JOSHUA YATES
contents
architecture
p2
bordes roof garden peace pentagon newman pool house lillian vernon house brownhill residence
installations
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p.s. 1 berlin-new york dialogues tour eiffel godiva
degree project fit-ness
p 54
architecture
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bordes roof garden new york, n.y.
peace pentagon new york, n.y.
made llc 2008 1,070 square feet
cvc 2009 23,000 square feet
design
design
newman pool house pound ridge, n.y.
lillian vernon house new york, n.y.
brownhill apartment new york, n.y.
made llc 2008 2,400 square feet
helpern architects 2008 9,400 square feet
made llc 2008 4,000 square feet
design
design
design & millwork package
bordes roof garden
This client had recently purchased an old brick townhouse on the corner of Bedford and Leroy Street just steps from Seventh Avenue. They wanted a quite, peaceful and private garden in the heart of the loud and boisterous West Village. A simple if not extravagant program called for a green space with some cover and an exterior professional grade kitchen. As this project was proposed as a retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city we started the process off as if it were
northwest elevation
northeast elevation
a ground-up project in a rural setting. First we considered the siting of each of the programmatic elements in relation to sun, shadows and views. The northern-most corner of the property situated at a forty-five degree angle to Seventh Avenue, afforded the best view up the street with 42nd Street visible on a clear day. With the views and sun analysis in mind we began the working out a strategy that would both enclose the space but still accentuate the best views. Our investigation into green
roof plan showing trestle
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roof plan
section elevation A
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technologies brought us to a “green screen�, a three-dimensional structural matrix that facilitated the vertical growth of creeping greens and ivy providing a green wall during the warm months. These walls would come to line the west party wall and half of the northern street wall. The north-most corner was to be fitted in glass to take advantage of the views and the eastern wall would be a stucco extension of the chimney walls. The north end of the roof was raised to serve as a lounge. The raising of this portion also allowed for a grass bed and continue the greening of the roof. The center section of the roof, adjacent to the bulkhead, served as the kitchen and was covered by a wood trestle that would grow out of the bulkhead roof. To visually and programmatically connect the kitchen and the lounge space, we coordinated the height of the kitchen counter and the lounge floor to collide into one another. The back end of the roof, the southern end, the most secluded and least desirable, would be used as storage and mechanical space. Envisioned as a three season space, the roof garden could service a dinner party or gathering completely independent of the main kitchen which is distant at three floors below.
detail section at built in bench and green screen
rendering looking northwest
rendering looking southeast
rendered perspective
peace pentagon a call to action
Located on the corner of Lafayette and Bleecker streets in downtown Manhattan in a three-story commercial loft building, the Peace Pentagon has long been home to New York City’s vibrant activist culture. First purchased by the War Resistors League in 1969, the building was later passed on to the A.J. Muste Institute and to this day serves as a home to many organizations united in their fight for peace. Late in 2009, with the structure of the original building beginning to fail, the Muste Institute sponsored an open ideas competition to spark a public dialogue about the future of peaceful activism and to publicize the work going on at the Peace Pentagon. We began our design by considering the role of dialogue in a free society and decided that any viable option needed to provide the public with a place to gather and discuss the matters of the day. The competition brief called for inclusion of retail spaces as a source of funding for both the building and
the myriad organizations housed within. Because the building is on a lively corner lot; we choose to preserve the present location of the retail storefronts on Lafayette street and leave the southern exposure, on Bleecker street, as the entrance to the Peace Pentagon. Our desire to create a public debate space lead us to the idea of a plinth above the retail areas. Wide slow stairs lead the public from street level up to an open and inviting forum. The Peace Pentagon itself rests lightly on this plinth, with its entrance doors located at the very back of the open area. This design translated into a public venue that was equal to nearly seventy five percent of the site square footage. With the entrance reduced to a minimum, the new building would grow out over the plinth. This dramatic structure would rise to six stories above the plinth, creating a covered space above the congregation area. The large projecting structure was to be supported by two large angled columns, which repre-
sent the delicate balancing act of keeping peace. Inside, our design provided the Muste Institute with three times the amount of the current space. We felt that this better suited the Institute’s needs and activities and made it more adaptable to a changing world. Moving through the lobby and up the main staircase one comes upon the auditorium. It is an intimate hall nestled just above the high arching facade of the underside of the building. This is yet another way to bring the internal and external experiences of the building together, the dramatic lift and angled projection visible from the street becomes the gently sloping floor of the auditorium. Just past the auditorium, traveling up the ramp along the exterior of the building the visitor comes to a double height gallery space. With its soaring views down Lafayette and Mulberry streets. The gallery is perfect for any of the institute’s exhibits or fund raising events
The fourth and fifth floors are comprised of offices, cubicles, meeting rooms and flex spaces. By providing more work space for the organization presently at the Peace Pentagon we were taking a positive outlook on their future growth and expansion. To strengthen the Peace Pentagon’s International reach we proposed the establishment of an “activist in residence” program on the sixth floor. This program would allow invited activists working on a global scale to use the building and the organization’s resources to promote change and awareness. With the environmental activities of the future building tenants in mind we sought to integrate the most efficient and modern passive and active technologies available. While integrating these technologies into the building was of the utmost importance we also felt that it was crucial to broadcast these aspect out to the public at large. To this end the exterior of the building was to be continued
series of design trials in rhino
early project sketch
precedent study of whitney museum section
VOTE AJ MUSTE
WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER
FREEDOM FOR EVERYONE
WAR RESISTORS
exploded plan axo HEALTHCARE NOW
THIS IS THE BEST PROJECT
SOCIALIST PARTY
rendered interior perspective showing auditorium and light chamber
light chamber
rendering of auditorium
light chamber walls unfolded
proposed elevation, along bleecker street
loosely wrapped in an aluminum louver system. The louvered sun-shield would filter the sun’s light, providing varying opacities which corresponded to programmatic needs of the inside space. This application provides protection to the building’s thermal envelope by shading it from the high summer sun while in winter allowing the low sun to penetrate the building. The louvered wall along with the building’s exterior would work in unison to create a condition much like a double wall thermal chamber. The air caught between two walls would be heated by the sun and rise; creating an upward draft, cooling the
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proposed elevation, along lafayette street
building’s facade and also the public space below. The exterior louver system was just one of our sustainable design features. Another feature was the glass light-well along the party wall. The light chamber, along with being a spectacular visual addition to the project was originally rooted in our greening strategies. The chamber that wraps the main stairwell of the building serves two purposes; the first, to bring natural light down through the building and onto the public gathering space, the second to create a slender footprint for the offices. This narrow footprint, sand-
wiched between two glass walls allows for an abundance of natural light to filter deep into the building, thus lowering energy costs. From the very beginning of the competition it was our desire to provide the Peace Pentagon with a new global headquarters born both of their progressive spirt and serving to exemplify their aspirations. We hoped that our building could become a modern icon of the tenuous balance the Peace Pentagon maintains by working towards peace between men and balance with nature.
rendered perspective from street level
newman pool house
The Newman pool house was to serve as an auxiliary residence and pool house on a growing family’s vacation property in upstate New York. The rolling wooded hills that once served as grazing lands for sheep were littered with the remnants of old dry-stack stone partition walls. A decade earlier, when the clients first acquired the land, they had undertaken a large renovation on the main house which was located at the mouth of the site. Some years later, the client installed a modest pool overlooking both a large north facing cliff and a barn that had been converted into a garage and rumpus room by a previous owner. The client sought to create a space where the entire family could come together; parents, children and grandchildren. It was to be a place with sleeping and living quarters as well as service space for the adjacent pool. The option of removing or rescuing the existing barn was left open as was the ultimate siting of the new structure. We began the design process
with a series of trips to the property in order to get a sense of the site, the land and the relationships between the existing structures. On our first visit we were all impressed by the dry-stack walls and the way they ran across the hills; following the ebbs and flows of the land, the sensitive yet deliberate sense of building within nature. This became a strong theme in the design process and we hoped to seamlessly integrate a contemporary structure with the rather untouched wooded landscape. By exploring several different massing and siting strategies in Rhino we hoped to begin to establish an understanding of the structure’s relationship to the site and the sun and the shadows that would be created. After a rigorous schematic design process it was determined that the existing barn had to be removed to make way for a three season pool house that would house two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living space that could be opened up in the summer to
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site plan showing the proposed pool house (1), and the existing main house (2)
northeast elevation
northwest elevation
second floor plan
first floor plan
southwest elevation
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B
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create a fluid progression from indoors to outdoors. In planning we addressed how the two programs; pool house and guest house could be reconciled into one building. For the client the pool house would act as a threshold to the pool, providing a place to change, a place to prepare meals, a respite from the sun throughout the day and a place to shower and redress before crossing the yard back to the main house. On the other hand, the guest’s space had to provide short term living arrangements along with all the pool programming. The materials palette was to be culled from the surroundings; drystack stone walls and rough wood exterior to the south. We kept the fenestration to a minimum to provide a certain level of privacy around the pool while the north facade was to be composed of large sliding glass doors to reinforce the connection between the house and the pool. The stone used to surround the pool would also be brought into the living room, thereby further solidifying their connection. To separate continued
southeast elevation
the public program of the pool house and the private program of the guest house the sleeping quarters were situated on the second floor above a two-car garage and some auxiliary outdoor storage spaces. The ground floor, made of an open plan, contained a small kitchen and largely unprogrammed flex space that could serve as a living room, dining room or pool patio.
interior perspective from living room looking to the kitchen
exterior perspective from pool side looking into the living room
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southwest elevation
section A, looking southeast
section B, looking northwest
lillian vernon house nyu graduate writing center
This project for NYU called for the conversion of a historic West Village townhouse into a graduate writing center with offices, classrooms and lecture halls. The beautiful and historic structure located on west 10th Street was built in 1836 and was later remodeled by Stanford White who joined the three-story front house to the rear house with a one-story addition. The rear house was once home to New York’s renowned Tile Club whose members included painters Winslow Homer and William Merritt Chase, as well as Stanford White, himself. Regularly meeting between 1877 and 1887, the Tile Club was instrumental in establishing the Aesthetic Movement in America. The fireplaces in the main room used by the Tile Club are considered Stanford White’s first works in New York. The townhouse later served as a home to Hamilton Fish Armstrong, a diplomat and the influential and longtime editor of Foreign Affairs
restored stain glass skylight
the tile room
front elevation of front house
restored parlor
rear elevation of front house
front elevation of rear house
roof plan
second floor plan
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A
first floor plan
magazine from to 1928 to 1972. The house was lastly purchased by the Onassis family as a gift to NYU and served as a Greek cultural center before becoming the graduate writing center. Keeping in mind the historical nature of the house and its landmarked status, this project had to be tackled delicately. The main aim was to preserve the historic quarters of the house while modernizing all the systems and creating usable spaces for the writing school. On an infrastructural level all the original electrical systems needed to be replaced along with the careful addition of a modern HVAC system that had to be woven throughout the building. The building also needed to be brought up to modern day fire code as well as being made handicap accessible and ADA compliant. In terms of programming, NYU wanted the house to serve as a self-contained unit. The administrative offices and files were placed on the ground floor of the front house which gave easy access to the entire complex. The parlor floor of the front house served as a lobby but was also intended to be used as an event space for readings and literary conferences. Beyond the lobby lay the Stain Glass room and beyond that the Tile Room. These rooms now serve as the main classrooms of the building. Faculty offices are on the second floor of the front house and the full third floor is dedicated to the writercontinued
in-residence; a position held at the time of the project by E.L. Doctorow. The top two floors of the back house are divided into private writing studios that are assigned annually to graduate students. Throughout the project we were intent on restoring and enhancing all of the historic details while making it a comfortable and contemporary learning space for young minds.
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building section A
brownhill residence
MADE, a design-build firm run out of a Civil War era brick warehouse in Red Hook, Brooklyn, offered many services including: design, contracting, project management and custom fabrication, but this project was the first time the firm had been hired by another architecture firm (Gerrard + Tan) to not only fabricate and install 250 linear feet of custom cabinetry, but also to work up an entire millwork package. I was the point person on this project and met both with the architecture team to best understand their vision as well as MADE’s inhouse shop manager to figure out how to best achieve that vision. The 4,000 square foot loft occupied the entire floor of what once was an industrial warehouse in Union Square area of Manhattan, and was to be completely fit out with custom built-ins; the kitchen, the two master walk-in closets, the wardrobes, desks, buffets, breakfronts, vanities and even the wet bar were to be custom fabricated out of quartered walnut at our shop in Brooklyn.
Rationalizing the architects’ design into a system of details that worked across the entire apartment was my first and most important task. It was a detail-oriented task that included making sure the corian kitchen counter met the lower cabinets in the same manner as the desktops met their lowers despite the material variances. All the larger units had to be designed in a way that facilitated assembly in a series of small parts at the shop that could then be easily delivered, fit in an elevator and then be joined on site. Some of my other responsibilities on this project included taking as built surveys of the apartment, managing material schedules, specing hardware and ordering fixtures and finishes. Having the ability to work so closely with the fabrication team allowed for rapid proto-typing and experimentation, I was often able to review samples based upon drawings I had completely only an hour or so earlier.
32 sample sheet from millwork set
A9.062
MADE PROJECT 0710
8-10 WEST 19th STREET NEW YORK, NY 10011
BROWNHILL MILLWORK
141 Beard St., Building 12B, 1st Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11231 p - 718.834.0171 f - 718.834.0173 www.made-nyc.com
MA DE
wet bar
141 Beard St., Building 12B, 1st Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11231 p - 718.834.0171 f - 718.834.0173 www.made-nyc.com
MA DE MADE PROJECT 0710
8-10 WEST 19th STREET NEW YORK, NY 10011
BROWNHILL MILLWORK
A9.060
sample set from millwork set
bathroom vanity drawer detail
kitchen cabinet door detail
counter reveal detail
master closet dresser detail
Some aspects of the projects had been left basically unaddressed by the architects. This gave us the opportunity to create several pieces completely in-house. One such piece was the wet bar in the poker room. Here we were basically provided with an envelope and a program. Using our knowledge of the details of the rest of the project as a precedent we designed a sophisticated piece that fit seamlessly with the rest of the home that integrated all the necessary hardware as well as accessories not used in the rest of the project.
installations
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the after-party p.s.1/moma queens, n.y.
berlin - new york dialogues center for architecture new york, n.y.
mos 2009 14,600 square feet
made 2007 2,180 square feet
fabrication & installation
design, fabrication & installation
tour eiffel godiva union square new york, n.y. cvc 2006 7,000 square feet design, fabrication & installation
the after-party young architects program, p.s.1/moma
Though I was not involved in the design portion of this particular project as I came on board at the very beginning of the installation process, I did work directly with the principles and served as an associate site manager and a team leader. On a daily basis my job shifted between managing workflow and man-power to on-site problem-solving. The job required on your feet thinking about issues as simple as spec-ing new hardware or as complex as re-engineering the lateral support systems of the three largest towers. I was required to wear many hats on this job and some days spent up to ten hours in a boom 50 feet off the ground manually constructing the installation. This project was the winning entry in the MoMa/PS1 annual Young Architects Competition. This winning design came out of the New Haven office of MOS architects headed by Michael Meredith and Hilary Sample. The project was conceived as a return to normalcy after the heady and extravagant boom years of the early 2000’s that saw the rise of such
terms as “starchitect” and “the Bilbao effect”. It sought a return to anonymous and vernacular architecture, juxtaposing an off-the-shelf building system of the west with the indigenous handicraft of east. With a building schedule of a little under six weeks, we ran a crew of seven to twenty-five volunteers seven days a week for ten to fourteen hour days in order to finish construction in time for the opening. The building process started with a survey of the site and an accurate placing of all the necessary markers. The major excavation effort came next; we dug out foundations so that the twenty-six uniquely built steel footings would be precisely located and leveled. The structure of the volumes was to be built out of just two parts; aluminum Kee Klamps and two inch aluminum pipe of a 3/16 inch wall thickness. The aluminum skeleton was easily assembled with just an allen wrench and a rubber mallet. The pipes were delivered to the site raw, in twenty foot lengths. To
achieve a high level of variety, the project required every pipe to either be cut down to size or spliced to create pipes in excess of twenty feet. After the arches of a volume were cut and assembled, they were brought to their designated place and dropped into their specially angled slot at the foundation point. The large round oculi were assembled next. We put them together on the ground with all their necessary Kee Klamps locked in at the proper points. The oculi were then raised into place by a person in the boom while a ground team passed the primary legs up to the boom
40 site plan
worker who attached them to the oculi. Once the oculi was locked into its four primary legs, the secondary legs which originated at the tops of the arches were attached, and finally the tertiary legs. As we progressed across the site, erecting one volume after another, the next team would start wrapping the finished cones in elastic sunscrim sheets with simple tie straps. Once the sun-scrim was in place a third team began to attach large custom cut pieces of natural woven thatch imported from Indonesia. The thatch was also affixed to the aluminum poles using tie straps.
Once completed, the shorter wide volumes created expanses of shaded area. The taller and most slender volumes were designed to act as natural chimneys. Their dark exteriors heated under the sun’s light, which heated up the air within the cone. The hot air then rose up through the cone and out the top of the oculi. This natural draft pulled cooler air into the volume, creating a pleasant and cool breeze. This project, with its large scope and fast paced schedule was an intense and rewarding experience that ended with the rare pleasure of seeing a project through to fruition.
construction process
my boom
construction progress
looking up between two adjacent oculi
berlin-new york dialogues building in context, center for architecture
This exhibition, organized by the Center for Architecture in New York and the German Center for Architecture DAZ in Berlin, sought to compare and contrast the urban landscapes of two of the world’s most dynamic urban centers, each making radical transformations in their streets and skylines: Berlin and New York. The show investigated the changes in these two cities by looking at the contemporary built environment and mechanisms of urban regeneration — the social, political, economic, and cultural processes that affect building. We were tasked with designing both the exhibition center piece as well as a display system that could be configured to present text, drawings, physical models and LCD displays. The centerpiece served as the focal point of the show and inhabited the main gallery; a narrow two-story space with street frontage configured in a manner to provide multiple vantage points. The installation would be visible at eye level from both the street and the lobby and also from below on the gallery balcony. The piece
was both a physical statement of the exhibit’s theme as well as a lure to bring new visitors into the gallery. As the exhibit was dealing with the urban condition; blocks, lots, buildings and other units that add up to create a larger unit, we wanted to that concept to inform the make up and construction of the piece. With that in mind we developed a constant, a single module arrayed across a field to create unique and varying conditions. Contemporary cities, with fixed boundaries, often have to find creative ways to expand and evolve within a fixed envelope. With this urban concept (akin to the ‘conservation of mass principle’), we began studying the ways in which a sheet material could be shaped and formed. Having set these two specifications; a single repeatable module and a method of fabrication that respected the limits of a plain, we set about in scientific fashion: experimenting with papers, rubber, mylar, stainless steel and fabrics. Each of these materials brought with them their own internal logics and vocabularies, their
own benefits and drawbacks. Some lessons learned from one material could then be adapted and applied to others while some lessons worked only in that specific instance. The idea was proposed by the exhibit organizer that we might hang large satellite images of the two cities on opposing walls in the main gallery space. The center could be designed to act as a filter through which visitors could view the subject cities. These developments merged well with our material explorations which had begun to focus on stainless steel trials wherein we were developing a bent steel module. Through a series of internal design decisions and external desires for it’s outcome, the installation began to take shape as hanging tensile metal fabric, resembling chain mail but on a much larger and exaggerated scale. The enlarged chain mail condition created opportunities for varying conditions. Points of both obscured and un-obscured vision could be created. Along with the naturally occurring variations of the chain mail, by taking advantage of different material finishes on the stainless steel we were able to create highly refined visual effects. The final iteration of the module started as a stainless steel disk, 14 inches in diameter. When pinched in opposing directions along three pairs of radii, the flat disk transformed into cone. The overlap of material caught between the folds acted as structural flanges that also allowed for points of connection continued stages of the folded module
documenting the design process from drawing to mock-up to final installation
between adjacent modules. From this initial discovery we refined the cone depth by varying the degrees between the folds until we achieved an optimal amount of reflection. The center of the disk was removed to alleviate material stresses enabling a cleaner fold and less distortion in the reflections. Once we had our final desired effect, we re-approached the design from the fabrication side. Since we wanted to achieve the highest amount of economy and get the most out of each steel sheet, we changed the original form of each module from a disk to a triangular shape with concave sides. As we worked on the micro scale of the module, we were simultaneously working on the macro scale of the overall effect of the chain mail curtain. The installation would hang twenty-four feet occupying the void and acting as a filter between the two satellite images. A straight curtain offered no opportunities for variation and possessed a limited amount of spacial effect besides merely dividing the space. We wanted a form that occupied a space that the viewer could inhabit and not just look through; a space for interaction, not just a static screen. One sheet folded in on itself created interesting overlaps but offered no entrance short of lifting the entire curtain above the visitor’s head but this negated the filtering aspect of the curtain. By creating two separate curtains, we formed a parenthetical space that wrapped around in the middle of the gallery. The form of these two opposing crescent curtains, cut along the bias, allowed for everything we had
single curtain cut on bias
double curtain
chain mail structure
been looking for: a space one could walk around as well as enter that remained at an accessible height. The complementing curved forms of the opposing curtains let us play with and control the negative and positive spaces between them to create alternating points of clear and impaired views.
hanging installation
tour eiffel godiva
Commissioned as a centerpiece for a promotional event held in New York City’s Union Square Park for Godiva’s ice cream bar “Paris Nights Sweepstakes”, this popsicle stick Eiffel Tower stood twenty feet tall. We were approached by the client, Cool Brands, the company which had recently bought the rights to produce Godiva brand ice cream. The company was looking to launch their new line in conjunction with a national sweepstakes and public event in Manhattan. Cool Brands asked us if it would be possible to build an Eiffel Tower model out of popsicle sticks and if so what the maximum height could be. We assured them that it was possible and that we could build it as tall as they could afford to go. As for building materials, they supplied us with Godiva branded popsicle sticks and one pint Godiva ice cream containers. After working out some scheduling and budgetary issues we were off and sketching. The process was simple enough in concept. We needed to build a simple skeleton of light weight MDF that
could be disassembled into three parts to allow for transportation. To these skeletal forms we would attach a layered skin that would not only fill out the form of the tower but also read as structural members based exactly on those of the tower in Paris. Making the layered wood skin would prove to be the most complicated and painstaking part of the entire project. The technique was simple; thin airplane plywood cut to shape by an industrial laser cutter and then covered with the branded popsicles. The problem we ran into was that we didn’t have a laser cutter with a bed large enough to accommodate a twenty foot tall tower that was nearly seven feet at it’s base. All we had was a laser cutter with an 18 x 32 inch bed. To get around this issue we cut separate layers of plywood, each 1/32 inches thick and arranged them so that all the seams of a given layer were covered by a continuous piece of the layer above it. Working from the original drawings by Gustav Eiffel, we created a two dimensional drawing of the
tower’s exterior facade but instead of using the shape of the structural members, we used the popsicle stick as a module. In the end we had to create over thirty unique cut files for the laser cutter. When assembled in sequence and layered correctly, this made up one side of the tower. The process had to be repeated three more times. Once the four sides of the tower had been cut and assembled we began working by hand. We hand glueed more then 15,000 popsicle sticks to the plywood skins. Then the completed skins of the four sides were attached to the MDF skeleton. For the final touch we adorned the base of the structure and each of the ‘observation decks’ pint containers. Now that the structure was complete, it had to be disassembled into three parts, wrapped in packing material and safely transported to the park.
laser cut files
assembly process
final installation at luna park in union square
degree project
fit-ness, embedding intelligence into a modular system pratt institute school of architecture 2006 studio critics deborah gans lawrence blough 54
fit-ness embedding intelligence into a modular system 5th year degree project, pratt institute school of architecture
“The nomad is not at all the same as the migrant; for the migrant goes principally from one point to another, even if the second point is uncertain, unforeseen, or not well localized. But the nomad goes from point to point only as a consequence and as a factual necessity; in principle, points for him are only relay along trajectories.” –Deleuze & Guattari At the outset of my thesis I was asked to consider nomadic and migratory behaviors. The nomad moves freely upon an open field, traveling from point to point with respect to function and need. His path is one of cycles, endless flowing, repetition and the continual re-configuring of new arrangements and orders along the way. The nomad’s journey is a continual redefining of an experience based upon ordering and juxtaposition. The migrant moves along the course of greatest ease and efficiency. He moves from one fixed and predetermined point to a second point, though that point may or may not be known at the beginning of the
journey it is a final destination and not a stop along the way. The migrant’s shift is one of permanence, his movement may be constant but it is not overlapping nor repeating. The nomad’s path, like a tangle of string, is interwoven and crisscrossing, it loops and repeats while though the migrant’s journey may possess a turn or two, the string of his path is without knots. As I scanned the urban landscape for examples of either nomadic or migrant tendencies my focus fell upon the ubiquitous and omnipresent electric-red plastic crates used by The Coca-Cola Bottling Company in the delivery of their products to retail outlets. The ‘castle crate’ beverage container used for transport by The Coca-Cola Bottling Company is, in all senses of the word, a nomad. As the product is distributed, the crate travels a cyclical path between points of production and points of consumption. Soda, on the other hand, is a product, it travels a linear path from production to consumption;
this relegates it to the role of the migrant. The plastic bottles that contain the soda are merely vessels, shells to hold liquid, disposable or recycleable products that are also nomadic but with a different end, they are not a product but a by-product. The castle crate is a cradle or carriage used to store, stock and move quantities of liquid on a scale manageable by a single person. Each crate holds eight bottles which each hold two liters of liquid. The crate itself is light and strong and moves continuously. It stops at points, resting temporarily at nodes along the distribution path but eventually it is always brought back into circulation to follow the course that leads it back and forth along the supply chain. The primary and most obvious function of the castle crate is a mode of moving and transporting a specific and predetermined cargo. It performs this duty with an amazing amount of efficiency in terms of production practices, in terms of material and additionally in terms of use. By employing injection molding techniques, a field of varying though modular conditions result in a desired topology; a topology designed to cradle the bottles. The field of the crate is an open form that undulates and folds over itself. It never encloses a space but merely articulates and infers it. My material exploration began as an investigation into the programmed aspects of the crate. I began by focusing on the micro scale, the single unit, ie. one crate.
The interlocking plug and socket relationship allows the crates to lock into one another, providing stability.
The integrated handle makes for easy carrying, loading and stacking
COMPRESSION RING RIBS
HUB
TENSION RING RIM
SPOKE
Webbing allows for the economy of material which helps in cutting cost as well as weight. It is also a refinement in expressive structure. The webbing in the crate’s base is also functional, due to the nature of the cargo; the webbed base allows for run off of any spilled liquid.
anatomy of the crate
Along with the structural webbing, the castle crate employs the use of a tall band that at once operates as a tension ring providing strength and stability to the crates structure and also creates a deep well in which the bottles can rest securely.
section of a crate
Straight Stack Each module is stacked directly on top of another module exhibiting the interlocking relationship between the top and bottom faces of the crate.
Shift Stack Each module is stacked one half module off creating an overlap in the crates and providing great stability. This trait grows out of the modular characteristics inherent within the crate’s design.
Turn Stack Out of their modular design and 2 x 4 configuration comes the ability to make 90˚ turns, this once again adds strength to the stack while also providing for the opportunity to organize space.
Box Stack This is essentially the turn stack turned in on itself, the 2 x 4 configuration easily slips into a 4 x 4 configuration and can also grow, by continuously wrapping the modules around a center point.
catalogue of the crate’s stacking relationships
Upon dissecting the crate, one finds several interesting features. A series of interlocking plugs line the top of the crate. These correspond to a series of sockets along the bottom of the crate. This plug/socket relationship allows the crates to nest into one another. The three central teeth running along the width of the crate are bisected which allows crates to be stacked at 90° rotations. Another element of the crate is the integrated and molded handle on either end of the crate. This enables the crate to be handled and carried with ease. The third element of the crate is the webbed flooring. This allows for an economy of material as well as drainage. The final element I identified in my investigation was the wide solid band that wraps around the outside of the crate. Acting as a tension ring, this band lends the crate a resilient exterior structure. Zooming out to the macro scale, I looked at the variable and plentiful ways the crates could interact with one another. The crates were designed to nest both when they went out into the field filled with bottles and when they returned to the warehouse empty. Having discovered this rich condition, I then experimented on the varying interactions of the crates and was able to identify four majors movements. These movements, when mixed, create countless options. The first and simplest of these movements was the ‘straight stack’, one crate stacking directly upon another. continued
The second movement I called the ‘shift stack’, this movement works much like a running bond of stretcher bricks, the crates stack a half module off from one another, creating an even overlap. In this movement the crates lock together and create a linear strength that is lacking in the simple stack. The third condition I discovered was the ‘turn stack’. Using the bisected central teeth mentioned earlier, the crates stack at 90° to one another. This turn, working in concert with the shift stack, allows the crates to form strong corners or even ‘T’ connections. The fourth and final movement is an iteration of the turn stack, I called it the ‘box stack’. By turning the stack in on itself, the crates, twice as wide as they are long, create strong square columns. Having completed a thorough analysis of the crate’s programmatic function, I sought to physically dissect it’s form. I turned to the architect’s tried and true tool: the section. By cutting the long and short sections as well as the plan sections I began to map out the underlying form of the crate, thereby unlocking the logic of its form. As a result of examining the “sectional snapshots” that occurred at every inch along the crate I began to understand the fluid nature of the material form. This fluid progression of form made up the programmatic elements which were crystallized in my next exercise. I attempted to reconstruct the form of the crate based upon the sections I had cut but without continued section matrix
sections reassembled
section model
section model detail
actual material. I was able to create a three dimensional map of the crate’s underlying form by cutting out each section as a series of pinholes and then running thread though them. With a toolkit full of lessons learned I tackled the design for a rapid deployment housing system that would employ the practices of mass production coupled with the reality of mass customization. Mass customization is a hybrid that proposes new processes of building using automated production utilizing production lines with the ability to differentiate each module or unit from those fabricated just before and just after. The parameters set in the beginning of this design project were as follows: to create a re-configurable system of few pieces, whose parts conform to the dimensions of road transport and allow for multi-story building and most importantly, a system that while quickly deployable, is also strong enough to allow LIGENCE OF THE SYSTEM for permanent construction. Based on my study I designed a series of self-similar modules with MODULE points of locking connections. These units, based on a 4 x 8 bay system, (therefore comparable in size to the average hotel room), came complete with a bedroom, a small work space, a bathroom and storage. Constructed as a three dimensional web, the modules were designed to work both as compressive units and as tensile one. The adaptive nature of the modules allowed for easy integration of the relational lessons learned from the crates.
CASTLE CRATE SYSTEM “FIT-NESS” THE EMBEDDED INTELLIGENCE OF THE SYSTEM -EVOLUTION OF THE MODULE
“FIT-NESS” -EVOLUTION OF THE MODULE
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evolving iterations of a housing module
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CASTLECASTLE CRATE CRATE SYSTEM SYSTEM CASTLE CRATE THESYSTEM EMBEDDED INTELLIGENCE OF THEOF SYSTEM THE EMBEDDED INTELLIGENCE THE SYSTEM THE EMBEDDED INTELLIGENCE OF THE SYSTEM
“FIT-NESS” “FIT-NESS” “FIT-NESS”
STRAIGHT STACK STACK SHIFT STACK STRAIGHT SHIFT STACK STRAIGHT StraightSTACK StackCONFIGURATIONSHIFT STACKCONFIGURATION Shift CONFIGURATION Stack CONFIGURATION CONFIGURATION OF HOTEL ROOM ROOMCONFIGURATION OF HOTEL ROOM ROOM OF HOTEL OF HOTEL OF HOTEL ROOM OF HOTEL ROOM
HYBRIDHYBRID MIX STACK MIX STACK HYBRID MIX CONFIGURATION STACKHybrid Stack CONFIGURATION CONFIGURATION OF HOTEL ROOM ROOM OF HOTEL OF HOTEL ROOM
catalogue of the housing module’s stacking relationships
My modular housing units could be stacked straight up or they could be arranged and stacked in a shifted configuration. Many hybrid configurations were also possible by merging the two. The 4 x 8 bay system is comprised of four primary trusses which are bisected by a series of eight secondary trusses. All these trusses are open webbed in order to allow people to pass through thus creating a matrix with which one can organize space. The webbed system is easily customized. It is manufactured in factories off-site, assembled into transportable units, delivered and then configured for final assembly in the field. The three dimensional webbing system also allowed for open pockets within each unit, thus creating opportunities for internal windows as well as open air spaces below units. This open air system allows for the creation of large public spaces to be set up below modules. programing the module through section
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I rounded out the design set with such infrastructural elements as a modular hallway system and an extendable elevator. This not only provided for vertical and horizontal movement within a proposed module complex, but also provide for a full array of ducting and systems connections. This thesis came to realize a contemporary and adaptable system ready for rapid deployment and long term construction.
potentials of the module system
the module and its kit of parts
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