Design Studio 3
Program and Space
Woodbury University ARCH 281 Fall 2018 Instructor: Duane McLemore
Studio 2A explores an in-depth analytical study which is made of everyday domestic, work, and recreational rituals through written research and case study, with an emphasis on spatial accommodation of program through materiality, finish, structure, and form. Projects set in limited contexts emphasize the influence of internally driven relationships, with a special focus on hybrid programming.
Project 1
will begin with the analysis of a centrally planned precedent. While concentrating on analyzing the whole, the focus of the phase will be the part. This Project will start with the analysis of the plan and identifying the part that generates the whole. In lieu of measurements, the assembly of all pieces of the drawing, as proportions of the radius of the bounding regular polygon, will be defined in the architectural objects. Central to this work will be both the development of an understanding of the concept of symmetry, and the role of the diagram. In addition, a series of representational techniques will be improved upon over the course of the semester, along with oblique drawings of the part.
The church of San Vitale, in Ravenna, Italy was designed with the base shape of an octagon, according to the floor plan. Halfway to the center point, inside the octagonal base shape, is another octagon, making it scaled-down by half its original size. Surrounding the smaller octagon, are seven half-circles, with each one’s midpoint resting on a specific side/face of the smaller octagon, facing away from the center, and is placed three-quarters from the midpoint to the edge of the larger octagon. Now, attached to the exterior of the large octagon, is the combination of a circle and a rectangle, resulting with a rounded corner face, that protrudes outside of the base octagon. Touching each straight side of that rectangle/circle, are smaller rectangle/circles, except a quarter of the original size. Right beside those two, two additional circles with the same diameter as the semi-circles, have small rectangles touching the ends, away from the base. Next, facing the opposite side of the larger octagon, small circles similar in size to the semi-circles sit two-eights of the octagon in distance. Finally, meeting the last two circles is another rectangle with its corner faces curved.
Project 2
During this phase, the contemporary understanding of variation will be integrated into the discussion of symmetry and the part to whole relationship. This will begin the project by producing variations of part from Project 1 in both drawing and physical model form. The parts will engage variation at the level of the whole but also at the level of the compartition of space within the object. Each of the parts will then be used to generate variants of whole objects.
In the Basilica of San Vitale, the exterior design is much more simple than the interior. The interior contains multiple large domes, as well as arches and columns, different from the facade’s straightforward vertical geometry. During this phase, explorations in making the exterior facade more dynamic than San Vitale’s will be tested, that way, the internal design is not completely hidden from the outside. For example, this project will make the hidden arches, behind the domes, more visible, along with multiple design elements which will vary in scale. Additionally, interior geometry of the church is almost completely symmetrical, and this project will also test the variation of the patterns shown inside. By experimenting with all of the geometry in the church, this project will help to understand different variation techniques and designs, the juxtaposition of the exterior versus interior, and the different parts that make up the monumental church.
Variation 1, shown above, was chosen to develop further as the interior for Project 3.
Project 3
will revisit Alberti’s The Art of Building in Ten Books with a focus on the notion of compartition and the stair. This concept will be used to create a new hierarchy of spaces on the interior in response to a specific program, an Aquarium. The part will be forced to respond to changing programmatic conditions. Then, the Aquarium will be placed at the northwest corner of Alameda and 4th St., in Downtown, Los Angeles. Alberti’s elements of locality and openings will be the starting point of the relationship of an architectural object to its site. Influences that are external to the object may cause conflicts with the ordering principles that will require a shift in the objects relationship. To solve this, the exceptions from the previous precedents will be reanalyzed, as a means of breaking with the rotational logics of the part.
As stated in The Art of Building in Ten Books, by Alberti, “The whole matter of building is composed of lineaments and structure”. Originally beginning with the design of the Basilica of San Vitale, the lineaments of the floor plan were altered to bring forward hidden geometry and break away from simple vertical walls on the exterior and interior of the Aquarium. Since then, compartition has become more prominent in this project, which Alberti describes as a building being made up of close-fitting smaller buildings, that are joined together. Ultimately, just as UN Studio designed the Mercedes-Benz Museum to exceed the typical car show area, this project will do the same and break away from common monotonous Aquarium designs.
