Informing design
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4 2.5
2.3
Residence, James Turrell’s Skyspace and Roche Labs, as well as those of larger projects, such as San Francisco International Airport and the US Force Academy’s Center for Char acter and Leadership Development (Figs. 2.1 and 2.2). Lightness – Fishers Island Residence A client commissioned architect Thomas Phifer and Partners to design an open, transparent house connected to the landscape of Fishers Island in the Long Island Sound (Fig. 2.5). SOM’s engineers often work with Phifer and, on this project, collaborated on the design of a minimalistic structural system, deceptively simple, through which an impression of lightness was created through close attention to detail.
Center for Character and Lead ership Development, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado (USA) 2015 Center for Character and Leadership Development, United States Air Force Academy Finite element model result showing 3D stress contours in casting and branches, Fishers Island Residence, New York (USA) 2007, architects: Thomas Phifer and Partners Detail of ductile iron branch arm, Fishers Island Residence Fishers Island Residence
2.4
Combining both prefabricated elements (trans ported to the island by ship) and custom detailed connectors (Fig. 2.4), the engineers employed two systems – one for the house and one for the surrounding canopy. The 430m2, openplan glass house is sup ported by an exposed steel modular structure that adds a sense of weightlessness through a series of 56 ≈ 8.8m steel roof beams. These span an uninterrupted interior space, clad in glass, with steel columns and mullions unified in one piece. To achieve this thinness, the engineers stripped everything down to the minimum supports, eliminating an entire system by making the small 7cm square column and mullion one and the same. Similarly, for the independent canopy structure
Thomas Phifer and Partners Architect Thomas Phifer founded his firm in 1997. Recent projects include the Corning Museum of Glass North Wing, Corning, New York, and the United States Court house, Salt Lake City, Utah. Thomas Phifer and Partners worked with the engineers from SOM on the Fishers Island Residence, the Turrell Skyspace and the Lee Hall III at Clemson University.
2.5
25