Site Orders

Studio: Design Studio 2B: Site Orders
Professor: Louis Molina
Year: Spring 2016

This project was an introduction to the various methods of dealing with design on sites that are not planar. Given a site the topography had to be mapped out, this topography was then manipulated in order to create a navigable terrain from the lowest point to the highest point as well as to create three buildings for program. To execute the design a geometric diagram was derived from a precedent, in this case the geometry was derived from SAANA's Rolex Learning Center. An index word was also derived from the precedent, this word would help move the project forward as far as coming up with design strategies. The word derived for this project was the word UPLIFT in which the meaning is to lift or raise something. By using the geometry and the index word, this allowed the building and site to take form. Program was then introduced as an aquarium. The project was then designed with aspects that mimicked that of the Rolex Learning Center such as ramps and uplift of objects to create various spaces and experiences throughout the programatic features.

Horizontal Model

Vertical Model

Oblique Model

Exploring the project in the horizontal plane there are various instances in which uplift can be exemplified. One includes the navigable terrain or passageway, it it is created by manipulating the existing contours of the site to enable a pathway that will allow an entity to be uplifted from the lowest point on the site to the highest point. Another example of uplift can be seen in the formal language of the building they are uplifted from the contours; they are extruded and distorted to create a building that has a more organic form to it in order to blend in with the new contours.

Exploring the project through the vertical plane allowed instances in the project to display aspects of uplift in a manner that is not directly attached to the ground plane. This would create instances where the building would cantilever off the site creating a sense of the structure being lifted above the ground. In this vertical plane spaces where also investigated in order to create spaces that would display uplift. The roof in places would subtly increase creating larger spaces while making the roof seem like it is being lifted or pulled upwards. 

The project was designed so one would commence their exploration through the lowest point on the site. On this lowest point the buildings would seem elevated or uplifted above the viewers. A series of ramps would allow the viewer to experience the aquarium in a manner that would subtlety uplift them and guide them through to the highest point on the site.

The various ramps in the project would wrap the aquarium tanks in order for the viewers to experience the aquarium installations while being uplifted through the project. This would provide a similar experience to that of Frank Lloyd Wright's design for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.