1 minute read
SOCIAL BLENDER
Location: Rockefeller University, Manhattan Island, New York City
Instructor: Matthew Jull
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Project type: Apartments with amenities and open spaces
21F Arch 7010
The site lies in the lenox hill area of the Manhattan island in New York. The existing site condition is: a power house lies on the site, the site is surrounded by two skycrapers over 300 feet and a busy FDR highway in the south of the site. Based on these situations, I need to find out a way to create a new design that will nicely mediating the vicinities of the site.
After utilizing the idea of "The house is a machine for living" by Le Corbusier. Its derivative view of "the kitchen is the engine of the house” is used as an intervention point, the first phase of the design is trying to understand the essential of the space and figuring out the interaction between people movements and the space medium. By zooming out the idea generated from the first phase, the design of the larger apartments is developed gradually.
To another extent, the theory of Le Corbusier has a certain kind of weakness, which is, it ignored the individual expression of using the spaces, so for my design, I developed several open spaces and leave a whole open floor for the residents and public to use as their wish. The open floor could be transfered as: a neighbourhood gallery, a book store, a small park etc...
Body Interface: Kitchen as an engine
People are motivated and gain their energy by food, so that’s why we call the kitchen as an engine of the house. In this case with an exaggerated language of developping a metal space, the kitchen works and seems like a engine. The activities going on in the kitchen could be considered as intake, compression, power and exhaust. And for the two big gears, one is working as the main switch of the kitchen system, the switching depends on whether people are hungry, while the other one works for the inner system.
Storyboards: A
Stroboscopic Motion: A Movement Defined Space
Physical Model: The Kitchen Engine
