Orientation Week

Made it through the 3-day orientation process this week, and already I'm tired.  Partially because the first two days I biked to school, which is a 10.2 mile commute each way, each day.  Thank goodness I will be getting my Upass next week!  (Although, I will miss the beautiful route of the lakeshore path.)

I just wanted to share a few pix I snapped from campus; I am so excited to be studying architecture at a campus so rich in architecturally significant buildings.  The first building I encountered for orientation was the McCormick Tribune student center by Rem Koolhaas.  It is definitely a building you want to explore.

Student Center, West Entrance

The West facade of the building has an angular undulation to it, and is filled with a vivid orange translucent material.  A flooding orange glow permeates the circulation spaces on this side of the building.  I entered the building from the South entrance, and walked toward this area; the experience was pretty fascinating. The doors themselves make up part of the Mies 'mural' -- it is made up of an arrangement of little stick-figure images that work like a photomosiac. 

The building sits under the green line tracks like a hot dog bun opened up on a plate.  The tracks were incorporated into the architecture by a tubular envelope shielding the train noise (mostly) from the building's interior.  Here you can see the tunnel:

CTA "El" Tunnel. 

As you can see, the tunnel is pretty beefy and dominating visually. From street level, it looks like it completely envelops the train, but the "top" of the tube is mostly open, with only rib-like arched supports making the full turn.

The space inside the building emphasizes a flat, even vertically compressed environment.  The 'underbelly' of the train tube is accommodated by a linear drop in ceiling height through the building that looks like a section of the ceiling has literally been pushed downward into the space.  Under that, a computer station "trough"cuts into the floor plan like a rectilinear riverbed.

Interior Courtyard or Hanging Gardens?

The plan wraps around a courtyard-like enclosure that is open to the sun and filled with vegetation.  This brings a great deal of light to the space and frees it from feeling compressed.  To the side of the courtyard, the floor level drops in stages to create an informal amphitheater.  The hollowed space continues under the courtyard, and to the other side, providing dining services.  The way the "lower level" is dug out from under the courtyard space makes it look like it is floating, like a modern "hanging garden".  It's a great effect, one that reminds me of how the halo of light makes the mammoth dome of Hagia Sophia seem like it is nearly floating overhead [shown below]. 

Dome of Hagia Sophia (Image from Columbia.edu)

And speaking of flooding light... this will be my studio space for the next year:

Northwest corner of Crown Hall, Architecture Studios

Don't you wish your office looked like this?  It is a beautifully simple and unobtrusive space.  Again, I am very excited to be working here, but I am also a little nervous about all the work that will be involved.

That is it for now.  I will try to keep my posts shorter in the future.  Stay tuned!