casey mclaughlin
fall 2009 portfolio
S T N E T N O C rhythm + repetition in nature + design nature pavilion astronomy tower ornithology center
fall
2009
rhythm repetition in nature design Through a series of abstractions in order to create a true orthogonal form, it’s imperative one understands spacial relationships through balance and proportion.
N a t u r e
P a vi l i o n
Through repetition, rhythm, balance, hierarchy and proportion one can start to understand the three dimensional spatial dynamics within a given volume. The location is in the vast desert of New Mexico. Your driving north as you start to see a glimpse of a very thick and abstract structure, a pavilion. You have traveled all this way for one thing, and one thing only. To relieve yourself
from the electronic, cell phone 3G, 4G and Starbuck’s hotspots driving our society and economy as we know of today. As you walk down the ramp, you fell as if you leaving one world and entering a new world. Inside, you are faced with a bottom level, then three levels above that. Each level has its own stage in a process while you are completely relieved from our current electronic cosmos. The first level, receives the least light and is known as the “denial” stage. One craves this technology, one wants technology, one is in denial. Up to the second level, there is more light than the last and one is at the “acceptance” stage. One is usually forced into the acceptance stage given the location and architecture of the pavilion. Once you have reached the top, where the most light is, your facing the east, where one can watch the sunset. This is the “enlightenment” stage. The structure is traveled to by word of mouth and is available at all times of the year, but there are two days that are cause for celebration. Those days are the equinoxes that happen during late September and March. On these days it’s been said that the sun will go directly behind geostationary satellites relative to the earth, which because of the suns intense radiation can overload our, earths, reception circuits with noise and can completely disrupt and cut out the endless amounts of data flying invisibly in our world. To know when these equinox days are going to occur from the pavilion, on the second floor is a slit in the wall, once that slit and only that slit is illuminated from the sun, you know that the equinox is here. This is the pavilion where you go to get a break from all of the other “stuff” in our world today. To leave that world and experience a new one.
FLOOR PLAN
WEST ELEVATION
NORTH ELEVATION
SECTION LOOKING SOUTH
As t r o n o m y
To w e r
Through the implementation of mass, frame and joinery one can start to develop an ability to design and create an understanding of 3-dimensional spatial values. The astronomer’s tower is located on the side of Mount Taylor in New Mexico. To use as a catalyst for our design process we used a verb of our choice and we could use this verb to our discretion.
From the very beginning for the astronomer’s tower I focused on how one might feel while there inside this tower. To make it feel unlike any other space the design begins to play with ones depth perception in almost all phases of the tower. To achieve this sensation there are walls that don’t end at the corners and give the viewer a sensation that the wall is actually floating in front of them. Also the design really looked on how one should have choices on how to move about the tower when it comes to stairs and circulation. As you enter the building your automatically faced with a decision to either go left down a flight of stairs to the bedroom or go right to the kitchen and dining area. There is no uniformity to the stair placement which gives one different experiences on each level of the tower. While looking at the tower head on in an elevation perspective, the tower looks to be pulling itself apart while exposing this delicate inside that one can inhabit.
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FIRST FLOOR PLAN ON SITE
LEGEND 1 BATHROOM 2 BEDROOM 3 KITCHEN 4 LIBRARY 5 OBSERVATION DECK
SITE PLAN
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ROOF PLAN
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THIRD FLOOR PLAN
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SECOND FLOOR PLAN
SECTION LOOKING NORTH
fall
2009
S I
Gr an
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Rio
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Inte
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Birds More than 300 species of year round birds
Santa Fe
Albuquerque
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-Most common birds that fly south for the winter include: -Blue Winged Teals -Green Wing Teals -Cinniman Teals -Northern Shovelers -Mallards -Northern Pintails -American Wigeon -American Black Duck
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Socorro
-Occasionally spotted birds include: -Bald Eagle -Red-tail Hawk -Northern Harrier -Osprey
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Site & Scale
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-Socorro County, New Mexico -57,191 acres wildlife refuge -9,100
acres
of
irrigated
farms
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wetlands -4,500 to 6,272 ft above sea level
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Weather Conditions Fall Max = 77.3 F Fall Min = 39.5 F
Winter Max = 54.8 F Winter Min = 20.9 F
Spring Max = 85.9 F Summer Max = 95.4 F Spring Min = 46.3 F Summer Min = 59.8 F
bosque
del
apache Bosque del Apache is an environment that was once
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created by the Rio Grande River naturally, but now
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mimicked by humans today to have the same effect it did 15 5’
48 0’
before humans effected the landscape. That effect is to
allow a place for thousands of birds including sandhill view
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crane, geese, and ducks to migrate to every autumn. With
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310 ’
the landscape so delicate, it’s important that the architec-
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ture placed does not overpower or undermine the beauty 0’ 12
40’
BOSQUE DEL APACHE SITE DIAGRAM Scale: +/- 1/64” = 1’
water depth = 4’
view c
already achieved in this natural wildlife refuge.
wetland berm = 7’
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Wildlife 75 species of mammals 60 species of reptiles Some you include:
may
-Mule Deer -Coyote
encounter -Quail
-Porcupine -Muskrat -Turkey -Pheasan
-Jackrabbits
-Turtles
-Rattle Snake
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s a n d h i l l s
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r o a d
Great Barrier Island
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h o u s e New Zealand
2007-2008
The sandhills road house designed by Fearon Hey Architects uses a minimalistic logic of design with materials providing interconnected architecture. The glass facade allow the pavilion to respond to different environmental conditions, while providing the location for relaxing within the natural surrounds of the property.
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l a y e r s C o n t i n u o u s S t r e a m l i n e
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site of the Bosque del Apache, I
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While studying the landscape and
was drawn to the fact that what D
was happening in this environment, consisted of many layers,
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in which if one layer was missing, nothing that occurs in this environment, would happen. I knew that I wanted my design to be very streamline and not intrusive
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on the environment surrounding the
architecture.
terminology
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Using
arrived
this
at
my
concept for designing my visitor E
center with layering, continuous,
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n
and streamline in mind.
Also I
wanted to funnel the tourists into my ornithology center by creat-
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ing an option point where then either keep walking straight, into
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my structure or take a slight
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right and follow the pier on. In O
my design for the ornithology center I layered my duck blinds,
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continued walls through others and attempted at designing the
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S
entire building very streamline through the architecture.
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PLAN ON SITE
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LEGEND 1 EXHIBIT AREA 2 OFFICE 3 BATHROOM 4 INDOOR VIEWING AREA 5 OUTDOOR VIEWING AREA
SOUTH ELEVATION
SECTION LOOKING NORTH
f al l
2009