Double or Nothing
This project was done in conjunction with the redesign of the Yale University Art Gallery in Timber. This precedence plays a large role in the design process as a continuity of ideas and further implementing gained knowledge within a single semester.
Below is the initial analysis of joints and connections with wood, marking the beginning of translating the connections that were created in the YUAG project. The main goal was to come up with a joint that would lay on top of one another, without causing a shift within the entire structure. Starting with all similarly angled columns lead to a floor plate that would shift in space. To keep it within the bounds of a box, the directionality of each component needed to also be considered. This lead to a system of angled beams and columns that eventually created the basis of the project.
The aim of the project is to produce a new community center in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, constructed from mass timber. Portugal's traditional architecture has been generally of concrete and stone. Being an island that has a bountiful amount of the invasive species, cryptomeria, proposing a wooden structure could help introduce this material into their building practices.
The proposed community center plays with the anaglyptic relationship of space and program, while also drawing on the precedent project and its approach to assist in the design. The community center was required to have a basketball court, administration offices, locker rooms and classrooms. It also required an open space on the site equivalent to 40% of its area. With these in mind, the community center proposed tries to leave as much ground space as possible to invite users to the site, but also create a building that can be used by all including locals and tourists a like.
Anaglyptic: The meeting of a stereoscopic view which is colorized and superimposed upon one another at a given distance where if viewed with corresponding colors will produce a unified, cohesive image that conveys spatiality and depth.
Using the idea of superimposition, I began to question how the images overlap, the distance of their overlaps and the size of the elements to its overlapping counterparts. It launched the three main ideas in this project:
1. Doubling
2. Reciprocity of structural element
3. and nested program.
One of the main ideas was having two separate buildings work together as a single unit. I separated these two components as blue, being the interior structure, and red, being exterior. As the columns shear in four directions, 0, 90, 180, 270, blue columns only move in two directions as the red columns move in its opposing direction. This way, although the columns are slanted, the building remains in equilibrium.
This manifests itself similarly in a dual envelope system that separates the building from the exterior, but also allows for separation of circulation and program space. The doubling of the glass facade also helps with temperature regulation.