Finalized: Plans

Not a lot of changes have been made to the first and underground floors. Here, you can see how you can get to the ground floor from the first. The additions made were the columns and furnitures to portray what each space is.

This perspective shows the northern facade of the building looking from the inside of the sunken garden.

The second floor was edited. A ramp was added since the exhibition space is at a higher level and two double height spaces are added next to the ramp and at the northern end. The archival space has been made smaller so that people can only accessed the restrooms before entering the exhibition space. Theater spaces remain the same with an addition of benches along the southern columns so that visitors can sit and look out at the administration building.

This perspective shows how one can be standing on the second floor and look down and see into the sunken garden at the underground level.

 In order to show the double height spaces and height shift of the exhibition, I drew a sectional axonometric. This axon shows not only those mentioned earlier but also the overhang space, entrance, sunken garden and how each space is related to each other.

Last but not least, I build a massing model. It shows the sunken garden, the anchor that connects the theater space, the open middle section of the building and the overhanging mass. You may not be able to see the interior spaces inside but the general shape of the building is clearly portrayed in the model.

Finalized: Concepts

 I have three main concepts that I have incorporated into my design. All of these have been mentioned in my previous design. The first diagram shows the middle section of the building being open throughout. The second portrays the sunken garden and the third shows the space surrounded by the screening devices.

All three of these concepts were put into a drawdle. The first image of the drawdle shows the openness of the middle section of the building as well as the garden space. Second image shows the protruding space and the screening devices.

 

This section should help you understand more about where these screening devices are located. They are located. As you walk along the ramp, and look left, you should be able to see only certain parts of the library and as you reach the second, there is and opening and the view towards the deeper part of the campus welcomes you.

In case you were wondering what these screening devices that I am talking about, I made a drawdle to show my intention.

Finalized: Location, Location, Location

I decided to divide my final presentation into categories which I think would be easier to understand.
It is all about location. The positions of where the central library and administration building affect where my building stands on the site. As the site plan below suggests, the building is aligned to the administration so that the middle section of it is framed towards it. The wing-like parts that protrude out of the middle section extends beyond the taller section of the central library so that people coming to this part of the campus can easily see that a building exist behind the library and invites people. Majority of the building occupies the garden area behind the parking lot.

garden behind parking lot

This site section should help you understand how tall and far my building is in relative to the library and administration.

This perspective is drawn from the balcony next to the administration building, and meant to show where the overhanging protruding spaces are.

Plans and Sections Edited

I have been working on trace and kept coming up with new ideas of improvements. We decided to have our final pinup before the final and see our progress. After a couple of weeks working on them, these are the new plans and sections I have come up with.

Since the mid review, I have moved my circulation ramp to the east and all my programs are aligned to the west. This created the middle section of the building to be open throughout and an opportunity to frame views. On the underground floor, this feature allow the view into the garden from the library.

And from the second floor, the view towards the administration building to the south is framed, and visitors can look down into the garden as well. Throughout the ramp to the second floor and south side of the middle section of the building are framing devices. That allow people to see only certain exterior space as they walk by. This is the movie feature from the exterior space from previous design which I have reused in this and made it a part of architecture. The whole wall around the ramp is formed by these screening devices.

The position of the theaters are unique as well. Not only do they overhang above the entrance, they create a V-shape ceiling, as seen in section. So, as you are walking towards the building to the entrance, you start out at a higher ceiling and the height gets shorter and shorter, in a way, suggesting you that you are getting into an enclosed area soon.

A new concept that I have added is the anchor that holds the theaters. Archival space should have easy access to the theaters because that is where the movies are going to be accessed from. Therefore I started thinking the archival space as a vertical space which is on multiple floors, rather than just where the library is. So I planned out the archival space accordingly and you can refer to the bottom section of the image above.

Developing Ideas

After getting feedbacks from three professional architects, I took their advices and continue working on improving my building. I used the technique shown to me by my studio professor; put trace on top of my existing plans and draw on it. Make general shapes of the spaces and move around to rearrange and see which fits where better. I play around using this technique and came up with a series of improved plans.

During the mid review, I was commented on for where I put my entrance. So I ended up turning my building around and rearranging the programs for the first and underground floors. I have kept the idea of exterior reading/garden space underground next to the library.

Working on my entrance, I designed it so that it is more celebrated and recognizable. The entrance lies underneath the overhang of the theater spaces and is risen from the ground level to make a gesture to the visitors that they will soon be entering a difference space.

According to the critics I had, the outdoor space on my second floor between the theaters does not work well. Since they mentioned it, I realized that you would have to come out from inside to be out in the outdoor area and then go back inside to reach the theaters. Therefore, the outdoor space ended up as a circulation space rather than a space for people to spend time within. So I had to decide whether I want the outdoor space or not and rearrange the theaters to create better circulation.