Spring - School Update pt 2

Studio - this was my last. studio. ever. HOORAY!!! :D  I managed to actually survive four years of architecture torture!  This particular studio ranks in the upper-middle compared to my other studios, not the greatest, but by far not the worst.  One different part of this semester was that we only worked on one group project the entire time.  We worked in groups of three - I was a little hesitant about that at first, given my prior experience in group studio projects have all ended up badly, but this one went pretty well.  I worked with two other girls and we were all on the same page and eager to contribute ideas, time and effort to the project and seemed to play well off each other.  Granted, by the end of the semester, one of them was getting so stressed out about this class and other things that she was making the rest of the group want to strangle her because she was becoming so bossy and rude and uptight about everything and all our progress got halted because we couldn't work together anymore ... but isn't that what school is all about? -_-  other than that, the project ended up ... okay.  It wasn't great but it wasn't bad.  For the sheer size and amount of work that the project required, we did pretty good, and I was fine with it.  I did get a B in this class, again, but I've come to terms with the fact that I'm just B-student when it comes to studio and that's okay.  I still managed to graduate with a 3.71 and Magna Cum Laude.  :D

The project: our professor named our project the Aggie Ark (after Noah's Ark).  Basically, our assignment was to create a mega-structure in rural Bryan, TX, that was completely self-sufficient and could sustain a small community of around 100 families, complete with all the agriculture, housing, industrial and community features in the building and on the site, in the event of a global catastrophe, whether economical or natural disaster.  We had to research the site and sustainability and diasters and basically anything and everything needed to keep a community alive.  Then, by the end, we had to design the entire building and site, create a master plan of the site (my part), draft floor plans and sections (my partners parts), make a 3D digital model (my partners other parts), and build a three by four foot physical model (we all worked on this).  ... at least we didn't have to have presentation boards too.  Our prof let us do a powerpoint instead.

It was a lot of work, a lot of late nights, but we managed to survive... I guess. lol.  Here's the fruits of our labors.

... work in progress on our physical model.  thank heavens for the use of a laser cutter!

... and oddly enough, this was our studio on a cleaner day, haha.

The final project!  This is what I planned and drew out, the master site plan ... the dark outlined areas are the buildings on the site (in my rush, I forgot to label them ... oops).

Our main building's floor plans: Our bldg is segmented into three sectors, the left being more administrative and educational, the middle for community and industry, and the right for housing and families.  Each sector gets smaller from right to left and adds a floor to create a visual interest and sense of rhythm as well as allowing for large open spaces and more privacy in the residential sector and for a more close knit feel in the community centers.  Each sector also has an open sky well to bring in more light and ventilation and create courtyards for private gardens on the roof.  The bldg is also designed for maximum natural ventilation and views of the site.  (When designing the building, each of us took one sector to design and work out.  I had the residential sector.)

A few of the digital renderings of our building (we didn't have to render the site)

The small building on the side is our school and educational center.

partial section of the main entrance and first sector

interior rendering of the residential sector and soccer field

interior computer sketch of the community sector and dining hall

some pictures of the final physical model

I also designed the port and boat docks ...

... and the non-denominational religious center (lol, can't call it a church, I guess)

 

That's my project.  There were four other groups in the class.  I always find it interesting that no matter how strict the guidelines or set of problems given, the answers are always so varied.  So, just because I thought some of them were so cool, here are all of the different projects from my class.  (And we really did have the same site, some people just choose to place their bldgs in different places or alter the landscape more than others.  And, we did have the same scale as everyone, but somehow our sizes differed greatly ... I guess some people require a lot more or a lot less to be considered "sustainable").

... and one last look at ours.  hooray for finishing studio!