Andrew Foster & James Lennon | Integrated Design Studio 2014 | Professor P. Marks | Design Reflection
Project Thesis
The concept of wellness in Cleveland’s Warehouse District responds to the growing need to accommodate the growing number of permanent residents in the area. Our intent realized the need to create a space that the community as a whole could interact and grow with. A facility that engages the growing community and responds to the specific needs of a diverse range of demographical groups will not only strengthen each individual, but the overall wellness of the heart of Cleveland. Rather than responding to a specific user type, this wellness facility will be open to all members of the community while providing an interactive atmosphere that will promote growth, progress, and sustainability through all aspects of wellness. With this communal atmosphere, members of the community will grow together and mix together
to strengthen every aspect of the District’s goals, values and health. The users of this facility will be open to anybody that could benefit from physical, occupational, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and social building. Every age will benefit from the building’s program which will provide a wide arrange of alternative wellness programs that responds specifically to the needs of the user. By doing this, the community will be able to grow with the building, experiencing it new ways as they get older. The combination of a diverse group of users in each aspect of wellness is important to allow the community to unify. A community is only as strong as its members and this facility creates a new venue to allow this progression to take place.
Program The project’s program responds to the concept of community growth and interaction. As a member of the community grows, so will the programs within the facility. We wanted to break away from the traditional office/mixed use building which completely separates the tenants from the public. The values of our prime tenant are extremely community driven so they needed to be included in the growth of the building the same way the public was. The unification of these two user types influenced the layout of our building scheme and program. Each level to wellness will be aimed towards a specific age group with opportunities to interact with members of a different age. This set up will provide an opportunity for cross- learning between all members of the community, contributing to a holistic approach to wellness. Each level will provide a holistic approach to wellness by providing programs that enforce each element of wellness. This way, from a young age, each member of the community will be able to experience total wellness as they grow with the community and the building. The public program of the facility begins with the youngest members of the community, the children. These spaces will provide necessary programs such as a day care, physical and intellectual growth areas including play areas and wellness education. Social skills will be built by providing areas where children can interact with older members of the community in a joint effort to build the individual through community. The levels will grow, responding to specific needs of teens and young adults which
add on to the wellness techniques learned at a younger age. These areas will shift focus from a general social approach to programs that include future and family progress. Mature adults and seniors will be provided with spaces that focus on individual, occupational and social security and rehabilitation from negative health issues. The buildings tenant will be laid out side by side with the public areas so they can observe how the community is growing and use it for their research and work. The close relation with the public will allow workers to integrate themselves within the community and grow with them. Spaces for career building workshops, stress relief and relaxation and therapeutic purposes will be provided to maintain a healthy, happy work environment thriving with life.
Development To provide interaction between the prime tenant and the general public throughout the entire building, we placed the two general areas side by side, instead of stacked. By doing this, certain security issues arose such as tenant security and privacy. to remedy this, the floor plates were split and the tenant side of the building was lifted one half floor from the public spaces. To provide necessary access and egress to both sides of the building, a split core system was designed. Each core housed the necessary entities for both the public and tenant spaces. The stair shaft was then elongated to provide a landing and a point of entry every half level.
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To maximize user interaction, two-story height lounges were placed in the front and rear of the building, one for tenant and one for wellness. The areas were placed adjacent to respective atriums which allowed dynamic views from one floor to another. It also provided an interesting connection between the tenants and the general public, allowing each user type to get a glance at the other half of the building.
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To take advantage of climatic conditions while creating dynamic outdoor spaces, the front facade was articulated with a series of folds that wove in and out of each other, symbolizing the in and out nature of the community as they grow with the building. These outdoor areas provide vibrant life to the facade and establish an added connection between the building users and passing pedestrians.
Documentation The development of the black and white drawings was centered around the initial concept of providing clarity to the integration of users, architecture and building systems while providing a clear understanding of the project’s context. Users Through life safety, code, and planning the user experience was defined through technical plans, sections and elevations to provide an understanding of how the building’s users occupied the space. A careful layout of drawings was used to help indicate where the user would occupy space and how each space functioned. Annotation and context helped describe the conditions of the building and how it related to the overall concept and scheme of the project. Architecture With the split nature of the building, it was important to document how each floor plan was divided and to what purpose it served to the users. A clear documentation of service access, equipment placement and furniture layout was necessary to understand how the building functioned. Understanding the integration that was intended between user groups as well as building components was carefully executed through the drawings by use of proper annotations and text.
Systems To provide a clear understanding of how the building systems integrated with one another as well as the overall concept, drawings were executed in relation to one another so the reader could reference the other building elements while focusing on the particular element being identified. Like the overall concept, the systems worked as a community, aiding one another to provide maximum efficiency and overall design strength. Each system was examined individually, providing specific information about intent and performance, and then as a whole to indicate how each system was beneficial to one another and the overall performance of the building.
Stepping Forward The overall concept of the building was something worth exploring. Using this final undergraduate project to explore the design boundaries of a high efficiency office building was important. Looking back on the project there are a few aspects of the overall design that will most likely not be revisited.
1. Split floor/core While this idea is possible, the difficulties and money it would take to achieve this on such a scale would not be worth the result in most real life scenarios. The structural integrity of this building would take an enourmous amount of careful planning, designing and money. The site was a little too small to efficiently design in this manner. For example, with minimal space, we were not able to fit amenities that would improve the overall experience of the user such as an increased number of elevators, especially for the building’s tenants. Also, the shape of the floor plate along with the split core reduces floor plate efficiency. This means that there would be a slight lack of rentable space for a building which is expensive by design. 2. Building systems The integrative building systems can never be an afterthought. Even through planning, we must remember to leave enough space for equipment, service and other related factors. The systems integrations should be evident in all factors of the building, or hidden depending on the approach. This is the most vital part of a high-efficiency building and must not be overlooked, especially during schematic design.