To develop expressions of beauty and enjoyment in an industrial setting, one must seek to create a space that is in harmonious dialogue with its surrounding environment. Through the creation of provocative and intriguing site elements in her design, Addie aims to allow visitors the chance to explore the interior and exterior portions of her site with great ease. Addie aims to accomplish this task with the creation of a central water feature that extends from the intersection of Quay St. and Franklin St. to the waterfront portions of her site. By positioning her fire station parallel to Franklin St. and her Monitor Museum parallel to Quay St., Addie emphasizes that her project is about the creation of collision points through repeated axial tension.

Peer review…

By reviewing Addie’s project in conjunction with my review of the NAAB requirements (and of those set forth by our studio professors at the beginning of the year), I believe that she had an extremely successful Design Development process. The programmatic design of her fire station, which is centered on the ideology of efficiency, is well thought out and her site as a whole is very well developed. The layout, hierarchy, organization, and color choices of her board were excellent. That being said, I believe that Addie still has several decisions to make regarding a few key portions of her project. Further attention directed towards these areas would help to turn this project into one that is truly excellent. First and foremost, I believe that Addie should spend some time adjusting the central water feature of her site. This feature is made up of a series of cascading pools that gradually descend down to complement the topographic elements of the site. The decision to begin this series of water features at the intersection of Quay St. and Franklin St. is wise; however, I feel as though the direction in which the rectangular water feature takes its guests interrupts the circulative elements of the site as a whole. Because of the water feature, I am drawn to the central area of land in between the fire station and the Monitor Museum. That being said, the main entrance into the fire station exists off of Franklin St. on the opposite side of the building. While the Monitor Museum exists only in mass, the water feature’s corresponding pathways lead me to believe that the main entrance to the museum lies on the south-facing portion of the building, despite the parking lot for the museum existing on its northwest side. I also feel as though the grand scale of the water features suggests an axial importance when standing at the bottom of them and looking up and while standing at the top and looking down. While there exists a fantastic view of the Manhattan skyline when the viewer looks southwest, no such view exists when looking northeast into the urban portions of the surrounding site. I applaud Addie’s efforts to create a separation of private (living) and public (apparatus bay) spaces. I also appreciate the observation deck platform that she has created above the apparatus bay. That being said, there appears to be a tendency to label non-orthogonal rooms as “laundry” or “restroom.” While these rooms might technically fulfill the square footage requirements as they are outlined in the program, much of the space in these rooms is not usable, especially given the orthogonal qualities of the equipment that is intended to be stored there.

Review of the Critique…

Addie was fortunate to be able to receive feedback on her design from Malcolm Woollen, Christine Gorby, and Peter Aeschbacher. All three reviewers were appreciative of Addie’s extensive site development and they applauded her decision to begin the water feature component of her site at the intersection of Quay St. and Franklin St. as a means of creating a sort of axis (or promenade) around which to lie out the programmatic elements of the site. As a result of the grand nature of the site’s development and Addie’s thoughtful gestures in ensuring that visitors to the site walk away being profoundly impacted, these comments tended to fall underneath the category of “inspired.” That being said, Peter acknowledged how, through the creation of this heavy axial element, Addie has now made the buildings across the intersection of Quay St. and Franklin St. some of the most important views in the entire site. He also felt as though this water feature almost “ran out of space” where it met the intersection. That being said, the reviewers thought that her concept was quite strong, but that she could relax many of the diagrams to better complement the natural components of the site. Peter also questioned her decision to end the “manmade” portions of the site with a parking lot. He felt as though a boardwalk promenade would be a great addition to the site plan. Christine focused the majority of attention at the intersecting qualities of the first and second floors of Addie’s fire station. Because of her decision to intersect these floor elements at a non-orthogonal angle, many of the rooms and spaces at this intersection are oddly shaped. What seemed to be a main focus for the reviewers during this period of the critique were the public restrooms on the first floor of the fire station. Peter likened these restrooms to a men’s restroom at Ohio State University. This restroom stuck out in Peter’s memory because he remembered having to contort his body into and out of the space. Christine suggested utilizing more transparent and translucent materials at this collision point as a means of making it a much more dramatic element within the design. As it stands, Christine felt as though Addie created a great deal of tension in this element and then suddenly closed off that tension. Many of these comments would fall under the “domestic” category because they centered on such facets as habitation and the mood of the firefighters that would have been created from being in the many organic environments within the design. The reviewers felt as though the creation of a larger model would help Addie in addressing the aforementioned design issues. This model will also assist in further developing the ventilation elements of the structure. The reviewers also suggested that Addie “beef up” the entrance to her fire station by extending the “overhang” element of this entrance out over top of Franklin St.

I really enjoyed Addie’s project. She has a very strong concept and, through her designs, she has shown that she has a mastery of the site. She is at a perfect stage in her project in regards to making the necessary corrections for the final review in three weeks.

Suggestions…

I would first recommend that you take another look at the circulative elements of both the site as a whole and of the fire station specifically. There are already many great components of the design and a simple rethinking to several small portions of it would help to strengthen the project as a whole. Perhaps creating circulation diagrams representing visitors to the fire station with cars/walking, visitors to the Monitor Museum with cars/walking, visitors to the park with cars/walking, and how the firefighters would navigate throughout the space in an emergency situation would assist in this process. You might also find it helpful to partially design the entrance and exit portions of the Monitor Museum so that you know the exact direction in which your visitors will be traveling. I also recommend that you adjust the collision point of your fire station to match the intensity of your design for the site’s water feature. Relaxing the “manmade” portions of your site to blend into the site’s natural elements might also be an interesting development moving forward.