Kansas Indigenous Cultural Center

Spring 2022 - Arch 209

Professor: Marianne Remboldt

Location: Topeka, Kansas

The state of Kansas has a long and vibrant history of Indigenous people and their culture. Kansas is one of the states with a large Indigenous population, with many tribes originally occupying the Great Plains. The purpose of this project was to create a space for the celebration and teaching of Indigenous people, their culture, and other aspects of their life. The Cultural

Center contains space for art and artifacts of Indigenous tribes native to Kansas. There is also a culinary aspect that is aimed to host local small Indigenous-owned restaurants to serve food and teach others their culinary styles.

Site Considerations

Address - 630 S Kansas Ave, Topeka, KS 66603

This site is located at the corner of S Kansas Ave and SE Seventh St, which is right on the edge of Topeka’s growing downtown area. The surrounding buildings are a couple of large office buildings and a few small businesses. To respond to this I made sure to provide plenty of green and peaceful outdoor space which allows a respite from the lack there-of in the bustling Metropolitan area.

Concept and Design

The form of the structure was designed to resemble the swooping form of a bird’s wings. I chose this representation because birds are very important to many tribes as birds are seen to represent the physical form of a guide or spirit helper. Large glazed facades were utilized in order to provide plenty of natural lighting. The hope for this is to help the user experience more of a connection to nature, especially with the large green areas on the site.

We were able to discover that the top roof timber were not angled but the roof itself was onto the Columns that held up the roof, when columns while being structural, their other was to be slots for the books and display the height of high tide of the river. Our group took recreate the slots as they represent more was going for. We were able to discover that the top roof member of timber were not angled but the roof itself was flat. Carrying onto the Columns that held up the roof, when researching the columns while being structural, their other main purpose was to be for the books and display the maximum height of high tide of the river. Our group took deep efforts into recreate the slots as they represent more than just books.

Gwangju River Reading Room Case Study

Partners: Emma Herr and Lou Cobb

Fall 2022 - Arch 600 - Advanced Parametric Modeling Professor: Kurt Hong Location:

Gwangju River, South Korea

This course served as an avenue to further develop skills in parametric modeling. After a few introductory assignments, we were tasked with choosing a structure to study and recreate entirely in grasshopper on Rhino3D. My group chose the Gwangju River Reading Room due to it’s unique form and construction. After completing our analysis of the stucture

Existing Parameters

Solid Components and dividing it into sub systems we started in Grasshopper. For my part I developed a script that constructed the roof members completely on Grasshopper and relied on only a single point in Rhino. Everything, from the overall height to the member size and spacing is adjustable.

Roof Base Stairwel Base Columns / Book Cases