SEDIMENTARY

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SEDIMENTARY A look at representing earthen ideals within an urban context.

Fall 2023 Dwight Yee

A project for Vernal, UT

by Taylor Bond & Rebecca Birch

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RESEARCH & CONCLUSIONS

ABSTRACT This book documents the research, design, and creation of an architectural project that examines the relationship between socioeconomic society and the desert landscape. The study takes place in Vernal, Utah; a small desert city in Uintah County, “in order to examine the history of inhabitation in a desert landscape, and to critically consider the relationships between architecture and the politics of colonization, extraction and displacement,” as was stated in the overview for the Studio. We took these three words “colonization, extraction, and displacement” and examined them further within the context of Vernal to find conclusions that led us towards questions, problems, and eventually design solutions.

The following pages will exact our process and our thinking in the matter. We will show how our research, site plan, and final built intervention seek to address the politics of the desert and those who reside in it, and more importantly, how this can be addressed and answered more thoughtfully moving forward.

RESEARCH In September we went to Vernal to study the place and its culture. In a three day span we were able to meet local people and research what downtown Vernal (and the surrounding area) had or didn’t have to offer. We used this information to make a plan of how we would respond to the design problem at hand.

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RESEARCH & CONCLUSIONS

This map shows the activity based places that people can go with a growing radius around each activity showing the focus on each. Along with this, if the city was to become walkable, the likelihood of walking on the denser inner circle and driving distance as it moves out. This shows how very few are close together so

people would not be likely to go do many activities at one time, making it even less likely for them to go do the activity in the first place. The connections on each side of the map are the same points showing the connection of more reasonable community based activities and tourist based activities.

Deep map by Rebecca Birch

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RESEARCH & CONCLUSIONS

We looked at how deserts are formed.

Mountain ranges push air upward forcing it to dump its precipitation. Thus, the land after the range is left dry. We wanted to think about how this concept could apply to other things like sound, sun, and wind.

This axonometric deep map shows the connections of Vernal at different scales based upon mode of transportation. Its purpose is to study the relationships of different spaces and how they might interact with the site in the future.

Furthermore, how we can use the site to improve walkability.

Deep map by Taylor Bond

1.2 SITE PLAN

SITE PLAN Once our research had been conducted we began to think about the site as a whole. Within a larger group consisting or 8 people, we developed an idea of how we would intervene in order to bring about some change that we see fitting for Vernal.

As previously mentioned, we saw Vernal’s desert atmosphere to lead to exposure.

As is in the desert, on finds it hard to seek shelter. There is, however, one place in a desert that allows for shelter from the elements: slot canyons. These enclosed spaces, formed by rivers, give a unique type of shelter only found in deserts. We thought it fitting to use this information while designing our site.

This diagram demonstrates the consecutive moves we made to develop our site plan with considerations or movement, shelter, and disruption.

1.2 SITE PLAN

Our original site plan that sought to great comfortable circulation space, sunken beneath the more expose ‘desert’ above.

At this point we had not yet made design decisions for our HUB building and thus it is not included in this site model. However, it did serve as a good stepping stone into our final design.

1.2 SITE PLAN

PRECEDENT STUDIES In designing our site and overall design philosophy for the project, we looked at a few relevant precedents. First of which is China’s Wenchuan Earthquake Memorial Museum (above). This museum creates an architectural landscape rather than a singular building, allowing the built space to seamlessly disappear and blend.

Next we looked at the UCCA Dune Museum (top right) from which included tunneling and curvature that we took inspiration from. Lastly was Zaryadye park in Moscow (bottom right). The park’s unique use of topography and landscaping gave us inspiration for our own.

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BUILDING WITH INTENT

FINAL INTERVENTION Similar to the sedimentary rock of the surrounding area, Vernal’s culture is made up of many layers. These layers are both social and economic, and they all stack up to make Vernal what it is. This project is interested in finding out what the layers of tomorrow are going to look like and, just like the local Green River, carve out a new and exciting way to interact with these new layers. Thus, the question we pose to ourselves is: how will the direct of an in-the-works downtown pedestrian path shape the newly created terrain of Vernal’s upcoming economies? This project offers an answer to that question in the form of three intertwined programs that peel back the layers, and give Vernal a new way to thrive socially, economically, and environmentally. By taking inspiration from the local landscape we have created a set of rules and organizational logic that imposes the will of nature onto the culture of Vernal through the form of circulation.

This creates a Micro-environment that alludes to its larger counterpart. The resulting formal components provide an escape from the harsh, loud and flat downtown atmosphere. Changes in topography and a sunken circulation path provide both solar and auditory shade.

Our final design intervention proposes a space that can help to foster the growing outdoor recreation industry of Vernal.

After we designed the site as a whole, we were left with large volumes, one of which we chose to develop into what we are calling the HUB building. The HUB offers a co-working space and restaurant/ event space. This co-working space on the ground floor is intended to be a place where outdoor entrepreneurs can run a guiding, rental, or educational outdoor recreation business. They will be able to use the site as a smaller version of the great outdoors to teach lessons or show demonstrations before getting out and doing the real thing. The restaurant and event space below offer a uniquely secluded dining experience. The hope is that these two programs would intertwine with one another to create a place of gathering where local business owners, school kids, and tourist alike can come and enjoy the space. We envision people meeting up for a coffee, hanging out after school, catching up on paperwork, grabbing a beer after work, or stopping in to learn about Vernal and what it has to offer.

Rendering showing the organic quality of the hill adjacent to the HUB building and the building itself. We propose to use local plants to recreate the aesthetic of being in the outdoors of the a high desert region.

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BUILDING WITH INTENT

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BUILDING WITH INTENT

Sections of the HUB building and the adjacent outdoor sports hill at 1/16” = 1’ (above).

Elevations of the HUB building and the adjacent outdoor sports hill at 1/16” = 1”. We have shown here the East facade (top right) and the North facade (bottom right).

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BUILDING WITH INTENT

GROUND LEVEL

-01 LEVEL

Floor plans at 1/16” = 1’ (above) MDF model made at 1/16” = 1’ with roof (top right) and without roof (bottom right)

We chose to laser cut 1/4” MDF board to make our model. This gave us the ability to show a range of topography and curvature of walls that other methods would not have offered.

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BUILDING WITH INTENT

Section detail drawing of a typical wall to roof connection and the layering of the green roof (above).

Failed attempt of a detail model of the wall section at 1/2” = 1’.

In making our detail model we failed in making the form work strong enough to hold our rammed earth and it burst from the bottom as you can see. We take this failure in full stride and see it as a learning experience. We find that it is important admit and recognize when things aren’t to a certain standard, and then improve.

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BUILDING WITH INTENT

Rendering showing the sunken circulation path and its protective quality.

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BUILDING WITH INTENT

Larger context site model made by our studio group out of wood and veneer, with our site model inserted (right).

Site model made from laser cut MDF board at 1/16” = 1’ (above).

Larger context site model made by our studio group out of wood and veneer, with our site model inserted (right).

1.4 Bios

Rebecca Birch is an undergraduate student at The University of Utah getting her bachelor's degree in Architectural studies. She has a background in hand drawing, digital, and fashion design. With an interest in interior design, she focuses on more minor details of her designs. After graduating with her bachelor's degree she intends to attend a graduate somewhere out of state preferably international to get a grasp of more styles of architecture and an overall experience of other cultures.

Because of this, she is waiting to work at a firm in her new location after graduating. Her main focal interests are residential projects because she loves working in such detail, as well as maintaining a sustainable practice. Her goal after all of her schooling and getting licensed is to open her own firm that focuses on sustainable or positive growth housing. And creating housing for everyone in need and systems to help those in need whether that be homeless or underdeveloped areas of the city.

Taylor Bond, otherwise known as T. Bond, is a 26 year old designer and architecture student.

Currently in his final year of a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Utah, he has culminated a wide range of skills, both digital and physical, that lend to his unique style.

With some early success in his design and ski film production career, Bond has been able to find himself in a position of self employment, with jobs ranging from local furniture design, to 3D renderings and digital graphics.

His aspirations for the future are vast. Bond hopes to continue his architecture education with a Master of Architecture degree, and use this, along side his design skills, to create a multidisciplinary brand that creates small, hyperfunctional or parastytic spaces.

These spaces will focus on reusing existing structures and creating urban environments that blur the line between the built and natural environments.