MITIGATING MONUMENTALITY CLIMBING GYM + COMMUNITY CENTER
This project is designed to explore how to simultaneously distort the perception of a building and its true scale. This idea is a result of having to deal with program that requires height that is taller than most of its surrounding context and a width that seems out of place with the existing conditions of the site. The design of this building plays with the perception of scale on the exterior by using the facade as a way to control views in and out of the building and the ambient and focal light that these view emit. While using this method to utilize its mass on the exterior, the vast interior is mitigated through a series of strategies that create an inviting atmosphere and utilize the features of the program of the building. building
EXTERIOR METHODOLOGY PROGRAM LOCATION community work space cafe bouldering area community gathering space climbing gym entry space
01
Architecture as Volumes of Light
02
Metal Wrapping to Establish Ambiguity + Human Scale
equipment storage locker rooms public restrooms automated bike storage
Control: A 10’ concrete wall blocks the view of the interior to control sight into the building at the ground floor level
Slice: takes a part from the facade to contrast monumentality of the exterior against the human scale of the interior
Cracks: emits small lines of interior light to show permeability Reveal: exposes the interior as through a viewing frame
Ambiguity of Scale: Each slice and reveal utilizes the
entire height of facade, demonstrating its monumentality with the human scale only revealed by the occupants within and outside of the building.
03
Controlled Slices + Reveals to Direct + Expose
site plan Climbing Gym Reveal + Illumination of Christ’s Pieces
Focal Light: As a secondary function, the slices and
reveals emit focal light to signify where the entries to the buildings lie on the facade.
0
10
20
40
80
The overall strategy for the exterior of the design intends to distort perception of what is monumental and what addresses a human scale. The perception of the building is also disorted depending on what distance from which it is being viewed, with its true scale only revealed through controlled reveals and slices.
Interior Methodology
Vertical Layers:
01
02
Interior as Empty Volumes
Horizontal Zones: The climbing walls and
Layering floor plates break up the verticality of the volume. This prevents the space from feeling empty + cold.
extremities of the floor plates create zones of activity. The openness of these horizontal zones allow occupants to experience all aspects of the volume, creating an inclusive atmosphere.
The empty volumes of space lack human scale. The massive spaces convey feelings of isolation and coldness.
Programmatic Elements Treated as Objects in a Volume The climbing walls, secondary program (lockerrooms, equipment storage), and terciary program (elevator shafts, restrooms) are treated as objects in the volume. These objects intend to break down the vertical space within volume.
Section Cut 0
03
Programmatic Barriers Distinguished by Floor Plates Floor plates are used to divide programs in the volume, rather than walls. This creates zones of activity while making the volumes seem like a holistic space. It also allows someone to participate in an activity and also view other activities going on around them.
Midnight Commute: After occupation hours, the climbing walls are illuminated, the concrete walls remain washed in light, and the cracks within the screen emit light into the darkness of Christ’s Pieces to serve as a way finder even though the building is closed for the night.
10
20
40
Vertical + Horizontal Zones of Activity 80
The strategies used in the interior of the building are intended to provide a complete juxtaposition to the massiveness of the volume. The vertical and horizontle dividers break down the volume into smaller zones to provide a sense of human scale and to allow occupants to experience the different features of the building simulatneously.