So first sorry that this is my first post, I kept changing my design based on the problems I saw from the other posts (plus nearly everyone changed their entire idea after they posted their design, so I was stuck between showing you something underdeveloped and buggy or developing it and risk restarting after showing you). Anyways this is the design I presented to Michelle. The main focus of the residence is trying to increase the amount of times people interact with each other by making it so its easy to see each other more often.
The strategies I used to for this is by incorporating a glass elevator that rises goes through the main community spaces and an atrium (that is included on a plan that I haven't made yet) that is located above the left lounge area in a hope that people will break off from their usual routine to go and say hi to one another.
For the DMZ I tried used a similar strategy where the would be many open to below spaces in the floor that would allow the public to enter an area where they can test and play around with the DMZ's new gadgets and see the DMZ workers on the floor developing the stuff below them, plus the public would find it cool because it'd be like their almost floating on a bridge.
For the Third space, I decided to include 2 one similar to the coffee shop from friends (where coffee could be dispensed from a vending machine) and another which is a series of levels increasing in height that people can sit one (this is something that I've seen in my high school that was very successful).
So anyways it was determined that my washrooms should be more private, my kitchen should be bigger, I should open up the communal areas to sunlight, my married units should have more amenities and be separated (btw how many grad students would ever even get married and move to a student residence), the walls on my first floor need some massaging, I should lessen the amount of different shapes in my plans, and reconsider how I would plan out my open to below condition on the DMZ.
Anything you want to add?
-your proposal does not reflect the glazing considerations in plan and I suspect that if your did, you would realize that the amount provided would be inadequate
ReplyDelete-the building reads more like a force-fitting of components within an eccentric floor plate for the sake of coming together as interesting; what is the real drive behind the jagged plate conditions?; if it were for solar orientation, a sawtooth configuration would have been far more useful but your design simply fills the perimeter condition but neglects the develop the interiors
-the ground address of Yonge St is neither successful as an assertive component on the urban landscape nor does it really articulate any connection/relationship with the upper levels
-your Third Place is quite thin and I suspect you would be much more successful if you were to a) amalgamate the space and b) find ways to thematically tie the area to DMZ-related aspects or at the very least those engaged with Ryerson
-I am not convinced that you have a sense of how your units work and question whether or not you really put thought into your layouts for the units; it is hard to believe that you actually wish to make pleasant spaces for people to perform basic functions of life such as preparing meals and even sleeping; if the primary goal of the project was to "increase the amount of times people interact with each other" in your common spaces, you accomplish this by creating such oppressive and poorly design spaces that people have no choice but to conglomerate in your open spaces solely because those areas are the lesser of two evils; please go beyond plan and realize that if one were to go into the spaces, they would be extremely tight or at the other extreme, so poorly organized that they fail to be conducive to your social engagement thesis; imagine if one were to remove the furnishings on your plans, ask if the spaces could really be considered "lounge areas"
-you propose several tactics to encourage social activities such as isolation, creation of smaller pockets, and configuring furnishings yet it is difficult to pinpoint an architecturally clear idea/strategy; identify that and I think you can proceed with a greater degree of confidence
-you might be far more successful in organizing a central East-West block of fire stairs and utilities in the middle of the site might offer greater clarity in a design; in doing so, many of the communal gathering spaces would be better organized to the south of the floor plate while residential units could still go around the north and west perimeter (and likely have better space allocations!)
-I must restate that your Third Space is terrible; you must do more than simply make steps/benches/coffee areas; this requires a sensitivity to the general operations of people using the spaces (target audience); what would compel people to linger in the space and see it as their second home away from home? certainly it is not coffee or steps!
-there is a lot of work to be done on this BUT at least you have an intent that is driving the project; do not lose that; your idea has potential however its articulation here is unfocused