Crystal Room Panoramic

Crystal Room Panoramic2, originally uploaded by termeern.

Crystal Room Panoramic, originally uploaded by termeern.

Over Head Glass

Over Head Glass, originally uploaded by termeern.

The New MFA: Lord Norman Foster: Construction Visit

My Tectonics in Design class went to the Museum of Fine Arts here in Boston to check out the work that Lord Norman Foster and his firm are doing. It was quite remarkable to see all of this construction and have an idea as to what the final product is going to look like. If you are not familar with the project, read about it here. 

As I was walking around, talking to the project manager of the site, he was saying that much of the materials had to be made in Europe then shipped here because the Americans wouldn't do this kind of work. For example, the panes of glass are amazingly large. They range from 5' x 30' to close to 30'x30' panes! The glass is made in Germany and shipped to the states. That's not the only thing that is made overseas. There are materials being made in England, Italy and France! 

I am huge fan of Lord Foster because he is known for his "green architecture". I want to know what is "green" about this structure. The shipping of these items isn't obviously... The large glass can't be very energy efficient; especially since the large room has radiating floors and heaters on the roof to melt snow. I just was thinking about these things... 

Check out some photos that I took today. The building is quite remarkable. The construction is going to be amazing. I can't wait until October 2010! 

Library:: Jamaica Pond, Boston, MA

Wow. It sure has been a while since my last post. I have been through Christmas and New Years back in California, and now I am back in Boston studying and keeping really busy. Nowadays, I should have some more time to blog because Starbucks has been cutting my hours, providing me more time to spend on school and have the ability to blog. So... We have a lot of catching up to do. We'll start with the final project of last semester: 

The Project:: Library in Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA

In building a library, the first concept that comes to mind, is Louis Kahn’s idea of ‘get a book and take it to the light’. In such a great site as ours, we can capture much more than ‘light’, but still carry that concept throughout.  What I want to do with my library is have the ability to take a book from the stacks, and either takes it to one of two places. Place one being, the light. I want to frame different views of both the pond and the trees. Place two, being a very private study carrel where the reader can read in a closed, quite and private area, where it would still abide by the concept of light via skylights. 

On the site, many trees, so I want my library to feel like a tree house. Hovering above the ground, and the views to be seen as if one were in the trees looking out, beyond the leaves and broken places in the dense leaves and branches separate to allow a place to see sky, other trees and the rest of the scenery. 

On the site, many trees, so I want my library to feel like a tree house. Hovering above the ground, and the views to be seen as if one were in the trees looking out, beyond the leaves and broken places in the dense leaves and branches separate to allow a place to see sky, other trees and the rest of the scenery. 

I also want this library to have the feeling of warmth and a place that you can take off your shoes, get comfortable and read a book. I hope that this library is a place that you want to frequent and as you frequent, you see and experience all of the seasons changing and it will inspire you in what you read, write and do. 

On the first level, located below grade, is an exhibit space to allow for local artists to display work, a media room, archive space, and the library offices and a conference room. These are all things that I saw reason to putting in the darker, quieter and less populated spaces. 

The ground floor was derived from the path in which people take to the desired spaces. The middle floor is completely open to the elements, with the hovering level above it. The lines that you see in the plan are where pre-fab concrete slabs will merge with the landscape of a grass feature, as if the ground level were covered and camouflaged by the spilling landscape. The concrete slab provides for a complete merging from the landscape to the walkway. The columns provide for the trunk-like space in the concept. 

The top floor is the place where the tree like figure is most evident. Via a series of ramps, the floor differentiates to provide for a very treehouse-like feeling. On this floor, program is book stacks, reading space, computer and reading carols. The shape of the space was derived from a square and where focal points to the trees and to the pond are in this space.  

If This Doesn't Change Your Mind, I Don't Know What Will

Phoenix Central Library: Thinking in Section

Phoenix Central Library, originally uploaded by postpanglossian.

So it's been a while since my last post, and I thought that I would jot down some thoughts.

As I sit here in Phoenix Airport, I am reminded of the Phoenix Public Library and how that library works as a whole. As thoughts run through my head as I design my own library, I think of my largest issue: thinking in section. In this building, Bruder uses section to accomplish the following: "structural light", double height ceilings, light entering the building, and a general idea of space. I was trying to find a section of this building, but I can't seem to find one in the google-world. From what I remember, the entrance is on the south side, which is completely closed off to the southern directional heat. The northern side is where the reading room and a large curtain wall with sun shades is located. As far as other orientation of staff, and other library needs, I am not so sure as to how the building functions. I do know that the structure of the roof is a very interesting. Bruder's idea of "Structural Light" is something that can only be discovered in section. As seen in the image above, the columns clearly do not touch the roof. Instead, there is a circular window which allows light into the building and enhances the concept of these columns that do not touch the top. In order to make this column work, Bruder splits the load into four sections a long a grid, and in the middle, in the column which receives all of load of the roof above.

The idea of this "Structural Light" is very similar to my concept of floor "sky-lights". Where the column comes up, through the study carrel, the floor turns to glass, allowing light to the lower level and also a feeling of lightness in the same area of structure.

Unfortunately, that's all the time I have here in Phoenix.