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Final Review

Final Thesis Presentation@ Yale Union Building.

My Final thesis review went better than I could have ever expect.  It made all of those sleepless nights well worth it.   What made me feel confident about how my review turned out was the dialogue I had with  Professor emeritus Jim Pettinari during the review.  His presence there allowed the majority of our conversations to facilitate around the idea of using transportation to foster community and how this site lends itself well to being a public place.  The majority of the reviewers comments were that they could really get a sense for my particular vision for the future of the Gateway neighborhood and felt like it was a very believable.  Other comments included a missed opportunity for the building to provide more coverage for transistors from the busses to the LRT due to Portland's rainy climate.

They also appreciated the boardwalk/bio-swale as not only a functional aspect to the project in terms of storm water treatment, but also as a way of organizing transit and being the continuity to aid in way finding.

They were a little skeptical to the TEDx idea as being the right kind of program to activate the site, and I agree with them.  The TEDx served as a way to entertain architectural design decisions, but was never the main focus of my thesis.  As a building it was challenging to get it just right, but in the end could have been a much better building.  What is important to take from this type of program is the idea of building something for the community that they can identify with and call their own.  It will have a much better success rate and the community will be more likely to let you build more and shape their neighborhood if you can show them something that is successful.  The placement of a hotel or some cheap mixed use would be a tough sell to this community.


In the end none of this would have been possible without the help from all of my UO professors, mentor James McGrath, fellow design peers, my wonderful girlfriend, dear friend David Salamon, and my family.

Thank You.


IMAGES OF BOARDS

URBAN BOARD: Alignment proposal, master plan, phasing diagrams, rendered site plan

board1: ENTRY SHOT Site Section(building Section),  sustainability(structure) diagram

Board 2: ENTRY FROM LRT site section with S. Elevation

Board 3: EXHIBITION SPACE building plan structure plan partial RCP

Board 4: EVENT ROOM building section and wall detail

MODEL SHOTS:

Urban Model 1"=50'-0"

site model 1/16" =1'-0" w/ thesis statement and design abstract.

TECTONIC MODEL 1/4" = 1'-0"  

Board Mock

mock up for review boards (8'x12')

The strategy for the final review is to present my project in a competition board layout and organize them by scale.  In keeping with my modernist hero mies van der rohe , I will be exercising"Less is more".  I dont want to over stimulate the reviewers by filling my board with a ton of stuff.  I honestly picture the review facilitating itself around the models.  The boards will be there to demonstrate the quality of space i have in mind.

Im debating putting together three small booklets that will have site photos/research that I can pass out so that the reviewers can thumb through them as I present.  The book will demonstrate the research but also not clutter my presentation boards.

The Urban focus set of boards will allow viewers to understand the extent of this project and see how important transportation is to urbanization.

The site focus board is the design proposal, highlighting the elements of the entire site as a plaza.

The Building board will get into the specifics relating the programatic portion of the site.

Sustainability Review

Well todays review was bitter sweet.  I completely agree with the criticism from my reviewers, however I feel like I am not in the position to make or re-examine how I could incorporate their suggestions. 

I will just have to prioritize their comments and tackle the ones that are manageable, i.e. will take the shortest time or require the minimal revamping.

Their comments in general were spot on.  They understood where I was coming from, although some earlier diagrams could have made my argument easier.  Basically they liked and appreciated the simplicity of the building however found it to be architecturally uninteresting and did not see how the spaces and form making were informed by "bio-synergies"  I admit Bio-synergies has not been my main focus, however I did choose to develop my project in Gateway because of its Eco-district background.  I feel like approaching architecture from and Urban design standpoint has made me value both practices even more, and can now see that it is the balance between the two that allows for the most successes.

They had a lot of ideas and suggestions about how to make my building respond more to climatic and user stimuli, however I worry exploring those route will only leave me high and dry come the final review.

I will take away from this review a little insight to how my final review might go, and begin to think about more thoughtful answers to the tough question that stand before me.

The reviewers appreciated the graphic representation of the ideas and building components and mentioned that it was this clarity that made it so easy to pick at.  That made me smile.   

Day Light Model

Tested out the quality of light in the auditorium portion of my building.  The translucent panels keep a consistent glow in this space in all seasons for all times of the day.  The wood battens add contrast near the stage to make presentations visible even during the brightest times of day.  Roller shades will be added to the interior of the Double skin wall to allow for very low light levels when desired.

Week 16: Update

site plan: New transit Awning, Performance/Exhbition Pavilion to North, and Hybrid plaza to South

Entirely Insulated tanslucent Glazing skin with vision glass denoting entries

This week I was able to nail down the building in terms of its relationship to my proposed transit station covering and to the plaza.  I am excited to work this week on finalizing floor plans, and incorporating more vegetated elements into the hardscape plaza (hence the Hybrid).  

As far as sustainability is concerned,  My urban plan is doing a great job at achieving the objectives of the Eco-district initiative.  Mobility Check, Community Vitality Check, Energy Check, Air Quality Check, Habitat Check, Form Check.

I also Intend to work out The building and site strategies during this week.  Some ideas are as follows:

Rain water from room will be collected in a cistern and used for restrooms.  Over flow will be directed to plantings on site(since my entire site is a basically a ginormous bio-swale.  The new transit station will be covered in a mix of pvs and BIPV glazing.  There is more then enough surface area to power my facilities.  The building skin made primarily of Insulated glazing panels offers an airy feel to the building while still making it perform with low energy consumption.  

Landscape Pin Up: With Jason King

Current Site Plan 

I was finally able to start fleshing out the Boardwalk/ Swale Idea that is being used in my project as the continuity between the modes of transit and acts as this piece of infrastructure that future building can plug into.  

I have been unsure what the relationship of the boardwalk was to the bioswale, meaning is it two separate entities or are they the same thing?  After the discussion it seems like the best solution is if they are implemented together but are actually independent functioning.  What will be the true deciding factor is a simple rule of thumb calculation that roughly says that 10% of non-permeable surface should be permeable.   After I crunch some numbers the relationship of swale to Boardwalk will become much clearer.  

I was glad to hear that the idea of using the swale to charge a wetland proposal of mine is reasonable. 

I also found another comment from Mr. King fascinating that I might want to take into consideration that I dont necessary need to treat the water at the actual point of entry.  this water could be taken somewhere else and then the treatment architecturally expressed.

Week 15 Update:

This week I worked on the design of the Transit Plaza.  I began by re-evaluating the location for my cafe.  Intuitively I placed it under the large LRT covering, but decided that it actually works the best when it is located to the north.  In this position it gets people to move out from the covers (both bus and LRT) and it is able to create a third boundary to the plaza, really starting to close it in.

My critique with Suenn on Friday was interested in trying to bring back the Performing art Center Program for my site.  I have begun entertaining that idea, with the hopes that it will tie my project together and have the ability to utilize my design efforts these past quarters.  I think I have been struggling to develop the PAC because I have never really been interested in the design of that,  it was kind of a weird thing I decided on over spring break.

Im hoping this upcoming week I will be able to make some real break throughs.  I am excited that this three week focus is landscape/sustainability.

Model Making Shots

Here are a few shots of the casts I did for my section model.  The idea to document this process photographically didnt come to mind until I was almost done. Sorry there are not more pics of the actual form making or pouring.

one mast done,  and one to go

masking tape works great as form ties

mast with footing. Two separate pours

pealing of the form work

wooden embed to glue structure to

wha la! perfect cast.  looks good with 6 am sun light on it

just have to sand down that top edge and it will be good to go.

4/18 : Structure Review

SECTION THROUGH MAST

Reinforcing the ‘Gateway’ concept and needing to provide shelter for both public transit commuters and plaza events the implementation of a large roof structure felt the most appropriate.  In order to create a large column free space allowing for the trains to pass through and to frame views, a cantilever structures has been employed.

The structural model and concept were well received by my reviewing group.  We first discussed what the appropriate strategies for securing the large concrete masts to a footing would entail.  The width and depth seemed to be spot on, but they were concerned with overturning do to unexpected snow loads.  To help add a little insurance they suggested tying the footing down with piles or extending the footing further into the plaza. 

Another thing they noticed were the tension rods connected to the masts.  In the model the do not line up suggesting that they are independent of one another.  They mentioned that most likely this would be continuous from one side through to the other.  They said this would be a good opportunity to use a fenestration to accentuate this connection.

They were disappointed that the pin connection holding the primary tapering I-beam structure was expressed above the roof, out of view from pedestrians.  They suggested moving the roof above to reveal that connection below.

Another great tip was to tilt the roof facing the free way higher up.  This way the underside could be viewed from the I-205.  An interesting fact mentioned is that structures of this nature are usually hung higher then the desired height because over time they will slowly settle into place.

A comment made about Gateway and not the structure was that they thought there was an issue with trying to find parking spaces.  If was suggested incorporating a parking structure below the plaza to provide the spaces necessary for the future density.

Overall they were impressed by the design and felt that the sizing, spacing, connections and massing of the different structural components were done very accurately.   That was a bit relieving because I was a little worried that the masts were not big enough and that the spacing for the beams was too large.   I am going to try to test out what the aesthetic benefits will be by making correction to my design based on their suggestions.  I will certainly increase the footings just to be safe and look into how the tension rods get detailed.  I am afraid that moving the roof above the structure to reveal the pin connection will ruin the clean continuous surface plane above the alignment but I am willing to take a stab at it. 

covering over market: view from child

covering over platform: view from train

wooden slats overhang

pin connection detail

41' mast...epic!!!

view from plaza to platforms if you were 20 feet tall

tension rod connection concealed into mast

exposed top of footing to break up paving and reinforces perpendicular movement

roof detail.  Primary Secondary and tertiary structure

gods view

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

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