BENJAMIN B. WATERS
Pavilion as a Collector of Views | Design 1102 | May 2011 | Renderings + MDF/Bass wood model | Professors Dagmar Richter and Yehre Suh For our final project for first year studio, we were challenged to design a temporary addition or “pavilion” for the Johnson Museum of Art (designed by I.M. Pei, 1973) on Cornell’s campus. To start, we were asked to identify a specific artist or genre of art that would act as the inspiration for the pavilion. This artist or art would ideally be exhibited within the pavilion. I chose a specific art piece, Rhythm of a Russian Dance by Theo van Doesburg, as a generative device for the planometric development of this pavilion. I started by breaking the piece down into the four colors used: pink, yellow, blue, and black. From that point, I created different spatial studies by scoring bristol board along the lines representative of each color. I then assembled five of these studies, or mini-pavilions, into one larger pavilion.
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After creating the basic form, I experimented with thickness and materiality (after van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion). Finally, using the Chinese landscape theory of the “Ha-Ha,” I began to experiment with the datum line, and how earth could begin to interact with these forms to restrict and allow certain views in conjunction with the materiality.
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PAVILION AS A COLLECTOR OF VIEWS, Ithaca New York
O EXHIBITION EXHIBIT OFFICE
CAFE
M BATH
KITCHEN
H W BATH
Yellow: +1
LOBBY SHOP T COAT
Rhythm of a Russian Dance Theo van Doesburg
Barcelona Pavilion
Formal
Hierarchical
Spatial
Program
GALLERY
GALLERY
GALLERY
Red: +2
CAFE
CAFE
GALLERY
LOBBY
GALLERY GALLERY
Blue: +3
LOBBY
MODULES ARRANGED
Folding action along individual color system planes
5 “mini-pavilions” generated and organized around program
Black: +4
CAFE
Sectional program PROGRAM THROUGH ELEVATION
Initial output
LOBBY GALLERY
FLOORPLAN
AXON OF PROGRAM
Generative device
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GLASS WALLS:
ALLOWS FOR VEIWS TO PENETRATE INTO THE DEPTHS OF THE PAVILLION DRIVING THE USER”S CRICULATION
POROUS WALLS:
ALLOWS FOR THE CONTINUATION OF SIGHT LINES WHILE CAPTURING THE USER’S MOVEMENT WITH A “ZOETROPE” LIKE EFFECT
MARBLE WALLS:
POLISHED CARRARA MARBLE WALLS ALLOW FOR LIGHT AND VIEWS TO ENTER AND BECOME A PART OF THE PAVILLION’S EXPERIENCE, REFLECTING THE SURROUNDING LANDSCAPE
Analog materiality model URBAN
RURAL
CORNELL
1/175 GROUND PLANE:
TRUMANSBURG JOHNSON
ITHACA
SILO
REVALING LIGHT WELL CUT-AWAYS AND INTERVENTION IN SITE
LIBE SLOPE
EAST AVENUE
1/60
LIGHT WELL SYSTEM:
ALLOWS FOR LIGHT TO ENTER BASEMENT LEVEL THORUGH FROSTED GLASS VOUMES THAT PENETRATE GROUND PLANE
5 MATERIALITY. LIGHT. SITE.
1/32
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LAKE HOUSE FOR A WRITER, Interlaken New York
Lake House for a Writer | Design 2101 | September 2011 | Drawings + Laser-cut MDF model | Professor Maria Hurtado de Mendoza Challenged with the task of selecting a site and designing a house for a writer (or for Rod Serling, writer of the Twilight Zone, in particular), I chose this site not only due to its positing on a point in Cayuga Lake (affording views), but also its unique qualities allowing the house to straddle both land and water. This site also had a preexisting concrete structure (possibly a dock at one point), which dictated the footprint of the house. Then, using folding as a generative device, I created the initial formal models. The house would come to sit upon this existing structure (approximately six feet above water level) highlighting the difference between the old and new through the material differences in the concretes utilized. Programmatically, I understood this house as an annex for Serling, as he already has a house just down the lake. In other words, this house would act as an escape from an escape, allowing Serling the solitude (or possible entertaining) needed for his writing to flourish. One could arrive by land or water; in this sense, the house acts as an intermediary between earth and sea, occupying an uncommon or “unexpected� space.
WYERS POINT
ITHACA 7
LAKE
CAYUGA A
Existing dock condition
WINERIE RIES RIE
LAND WATER
35
35
CAYUGA
LAND
FOREST
OPEN
A, B
A, B
8
35
+2
389 ft 100 yr flood plane
384 ft
A-A
+1
B-B
0
9
BOARDWALK K
Museum of the Unexpected | Design 2101 | December 2011 | Drawings + Chipboard models + Renderings | Professor Maria Hurtado de Mendoza
BOARDWALK K
The focus of this semester was Twilight Zone and its writer, Rod Serling. We completed three projects around the idea of an “absurd” or “unexpected” architecture: a summer house on Cayuga Lake for a writer, a park driven by the idea of a “21st century carousel” located in Binghamton, New York, and finally, a museum for Serling himself to be located in central Binghamton. GARAGE
PLAZA
10 0
BOARDWALK K
For this museum, I focused on the three hills that define the urban landscape of Binghamton. These three hills locate oneself with the urban context of the Tri-City Area. After this urban analysis, I decided the best way to remember Serling was his work, specifically the Twilight Zone. Much of the work for this project went into fitting three auditoriums into the initial form: a three-spoked tunnel form which I created in the first week of the project. When one enters one of three auditoriums, he or she is greeted by a view out towards the city and surrounding hills. Once an episode begins, the large glazing at the end of this tunnel turns opaque, and the presentation is projected directly onto this glass.
MUSEUM OF THE UNEXPECTED, Binghamton New York
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H: 1478 ft H: 1364 ft
H: 800 ft
H: 1389 ft
AVE
Center space with glass elevator at aleph
18331
12000
ALEPH
23804
41261
Avg. sf = 12k sf Avg. ht. = 38ft
Aleph
PRIVACY GRADIENT
One passage way with sight lines, and one shorter, private space
1400 0 00
12000
Open space allows for sight lines to all extremities
Farther distance from hill = more acute angle
Privacy gradient
12 Initial model
Final model in site
Center space adjacent to three auditoriums
BOARDWALK K
ADMIN WOMEN'S MEN'S
LOBBY
ELEVATOR
WN
DO
STORAGE
CART
WORKSHOPS
PREP
PLAZA
13
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TOWN CHASM, Owego New York
Town Chasm | Design 2102 | May 2012 | Drawings + Renderings | Professor Amber Bartosh For comprehensive design the spring of our second year in Owego, New York, my team focused on the ancient landscape (the gorge condition) as our inspiration for a town hall. The site, a double-wide lot in a row-house condition, straddles Front Street (the commercial center of Owego) and the Susquehanna River to the south. We sought to engage the unique positioning of the site by allowing 24 hour access from street front to river walk via the “gorge” that bifurcates our design. In the “belly of the beast” lies the assembly hall with seating for 50 people. We sought to bring the assembly hall to the same datum as the river to bring about the effect of sitting on the bank of the river. Materially, we envisioned the interior surface of the gorge condition to be triangulated cast concrete which has an increasing number of apertures towards the river. The glass system would also be triangulated and structured via system of custom spider fittings (see detail). On the interior, the party walls would be rendered in cast concrete while the faceted interior walls and ceilings would be in acoustic hardwood. 15
1 8"
METAL HANDRAIL CAP
1 8"
INSERT
1 2"
GLASS
1 8"
METAL CLADDING
SETTING BLOCK
ROOF SYSTEM IN CONCRETE, SUPPORTED BY SHEAR WALLS AND LOAD BEARING WALLS
CONC TOPPING SLAB DRAINAGE MAT CAST-IN-PLACE CONCRETE
MOISTURE BARRIER
HOT FLUID APPLIED WATERPROOF MEMBRANE
3" RIGID INSULATION
2
1 2"
METAL STUD
1 8 " WOOD
SPRAY POLYURETHANE FOAM INSULATION
LAMINATE GLASS SYSTEM W/ STRUCTURAL SYSTEM TO MINIMIZE THICKNESS, AND MAXIMIZE TRANSPARENCY
REBAR 1 8 "WIRE
HANGE
R
3" STEEL TUBE MULLION FULL WELD
EXTERIOR: 12” LOAD BEARING WALLS
SPIDER FITTING FULL WELD SEAMLESS STEEL TUBE FRAMED IN BEYOND SILICONE SEALANT
1" INSULATING TEMPERED GLASS STEEL CLIP ANGLE C3X6 STEEL C CHANNEL
LOAD BEARING WALL SYSTEM W/MATERIAL DISTINCTION BETWEEN EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR
INTERIOR: WOOD PANELING
1" INSULATED TEMPERED GLAS SEAMLESS STEEL TUBE FRAMED INTO CEMENT 8" REINFORCED CONCRETE
FLOOR SLABS WITH SHEAR WALLS REINFORCED CONCRETE SLABS FALL BETWEEN LOAD BEARING WALLS AND SHEAR WALLS
W 16 X 40 BEYOND
CONCRETE SLAB-ON-GRADE 4" GRAVEL BASE 5
16
10
15
SUBTERRANEAN MEETING HALL SHOWN WITH CASCADING STAIR TO RIVER WAL
-1
0
+1
+2
5
10
17 5
10
15
15
Hotel + Winery | Design 3101 | December 2012 | Drawings + Renderings + 3D-printed model | Professor Dana Cupkova My first semester third year, we were asked to design a hotel with an additional program of our choice in downtown Ithaca. To support the local winery economy in the Finger Lake region, my “plus” program was a learning winery. The wine produced at the hotel would not ideally be sold, but rather used to educate visitors to the region about how wine is grown and made. In this sense, the hotel would a become an epicenter for wine tourism. The plan, however, provides flexibility for guests to decide whether they would like to engage in the wine education program or just visit Ithaca. Rooms either open onto the “winery” or simply provide a view out to the surrounding West End area. This represents my first experience in parametric design, utilizing grasshopper in order to achieve its formal characteristics. The design process began with a morphological study, specifically a study of the sea anemone and its environment effects its form. Due to the gray weather that dominates Ithaca for the majority of the year, I utilized an anemone typology that occurs naturally on the sea floor to bring the most light into the hotel. The floor plates terrace from west to east on the south within the entity on the south side and from east to west within the entity on the north side, allowing for different varietals of wine. The Voronoi exoskeleton not only allows for light to permeate into the rooms, but also supports the infrastructure for wine growth. 18 8
19 1 9
HOTEL + WINERY, Ithaca New York
20 ft
20 ft
126’ 5” circumference
15’ 3”
278’ circumference
197’ 11” circumference
22’6” 5’ circulation 7’ circulation
171’ circumference
188’ 11” circumference
15’ terrace
188’ 11” circumference
Sine curve subdivision of circle Step well providing public access to water front
Sectional circulation diagrams, allowing for variable terraces, massing, and views
3D printed model, simplified for thickness tolerances
Formal development of floor plates and exoskeleton Voronoi structure, with setbacks for sun and ground plane waterfront access
20 Formal study of sea anemone morphology
Ground
Typical
Roof
Public access to the waterfront
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