ARC 108 Portfolio

PORTFOLIO

A R C 108

A N D R E W D 'A N G E L O

CONTENT 6. T H E B U I L D I N G S O F D O W N TO W N S Y R A C U S E

1 2 . A N A LY S I S O F W I E L A R E T S ' U T R E C H T L I B R A R Y

18. H A N OV E R S Q UA R E A R C H I V E

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INTRODUCTION ARC 108, the second semester of the six-semester undergraduate core studio sequence, continued students’ introduction to architectural design via a series of rigorous exercises focused on the relationship between architecture and its contexts. The contexts of an architectural design endeavor include a wide variety of conditions: built, climatic, socio-political, to name a few. In ARC 108, students further developed the understanding of formal/spatial elements and operations they initiated in ARC 107 toward specific relationships to contextual conditions. Further, students were introduced to issues of architectonics and materiality, as they reflected and impacted contextual relationships. As in the first semester, the design exercises were focused on iterative experimentation and collaboration among peers.

The first excercise challenged groups of strudents to explore urban conditions in Downtown Syracuse, documenting historical, architectural, and infrastructural details of the city through diagrams.

Next, students studied architecturally exemplary libraries across the world, paying particular attention to the relation between interior space and the facade. After analyzing their assigned libraries throughly, students extrapolated an aspect of the interaction between facade and interior space in order to further study the facade and its role in bridging the building’s interior and its context.

In the final excercise, students used what they learned in earlier excercises to design an archive in Syracuse. Particular attention was paid to the building’s relation with its context, as students began to understand the responsibility to both inform urban conditions while upholding contextual precedents.

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THE BUILDINGS OF DOWNTOWN SYRACUSE

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The Urban Analysis Study explored buildings and their relationship to context through an investigation of several areas in downtown Syracuse. Similarities were found in both material and functional zoning of buildings situated in the same district. On the other hand, there are also distinctions between the ways that buildings interact with each other and the area around them.

One of the study's main focuses regarding buildings and their context was how they interacted with and were informed by the public spaces around them. The Everson and Park Central Church were two examples of buildings that interacted with their surroundings in completely different ways to create unique urban spatial conditions. The Everson’s design extended to its plaza, and there was a consistency in form and material throughout the entire area. As a result, the Everson flowed seamlessly into its context, creating a fluid spatial sequence entering the building. On the other hand, Park Central Church, while interacting with a nearby public space in Firefighter’s Memorial Park, was distinguished from its context. The building’s masonry structure and staircase lifting it off of the sidewalk drew it away from its context on the street corner, creating a completely different interaction between building and context.

Project in collaboration with Joao Pedro Ellery Lustosa Furtado De Oliv, Maya Saxena, Phyoe Thandar, Yuanting Peng

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EVERSON MUSEUM VS PARK CENTRAL CHURCH

https://www.pcf-p.com/projects/everson-museum-of-art/

• Built in 1968, designed by brutalist architect I. M. Pei • The only built project for a modernist Syracuse reconstruction, the Everson sought to blend into its surroundings • Integrated into an artificially landscaped plaza designed by Pei to interact with the building • Building constructed of a bushhammered concrete-granite mixture formulated to blend in to surrounding sandstone buildings

“Everson Museum of Art.” Pei Cob Freed and Partners, www.pcf-p.com/projects/everson-muse-

um-of-art/. Accessed 30 Jan. 2018.

Everson Plan. 1968. Pei Cobb Freed and Partners, www.pcf-p.com/projects/everson-mu

seum-of-art/. Accessed 30 Jan. 2018.

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http://dailyorange.com/resize/800/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/18213226/Park-Central-2.jpg

• Founded in 1846, however the building standing today was built in 1875 • Located facing the east side of Firefighter’s Memorial Park • Built with dark red brick, contrasting the materials used in its surrounding buildings, which have primarily concrete, limestone, and glass facades • Firefighter’s Memorial Park, though used as a public space as early as 1821, was redesigned in the early to mid 1900s • All of the buildings surrounding Park Central Presbyterian Church were built more recently than 1821

Eterior Circulation Diagram of Everson Museum and Surrounding Plaza

Exterior Entrance Fluid Plaza Circulation

Collage-Section of Park Central Presbyterian Church

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A N A LY S I S O F W I E L ARETS' UTRECHT LIBRARY

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Book Spaces

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Study Spaces

Office Spaces

Circulation Spaces

Relation to Papyrus Symbol

Architect: Wiel Arets Architects Location: Utrecht, Netherlands Date of Construction: 2004 The Library, designed for Utrecht University, consists of a series of volumes wrapped by a facade composed of a combiation of glass and concrete panels. The panels all carry an image or imprint of papyrus. The inside of the library is a large open space broken up by various book, study, and office rooms appearing as volumes. Staircases and suspended walkways connect the different spaces. The facade informs interior space from the outside while helping to provide optimal light and sound conditions for the library’s interior spaces.

In analyzing the relation between the facade and interior in the Utrecht Library, it is evident that Wiel Arets used texture and materiality on the facade in order to illustrate the programs of spaces inside.

On the facade of the Utrecht University Library, the glass paneled exterior is interrupted by dark concrete slabs, which indicate the inside spaces where books are stored. On each panel, there is an image of papyrus, a material used to make paper, which symbolizes shared information and knowledge, principles which serve as the foundation of a library.

Though Wiel Arets approached the facade in a binary matter, using two materials all overlayed with a singular pattern, we advanced the idea of a wrapper being used to indicate interior space by expanding the facade and using a variety of abstractions of the papyrus pattern to symbolize internal space more thoroughly through the building’s exterior.

In doing so, we can further develop the idea of how a building’s exterior can interact with and inform users of interior conditions.

Public Spaces

Void Spaces

Project in collaboration with Amina Kikaya

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Floor 1

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Floor 2

Floor 3

Floor 4

Floor 5

Floor 6

Floor 7

Floor 8

Book Spaces

Voids

Study spaces

Conference rooms

Bookshelves

Offices

Public/Circulation

Study Spaces

Rest

Staircases

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HANOVER SQUARE ARCHIVE

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Facade Perspectival Image Distortion

In the Hanover Square Archive, form and image combine, altering perspective on the building’s surface. The large glass façade –juxtaposing a historic image of the Erie Canal flowing through downtown Syracuse against its modern day counterpart– follows a strict gridded pattern. This pattern is interrupted, however, by a building core consisting of a series of spaces that extrude from a central concrete atrium. These spaces push against the façade and create variation in panel size and orientation.

The image titled “Erie Canal at Salina Street,” (United States Library of Congress’ Prints and Photographs Division) is applied to the facade of the building. Using photoshop, the image is projected onto the façade to construct an undistorted Northwest elevation view.

Depending on vantage point, perception of the imagery on the facade is differentiated. From outside of the building, one can see the entirety of the facade, and in an elevation-like view, the image appears undistorted.

From inside of the extruded spaces, one can only see a snippet of the image. The facade image also stretches along the interior of the building, again distorting perspective as it interacts with the Archive's geometry.

Circulation and Relation to Spatial Programs

Office Library Reading Space Exhibition Conference Room Office Lobby Cafe/Break Room

Elevator

Within the building, some occupiable spaces are located inside of the volumetric extrusions, while others are composed of spaces between them. This spatial differentiation informs program and atmosphere of various spaces within the building. For instance, more intimate spaces such as reading conference rooms would be located inside of closed volumes where more public spaces such as the cafe or break room would be located outside. The different spaces also create variable conditions that inform the way program functions within. For example, though some exhibition spaces are inside volumes and some are outside, the interior exhibition spaces would be able to house wall-mounted artifacts whereas exterior spaces would house free standing exhibits, allowing for a spatial experience with variation and dynamism.

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PLANS, SECTIONS AND ELEVATION

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Study Model

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Final Model

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A N D R E W D 'A N G E L O

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY

A J D A N G E L @ S Y R . E D U | (7 0 4 )- 2 4 4 -3375

Thank you to Professor Jonathan Louie and Teaching Assistant Yuchi Kuo