Design Concept
The main concept of my design is to create an Open Source Learning Academy that encourages students to see the connections between different interest areas and uses natural curiosity to lead them from one topic to another.
One way my project encourages the natural curiosity of students is through the use of the student cluster spaces as the connections between the main interest areas. Placing the cluster between two focused areas of interest provides a space where students interested in one area of learning can mix and share ideas with the students interested in a different topic.
Another way students are encouraged to learn through natural curiosity is through the stacking and overlapping of programmatic areas. The combination of vertical and horizontal circulation through layered clusters and interest zones causes students to pass through areas they might not initially be interested in to get to their intended destination. As they pass through other interest areas and clusters, students are exposed to ideas, projects, and people they would not normally encounter on their own. These interactions spark students’ curiosity to explore new interests they otherwise may not have considered related to their primary interest.
Layering spaces throughout my project also creates an opportunity for visual connection between clusters and interest areas. These visual connections allow students in one interest area to see the projects of students in other interest areas or clusters and become curious about the work occurring in other parts of the Open Source Learning Academy.
Form Development
The form for my project began with a study of the block typology for buildings. A block-type building fits well with my design concept to create connections between the different interest areas and clusters of my project and the courtyard in the center of the building would provide a place for students to gather outside to hang out, work on large projects, or display their completed work. Since I am focusing on the connections between students’ interests in learning, I also emphasized the physical connections at the corners of my building form. As I continue developing the project I plan to look more closely at how my building form interacts with the interior courtyard space and the surrounding site.
Site Interaction
I chose to locate my project on the valley site just off San Luis Bay Drive between San Luis Obispo and Availa Beach. Discussing my project in the context of this site brought to my attention several areas I need to address as I move forward with my design. Now that my overall concept for my project has developed, I will begin to take a closer look at how my Open Source Learning Academy interacts with the surrounding site. I specifically need to focus on where my project will be located on the site and how this will affect the location of certain programmatic elements, such as the student commons, administration, and entrance to my building.
Determining the placement and orientation of my building will also allow me to further analyze the climatic conditions of my site in relation to my project; once I have this information I will be able to look at they different types of materials and passive strategies I could use to make my design more responsive to the surrounding environment and more comfortable for the students who will be using it.
Your written description has great clarity, but I don’t yet see that clarity in your design. In truth, I think you are getting in the way of yourself. That is, you are trying too hard to make the form do this – but if you look at what your text says, it is not about form, but spatial interaction. Yes, your form does not take into site orientation and particulalry topography, and that will have a huge impact on the diagrammatic layout you have provided. But to get past the diagrammatic layout, follow the clarity of your writing which in essence provides clear guiding principles:
“use of the student cluster spaces as the connections between the main interest areas.”
GREAT! But now you need to break open the cluster, and its associated spaces WHILE keeping in mind that others outside of this cluster will circulate through it. Your sentence above does not suggest that circulation is adjacent to the cluster (such as a corridor next to the cluster), but uses the cluster as connection. This also means that the grey spaces in your plan make no sense to me – this disrupts the very connection through clusters between interest areas. Simplify! I think they grey areas came from form as stacked boxes, not thinking of this yet as a spatial experience.
“students are encouraged to learn through natural curiosity is through the stacking and overlapping of programmatic areas. The combination of vertical and horizontal circulation through layered clusters and interest zones causes students to pass through areas they might not initially be interested in to get to their intended destination.”
YES!!! But uh, you have no circulation in your project. Realize this is a SECTIONAL relationship – the section is not just a cut, but a spatial experience between spaces. This is about interior volume. All of your spaces are single floor, and do not interact with each other. Like guiding principle above, while one way to introduce sectional relationship is to introduce an atrium or open stair, this would be external to the very overlapping of program areas you want to achieve. SO, which areas of the program might be the connective tissue, the zones that encourage overlap? This can be multistory volumes, perhaps allowing circulation through it.
“Layering spaces throughout my project also creates an opportunity for visual connection between clusters and interest areas.”
WONDERFUL!!! But like above, your don’t have any spaces yet, so have no been able to make visual connections. Do you see this?? Layering FORM – stacking boxes – is not same as layering of space. By focusing on sectional relationships above, this will then set you up to achieve this goal.
These are three incredible guiding principles. You do not need anymore. The introvert spaces you are now thinking of can be incorporated into this – its a delightful and personal sensitivity in the context of all of the connectivity the above suggests.
So what does it take to achieve these three: lots and lots and lots of work, and then lots of work. Please do not misperceive a clarity of intention with clarity of execution. The beautiful thing for you, is you have a clarity of intention which can be very difficult for others, what you need now is a fire in your belly to work through these and a critical eye and stubbornness to not give up until you truly achieve this. This is why designers work through the night, and work in studio – even if an introvert – so they can test ideas with colleagues getting peer feedback along the way.