A connectivity towards the community is what is illustrated in Stephanie’s proposal. The project explicitly communicates the sense of stacking and interaction with levels. It marks a continuous embrace of height and spaces where the programs are divided in an orderly manner. The location of a central passage connects her building as a whole, which at the same time priorities, the movement for the firefighters. However, the jurors did not view the project as such. Given Stephanie’s substantial presentation of her proposal, some of the jurors were not followed and were lost in thought. In fact, Peter Aeschbacher was confused with building features that Stephanie did not explain well. This led to the contradiction between the program and her explanation. In contrast, Jurors were following Stephanie’s presentation since the beginning to the end, which allowed the jurors to understand what she meant. While her posted illustration were welcoming, her models were far from finished. Ideally, one uses the model to support one’s argument; however, some of the drawings were informative and understandable compared to the model. The model seemed to portray a different scheme than what was given. Looking at the elevation, one can automatically see the play of level and changes in sizes. The elevation clearly flattened the conceptual scheme seen on the model and would have been better to have an axonometric elevation that displays the stacking and connection to the program. Apart from the given diagrams, the legibility of the plans and elevation could have been successful by adding 3-dimensional elements.

Identifying the conceptual design in Steph’s project is straightforward by looking at her elevation and the conceptual model. The idea to bring the community to the site and collaborate with the museum and the firehouse is a solution that satisfies the future development of Greenpoint. The manifestation of a future development for Brooklyn’s school and the Bushwick Inlet is envisioned in her project. The incorporation of the Fire station to the modern museum allows the site to unite as one allowing the public to experience a site dedicated to the community. Division between private and public is openly seen by looking at her model and floor plans, which Steph has done perfectly. Looking at the building, a firm division starts to create a transition from where the firefighters reside versus the community usage without displacing the importance of both functions. A unique scheme that conveys a story from the exterior to the interior, which both community members and dwellers can experience. The interesting part of the building, conceptually, is that the recreation room tops the dwelling section creating a simultaneously division yet unison form that both sections of the users can utilize. In most cases, buildings focus on incorporating the community with the users, but forget to relate to the community that would eventually surround the area. The separation of levels by usage and convention allows a standard precedential aspect of the building to resemble a common characteristic yet breaking of the shell that mobilize the form to create her building. Her schematic design highlights and builds up her conceptual scheme that allowed her to proceed with a better understanding of her building.

Stephanie’s building design developed in a good manner and captivating way from her conceptual idea. Her materiality emphasized her initial idea to unite two domains into one. The use of wood panels within the concrete structure seems to alleviate the heavy aesthetic of concrete of the building. The wood articulates a calmer look for each section of the building while the concrete frames each part of the building. The concrete frame allows the building to signify its position from its surrounding and the site. Additionally from the wood panels, glass helps the building by illuminating the opening in the interior space. This allows a sense of non-restricting usage from the usage. While the usage of panels and glass helps eradicate the strong presence of the concrete frame. It would help if the wood materiality can be experience in the interior space, as this is what allows the firehouse to create the connection to the community. Aside from concrete and wood, green elements are clearly seen in the roof. While the green roof helps manifest a sustainable design. It fails if the green is placed after the conceptual and is not integrated with the site or functions as part of it. A community roof garden should be visible from the building, accessible from the interior, and exterior. Jurors sought that by utilizing the site instead of the building would benefit the community in a much better way. In truth, by separating the roof garden from the building this abstain the idea of uniting the community with the firehouse. By utilizing a passage from the site to the roof, it would reduce the foot traffic of going inside to the building. Stephanie’ seemed to incorporate solar panels that are located next to the community garden. Instead of placing the panels next to the community, the panel could be placed on the recreation roof. By moving the panels, the garden would be free of any obstacle that would cause a damage.

Overall, Steph’ held an excellent presentation that allowed the jurors to be part of the communication presentation. Even though there were some misunderstanding, she directed the jurors on what point she must exceed for the final. Her project was one of the few that really strictly incorporated many of the community development that would eventually be located in the near future. By thinking far ahead of the usages that are, going to be, part of the surrounding is a task, in some cases, no easily achievable. Her visual presentation was vivid and elaborated the points of her project. As of this point, her project has yet to fully grown into the project she expects it to be. Her ideas and approached were farther than realized; however, growing one design is part of what makes us architecture students. We learn from our mistakes and fix them as time progress. For the final, Stephanie’s presentation and project would have evolved and grown that jurors would immediately understand.

On Wednesday, I had the honor to review Paige Geldrich’s Design Development presentation. Paige’s project has a very strong concept of “bringing old and new together”, it is very interesting and makes lots of sense due to the historical aspect of our site in Brooklyn. In the project, Paige designed a building with two wings that are parallel to the street around the edge of the site, they meet at the corner of the streets where a symbol of collision—- an 80 feet tower stands. To illustrate the concept, Paige decided to use material as the main tool to present the connection between past and future. One of the wings is built in red brick which echoes with the existing old brick buildings on our site. The other one that built by glass refers to the new and the future. It provides a strong contrast with the brick wing and the site.

Facades: The building is very impressive. It’s easy to tell that Paige has developed a logical organization in the design process. One of my favorite parts is the glass facade that is divided by the gird of frames and has some brick element at the bottom. It looks neat, responds the concept and interacts well with the method of interior design: using grid as an organized way to define the spaces. On other facades, Paige continued with the method to combine the brick and glass together, however, the way of arranging the blocks of materials could have been more thoughtful. Due to the different characteristic of the two materials, it is necessary to find a hierarchy.  Right now it is a little hard for people to figure out the logic behind the composition.  In the presentation, the guests questioned about the combination of brick and glass. I personally do not agree with that. Around our site, there are some buildings built by bricks and glass. They obviously have developed their tone which is homogeneous but outstanding. So I think Paige’s design totally makes sense.

Form:  The arrangement of the massing is clear in this program. Height is increasing from the end of each wing to the eighty-feet-tall tower which emphasize the importance of the fire station. Moreover, some parts of the volume are cut out to create void spaces. It helps adding up the complexity and diversity of the building form. One thing I would suggest is to add up the height of the tower. Due to the width and the length of the building, the tower does not look as tall as it needs to be. As the building area is already large enough for all the program, adding up a smaller tower as a symbolic element might be a solution.

Programs: As I mentioned before, Paige used specific organizing grid to define the space within the wings. She reserved the brick wing with residential area and lounge area while the glass wing is occupied with the working area where the offices, maintenance area and apparatus bay located. She also came up with a sculptural and unique organization for the space in the tower. I think overall the programing works well, however, the following problems should be taken into consideration: 1. Will the height of the tower influence the speed of fire fighters to reach apparatus bay? 2. The project already has a very strong characteristic, the space inside the tower could be less sculptured, and a more flexible arrangement can make the movement smoother and can help to achieve a higher efficiency.3. Due to the plentiful of the space, the fire stairs and elevators can be set in somewhere reasonable instead of squeezing at the edge of the space.

Landscape: In the project statement, Paige talked about how the form of the buildings creates a frame that, along with the terraces and walk paths, encourages both firemen and other people to the public area along the water. I think her thought is great, however, it is not fulfilled yet in the shown design. The paths and landscape she has now is arbitrary comparing with the logical form of her building. The public space could be more coherent to the fire station and could be more welcoming by adding connections to the main streets.

Board: My favorite part of the board are the axons of the building. They are very detailed and well-made. By showing the shade and shadow, they tell a lot about the form of the building. I wish they could be larger and plays a more important role on board. The elevations and sections are beautiful as well, the line weight is appropriate and the textures are informative. It would be even better if Paige could add shadows as she did in the axons. It will definitely help the audiences better understanding her drawings. Moreover, the function of the area is only labeled on the first floor, to make the plans more clear, more dimensions and labels should be applied.  The text is a little bit too large comparing to the drawings and the project statement is not fitted in an organized way. I believe these are just some tiny flaws that would be fixed next time.

Development: Comparing to the peer review, Paige had a better communication of the tower geometry through the models. I really appreciate that she put many efforts on her model so it can provides another way for us to better read the design. The other improvement is the site plan, although there are some problems that need to be figure out later, the site plan she had this time is obviously more informative and detailed.

Presentation: Paige was a little nervous at the beginning of the presentation and was not presenting very fluently. However as she kept going she pulled it back together. The presentation was overall clear and to the point. When the guests were critiquing, she was focused and can respond quickly with logic. I think it’s is a very important characteristic for an architect because it should her ability of critical thinking and her own deep understanding to the project.

Conclusion: Paige did a great job in this presentation. I think the challenge for the following month is to figure out the best way to use the two materials. Overall, the project is very interesting and well designed!

Veronica’s design for the Brooklyn Fire Station revolves around a geometric roof. The roof serves as a visual icon among the rigid rectangular forms in its context along a historically industrial waterfront. It offers a unique opportunity for structural flexibility for the large apparatus and other related program within. The roof takes a very interesting form because of its geodesic qualities, however, the current design does not take full advantage of the system the roof creates. To finalize the structure and cohesiveness of systems needed for the final design, Veronica should create a series of rules that will organize and bring unity to the roof structure and the program within the firehouse.

SUCCESS OF PROJECT

Veronica’s design for the firehouse is successful in engaging the surrounding environment with a geometric roof. The roof structure is clearly the most interesting part of this project. It attracts attention because of its visual uniqueness. For the specific program of a firehouse, this structure presents an opportunity because of the openness it allows for the apparatus. With less columns, there can be flexible interpretations of the space within the roof. The design does not yet take advantage of this flexibility to develop a relationship between the interior spaces and the roof.

One commendable aspect of Veronica’s project are her efforts with structural design. However, the efforts have produced 3 different structural systems that must be resolved into a clear structure. Currently, there are structural systems of walls, columns and the dome. These systems are conflicting. The critics suggest that the structural walls should not be necessary and are not in agreement with your concept. Also, the additional columns inside do not follow a structural logic.

In addition, the critics suggested that the structural idea is there but it needs to be carried out more rigorously through the programmatic organization. The dormitory is the current exception to the interior because it is on a diagonal. The firetrucks could also follow a diagonal logic with their circulation.  The relationship between the interpretations of the interior spaces needs resolution. These issues can be resolved through clarifying the structural system.

Overall, I think Veronica represented her ideas well. A strong element of this presentation is the use of models. The models are both effective to visualize the shape and test the structure. There was a strong analysis of precedent through the Geodesic dome and similar structures. Veronica has clearly explored various structural systems that could support her form. Her challenge now is to clarify her own design among these precedents.

With so much emphasis placed on the structural system, there was little feedback on her other systems, sustainability, and site design. It appears as if you have considered natural light and ventilation, and I would encourage you to reevaluate the other systems in collaboration with the structure.

CRITIQUE OF CRITIQUE

In the design development phase of design, the critique focused on the Industrial and Civic Orders of Worth. At this point, our designs have developed beyond the conceptual phase and the building systems take focus. There was a strong and immediate focus on the Industrial order. One of the major factors of evaluation was the roof structure. Acknowledging the geodesic nature, one of the first questions asked was the location of the utilities. The comments were related to the efficiency of the systems and organization of the program within the dome. Issues such as water runoff and column placement inside were brought up. The structural system was thoroughly analyzed in terms of its rules. The critics suggested that if something breaks a rule, it must be special. They said your design should follow its own rules that you must determine.

There was also a focus on the Civic order. The reviewer’s comments addressed legal and ethical obligations such as code and fire safety. Fire separation within such an open structure was brought up almost immediately.

They referenced the Inspired and Fame orders by acknowledging the value and uniqueness of the roof. The form gives the firehouse a unique public image. They addressed the Project element of design by offering advice to work through a model.  

SUGGESTIONS

To resolve your structural system, I would recommend using models to further explore either the roof folding down or columns. This will help you determine a structural and organizational logic to follow. Determine the hierarchy of your elements and stick to that hierarchy. The roof is the most important element, followed by the living quarters, the program inside and the entrance. The columns should have the same fold as the points you created at the end conditions. The main street facade would be more engaging to the passerbyers if it followed the natural geometries of the roof instead of having a flat surface.

In creating a uniform logic for the structure, this will also provide opportunity to resolve other systems. There is an opportunity to integrate this system with water-down and technical systems. Also, you could find additional ways to allow light and air in your building. One comment was that you should place additional skylights above areas that need it.

There is not a strong emphasis on site design in this project. I think there is an opportunity for you to continue the logic of your roof to create engaging spaces throughout the park. You could have a canopy that uses the same form as your building. You could also use your geometric pattern to create seating and circulation around your building. In developing the outdoor courtyards, you could continue the logic of the structure outside by revealing it.

The roof attracts attention because of its form, but also because of its materiality. I think you could use a material on the roof that utilizes the heat it attracts. In terms of sustainability I think you have made efforts to harness natural elements and you should continue to do so. Overall, I think you have a strong concept and developed system that with clarity will become a distinguished and comprehensive design.