MASTER PLAN
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
RE-IMAGINING THE SAFE SPACE
1”=64’-0”
LIMINALITY
INITIAL INTERPRETATION THROUGH SKETCH
Liminality is defined as the “in between,” or middle stage in a ritual process. It occurs when participants no longer hold their pre-ritual, individual social status, yet have not begun the transition to their new status that they will hold when the ritual is complete. The liminal is a threshold between the participant’s previous way of structuring their identity, time, or community, and the new connecton and integration in which the ritual will establish. This liminal stage allows for an intimate approach to a deeper understanding of oneself in relation to community and collective identity. The liminal allows for each individual to exam space and time in relation to differing perspectives. It is a space where memory is established based upon perception and community.
PRE-LIMINAL
This phase signifies and establishes a detachment or separation of the individual from their current social structure/status and the physical nature of the main campus. This is represented by the beginning of a physical path that will be the start of a modern day pilgrimage/journey. The symbolic behavior of one preparing to separate themselves from a set of fixed social conditions.
LIMINAL
The liminal phase itself is ephemeral and transitional, it is when the participants are between their previous way of structuring their identity and community, and the new way in which this form of ritual establishes. This allows for the spatial qualities of liminality to be ambiguous and disoriented. Normal limits to thought, self-understanding, and behavior are relaxed - which can lead to new perspectives
POST LIMINAL
STATIONS
SITE PLAN 1”=32’-0”
PLANS 1/2”=1’-0”
The last phase completes the liminal phase and is symbolic of reincorporation, the result of the transformation from the liminal phase. As each individual was stripped and separated from their previous social identities, they are now reincorporated as a part of a larger community. A community which has formed as a result of this ritual activity. The community is a characteristic of the participants experiencing this ritual together. This is where the transformative dialogue occurs.
ABSTRACT In a political and social present marked by rigid dichotomies between “us and them,” the need to establish and design spaces where differing opinions and voices can be heard and understood, where realities can be articulated, has become more urgent than ever. As architects and designers, how do we create places and spaces that allow us to challenge the current structure and divisiveness that has so radically marked our current political and social discourse? This study derives from the comprehension that such a sustained and coherent effort requires collective identity. Thus, collective identity has the power to transcend “us and them” through shared memories. Furthermore, memory is always spatially located. In reaction to society’s immediacy, liminal and ephemeral qualities of space have been explored as effective ways to form such memory.
DEFINING SPACES
TYPICAL BUILT ENVIRONMENT WITH HIERARCHAL SPACES AND NO PROPER TRANSITIONAL PERIODS OR VIEWPOINTS
NON-HIERARCHAL SAFE SPACE IMPOSED INTO NATURE WITH LITTLE TO NO BUILT FORM
THE IN-BETWEEN? WHAT OCCURS HERE?
WATER VIEWS SOUNDS LIGHT TEXTURE TRANSPARENCY
THE EPHEMERAL
SUWANEE, GEORGIA NORTH GWINNETT HIGH SCHOOL
This project targets a specific suburban community within the United States that is representative of the political and socioeconomic controversies that are present in today’s society.
THE INDIVIDUAL
The site I chose is east of the main campus and adjacent to the Junior parking lot and the boy’s baseball field. The conditions of the site are pure in that it has been untouched. There is a small retention basin within the site that covers approximately 28,000 square feet. The topography of the site remains fairly flat, excluding the 12 foot dip into the retention basin. To the north and east of the site are residential neighborhoods. The site itself is separate from the main campus, but accessbile from Level Creek Road and West Price Road, the latter being more prominent. I chose this site because of its proximity yet remoteness from the main campus.
2 ft. contours
North Gwinnett currently serves as the tallest building int he surrounding area. Much of the site-line is blocked by tall trees and other vegetation. The site itself is not visible from the street and otherwise can only be seen from the Junior Parking Lot. The topography of the site is fairly flat, except at the retention basin. The proposed design should take into consideration these factors.
Much of the land use surrounding the site is private property with very few public land ownership. Most of the private residential homes are within larger subdivisions with surrounding forested areas, most of which are also privately owned. A privately owned Personal Care Home sits on the same land as the site and occupies the southern portion closest to the street.
INCORPORATION
SITE PLAN 1”=90’-0” CIRCULATION
THE STATIONS PHYSICAL NETWORK CONNECTING CENTRAL LOCATION TO MOMENTS ALONG A PATH
The stations, which take place within the liminal period, are designed to have an ephemeral quality. As with the liminal period in itself, you are only there fore a short period of time. The stations become less and less of built form as you move throughout the liminal stage. As they “disappear” and become a part of the landscape, your memory of them is sustained throughout the experience. The final moment, which takes place in the post-liminal phase, becomes a permanent, central structure that embodies the final transformation of liminality. Though the liminal phase is always transformative, the final location because a staple within the landscape.
OPEN, RELIEVED VIEWS TO NAUTRE, NO FOCUSED VIEW POINTS
FLASHED GUTTER
TIMBER CAP
FLASHED GUTTER
FURRING SHEATHING 3/4” REVEAL AROUND GLAZING
FOAM EXTENSION
SALVAGED VERTICAL CEDAR SIDING
THE COLLECTIVE
Sancaklar Mosque: This project helps to suggest ways to deal with existing site conditions and emph sizing this concept to create a sacred and isolated formal expression. It is important for my project, to remove any sense of spectacle and reach the true essence of what it means to be in a “Safe Space.” This precedent further emphasizes this need for design to be pure in its intentions and pull back from the outside world through its cave-like spaces. It allows the user to adjust the spaces to themselves.
FURRING
ONE CENTRAL LOCATION
SOLID WOOD TRIM
SALVAGED CEDAR USED FOR INTERIOR CLADDING
SOLID WOOD FLOOR
SOLID WOOD FLOOR
CINDER BLOCK FOUNDATION
CINDER BLOCK FOUNDATION
PVC WRAPPER
SITE PLAN
CONNECTION TO NATURE
First pavilion.
1”=90’-0” VIEWS
SITE SECTION 1/16”=1’-0”
because prefabricated components are made that provide extreme precision. Reduced waste tal impact of a project, as specific sizes and dimensions of components are determined in advance and components are made or cut to tight specifications. This also relates to the sustainable nature of prefabrication.
MUDLINE
CLOSED, CONNECTION TO NATURE THROUGH SCALE, CONTROLLED VIEW POINTS
Women’s Center: This project emphasizes programmatic elements through both spatial and social layers, which I find to be very intriguing and very rare. My project also aims to integrate the proper spatial and social layers so that they become ambiguous to each other. The spatial programming of the Women’s Center allows for women to be completely free and open to different and numerous economic opportunities while also providing a safe haven for them to explore their creativity and work. By layering this social aspect with pragmatic elements, it allows the space to flow.
A form of landscape that captures and uses storm-water is rain gardens. Rain gardens are bioretention areas that use soil, plants, and microbes to treat the storm-water before it is infiltrated or discharged. Bioretention areas are great at removing pollutants and allow for an overflow outlet that prevents flooding. Bioretention areas and rain gardens are simple to construct and can be designed to your liking. Bioretention areas and rain gardens are beneficial because they both: • provide groundwater recharge • improve site aesthetics • can treat multiple pollutants • provide shade, windbreaks, and absorbs noise
The entry serves as a physical transition between the pre-liminal phase and liminal phase. A physical entryway is established through the formation of an artificial hill that is cut through to create a threshold. The cut forms an entryway that creates a frame that captures the landscape and pond reached at the end of the journey.
BUILT FORM STORMWATER HARVESTING AND TREATMENT
Windhover: This project is very unique in its use of an open-ended program that encompasses religion, art, and nature. With it being only for students, staff, and faculty (only open to the public once a week) it becomes a sanctuary and a strong meditation space for those on campus who wish to find respite from the stresses of the world around them. Before visitors step into the front door, they must walk along a pathway that is almost the full length of the building, created an entry sequence that is sure to transcend the visitor to a more heightened perspective.
North Gwinnett currently serves as the tallest building int he surrounding area. Much of the site-line is blocked by tall trees and other vegetation. The site itself is not visible from the street and otherwise can only be seen from the Junior Parking Lot. The topography of the site is fairly flat, except at the retention basin. The proposed design should take into consideration these factors.
OPEN TO LIMITED SURROUNDINGS, LIMITED CONTROLLED VIEW POINTS
Wood prefabrication has a multitude of benefits, ronment, a greater return on investment, materi-
NYLON STRAP WITH PLASTIC CLIP
SHEATHING A NETWORK OF TRANSITIONAL MOMENTS
SUSTAINABILITY
SALVAGED VERTICAL CEDAR SIDING
FRAMEDGLAZING
MORPHOLOGY OF SITE
GOAL PRECEDENTS Windhover Contemplative Center Women’s Opportunity Center Sancaklar Mosque
POST LIMINAL
Architecture that encompasses meaning, yet is temporary is ephemeral. Ephemeral architecture is meant to exist for a short period of time and then disappear, providing a fleeting experience and leaving behind a memory. Ephemeral architecture is soley created to be ambiguous and transformative which allows and challenges the user to interpret the space personlly. The space is no longer utilitarian and programmatic, but becomes an experiential space focused on criticism and reflection.” Ephemeral architecture becomes meaningful simply because of its acknowledgd time limit and loose programmatic qualities.
As I began to explore the possibilites of my thesis project, I encouraged myself to think less about what I want to study and more about what I should be investigating. This brought back nostaligic feelings of my secondary education experience, but also reminded me of why I was so adamant in leaving the small town of Suwanee to pursue a degree at a Historically Black College.
To provide a space that transcends beyond “us and them,” and becomes a catalyst for future spaces that inted to challenge the divisiveness of our current social stature.
CUBE STUDY
TIMBER PILE WITH POLYVINYL WRAP
SCOPE OF WORK
PROGRAM
THRESHOLD
LIMINAL
PROCESSION
The study of the implementation of liminality and the ephemeral in relation to ritualized space and activity and its impact on the perceptions of high school students, faculty, and staff.
SEPARATION
SCALE
• Communal connection • Threshold • Ephemeral • Transcendence
A programmatic addition to an existing high school, focusing on the dialogue and connectedness amongst student’s, faculty, and staff and how that contributes to a collective identity and social resiliency.
PRE-LIMINAL
PREFABRICATED WOOD WALL DETAILS
• Ritual connectedness • Collective discourse • Collective identity • Shared identity
SITE PLAN
1”=90’-0” SPATIAL CONDITIONS
CONTEMPLATION AMBIGUITY
Key Words • Safe space • Ritual • Liminality • Collective identity
NATURE
PREFABRICATED WOOD CUBES
IMAGES
LIMINALITY
SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPES RAIN GARDEN
PROJECT LOCATION
DETAILS
How can the implementation and design of a safe space, within a high school campus, foster an environment for critical, transformative, and communal dialogue that emphasizes collective identity and social resiliency?
RECESSION
GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION
THESIS QUESTION
This thesis proposes a “safe space,” a sojourn focused on transcendence, contemplation, and memory through a perceptual and serialized experience.
THE PATH DEMOGRAPHICS, SUWANEE / NORTH GWINNETT
SITE SECTION OPEN, RELIEVED VIEWS TO NAUTRE, NO FOCUSED VIEW POINTS
OPEN TO LIMITED SURROUNDINGS, LIMITED CONTROLLED VIEW POINTS
CLOSED, CONNECTION TO NATURE THROUGH SCALE, CONTROLLED VIEW POINTS
1/16”=1’-0”
The last phase completes the liminal is symbolic of reincorporation, the result of the transformation from the liminal phase. Individuals are now reincorporated as a part of a larger community.
The storm-water harvesting system diverts and stores storm-water that would otherwise drain away. The system also treats the storm-water and delivers a new sustainable water supply to the existing wetlands. The system may work by diverting the storm-water through a new underground pipe from the storm-water channel near the corner of Euston and Sydney Park roads. Then, the water is treated using: • a pollution trap that essentially separates litter, soil and sediment, and other organic matter from the water through a screen. • then, a bioretention system collects the water and filters it through the soil • after, another filtration and added ultra-violet cleansing process occurs that allows the water to be reused.