For my second iteration I completely embraced the Zidell masterplan and proceeded to let it play a key role in building organization and massing. With the intention of creating a more welcoming approach/entry I decided to have the main atrium just off the intersecting street. The entire first floor became public exhibit/event space or retail space, and the school inhabited the upper floors connected via sky-bridge.

The northwestern portion of the building was built up to accommodate spacial needs for the school that couldn’t fit into the existing shell. I then began to explore how the two different parts of the building could relate to the natural context.

I also spent a quite a bit of refining my core ideas and how they could be transferred over and amplified in this new scheme. I played with the idea of staggering the floor plate to provide dynamic visual and physical connections between the school spaces and public spaces. The floating barge element was implemented as a separate mass that help frame the main atrium space. The sky-bridge became the learning street. The ground floor became the public space.

Final ground floor plan, sections, and perspective for this scheme turned out as follows:

After the review, I came to the realization that I may have focused a bit too much on my own ideas for spacial quality without really incorporating them into the existing structure. Most of the “events” happened in the newer portion of the building, leaving the preserved portion feeling disconnected and as an afterthought. The idea was to merge the old and new. Unfortunately, the connection where the merge occurred was weak causing the language and integrity of the old structure to be lost. Again, my ideas were spot on, but the execution was lacking.

I realized that if I am going to take the route of adaptive reuse on a building with such a strong form and history, I should work with what’s given to me and use it to amplify my ideas and the integrity of the building.

Back to the drawing board.