Mid-Review Thoughts

What I brought away from the crit is that the current scheme is too rigid. To me, what's missing is any sense of whimsy or mystery. In order to bring back some of the playfulness that my initial sketch model had, I think I need to break free of some of the rigid rules I've set up for myself and shake up (in a controlled way) the plans.

Another topic I'm considering more now is thinking of the program in in more real terms and trying to design with a restraint that will lead to a feasible proposal. How can I create a building that not only "works" as a good vertical farm but also be interesting and thought provoking. The hard part, of course, is designing pragmatically without becoming mundane.

More specifically I'm going to try and create more than one growing climate in the building, with the smaller vertical growing pores having its own microclimate. I'm also going to let the skin of the building not only respond to the program on the inside of the building but also to its external surroundings in a more economical way. Right now, the ground floor is completely stripped of bricks and filled in with glass and new columns in an attempt to bring in the community that walks by. I think there is a more subtle (and economical) way of expressing this that doesn't include shedding the entire floor of its current skin. It only needs a trim, not a full shave.

Midterm Review 4.23.09

Images from our midterm review of students: Joe, Nicole EJ, Nick and Ming-Yi. Apologies for not representing all the students, and thanks to Tiff for taking the photos.

Crit Thursday April 23

Next step:

Façade -I will be looking at the trajectories of the surrounding to find areas where my skin has to change and create a closer relationship to the surrounding.

And now with roof & skylights!

The Rhino file has been uploaded to our pbwiki. Same folder, different file.

Enjoy,
JT

91 Hartford St., Now in 3D!

Rhino model is finally completed and uploaded to the wiki under a folder called "Rhino Model".

Updates since the last version:
-Wall thicknesses (different on each floor)
-More accurate elevations (i.e. blocked off windows, etc.)
-Better alignment of parts (actually, everything lines up now)
-All surfaces covered to prevent light leaks, in case anyone's rendering.

About the model itself:
-Locations of things are fairly accurate (within 1" I hope), but little details like window frames, sloped window sills, etc. weren't modelled
-All wall surfaces aren't joined together--they meet, but just not joined to form one continuous surface. I thought it may be easier to modify things since we're going to remove parts anyways. Otherwise you can select everything and type in "join".
-Walls are separated by floors and are put into different layers accordingly (A-WALL-1st FLOOR, A-WALL-2nd FLOOR, etc.). This means that if you're outputting the model as line drawings, you'll have to clean up these seams (between each floor) in AutoCAD or Illustrator--otherwise the building will look like 4 stacked boxes on the exterior.
-Floors are done the same way
-Cores are placed in their own layer, except that they're not detailed--i.e. no stairs, no elevator car, just the voids and walls that surround them
-The roof I actually modeled on Nick's laptop and forgot to transfer it to mine, so it'll come after we get back from Nantucket

If you've been using the older model, I think it's worth it to just copy and paste what you've done into this model--it's much better and less fussy.

I've included some renderings below.

Good luck,
JT

Inaka-de-hatarakitai: We want to work in the countryside!

Not about an urban farm, nor a vertical farm but an interesting NY Times article about introducing agriculture as a way to combat unemployment and the declining state of Japanese farms. There is also a slideshow.

Site Photos

I've uploaded some photos of the site + park from our second visit. They're on our PBWiki under the folder "SITE PHOTOS 2." I know this is a little overdue... OK, a lot overdue.

Enjoy,
JT

P.S. My pictures are more detail-oriented--I don't have pictures that encompass a more general area, so if anyone has those, please feel free to upload them. Thanks.