Lydia Shaw F21 Process Book

PROCESS PROCESS PROCESS

THOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY

DESIGN 3 FALL 2021 PROFESSOR ANDREW HART

LYDIA SHAW

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SEMESTER-LONG PROJECT PART 1: CODEX RESEARCH......................................................................................................1 MODULAR BUILD.......................................................................................2 NEIGHBORHOOD.......................................................................................3-4 PART 2: SHARSWOOD INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................5 SITE VISIT PHOTOS...................................................................................6 SITE ANALYSIS.............................................................................................7 PROGRAMMING.........................................................................................8-9 PART 3: ROW HOUSES THE DO’S + DON’TS.................................................................................10-11

TABLE OF CONTENTS PART 4: CLIENT-BASED DESIGN CLIENTS............................................................................................................10 COLLAGING....................................................................................................11-12 PART 5: COMMUNITY CENTER SITE ANALYSIS...............................................................................................13 BLOCK BUILD.................................................................................................14-15 “E.L.S.”...................................................................................................................16 STUDY MODEL...............................................................................................17 COLLAGING.....................................................................................................18-19 PART 6: REFLECTION A NEW APPROACH.....................................................................................20

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CODEX: RESEARCH The first part of the project I was tasked with was researching “The Philadelphia Negro,” a social study of the social problems present in the African American community. This study was performed by W.E.B. Du Bois, an educated African American man hired by Penn University to go stoop-to-stoop in Philadelphia’s 7th Ward, druing the late 1800s. He disproved the negative stereotypes given to the neighborhood and the members within it by providing easy-to-read data.

Case Study written by W.E.B. Du Bois (1899)

Photos from the 7th Ward in Philadephia

Map of the 7th Ward by W.E.B. Du Bois

CODEX: MODULAR BUILD The goal of the Codex project was to understand a client, build a shelter for their literature, and work within an eclectic neighborhood of other codexes. Not only did this shelter need to protect the literature, but it also needed to embody the spirit of Du Bois and what his codex symbolized. After several trials with modular building, I envisioned a design for a row house-esque plan to pay homage to all of the homes Du Bois visited to gather his data.

Modular models of shelter ideas

My immediate neighbor was another factor I had to bring into my design as the codex was about a “Hero for Hire,” a superhero fighting crime in a city. I thought of Du Bois as a superhero for the African American community living within and outside of the 7th Ward. Both shelters were to represent a residential and commercial building.

Modular models of row house designs

Model with neighbor for context Final model of shelter for codex

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CODEX: NEIGHBORHOOD My shelter was added to an entire neighborhood of shelters for various codexes. The eclectic nature of this neighborhood allowed each of our designs to be showcased in a unique way and really brought each of our designs to life as you could begin to imagine people walking the streets. These pieces were put together in a day and created a collaborative environment to start the semester off strong.

Photo of Codex Neighborhood courtesy of Owen Felty

Model with codex neighbor, Alyssa Swaim

Sketch of elevation with codex neighbor, Alyssa Swaim

Photo of Codex Neighborhood from top view courtesy of Owen Felty

Photo of Codex Neighborhood location with rendering in Photoshop

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SHARSWOOD: INTRODUCTION

Map of Philadelphia, PA

The second part of the project was to become intimate with the inner workings of a previously unfamiliar neighborhood right outside of Center City, Philadelphia. This neighborhood is known as Sharswood. The creation of red-lining has left its mark on Sharswood for years. However, the community does not allow their adverse history to define them as they are a growing neighborhood working on their fresh start as a thriving community focused on their great qualities.

Photos from various site visits

SHARSWOOD: SITE VIST PHOTOS Several visits were made to the site at various times of the day on three separate occasions. By visiting the site many times, various encounters and observations were made that may not have been possible if there was only one visit. This taught us that it is important to create multiple opportunities to learn or experience if you are going to begin to understand a community as complex as Sharswood.

Photos from various site visits

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SHARSWOOD: SITE ANALYSIS

During the site visits, our class was asked to analyze the site. Our analysis was more than just some numbers, it was an analysis of the user’s experience. By talking about the experience, we were able to understand more about the interconnections of the community and what makes Sharswood unique. The map to the right was created by our entire class as we documented different experiences we observed during our visits.

Experiential Map of Sharswood diagrammed by Summer Tang

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SHARSWOOD: SITE PROGRAMMING One of the pieces of information that I was responsible for researching was the race demographics of the area. I mapped the Black, White, Latinx, and Asian communities. My first attempt to represent this information was by carefully splattering paint onto a piece of paper representing the shape of Sharswood. My second attempt involved a piece of transparent paper and markers that I suspended from the ceiling and shined a light through so the colors would be projected onto our class’s 3D site analysis model. Both attempts presented a creative quality that many peers and professors commended and was reflected in our final iteration of stacked site analysis layers.

Photo of projectable race demographics map in demonstration courtesy of Professor Andrew Hart

Scans of base map of Sharswood and splatter paint representation of race demographics with key

Photo of stacked analysis piece for final presentation courtesy of Emma Vormschlag

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ROW HOUSES: THE DO’S + DON’TS

Before diving into part four of the project, our class was assigned to create a manual for the do’s and don’ts of row houses. This manual was to construct a backbone for how we would later design our clients’ row homes. We came together and listed all of the things that make a quality row home and what makes a row home substandard.

Individual “DO” pages in the Manual for Row Houses

DO

DON’T The ideas that I focused on included a description, reference photos, and a sketch. The positives included a fun color palette, natural light, and the need for renovation rather than modern construction. The negatives included the removal of character, a residence standing alone, and bars on windows. .

Individual “DON’T” pages in the Manual for Row Houses

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CLIENT-BASED DESIGN: CLIENTS In part four, I was assigned to create a double row house for two clients from the community. When designing for these two clients I had to discover what was most important to them and integrate it into my design the most practical way. Not everyone in my class was assigned a double row home, so I think I had the additional challenge of making my design be cohesive for two contrasting clients. This part included diagrams, a modular build of important spaces, a study model, sketching, and a digital drawing.

Cardboard model

Modular building block exploration transformable space (top), stairs (middle), and bay window (bottom)

Diagrams of important features for the clients

Sketches of double-row house

Digital elevation drawing with callouts for design elements

Collage for baby + family (left) and collage for grandmother (right)

CLIENT-BASED DESIGN: COLLAGING My two clients were residents of the Sharswood area. My one client was an 80-year-old grandmother and the block-leader of the community. She was living alone but constantly had visitors as several generations of her children would visit her home frequently. My other client was a 7-month-old baby who’s playful spirit inspired most of the design. Coming from a multi-generational home, the row house I designed had to accommodate the baby, her mother, father, and grandmother. To present their wants, I created imaginative collages and overlapped them to diagram their experiential functions.

Experiemtaion with overlapping collages and diagrams of the experince to the right of each collage

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COMMUNITY CENTER: SITE ANALYSIS

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Scaled site of Athletic Rec made by Professor Ivano D’Angella’s section

Photo from site visit

Panoramic view of playground area

The final part of the project was a combination of everything we had learned in the previous parts. We were tasked to take a closer look at the Sharwood’s community recreation center, Athletic Rec. This center has several indoor and outdoor activities for community members of all ages to enjoy. Such as basketball courts, boxing gym, swimming pool, multi-use field, playground area, and BBQ picnic area.

Photo of basketball courts from site visit

Photo of pool area from site visit

COMMUNITY CENTER: BLOCK BUILD I was tasked with opening my mind up to an abstract building process by stacking scrap pieces of wood to create the forms of structures that could be added to benefit and enhance the park. After a few iterations, I was inspired to create a two level platform that would be appropriate for all ages to use. The top level could be used for parents who wish to get a better perspective of the whole park to watch their children or it could function as an addition to the playground including a rock climbing wall and a slide. The bottom level could be used for gathering to play board games or just relax with the shade provided from the top level.

Side view from inside Athletic Rec. Park

Photos from block building process .

Aerial view

Front view

Side view from neighborhood perspective

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COMMUNITY CENTER: ”E.L.S.”

EXTREMELY LONG SECTION

E.L.S. attempt 1

E.L.S. attempt 2

Final E.L.S.

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A new way of presenting the experience of a structure was through E.L.S. or “Extremely Long Section.” This type of section allowed me to diagram the experiences both outside and inside the structure. Each iteration introduced more information than the last and allowed for an accurate explanation behind my design choices.

The E.L.S. and the block build ideas were combined when creating a three dimensional E.L.S. which inspired unique design ideas.

E.L.S. block build from side view

E.L.S. block build from top view

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COMMUNITY CENTER: STUDY MODEL

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One of the unique ideas inspired from the previous exercise was the inclusion of curves and arches to my design. I took a photo of my three dimensional E.L.S. and made it black and white to focus on the form and how a user may experience the space. I also created a study model to focus on how sunlight would interact with my platform.

Three dimensional E.L.S. in black and white

Lighting model study in black and white

COMMUNITY CENTER: COLLAGING

Collage of platform

The collage was used to create an idea of the user’s experience and diagram all of its design qualities. When detailing the experiences, I made sure to refer to how my two clients from the previous part may use the space. By overlapping my E.L.S., the collage, and the collage diagrams, I was able to foresee new challenges and fix them which helped to improve my overall design.

Diagram of experince on the platform

Overlapping of E.L.S., collage, and collage diagrams

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Interactions of people and the platform in form of a conceptual section perspective

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REFLECTION: A NEW APPROACH Over the course of this design semester, I was presented with new design outlets and ways of both analyzing and presenting information. These new approaches to design allowed me to come out of my comfort zone and explore much broader design techniques. I learned how to put my client first and design for their wants and needs while also understanding the user’s experience. In the past, I had designed for what I thought was best from my experiences, but in reality the people and the experience need to come before the design. Being able to learn about the rich history of a neighborhood and see how it affects its residents is a valuable lesson of what it means to embody the feelings of a space.

Collaboration was another big part of this design project as it was what fueled the energy of the studio. Working with peers that I had never met yet or had only met through a computer screen provided a diverse designing environment.The diversity of each peer brought a uniqueness to the project and a challenge for integration. Every person had their unassigned role in our studio and we all worked together to accomplish our individual and team goals. Working closely with my peers was not only enjoyable but expanded my view of the assignment.

I learned that in order to be a quality designer, you must look to the people you are designing for and designing with and take a new approach to design.

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A NEW APPROACH TO DESIGN