The given site is the public housing zone enclosed by W104 ST, W110 ST, Manhattan Ave, and Columbus Ave in New York City. Street fronts of five streets around the site are photographed and analyzed. Each street shows unique characteristics, which suggest various paces of pedestrians who walk by: solid building facades suggest non-stopping fast pace; fenced areas initiate curiosity and slow people down; open roads suggest moments of pausing. Inspired by the site analysis, a variety of programs in the public swimming pool project are analyzed with the idea that different programs also contain paces or durations that are internal to them. The programs include standard exercise pool, community relaxation pool, play pool, hot tubs, cold tubs, quiet pools, bathrooms and changing rooms, showers, cafe, and auditorium. A ramping system and a partition system which consists of thin wood columns that have various spacing between them are applied to the design. And the programs are organized in a way such that as visitors navigate through the project from the bottom to the top, they get more and more relaxed and get access to programs that have slower and slower internal paces.
West 104 ST
up
Manhattan Ave
Columbus Ave
19
entrance
West 100 ST
Site Plan
Roof Plan Scale: 1: 1/8
Legend 19. Auditorium
a
ramp up
ramp down
ramp down
4 2
1
3
Lower Floor Plan
First Floor Plan
Scale: 1: 1/8
Scale: 1: 1/8
Legend 1. Steam Room 2. Cold Tub 3. Exercise Pool 4. Bathroom/Changing
11, 12. Quiet Pool 13., 14, 15, 16. Hot Tub 17. Bathroom & Changing 18. Outdoor Cafe
a
a
Legend 5, 8. Play Pool 6, 7. Community Pool 9. Cafe 10. Bathroom & Changing
5 11 10 17 ramp up
12
6
9
13
up
up
18
14
down
7
15 ramp up
16 8
a
a
ramp up
Second Floor Plan
Top Floor Plan
Scale: 1: 1/8
Scale: 1: 1/8
Cross Section 1’ = 1/4’’
Scale and Sustainability Public Bathroom Design
Vi
su
al
This public bathroom project locates on the green area at the upper end of Riverside Park in New York City. To the west of the site lies the beautiful scene of Hudson River; and to the east of the site lays the pedestrian walkway and benches. In order to avoid breaking the visual continuity of the pedestrians and accommodating different needs of people in terms of scale, I propose a double-unit public bathroom with a shared roof. The gap between two units allows people to see through; it also acts as a shelter under extreme weather. One of the units is wide and short; the other unit is narrow and tall. The scale difference creates unique experiences for the users.
a
Co
nt
b
in
ui
ty
To make the public bathroom function as a sustainable cell, the louver system for exterior walls and the rain-collecting roof system are applied.
b
a
Floor Plan
The louver system deals with issues of privacy and natural ventilation. Louvers open in larger angles to allow ventilation in the top and bottom ranges; and they open in smaller angles to protect user’s privacy in the middle range.
The big circular holes are open to the air to provide natural light to the space underneath. Translucent plastic materials are added to the light holes on top of the bathroom units to maintain privacy for users.
Ventilation 16 Degrees 13 Degrees 10 Degrees 10 Degrees
The small circular holes on top of the roof collect rain water, which runs into the big container underground, gets filtrated, and circulates back into the bathroom as supplement of regular water supply.
Privacy
5 Degrees 5 Degrees
10 Degrees
10 Degrees
Section a-a
Section b-b
Exploded Axon