GEODE STUDIOS

Arch 208

Fall Semester

2022

Geode Studios is an art cultivating center including a public museum and workshop, mirrored by artists residents, and studios.

The chosen location for the art center in Lawrence was picked for its vacant space. Geode Studios sits in the corner of a currently empty parking lot space surrounded by retail. The reason for this space is to bring something to diverse the area’s architecture and bring a new element for the community’s enjoyment. For accessibility, this art center is located near the city bus stop and shopping centers. For the ideas phase of the project in order to get a shape I would sketch possible sites. What became my inspiration was a setup that was spilt into, public and private. When furthering the design in Rhino and actualizing it the shape took a more enclosing figure creating a unique third space for both public and private use, the outside.

The section cut to the left of this column shows the influence of shape discussed on the previous page in the final design. From the exterior, Geode Studios appears as two separate units, the workshop and museum, and the studio and artists’ residence. Through landscaping, The connection between the public and private sectors of the project is hidden in a tunnel surrounded on the exterior by grass to create a new engaging space outside, which the building encases.

This project gave me a chance to think about space beyond what we can build walls, floors, and ceilings, but for space to be enclosed in any imaginable way. I took this approach to the whole process while designing in Rhino creating oneof-a-kind elevations and sections. Everything apart of this project is custom fit to Geode Studios, every wall hand placed, and materials on the outside of the studios shown in the renderings to the left are hand drawn just for the exterior of this building.