Past and Future: A Collision
Overview
I believe that Paige has a very interesting project. The main idea is to bring the old and the new together to form something different. She is doing this with two extending wings that are parallel to the streets bordering the site and where they intersect there is a tower. The one wing (the old) houses the firetrucks and all the storage, the other wing (the new) houses the living and social spaces, and the tower is a “collision” of the two.
Presentation
The presentation was very scripted and could have been a little more in depth, but clear and to the point, which made it easy to understand the project. She could have gone over the structure a little more because I’m not sure how the tower is going to be built because it is open on the first story and there were no visible columns supporting it, but I’m sure this will be considered later. The drawings were well done, line weights need to be a little more pronounced, but I liked the incorporation of the materiality diagram next to each plan, that made things very clear. The model has a strong idea with the transparent material representing the new and the wood representing the old. I just think it should resemble the building more because it looks like the tower’s form but it doesn’t really look like a tower and I think it should also include the wings made out of their appropriate material. Also precedents were not discussed during the critique although she had an Adolf Loos raumplan on her board. This precedent should be considered in the tower; because the tower is a creation of the new and the old wings it shouldn’t necessarily have floors it should be more of a raumplan with a bunch of different height spaces and levels.
Concept
Based on the NAAB check list I think that she has a well-developed concept of the clashing of the old and the new, I think that the wings represent that idea well but I don’t think the tower does yet. One suggestion during the critique was to layer the spaces in the tower, but I think rather than layering it is more of a weaving that needs to happen. The new wing and the old wing need to come together to create something completely new yet still have a sense of its original components. Paige suggested that she would represent the old with brick and the new with glass so I think that using these materials would be a good way for the tower to relate back to the wings but they need to be used in a completely different way. It was mentioned that the tower is the heart of the project but it isn’t pronounced enough. It is a higher level than the wings but I believe it needs to be even taller in order to capture that idea. A way to do this would be to make the floor heights taller or add more program to more stories.
Building
I’ve mentioned most of the comments about the building above already but having a separate category for it is important. I think the way the building is right now works and will function well, but something to consider would be how firefighters get from the top floor of the tower down into the old wing to where the fire trucks are in a reasonable time. It was mentioned in the critique that the new wing looked a little sculptural and this was to be avoided. I think the way to avoid this is instead of making part of it open on the first story to create a through-way and closed on the second story, the wing needs to be all one story and maybe just have a cut through it as the through-way. This would also make the tower look taller. Code and sustainability haven’t been talked about much either but I think later in the project it’ll be addressed.
Site
Right now the landscape has only been thought about a little. The new wing is raised in one place to allow trucks to come in and go right into the apparatus bay. This creates a hardscape that isn’t very appealing, but I think in order to emphasize the new and the old and the colliding of the two the paving should have two different materials, concrete paving for the new and brick or cobble stone for the old and a weaving of them where they come together. Malcom also suggested making the hardscape not just a through-way but a multifunctional space. Another thought would be to phase the paving out as it gets farther from the building. The building is shaped so that it embraces the inlet and park so that could be a way of thinking about the park, maybe by stepping the topo down to the water’s edge and also phasing it out as it gets farther away from the center point. One thing not discussed in the critique but is on the NAAB list is the clearness of an entry and I think Paige does this well with the orientation of the building at the corner of two intersecting streets. The tower also helps emphasize that this is the entrance. I think that elevating the new wing to accompany a through way might disrupt this clear entrance though so maybe instead of raising it up, drop it down and form a path that goes around one of the wings and into the back of the apparatus bay.
Conclusion
All in all, I think Paige has a strong idea and project. I think that decisions need to be made like exactly what material is going to be used, structure of the tower, and site planning, but she seems to be in good shape. The main thing that I think needs to be worked out is the tower, mainly how to mesh the two ideas of the wings to create a new component. This project is definitely interesting and is on track to becoming much more developed.

Photo: Paige Geldrich