EMILYWILLIAMS ARCHITECTURE | THESIS 2017
Emily Williams
INTRODUCTION Project Abstract:
This project will create a neighborhood scale model to provide learning services for information accessibility. It focuses on two processes of developing knowledge. The first approach will fixate on how knowledge is gained. It concentrates on the transference of information to knowledge as experienced in the built environment. It is about defining who owns the narrative - about posing information in such a way that it makes people want to engage with space and by extension with a variety of information systems. The second approach revolves around how knowledge is shared. It is about understanding how people interact with each other and how they can create a collective body of knowledge based on their individual experiences, backgrounds, and cultures. Several typologies will be developed and studied to better understand how objects and events can manipulate the physical landscape in such ways as to promote learning in a rapidly and continuously developing age of information.
Data, Information, and Knowledge: Data - the raw, unprocessed numbers, letters, or symbols associated with the building blocks of information and knowledge. Information - the aggregation, organization, or classification of data as data has been assigned meaning previously unknown to the recipient. Knowledge - a cohesive body of processed information that is organized, interrelated and more broadly understood and applied.
Project Goals: There are two major design problems researched in this project and two different design methodologies used combat these issues. The first approach develops a series of design typologies throughout the city that will initiate the human experience as a means of promoting knowledge. The project focuses on designing a built form off of an experiential learning model - by doing or experiencing, people can move from data sets to information systems to bodies of knowledge. The second approach revolves around designing a series of built forms that will take individual knowledge and transfer it through a collaborative environment. People experience things individually, based off of their personal backgrounds, contexts, and knowledge - the built forms will enable the development of relationships between these separate bodies of knowledge.
Project Approaches: There are two approaches used to tackle the two predominant design problems: Experiential Learning Theory, and Communal Constructivism. Experiential learning theory is used to define the transfer between data, information and knowledge. Communal constructivism is used to define the ability to share knowledge between people of different backgrounds.
01 EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING THEORY Creating Knowledge Through Integrated Experiences Experiential Learning Theory It is “the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from the combination of grasping and transforming experience.” In grasping experiential knowledge, people are understood to process new information in one of two ways: experiencing the concrete, tangible, felt qualities of the world, relying on personal senses and immersing themselves in concrete reality or perceiving, grasping, or taking a hold of new information through symbolic representation or abstract conceptualization – thinking about, analyzing, or systematically planning, rather than using sensation as a guide.
Experiences Within The City Take the Duomo in Florence for example: the duomo acts as a data point within the abstract context of the city - it exists regardless of human interaction. Information about the medieval city is gathered as a person walks through or experiences Florence. Every person experiences the city differently, gathering their own understanding about what the city means to them. The collective information gathered by the agent enables an understanding of the city in its entirety - it generates knowledge about a subject that they had not understood before.
Site Context The experiential learning charette culminated in a series of design vignettes used to propose experiences through which people will better understand information flows. Rather than make present the abstract forces that shape the city, the designs focused on understanding the broader aspects of information system flows as they relate to the urban context. Transportation became the vehicle through which the vignettes were studied. Transportation exists in scales - people who move throughout the city via walking, cycling, and vehicular transit all experience the city at different paces and in different ways. The design vignettes express these interactions and the transfer between data points. Through GIS data and project mapping, two main systems became the focal points for the design vignettes: the Towpath Trail in the Ohio and Erie Canalway, and the Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway. Different modes of transportation were overlapped and analyzed, noting the interaction between these different information flows. Designs then reflected how users can generate knowledge about these systems through experiential learning.
Integrated Experiences
Transportation Vignettes B.) Bike and Rail:
Location Nodes - Similar to the integrated system above, the Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway intersects with the AMTRAK and Rapid Rail systems. The image shows the underground cycling path and its connection to the railway. As the Bikeway intersects with different stops along the rail line, nodes of information will pop up along the cycling path.
C.) Walk and Rail:
B. Bike and Rail
C. Walk and Rail
Rail Trail - This node is locates at an intersection within the Towpath Trail, marking the intersection between the walking/hiking trail and the scenic railroad. The design proposal calls for a designated information connection between the rail and the recreation trail - the atmosphere of the trail will provide its users with a feel for the high infrastructural load of the rail.
D.) Water and Rail:
The Space Between - The Cuyahoga River runs along the rail lines in this node - the location provides an opportunity to integrate these polarized transportation forms. The image shows the elevation changes between the recreational use of the river and the industrial use of the rail line. The rail line is on a lower elevation to expose the river users to other systems.
E.) Walk and Drive:
Acoustic Wall Concept - This intersection shows the integration of the Towpath Walking Trail, Interstate 80, and Interstate 271. The image shows the elevation of the Towpath Trail as it forms an acoustic sound barrier - blending the high frequency infrastructure of the main highways with the natural, low infrastructural load of the trail.
D. Water and Rail
E. Walk and Drive
Transportation Vignettes A.) Bike and Port:
Information Node - The Great Lakes Seaway System and the Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway intersect at this point in Cleveland. The image shows how the existing cycling trail can be placed below grade, only to resurface at important data points - this data point is an information marker, exposing the intersection between the seaway and the bikeway.
A. Bike and Port
02 COMMUNAL CONSTRUCTIVISM Sharing Knowledge Through Community Resources Project Goals: The overall goal of this project is to create a design through
which users can actively engage with one another and members of the community - enabling them to share their knowledge with people of different backgrounds
Communal Constructivism A learning theory “in which networked learners not only construct and assimilate their own knowledge from their own learning opportunities, but deliberately contribute their own learning to a community resource base.�(Holmes & Gardner 2006) Learning is seen as a social and collaborative activity that is facilitated rather than directly taught. Building on constructivist theories, where learners are involved in building their own knowledge, social constructivism adds an interactive dimension, whereby they are actively engaged in the process of constructing knowledge for their learning community.
Project Programming Elements of Communal Constructivist Learning Authentic Contexts:
- Non-Linear Education Platforms - Access to a large number of resources
Authentic Activities:
- Tasks that can be integrated across subject areas - A single, complex task - Ill-defined activities
Access to Real Life Expert Performances:
- Access to learners varying in expertise - Sharing of stories - Access to the social periphery
Multiple Roles and Perspectives:
- Different perspectives on the topics - Opportunity to express points of view - Opportunity to criss-cross the learning environments
Collaborative Construction of Knowledge:
- Classroom organized into ‘groups’ - Appropriate incentive procedure for whole-group achievement
- Opportunity to compare with other learners - Collaborative groupings of ‘learners’
- Complex task incorporating inherent opportunities to articulate knowledge - Publicly present argument to enable defense of learning
- Complex open-ended learning environment - Non-linear multimedia design - Guidelines in a variety of contexts
Reflection to enable abstractions to be formed
Articulation to enable tacit knowledge to be made explicit: Authentic assessment of learning within the tasks:
Site Analysis Due to the variety of different transportation modes located around the area, the site surrounding the Flats Industrial Railroad was selected for design development. Three main sites were designed, the rail line acting as the branch through which the sites are connected. The components are outlined in the following pages: Forest of Perspectives (Nooks), Nodic Path, the Public Forum, and the connections between these elements.
01 FOREST OF PERSPECTIVES Initial Sketch of Building Concept
Designing Nooks for Small Scale Sharing
Communal Constructivism
This component of the project emphasizes the ‘Multiple Roles and Perspectives”, the ‘Authentic Contexts’ and the ‘Collaborative Construction of Knowledge’ criteria for the communal constructivism learning model.
Component Goals The Flats Industrial Railroad turns into a pedestrian path that folds into a series of small group oriented spaces, providing the users access to the social periphery. The nooks are designed as intimate spaces for small group collaboration - providing the users with the ability to share their personal stories and perspectives about varying subject areas. People are able to move through the seemingly unusual objects in non-linear sequences.
Responsive Design In the initial phase of this design, the nooks were designed in such a way that they did not respond to one another, but sat as individual objects in space. The task then became to understand how to make these nooks act as an integrated system without creating a linear platform for knowledge sharing. This design phase culminated in a series of plan and section studies designed to better understand how the users would interact with the nooks and their adjacent passages. The floating objects became grounded by context within the social periphery and by the interaction of users as they passed between these nooks. These studies enabled the creation of a forest of nooks, related by the periphery of their visual connections.
Creating a Response Between Nooks - Plan
These nooks were designed to promote reflection about different experiential learning components in order to enable abstractions to be formed about individual experiences. These sharing spaces provide the users with the opportunity to compare their own experiences with those of other learners, increasing the community resource base.
The nooks also provide the community with collaborative groupings of ‘learners’, enabling people to share their own knowledge resources with people who may have a different perspective on a given subject area.
02 THE NODIC PATH The Library of People Spaces are located in close proximity to each other, only to open up into nodes forcing users to gather in specific locations dependent upon the direction of the user.
The library as a building typology becomes a component of community development whereby the users or community members become a part of the knowledge bases accessed within the library.
Design Goals The concept for this design developed out of a desire to better understand how the spaces between rows of books provide a means of communication between people of different backgrounds. These ‘between spaces’ developed into a series of larger scale nodes that would be surrounded by smaller scale information need spaces. In this way, the traditional library resources become blended as people become a resource for each other, enabling users to increase their community resource base.
Initial Design Sketch
Node Development
Component Goals The primary goal of this design was to create an abstract sequence of spaces that would force the user to move through the building as it opens up into a series of larger ‘classroom’ scale meeting spaces. The smaller spaces surrounding the nodes provide the community with traditional library resources - to sustain their relevance in the ‘information age,’ contemporary libraries must function for existing
users by providing the operation of traditional library buildings while generating alternative spaces and uses to attract new audiences. This design attempts to rethink the library as a building typology by integrating the physical placemaking activities with the abstract knowledge sharing activities within the larger nodes.
Responsive Design
Public Lecture - 20+
Gallery - 10+
Stay Space - 15+
Small Class - 10+
Creating Relationships Between Nodes Similar to the ‘Forest of Perspectives,’ the design of the nodes had to be studied in different ways to understand how the users would inhabit the spaces. One of the predominant design objectives was to develop the spaces so that the nodes would stand out in contrast to the spaces surrounding them in more than plan development. The nodes became more pronounced - vaulted in such a way that they would be visible from the building exterior.
Some of the nodes become ‘ports’ - places for people using different forms of transportation to stop and communicate with each other, enabling users to share their experiences without inhabiting the building. In this case, the Nodic Path provides the opportunity to crisscross the learning environments and compare knowledge resources.
03 THE PUBLIC FORUM Creating a Forum for Community Development Initial Sketch of Building Concept
Understanding City Planning Services Communal Constructivism This component of the project emphasizes the ‘Multiple Roles and Perspectives”, the ‘Articulation to enable tacit knowledge to be made explicit’, and the ‘Access to Real Life Expert Performances’ criteria for the communal constructivism learning model.
Component Goals The concept of the public forum developed out of a need to understand the programmatic goals of the project. Rather than create a series of generic offices and meeting spaces related to city planning services, the design concept focused on uprooting the traditional city service hierarchy and replacing it with a new forum type. The new system was designed to place all members of the city, including the entire planning board on equal footing with community members. This enables a productive incentive procedure for whole-group achievement. City planning becomes a complex task incorporating inherent opportunities to articulate knowledge. Due to the vastly public nature of this meeting space, it also enable people to publicly present argument to enable defense of learning in the communal constructivist environment.
Planning the City In this forum, people gather to express their respective points of view about different functions within the city. People are able to engage with one another on a non-linear or non-hierarchical scale, providing access to users varying in expertise about a given topic. In this sense, the forum becomes the fundamental collaborative learning environment - people must work together to make a comprehensive plan. The dominant window becomes a screen facing toward the city for real time discussion and implementation. People are able to share their own desires for the city and exchange their respective knowledge and experiences.
The Pod
Circulation Structure These equally positioned pods branch off from the main circulation structure with views to surrounding screens that enable community members to take an active role in planning their community. This interior structure folds out to become a component of the exterior building form.
04 CONNECTIVE FABRIC Developing Connections Between Components
Creating Context The Flats Industrial Railroad became the foundation for the connections between these scaled meeting spaces, providing the community with the ability to pass through these components in a coherent manner.
Component Goals The bridge was the first component - it was the foundation for the other components. The concept was defined by a passage between seemingly unrelated objects, but at the project progressed it became increasingly aware that these elements needed to be grounded - the Flats Industrial Railroad became that element. The bridge is a lift bridge, meaning that pedestrian access would serve two purposes: First, as different forms of transportation would pass through the Cuyahoga River, the bridge would lift to accommodate the height of the vehicles, making the user aware of the ongoing experiential learning elements. Second, as the bridge would lift, people using the bridge would be forced to exit the space a different way than they had entered, enabling an exchange with people and spaces with which they had not previously interacted. The bridge maintained its original passage-oriented purpose, creating a space for people to pass through between different components. The aesthetics of the bridge design were developed to match the aesthetics of the surrounding design spaces.
Blending Connections The bridge design was developed to integrate the aesthetics of the other spaces. The bridge’s exterior was maintained, but an undulating wrapper was added to the interior of the bridge to fold into the adjacent spaces. The wrapper opens up at specific locations with access to views toward the city or to the surrounding spaces. On the side of the bridge, a component was added to blend the edges of the public forum and the aesthetics of the bridge. This component also houses the ‘port’ on the opposite side of the river, enabling people using water transportation to travel between the three different components without physically crossing over.
ARCHITECTURE THESIS EMILY WILLIAMS
2017
Contact Information: Email: egwilliams0402@gmail.com Phone: +1 (440) 488 4600 Website: ewilli54.wixsite.com/portfolio