Fall 2015

GSD1201: Third Semester Core Architectural Design

INTEGRATE
Assignment 1
Title: Document / Provocation
Schedule: 2 week exercise (Sept 3 - Sept 15)
Task: Working in groups of 3, research and produce a document
that will serve multiple purposes:
1) Site analysis
This will include urban context, access, traffic flows, views, orientation
issues, materials, etc, for each of the 3 sites
2) Environmental analysis
This will include temperature ranges, solar orientation, natural
ventilation, precipitation, humidity, access to sources of natural cooling/
heating, flora, materials, etc. Research potential passive environmental
systems that are applicable on each site and how those site-specific
design strategies in each city for systems and techniques that reveal a
site specific and climate specific approach
3) Programmatic/typological research
Research the various program types: White-cube gallery, black-box
theatre, Greenhouse/conservatory, and Hotel (with pool and spa).
Research their components, dimensional standards, constraints
and opportunities. Diagram key adjacency between major program
elements. Consider the thermal and energy potentials of each program
as a source or a sink. Could there be a benefit to a thermal sequencing
of spaces?
4) Provocation
Each group must develop a provocation regarding the possibilities for
an architectural intervention. Teams will propose an architectural attitude
or agenda -- a manifesto for the project -- its role in the city, towards the
public realm, and with regards to architectural histories.
This document will serve as a resource for the rest of the semester. As
you develop your building massing you will need to refer to the urban
analysis that will be part of the document. Environmental analysis
included as part of the document will be critical when it comes to the
design of your building systems. Dimensional standards for pools, hotel
rooms, etc will be found in your document. As you develop the argument
for a particular type of urban building, the statements made in the
manifesto should inform your work
Pedagogy: Before starting to design, the problem must be framed.
Architecture is more than the dutiful fulfillment of a clients brief. It must
take a position relative to the program, to the city, to the discipline,
and to the larger cultural context. Researching the building type, its
significant precedents, the site and its issues, will allow you to formulate
an argument that will frame the necessity and objectives for your design
project.
Consultants: Salmaan Craig will offer a lecture on September 10 on
the topic of environmental design. Interim pin-ups will give opportunities
for feedback on environmental strategies
Presentation Requirements: One printed and bound document per
group and a digital presentation
James Wines

Fall 2015
GSD1201: Third Semester Core Architectural Design
Provocation / Precedent
For your provocation, you will experiment with an attitude towards
environmentaly/thermally driven work. Students will select a building
precedent (from the list below or an alternate with your critic) and
suggest radical modification to it based on found or imagined techniques
from researching extreme sites and architectures Students will
research non-western vernacular approaches and extreme climates
(comparable to their respective given sites) and conceptually or rather
proactively apply these discovered techniques onto known/canonical
tower types, offering an eco-tourism of the selected extreme remote
site:
Precedents:
- Fridrichstrasse --Mies Van Der Rohe
- Highrise of Homes --James Wines
- Tribune Tower --Adolf Loos
- Johnson Wax Tower --Frank Lloyd Wright
- Philadelphia City Hall --Louis Kahn
- Marina City --Bertand Goldberg
- National Commercial Bank, Jeddah --SOM
- Dharmala Sakhti Tower, Jakarta --Paul Rudolph
- Narkomtiazhprom --Ivan Leonidov
- Llyods of London --Richard Rogers
- Nakagin Capsule Hotel --Kisho KuroKawa
- Paris Garage --Melnikov
- Marriott Hotel, Atlanta --John Portman
- Downton Athletic Club, New York --Starett & van Vlek
- SESC Pompeia, Sao Paolo --Lina Bo Bardi
Suggested Eco-tourism Sites:

Cold Continental
Svalbard, Global Seed Vault

Vostok Research Station, Antarctica

Jungfraujoch, Switzerland

Tropical Rainforest
Kandalam, Sri Lanka
Manaus, Brazil

Daintree Rainforest, Australia


Hot Arid Desert

Big Daddy Dune Sossusvlei, Namibia

Yulara, Uluru, Australia
Timbuktu, Mali
Readings:
On Bullshit, Harry Frankfurt
Ecstasy of Influence, Jonathan Letham
Bibliography:
-Architectural Graphic Standards/Time Saver Standards
-Neufert Architects Data
-Inaki Abalos, Jaun Herreros, Tower and Office (MIT Press) 2003
-Erik Firley, Urban Towers Handbook (Wiley, 2011)
-Thomas van Leewen, A Skyward Trend of Thought (MIT Press) 1988
-Inaki Abalos, Thermodynamic Somatisms, Verticalscapes
-G Z Brown, Sun Wind and Light, Arch Design Strategies (Wiley) 2001
-Rayner Banham, Architecture of the Well Tempered Environment
-Kiel Moe, Thermally Active Surfaces in Architecture (PAP) 2010
-Eric Howeler, 18 Degrees Inside, Hong Kong Thermal Space 2005
-Andrew Ross, Bird on Fire, Lessons from Least Sustainable Cities
-Marco dErmo, The Pig and the Skyscraper, A History of our Future

Museum Plaza / REX