ROCK CLIMBING CENTER CONCEPT

The objective of this project was to create a rock climbing center at Wake Stone Corporation’s Triangle Quarry. The program was to consist an indoor climbing gym along with other smaller gyms and fitness rooms and a cafe and lobby. found the site and what creates its form is interesting. I wanted to focus on how the curves and lines creating the quarry could be used to create and engage the circulation. responded to not only the topography lines created from cutting the stone, but also with the paths created for the trucks. I wanted to revolve my concept around the journey in the site, the approach and arrival to the building.

I situated my building at the bottom of the quarry, right off of one of the paths that leads down, carving out a bit into the land. I incorporated outlook structures along the path as a connection to the site through this approach. The path from the highway is a twisting curving path, to adjust to the quick change in altitude. This allows for people to walk down through a meandering path that turns upon itself while going down hundreds of feet.

The building has a main floor, where the visitor can go through and be guided by a mural wall to the cafe/ rental area to stop, or they can take the breezeway straight to the rock wall. The path branches out around the atrium and go down into the more private area where the gym and locker rooms are. It has a feeling of going down into a cave in a mountain, with the exposed rock wall guiding you to the climbing rock wall. I embedded the building into the carved rock that is the foundation for the building. The roof curves and slants down to allow for water to travel down to the entrance and down to the shallow pool. The rock wall room is also full of staircases that reflect the path taken down from the top of the quarry, with overlooks and stopping points.

The objective for this project was to create an art center in Wilson next to the Whirligig Park. This was a 2 person group project. The Whirligig park, known for its whimsical metal sculptures that reflect the art history of the town, sits next to an empty site that once used to house a barn. Known as the “World’s greatest tobacco market” in the 19th century, agriculture, especially tobacco was incredibly important to this town. You can still see the old tobacco and farmers’ warehouses around Wilson showing off their historical significance. Tobacco barns, such as the one shown here, still remain intact all around North Carolina, even on the outskirts of Wilson. Next to our site is a remodeled historic building converted into a brewery.