Tybee Island Gateway and Coastal Education Center

ARCH 303 Studio 3 Professor Thagne Spring 2012 Alex Ross

Fort Pulaski exploration Linear Model Site Analysis The Lived Body South Carolina Aquarium Case Study Case Study Long Span Structure Structure in Motion Programatic Adjacency Diagram Structural Exploration Objective Chance Poster Design Vehicles Final Design

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Contents

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Fort Pulaski Structual Exploration

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Linear Map

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Site Analysis

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The trip from Savannah to Tybee Island is a trip from a densely poplulated to an area where all you can see is marsh, all the way to the horizon, to a small strip of beach like many of the other beaches along the coast.

Connection to Savannah and Tybee

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I was inspired by the overlapping and interweaving of the leaves of a palm tree while at the site.

Site Section #1

Site Section #2

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The main Road going through the site is HWY 80 which has 2 exits off to the south and one on the north side of the road. All three small roads lead to docks of some sort. The Stream cuts straight through the middle of the site creating the area of interest around the bridge.

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The entire site is located in a VE-17 & VE-16 Flood Zones. A VE zone is an area that is classified to be in a 100-year flood zone with velocity hazards and wave hazards causing them to establish BFE’s (Base Flood Elevation).

This means that this an area with a consistant body of water with regular waves. Also the BFE is 17’ and 16’ in this location meaning that the base finish floor height to be atleast 17’ above grade. This is in effect because if the worst flood that has happened in the last 100 years happened again, the structure would be above that height and would remain unharmned.

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0

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400ft.

400ft.

130,000

SF 30,000-

SF

35,000-

SF 30,000-

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Site Panoramas

Winter Solstice

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Site Photos

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Summer Solstice

Winter Solstice

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Site Forces

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1990

1987 1949

1917

1892

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A little bit of history: In July of 1890, the Central of Georgia acquired all of the stock of the Savannah and Atlantic Railroad, and 18 mile excursion railroad between Savannah and Tybee Island. This stretch of railroad was built in 1887 as the Savannah and Tybee Railroad. After being sold in 1889 it was then renamed the Savannah, Tybee, and Atlantic Railway, and shortly afterwards renamed again as teh Savannah and Atlantic Railway. It was abandoned in 1932 and remained that way until 1990 when it was turned into a rails to trails project called the McQueens Island Rail Trail. This trail consists of a 6 mile section of the railway with access and parking on HWY 80 near Fort Pulaski.

The trip from Savannah to Tybee Island is a trip from a densely poplulated to an area where all you can see is marsh, all the way to the horizon, to a small strip of beach like many of the other beaches along the coast.

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The Lived Body

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Maurice Merleau-Ponty

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The Lived Body

Meno’s Paradox refers to the question brought up between Meno and Plato.

It was asked ; “How does someone begin to look for something when they don’t first know what it is that they are looking for?” Empiricism is missing that someone must first “know what they are looking for, otherwise they would not be looking for it.”

Merleau-Ponty puts it another way, “Even if you come right against it, how will you know that what you found is the thing you didn’t know?” This question can be taken farther by asking, How does a person discover or experience something? He later states that Association is how we process and organize outside stimuli which affects how we experience things and this is how we discover things. We discover through context and association.

This brings the discussion to why do we discover things? Things do not simply impose themselves on us, nor do we dream them up. We experience things through our lived body which is more than just a persons spirit. When a physiologist thinks of the human body they think of a bunch of separate parts that work together like a machine. The body must instead be thought of as a whole as it is used in life. I think the example of the phantom limb example really helps define this lived body.

Merleau-Pont noted that when a person lost a limb that they could still feel the limb.

They would still call to use the missing limb when they would encounter a task where they would normally. The limb was still a part of that person even though it was no longer there.

Because of this Lived Body it is possible for a comparison to be made and because of this relationship the more a person experiences something and becomes more engaged with it physically the more that person can narrow their search for that determinant. Merleau-Ponty also states that “we are our bodies, and our conscious is not just locked up inside the head.” This lived body is what we use to physically experience and learn from the process of doing something, Merleau-Ponty calls this the subject-object dialogue. We the subject or the lived body works with the object and the dialogue, created when working with the object physically, the subject learns and discover what they were looking for.

This type of thinking can be helpful to anyone, including architects because if we can break down the process of creation and how a creative person comes to a certain outcome then we can make greater explorations of our own and potentially further our own potential to be creative and successful. Process is a very important thing in Architecture and because it can be such a complex task to complete it is nice to be able to break down other peoples processes who have been successful in the past and learn from them. We also can learn from this thought process and begin to work with our hands as well as with computers and other techniques. This physicality of the lived body needs to be expressed through physicality to truly be informative and help us find what we are looking for in the end.

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South Carolina Aquarium Case Study

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All four corners of the building are Fire Egress Areas with elevators.

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Case Study

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Aquarium of San Sebastian

by Hoz Fontan Arquitectos Alex Ross ARCH 303 Professor Thagne Spring 2012 CASE STUDY

The Aquarium of San Sebastian has been lodged for more than 100 years in a building on Mount Urgull’s feet, in one of the most visible zones of La Concha Bay. It is an institution for which its own building, while being at the same time its identity seal, had become an obstacle for its progress.

They use the sites beautifully naturally created landscape next to the ocean and framed views out to it throughout the museum.

Program is arranged with service spaces on the side towards the mountain and the display sections on the side facing the view to the ocean. They said that in this design they tried to, “use the programs peripheral components to optimize the internal functions of the museum.”

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The circualtion of the plan is very simple and straight forward for the user to understand. You move from the bottom level up the the top from right to left and then left to right, etc.. This literally straight forward plan for circulation makes veiwing the displays more enjoyable since your not having to concentrate so much on whether your walking to the correct part of the building.

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Long Span Structure

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Long Span Structure

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Structural Case Study Exploration

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Tensile Structures

These Tensile Bridge Structures were designed by Cox Architects and uses tensile cables connected to an eliptical shaped main steel structure. They designed several variations of this parametric tensile bridge and in each they show the different ways that tensile cables can be arrayed to created structural stability.

My bridge design is inspired by the shape of the bark on a palm tree which has structure through overlapping. I took the shape and used it as the main structure supports for the bridge and arrayed tensile cables along the center of the two lanes of traffic.

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Fibre Structures

THese types of structure are complex truss ideas for a large scale high rise structure. It breaks down the form into planes where structural members can overlap and be bound to create structural stability.

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These tree like column structures can be used to support a pavilion type sun screen such as the above example by University of Kassel professors. The below exaple is by Serie Architects and

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Bridge Truss Systems

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THese types of structure are complex truss ideas for a large scale high rise structure. It breaks down the form into planes where structural members can overlap and be bound to create structural stability.

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P A

Program Analysis & Adjacency Diagrams

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Structure in Motion

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Objective Chance Poster

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Design Vehicles

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Sketches

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Bridge Inspirations

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Structure Development

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Buiding Skin Development

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Final Design

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THE SKIN OF THE STRUCTURE IS INSPIRED

BY THE SAME CONCEPT AS THE STRUCTURE FOR THE BUILDING, HOWEVER IT WAS ALSO INSPIRED

BY THE WAY THAT LIGHT ENTERS THROUGH A CANOPY OF LEAVES IN THE FORREST. I CREATED A COMPONENT THAT CONSIST OF A GLASS PANEL WITH A METAL FRAM THAT HAS TWO LEAF LIKE FABRIC STRUCTURES ON EACH SIDE OF IT. THE IDEA IS TO CATCH LIGHT AND BOUNCE IT IN GIVING THE FACILITY PLENTY OF NATURAL DIFFUSED LIGHT. THIS EFFECT ALSO MAKES THE SKIN OF THE BUILDING GLOW DURING THE DAY WHICH ADDS TO THE EXPERIENCE.

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THE SITE INSPIRED ME TO TRY TO RECONNECT NOT ONLY JUST SAVANNAH TO TYBEE ISLAND BUT TO ALSO MAKE A STRUCTURE WHICH WILL RECONNECT THE ALMOST ALIENATED NATURAL ZONES INHERENT IN THE SITE. THE SITE CONSIST OF BEACH AREA, DENSE WOODED AREAS, MARSH LAND, AND THE MAN MADE INDUSTRIAL AREA. MY AIM WAS TO BRING THE FIRST FOUR AREAS LISTED AND EXHIBIT THEIR BEAUTY IN UNDER ONE STRUCTURE.

THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE STRUCTURE IS THE OVERLAPPING OR INTERWEAVING OF ELEMENTS SUCH AS THE SKIN OF A PALM TREE. I CREATED A SKIN WHICH WEAVES THROUGH ITSELF AND SEVERAL RIB STRUCTURES THAT BEGIN TO WEAVE AND INTERLOCK AS THEY INTER-

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FIRST FLOOR

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SECOND FLOOR

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BRIDGE ELEVATION

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MY PROGRAM CONSISTS OF OUTDOOR LOCAL BIRD AND MARSH EXHBIT, NATURE EXHIBITS, AND AQUATIC EXHIBIT AS WELL AS A SMALL SHOP AND CAFE. THEY ARE ARRANGED NEAR THE ELEMENTS ON THE SITE THAT THEY RELATE TO. FOR INSTANCE, THE AQUATIC EXHIBIT IS ON THE SIDE OF THE SITE THAT HAS VIEWS OUT TO THE OCEAN AND THE NATURE EXHIBIT IS LOCATED ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE WHERE THE VIEW IS TO THE DENSE PATCH OF TREES DIRECTLY TO THE WEST OF THE STRUCTURE.

I ALSO TRIED TO INCORPORATED MY IDEA OF INTERWEAVING AND THE IDEA OF RECONNECTION BY HAVING WALKWAYS THAT SPAN THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT EXHIBITS AND BRING THEM TOGEHER BY USING THE OUTDOOR AREA THAT IS BOTH WOODED AND A BEACH AREA.

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NORTH ELEVATION

EAST ELEVATION

SOUTH ELEVATION

WEST ELEVATION

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SECTION A

SECTION B

SECTION C

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