Portmanteau - Dorm and Theater
This brief presents the problem of incorporating a dorm into a theater. Students were asked to design a building which incorporated a (given) theater but also comply to the programmatic needs of 60 dorm rooms. 6 bathrooms, public bathrooms, a lobby, etc. This brings an issue of how to think about space in a communal manner, how public and private space should/could interact with each other.
My observations at first with this project were: "there needs to be a system of some sorts" and "this theater is made of too many weird angles to make any system look nice," After a few revisions, and a couple weeks, I decided this project would be about grids.
The theater given to us was awkwardly designed; it was a symmetrical trapezium-esque form that is undercut and stands at a 23' high. Taking this troubled theater, I decided I wanted to camouflage its indecisiveness as a form.
Fall 2016 - Katy Barkan
(Top Image)
One of first iterations starting to think about the grid. At this phase, I was in a rut about how to control circulation. Instead of having circulation going everywhere and solving everything in an inefficient manner, I was was battling how to squeeze a "predictable" circulation path in this tiny site troubled by a big theater.
(Top Image)
This diagram depicts the grid I used in my final iteration. It takes the angles provided by the given theater; its density decided by what scale would work best for squeezing program and circulation in. By using two "grains" of shapes (as illustrated in the first model), I was then able to somewhat camouflage where the theater was.
(Top and Bottom Images)
The first and third floors share the same "unit" geometries; they are on the same "grain." I used repeatable units because I wouldn't have to worry about programmatic needs and micro design.
(Top and Bottom Images)
The second and fourth floors share the same "unit" geometries; they are on the same "grain." The residual units which are cut off by the site's boundaries then serve as communal private spaces for people to enjoy the outer scenery.