granary in barragan-land
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In this studio, we studied the work of Luis Barragan and his contemporaries. We traveled to Mexico to visit the site and see the works of these artists and architects. The site was the land of the Barragan family’s hacienda, lost during the Mexican revolution. The land resides in the hilly highlands of Jalisco, near the massive lake Chapala. The climate is temperate, with hot days and cold nights. In the rainy season, water rises higher than the stone walls that delineate the land. In the dry season the land drains and becomes crisp under the high sun. The program includes an owner’s house, worker’s housing, guest houses, cows, horses, a granary, and cheese making. The models to the right show iterations of program organization inspired by the constellation of buildings on Phillip Johnson’s land. The red land represents the red soil of Jalisco. In these models, the granary repeatedly appeared as a monumental tower on the land. A beacon for the site, I decided to concentrate on this part of the program. It becomes a cathedral to grain, grain that supports the hacienda year round.
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SECTION A-A
SECTION B-B
endless rock walls
guest houses with stone wall views
road to owner’s house with original gate
cheese, near road, upwind
retention pond
anaerobic digester uses waste to create energy, placed upwind
worker’s housing at top of hill (ownership over the land)
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In Mexico, I searched for elements of “magic� a word Barragan used in his Pritzker acceptance speech. I found it in his paper staircase, in massive walls, in sharp forms, in tricks of light. The architect created deception with light, form, and orientation.
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Upon returning from Mexico, I defined magic through four terms: illusion, darkness, fantasy, and violence. Modeling each term separately, and then combining these models, I was able to model the idea of magic. An imposing task at first. The models then informed the design for the granary.
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a to nd up n a s. in or e ra s c sid s g ide ive rrie div ect ca h sp or hic re ey w eir nv tor, th co u to A strib t in di hea w
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Granaries need to satisfy three problems: how to get the grain in, how to get the grain out, and how to keep it cool. The grain enters uphill, is scooped up by a conveyor, released into storage area, sliding down the smooth interior wall. The grain can then be gathered through the door, framed by a driveway cut into the land. The grain is kept cool by being submerged in the earth. Heat is suctioned up to the top of the structure, painted black to heat up and draw hot air, and vented.
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Section of tapered box beam, tower built in vertical sections
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view from road
from beneath at door
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view from inside
top of stair
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plaster model
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3d printed model
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take aways: -multiple scales: site, building, detail -knowledge on granaries -travel experience -translating ideas into form -sustainable concepts applied to site design
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