Designer: Suheng Li
Critic: Paige Geldrich

For the Peer Review, I had the pleasure of reviewing Suheng Li. Li’s project is a beautiful collaboration of circular geometries working together in both building form and site.  Li tackles the inefficiency of the circle in an elegant way that not many have done. I have organized this post into the following categories: board presentation, models, verbal presentation, critique, and overall thoughts on the project.

Li’s board was beautiful as per usual. She has always had a knack for both creating clear and precise drawings, both by hand and computer. The plans and sections were easy to read and communicated the feel of the space quickly. However, I wish that her diagrams and sections were much larger. While we are all bound to scale, I sometimes find that breaking the scale in order to better show drawings benefits both the project and the critics who are viewing them. I appreciated the layout of the board, it was a very easy to follow her train of thought through the project. From concept diagrams to sketches to preliminary plans and program layouts, her advancement through the project was so clear it didn’t even need to be spoken about. Somehow, the board layout managed to emphasize Li’s circular geometries. The color of the board also played into the success of its overall scheme. The scheme helped communicate what was important in the drawings without being distracting, and overall helped bring a uniformity to the board.

I wish Li would have displayed her models on a stand, rather than let them sit on the ground. They deserved to be seen! They, like her boards, clearly demonstrated the advance from conceptual ideas to schematic design. Her first model was a small model, made from scraps of paper used for sketching and paperclips. While being incredible simple, it communicated the parti of the project instantly. Not to mention, I loved the almost ‘quick and dirty’ nature of it. The next model in the sequence was another simple yet powerful idea. Five simple circles, created from MDF, arranged to display the form of her building. The last model was a well crafted site and building model. It was obvious there was a lot of care and attention put into the model. There was texturing added according to the site, alterations in material to help communicate detail of the building, and it established the building in the site. My only critique would be that the models were so small, but that is understandable at this point in the design process.

Li’s verbal presentation was pretty typical. Unfortunately, her voice level was very low and I had to strain to listen in to what she was saying. However, her pace was good, and she used simple yet precise language. Another positive point was that Li talked about her program without walking critics through the building, an important skill to have. However, I will admit there were times were I found my mind wandering off during Li’s presentation. This could be due to the lack of volume or excitement, perhaps the length of the presentation, or maybe it was just a critic-error. I think the biggest error in the presentation is that Li failed to explain exactly why she was using circles, and to give a strong, logical reason for letting them be the center of her project. Li’s project is very strong, but I unfortunately felt like she let the critics bully her! The majority of the critiques from the juror’s were based on why she had to use circles. Confusingly, I felt as if Li actually inhabited and programmed the circular geometries VERY well, avoiding awkward spaces. ­­ I believe that Li could’ve defended herself and her design very easily.

Over all, I really do admire Li’s design and work. You can tell she put a lot of time and effort into her project because of the quality of the work. I think she tackles the puzzle of the circle extremely well for a third year student, I do not think I would be able to achieve the level of efficiency she does with the use of her spaces. One of the things that makes this project SO great is the beautiful integration of site and mass. Both reflect the intent of not only the circular geometry that formed the building, but the radial geometry that helped to divide and program it. There are three critiques that worry me about this project. First, I don’t know how feasible this space would be as an actual fire house. Second, while the spaces seem to be programmed and used well on the computer, what would they be like it real life? I do not know enough about construction to say for sure, but I think it would be difficult to construct and fit out for interior details and furniture as well. Darla made a very good point, asking how the kitchen would work in a rounded plan as this. Would everything need to be custom made just for this building? Third and possibly most importantly, what is the reasoning behind the circular geometry? How does your concept support the circular geometry?

I have listed a few other questions Li has left me with and I am looking forward to seeing them answered in her next critique:

• What is the structure like?
• How does ADA and other code come into play?
• How do people move around the building? How does the public interact with it versus the fire fighters? How do people move around the site?
• Does custom furniture and appliances need to be made specifically for this building? Is there any other options?

Comprehensively, I think Li had a great presentation. Her work spoke for itself. The critics were hard, but I’ve found that jurors are typically hardest on the best projects! Li’s biggest challenge will be answering exactly why her building is circular, and how that supports her concept.  It was an honor to take a closer look at Suheng Li’s schematic design.