This past Friday, January 25th 2013, our thesis studio had a pinup with outside reviewers; a great mix of architects and landscape architects.  Often at a review the most helpful advice you get isn’t what is directed to your own work but something you hear during the review of someone else’s.  Sebastian Giverneau, who is currently with Skylab Architecture, gave the advice that every site or project should have one image that really captures its character and emotional impact and that can act as a touchstone to guide your design.  I don’t have this image yet for the Lents Sustainable Food Center, one that captures both the context and what the final form will become.  This has been added to the to-do list.

My own site plan needs a lot of development; its a large site that I’ll develop one building on.  I need to step back and really understand the entire site development before jumping in to my building’s design; which I’ve been inclined to do.  The comment that has generated the most ideas that was directed to mine and Jared’s site plan was from Katrina Schum-Miller; she saw our development of the site as something that was seeking to be self-sustaining through the social exchanges within the site and likened it to a village that develops organically around a central plaza or commons.  This comment really spurred some ideas on how to approach this site’s development

Current Site Design – Interlocking Green and Grey Fingers

Of my classmates I found Jenna Smith‘s and Jen Huang‘s site designs and how they presented them to be the most helpful.  Jen Huang came up with three different schemes that covered a broad range of site design possibilities; each of which was inspired by a biological metaphor.  Her presentation was very organized and easy to understand.  Jenna Smith’s diagrams for her different schemes were also very easy to understand and enabled a lively discussion.

Moving forward I’ll be looking at the site again; now with some excellent fodder to drive the design exploration.