UNDERGRADUATE ARCHITECTURE THESIS

location junction

The site for the proposal is located in downtown Roanoke, Virginia, two to three blocks south of the Taubman Museum of Art by Randall Stout. The site is currently an empty parking lot.

The site is unique because it sits at the junction of the residential and commercial districts, with a main road and highway east of it.

With the development of the ground floor plan, the highrise connects and reacts more closely with its surroundings. The functions of the diagonal pathway are evident in the plan. It compresses pedestrians through the southeast, and releases them into the open courtyard space. Those leaving from the northwest are once again compressed through the pathway and released to the small street, beside Center in the Square, a signature building in downtown Roanoke.

The ground floor plan relates well to the highrise in the sense that it is also dynamic in its circulation.

The western half of the ground floor houses most of the retail spaces, which curves in a form that faces inward and cradles the courtyard.

The storage and service spaces are curved and connected behind the stores in a long strip, creating a spine for circulation.

On the eastern half, a curved corridor provides circulation that doubles as a buffer space for the main lobby, conference room, and other programs nestled in this section.