Reconfigured GREG GETTMAN
ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO
Project One:
Pinocchio Library a children’s library in the birthplace of a legend More than creating a home for the extensive fairytale collection in Pinocchio’s birthplace of Collodi, Italy, the library stitches two worlds, both metaphorically and literally. Commissioned as a draw for tourists, it can be just as much of an asset to the community.
Reconfigured 2min
Project Two:
Dichotomous Box a downtown mixed use building Diverse programs in a mixed-use building require the conduction of similar activities. Instead of partitioning activities sporadically among programs, they could be grouped in common “mixing spaces” and programmatic elements would be dispersed around them, thereby streamlining the actual actions.
Project Three:
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Intersect university health center + emergency department Capitalizing on an intersection of cycling paths used by residents for recreation and students moving between campuses, an expansion of the university health system becomes a nexus of activity that embraces a broader idea of health that is not simply reactive, but built on a framework of an active, robust lifestyle.
Project Four:
HP 2 monocoque healthcare partition Abandoning traditional frame construction in the healthcare environment allows for the development of a new typology, where systems and interface are not only integrated into the structure, they determine its form.
Pinocchio Library
a children’s library in the birthplace of a legend Collodi, Italy
Pinocchio is not a story of one boy, but of two. One is mischievous, frivolous, and immature, the other caring, responsible, and conscientious. The two are intrinsically interwoven, each waxing and waning in response to the colorful cast of characters that surrounds the boy, but never far apart. It is this potent combination of bravado and deep love that ultimately leads Pinocchio to conduct a daring rescue of Geppetto and finally learn what it means to be a real boy. A children’s library is a place of great learning, but also of great joy. As Pinocchio may have marveled, it is simultaneously the school in which he’s driven to learn and the Land of Toys where he’s free to explore, to play, and to discover something new. In this project, that duality is manifested in the form of the library itself. The unique nature of the site provides incredible adjacency to both Pinocchio’s park and the rest of the city, yet the deep ravine is a fissure that keeps the activities disconnected. To mend that divide, two “threads” are joined on the site, one representing the noble and responsible learning of books and media stations, the other an emphasis on creative activity and learning through play. As learning and adventure takes place inside, the park is literally extended over the top, bridging the gap that had previously torn activity apart.
The library literally bridges the gap that divides Pinocchio’s park and part of the city from the most active spaces. In doing so, it stitches together all of the Pinocchio related activity into one central hub. It also leverages the adjacency to the park to draw nature along its roof, extending the public space into the newly generated center of activity.
view to villa view to statue
Villa Garzoni
connection to city
Pinnochio’s park
butterfly house
Pinocchio statue
paper factory
connection to city
Collodi, Italy
center of span
While the swooping gesture of interwoven connection helps to facilitate the activity this project hopes to engender, it creates a form that is difficult for traditional structural forms to accommodate. The library utilizes a diagrid truss system that solves the issues that a column system would necessarily impose. This system is parametrically optimized to maximize glazing. Effectively, this means that downward diagonal members are smallest as they approach the center of the span, while the opposite is true as they recede toward the ends. Likewise, the top and bottom chords bulge as they reach the center, where maximum strength is required. Both functional and dramatic, large mesh screens flank each of the threads, providing shade and enclosure. The “responsible” thread hosts a symmetrical, relatively restrained pair that broadens only to welcome guests arriving from the park. The “mischievous” thread, though, supports a pair of screens that undulate and spiral around their host, generating a variety of occupiable conditions. One of the pair even wraps around to become the floor in the exhibition area, and ultimately rises upward to serve as the floor of the observation platform.
At the paper factory, the two threads meet in a flurry of spectacle. The more rigid “responsible” path begins to undulate vertically through the throat of the old factory, reaching an apex alongside the towering smokestack under the long-fallen roof. Along the “mischievous” path, the floor itself begins to peel up, creating benches and gardens and spaces to crawl. The sunscreen swirls overhead in a tight gyre, swooping back to ground at the penultimate moment where the two paths collide, becoming the floor. Now intertwined, the two threads open up into a capacious exhibition space topped with an observation deck featuring views of the entire area.
1. parking entrance 2. parking access 3. parking area 4. reflecting pond light wells (above) 5. south entrance/reception 6. indoor climbing/kids reading 7. technology center 8. exhibition hall 9. amphitheatre
10. north entrance/reception 11. cafe 12. reading area 13. lounge/breakout space 14. outdoor play area 15. shelving/reading area 16. access to observation platform 17. open to below
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2” conc. paver adjustable pedestal 1/4” steel plate welded to 1/4” steel angle 8” planting soil 6” gravel base 4” rigid insulation 5” composite slab steel truss joint
edge detail blowup
parapet cap sloped blocking sheet metal barrier stainless steel clip silicone sealant 1 1/2” air space weather barrier
8” perforated aluminum angle 6” diam. french drain 8” planting soil stainless steel anchor w/ neoprene washer
1/2” sheathing
filter fabric
high-density cellulose spray foam insulation
6” gravel base
zinc panel
root barrier
screen support strut 3/4” diam. wire screen screen mid chord
diagrid tube aluminum storefront
epdm
steel stud
4” rigid insulation 5” composite slab diagrid tube 1/8” steel angle
steel truss joist 4” rigid insulation
steel truss joist
insect screen
5” composite slab
high-density cellulose spray foam insulation
1/2” concrete board high-density cellulose spray foam insulation zinc panels diagrid tube
aluminum storefront air register 1/2” gwb ceiling
edge detail blowup
screen bottom chord
detail section at library bridge
Dichotomous Box
downtown mixed-use building
Intersect
University Health Center + Emergency Department completed as project team leader with Nolan Stevens, Kelsey Kamrath, and Nicole Bridgeford
hp2
digitally fabricated high performance partition project completed with Brent Pauba, under the supervision of Brian Kelly