So, here are a few images of where I am right now, I decided to take a stab at Sketchup over the weekend and thanks to our good friend and teacher Mr. Anderle there is success. These are my first images on Sketchup ever! Thanks again Matt.
The first collection of images reflect the current progress of site design, as oppose to sketching all over, I am pursuing an approach where I am addressing each element individually. This requires a continuous check to what is being done previously. First task being treated is the corner, in this case the tower and the entry to the project. The images after the site plans reflect my study of the skin of the building. There will edits to the skin as it reaches the ground and the top, as you could see the top or bottom are not finished. For now, the outer skin is being considered as Glass panels where some of them fold and open to ventilate, where the lower panel opens to create a draft that exhales hot air at the top opening. This creates an interesting rhythm on the facade.
View West from Berkeley's Corner
View from the corner of Newbury and Mass. Ave
From the Super Highway just before entering the underpass.
SKINDEEP
The lower panels open to create a draft releasing hot air at the upper openings
SKIN VIEW
Future Classroom level (to be furnished)
View from above of the upper level
7 comments:
Eddie,
I wonder if we could ever Apply Add and subtract in your building.
Add and subtract that could create a rythem according to function,
when i look at your high-tech building, down from the street, i cant predict where is the diffrent functions in the tower.
Are they meant to be looking all the same from outside and i have to dig inside to see, feel and experience.
Cant they tell who we are from outside too?
Add and subtract in Y axis could help in that.If you could provide the core of service in X axis.
I wonder if The Logo wall (serve as seating area too). is really the strong architectural solution that match your genius Architectural building solutions.
Simply BAC logo wall = a wall with BAC logo on it (if i understand correctly). well is this is the case. are you building a wall to put BAC name on it?
Are all these walls you have in your building not enough for the client's logo, regardless to the logo design that i really dont admire much. I am designing a new logo for the BAC in my building.
From your prespectives i can see dialouge between your building and the prudential. That is a positive thing.
would your new BAC be a new landmark for the city? that we look at when we lost in the city to guide us? when i look at it from far away, would i still see teh logo wall to know thats the BAC? what the prudential did in this case? and how succesful what they did?
In pic "ONSITE-TOWER-2.htm" your presepctive, i wonder if this propotion could change so the building could find a more merging end to the sky! since its a tower and towers meets the sky than any thing else.
This is going to be a genius project. i am looking forward to see it as landmark for Boston!
Eddie,
I forgot to mention that adding and subtracting is suggested to be in the tower using same module you use for the dorms.
all inside the geometry mass you propose for your tower.
Eddie,
I like how you go into more detail filling in the gaps. I would love to see also further development of the massing and detailing of your project. The tower looks arbitrarely set on the site: why so far back, why away from the train tracks, what's it's realationship to the history of the site, what's the realtionship to the context buildings?
The shape of the tower too seems a bit arbitray. Why almost square, why cut on that angle? Would it be stronger if it would cantileever over the train tracks in the upper portion? How does it meet the ground? How does it meet the sky? Is there a differentiation relative to program on th edifferent floors?
Eddie,
I think what you have been able to do in SketchUp is phenomenal!
Eddie,
Great job in sketch up!! Matt better watch out you might take him over! Your ideas at the intensive were so extreme and intense. I don’t get the same sense from this model. It may be the beginning but I just don’t feel the emotion that I normally feel from you. What sets this glass tower apart from others? What type of glass is this? Your first image shows it in grey and blue. Are some mirrored, colored, etc.? Can some portions of the building extrude toward specific elements in the city? Why just a straight vertical tower? I have been struggling with some of these myself. What are your floor to floor heights? I am attempting to increase the height of my tower but I am dealing with Residential and you are dealing with commercial. I am attempting to have a similar height to the Gehry building but I find myself with huge ceiling heights when I do that. Good work. I can’t wait to see you the residence incorporated. I think that will start showing the emotion. Will these impact the tower at all?
Dear all,
Thank you for your comments, they are certainly helpful. The yellow flag came out as I hit a nasty cold this week, but I am rapidly recuperating and trying to get back on the horse. Working with sketchup has been fun and pretty flexible for the most part. Here are some responses to your queries:
Amr,
The building skin as it stands right now is to test how it would look performing one single function, as a result I could now move to see where I could do insicions based on the interior occupancy. The outer skin will not totally reveal the interior, you will not be able to see the interior from everywhere, only where I create the insicions and when some of the panels retrieve and open. Furthermore, the panels could be open randomly, therefore creating a continuous changing facade with a lot of rhythm. An example would be when the students occupy the classroom levels. Depending on the season you would see where the panels are open to bring air in, this would also be affected by hours of operation. As you know, we Architects sleep little, sometimes relying on wake up calls to keep creating! :-)
I thought your comment with respect to the Prudential tower to be very interesting. I think volume wise I am trying to create a dialogue with the big Prudential brother, but not the skin. I think the skin of the "Pru" is aging :-( and I will make adjustments to the glazing color of my tower so it does not fall under the same predicament. As you probably know by now, I like creating double purpose for the things I create, so what I intent for the BAC logo wall is opportunities for the students and city dwellers to occupy it casually, just like people did in the movie we saw in Herb's class "Small urban spaces" I think was the name. With this, I want people not to see the wall as a monument, but as a friendly element you could approach and participate, sort of like how the students and the BAC are,a very friendly environment with no distant barriers :-)
Werner,
So many questions, I am pursuing my studies of the massing further and for sure find myself studying the ground and sky level. This was a test and challenge to overcome Sketchup modeling, as I explained to Amr above I will be creating incisions on the tower depending on the occupancy, it will make sense as I progress.
The site plan reflects a pattern in the corner plaza that is very much about creating green space, diagonals and horizontals that as they reverberate would catch on the ground level of the tower and then becoming the panels opening, canopy, incisions and ultimately disipating into the sky. I think the rest of the questions kind of relate to the explanation I gave Mr. Raafat.
Matt,
Thank you for the complement, this model was in your honor! Thanks again for taking the time. :-)
Jaclyn,
You make excellent points and my hope is for the project to gain back that emotion from you, my feeling is that you will enjoy the forthcoming images. I was very excited to test what views and how much I could push the software, I will make judgement of the next set of images so that it portrays the poetry in the Architecture. On a more technical note, my ceilings for the tower are 15'-0" slab to slab, that's because I have Steel horizontal members and I wanted to have a very Urban loft feeling inside the space. I think the interior could be about revealing the infrastructure as a method of teaching Architectural student how things are built, think of it more like the interior of OMA projects. I think the living level will have an impact on the joining level (third level), I am determined to study what we once discussed with regards to having the pods at a different level from the circulation, I think I might know how to do it. From the ground level I would like for the pods to read as individual elements.
Thanks all of you again for your comments, I look forward to them. :-)
Hi Eddie,
JAN 30:
Phew! – saved from the 26th!
First task the corner: this takes courage – it is perhaps the biggest challenge. Your tower is in scale with the Gery building – this makes an interesting “urban dialog” and announces the BAC as an important participant. Entry here is logical also. Question: does the tower need to be a trapezoid? Does this make the best “icon”? Perhaps. Or you might keep the first floor road alignment and then let the tower be what it “wants to be”. Entry plaza looks important and promising in plan; sound wall (?) appropriate – why not continue it west and/or seal it to the building corner? Great view from east for study – ventilation idea integrated with architecture – but study prevailing winds for hot/warm weather and configure appropriately – orientations (and therefore façade designs?) are different. And the urban context suggests different responses to the very different edges/orientations. Also, the double walls design suggests different façade treatments.
Good view from underpass although the real Gery cornice is more aggressive. Vents: surface tension will lead water back into the building – why not simply awnings? (Unless these just shade devices).
Nice video (Matthew is a great teacher!) – I was struck by the idea of a floating tower as seen from the road (perhaps not intentional but interesting).
Jan 26 comments (on the bridge)
Gutsy Eddie. You need to get inside at this stage. I think I missed a building section on Jan 12th that would have explained your thinking. Do a section of your new bridge idea to start thinking inside/outside.
Image one: is that a platform at the bottom of your “bridge”? Useful to stop the noise. And why not cover the trench right up to Mass. Ave. and reclaim the west side of the street? – It would be a big gift to the city.
Prove your sightline ideas with a 3D view from the highway. And do you really want to obscure the Gery cornice? How about a dialog with it – a one half bridge on the south?
Summary: perhaps the missing vision diagram is a symptom here of the maze (or cloverleaf) – without a stated/diagrammed vision as a touchstone one can become lost in a maze of possibilities. Your response is interesting from an urban design point of view but as an architect, you should incorporate urban design while sticking to your client’s story. What is the story for your client and their building/facility? You were inviting the public into a special covered outdoor space (protected from the road) while suspending the residences over this peaceful area, which also was an amenity for Boylston street and the buildings to the south.
Re-diagram your vision so you don’t loose it or so you can move forward with a new strong direction.
Comment of Werner's comment!:
Your description of the entrance plaza is appealing - it can add amenity to Mass Ave - either flush or setback can work I think - but flush is more relevant if the building has a long edge which your tower does not.
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