Design Studio 2

Class: Design Studio 2 | Professors: Emily Moss, David Crandall

Fort Greene – Transit Map

*click any image to enlarge*

The Site – Plan and Sections at 1/8″ = 1′-0″

Site Plan

Short Section

Long Section

Study of View – A Site Based Installation

My initial models explored views into and out of the site. They distort views, obstruct views, allow views, and most importantly attract views. We first made models at a 1 inch = 20 foot scale.

The model on the RIGHT in the above photograph, blocks views from above, but allows views from eye level (as depicted below).

The model on the LEFT blocks views from eye level but allows views from higher-up. There is also a threshold for entrance, inside which you get a panoramic view of the entire sight (theoretically, at least, the scale is too large for that to actually happen). The model on the RIGHT completely blocks views through the structure, but you can still look into it and out of it. This is depicted in the photo below.

The model on the LEFT distorts views while the one on the RIGHT attracts views with its awkward form. You could even look through the structure at each other. When facing north, there is a library to the left of the site and an assessment center to the right, as well as a school towards north and NYCHA housing down south, so people from these sites, or others just passing by, are attracted to the peculiar installation, look through it and then are connected with each other.

The LEFT model depicts obstructed view points with one side facing the NYCHA housing (south) and the other facing the school (north).

This is the idea I ended up going forward with. The model features slabs on an angle in order to obscure views on every angle except for a certain point in which you may see through the structure. (See above photos LEFT and RIGHT). From this I make more iterations, but make the views created more purposeful.

I place the LEFT model (on both the pictures) on the site along with sketches of scale figures and annotations. These black and white photographs, below, summarise the views that I have managed to get with the LEFT model.

However, it turned out to be very clustered and didn’t seem purposeful, so I had to simplify it when going forward.

Above is my final model. I play with scale here by mimicking the height of the library (short) and gradually getting larger to the height of the assessment center (tall). Here, I am connecting the back doors of each of these buildings during the moments in which the views are not obscured.

First, here is how the structure looks with obscured views: