Macro:
The past three weeks have been an investigation of the macro (urban) scale, and micro (material) scale of my thesis project. In this time I have established a working urban plan of the OMSI district, which has helped inform the massing of my project on the site. The iteration pictured above generated a healthy dialogue at last fridays review, from which I drew a number of ideas and inspirations. Some of the sentiments expressed during my review included the desire to lose the rigidity of the city grid within the OMSI campus urban plan, and to make bold design moves when concerning my building connection to the water.
Subsequent iterations of this urban plan will attempt to understand the site and its adjacencies as a whole campus. Rather than drawing in boxes as placeholders for proposed/future development the boxes should be sculpted in order to create meaningful space in a variety of scale and purpose. I think it may be helpful to consider an urban plan that acknowledges the placement of Kent Wu’s project, and how it informs a spatial syntax for the OMSI campus.
Through this exercise I am beginning to identify and define spatial and circulatory influences across the site and surrounding campus, which in turn is helping to dictate placement and form of my “Terra Forum”.
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| Sequence across the site should occur from east to west, following the topography, and connecting the city to the water. Concept sketches concerning the path of water from source to ocean (run off, tributaries, channels, rivers, confluences, ocean), different eco-regions along the willamette, geology (erosion, sediment deposits), and passive environmental building methods. |
Exploring the site in section has helped me begin to understand the topography of the site and adjacent riverbank. The section above is an attempt to understand the possibility of drastically altering the riverbank where it meets my site boundary. In the drawing the topography has been altered to represent the gentler slope of a beach. This iteration is a more intrusive approach to the site and begins to explore the potential of the building to exist “between” the site and the water. The “experiential exhibition” program exists above typical annual high water mark but below the one hundred year flood line, allowing occupants an interaction with the willamette, albeit in a literal and feasibly questionable manner.
Occupant/program connection to the ebb and flow of the river, and the buildings ability to act as a feedback mechanism/indicator of these rhythms through architectural expression is crucial to my project. However the way in which the river informs the architecture/occupant experience is still unclear to me.
Nascent investigations of program, adjacency, circulation, spatial quality, day lighting, materiality/tectonics, path of water and roof plane are beginning to emerge in section. It is clear to me now that the auditorium/theatre space needs to become a more prominent element of the program, rivaling the exhibition spaces in size. I like the possibility for the auditorium to engage with the waterfront in some way, perhaps using the river and skyline as a backdrop. I intend to develop the exhibitions as a sequence of sediment spaces along a meandering water path.
Micro:
A combination of rammed earth, steel, concrete, and timber are materials that I feel speak to my building concept and program. Through the orchestration of these materials, as well as plantings, there is the potential to create a differentiation of spaces or zones throughout the building, based on subtle changes in material qualities and combinations. This attention to materiality and composition can begin to tell a story of the river, of an ecological process, through architecture.
In researching rammed earth I found a general consensus that though it is not commonly seen in the pacific northwest, rammed earth is capable of withstanding the rainfall and humidity and is in fact an appropriate building material for the climate. Due to the porosity of the material most precedence for rammed earth in rainy climates use a slightly more generous ratio of Portland cement in their mixture to reduce permeability. I feel the material has a delightful quality and if used carefully has the potential to lend a degree of poetry to my project, speaking to the themes of interior versus exterior space, hydrology, and geology developing in my project.
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| In addition to its use as an experiential material the thermal mass of rammed earth has passive temperature stabilizing characteristics as well. While I understand the inherent architectural couterintuition of covering such a material with an earth berm (as shown above), I am begging to think about potential techniques for stabilizing temperature swings in the building. Another possibility to explore is the use of interior rammed earth partition walls along the south facade that act as trombe walls. The use of rammed earth is a source of inspiration for the poetry of my concept as well as the performance of my building. |
Max, I agree the opportunity to loose the portland street grid at your omsi ;/ecological center campus is a great Idea. Your sectional explorations are really interesting and exciting and just demostrate that you design in section before you design in plan or model which is commendable. I also like that you are thinking about using rammed earth. It seems like it will enhance the quality of your building and provide a nice addition to the portland city material pallet. I like what I am seeing.
-nick
Nick, this is a beautiful summary of your work. I appreciate the effort you put into explaining what you are doing. Could you add a citation for your rammed earth images? We would be interested to learn more about them.
Wonderful home furniture and paint choices. I hope I could view much more pictures!