Category: ARCH 202B: Architectural Design II

Having had an initial interest in unconventional representations of a playspace, I decided to focus on the idea of a “ruin” as a precedent for Project two. My color-texture plan perspective, as well as my drawdel, shows the deepest delve into material explorations of concrete and glass masonry, which then led to my conclusion of the Reconstructed Kindergarten. The reconstructed Kindergarten aims to challenge the notion of a strictly partitioned educational program and instead allow for a child to be the determining factor when dictating a “play space” by utilizing texture and tactility to connect indoor, outdoor, and intermediate spaces. Although textural qualities are shared throughout the campus to blur the lines between play and education, programmatic differentiation within the classroom is supported by three progressing levels of porosity within the classrooms walls.

Educational spaces designed for the instruction of kindergarten aged children must not be defined by the walls which confine them, but rather the connections that allow them to collaborate and explore. The breakage of physical barriers and presence of space united in visibility and circulation allow for an experience that encourages shared views and participation beyond a typical, defined classroom experience. Through one regulated pathway, all instructional and collaborative spaces are connected, offering inclusive and expansive spaces defined by elevation, movement, and materiality within the school. The atmosphere progresses from open and collaborative to multi-layered and individualized as one changes elevation, whether that be upward to a raised classroom, joined by soft and climbable materials, or downward into the sunken learning areas toward the administrative section of the school.

This project challenges the expected predictability of the existing condition. The postmodernist, parasitic design of contrasting the old and the new is very often not symbiotic and neglects the existing condition by drawing more attention to the new. Only when inside this school, a clash of grids encourages inhabitants to naturally favor and anticipate the new, while treating the existing as an exciting off angle addition. By changing the reference frame of the inhabitants, one can experience the newer more dynamic layout, while also appreciating the existing as sculptural and now more formally interesting.

This semester I have been exploring how different planes and surfaces can be modified, added, or omitted to create underlying organizational systems and different spatial qualities. I have done this by shifting floor and roof lines, adding new surfaces or floors, and using structural members such as the “bow truss” to bridge gaps with new surfaces.

The project was based on developing a classroom. Based on an existing site, the classroom incorporated ideas of the LA school to design the building. An additional precedent was also utilized in developing program.

The project was based on developing a classroom. Based on an existing site, the classroom incorporated ideas of the LA school to design the building. An additional precedent was also utilized in developing program.

The project explores the implications of curved walls and how these walls can directly and indirectly affect circulation and program. With the contrast of curved walls and an implied orthographic grid, resulting spaces in between are created to be freely used by the children and adults. Furthermore, the effect of using concave and convex curves creates different social atmospheres, with concave curves being the primarily used technique in this project. The amphitheater style of seating encourages interaction among peers due to its effect of directing each person’s line of sight towards each other.

My kindergarten design transforms the existing shed based on a grid system derived from the shed’s steel structure. It’s a flexible grid that allows for different-sized programs to exist simultaneously within. Additionally, secondary wooden timber members are employed to the new spaces to contrast against the given steel structure of the shed. The resulting structure is one that is very open for fluid interaction between spaces to encourage both children and faculty to build stronger bonds.

Staggered floor plates with the addition of shifting roof structure create compression and expansion, separating each program and encouraging students and teacher to move to more public spaces with higher head space. The open-to-air building encourages and welcomes interaction with nature and the outside. The open plan with no thresholds or hallways is separated with a mere field of walls, inspiring playful spaces and increasing human interaction.

The project focuses on exaggerating the visual expression of the tectonics of the building, and exposing how each element is being supported. Sandwiching the brick wall between the steel column or beams gives visual understanding that the columns are propping the walls in place. The beams and columns always stretch from one end to another as it provides a sense of continuity. Also, applying the idea to whenever the beams and columns meet and it starts giving a sense that every component in the building is structurally connected. No single part can be taken away and no structural element can stand itself.