a tower on the East side that dominates subsequent plan iterations.

Plan view.  North pointing up.

From Prairie Ave. showing outdoor recreation area.

From NE above El station.  East tower and outdoor terracing shown.

shape refinement with grid
The following images show the development of my floor plans in a very generic sense by grouping together a set of 20-foot and 40-foot shipping container modules.  In these examples, I toyed with an idea for stacking the containers, where I would alternate the direction of the containers  in an attempt to bring structural benefits similar to the alternating of grain when making plywood.  The floor plans here do not truly utilize this, but identify 40' square "super modules" that could be filled with either size container in either direction.

At this point, I had planned on the building being 5 floors, noting that the 3-floor arrangement in my previous layouts would not work with the new building shape without expanding vertically.  (The 4th and 5th plans are the same size/shape.)  On the first floor, the pedestrian axis is left as a passageway through the building, and the 3rd floor plan boundary is held by this line.

3rd, 4th, & 5th Floor Plans with Grid

1st & 2nd Floor Layouts with Grid

And this is the corresponding massing for the 5-story scheme.

South Elevation showing relation to El station and Forum building.

space planning with the new shape
When I started to program the building, however, it was obvious that I would not need 5 floors, and so the building was reduced to 4 floors.

4th Floor Plan - Offices

3rd Floor Plan - Educational

2nd Floor Plan - Kitchens + Events

1st Floor Plan - Dining + Retail + Child Care

(re-)articulating the grid
As the dark blue circulation spaces indicates, the current grid layout does not really respond to the pedestrian axis that is supposedly architecturalized by the building.  Furthermore, if the building is indeed supposed to be built up by these containers, the diagonal axis will be more of an imposition on the grid, requiring a lot of alteration (cutting) of the containers surrounding the axis.

The New Grid, Ruled by the Pedestrian Axis

As the new grid diagram shows, the original grid is altered by the diagonal path, which is architecturalized by the east-west grid lines and the container-line held between them (shown in yellow).  To the east of the diagonal pedestrian axis, the grid is shifted 5 feet back from 43rd street, instead resting against the back easement (shown in orange).  To the west of the axis, the grid rotates 90 degrees so that it terminates into the grid in the same manner that the east grid does (shown in pink).

In the next post, I will show tweaks made to the program as well as the realized plans that were prepared for the midterm review.  I will also share links to my midterm presentation boards.

(re-)connection with site

Up to this point, any attempts I made to clarify a building form seemed to be missing something.  There was nothing "necessary" to any of the moves I was making.  I wanted to have a welcoming geometry on 43rd, and so far, that had meant creating a funnel-like setback in the center of the 43rd frontage, as shown below:

This shape was intended to mimic the 43rd St. 'El' Station.

This shape was intended to mimic the Forum building.

Diagonal long-block massing of the 43rd St. Station

Heavy, pitched-roofed massing of the Forum building opposite of the El station.

The attempt to be mimetic was proof that I was not in-tune with the site yet, and needed to visit it again.  Neither building shape even payed much attention to the grid just established.

(re-)visiting the site
As shown in the Google Map below, the residential building directly North of the site has a significant setback from Prairie Ave. To simply build out the building to the property line all the way down the Prairie Ave. frontage would mean closing in this building and limiting its access to the street view.  Therefore, I committed to an equally significant setback from Prairie Ave. on the back half of the building. 

Google Map shot of Site 1 with El station and surrounding buildings shown.

The setback was already in some of my earlier programming attempts, creating an L-shaped building of 3 floors, however, this had little specificity to the site, and was more a way to incorporate open space without giving up 43rd St. frontage.  After the site visit, this space was sized to explicate the site relationship.

3rd Floor Layout of Program Prior to Site Visit

2nd Floor Layout of Program Prior to Site Visit

1st Floor Layout of Program Prior to Site Visit

What is evident even in these early layouts is the use of the 8' x 20' unit size to size the programmatic blocks.  Indications of entry and circulation are shown; on the first floor, quick in-and-out entries are contrasted with those that involve lingering in space. 
 

Diagonal Pedestrian Path through the Site

Looking back to the site image, a very obvious feature of the site currently is the diagonal walked path that cuts the site almost in half diagonally.  I found this path more important than it would be considered at first glance.  A chain-link fence encloses this area, but is damaged on both sides to allow foot traffic to pass through.  This proves two things: 1) that the path is walked so frequently as to be visible and 2) that the path was actively chosen and exists as an intervention on the site enacted by community members, presumably.  In other words, it stands as a testament to how community members have made the site their own, and illustrates how community members currently interact with the site. 

The pedestrian path and surrounding fence shown from the train tracks.

site analysis :: pedestrian traffic
The following diagram overlays the figure-ground of the area a portion of the Google Maps image showing the path.  Analysis details the prevailing pedestrian lines around the site (green lines) and locates entries to the surrounding buildings.  The dark grey shapes describe the ways in which setbacks, etc. help to articulate entries into the surrounding buildings and study how these moves are used to welcome or encourage traffic into the buildings.  Blue lines indicate available routes for smaller delivery vehicles, and the red path notates the path taken through the site, which primarily connects the neighborhood (Prairie Ave.) to the El station and commercial venues on 43rd St.

Site analysis of pedestrian and delivery traffic around the site.

With such a tangible relationship between site and community, I knew my building had to incorporate this path into its geometry. 

Modular Design :: Container Architecture

As mentioned, the shipping container became a perfect way to synthesize a lot of my developing concepts, but it was not chosen right away.  Before I was confident that I wanted to invest this project into an exploration of container architecture, I first did some case studies on more the more general topics of modularity and mobility.

modularity
I felt this was a big program for just one building, and given the nature of community-centric building projects, I thought the project might in reality have to be phased.  Therefore, I tried to distill the program into units that could grow over time.  As I diagrammed it, this idea of modular growth took on a molecular feel.

Salvador Dali.  Exploding Raphaelesque Head (1951).

My mind immediately recalled Salvador Dali's "atomic mysticism" period, especially those works that fused architecture with anatomy, such as Exploding Raphaelesque Head (1951), which fuses an interior shot of the Pantheon dome with a Madonna-like head in the style of Raphael.

This painting is very dynamic and looks as though it is a still from a condition in motion.  This directly related to my interest in mobility as well.




I began to mock-diagram program relationships and adjacencies in the style of atomic or molecular structure diagrams from chemistry 101.

Molecular clusters, atomic chains, and recombinant "DNA".

case studies
Looking at the program this way, I could see potential for emphasizing the mobility and changeability of my program and building.  Is it something that could take on several different (per-)mutations?  To investigate this idea, I looked into a few case studies.

Yorkshire Diamond by Various Architects.

This project is both molecular and mobile in its structure, made of inflated tubes and can be packed up and moved elsewhere.

To see the full case study on this project, click here.

Mountain Homes by BIG.

Habitat in Montreal by Safdie.

The Mountain Homes in Copenhagen and the Habitat in Montreal are two examples that bring the idea of modularity and molecular growth closer to the idea of space in architecture.  The two projects develop as a stacking of inhabitable masses, but each takes a different approach to the manner of stacking.

To see the full case study on these two buildings, click here.

Though each of these studies had their lessons to teach, none of them were particularly instructive to the direction my project was taking.  I was not interested in a take-down and pack-up type of project, nor was I interested in creating a stacked maze of boxes.  The BIG project was the closest in suggesting a building geometry for me, or at least reinforcing that which I was already thinking.  I did finally find much more interesting examples when I looked specifically at container architecture.


container architecture :: case studies
I visited the Freitag HQ in Switzerland last Spring in my studio class, and so it was an obvious first study.

Freitag Headquarters, Zurich by Spillmann/Echsle.

I enjoyed the use of space within the containers, and the way they were retrofitted to provide glazing, entrance, vertical circulation, etc.  This project is also relevant because the recycling of building materials and removal of items from the waste stream is important.  (Freitag's accessories are created from recycled industrial materials.)

To see the full case study, including interior images and structural details,
click here.

The Uniqlo mobile stores is a very interesting case study because it showcases a couple of very important considerations: How to potentially make parts of my program mobile How to maximize unit space Ways to modify the container without sacrificing structural integrity An understanding of how early phase pieces might look/work.  To see the full case study on the Uniqlo mobile stores, click here.  To see more LotEk container projects that were interesting to me, click here.

Uniqlo mobile stores by LotEk.

Thinking about a modular building, and one that might be constructed from a blocky unit like a shipping container, I thought it would be appropriate to make my next form-finding model from legos.  Here are a couple of images of it.

Plan view.  North facing up.

From 43rd St.  Perforated legos suggest cross-ventilation strategy.

From above, Southwest of site.

Cross-ventilation idea.

container research
The following are images I found in researching container architecture which reinforce their association to and reinforcement of my concept.

Disclaimer: Not my image; reproduced.

Disclaimer: Not my image; reproduced.

Returning to my overall building type, I started to identify typologies that may help me in developing the project.  These diagrams tried to reconcile my current interests with the previous diagramming of hubs and networks and almost start hinting at a mixed structural system (though I did not recognize it at the time).

Though I was really interested in doing so, I was not set on using the shipping containers for the building wholesale.  However, I decided that even if the containers do not physically create the building, I could at least start working with them as a module size, so I divided up my site into a matrix of 8'x20' "sub-parcels."

With this grid identified, subsequent form-finding and programming will take shape in increments of the 160sf unit derived from the shipping container.