URBAN LAB + OBSERVATORY DOCUMENTATION

90째

Bryce Beckwith

SUBMERGED GALLERIES

SHOP + STAGING

EXHIBITION HALL

LIVING CELLS

LIBRARY + ARCHIVE

LIVING CELLS

STUDIOS

WHITE BOX THEATRE

Project Document

URBAN LAB + OBSERVATORY

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Book I_Preexisting Conditions 1.1 Physical Site: Location and Orientation

The project site is located in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. At 39° 8’ 24”North, and 84° 30’ 23”West, the city is located on the North bank of the Ohio River, across the river from Covington, Kentucky, on the Ohio-Indiana border.

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The location of the site in the context of the city grid of Cincinnati.

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The city grid is oriented 10째 West from the cardinal North direction.

Site at 7000 Feet above grade.

Site at 2000 Feet above grade.

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40째 North Latitude Sun Path Diagram.

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N = Winter solstice sun path = Summer solstice sun path

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1.1 Physical Site: Location and Orientation

CLIMATE REGION 3 Cincinnati, Ohio is located among the U.S. Climate Region 3. Climate Region 3 has a mean annual snowfall of 12-60 inches, and about 39 inches of precipitation occurs consistently throughout the year. The sun shines more than 40 percent of the daylight hours and provides for some potential solar energy in the winter.

Significant cooling loads are common since high summer temperatures often coincides with high humidity, meaning wind is an asset during the summer months.

Climate Design Priorities: 1. Keep heat in and cold temperatures out during the winter months.

2. Protect from cold winter winds 3. Let the winter sun in (lower priorities) 4. Keep hot temperatures out during the summer.

5. Protect from the summer sun.

6. Use natural ventilation for summer cooling.

Monthly average wind conditions and temperature.

Credit: WindFinder.com GmbH & Co. KG

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January Wind Rose

February Wind Rose

March Wind Rose

April Wind Rose

May Wind Rose

June Wind Rose

July Wind Rose

August Wind Rose

September Wind Rose

October Wind Rose

November Wind Rose

December Wind Rose

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Combined monthly Wind Rose averages

Annual Wind Rose averages

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1.1 Physical Site: Structures and Space

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Surrounding building conditions New building project

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MAIN S

TREET

THE EXISTING The site is currently being used as a pay-per parking lot. The surrounding infrastructure that looks in on the site consists of many residential units, temporary living accommodations, office buildings, and few business buildings as a well as a large church across 7th Street, behind another paved parking lot.

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TREET

ORE S

SYCAM

REET

7TH ST

Photo collage of immediate surrounding infrastructure

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1.1 Physical Site: Contours and Movement of Water

The inner parts of the city of Cincinnati consists of two combined sewer overflow locations. Both locations both serve 434 and 435 sewer collection drains which allocates the water to these combined overflow locations which then releases the water into the Ohio River.

Cincinnati being a mature city and fully developed, consists of mostly paved surfaces and not much ground water absorptive surfaces. This in combination with the geographical location of the inner city, surrounded by 7 hills, creates a significant factor for reallocating water runoff.

Stream runoff levels

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1.1 Physical Site: Boundaries and Volume

The site is located among a relatively flat elevation among the city grid. The immediate surrounding structures stands an average of 100 to 120 feet tall. These structures are very typical rectangular forms that have a predominant East-West axis.

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Elevation North of site Major elevation of site

Elevation looking West through the site

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Elevation looking East through the site Only elevation change in relationship to the site happens in the background

Elevation looking South through the site

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Spacial framing conditions and view corridors surrounding the site

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1.1 Physical Site: Seeing in Time

6:00AM, summer solstice shadows

11:00AM, summer solstice shadows

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4:00PM, summer solstice shadows

7:00PM, summer solstice shadows

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The block on which the site occupies has a history of infrastructure, both currently existing, and since deceased. The Denison, a main staple of the block has existed since it was built in 1890. Though these buildings have stood among history, the function of these buildings has changed. The Denison was built as a Carriage factory and since been a hotel and a low income housing high rise. The Ohio Book Store, just left of the Denison has existed as a book store since the 1950’s and previously belonged to a different program..

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As depicted, the site is shown with existing infrastructure in the 1920’s. In the 1960’s and 1970’s a car dealership owned by Buick occupied the current site. Most of what today has become parking lots in the city of Cincinnati have previously been built on and since these sites have been cleared, most likely in the 1930’s or recently in the 2000’s. The most economical use for these naked sites while not being occupied by infrastructure is to pave them into a parking lot as parking has high value in urban areas such as Cincinnati.

1920’s aerial view of Cincinnati

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1.1 Physical Site: City Space Fieldwork

repeat

layer

integrate

stack

frame

juxtapo

ose

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shift

turn

screen

craft

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1.2 Infrastructure: Hardscapes + Networks of Distribution

Cincinnati is contained among a grid of streets and arteries of highways that are two contrasting languages and serve two different distances of travel.

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Transition from highway artaries to the city street grid

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Network of bridges entering the city of Cincinnati

The Ohio River as it winds through Cincinnati. Cincinnati was/is a major river city, being established due to the economic prosperity of the river being used as system of transportation for goods and trade.

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1.2 Infrastructure: Patterns

The x-axis cuts and y-axis cuts of the city contains vastly different grains of geometries. As though one is cutting a piece of wood, there is a stark contrast between elevation profiles taken from the “x” direction and the “y” direction.

Rendered elevations of existing structures on city block. North, West, South, and East elevations respectively.

Geometries of the surrounding context

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1.3: Zoning and Code: Settlement Patterns

Within the context of the history of Cincinnati, the social and economic rhythms and cycles of the city has looked vastly different throughout different generations. Pictured below, the candid photographs of the city in the 1910’s shows the tempo of the night life, and the hours of business and profit for the city. In contrast, the photos the right display the present day night life of the city or lack thereof.

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1.3 Zoning and Code: Settlement Patterns

The layers of site information is subdivided into many different categories that creates a web of conditions for any particular coordinate on the site.

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Site subdivided by code and conditions of particular segments of the land.

Property divided by owner and right of responsibility Identified below by an identification number.

Site as a whole parcel seen from a developers perspective as a location for a single project development.

Map of the surveyed land shows the lines and layers of information that lies below the surface of the site as one cohesive physical site.

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1.3 Zoning and Code: Building Code

ULO PROGRAMMATIC NETWORK Exhibition:

Visual and Aural Galleries Auditorium Exhibition Hall

12,000 nsf 3,000 nsf 5,000 nsf 20,000 nsf

Archive:

+ gsf factor 30% SUBTOTAL:

6,000 nsf 26,000 gsf

Film and Media Archive [attached reading and viewing room] Staging Warehouse [v shop]

800 nsf 200 nsf 2,200 nsf 800 nsf 4,000 nsf

Research and Housing:

gsf factor 25% SUBTOTAL:

1,000 nsf 5,000 gsf

10 Researcher/Artist Apartments (capable of housing families) 8 Researcher/Artist Apartments (capable of housing families) 20 flexible use Researcher/Artist Studio Spaces Offices, Library, and Support Spaces

(600 nsf/ea.)

6,000 nsf (800 nsf/ea.)

6,400 nsf (400 nsf/ea.)

8,000 nsf 2,000 nsf 22,400 nsf

The Site:

gsf factor 35% SUBTOTAL:

7,840 nsf 30,240 gsf

TOTAL:

61,240 gsf

The Main site should retain 60% open (to the sky) space at grade:

15,600 gsf

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*parking is located through a dynamic (event based) lease with adjacent parking structures *bus routes and other established points of arrival should be noted *Note: 3 scales of activity- public gathering, public connector(s), and secured ULO open space. *buildable site foot print: 10,400 gsf

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Book II_Precedent 2.1 Ideational Precedent

conceptual idational historical

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What happens when what we have come to know is reoriented?

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Who is the audience and who is the performer?

Movement Proximity Physical Relations Cinema

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The art of observation, the observation of art.

Reflection Refraction Transparency Served vs. Servant

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Labyrinth Depth Patience Peace

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The reconciliation of art and science.

Viewport Anatomy Creationism Evolution

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Stacking Layers Effenciency

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Wayside school is falling down!

Gravity Structure Honesty

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Architecture of the ground.

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2.2 Material Precedent

material structural

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What does the marriage between material, tools, and idea look like?

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STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTS Studio Gang Architects uses traditional materials and challenges the construction methods and ways we treat these materials. The Brick Weave House is a great example of using the icon of brick to create a screen system that questions the traditional qualities of a brick wall.

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Ideational diagrams of the Brick Weave House, Chicago, Illinois.

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The ideational precedent of a woven blanket informed the process of composition of brick elements into a fabric like facade. The system of construction takes advantage of our knowledge of the material of steel and masonry, and integrates these two systems of construction into one process to fabricate the idea.

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Detail drawings of the brick screen connection system in the Brick Weave House, Chicago, Illinois.

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SANAA SANAA commonly uses the basic material palette of glass, steel, and concrete, but the rigor of the details in construction and design put them ahead when it comes to the art of the craft. The New Museum in New York is an example of an ordinary palette of materials used in extraordinary ways.

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Typical Wall Section of the New Museum, New York City, New York.

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Using a typical steel frame building method, SANAA takes advantage of the structural abilities of steel and designs boxes that sit upon one another, some cantilevering, creating the visual effect of boxes balancing. The facade screen system that they use is manufactured of typical steel sheets and hung from the top of each box and tied back to the facade periodically.

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Elevations of the New Museum, New York City, New

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POURED PORCELAIN Porcelain is a material that is often viewed as delicate and having an elevated fiscal value due to the craftsmanship of the made product.

Often times, Porcelain is seen used in products at the scale of pottery or smaller. The challenge lies in mass producing porcelain at a scale larger than what is typical to the craft.

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Chinese Porcelain Moon Flask 1723AD - 1735AD, Qing Dynasty

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Creating porcelain tooth veneers utilizes a process of casting and recasting porcelain to create a refined shape and size.

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A porcelain tooth in comparison to the size of a contact lens. The craft of such a small object challenges the size to which one may use this material.

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There are many ways of working with porcelain to create refined form.

In creating items at the scale of bath amenities as well as objects at the scale of tooth veneers, the process of lost wax casting allows for the product to be homogenous with no seams and creates a margin of opportunity for miniscule details to be integrated with the mold.

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The process of casting porcelain.

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POLISHED TRAVERTINE Travertine is a material that can be processed and used for construction at many different scales. The boundary of this material is indefinite, based upon the quarry upon which it comes from.

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The Salk Institute in La Jolla, California by Louis Kahn uses Travertine to create courtyards and promenades.

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The qualities of the material allows for the travertine to be used in both interior and exterior conditions, creating a homogeneous horizontal surface with out distinguishing boundaries by the material conditions.

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Travertine quarry and how they mine the stone from the earth.

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PRECAST CONCRETE The process of precasting concrete sections of a building has the advantages of being more economic at times, faster installation, and greater efficiency. Outside of the surface level reasons to use precast concrete, the process of creating these panels is a casting process as well as porcelain. The art of making these materials speaks similar languages.

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Precast concrete panels at the Lidner Center, University of Cincinnati, by Bernard Tschumi.

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STEEL COLUMNS The column is an element of a building that can be used for more than structural purposes, but can be used to define, refine, or exploit spatial boundaries, as well as to facilitate in material shifts, programmatic changes, and formal changes.

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Exterior column as it holds the roof structure at The Art Institute of Chicago Modern Wing by Rinzo Piano.

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The scale of the column and how it meets the ceiling and how it touches the ground can give a lot of information about the weight of the building, and the size and function of the spaces above and below.

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Top: The Toledo Glass Pavilion, by SANAA, interior column as it meets the roof.

Bottom: An exterior column as it touches the ground at The Art Institute of Chicago Modern Wing, by Rinzo Piano.

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2.3 Methodological Precedent

representation tradition

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What happens when there is a shift in the translation of a tradition?

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How does orientation affect the spatial qualities that are typical to our every day experience of spaces and how can we challenge that perception?

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The architectural element of the ramp can pose many questions as to what is being watched and who is watching? The Lerner Center at Columbia University poses this question upon the occupants.

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The use of a slenderly crafted column as a boundary of space and an ordering system for the eye.

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Why do we commonly think of a theatre or performance space the way we do?

(Performing Arts Center, Virginia Tech; Snohetta Design)

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Are what we torsionally think of particular architectural programs evolving into things different from what we think of as typical?

(Wyly Theatre, Dallas, Texas; OMA)

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Book III_Project 3.1 Order

How we order space on the scale of a city block often times is influenced by the development of particular parcels over the course of time. This often times results in the stacking of programs (buildings) horizontally.

What changes when we reorient the way we read and experience buildings (programs)? material structural

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WHITE BOX THEATRE STUDIOS LIVING CELLS 90째

LIBRARY + ARCHIVE LIVING CELLS EXHIBITION HALL

SHOP + STAGING

SUBMERGED GALLERIES

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3.2 Material Palette

What materials and how are they orchestrated?

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The screen system is designed for a material that has a purity, and yet will show evidence of age and weather over time. The ephemeral qualities of a pure, and almost immaterial presence will fade, and the visual identity of these screens will grow to become what the context of the meteorologic conditions of Cincinnati does to the material.

The pattern of the perforations decrease and increase based upon the sun path conditions of Cincinnati as well as the program that lies behind the screens, and the amount of light and visibility that is appropriate.

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DIAGRAM

A diagram of a screen system that relates to the program behind the screen, within each programmatic block.

The screen allows for different degrees of privacy.

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The screen system is designed for a material that has a purity, and yet will show evidence of age and weather over time. The ephemeral qualities of a pure, and almost immaterial presence will fade, and the visual identity of these screens will grow to become what the context of the meteorologic conditions of Cincinnati does to the material.

The pattern of the perforations decrease and increase based upon the sun path conditions of Cincinnati as well as the program that lies behind the screens, and the amount of light and visibility that is appropriate.

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Exterior rendered photograph of the screen system.

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Interior rendered photograph of the screen system and grid of columns among the White Box Theatre that lies on the top floor of the building.

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13. 2” PORCELAIN PERFORATED SCREEN SYSTEM

12. 2” CONCRETE FINISHING SLAB

2. 6” DIAMETER STEEL TUBE COLUMN WITH WELDED STEEL COLUMN PLATE

11. WIRE MESH WITH TIES @ 1.5’

3. NON-SHRINK GROUT 5. CONCRETE METAL DECKING

7. 2” INSULATED CONCRETE FORM

6. L4X6 POUR STOP ANGLE 4. W22X18 STRUCTURAL FLOOR BEAM 9. VAPOR BARRIER 8. 2”RIGID INSULATION 2”ELECTRICAL CONDUIT BEAM PENETRATION 10. WATER PROOF FLASHING 1. W8X40 STRUCTUAL ROOF BEAM

Axonometric cut of roof and floor assembly and column assembly.

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y s y .

3.3 Coordinated Technical Documentation

The drawing is a manifestation of the previous 67 pages you “read�. Or did you?

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Site Plan 1” : 40’

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WHITE BOX THEATRE STUDIOS LIVING CELLS 90°

LIBRARY + ARCHIVE LIVING CELLS EXHIBITION HALL

SHOP + STAGING

SUBMERGED GALLERIES

White Box Theatre Plan 1” : 16’

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Typical Studio Plan 1” : 16’

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WHITE BOX THEATRE STUDIOS LIVING CELLS 90°

LIBRARY + ARCHIVE LIVING CELLS EXHIBITION HALL

SHOP + STAGING

SUBMERGED GALLERIES

Typical Living Cells Plan 1” : 16’

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Exhibition Hall 1” : 16’

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WHITE BOX THEATRE STUDIOS LIVING CELLS 90°

LIBRARY + ARCHIVE LIVING CELLS EXHIBITION HALL

SHOP + STAGING

SUBMERGED GALLERIES

Library + Archive 1” : 16’

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Shop + Staging 1” : 16’

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WHITE BOX THEATRE STUDIOS LIVING CELLS 90°

LIBRARY + ARCHIVE LIVING CELLS EXHIBITION HALL

SHOP + STAGING

SUBMERGED GALLERIES

Submerged Galleries 1” : 16’

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Building Section 1” : 16’

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WHITE BOX THEATRE STUDIOS LIVING CELLS 90째

LIBRARY + ARCHIVE LIVING CELLS EXHIBITION HALL

SHOP + STAGING

SUBMERGED GALLERIES

SEIRELLAG DEGREMBUS

GNIGATS + POHS

LLAH NOITIBIHXE

SLLEC GNIVIL

EVIHCRA + YRARBIL

SLLEC GNIVIL

SOIDUTS

ERTAEHT XOB ETIHW

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