Dear Fellows,
I need your help!! I am about to cross the railroad tracks and I am not sure whether I should be enjoying this as much as I am, or whether I should stay the course. If I may be honest, I started this exercise as what not to do because I felt the challenge is not about solving the Urban edge, but about building a program at a specific site and dealing with the constraints. However, I started to examine the potential location of things, the edges, the resolutions and the character that each element takes once the project hovers over the Super Highway. I incorporated three quick snapshots I took before completing the intensive so that I could do this study. Click on every image to enlarge, there are comments to each arrow as you could see.
So, I think this scheme would totally need approval and recommendations from our Director of Zoning because the variance just went South! I am posting these images so that you guys let me know if I should pursue this further with a quick mass model in SKETCHUP. My feeling is that the Architecture could remain the same, but urbanistically the project takes on a completely different role. I think it becomes more machine like if a pursue it this way, and what I mean by machine is not "Deconstruction" or "Infrastructure", perhaps more "Emerging Technology" - Bourne Ultimatum/Bond. There are implications with how the Commuter rail affects the joining volumes, they certainly will get dismembered at the edge. If you could, since I must keep going I welcome comments about the plans, Architecture, etc... I anxiously await for your comments.
7 comments:
Eddie,
From the start I enjoyed your notion of elevating the living quarters above a green space opened towards the South, shielded from noise and wind from the North by the "evil" piece of the program; the car storage facility. Moving the accademic portion into a "ivory" tower seems to me as well apropirate. I would urge you to keep the general site layout the way you started and refine your parti as much as possible, rahter than trying to resolve your basic idea crossing train tracks and highway. The time and energy you would spend fighting with the new set of constraints and opportunities would most likely not let you develop aspects of your design as far as if you stay with your current layout.
But there is ceratinly a lot of development possible with your current design: you show currently four main elements: the tower, the bar, the plane and the park. each of these elements have there own ideal internal organization (I don't think maybe with the exception of the car storage, you found that ideal yet) and they have a particular relationship with each other and the site. I would try to develop for each the ideal internal organizations, ideal edge conditions and preferred relationships to the other elements as well as the site.
I would also like to see you establish stronger ties to the site itself, it's history (does your park replace the former rowhouses, the parking and aspects of the tower the service road in the back, et cetera?) and work on the poetic aspects of the spaces you are creating.
Werner,
I appreciate the feedback, I will stay the course and continue refining and exploring the original proposal, but I tell you, going over the highway its exciting. I am currently working on a sketch up model for the tower in order to study the relationship of the spaces, views and skin. I am in the model also trying to pursue responses for the pods with respect to heaven and earth (skylights and floorlights). I certainly don't want to create a feeling of vertigo when people occupy the spaces. I will try to post some of the work tonight or tomorrow.
Regards,
Eddie
Eddie,
I was going to post (before I saw Werner's) that I think the notion that you are attempting could be very desirable but the idea of exploring it in such a short time might not allow you to accomplish everything you want. I read your post earlier today and needed to think about it a bit. I like the ideas that you are proposing but there are quirks in them here and there. I was concerned about the possibility of your idea being lost once all the logistics were applied. For example, if you were to provide the ground under the residence (that would straddle the Mass pike) you would need to apply all sorts of railings and everything else. I was concerned that your overall frame that you demonstrated in the one image may not be recognized. I would urge you to continue on with what you had produced in Boston with the time constraints that we have. Good thinking though! I love all the concepts that you are always developing.
Eddie, thinking - just like Jaclyn - some more about the idea of bridging the pike: why not move the parkingto the outbound side of the pike, or why not moving the accademic building to the Mass Ave/Newbury Street intersection? Ultimately, even though the idea of bridging is intriguing, making your proposal work on the given site will be more interesting: how to make the connection to the BAC? how to link to the neigborhood? et cetera.
Dear all,
You guys bring up interesting thoughts! I thought about the implications of having the ground level become a suspended ground platform, and as Jaclyn states, that means railings, I also thought what a translucent flooring would do for this ground level and the underpass. But, I had to hit the breaks and think.
Werner,
The Idea of the Academic volume being in the other side of the highway requires for me to think quite a bit. Right away I think that unless the connecting element is carefully programmed that it would dismember the occupancies to much. What's interesting about occupying the north side of Super Highway is the possibility of terminating Newbury Street nicely. As of now Newbury street feels like an Axe came down and ended the street, at the west end Newbury culminates nicely with the Park, but at this end nothing. Let's see how others feel about this, for now I will concentrate on developing the Architecture of the project. Thank you both for your comments and look forward to some more.
Regards!
Eddie,
Good Restart. I thought about your Idea of going over the highway,
Every thing is possible as long as we have the strong reason for it,
well before crossing the highway, we have to answer few questions.
1- This mass over the highway will be rest house for people on the go?
How could your program handle that?
Educational, Residential and services?
2- The site is just on the corner, how much it deserve that you create that building (bridge just few meters from another connection.
If you will get through that, and i know you will, dont forget that your building will be a section project, the high way and the trains passing through your building will be real opportunity of dynamic section. and by that you will be did the ultimate act of engaging your project with the surroundings, the noisy and the beautiful elements of them, especially the noicy of them.
I dont advice to have the residential unites above teh highway, I drather having commercial mass here for instance, A Rest-house for people on the run.
Good luck with one of your Genius New Challanges.
All Best
Amr
All,
before we get all (too) hot on this going-over-the-highway-idea, let's concentrate on the site the 'owner' has under control.
Here too are very many possibilities far from being exhausted.
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