hm andersen
k.lange_studio 400 thesis show
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historic recall recall collective memory
spatial evolution
phenomena
spatial programmatic growth
interpersonal composition mechanisms
historical assimilation identity retention progressive integration acquisition translation interpretation detail tectonics predictive aging
time
re•composition re•composition
social
constructs cultural
discourse
material multiplicity
a b s t r a c t In looking to architecture as a means to embody the “continuum of culture and time,”1 it is often through re-examining what has come to be that we see how to move forward. In this light, this project has become a study of social integration, how people have come to inhabit the city of Sacramento and turn it to a model of social and cultural integration. From the historical and contemporary patterns of settlement, a methodology for re_composition can be derived and applied to the modernization of an existing, culturally relevant structure. This methodology will be informed primarily through research and experimentation into three interrelated perspectives: the spatial, the material and the programmatic. A renewed asset to a community’s forward movement, the project, a Center for Cultural Knowledge, aims to not only tie together the threads of a blended city, but also explore and translate through physical phenomena the acquired narrative that stimulated the community of today. From a spatial perspective, it is the meaning acquired over the life of the structure and the collective memory of the site that generate the atmosphere while it is the act of integrating programmatic elements with the composition methodology that generate the form. It is the interest in the “sensuous substratum”2 of the site that drives the reintroduction of the space to the continuum of local culture, as well as time. From a material perspective, the form and atmosphere are also heavily informed by time. It is through the observation of how the existing materials have acquired and translated time that the new materials can be detailed. The integration of the materials, new and old, can also be informed by the social composition. The patterns of this compositional study can be ascribed, through the filter of program, to the literal integration of materials, with the calculated interest in their means of acquiring and translating time. From a programmatic perspective, the project is an embodiment of the success and progression of cultural integration seen in the Sacramento area. A Center for Cultural Diversity to aid in further civil assimilation, but also act as a refuge for cultural practices and education of global practices. It is through the study of the history of Sacramento’s cultural integration as well as related contemporary sociological patterns of inter-cultural cooperation that the integration of the programmatic and circulatory elements can be informed. It is the intent of the project to act as monument in recognition of the specific history as well as a catalyst for the further progression of integral aptitude and education within the region.
PROGRAM CONTEXT Sacramento is the city of trees, the city between two rivers, and the city of multiple publics. The city has its roots in immigration and throughout it's growth and maturation has flourished as a hot bed of pluralistic ideals and cultural integration. Today, Sacramento is recognized as one of the most ethnically integrated cities in the country and it is due in large part to the Southern Pacific Railroad. The site is not just a place to be recognized for its historical importance, but also for its role in embracing diversification and creating the opportunity and the necessity for thorough integration. It is because of its historical standing structures that the opportunity to explore the physical implications of this cultural history presents itself. This project is about taking the old, drawing out its cultural implications and presenting them in a new format, an architectural representation of the distilled ideal that the railyards have become to the community--a catalyst for cultural diversification and the sharing of multiple systems of knowledge.
context
program: inserted into existing space sacramento river
I-5
sheet metal shed structure
remaining brick structures
concrete structure
demolished structures
rail lines
downtown Sacramento all floors
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CONCEPT strangeness&familiarity compose strangeness, continue familiarityproject collisions Looking at strange experiences in familiar places and familiar dialogues in strange spaces--and how the two coincide-as mechanism to explore spatial, interpersonal and material relationships.
circulation
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elevated floors
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PROGRAM The program is split into four distinct primary functions, each representing a medium of traditional cultural expression; visual, performance, literary, and verbal, with a fifth main space for a culinary services. These four main functions each has a spatial requirement proportionally similar to that of an existing structure on site, and therefore are placed into those existing spaces with the secondary programmatic elements forming the vital connections in-between. The secondary programmatic functions are those typical to supoort the four main functions, preparations facilities, staff and administration facilities, restroom facilities and workspaces. Each of this function-type is repeated to some extent within the larger programmatic functions, creating the opportunity for combination and spatial definition between primary and secondary, public and private, inside and out, and so on. Using these secondary spaces as the mechanism through which the primary spaces are understood and approached, an organization can be derived.
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recessed floors
site: re•composed
conference center
gallery
library
performance center
market + cafe
courtyard interior rendering complex administration
meeting rooms
restrooms
[conference center]
[conference center]
conference room
[conference center]
complex storage + utility
lecture halls 1 + 2
lecture halls 1 + 2
classrooms
restrooms
workshops + offices
[performance center]
[conference center]
[conference center]
restroom + lobby
[gallery]
administration + curation
[gallery]
lobby + exhibition space
[performance center]
administration + catalogue
[library]
cafe dining space
[market+cafe]
lobby + reading room
stage
[library]
[performance center]
library collection
library collection
[library]
[library]
lower level open gallery
lower level open gallery
[gallery]
[gallery]
kitchen + offices
[market+cafe]
open air food market
digital library
[market+cafe]
[library]
auditorium
[performance center]
recessed floors
ground floors
elevated floors
performance erecting center shop
The images and drawings to the right are scenes from the largest building on the old railroad campus--the erecting shop, where I place the performance center. This performance center, as part of the larger cultural center, is an informal venue with a large, flexible auditorium space, stage, backstage, and large workshop space. The main auditorium, stage and backstage are part of the elevated programs of public space with long approach ramps moving visitors between levels. The private workshops are located in the recessed floor level. See drawings and models for details. IMAGES The images to the right are scenes from the interior and exterior of the erecting shop--now performance center. [counter-clockwise from top left] The first is a view from the north corner looking at the new circulation system, lobby space, elevator and elevated performance center. The next scene is of the main approach ramp from the entrance of the builiding, looking up towards the foyer space and auditorium. Also in this image is the walkway to the upper left hand corner which cuts into the exterior of the existing structure, allowing natural light as well as elevated cirulation into the restaurant and bar in the next building over. Below is an image of the exterior of the existing building with the insertion point protruding from the existing skin and transforming into the corten cut-away to allow daylight into the recessed work space. The last image is of the interior space below the sectional corten cut shown in the previous image. Shown here is the slightly raised walkway through the unused existing space and structure as well as the light coming through the cutaway.
new theater space enclosure
new theater and walkway structure
STRUCTURE The drawing in the lower right corner is an exploded perspective of the complex structural systems. The lower drawing is of the existing truss system with the brick walls show in section on the right, and in the background. The drawing just above the existing trusses is of the new system of trusses below the elevated auditorium--these trusses slide into the existing rail tracks that extend into the building--also shown is the angled new trusses of the new building shell which houses the auditorium. Just above this is the simple skin of wood panels that sit to the inside of the new trusses.
existing building envelope: old erecting shop
to conference center
workshop + offices
[recessed floor]
to courtyard + all other structures
main access bridgeway
lobby + ticket sales
[ground floor]
elevators: freight + public restrooms + coat check
[ground floor]
stage
[elevated floor]
to restaurant + bar
existing structure
new structure
recessed floor
ground floor
elevated floor
auditorium
[elevated floor]
gallery + extended auditorium
[elevated floor]
all levels superimposed
transverse and longitudinal sections
MODELS
corten steel salvaged wood
SITE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT MODELS The first set to the right are concept development models.The left column of images are a series of projected movement patterns between the buildings. This concept development was modeled after an experient where I observed movement throught the staircourt of the architecture buildings, noting individuals, pairs, and groups, direction, and diversion around obstacles such as columns or stair hand rails. I then projected similar patterns onto the site using a plaster cast and wire to estimate paths of travel. The set of images on the right are conceptual landscape and spatial transformations drawn from the wire forms of the previous models. In the last image the forms are superimposed to begin looking at the programmatic intersection points, and how that would effect circulation.
INSERTION POINT DETAIL MODELS The first two images are of a small concept model I built to describe how the new circulation routes intersect the existing structures. Through a series of layers, the visitor is transitioned from exterior, existing space through a material that relates to the existing [Perforated Corten] and then through a material that relates to the new and the old [salvaged wood planks] all while traveling along a walkway of reflective, white concrete. The third image is of a secondary, larger model of the insertion point illustrating the more dramatic folding of the corten to begin creating a landscape feature. The last images are of a scale detail of the connection of the new circulation system to the existing structures.
reflective concrete
existing structure
corten insertion layer
clean interior layer
bridging
MODELS STAIR CASE The set of images all the way to the left are of my staircase and structural system model. This system acts both at staircase enclosure and the main structural truss system to support the two concrete walkways and the roof system. The trusses relate directly back to the existing structure as well as the new space elevating truss system beneath the main programmatic elements. THEATER SECTION The center strip of images are of a section model I built of the theater. The main space--auditorium and stage--is elevated 12' above existing finish grade by a series of slender steel trusses that connect directly to the exising rail lines that run into the building. The new elevated floor slab is polished concrete to reflect both the existing and new structure as well as the lighting elements designed to illuminate the in-between space. The new walls and ceiling of the performance space are made of wood to tune the space acoustically as well as create a warm atmosphere in juxtaposition to the colder industrial space enclosed by the exisitng structure. RAMP The rightmost column of images are of a small ramp model I made to describe the relationship of the ramp rise to the elevated plane where the theater would be--and the structure that connects the two. As you can see the concrete ramp is supported by a custom truss system that runs in the same planes as the main undertheater trusses, and would be of the same materials. Here you see the structure exposed as the levels change, allowing a spectator to view the existing ground plane with all its ruinlike industrial artifacts at the same time they are seeing the new strucutural system connect to that old rail system. The ramps and elevated walkways are lit from below creating a glowing effect that allows for a better understanding of the new and the old.
All models shown on this page are made of cast concrete, basswood, and some chipboard.
FINAL MODELS EXPLODED THEATER MODEL The first to columns of images to the right are of my final model of the theater builidng. I exploded the building vertically to better show the relationships of the parts to the whole new construction. The top layer of the model is the existing truss system, including the columns which intersect with the new floor plates. The next layer is the inserted space--the theater with its interior and gallery space, as well as the restrooms, lobby area and staircases. The layer below the theater is the white circulation system including the long ramps as dramatic approach to the new theater space as well as trasitioning space to experience both the new and existing. The lowest layer, in smoke plexiglass, consists of the exisitng walls with the new cutouts where the corten steel viewing and circulation space would be inserted.
SITE MODEL The rightmost column of images are of the final site model. The existing structures are outlined in smoke pexiglass with the new circulation routes in white and the insertion points in brown perforated paper. The new programmatic spaces are marked by clear floorplates. Both models sit on a base of cast concrete.
BOOK_ MAKING
THE PROCESS I decided to learn how to print and bind my own thesis book in order to use a non-typical size for my overall format. The photos to the left are process photos of my 3 project in-progress books and two final copies. I also designed, printed and bound a book detailing the studio book show and the process of creating it.