Lim•nol•o•gy
noun: The study of the biological, chemical, and physical features of lakes and other bodies of fresh water.
This studio explored the intersection between landscape architecture and architecture as an experiential intensity. We will explore the experience of a specific structure intensified by its location on a particular site while the experience of the site is similarly intensified by the architecture. By intensity, I mean an intensity of experience and perception. Aspects of the site are made more vivid and enhanced by architecture and vice versa.
Site and programmatic research can reveal contradictory, seemingly irresolvable, tensions. I am interested in design strategies that expose, rather than resolve, these points of abrasion. Building and site are in dialogue, creating a vibrant tension between them. The point where they spatially or materially meet is the most vivid articulation of their discourse. The studio will investigate the space between the landscape and the architecture, what the Japanese refers to as ma.
The site chosen is a 25-acre site along the Menomonee River near Lake Michigan in the city of Milwaukee. The edge of the site creates intensity between land and water, city and lake. Design mediates the transition, not to blur its presence, but to make it more evident. Design is seen as a curator of our experience, creating the dialogue between the site and the architecture.
The design concepts should fuse with that of the site, framing itself in an intense dialogue with the structure, in which one cannot consider the structure without the site. The proposed project is the Milwaukee Limnology Institute, a center for the study of lakes, focused specifically on the Great Lakes. Laboratories will house researchers and Institute directors and staff. Housing will be provided for the director and various staff members. Research will support the Institute with an emphasis on sustainability. A conference center and library dedicated to lake research will form the public portion of the Institute.
The design concept was to integrate the complicated program into the site and close back the loop by remediating the site. First, the site would be mapped by the level of chemical contamination to determine which areas need to be excavated and treated off site and which areas can be treated by plants that leach chemicals out of the ground. Due to the intensity of the chemical plume, most of the site's soil will be excavated to be treated off site. With that leaving a good portion of the site unearthed, to better integrate the Limnology Institute into the site and the fresh waters it studies, I propose to eliminate the exisiting eastern edge of the site to allow for a larger surface area for the Institute to study.
The buildings intends to gracefully grow out of the remaining part of the site to reach over the new edge of the water. The main street to access the site is lined with retail and housing. From there, visitors will park underground to leave the surface open for planting. A grand stair leads you down the main covered corridor where the different branches of the Institute will intermingle. As one goes to the office/branch of their choice, they are met with skylights and planter beds dropping down from the ceiling. These sunken boxes can double as water tanks for the Institute's research. As you reach the end of a branch of the Institute, you are greeted with a view of the water's edge framed by the surrounding city. Since housing the Institute's visiting and permanent researchers can grow or shrink based on their budget, modular house boats would be used. These house boats would sit in the Institute's water, anchored in around the Institute's branches and adorned with a linear shutter system to give the researcher's privacy when they need it.
Site Program
An existing 25 acre total site with a 15 acre chloride plume. Develop a site planning solution for site contamination.
Site Limnology Institute research and conference center (140,000SF) a sustainable strategy is a given.
Conference Center
Auditorium
Breakout space
Total SF = 10,000
Library
Reading rooms
Stacks
Total SF = 15,000
Directors office
Research office
Marketing office
Open office
Storage
Meeting space
Total SF = 5,000
Laboratories
Research offices
Open labs
Lab stations
General storage
Total SF = 35,000
Research tanks inside (5000 gal tank)
Tank deck
Total SF = 15,000
Exhibit space
Lobby
Gallery
Exhibit shop
Multimedia space
Classroom
Total SF = 50,000
Loading dock
Mechanical space
Circulation
Restrooms
Total SF = 25,000
Total Enclosed SF = 140,000
Provide parking for 250 cars @ 350 SF
Total SF = 87,500.
photoshop model photos
Illinois Institute of Technology, spring, 2007
noun: The study of the biological, chemical, and physical features of lakes and other bodies of fresh water.
This studio explored the intersection between landscape architecture and architecture as an experiential intensity. We will explore the experience of a specific structure intensified by its location on a particular site while the experience of the site is similarly intensified by the architecture. By intensity, I mean an intensity of experience and perception. Aspects of the site are made more vivid and enhanced by architecture and vice versa.
Site and programmatic research can reveal contradictory, seemingly irresolvable, tensions. I am interested in design strategies that expose, rather than resolve, these points of abrasion. Building and site are in dialogue, creating a vibrant tension between them. The point where they spatially or materially meet is the most vivid articulation of their discourse. The studio will investigate the space between the landscape and the architecture, what the Japanese refers to as ma.
The site chosen is a 25-acre site along the Menomonee River near Lake Michigan in the city of Milwaukee. The edge of the site creates intensity between land and water, city and lake. Design mediates the transition, not to blur its presence, but to make it more evident. Design is seen as a curator of our experience, creating the dialogue between the site and the architecture.
The design concepts should fuse with that of the site, framing itself in an intense dialogue with the structure, in which one cannot consider the structure without the site. The proposed project is the Milwaukee Limnology Institute, a center for the study of lakes, focused specifically on the Great Lakes. Laboratories will house researchers and Institute directors and staff. Housing will be provided for the director and various staff members. Research will support the Institute with an emphasis on sustainability. A conference center and library dedicated to lake research will form the public portion of the Institute.
The design concept was to integrate the complicated program into the site and close back the loop by remediating the site. First, the site would be mapped by the level of chemical contamination to determine which areas need to be excavated and treated off site and which areas can be treated by plants that leach chemicals out of the ground. Due to the intensity of the chemical plume, most of the site's soil will be excavated to be treated off site. With that leaving a good portion of the site unearthed, to better integrate the Limnology Institute into the site and the fresh waters it studies, I propose to eliminate the exisiting eastern edge of the site to allow for a larger surface area for the Institute to study.
The buildings intends to gracefully grow out of the remaining part of the site to reach over the new edge of the water. The main street to access the site is lined with retail and housing. From there, visitors will park underground to leave the surface open for planting. A grand stair leads you down the main covered corridor where the different branches of the Institute will intermingle. As one goes to the office/branch of their choice, they are met with skylights and planter beds dropping down from the ceiling. These sunken boxes can double as water tanks for the Institute's research. As you reach the end of a branch of the Institute, you are greeted with a view of the water's edge framed by the surrounding city. Since housing the Institute's visiting and permanent researchers can grow or shrink based on their budget, modular house boats would be used. These house boats would sit in the Institute's water, anchored in around the Institute's branches and adorned with a linear shutter system to give the researcher's privacy when they need it.
Site Program
An existing 25 acre total site with a 15 acre chloride plume. Develop a site planning solution for site contamination.
Site Limnology Institute research and conference center (140,000SF) a sustainable strategy is a given.
Conference Center
Auditorium
Breakout space
Total SF = 10,000
Library
Reading rooms
Stacks
Total SF = 15,000
Directors office
Research office
Marketing office
Open office
Storage
Meeting space
Total SF = 5,000
Laboratories
Research offices
Open labs
Lab stations
General storage
Total SF = 35,000
Research tanks inside (5000 gal tank)
Tank deck
Total SF = 15,000
Exhibit space
Lobby
Gallery
Exhibit shop
Multimedia space
Classroom
Total SF = 50,000
Loading dock
Mechanical space
Circulation
Restrooms
Total SF = 25,000
Total Enclosed SF = 140,000
Provide parking for 250 cars @ 350 SF
Total SF = 87,500.
photoshop model photos
Illinois Institute of Technology, spring, 2007