Archinect : School Blog Project : Woodbury University (Jason King) : Fake Plastic Trees

This is the site model for Project Two, that is already well underway.

For this project we were given one of three sites that are right here on campus. I was given the site that is in between our library (that was a church when our campus was some sort of all-girls catholic school. i think.) and the library annex. It is currently wasted space on a campus crying out for more space. The neat thing about having this site is that there is going to be a competition at the end of the semester to design and build something here. I don't know much about it yet but I will update when I do.

Anyhow, the program I was given is Taste, We are to incorporate a primary and secondary material into a cohesive design. I am sticking with plywood as my primary material and adding some sort of plastic cloud structure to it. I think. I was excited to have this site, but it is turning out to be more difficult than I expected. Both existing elevations are the asses of the buildings and I am having to deal with emergency exit doors and ducts and grills, not to mention its imposingly harsh rectalinear plan. I will post some sketches and concept models later. I think I am going to take the rest of the evening off to relax.

i hope you'll see those rear exits, ducts, and grills as opportunities. dealing with the backs of buildings can be a challenge, but can also make room for some pretty sophisticated interventions. moreso than, say, the front of a former church, which requires a different and more formal sort of interaction.

don't know how much published information you might find, but george hargreaves' master planning of the university of cincinnati campus involved a lot of these kinds of challenges. he took a campus of individual buildings scattered around, with their unattractive backlots, and, introducing a system of shared public spaces and walkways, wove the campus back together so that it has a semblance of order - made it so much more workable and walkable.
good luck.

is it "fake" plastic trees because they are not really plastic, or are they fake trees that happen to be plastic ( in which case they are clearly not real - they're plastic ), or is this a question about reality in which plastic trees can be considered real, but you are simulating their reality as plastic tress, and therefore they are "fake" to the reality of real plastic trees.

in the photo, the trees actually look like they are made of metal wires - are they meant to look like plastic?

AP- I am kind of going in that direction. I am going to "connect" the two existing facades with the material that will, in a sense, wrap the elevations in the courtyard. I have moved the circulation between the buildings from the front to the back, which would make sense if you saw a diagram of both buildings. The current circulation connection is a glass enclosed walkway that is an oven during the summer months. Also, the overflow of books is in the back of the library annex, so when going from the main library to the books in the annex you wouldn't have to walk past offices and classrooms...just straight to the books.

Steven- I am enjoying the challenge. I am working with the existing structure, and removing some of the brick "skin" and merging it with the new materials; plywood and polygal. The structure will be consistent throughout the new space but the "skins" will change to delineate changes in program. The ducts, grills etc are certainly posing aesthetic problems, but it is something that I have never really dealt with, so it is fun to try to get it worked out. Thanks for the Hargreaves info. I really appreciate it.

dlb- Just a quick title post without a whole lot of thought. It is, of course, a Radiohead song and it is somewhat applicable to what I am doing. This project is very material driven, and our materials have to relate directly to our program. The program of Taste was interpreted into a Fruit Market and I am planting orchards and various fruits throughout the campus to be distributed in my space. The material connections are, well, the wood connection is kinda obvious. The plastic connection to the program is 1st a statement of the cultivation of nature. An orange tree is natural, an orchard is a manmade concept. The transparency also permits some great moments of color in the design. Does that make sense?

Cheers.