NAUTILUS

TYPE: LOCATION: URBAN DESIGN (PROPOSED)

NORTHEASTERN CAMPUS, BOSTON

Asked to imagine an outdoor classroom on campus, this design pushes farther to create an experience and gathering space, inspired by flowing movement. The structure does not only hold loads but is also expressed to become the ornamentation of the pavilion.

Visitors are guided into the outdoor classroom through aperture punctures in the structure, or through the opening at the tail end of the spiral. The central space evokes feelings of being inside of a bowl with a large, yet intimate, central green space, bolstered by two accessible floors for communication, observation, and rest, in addition to benches along the interior of the first floor. The structural logic communicates rigidity and verticality externally, establishing a strong presence within the quad and creating a zone ideal for lectures, concerts, and club gatherings.

The brief also asked us to perform material and load calculations to bring this design to construction documentation.

In the photos above diagram the lateral system, resisting north-south winds. The girders, (highlighted in red), perpendicular to the wind direction would “accept” the loads from the wind before passing it to girders at the same level (orange), then the cross-bracing (yellow) parallel to the wind direction. The cross directs these loads to the foundation.