Material Mechanical Metaphysical

material

mechanical

metaphysical

‘I want to give nature’s power

a precence in contemporary

society and provide thereby

stimulating places that speak di-

rectly to every man’s sense as a

living corporeal being.’

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Tadao Ando 1985

HOUSTONBURNETTEmaterial mechanical metaphysical

precedent

conception

site analysis

parti and design

material, tectonics,

and sutainability

final

Boston Children’s Museum and

SANAA 21st Century Museum

understanding of program

requirements and project goals.

iterations of site diagrams and

development of understanding.

diagrams that support program

arrangement and composition

taxonmy of the surface attributes,

structure and building function.

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19

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precedent Boston Children’s Museum

The Boston Children’s Museum Served as the precedent for

my group, and each of us had different assignments to com-

plete the presentation. My assignment was to hard-draw or

construct perspectives that unlock the space ad form of the

building, and address the approaches to the expression of

systems and interior environments.

To the left is a drafted drawing of the green roof of the Bos-

ton Children’s Museum, expressing the layout and sectional

quality of the plants on the roof. On the next page are two

hand drawn perspectives one illustrating the view of the

building from the boardwalk in the typical rainy weather

of eastern Massachusetts. The other is a view of the inside

showing the exposed systems in the lobby. The swirling

suspended ball in the focus of the perspective is a sculp-

ture made form recycled steel poles, scrap lumber, and torn

fishing nets.

6Throughout the precedent study, my group began to real-

ize not only the architectural concepts of the building, but

subtle sustainability strategies. How do building environ-

ments educate children about energy efficient design?

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precedent 21st Century Musuem

The 21st Century Museum was a self conducted precedent

that involved producing a tabloid (to the right) of images,

orthogaphics, and diagrams that explored the parts and

components of the building I was personally interested in.

For example the 21st Century Museum has a very complex

formal quality within the purity and unity of a circle. I ana-

lyzed the ways in which people might circulate through the

negative space, and how different spaces, depending on

their geometry be used to serve the museum’s function of

displaying and storing contemporary artwork.

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21st Centruy Art Museum, Iwan Bann, 2006 - 2008. http://www.iwan.com/photo_index.php?category=photography

This museum was built by Sejima Kazuyo and Associates under the name SANAA in 2004 as a public building deticated to con-temporary art and culture in Kanazawa Japan. The form of this building as well as the technology expressed by tensile struc-ture and thin pieces of glass express the message of the 21st century.

In addition to providing a form and function that represents developing technologies, the museum offers a variety of inter-active art that captures all audiences, from a dry pool, to new concepts for furniture and fabric design.

The diagrams below demonstrate hierarchy, organization, pro-gram, and circulation respectively. In the initial concept of this building, the architect imagined a cluster of programatic spaces around an eccentric center. These diagrams eplain the use of geometry in determining the compisition of galleries, halls, and gathering spaces.

2004

KANAZAWASHI ishikawa japan: SANAA tokyo

21st Century Museum

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conception Children’s Museum

The Charlotte Nature Museum in Freedom Park ineffective-

ly responds to the energy of the park and local comunity.

The challege of our semester studio project is to replace the

existing edifice with place children can gather. In this de-

sign project children come to watch and play, learn about

nature’s elements and how earth, water, air, and sun inform

architecture, through technology, and site response. In ad-

dition this project must address the formal arrangements

unique to a child’s experience, and educate to them the

principles of achitectural language and symbolism.

El Lissitzky Poun 10

1919

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project narrative

The Charlotte Children’s Museum conforms to the con-

tours of th land and encircles a central space for gathering

and learning. This building explains how we are a part of

nature can utilize and retain energy from its four primary

elements, earth, air, water, and sun in relation to the four

annual seasons. The project consists of four pieces. A ring

functiond as an exhibition space nd relates the position of

the sun in the sky throughout the day. This architectural

element encircles a space for live demonstrations. This in-

terior open space also collects rainwater and stores it for

passive cooling. Within this space, a vertical totem rises

into the sky and provides cooling. Within this space, a ver-

tical totem rises into the sky, and povides not only a marker

on the landscape but a shaft for ventilation and wind pow-

ered active systems. Upon entry, a portion of the building

calmly unfolds from the earth and guides young minds to

the point where inspiration begins

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site analysis

First I visited the site at freedom park. Seen here is the

bridge connecting the site with the greater park seen be-

yond. Almost half of the site lies in a flood plain that frames

the eastern portion of the site. To the south and west are

roads the intersect at the site’s bootom corner. To the north

are residences and an extension of the greater park. I be-

gan diagraming by looking closly at multiple scales of the

topography, then I moved to use, and networks, finally I

investigated the park at different times of year by expressing

the personal and metaphysical attributes of the site.

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Impressive Conttours

Trace

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Site Topography

Trace

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Public v Private Site

Trace

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Organism Site

Trace

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Organism Site Network

Trace

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In Spring the colors, aromas, and elements of nature vibrate

intensely. This is the time of year with the tempurature is

almost perfect, and life teams within it.

Summer in the park is very hot. Life is supressed by the dull

heat and the draining humidity. The sounds of cicadas are

still loud and combine with the parched panting of my dog.

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The temperature cools in autum, and things begin to slowly

die. As the harvest comes to an end many vegetables are

sold in the park. As they disapear, the essence begins to

hibernate.

Winters are dry. Wind cuts through thin fabric and burns

the skin. Snow is soft, but Ice is hard. This solstice is brutal,

when one is in need of shelter, comfort, and closeness.

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parti and design

Diagrams illustrate the process through which a design was

discovered, delveloped and resolved. They are abstract

representation of a more complex function or organization.

I constructed a sequence which informs not only the pri-

mary ideas of the building, but integrated technologies, and

sensitive approaches to site, and project goals.

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Through a series of rough

models I focused on

three possible configura-

tions for my parti. One

reflected the possibility

for a tall slender build-

ing while another was a

cluster of stacked boxes

with pasths extending

outward, while a third

was a long narrow strip

rsponding the site edge.

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I chose two of these three possibilities and modeled them

in a more refined manner, the I proceeded to model a third

variation that expressed attributes from both configurations.

Although this model turned out to not meet the formal cri-

terial of the program, I cultivated the concept of parralleling

the vertical totem with the satacking of spaces in rlation-

ship to the sky and the earth.

The two paths that extend from the cluster form an intersec-

tion north of the center of the main geometry. These axes

identify the basis for my parti.

In my resolved parti diagram I combined the crossing of

these two axes with the formation of a primary circular

space and a secondary space cut within the landscape.

This is my parti model and conceptural perspective. They

capture my ideal expectation of tectonic mechanism and

might.

The diagram above illustrates the experiencial sequence

one follows through the building’s spaces. on the long nar-

row path to the building from the greater park, one crosses

water in the river, earth in the ground and trees, air in the

clearing, and sun above head. Once inside, each of these

elements are portrayed in a way people understand.

This diagram is of the circulation through the arrangement

of linear and L-shaped walls within the circumference of

the circular form. The walls are placed not only composi-

tionally, but fuctionally to frame spaces and provide area to

display artwork and exhibits.

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The site is fully forrested. The site

remains simple a dense network

of trees within a small area of the

park.

I mark a point upon the land.

This represents the vertical to-

tem which stands high and drews

viewers to the park.

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The axes extend, and mark the

lines that will become articulat-

ed for approach and experience

through the environment

The clearing appears along the

two axes, a larger one along the

south enterance from the inter-

section, and a smaller from the

park enterance.

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Within the final void, pieces of the program become placed and arrage in a way that matches

the parti. Now one can understand the presence of the vertical totem, the ring which defines

the interior space, and how they engage the landscape. My schematic design is complete,

and now I can further articuate the tectonics, material palette, and sustainable systems. Be-

low is the parti site model with layered topography.

Site Model

1/32” = 1’

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material, tectonics, and

sustainability

In this portion of the assignment I further exploded compo-

nents of my building like those of a machine, and deisgned

at a smaller scale, the ways in which parts interlocked to

contribute to the function of all of the pieces as a whole. To

the right is an axon drawing illustrating the different levels

of my building, and the materials exhibited, for example,

steel structure on the first floor with glass infill, and con-

crete retaining walls in the lower underground floor which

load bearing interior walls. Finally the vertical totem con-

sist of a steel truss like structure, and interesects all floors.

Material Taxonomy 01

80 lb


80 lb

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Detail Solar Voltaic Section 3:1

WC

Gallery

Play it Safe

Lobby

Ticket

TheatreInvention Lab Climbing Sculpture

Temporary Exhibit

TheatreChildhood

Artabounds

Support

Urban Gardens

Shop

Lower Lobby

Conference Room

Office

WC

Kitchen & CateringGuest Seating Member Seating WC

Ground Floor Plan 1/8" = 1'Entry Level Floor Plan 1/8" = 1'

Landscape Entry Section 1/8" = 1'

Ground Floor Structural Plan 1/16" = 1'

Entry Level Structural Plan 1/16" = 1'

Bridge Entry Section 1/8" = 1'

Detail Wall Section 1/2" = 1'

Photovoltaic Panels

Channel Glass

Intake

Rainwater Collection

Coils & Fan

Return Fan

Sun Space

Swan Beam

Shear Panels

Moment Connection

Waffle Slab

Water Storage Tank

Air Supply

Concrete Retaining Wall

Capillary System

Gravel

54o


WC

Gallery

Play it Safe

Lobby

Ticket


Temporary Exhibit

TheatreChildhood

Artabounds

Support

Urban Gardens

Shop

Lower Lobby

Conference Room

Office

WC








Photovoltaic Panels

Channel Glass

Intake


Coils & Fan

Return Fan

Sun Space

Swan Beam

Shear Panels

Moment Connection

Waffle Slab

Water Storage Tank

Air Supply


Capillary System

Gravel

54o

The structural bay and wall section model illustrates the ite-

gration of the sculpted steel swan beam within the concrete

foundation. In addition it reveals the waffle slab structure

supporting the first floor, and the return ventilation sytem

that occupies the space within the structure above. Lastly,

the horizontal braces that extend between the beams are

a material that expands and contracts to regulate air flow.

Below are structural plans for both floors

Facade Analytique

80 lb

HVAC Diagram which explains the connection of supply

and return air ducts to the architecture, and the path in

which the air travels, into and out of the building.

This a program diargam showing the final placement of all

the differnet program elements, such as classrooms, exhibi-

tion spaces, and support spaces.

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Lighting Analytique

80 lb

The above diagram illustrates the building’s response to the

climate and topography of the site. The digram includes a

sloped facade to avoid direct solar gain in the summer, and

increase it in the winter. The vertical totem provide passive

ventilation, the central space collects water and the build-

ing engages the slope for passive cooling. This is a transi-

tion into my final representations of the project.

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final

Representation of all the work in very refined orthograph-

ics and presentation material. The final set includes plans,

sections, details, and that fully convey and comprehesively

depict the project as a whole. I presented my project by

using the diagrams to lead the critics through my design

process and strategy for satisfying the program.

To the left is my final site plan, illustrating my building

within the context of Freedom Park and the surrounding

neighbor hood. below is a site section exagerated x2 to

show the surface of the hills and the dip of the flood plain,

south west of the project.


WC

Gallery

Play it Safe

Lobby

Ticket


Temporary Exhibit

TheatreChildhood

Artabounds

Support

Urban Gardens

Shop

Lower Lobby

Conference Room

Office

WC








Photovoltaic Panels

Channel Glass

Intake


Coils & Fan

Return Fan

Sun Space

Swan Beam

Shear Panels

Moment Connection

Waffle Slab

Water Storage Tank

Air Supply


Capillary System

Gravel

54o


WC

Gallery

Play it Safe

Lobby

Ticket


Temporary Exhibit

TheatreChildhood

Artabounds

Support

Urban Gardens

Shop

Lower Lobby

Conference Room

Office

WC








Photovoltaic Panels

Channel Glass

Intake


Coils & Fan

Return Fan

Sun Space

Swan Beam

Shear Panels

Moment Connection

Waffle Slab

Water Storage Tank

Air Supply


Capillary System

Gravel

54o


WC

Gallery

Play it Safe

Lobby

Ticket


Temporary Exhibit

TheatreChildhood

Artabounds

Support

Urban Gardens

Shop

Lower Lobby

Conference Room

Office

WC








Photovoltaic Panels

Channel Glass

Intake


Coils & Fan

Return Fan

Sun Space

Swan Beam

Shear Panels

Moment Connection

Waffle Slab

Water Storage Tank

Air Supply


Capillary System

Gravel

54o

This group of photographs illustrates the disassembly of the

model into the seperate floors. The model details the su-

face fo the photovoltaic roof, and the precise form of the

structural members around the perimeter. In addition the

model provides scale to the pathways within and to the

building from the greater park. Lastly, this model gives life

to the cafe, a piece which slides beneath the land south of

the major potion of the project.

Final Model

1/16” = 1’

This project, which involved designing a children’s muse-

um in order to teach young people about the sophistication

of nature and ways in which architecture can respond to its

layers and interstices. This project taught me to consider

nearly all aspects of the site, and find moments that build

form and mechanisms can connect, address, or respect

our metaphysical understanding and experience of water,

earth, sun, and air.

Houston Burnette

Material Mechanical Metaphysical

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