VELOCIPEDARY
FL O O R P L A N S
SK 3
(ve-la-se-pēd-erē) - A public access bicycle education and resource facility where the public can learn how to build, fix and ride bicycles. The program primarily consists of a large bicycle assembly space, an adjacent parts selection space and an exterior riding space for testing completed bicycles. The riding space also serves as a classroom, offering bike riding lessons and safety classes.
HOW IT WORKS: - The velocipedary is a city-funded, public resource facility which functions in some similar ways to that of a public library. It provides a resource for the community, it promotes education and it stands as a testament to the well-being of a city’s population. - The building acquires used or discarded bicycles from the community and stores them to be disassembled by staff mechanics. - The building is staffed by bicycle mechanics who are in charge of stripping donated bicycles of any usable parts and stocking those parts in a part selection space. The mechanics also serve as a resource for patrons as they work on building their own bicycles.
- After the donated bicycles are disassembled, the parts of the bicycle are then stocked in a part selection space, where they will eventually be reused by the public to build new bikes. - Members of the community are then able to build their own bicycles from scratch using the donated parts. - A patron of the velocipedary begins building their bicycle by first selecting the parts they need in the part selection space. They then enter the assembly space and stand at a communal bicycle building table as they begin building their bicycle.
SK 2
- In addition to promoting bicycle use through education, the velocipedary also provides bike safety classes, rental bikes and secure storage for commuters who travel by bike.
STREET LEVEL PLAN
Statement of Design Intent
There is a moment in the process of learning, whether it be of visual, auditory or tactile means, in which information provided by a source becomes knowledge gained by an individual. Within that moment in the transition of understanding lies a feeling of empowerment. The learner becomes empowered with the knowledge that they have gained. It is through this process that knowledge is then be passed on to others.
The intention of this project is to evoke a feeling of empowerment within the individual, both internally as they progress through the process of learning how to build bicycles, and externally by means of a visual connection to the interior activity. The project seeks to accomplish this by establishing a hierarchy of form, kinetic relationships and direct natural light. Structural dominance and level changes establish a kinetic hierarchy that empowers the building over the pedestrian street. The concentration of direct natural light fosters empowerment by defining a hierarchy of place, and the delineation of bicycle and pedestrian scale is used to empower the relationship between an individual and their creation.