Architecture Portfolio 2009-2011 by Levi Tofias

architecture

LEVI TOFIAS

portfolio noun ( pl. -os) 1 a large, thin, flat case for loose sheets of paper such as drawings or maps. also can refer to digital files and websites. I.e. my portfolio is at www.obscuralucida.com • a calling card for who you are as a designer, a set of pieces of creative work collected by someone to display their skills, esp. to a potential employer or for academic awards. I.e. Its my portfolio check it out. 2 a survey of projects, building types and subjects studied in architecture school. A portfolio should show exploration, growth, and passion for the subject of architecture. 3 a document that is judged by school appointed reviewers to determine whether your a fit and proper candidate. I.e. You should pass my portfolio. 4 a trying process that makes you learn how to present your work properly and requires you to constantly revisit architectural ghosts from your past to present them all as friends. 4 a euphism for breaking social plans: I.e. I’d love to but I can’t, I’m doing portfolio. Origin: early 18th cent.: from Italian portafogli, from portare ‘carry’ + foglio ‘sheet of paper’ (from Latin folium).

process noun 1 a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end. I.e. design is a non-linear and elusive process. • a natural or involuntary series of changes : the design process produces irrational changes in mood and banging your head against the wall • a systematic series of programmatic or site specific operations that are performed in order to produce a statement of response : a project should process the program and the site to develop a spatial and architectural solution. 2 A method of working. Facebook is not part of this definition. 3 Biology Anatomy a natural appendage or outgrowth on or in an organism, such as a protuberance on a bone.(I didn’t make this one up). verb perform a series of on (something) in order to change or preserve it : the various stages in processing the work; also see Portfolio.

//contents

/intro /statement /1

/academic /3 /space of vision /studio /4 /engine of transformation /studio /30 /ecotopia /studio /50 /ecotopia /workshop /92 /ecotopia /exhibit /122 /artifact /studio /130

/PRACTICe /161 /Pfeufer richardson architects /162 /resume

<<Architecture is a canvas. History, context and culture the artist; light, form and details the paint.>>

Statement My Segment II studies for my Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s of Architecture represent a large amount of growth in a short amount of time. For the past two years I have maintained a rigourous academic regimen sustained by working in an equally demanding professional environment. My studies look at the spatial meaning of light, the relationship between historical and urban context, and the rewards of collaboration and sustainability. My professional work teaches me about architectural production, managing complex buildings and their systems, and the value of looking at architecture as a business.

academic

space of vision

overview STUDIO C-1

CHERYL WOLFE

SUMMER 2009 8 WEEKS

The studio will explore light, memory, and form with a focus on photography and building physical models. - Cheryl Wolfe.

Analysing Abstraction The initial investigation was centered around an assigned photograph of an abstract space. We were tasked with making sense of the photograph and breaking the elements and qualities down into architectural concepts. What were the forms that were in the photograph? What relationships could be pulled out from these abstractions? To understand better the spatial qualities captured in the photograph I began replicating the elements that could have caused the scene.

Assigned Photograph The photograph of an abstract architectural space was our starting point for our investigations. Photograph by Judith Turner, acclaimed Architectural Photographer.

Analysis Model & Sketch I started modelling and drawing to imagine what forms would have resulted in the photograph. _7

Shaft of Light To make the a column of light, I started with a slit to see what kind of light it would cast.

abstracting light & space It was hard to visualize how and why the left side of the photograph occurred. Was it a column? Or was it a shaft of light created by an aperture? I fancied the latter, and began to model forms that would create a column of light. One conclusion was that in order to make the light apparent, it was equally necessary to have darkness. Also the orientation of the light affected how the projected beam appear on the inside. In studies like this, it is best to pursue what you understand the least, because you discover things along the way instead of presupposing.

Exploration This forms attempts to keep elements of the original photograph and use them to create a shaft of light.

light, shadow, aperture Further investigations led me to look at the relationship of shadows and projection. The element casting the shadow had an effect on the size and darkness of the shadow, as did the direction and intensity of the light source. My investigations led me to start using aperture and light as a means to determine the form.

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Aperture Model showing a formal exploration of the idea of an aperture of light. It is an abstraction of the relationship I took from the original photograph.

Projection Using louvers against a translucent screen, I looked at how varying the depths of the louvers created differences in shadows. Longer louvers cast longer shadows.

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site The urban setting and a number of stylistic influences defined the character of the site. The site is bounded by a 6-story 1960s Concrete Brutalist building built for and used by the Boston Architectural College for classes, studios, library, and administrative functions. It is also bounded by two 1880s brick Romanesque Revivalist buildings, both of which were designed as municipal buildings, a fire and police station. The fire station is still in use as such, but the the police station has changed functions over the years to currently house additional BAC academic spaces. 320 Newbury St. is the main building of the BAC. The Brutalist Concrete structure was designed and built during the 1960s following the demolition of the building originally on the site.

Site Map showing the site between two of the BAC buildings on the edge of the Back Bay. The two buildings share an alley space to their rears and this is the site for the studio investigation.

951 Boylston St. The Romanesque Revivalist Brick building was built originally as a police station, later became the Institute for Contemporary Art, and most recently, a BAC building.

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320 NEWBURY ST.

951 BOYLSTON ST.

Alley Site made it important to understand the narrow spaces in-between the two buildings. We were required to maintain use of the alley for the other businesses that required it. Open/Closed The alley traditionally and historically represents the areas of the buildings that are for service and have minimal openings and transparency as contrasted with the open glass walls along the main streets. Part of the challenge of the site was celebrating the alley and creating an addition that would invite users in.

951 BOYLSTON ST.

320 NEWBURY ST.

SITE

951 BOYLSTON ST.

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context A number of urban â&#x20AC;&#x153;seamsâ&#x20AC;? converging characterizes the urban fabric around the site. The regular urban grid of Back Bay runs into the varied and angled streets of the Fenway and Prudential neighborhoods. Adjacent to the site there are a number of overlapping transportation infrastructures. Within close proximity to the site the Mass Pike dives under ground, and the T literally passes through the front part of the basement of 950 Boylston St. The varied layers of use and speed all represent different experiential experiences. Part of the studio was using photography as a means of inquiry.

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Overlapping Infrastructure The site is characterized by a variety of infrastructure that cuts through and by the site, I compared the scales and looked at the directions of the overlaps in order to understand them architecturally. Urban Overlap The speed of the city is also part of the nature of this site, the constant exchange of people, cars, noise, and light make the city what it is.

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time, light & shadows I looked at some of the qualitative aspects of light in around the site. I found moments during the day where the light and shadows served to project. These photographic investigations looked at various ways light & shadows mark time on spaces and buildings.

Boylston St. In late afternoon when the sun is low, the shadows of buildings are projected across the street.

320 Newbury St. The photographs taken over the course of the day and night show how the building reveals itself as it gets dark.

Alley #444 Early morning light enters the alley from Hereford St. The forms of 320 Newbury St. casts strong shadows. _17

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Apertures in both horizontal and vertical directions bring light and users into the building, the majority of which spans like a bridge between the two buildings. Light & Shadows created by overlapping forms infill the space between the two buildings.

Apertures & Overlaps My investigations up until this point coalesced into an exploration of how light and shadows can use aperture for connections across and into the site. The formal overlapping is inspired by the character of the surrounding crisscrossing infrastructure. It is an architecture of in-between, where the building becomes an infill into the urban fabric. A connection across and above the alley ties the two buildings together. In stitching the two buildings together, there is a stronger â&#x20AC;&#x153;campusâ&#x20AC;? connection. Also it becomes a threshold that draws users into the area, and gives an strong visual identity to the BAC.

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320 NEWBURY ST.

Sun Angles Paying close attention to how the sun hit the alley at different times of the day, I determined shapes from the sun paths. Sun Paths The paths of the sun hit the alley at different angles during the course of the day. Here they are overlaid on each other.

951 BOYLSTON ST.

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Sun Paths and Angles In this series of models I tried to use the paths of the sun to dictate the formal move I was making. It helped me realize that while the path of the sun was an interesting thing to look at I still needed an organizing logic and, ultimately it was my job as a designer to take this information and harness it. This model was valuable because it made me step back and look at what was really important about the site and helped focus my ideas about aperture and light. The absence of my previous ideas about controlling light made me realize that this was really the meat of my investigations in this studio. If you take a wrong turn, but can figure out where you went wrong, it just makes your ideas stronger.

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Overlapping I returned to the idea of overlapping because it gave me a strategy to control the light. Depending on the overlap and how the forms met, light and shadow could be cast in different ways. It also returned to my ideas about the character of the site; the overlapping nature of city and the context of criss-crossing infrastructure. I began looking at what happens when the forms overlap and investigating a relationship of subtraction, so that one form takes its cues from another.

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Overlap Studies looking at how these connective bars could overlap helped me see the possibilities of the strategy. Site positing the bars so they connect the two buildings and reach out to Hereford St. Subtractive Overlap one form takes its cues from the next.

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Project Statement My project, a media center between two BAC buildings at 320 Newbury St. and 951 Boylston St., looks at how weaving together discrete elements such as light and shadow, indoor and outdoor space, and public/private space can transform an alley space of “in-between” into an enmeshed architecture of the school and urban fabric. The site and the area surrounding it are both characterized by the sense of overlapping layers and multiplicity of activities. Both of the buildings are at the edge of the grid of the Back Bay. The Mass. Pike. running under the Boylston St. and Mass. Ave. intersection and its continuation under the Prudential area accentuates the harshness of the site’s edges. The manner in which it is revealed and perceived make it part of the urban experience; adding additional layers, this project celebrates the city.

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A Media Screen allows for display of student work and serves to activate the alley. The wood clad volumes allow for a dialogue with the two existing structures, The voids allow for a visual connections between the users and the street.

Section Cut along the length of the alley, showing the entrances into the existing BAC building at 320 Newbury St. The bridging form uses apertures to create lightwells and respond to the context.

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320 NEWBURY ST. BUILDING

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MEDIA LAB

GREENDECK

CIRC.

OFFICES

WORKSPACE

951 BOYLSTON ST. BUILDING

12 PM

Site & Light Since the media center was contained between the two buildings and the narrow site did not afford the space for it to touch the ground, visual connections were used to create a connection from the users and the street. Users and passersby were connected to the site through use of apertures in the building. The lightwells brought daylight into the building and create a sense of time in the workspaces. As the light moves across the building as the day passes, users are connected to the movement of time. Also, apertures were used to frame views out of and into the spaces.

Voids along the Edges allow for light to enter into the building at various times of the day, despite the narrow site of the alley. The lightwells bring light down to the various floors. Cross-Section cut across the alley, showing the connections to the existing building at 951 Boylston St. Light & Shadows created by overlapping forms mark time as the light passes through the space.

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Materiality The use of wood is important as it is a warm, natural material. The use of wood sets the form apart from the buildings it stretches between- the Brutalist concrete building at 320 Newbury St. and the Romanesque revivalist Brick building on Boylston st. It also contrasts with the use of technology in the space. The same way that tactile and experiential quality of books remains in the face of kindles, ebooks, and computers, the use of wood and green spaces speak to our need for the natural elements in the face of our growing technological reliance. Natural materials become a break from our technological devices; they should create a balance. Also, the wood clad volume becomes a mediating factor between the concrete and the brick. Both brick and concrete are comprised of organic materials, so the less processed natural material relates the two masonry structures. The third element turn the disparities between the two buildings into a triptych of materiality.

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A Media Wall promotes internal educational displays or could be used as gallery spaces of students work. It also creates an opportunity to display real-time work via screenshots of work that it is being created in other parts of the building. Outdoor Spaces are tied to circulation paths so that students passing between the buildings are not stuck inside all day as they move through the “urban campus”. Open Air Apertures becomes akin to the ‘quad’ of traditional college campuses. A space where students, faculty, and visitors canintersect as they pass from one building to another. Natural materials, light and plantings provide a break from technology.

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Engine of transformation

overview C-2 STUDIO

Instructor: Michelle Auer

Fall 2009

16 Weeks

The economic crisis is a cruelly efficient engine of transformation. In the vacuum left by the bubbleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collapse, new and catalytic possibilities are emerging. But what lasting impact can these new entities achieve when the old pressures and patterns inevitably return? Half-complete and orphaned by bankrupt developers, these structures loom over their neighborhoods. The stall in work presents an unprecedented opportunity for large-scale, bottom-up planning. This studio proposes the reuse of the Fileneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s block in Downtown Crossing as a green jobs training center-a temporary occupation and transformation of one of the most high-profile development sites in Boston. We propose a large green jobs training effort in the near term and provide an armature for the eventual commercial development of the site. The training center will remain in some form permanently, but will need to ultimately coexist with the retail and housing uses required by the singular location. We will ask: How will the various users of the building interact, and how will those interactions inform its design? How can a temporary identity inform a permanent one, and how will this interact with the treasured identity of the historic Burnham building in the heart of Downtown Crossing? -Michelle Auer

Site from Washington St. View of the site of the old Fileneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Building. The proposed construction project halted after demolition leaving a hole in what was once the economic center of Boston.

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Site The site is historically important because of its location as the cultural center of Boston’s retail & shopping district. Currently, the site is a hole in the ground following a redevelopment effort as a hotel/office tower that was stalled due to the economic downturn and loss of funding. To regenerate the civic and urban nature of the site a program was selected that had an immediate need, and also future growth potential. A green jobs training and educational center capitalized on the potential of job growth in “green collar” jobs; the addition of retail space made it economically viable and strengthened the commercial district. The green training center and the retail stores also could complement each other. The historic remainder of the Filene’s building, the new retail space, and the new green job center, were puzzle pieces that needed to fit together to strengthen each other.

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form-making To generate our response we began the studio making a series of models of a formal relationship. I made a series of interlocking models. As the forms became more complex the possibilities of the strategy become more interesting. The models all slipped apart and together, and the movement created a dynamic element to the relationship. When two pieces pull apart, another space is created in-between them.

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Interaction I began investigating the kinds of interactions that occur on the area around the site. It became clear that many more types of interactions happened in the spaces between the buildings. The thing that makes the Downtown Crossing area attractive is the street, the buzz of activity that has waned in recent years is what attracts people to the area. Creating spaces for interaction is important to bring the life back to Downtown Crossing. Formally, I started looking at interstitial spaces formed by separating elements apart and continuation of surfaces.

Interactions A series of thumbnail sketches looking at the variety of interactions that occur around the site. Creating Outdoor Spaces How could the spaces in-between buildings be used as outdoor spaces?

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Formal Strategies looking at how folding and interlocking can be used to activate building edges. Street to Building Relationships The building should open to the street and create lively plaza spaces and a connection to the buildings Washington St. Storefronts with overhangs and setbacks line the street in this retail heavy district.

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Massing

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Using formal ideas of massing, I tried to create two distinct masses for each the retail and the green job center. The program seemed different enough that each needed their own mass to define them. These iterations began with the main opening facing Franklin St. Ultimately, the entrance to the space also created closed ends, to the detriment of activating the Washington St. corridor, the main pedestrian thoroughfare.

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Opposing Directions Massing models looking at how the two programs could face different way.

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Vertical Street Trying to create a â&#x20AC;&#x153;vertical streetâ&#x20AC;? to divide the two programs and create a series of interlocking open-air spaces.

Retail facing the street The connection of public and retail would face the street and open the building up.

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Green Center Massing model showing the Green Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s location mainly occuping the corner of Washington St. and Franklin St. Retail & Courtyard The retail space would interlock into the Green Center leaving an interior courtyard and plaza for outdoor markets.

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nk Fra Relation to Street A large public space or theater would occupy the most visible and well traveled corner of the site to faciliate the goals of the Green Center. Generative Sketch A series of interlocking forms, stacked upon each other.

Site Massing Next, I began to further distinguish the two programmatic spaces. Also, I began defining specific spaces in relation to the site. The corner of Franklin and Washington was a high traffic corner that warranted a connection between the interior program and the street. Using the masses of the building, an interior courtyard brought light into the space and created a focus to the buildings. Two areas that needed to be strengthened were the connection to the street and the relationship to the existing building. This massing iteration was a start, but I needed to figure out a way to develop a more specific logic to my site response.

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Retail

Existing Building (possible Hotel Conversion)

Green Center

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Existing, New Retail, New Green Center To develop a stronger relationship to the street, I made openings on an axis perpendicular to the building. This allowed for entrance from two streets instead of one, and drew the users into a circulation core. A larger separation between the two programs further defined the buildings. Lastly, increasing the vertical height of the buildings fulfilled the programs requirements and established a relationship to the existing building. Simplifying the masses of the building demonstrated the relationships of the three buildings to each other, to the street, and to the program.

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Program & Existing The two masses interlock and attach to the existing historic building.

Organization A series of diagrams showing the relationship of the two programs interlocked around a central vertical circulation core. The two programs required separate circulation cores; proximity allowed for them to intersect at key points. Use of glazing differs based on the respective program.

Solid and Voids In order to figure out when the program should be connected to the street, and how the two buildings should be related to each other I created a series of diagrams to demarcate the relationships. Whether it was part of the retail space or the green center determined how the formal language of solids and voids was used. It made sense for the retail space to be displayed in the voids and the circulation too be placed within the solids. In the green space, the circulatory space was exposed so it could act like an extension of the street and invite the public in. _43

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Program of Green Center The entrance to the Green Center is from Hawley St. The Theater, Exhibits, and Display Area all have glazing that opens onto Washington and Franklin St. Washington St. Entrance The building peels back into the plaza opening it to the Street. The plaza also allows for connections to occur between the two buildings. Program Relationships The entrance plaza allows shoppers and visitors to enter the building and also display both the two programs.

Franklin St.

Program In order to figure out when the program should be connected to the street, and how the two buildings should be related to each other I created a series of diagrams to further define their relationships. The entrance created a new â&#x20AC;&#x153;streetâ&#x20AC;? to display the exhibitions and public spaces. The organization of the program created a connection between production and consuming, to educate users about sustainability in everyday life.

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Green Center Entrance The entrance to the Green Center is from Hawley St. This gives a stronger identity to the Green Center and allows for students to avoid the retail areas. Birdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Eye View showing the rooftop gardens and its close relationship to the restaurants at the top of the retail building.

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Washington St. Entrance The retail entrance is also bordered by the Green Center display area allowing for large double height exhibitions to be visible from the street. Corner of Washington & Franklin The building engages the corner with a below grade theater, display, and circulation areas visible.

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Franklin St.

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ecotopian project

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overview

Nearly half of my Segment II studies were involved with the Ecotopia Project. Led by Gabe Bergeron and the Practice Department, it was the most powerful concurrent educational experience I’ve had at the BAC. Different from other studios at the BAC, from the beginning it was a “real world” project. The client, the Housing Assistance Corporation (HAC) located in Sandwich Ma, had begun a relationship with the BAC in 2007 when they purchased the Curio House, the BAC’s entry in the 2007 Solar Decathlon competition., a national competition for solar-powered houses. The Curio House became the first building of a larger 50 unit development in Sandwich, Ma, called The Community Green. This community is envisioned as a sustainable and functioning means to provide transitional housing to post-homeless families and individuals. Our scope of work was to design a single family house for an administrator to the community. In spring 2010, I became involved in the project as a member of the initial studio, leading a team students to generate a design. Summer 2010, we formed a team to slog through schematic design. In the fall, the team took a workshop together, and produced a bid set of drawings. In early 2011, we built a full-scale mock-up of a corner of our house which was exhibited in the gallery on 320 Newbury St. Currently, we are seeking out funding with the continued goal of making this a design/ build project. Spring2010

phase: class: role:

Summer2010

Fall2010

Schematic/Design Dev. extra-curricular

Construction Docs

Exhibition

studio

workshop

extra-curricular

team facilitator

design facilitator

Competition

Jan-Feb2011

C-1 STUDIO, WORKSHOP, EXTRACURRICULAR Instructor: Gabe Bergeron Feb 2010- Feb 2011

The Ecotopian Project involved collaborative student teams designing a sustainable house for a developer and client. It was a unique combination of school and practice, and was one of the most challenging and rewarding projects I have worked on. The multiple phases of the project each had their own focus and characteristics.

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ecot

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.â&#x20AC;?- Charles Darwin

Phase 1: studio

Proposed Site Ecotopia House

Introduction Designing a sustainable house was half of this class; the other, if not the main, part of this studio was learning to be a effective collaborator/ design facilitator/ team leader. I was assigned three students to work with who would receive practice credit from the BAC. My team choose the name Terra Firma Designs to represent our ideals about sustainability. In 16 weeks, we became a team, designed a house, and presented our work to a jury of architects and the client.

C-2 STUDIO

Instructor: Gabe Bergeron

Spring 2010

16 Weeks

Create an Experimental Sustainable House for a posthomeless communal settlement on Cape Cod In 2009. The Housing Assistance Corporation of Cape Cod purchased the Curio House, The BACâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s entry to the Solar Decathlon. It will be the first house on their new, experimental, posthomeless, integrated community settlement. They have also asked the BAC to develop designs for their second house. You will be working on a design for a fully sustainable, demonstration worthy, single family house that will be built on a 46 acre parcel of land on Cape Cod. The overall settlement will have a variety of housing types, along with a working farm, a job training center, and a number of additional communal functions. This is a real project, with a real client and community group, leading eventually to a real built project. As one of the select few to join this studio, you will be leading your own team of students to create a new house design. You will be working with 2-3 additional students who will be involved for Practice Credit. As a leader of a team you will be learning how to collaborate effectively, recognizing the strengths and contributions of your team members, and considering the management of time and efforts. You will be expected to fully engage the latent creative potential of working with a group of designers to develop brilliant ideas, collectively. -Gabe Bergeron

Anesu Dhilwayo

Levi Tofias

Reed Harmon

Jose Polanco Terra Firma Designs The Team members above, and our business card design below.

Terrafirma Designs

Researching Systems Our first assignment was to investigate Systems. Each of the eight teams investigated a different subject, so that we were able to pool our research and resources. We compiled our research documents into a larger binder that served as a basis for subsequent design work. This also provided our teams with an opportunity to work out how we work as groups and figure out strategies for successful teamwork and production. My team was assigned the topic of systems. We created a document which examined various systems and systems thinking. We applied systematic thinking to the design of a house and diagrammed the relationships between external and internal forces that act on a dwelling. We were concerned with the relationship of the house to the community, family, environment and means of production.

climate

making a house a home

home system use

cost

income

food

members

relationships

building materials

house

identity

energy use code/safety

roles/responsibilities

family

layout of spaces social interaction

WHICH SYSTEMS?

emotional

The main systems our house interfaces with are community, climate, natural resources, and family.

physical consumption waste

longevity

health soil

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Systems of a House We developed a series of diagrams looking at all of the systems related to a house. Ecology & Social Systems These pages from our research document helped us take a holistic approach to design. _56 _27

ecology matters

Ecology Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural ecol·o·gies Etymology: German Ökologie, from öko- eco- + -logie -logy Date: 1873

When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. ~John Muir

1 : a branch of science concerned with the interrelationship of organisms and their environments 2 : the totality or pattern of relations between organisms and their environment 3 : human ecology 4 : environment, climate <the moral ecology>; also : an often delicate or intricate system or complex <the ecology of language>

There has been need for exploration on how communities can sustain themselves with their local resources. How can local resources be successful? How can we design a lifestyle that enhances a relationship to local resources? Ecology is a web of connecMain Entry: food Pronunciation: \əfüd\ tions. No single independent organism is Function: noun capable of surviving without help from other Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English fode, from Old Engorganisms. This connection is referred to as lish fəda; akin to Old High German fuotar food, an ecosystem; a ‘whole system… including fodder, Latin panis bread, pascere to feed Date: before 12th century not only the organism-complex, but also the 1 a : material consisting essentially of protein, carbohydrate, and fat used in the body of an organism whole complex of physical factors forming to sustain growth, repair, and vital processes and what we call the environment’. The ecosysto furnish energy; also : such food together with supplementary substances (as minerals, vitamins, and tem is not linear relationship but a cyclical condiments) b :inorganic substances absorbed by one. In the ecosystem no energy is wasted plants in gaseous form or in water solution it is transformed into other forms of energy 2 : nutriment in solid form 3 : something that nourishes, sustains, or supand cycles through different organism and plies <food for thought> back to the source. Main Entry: na·ture Humans need to immerse themselves Pronunciation: \ənə-chər\ into nature’s ecosystem and become a part Function: noun Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from of it. Currently we extracting resources from Latin natura, from natus, past participle of nasci to be the ecosystem and replace them with chemiborn — more at nation Date: 14th century cals that are harmful to animals, plants and 1 a : the inherent character or basic constitution of a person or thing : essence b : disposition, tempera- the environment. The life on planet earth did _10 _10 ment not take over the planet by combating what Main Entry: food web Function: noun Date: 1949 : the totality of interacting food chains in an ecological community

im a social being

2 a : a creative and controlling force in the universe b : an inner force or the sum of such forces in an individual 3 : a kind or class usually distinguished by funda-

was there before but by networking to defeat earth’s prior residents. We need to stop combating with nature and become a part of it. If we continue to combat with nature [we will win] but we will damage the planet, animals and plants that are essential to our survival as human being…then what? How will we sustain ourselves? We need to stop abusing nature’s resources to ensure a future existence for humanity. What makes ecology work? Networks All living things in an ecosystem are interconnected through networks of relationship. They depend on this web of life to survive. If organism fails to deliver, the supply shortage affects the entire web of organisms in a positive or negative way. Nested Systems Nature is made up of systems that are nested within systems. Each individual system is an integrated whole and—at the same time— part of larger systems. Changes within a

Social Function: adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Latin socialis, from socius companion, ally, associate; akin to Old English secg man, companion, Latin sequi to follow — more at sue Date: 14th century

“Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being.” Mahatma Gandhi quotes (Indian Philosopher, 18691948)

1 : involving allies or confederates <the Social War between the Athenians and their allies> 2 a : marked by or passed in pleasant companionship with one’s friends or associates <leads a very full social life> b : sociable c : of, relating to, or designed for sociability <a social club> 3 : of or relating to human society, the interaction of the individual and the group, or the welfare of human beings as members of society <social institutions> 4 a : tending to form cooperative and interdependent Social Sustainability is a quality of rerelationships with others of one’s kind : gregarious b : living and breeding in more or less organized com- silient social-ecological systems. This should munities <social insects> c of a plant : tending to grow in groups or masses so as to form a pure stand include strong social relations; individual 5 a : of, relating to, or based on rank or status in a satisfaction with work tasks; the potential to particular society <a member of our social set> b : of, relating to, or characteristic of the upper classes c discuss and share responsibility with other : formal people; and confidence in the future and ex6 : being such in social situations <a social drinker> Humanity Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural hu·man·i·ties Date: 14th century 1 : the quality or state of being humane 2 a : the quality or state of being human b plural : human attributes or qualities <his work has the ripeness of the 18th century, and its rough humanities — Pamela H. Johnson> 3 plural : the branches of learning (as philosophy, arts, or languages) that investigate human constructs and concerns as opposed to natural processes (as in physics or chemistry) and social relations (as in anthropology or economics) 4 : the human race : the totality of human beings Emotion Function: noun Etymology: Middle French, from emouvoir to stir up, from Old French esmovoir, from Latin emovəre to _16 remove, displace, from e- + movəre to move Date: 1579

perience of recognition from family, friends, and society. However, the social dimension could also be described using more universal social-psychological concepts such as the fulfillment of basic human needs; for instance, protection, freedom, understanding, participation, creativity, affection, etc. A stable society requires maintenance and replenishment by shared values and equal rights, and by community, religious and cultural interactions. This means that cohesion of community for mutual benefit, connectedness between groups of people, reciprocity, tolerance, compassion, patience, forbearance, fellowship, love, commonly accepted standards of honesty, _16 discipline and ethics are incredibly important. In addition, com-

monly shared rules, laws, information, and economic stability promote social sustainability. This would imply that a socially sustainable conscience home relies considerably on the consideration of community vernacular and human comfort. At its most basic, social sustainability can more or less be broken down into the manipulation of comfort; comfort inside the home, and comfort between the home and the community. The idea of comfort, as Robert P. Davis put it: Is a complex act with emotional and physical components, contextually and culturally sensitive, with an indeterminate path to get there, but an absolutely certain sense of arrival. We know when we are and we know when we’re not. Comfort is a summary condition, the parts adding up to some kind of satisfaction.

So examples of this are rather obvious: if I’m cold, get warm; if tired, get sleep. This means that in order to reach a level of comfort one

1 a obsolete : disturbance b : excitement 2 a : the affective aspect of consciousness : feeling b

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Visiting the Site Community Green Before our first client meeting with the Housing Assistance Corportation (HAC), we had a chance to walk around the site of the Community Green. We had studied our site map, but walking around the undeveloped and uncleared site really introduced us to the scale and character of the site. We meet with Giselle Gauthier, one of the project directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s from the HAC, who walked us around the wooded sandy site. She showed us the current community gardens, that has already been implemented, and led us to the site where we were to design a house. The site planning was done previously during the permitting & approval process, so we were _58

given an area of the site in which to locate the administratorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house that we were designing. The general organization of the site was of a loop road encircling the community. The members of the community live within the road, and the administrators had their own separate area to the south of the site. Also planned is the Enterprise Center, a job training facility, and a large area for growing crops, raising livestock, and a farm stand. This is all part of the holistic approach to sustainability in the community.

Site Visit Walking around the site and imagining where the various pieces of the communities helped us understand the scope of HACâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Vision. We also looked at their gardens, the first part of the community to be implemented.

Proposed Site Ecotopia House

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Client Workshop 1 Client Charette Next, we met with the client, the HAC, near their headquarters in Falmouth, MA. We heard about their vision for the Community Green, learned a lot about their organizational and individual goals for the project, and became better acquainted with the client. In working with the client, a board of 8-10 members, it was really important to listen to the various voices within the group and to try and figure out the who’s who of the group. The challenge of working with a client is understanding how we as designers can take the information they give us and translate it into a design that meet their goals. In hindsight, the relationships we were developing with the client was the most important part of this meeting, just getting to know each other and develop a rapport.

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Our group developed two activities that we led the client group in to ascertain information about the site and what community meant to them. In order to break the ice and figure out how the client felt about community we had them do an activity called the Room-People Meter. We turned the room into a meter, with one team member rep-

resenting “agree” and “disagree” at opposite ends of the room. Then we asked probing questions about community and they physically placed themselves somewhere along the spectrum of agreeing/disagreeing. We had prepared statements like “I like being able to talk to my neighbor from the front porch” and “I think driving a Prius is living sustainably”. The statements elicited a variety of helpful responses, and it was a fun activity for the group to get up and moving and allow all of the individuals in the group to be heard. The second activity did more of the same, but we used a site map as the canvas for them to express their opinions on. They plotted their responses to questions about daily usage and activities on the map with pins, showing us intended uses of various parts of the masterplan and how they envisioned the community spaces being used.

Room-People Meter People were able to answer questions placing themselves on a spectrum from “agree” to “disagree”.

Charette Activities In response to site questions, the client plotted their responses with pins and a site map.

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Brainstorming Following our client meeting/ and site visit, we set about figuring out how to work together and how to develop a concept. Since we were new to working with each other, and we were werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t adept as working as a team we began a series of brainstorming exercises and ways of generating a more focused approached to the information we had gathered from meeting with the client and our site visit. While the list of brainstorming terms may not appear as much, it was really helpful to get us all talking and developing our dynamic as a team. As the conversation shifted to â&#x20AC;&#x153;sustainabilityâ&#x20AC;? we began developing an understanding of what it meant to us. We did not want to develop a model of sustainability that relied on high technology but wanted to use simple strategies to achieve a lot of effects, and to take a holistic approach.

Brainstorming We started a design conversation about our thoughts about sustainability and began working through all of the information we had received during our site visit.

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Collaborating As this was the first time we set out to tackle design ideas, I made sure to set the tone early on and to emphasize a few key points: Everybody’s voice was important to be heard, we needed to be work together, and that it would be necessary to take risks and try new things. I led a series of exercises I had planned to demonstrate this. To make the concept sketches, we each took a piece of paper and illustrated an idea that we thought was important. The black lines were the generating ideas. Then, we kept the same color marker, passed the papers around and each had 30 seconds to continue the sketch. We didn’t reveal what our starting words were until after. The idea was that we had to quickly _64

judge what our teammate had produced, and add to it. It was challenging and the drawings were nothing special, but the room became alive, it was really fun! Framing teamwork and design as a game made the remainder of our weeks together really great. The rotating of the work made is so it wasn’t anyone’s design in particular, and became the team’s design. We often came back to these exercises as a reminder of how to rekindle our collaborative fire.

Collaborative Sketches We started a collaborative method of working where we would rotate a drawing after 30 seconds.

Collaborative Models We also made collaborative models we would rotate a model after 30 seconds. These exercises were a good ice-breaker to get us used to producing work and designing together.

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Investigating & Generating Our working concept word at this point was “rotate”. We were interested in the movement across layers, transitions and experiential space, between multiple user groups, zones of public/private, and site relationships. We used our success in collaborating to help us pursue a concept. We spent the next couple of weeks working individually and as a team. Even when we worked individually, we ended up rotating our work from meeting to meeting. For example, I would pursue an idea one week, and the next week Jose would take my drawings and ideas as a starting point, and I would take Anesu’s etc. At a certain point we didn’t need to do this so formally, it just became the way we worked. I also pushed the group and myself to use mediums we might not have worked with before, and to try new things. I think our _66

process work reflects both the methodology and the great attitudes and work ethics of my teammates. After each round of work, we distilled the ideas down to four investigations to pursue until the following meeting. In meetings we sketched together and talked about what each of us had done since we last met. We would focus on ideas that were exciting to everyone and think through what visual/graphics were reading well. Through these sessions of working apart and together we developed an idea about how we were thinking about the house we were designing. The themes investigated during this phase included: layers, transitions, and experiential space, public vs. private, environments and site relationships. The work on these pages generated an attitude that allowed us to generate a concept.

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Terrafirma

Evaluating and Coalescing At this point, we stepped back and firmed up some of our team ideals and pushed our ideas into a more coherent concept. We looked at where had been the first half of the semester and pushed our design ideas into a concept.

Levi Tofias 508-335-4923 Levi.Tofias@gmail.com

Terra Firma Designs Who we are: Terra Firma is Latin meaning â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;solid earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. This signifies our approach to design using the earth as our foundation, both our model to learn from, and as a symbol of our desire to develop sustainable solutions. Firm Mission: To provide an environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable archetype through design and advocacy.

Systems Networking: Ecology, Economy and Social Systems

Client Workshop:

If systems are what bind us together, our ability to understand and harness their power is paramount to us as designers.

HAC Community Mapping

In this design we will attempt to distill what the benefits of system thinking are and how understanding ecological, economic, and social systems are vital to design in general and how they apply to our design problem. Additionally, we will discuss the important systems that we will encounter in the design of the house and mention examples of how other designers, communities, and natural phenomenon function.

Focus: Community Relationships and Context.

Systems are how we make sense of the world. Most everything you do is part of a system or many systems. it is easiest to see a system when you can gain perspective on it. Think of the solar system. It is utterly incomprehensible in its vastness to understand the millions of miles or light years until it is represented in a diagram that finds on a page. To try and quantify it requires that step back from it and can see it as a whole. It is the method behind the function. Understanding a system means looking at more than the sum of the parts; the organization of the parts and how the interrelate define the system _68 as a whole.

Our goal for the Community Mapping exercise was find out where the HAC visioned community events/activities would take place. We asked a series of questions that required HAC members to map were on the site certain events would take place. At a smaller scale, we asked questions pertaining to our immediate site. Questions relating to our immediate site gave us a clear understanding of how the HAC imagined the administratorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s relationship with the Community Green and their immediate neighbors. They wanted a design that allowed a refuge for the administrator, while also generating a sense of community.

Our Process: Our way of working in groups and alone allowed us time to think through ideas independently, which is as crucial as working in a group. I think both helped us a lot, because the two settings allow for and demand different kinds of problem solving.

Collaborative Workflow Alternating working in a group and as individuals allowed for innovative ideas to emerge.

Metamorphosis & Chrysalis We found a lot of importance in the idea of transition, because it was a central part of what the HAC was trying to do with the community, and was inspired by the natural example of the chrysalis.

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Generating a Design From this process work we developed some main concept ideas that we started iterating into the design for a house. We called our house the Cocoon House. We developed a concept statement, house goals, and developed two different options to pursue for a design. One option was one floor; the other was two floors. Both options agreed on a sense of procession; that the house was private until you rounded the corner to the front and south side. This allowed for both a sense of privacy and an open face, corresponding to the house opening up to allow sunlight in on the south side.

Project Statement: The Cocoon House provides a place for metamorphosis to occur. The house and ancillary areas foster positive change in students, family, and community through learning opportunities, connecting neighbors and community members, and strengthening family bonds. In order to balance the contrasts of being a refuge for the resident family, a cog in a cohesive community, and an accessible educational exhibition, our design will provide places which enrich, protect, and interconnect user groups individually and as a whole. Our aim is to transform ecologic, economic, and social needs into a sustainable and synergetic system. _70

House Goals: It will be a net-zero consumer of energy and produce minimal waste. It will be an inspiring display of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;passiveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; methods of energy conservation. It will embrace adaptive versatile strategies for efficiency. It will honestly and harmoniously engage light, materiality, and space.

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Expressing & Translating Our meeting with the client presented us with invaluable feedback. Basically, they didn’t get it. Really, we didn’t get it yet. We were still sorting through our ideas, and trying to express them architecturally, in a limited amount of time. Looking back, we spent a lot of time developing our concept, but I think this resulted in a stronger project in the end. We had discussed and intended for our house to facilitate a number of connections between the various user groups of the house and community, but we needed to figure out the “how” architecturally that our design could foster these connections. We developed a plan to chart out the things we wanted to develop and used a “tectonic wall” as our method for implementing this relationships.

Guiding the process... Especially in the first half of the semester, I took a lot of time as a leader to make sure that everyone was on board. It is a delicate balance between knowing when to let the group decide something, and when the leader should step in and make a decision, so that the group can move on. An example of one sticking point we reached after the mid-term review, was whether the house should be one or two stories. Both sides had valid arguments for both, after a long heated hour of discussion it became clear that both sides were entrenched. Ultimately, I said that I would make a decision as the group leader and that if it was still an issue, we could reevaluate. I decided to pursue the two story option and it wasn’t an discussed again. In hindsight, it felt like a really hard decision to make, but in hindsight, my group just needed a decision so that we could focus on the myriad of other issues we needed to tackle. There were other points in the semester where it wasn’t about making a decision, but arriving at one. If everybody wasn’t on board with it, then we needed to listen to what they were saying, and find a middle ground. Its not easy to be in charge of a collaborative effort, but I think each group experience helps you formulate your personal philosophy that helps you know what to do when, and what you need to work on. Experience leading a team is invaluable.

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Connections Chart Charting intended family, neighbors, community connections.

View from the Street Integrating tectonic wall into our site relationships. Trying to buffer the house from the street and foster a sense of community and family.

Tectonic Wall The wall became an architectural expression for translating our ideas about connections by connecting the ground to the building.

View from the West Approach First attempts at integrating the site and building. The entrance and procession of the house became important. _73

Ground transforming into Structure

We started developing the idea of the ground metamorphosing into structure. If our house was about metamorphosis and transformation, then the structure and the relationship to the ground should also do the same. For a house this size using a wood structure made the most sense. For sake of clarity of ideas at this point we used a combination of stick-framed and timber columns. Additionally, we used a strategy of contolling views to creating a system for how the house relates to the site. We took our previous notions about shades of public and private and varying amounts of porosity to further evolve the relationship to the site. These were messy â&#x20AC;&#x153;processâ&#x20AC;? steps, and the relationships to the site are more continue to evolve in the coming pages.

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Tectonic Wall- Iteration 1 The important ideas here were about making a strong connection from the ground to the house itself. A tectonic wall becomes rises from the ground, possibly becomes a trellis and then the structure of the house.

Tectonic Wall- Iteration 2 Here the structure is more integrated with the form of the house and allows for 2 floors of space. Also the vertical louvers on the east and west ends create varying degrees of porosity as the angled louvers control views in and out.

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Community, Orientation, Road Approaching the house from the street it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t reveal a lot about the life inside the house. This gives a degree of privacy, maximizes solar gain, and buffers the street. Site and Procession The long North side of the house has smaller and less windows, as it has the least potential for passive heating and the largest prevailing winds. The louvered wall also helps control views to maintain a sense of privacy. The built landscape/trellis becomes a outstretched hand guiding people towards the entrance.

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Porosity and Entry The ability to visually interact with the house opens up as one comes toward the entry. The angled louvers allow for views in and out of the house as you come closer,. This is a more intimate connection as the user enters the house, allowing for you to wave to your kids as you come home.

Site Relationships In order to respond to the site and the context, we defined our relationships based on orientation, proximity, and client attitude. In terms of reacting to the environment, our main strategy was orientation, simple yet effective. The North facade was a closed buffer, the South should be open to maximize sunlight for daylighting and solar gain, and the East and West facades controlled harmful solar gain. We felt it was ok if the house turned its back on the street, because in this context the natural site with adjacent woods, gardens, and neighbors, and the views of nature were more important to celebrate. The client also spoke about how the house should be an escape from the rest of the community, as the person living here would also be an on-site administrator. Creating a sense of separation between the community was important to allow mental space from their job.

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Schematic Thinking One of the goals of this studio was to develop the constructability of our design to a schematic level and to factor in real project parameters such as cost, structure, and construction. One first approach we took with our design was to develop a gridded structural system to organize our design elements and to make it easier to build. We developed the idea into 3 bays that formally corresponded with the idea of metamorphosis.

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WOOD SHAKE ROOF

2ND FLOOR STRUCTURE

2ND FLOOR WITH DOUBLE HEIGHT SPACES 1ST FLOOR STRUCTURE

SHADE TRELLIS

FRONT PORCH

BASEMENT PASSIVE AIR INTAKE

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Project Statement How do we measure time? Do seasons pass us by as we move from one climate controlled environment to the next? How do we interact with nature? Are we living with the natural cycles of the earth? Are we harnessing the power of the sun and the wind? What does it mean to come home? Does it mean to escape the pressures of the workday and reconnect with your loved ones? How do we find sanctuary? What if there was a process to replace each stress with a moment of joy? Where would this path lead? Towards a family gathered at the dinner table? What would mark this path? A celebration of nature and the food that sustains us? What about an expression of ourselves? From farm to shade to food, from books to conversation to laughter from community to individuals to friends; life is a journey, not a destination. How does the path we take change us?

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South View The trellis wall and landscape connects the house to the site. It controls the exposure to the sun on the southern elevation and demonstrates a responsive relationship to the environment. It also starts the procession into the house, and creates a level of privacy appropriate for an administrator of the community who lives where they work. Metamorphosis Diagrams A series of diagrams of our conceptual approach of the house. They three unfolded elements show the metamorphoses that takes place. In green, the vertical louvers change from open to closed in response to the orientation. In red, the trellis turns into a structural bookcase and stairs as it enters into the home. In blue, the landscape rises up to become the shell of the house

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Entry View The beginning of the procession into the house. Vertical Louvers allows views in along the entrance walk. Also they block the western sun, which is harder to control in terms of solar gain, because it is late in the day and has a low angle during all of the seasons.

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GROUND FLOOR PLAN

SUMMER SUN

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Efficient Floorplan The client expressed a desire to have an efficient and small floorplan, around 1500 SF for a 3bd house. We met their wishes, but in the end they want a bigger house, because it felt too cramped with all of the types of spaces they wanted in the house.

Solar Control In a sustainable house that is highly insulated, one of the main methods to keeping the heating and cooling needs down is controlling the solar gain. The southern exposure has a lot of glass on it, allowing it to capture heat during the Winter. The angled louvers of the trellis block the high summer sun, and let in the low winter sun. Additionally, seasonal variation of leaf cover on the trellis would further the structureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s efficacy.

2ND FLOOR PLAN

WINTER SUN

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Responding to the Seasons We designed a house that uses a variety of strategies to respond to the changing needs and challenges of the season. The first priority of a sustainable house is to avoid the need for mechanical systems as these require a lot of energy to operate. Understanding and using passive systems, can mitigate most of the energy needs of a house, even in the harsh New England climate. The easiest, but still very effective, strategy is to orient the house so it has a large exposure to the South and can take advantage of the sunâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s warmth and energy. Designing the house in a way that takes into account how people use the space, meant including outdoor areas for spending time during the warm months. The patio, on the Southwest corner, allows for the residents to bask in the sun, at the end of the day, when they are most likely to be home.

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CISTERN/ SOLAR CHIMNEY

Passive Ventilation Another passive strategy to avoid energy heavy cooling systems is to use natural ventilation. Operable windows positioned up high allow for natural convection to push the hot air out. Bernoulli Effect Additionally, operable windows along the edges of the three bays allow for hot air to be exhausted using the Bernoulli effect to increase the speed of the prevailing wind.

SUMMER WIND

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Materials Another part of designing a sustainable house is consideration of materials. We proposed using Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs), a highly insulating sandwich of foam insulation and Oriented Strand Board (OSB). SIPs combine structural framing, insulation, and sheathing into a single product, that can be used for walls, roofs, and floors. Since they are factory made and shipped to the site, they can be made with very little construction waste, and save labor costs. Using SIPs for the roof also eliminates the need for an attic space and adds living space. While there is no perfect solution or easy answers when it comes to being sustainable, this approach appealed to a number of elements on our list. Our window recommendation was to use Double-Glazed Windows with High Solar Gain Low-E Glass and Argon/Krypton Gas. This windows allow for high solar gain, which allows for maximum heat gain. Our seasonal shading strategies with the trellis combine with the windows to make our passive techniques more effective. SIPs These structurally inte To make our exterior finish material sustainable we proShou-sugi-ban is the ancient Japanese of burningusSugi, or grated technique panels allowed to reach posed to use Charred Cedar Siding, a material that was naturally Japanese Cypress, for use as a gorgeous siding on goals. the extea lot of and ourunusual sustainability bug and fire resistive, and required little maintenance. It is notrior of building. This textured charcoal finish is accomplished by binding two planks of wood around an interior layer of stuffed newsprint, lightoften used because of the labor intensive nature of it, but we felt ing the paper on fire and allowing it to burn the length of the wood for 7 minutes before extinguishing the fire with cold water. Next, artisans that student labor would be excited to use a blowtorch and burn scrub each board with wire brushes, taking off the most charred wood things. These are small things, but over the life of a building it and cuts embedding the grain with the ashes.Solar After each boardWindows has dried, they High Gain are oils to coat and preserve the finish; down significantly on cost and use of potentially harmful chemi-individually rubbed with natural For our design, high solar gain this act of charring and coating the wood is said to protect the cedar or windows made the most sense, cals, and paint. cypress siding from weather, pests and rot for 80 years. because we used the shading trellis to block summer heat.

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Double-Glazed with High-Solar-Gain Low-E Glass, Argon/Krypton Gas

Tripleton Ga

This figure illustrates the characteristics of a typical doubleglazed window with a high-transmission, Low-E glass and argon/krypton gas fill. These Low-E glass products are often referred to as pyrolitic or hard coat Low-E glass, due to the glass coating process. The properties presented here are typical of a Low-E glass product designed to reduce heat loss but admit solar gain. High solar gain Low-E glass products are best suited for buildings located in heating-dominated climates. This Low-E glass type is also the product of choice for passive solar design projects due to the performance attributes relative to other Low-E glass products which have been developed to reduce solar gain.

This fig low hea ing laye gas fill middle use fou films). B transmi cial sol very co Low-E

In heating-dominated climates with a modest amount of cooling or climates where both heating and cooling are required, Low-E coatings with high, moderate or low solar gains may result in similar annual energy costs depending on the house

Shou-sugi-ban is the ancient Japanese technique of burning Sugi, or Japanese Cypress, for use as a gorgeous and unusual siding on the exterior of building. This textured charcoal finish is accomplished binding A Charred CedarbySiding two planks of wood around an interior layer of stuffedJapanese newsprint,technique, lighttraditional ing the paper on fire and allowing it to burn the length of the wood for called Shou-Sugiban, creates 7 minutes before extinguishing the fire with cold water. Next, artisans wood that is charred extremely scrub each board with wire brushes, taking off the most wooddurable, that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t require mainteand embedding the grain with the ashes. After each board has dried, they the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life. are individually rubbed with natural oils nance to coat for and preserve the finish; this act of charring and coating the wood is said to protect the cedar or cypress siding from weather, pests and rot for 80 years.

Double-Glazed with High-Solar-Gain Low-E Glass, Argon/Krypton Gas

Triple-Glazed with Lo ton Gas

This figure illustrates th low heat loss rate (low ing layers and two Low gas fill between glazing middle glazing layer ca use four glazing layers films). Both Low-E coa transmittance. The use _89 cial solar heat gain. Thi very cold climates, alth Low-E should be consi

Interiors The main feature on the interior of our design was the continuation of the trellis wall. As it entered the house, the function of it changed. It served as a load bearing wall to carry the roof load and also serves as a bookcase and room divider. Since the interior was small, the bookcase and the inclusion of a double height space over the living/eating area made the space feel larger than it was. Small space, if designed well, requires less resources than a larger space. Using a grid to place columns and carrying lines through the house, from the trellis to the bookcase to the stairs, gave a sense of order to the design and hopefully creates a balanced living environment for the family.

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Looking in the rear window The tall vertical slit windows at the rear displayed the bookcase and stairs from the exterior, but maintained privacy and minimized openings along the north side. Kitchen/Living Area We used a double height space and space dividing bookcase to make the small space feel larger.

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Phase 2:workshop

Next Phase At the end of the Studio, after the designs had been presented to a jury the winning design was selected, the house designed by Team Inhabitat. To carry the project forward, a larger team, was developed to push the Ecotopian Project towards completion. We took the Schematic Design of Team Inhabitat and worked over the design with a finetoothed comb for the next 6 months. We developed a set of drawings to be used for pricing the project and construction. Our success as a team was due to the fact that we had 8 excellent designers working on the project, and more importantly that we figured out how to work together like a well-oiled machine. Our house was designed and detailed to meet stringent PassiveHaus standards. Our student-led and designed project worked with professional consultants, met regularly with the client and produced a professional set of drawings. The BAC, our Consultants, and most importantly, the Client all gave us their full support and approval to move ahead with the project. Currently, we are pursuing funding sources.

C-2 STUDIO

INSTRUCTOR: GABE BERGERON

SPRING 2010

16 WEEKS

A workshop where one team of students designed a sustainable single-family house, conducted design meetings, construction and precedent research, met with consultants, and had client presentations to bring the design to a Construction Document level.

2nd Floor

Living area

1st Floor

Winning Schematic Design -Team Inhabitat Team Inhabitat was led by Brien Baker, and the team members were Holly Arnold, Kyle Digby, and Delia Gott. Inhabitat’s design appealed to a number of the clients sensibilities. They really liked how it felt, that it looked a little “wacky” but had a constructible form, and how it related to the landscape and site. Hearing the clients comments on some of the designs was a real learning experience because they expressed their priorities and values and discussed how the various teams met them. The Inhabitat design and team was a great starting point; we were able to refine and rework a lot of the initial intentions to make the design more nuanced, cohesive, and thoughtful.

*All work this spread courtesy of Team Inhabitat

Team Formation The team was formed through a somewhat organic process, but the team leaders were ultimately the students whose teams had placed the highest in the design competition. Various other students joined the project, some had been in the original studio, and others became interested after hearing about the project. The summer was the most difficult time for the team as we worked on becoming a team and figuring out how to approach the project. We didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a huge amount of oversight at the beginning, and we had a lot of unknowns and felt like we were chasing our own tails. However, this was really the most important part of our team formation process, as it made clear who was good at what and what we needed clarity on to move forward. From the struggles over the summer we were a better team, and we ended up with our team, who were able to commit a huge amount of time and energy. My role was design coordinator. This meant that I was responsible for making sure the proper people were working on the best tasks for them, making us an efficient team, and leading the production efforts. In addition to multiple client meetings and presentations our goal was to produce a drawing set by the end of the semester. I was one of the only students who had previous professional experience producing a CD set. Also, I took this role because it allowed me to grow as a leader/facilitator, to develop my project management skills, and to facilitate bringing an architectural idea to fruition. To be able to have a professional experience like this, but with the support of being in an educational setting was really formative. It made me a better designer and collaborator, both things that are incredible important as I move forward with my career and education.

JANET OBERTO

INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT

CHRIS COX

SUNNY STICH

Boston Architectural College

Housing Assistance Corporation

Boston, MA

Sandwich, MA

FACULTY ADVISOR

GABRIEL BERGERON

HEAD OF PRACTICE

LEN CHARNEY

PROJECT MANGER

BRIEN BAKER DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & FUNDING

DESIGN FACILITATOR

ARLEN STAWASZ

CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

LEVI TOFIAS

DECLAN KEEFE

DESIGN TEAM

JULIO CEDANO

MARKETING TEAM

MIKKEL STROEMSTAD

THALIA LEWIS

HOLLY ARNOLD

MAYA TAL

MIKA GILMORE

CONSTRUCTION TEAM

REED HARMON

KYLE DIGBY

Charettes & Workshopping We spent a huge amount of time pouring over drawings, discussing details, weighing the pros and cons of rock-wool vs. cellulose insulation, and having passionate design â&#x20AC;&#x153;discussionsâ&#x20AC;?. A professional office could have completed the design in a shorter timeframe, but since this was a labor of love for us, we took a different kind of pride and an educational/investigative process. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve ever worked in a creative collaborative setting, you know that the project is only as good as a the team. Having 8 designers happy with the end product, demonstrates the strength of consensus driven design.

Research We also spent a lot of time researching design and construction means and methods that we needed to know more about to effectively design a sustainable house. The further we progressed towards producing Construction Documents the more technical, detailed, and nuanced our design need to be. The level of refinement that comes with producing a completed drawing set means that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve considered the options and made a decision about which is the most best fit. Since we had a lot to learn in order to make informed decisions we spent a lot of time researching.

Precedents Another tool in our design process was finding precedents. We had a blog that we posted images to and commented on. We talked about certain projects a lot and we would start referring to details and ideas that we liked from one project, and would grab another idea from somewhere else. There are no new ideas, just new ways of looking at things. The best view is from the shoulders of the people who have done it before, in this case the plethora of projects on the web, design blogs, and magazines were great resources.

A4.3

Details

A5.1

Stair Plans and Details

Consultant Meetings & Review Part of our effort to develop a drawing set was to meet with a number of consultants who contributed their time and knowledge to our project; they met with us, reviewed our drawings, and we incorporated these recommendations into our drawings and specs. The experience and knowledge that our consultants imparted on us were invaluable to our education and our ability to understand the design parameters and solutions we intended to meet. When you are working with people who are donating their time and have years more experience than you do, it makes you work even harder to raise your understanding to their level.

90% Construction Documents Consultants:

REVIEW ARCHITECT

STRUCTURAL/ CIVIL/ GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEER

HVAC/SOLAR ENGINEER

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT

CONSTRUCTION CONSULTANT

DESIGN CONSULTANT

Boehm Architecture 535 Albany #3C Boston, MA 02118 Tel: (617) 521-9082 www.boehmarchitecture.com

PRM Engineering, LLC, MBE 6 Woodman Way, Suite # 116 Newburyport, MA 01950 Tel: (978) 465-7105

Ross Trethewey TE2 Engineering, LLC. 372 University Ave. Westwood, MA 02090 Tel: (781) 727-8071

E.C. Merritt Landscape Design PO Box 576 West Barnstable, MA 02668 Tel: (508) 362-1023

Truant Construction 32 Warren St. Cambridge, MA 02141 Tel: (617) 868-8630

Charles Garcia Lead Instructor, Urban Design Build Program Boston Architectural College Boston, MA 02115

Client Meetings & Review

Our client, the HAC, were a great client to work with. They had a clear vision of what they wanted, but they let us explore ideas, and listen to what we felt was important in terms of design and sustainability. They also had an architect, Mark Hutker, who acted as the clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s advocate, and his comments really helped push our designs. It can be challenging working with a client who is a committee, but once we figured out who to talk to for what, it was a non-issue. Meeting with the client were really important because their desires and feedback it really what pushes the design. You can educate a client about what you think is the right decision, but part of being a good designer is to make sure the client believes in what you do. Initially, the HAC had doubts about using a group of students as the architect, and wanted to take the design over after schematic, but we developed a strong relationship with them as individuals and they were very appreciate and loved working with us.

Presentation Drawings Here are a series of drawings and renderings that help present our design where we ended up at the end of this process. We spent a lot of time working on our set of Construction Documents, but architectural drawings are only so helpful in explaining ideas to clients. If you want to get someone onboard with and idea or understand what you are talking about, renderings and 3D images go along way.

ENTRY WALK

House

Ribbon

The Ribbon One element I spent a lot of time refining was â&#x20AC;&#x153;the ribbonâ&#x20AC;?. This wood element began on the exterior as the porch and entrance, and wrapped up to form a brise-soleil on the south side. It presented a large number of design challenges structurally, in the detailing of how it looked, and the function of its various pieces. There was always the notion that the ribbon would enter into the house and become an element on the interior, but there was a lot to figure out in terms of how and where, not to mention the detailing of it. This was the subject of many passionate discussions about design and became a crucial element in our expression of the ribbon. The diagrams to the right represent the spatial forms and the logic of function. The Ribbon was placed specifically in relation to the public and private space and sunlight.

92 overheat days per year without ribbon

14 overheat days per year with ribbon

Solar Panel Rack

Upper Shading

Welcoming Enclosure Lower Shading Western Flower Garden Garden Porch House Connection to Landscape

West Gathering Terrace Weather Protection East Master Balcony Privacy Threshold

Privacy Screen

Entry Views Morning Breakfast Porch

Sustainable Strategies Our approach to sustainability centered around designing a Passive House certified design. This approach demands that the energy usage for the house is a fraction of what a typical houses uses. We created a superinsulated double stud wall with an air-tight finish that extending around the foundation. The main strategy to achieve PassiveHause standards is to create a strong insulating layer, like a blanket, and eliminate all thermal breaks (no toes poking out the bottom). This reduces the energy needs of the house to a fraction of typical construction. Electricity was provided through rooftop solar panels. We used naturally sustainable materials as much as possible, to reduce our the amount of embodied energy required to build the house. 1. Photovoltaic Renewable Energy: An oversized grid-tied PV system comprised of 18 Evergreen 230-watt panels and a Fronius inverter for 4 Kilowatts will allow for financial and carbon payback.

2. Optimized Solar Shading: Optimized solar shading will allow low winter sun into the space to keep the space warm, but prevent high summer sun from overheating the rooms.

3. Typical Construction Baseline In typical construction with baseline Energy Star windows, this house would have 11,900 Kbtu/ yr losses through the windows. However, with the optimized windows and the proper advanced windows the windows will actually gain 8,140 Kbtu each year.

3 5

4. HRV - ComfoAir 160 The ventilator has a high 96% efficiency, which means incoming fresh air is heated by outgoing air to at least 50째F, even when the outside air temperature is below zero. This allows for significant energy savings. 5. Reclaimed Water Recycling Reclaimed black and grey water recycled from the central treatment center (purple pipe inlet) will be utilized where potable water is not necessary. This minimizes the waste of potable water in the home.

Energy And Water Saving Strategies

6. Concrete Flooring When the sun shines through the windows in the winter the concrete will capture that heat, releasing it as temperatures drop at night to keep the space warm. In the summer the concrete will be shaded from the sun. The heat of the air will sink into the mass, cooling the home.

B C

Pa s s ive H o us e : S IMP LY S U S TA IN ABL E THE WALL STRUCTURE

A : Ceiling/Roof will be framed using conventional pre-manufactured TJIs.

B : Roof cellulose R-60 C : Roofing EPDM roofing with wood rainscreen, like siding. D : Roof Reclaimed barn siding attached as a rainscreen over crossed furring. E : Double stud walls, conventionally framed to create a 15â&#x20AC;? cavity. Filled with dense pack cellulose insulation achieving an R-value 52. The exterior and interior walls will both be load bearing. F : Airtight #1&2 OSB and building wrap will be taped continuously at all seams

G : ADA # 3 Airtight Drywall Approach H : Insulated/ Airtight foundation created by EPS and continuous air sealed 8mil poly. Foundation will be a part of the Thermal Envelope I : Foundation walls will hold a 6â&#x20AC;? concrete slab with 8in of XPS beneath and around it providing R-40 for the entire slab with no thermal breaks.

Illustration by Declan B. Keefe

ENTRY

CROSS-SECTION LOOKING WEST

1ST FLOOR

GROUND FLOOR

SECTION LOOKING NORTH

SECTION LOOKING EAST

LIVING AREA

SECTION LOOKING NORTH

INTERIOR VIEW

KITCHEN

Construction Drawings Drawing a CD set makes you think about and draw everything to a very complete and detailed level. We worked with consultants, but we produced all of our own drawings. I focused mostly on the architectural drawings and I drew the structural drawings. I played a large role in getting the project produced; I was the point person in charge of drawing and reviewing, and as the Revit Guru, I managed the file and taught my teammates as much Revit as I could.

ECO

Ecotopian Studio Boston Architectural College 320 Newbury Street Boston, MA 02115 Telephone 617 262 5000 Fax ecotopianstudio.blogspot.com

CONSULTANTS:

General Notes: - All dimensions to rough framing U.N.O.

2 A3.1 4

A2.1

A5.1

3' - 0"

4' - 7"

9' - 7"

3' - 0"

4' - 3"

1' - 6 1/2"

6" DOWNSPOUT

HALLWAY

12' - 5"

10' - 0"

SLIDING TRANSLUCENT GLASS DOORS

20' - 11 1/2"

Closet 9 SF 15

BEDROOM 128 SF

12 14' - 8 1/2"

2' - 11"

17' - 9"

A7.3

2' - 11"

18 BEDROOM 130 SF

KEY PLAN:

Closet 22 SF

BEDROOM 154 SF

5' - 0"

LOFT ABOVE

5' - 11 1/2"

3' - 3"

Closet 12 SF

3' - 6"

NORTH

A2.2

3' - 0"

A7.2

LOFT ABOVE

10' - 6"

17' - 10 1/2"

1 A3.1

BATHROOM 87 SF

LAUNDRY 29 SF

A7.3

12' - 2"

A2.2

STAIRS

6' - 0" 2

4' - 0 1/2"

NOOK 79 SF

24' - 0"

4' - 7"

3' - 0"

HEAT TREATED 1 X 4 CEDAR TRELLIS

9' - 10 1/2"

5' - 11"

6' - 8 1/2"

5' - 11"

10' - 4"

6" DOWNSPOUT THROUGH DECKING

48' - 1 1/2"

2 A2.1

ECO

Ecotopian House

Ecotopian Studio Boston Architectural College 320 Newbury Street Boston, MA 02115 Telephone 617 262 5000 Fax

Housing Assistance Corporation Community Green, Sandwich, MA

90% Construction Documents

ecotopianstudio.blogspot.com

SECOND FLOOR PLAN 1/4" = 1'-0"

9' - 8"

DATE:

SCALE: ECO PROJECT NO.:

12/14/10 1/4" = 1'-0" 001

CLIENT PROJECT NO.: General Notes: DESIGNED BY: Designer - All dimensions rough framing U.N.O. DRAWNtoBY: Author Approver CHECKED BY:

2 A3.1

LOUVERED WALL

16' - 7"

Second Floor Plan

A5.1

A2.1

BLUE STONE RAMPED WALKWAY EXTENTS OF RIBBON ROOF ABOVE 7' - 7"

0' - 5" 2' - 6" 0' - 5"

2' - 6"

LANDSCAPING AT EDGE OF DECK; REFER TO LANDSCAPE DRAWINGS

A6.1

12' - 3 1/2" 4' - 7"

3' - 0"

4 A4.2

1 Bathroom 68 SF

23 2' - 6"

5 6

A7.2

BUILT IN CABINETRY/ SHELVING

BLUESTONE PATIO

A7.1 12' - 5"

24' - 0"

18' - 4 1/2" 0' - 6 1/2"

CLOSET UP

REF.

WOOD CEILING ABOVE KITCHEN

OVEN

A2.2

KEY PLAN:

NORTH

1 A6.1 5' - 7 1/2"

2' - 6"

A7.2

3' - 0"

DINING ROOM

7' - 1"

LIVING ROOM

11' - 6"

34' - 0"

1 A3.1

15 RISERS @ 8"

1' - 6"

STAIRS

4' - 3"

1' - 9 1/2"

6' - 0 1/2"

4' - 7" 1' - 10"

ENTRY 46 SF

Coat Cl. 15 SF

3' - 0"

BUILT IN SHELVING SYSTEM; TV, ETC.

6' - 0"

CLOSET

BUILT IN SEATING AT WINDOW

0' - 5 1/2" 18' - 10 1/2"

3' - 2" 0' - 7 1/2" 1' - 6"

A2.2

A1.3

6' - 11"

9' - 10 1/2"

12/14/2010 1:36:03 PM C:\Levi Local Revit\Eco-CD-LOCAL-LT.rvt

CONSULTANTS:

EXTENTS OF DECK ABOVE 5

5' - 1"

A4.2

WOOD DECKING 4" WIDE 2 A2.1 11' - 11"

3' - 6"

9' - 11"

5' - 10 1/2"

12' - 0"

RAISED PLANTER AREA FOR HERB GARDEN

6' - 0"

SLOPED DECK SURFACE, BLENDS INTO LANDSCAPE; SEE DETAIL S/A4.1 16' - 10"

6' - 5"

48' - 1 1/2"

Ecotopian House Housing Assistance Corporation Community Green, Sandwich, MA

90% Construction Documents /14/2010 1:36:02 PM \Levi Local Revit\Eco-CD-LOCAL-LT.rvt

DATE:

FIRST FLOOR PLAN 1/4" = 1'-0"

12/14/10 1/4" = 1'-0" SCALE: ECO PROJECT NO.: 001 CLIENT PROJECT NO.: DESIGNED BY: Designer DRAWN BY: Author Approver CHECKED BY:

ECO

Ecotopian Studio Boston Architectural College 320 Newbury Street Boston, MA 02115 Telephone 617 262 5000 Fax ecotopianstudio.blogspot.com

CONSULTANTS:

General Notes: 2 A3.1

(2) 2x10 P.T. WOOD GIRDER (2) 2x8 P.T. WOOD COLUMN 6'-0" O.C.

48' - 1 1/2" 13' - 1 1/2"

17' - 9 1/2"

15' - 8 1/2"

(2) 2x10 P.T. WOOD GIRDER

2X8 JOISTS 2'-0" O.C.

A4.3

(2) 2x8 INSULATED HEADERS AT WINDOW; TYP.

(2) 2x10 P.T. WOOD LEDGER BOARD BOLTED TO FRAMING

(2) 11 7/8" CONT. LVL BEAM

(5) - 2x4

(2) - 2x4 TYP. U.O.N

LOAD BEARING WALL

(2) - 2x12

7' - 0"

(2) - 2x12

(2) 2x10 P.T. WOOD GIRDER

COLUMN BELOW

(3) - 2x4

(2) - 2x4 TYP.

(3) - 2x4

(2) 2x8 P.T. WOOD COLUMN 6'-0" O.C.

(4) - 2x4

(3) - 2x4

11 7/8" 230 TJI JOISTS 2'-0" O.C.

(3) - 2x4

COLUMN ABV.

24' - 0"

CONT. (4) - 1 3/4" x 11 7/8" LVL

15' - 5 1/2"

11 7/8" 230 TJI JOISTS 2'-0" O.C.

1 A3.1

CONT. (4) - 1 3/4" x 11 7/8" LVL

1 A4.2

(4) - 2x4 P.DN.

20' - 11 1/2"

COLUMN ABV.

KEY PLAN: (4) - 2x4 P.U.

NORTH

(4) - 2x4 P.U.

(3) - 2x4 (2) - 1 3/4" x 11 7/8" LVL

4' - 3"

1 (3) - 2x4

(3) - 1 3/4" x 11 7/8" LVL

(5) - 2x4

(4) - 2x4

(5) - 2x4

(3) - 2x4

3 A4.3

1.1

4' - 4 1/2"

1 A4.3

9' - 11"

12' - 0"

(2) 2X12 HEADERS

Ecotopian House Housing Assistance Corporation Community Green, Sandwich, MA SECOND FLOOR FRAMING PLAN 1/4" = 1'-0"

90% Construction Documents

12/14/2010 1:36:54 PM C:\Levi Local Revit\Eco-CD-LOCAL-LT.rvt

DATE:

12/14/10 1/4" = 1'-0" SCALE: ECO PROJECT NO.: 001 CLIENT PROJECT NO.: DESIGNED BY: Designer DRAWN BY: Author Approver CHECKED BY:

Second Floor Framing Plans

Ecotopian Studio Boston Architectural College 320 Newbury Street Boston, MA 02115 Telephone 617 262 5000 Fax

1 A3.1

6 A4.1

S1.2

ECO

ecotopianstudio.blogspot.com

CONSULTANTS:

Top of roof - 0" Top of ridge27' beam 25' - 11"

11 A4.1

General Notes: 9

- All dimensions to rough framing U.N.O.

A4.1 3 A4.1

3 A4.2

BEDROOM STAIRS

HALLWAY

10 A4.1

7' - 0"

2 A4.2

Top of 2nd Floor subfloor 8 10' -1st 0" A4.1 Ceiling Ribbon Floor 8' - 4" 2

STAIRS

A3.1 DINING ROOM

A4.1

Top of 1st Floor sub floor True Subfloor 0' 3/4" - 0" -0' - 0

Typ Grade -1' - 0"

BASEMENT

Top of roof 27' - 0"

A4.3

Top of ridge beam 25' - 11"

BASEMENT

Basement T.O.S. -9' - 0" B.O.F. -10' - 0" KEY PLAN:

2' - 0"

A4.1

Closet

BEDROOM

Closet

A4.3

1/4" = 1'-0"

1' - 1"

2 KITCHEN

DINING ROOM

LIVING ROOM

Top of 2nd Floor subfloor 10' - 0"

8' - 9 1/2"

N-S SECTION FACING E

NORTH

BEDROOM

A4.3

5' - 1 1/2"

BEDROOM

0' - 1 1/2"

A4.1

Top of 1st Floor sub floor 0' - 0" True Subfloor -0' - 0 3/4"

Ecotopian House

8' - 10 1/2"

BASEMENT

12/14/2010 1:36:09 PM C:\Levi Local Revit\Eco-CD-LOCAL-LT.rvt

1' - 8"

Basement T.O.S. -9' - 0"

E-W SECTION FACING S 1/4" = 1'-0"

B.O.F. -10' - 0"

Housing Assistance Corporation Community Green, Sandwich, MA

90% Construction Documents DATE: 12/14/10 1/4" = 1'-0" SCALE: ECO PROJECT NO.: 001 CLIENT PROJECT NO.: DESIGNED BY: Designer DRAWN BY: Author CHECKED BY: Approver

Building Sections

A3.1

MEMBRANE, TYP. FLASHING TO GUTTER, TYP. 0' -3 " TY P.

2' -

STRUCTURAL HANGER

6" METAL GUTTER TO MATCH ROOFING

0' - 6"

DOWNSPOUT TO MATCH ROOF 1/4" CLEAR GAP TYP. PEST PROTECTION AT ALL AIR GAPS

Details

STRUCTURAL HANGER

I learned a lot about detailing wood-frame and Passive House construction on this project. The details shown here have been brought to a certain level of the completion, but some figuring out would still need to happen before construction. The most vexing detail was probably the connection of the ribbon to the house. In typical construction, the overhang would be cantilevered off of the floor and roof framing, however this would create thermal bridges and penetrate our airtight thermal boundary require to achieve Passive House standards. The resulting details using a hanger and bolting it to the framing fixes the thermal bridging issues. The structural issues it creates would need another work session with our structural engineer.

ROOF EAVE @ SOUTH

TRELLIS @ BALC

1 1/2" = 1'-0"

1 1/2

TORREFIED REVERSE BOARD AND BATTON SIDING BUILDING WRAP HUBER ZIP SHEATING BLOWN IN CELLULOSE INSULATION 0' - 8"

SEALING PLATE /FURRING FLASHING DECKING ; 1/4" GAP, TYP

FLASHING TORREFIED REVERSE BOARD AND BATTON SIDING PEST PROTECTION AT ALL AIR GAPS

7 A4.3

SECTION DETAIL @ BALC

1 1/2

BALCONY RIBBON @ SOUTH

1 1/2" = 1'-0"

PEST PROTECTION AT ALL AIR GAPS

FLASHING MAX

12/14/2010 1:36:27 PM C:\Levi Local Revit\Eco-CD-LOCAL-LT.rvt

2' - 0"

SECTION DETAIL @ S DECK HOUSE SIDE 1 1/2" = 1'-0"

STANDING SEAM METAL ROOF ON ROOFING PAPER

ICE AND WATER SHIELD AT RIDGE

ICE AND WATER SHIELD AT

STANDING SEAM METAL ROOF ON ROOFING PAPER

3/4" SHEATING 6" METAL GUTTER TO MATCH ROOFING

BOLTING AT ROOF JOISTS PER STRUCTURAL

STRUCTURAL BOLTING PLATE

PEST PROTECTION AT ALL AIR GAPS

RIDGE BEAM PER STRUCTURAL 3/4" SHEATING

6" METAL DOWNSPOUT TO MATCH ROOFING

BLOWN IN CELLULOSE INSULATION

TORREFIED WOOD REVERSE BOARD AND BATTON SIDING

2X4 FURRING

HOUSE WRAP OVER HUBER ZIP SHEATING

TYP.

CEDAR FRAMING, TYP.

0' - 6"

RIDGE CAP PER METAL ROOF MANUFACTURER

BLOWN IN CELLULOSE INSULATION

2' -

1/2" BLUEBOARD AND PLASTER

2X4 FURRING 2' -

1X4 TORREFIED SLATS, TYP.

SECTION DETAIL @ N ROOF EAVE

1 1/2" = 1'-0"

LIS @ BALCONY 1 1/2" = 1'-0"

RIDGE BEAM

1 1/2" = 1'-0"

1X4 TORREFIED SLATS, TYP.

5" RIGID INSULATION

CEDAR FRAMING, TYP.

REINFORCED 8" CONCRETE FOUNDATION MOISTURE SEAL MEMBRANE

PERFORATED PERIMETER

SECTION DETAIL @ W DECK HOUSE SIDE 1 1/2" = 1'-0"

REINFORCED CONCRETE FOOTING 8" RIGID INSULATION ON COMPACTED FILL

AIL @ BALCONY 1 1/2" = 1'-0"

SECTION DETAIL @ FOOTING

1 1/2" = 1'-0"

DECKING ; 1/4" GAP, TYP. MAX

2' - 0"

1:8 SLOPE

DECKING ; 1/4" GAP, TYP.

WRAP DECKING ON FACE OF FRAMING MAX

TORREFIED WOOD TO MATCH DECKING DIMENSIONS AT SOIL CONDITION

2' - 0"

DRYWELL/RUBBLE CONDITION @ LOW POINT

SECTION DETAIL @ DECK INCLINE 1 1/2" = 1'-0"

SECTION DETAIL @ DECK EDGE 1 1/2" = 1'-0"

Phase 3:exhibition

EXTRA-CURRICULAR JAN 2011

INSTRUCTOR: GABE BERGERON

2 WEEKS

Part of our ongoing work with the Ecotopia project provided us with two opportunities to showcase our work. The first one was an exhibit in the 320 Newbury St. gallery at the BAC. The second was a presentation of our work at the popular Pecha Kucha lecture series.

_126

Constructing the Mock-Up For our exhibit in the gallery at 320 Newbury St. we knew that we wanted to display our presentation boards and models of our project, but we realized that we had the opportunity to do something more, and also to realize one of the goals of our workshop: to build a full-scale mock-up. We constructed a didactic model of some of the major elements of our design; we built the â&#x20AC;&#x153;ribbonâ&#x20AC;?, the cellulose insulated double stud wall, and the components of the exterior shell and finish. Building the mock-up full scale, reinforced most of our previous decisions, and allowed us to resolve some of the issues we had still been working out in how the ribbon pieces would fit together.

_127

_128

Exhibiting the Mock-Up At the opening night of the exhibit, Brien Baker, the Project Manager, presented the work. It was a well-attended event that allowed for many people to walk through our mock-up, ask some questions, and hopefully learn more about Passive House building techniques and our process and project. It was a fitting capstone event to our yearlong design process. Building the mock-up gave us a great sense of accomplishment, since we were able to see the finished product in front of us. _129

Pecha Kucha Night Pecha Kucha is an event that happens globabally; it is an echibition format where presenters show 20 slides for 20 seconds each. The quick presentations combined with the setting, in a bar in downtown Boston, creates a lively event. Gabe, Brien, and Declan, presented our project to the boisterous crowd. The explained the project, and also the context of consensus driven community centric design. This is a professional events where speakers are members of the design community in Boston, and seeing our work in this context reinforced the professional nature of our project. This was truly a concurrent learning experience and through the process of designing a house for a client, we all learned a huge amount about what it means to be a collaborator, leader, and architect.

_130

_131

artifact studio

C-1 STUDIO

INSTRUCTOR: KELLY ARD

SPRING 2011

16 WEEKS

Architecture stimulates and mediates a multiplicity of relationships between constructed and experiential space. Conversations exist between an array of components: the city, the neighborhood, the vernacular, the future, the past, the person. The implications of these conversations range from international to intimate, urban to detail, continuously revealed and motivated through a buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dialogue. Designing through this dialogue will be the semesterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s focus. The introduction is a found fragment- the artifactto be extracted, reconsidered, then reinstituted into the urban condition as a built architectural response. The site and program are local and varied, to be explored through a range of tools. Graphic and constructed investigations are synthesized into continuously re-informing methods: hand to computer, paper to concrete, 1:100 to 1:1.-Kelly Ard

investigating threshold The first assignment of the studio this semester was to investigate a threshold of our choosing. I began looking at South station in Boston. The train station was interesting to me because it represents a node that connects two different systems: the above ground of the urban area and the below ground of the transportation infrastructure. I studied two relationships, the compression and expansion that takes place enter the train station and the idea of the train station as a threshold for above and below ground.

Compression & Expansion model and diagram showing the relationship of compression to expansion that happens as the users move towards the train. Section showing the relationship of above ground and below ground. The train station is a threshold for the overlapping networks of the train and the city.

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Conceptual Comic Strip I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sure what exactly interested me about the below ground spaces and underground networks. I developed a little comic strip to explore and figure out what captured my imagination about these types of spaces. I found intriguing the idea that there is another world (subterranean infrastructure) that exists below ground , but is usually concealed. The idea of a hidden world and the sense of discovery that comes with finding it lends a sense of mystery to places we inhabit everyday. Can this above ground and below ground dichotomy be revealed and where?

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Comic Strip It starts in a underground subway tunnel. A door left open reveals a tunnel...to where? Walking down the dark tunnel creates a moment of doubt...was this a good idea to walk down the tunnel.... until the fear is erased when the tunnel opens up into the large cavern grotto of water systems and infrastructure...built long ago and hidden below the city that it supports. Meanwhile....above ground it goes unnoticed, however, if you peer through a drain you just might see this world below....

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Motion when in transit you arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t connected to the place and zip by it without really knowing it. Scenery passes by and it is easy to get the big scene, but details are lost. Trains there is a romantic notion about travel that trains evoke. I think it is because they allow for a sense of place, while in transit; a vessel hurtling through space, but inside still and calm.

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Arrival/ Departure At this point in the studio we were assigned open-ended program to explore based on our initial investigations. My program was “arrival/departure”.

What happens in between? Places of arrival and destination create a difference from the journey. The motion of moving by a place on a train is different from the stasis of arrival at a station.

I began thinking about what it means to leave a place or arrive somewhere. The thing they both have in common is the journey. The journey in itself is defined by the arrival and departure from a place. The journey begins at the point of departure and ends at the moment of arrival. Designing a space that facilitates this “bookending” of travel requires it to have a strong sense of place that separates it from the places around it.

Journeys are always a little scary because of the uncertainty of where it will take you or that once you have left a place it might change while you are gone. This is also why they are exciting, because of the possibilities... There are these interesting moments in where a person arriving rushes past someone who is leaving. Train stations are filled with travelers with different reasons for having to travel; somebody is heading back to work, someone else to a vacation. These overlapping incongruence creates interesting contrasts.

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Site

Other sites

Analysing the Site Site was then introduced into our investigations. We were asked to select a site that could provide a basis for our programmatic and conceptual explorations. Through my previous work it made sense that i should focus on a train station as a means of pushing my ideas forward. Since each member of the studio were pursuing different ideas and program we each selected individual sites within an assigned area in the South End, Boston. Since there are train tracks that run along the Mass. Pike corridor, this seemed to be the most appropriate place for a train station. Although there are already nearby train stations at south station and the back bay station, for the purposes of this studio it was supposed that there was a need for a train station in this specific area.

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The site itself was the corner of Herald St. & Shawmut Ave. Herald St. runs parallel to the train tracks and the mass pike corridor. To the north of the site is the mass pike corridor. To the east and west were multiple mid-rise buildings. On the site itself, a sprawling one-story market was to be demolished to make way for the train station.

Site

My site was the northernmost site in the area of redevelopment proposed by the studio as a whole. The collection of sites were spread along the Shawmut Ave. - Washington st. corridor. they were mostly civic institutions including libraries, museums, theaters, and spiritual centers.

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Site Response Initially, I focused on the issue of connecting the pedestrian street level to the track level and the sliver of land that is between them. These investigations revealed the need to find a solution to traversing the difference in height, but that there wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t enough space to fulfill the programmatic requirements of a train station.

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tending to below It seems that placing the building underground and using surface openings would create opportunities for darkness- and moments to paint with light. These lightwells could also be inhabitable from above and have a life of their own. They could be a form on the surface that does not reveal their function to below. My focus became creating an above ground and below ground, and using light and darkness as guiding forces. I began to return to the ideas presented in my initial investigations in my â&#x20AC;&#x153;comic bookâ&#x20AC;?. This ultimately became my guiding light, to try and translate my initial ideas about discovery and looking below the surface into an architectural project. These sketches, plans and sections illustrate my thinking to set the building underground to use the ground as a threshold, to create a pronounced moment of arrival/departure.

Sections showing surface openings and below grade spaces

Site Paths surface openings could form above grade site paths that would inform spaces below.

Dual Use lightwells could be an inhabitable part of the landscape above grade.

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contextualizing using the larger building masses on the site allowed Having decided that sinking the program below ground is for a definition of hard edges of the site, creating a important, i returned to the context of the site to look at the more distinct open edge of the corner of the site curmost pivotal moments, the connections between above and rently occupied. below ground, the thresholds. The white surface is pulled up like the folds in a quilt to allow the user and/or light to enter. The corners of the site suggested the places to enter with a focus on the central corner at the intersection of Herald st. and Shawmut ave.

Thresholds Surface openings at the corners of the site allow entrance of people and light. The largest opening corresponds to the main corner of Washington & Herald. Massing the colored massing diagram shows the corner entrances (purple), the underground waiting area (green), and the connection under herald st. to the platform(red).

Surface Openings I tried to creating a threshold to call attention to passing through the ground. i used large lifted pieces of the surface to mark the entries for pedestrians and light. Ultimately, I think the scale was wrong, there wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t enough a connection to the scale of the user, and there was no expression of how this pieces could be used. i took the ideas forward about emphasizing the entrance to below, and iterated further with the architectural forms and conceptual defining of these entrances.

Light Below large openings to light let light down to below. Lifted Surface large openings to light let and pedestrians in, felt a little out of scale with the site and use.

Re-formalizing Surface In an attempt to solve some of the problems of the previous iteration, I put aside the formal moves I had been making and returned to the main idea of surface openings that would allow respond to the needs of the train station. I also wanted to create a connection back to my original ideas of discovery from my comic strip. Instead of a few large openings, which wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t connect to the users, I tried making a series of site and user responsive perforations. Through model-making I arrived at the idea of a stepped surface, an artificial landscape, that could function as a park above ground. The raised hollow areas

of the park could create a vaulted central space that allowed for a grand space below ground, an idea that had gone missing from my comic strip ideas. If the â&#x20AC;&#x153;stepsâ&#x20AC;? held glazing, they would let light in and create a moment of discovery as a park user peered down into the station below. The intent of the park steps as benches and inhabitable spaces tied this iteration to the scale of human use and freed me from some of the previous difficulties of scale.

Perforated Landscape hollow stepped park above ground lighting a grand waiting area below ground.

Development Further refining and iterating pushed me towards organizing the interior spaces. Transition areas led from the two circulation cores around a sunken plaza. The low ceiling areas would correspond to circulation paths. The area with the highest ceiling, where the landscape rose up above ground, would be the main train waiting area. Sinking the waiting area down a few feet emphasized the difference in transitional and stasis areas. This additional volume and sectional shift further defined the underground areas and the separated the transition spaces from the main stationary space.

Comic Strip: testing ideas As a return to the ideas of my comic book I created a Vol. 2, so i could show how the procession of entering my building. This came at the end of the design process, and was a good exercise to test my ideas. In the future, i think this will become part of my workflow, as a means to step back and look at how my design is working at the scale of the user, and to evaluate if it is doing the things i set out to do. To reiterate the initial ideas around procession are a gradual awareness of the form from above: 1) rising out of the landscape, it is clearly a built landscape, more than just a park, but it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t reveal whats behind the door.

2) the composition of the landscape informs the user where the entrances are, but hides the space below ground. 3) only once the building is entered is it clear how large the underground space is. The scale of the space and lighting give it a sense of place and connect it to the context. 4) above ground in the park meanwhile, a moment of discovery happens when looking through the glazing in the benches, the park user can catch of glimpse of the world that exists below ground...

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT

WASHINGTON ST. DN

HERALD ST.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT

1 3

PLATFORM

MECH.

W BAR 2 3

PLAZA

RESTAURANT

M UP

PRACTICE

P|R|A Architects I have been lucky to have been working in a firm continuously throughout my Segment II studies. It was a period of time marked by economic troubles, and many of my peers, student and professional alike, continue to look for work. During this time I did not take my employed status for granted; I worked tirelessly to make myself a better professional. I pushed myself to learn Revit, and quickly became one proficient in the program. My schoolwork with Revit, particularly my work with Ecotopia Project, has made me facile with managing and using the program. Another part of getting the most out of my job means learning from the work I am doing. I ask questions, and make statements I’m not sure about, so that I can learn the right way to do something and why. Working at PRA has been a growth-oriented professional experience. Many co-workers are BAC Alums and support my concurrent lifestyle, and they often take time to share their knowledge with me. The biggest addition to my professional experience has been my dedicated involvement in a large project for the better part of two years. I learned a lot from drawing a detail, to reviewing the shop drawing, to seeing it being built at various stages in the field. As an experiential learner, this type of learning from doing is exactly what drew me to the BAC. When I first became interested in architecture I met with an Architect to ask questions about the profession. I remember him saying, “Architecture really is an honorable profession.” I’m not sure exactly what he meant by it, but I fill in the blanks with what I have learned so far. It is not an easy profession to be successful at; it requires a huge amount of knowledge, hours of hard work and more often than not meager financial rewards. You have to be smart and figure out how to get work in a down economy, or what the best fix is to an construction issue at the job site. However, my father always told me “you get what you give”. For me the reward is in the work itself, figuring out how things fit together and what makes the most sense for the space. I get a huge sense of accomplishment from seeing a project that I’ve worked on get built; it takes a lot of resources, time and materials to construct a building, it is a honor to be an architect.

FSU North Residence Hall PRA Architects in association with EYP Architects & Engineers and Consigli Construction Co. has recently completed a building study and design for a 400 bed new residence hall at Framingham State University. Occupying a highly visible site at the entrance to the college campus, this project is conceived as an important element of a recently completed master plan for the institution. The project is currently under construction with an opening date of fall 2011. This project was the most important and educational professional experience I have worked on at PRA. The scale of the project was daunting at first, as I was responsible for drawing all of the building sections, and most of the wall sections. The amount of coordination required between the consultants drawings and ours made it a constant back and forth between details, sections, and plan, to make sure everything fit as it needed to make the building both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Once the wall sections were done, I was shifted to drafting details. Drawing shell, curtainwall, roof, and interior details, taught me a huge amount about building science. My involvement in the project started during DD and continues through the completion of construction this summer. Being able to work on multiple phases of a project of this scale has helped me understand the importance of architecture in the construction process. The role that the drawings play in pricing a building and solving potential issues before they happen is critical to the construction process.

Detailing teaches you a lot about how a building fits together and what the considerations are about various elements of a building. One major design element was an area called â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Portalâ&#x20AC;? - two interlocking double height student lounges. The intial drawings and models of it looked great, it had soaring spaces, exposed trusses, and interesting finishes. What was startling to me was how complicated this made the space, the number of fire safety, HVAC, and Structural concerns came from the Portal. In my humble opinion, I think it was design intelligently, and will be the gateway the college is looking to get; but it made me appreciate how challenging it is to add interesting design elements to a building how it effects the complexity, fesibility, and constructability. The value of practice in a production based office is that you learn how to make designs work. We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t spend a lot of time designing; we spend most of the time figuring. This makes for a great concurrent education, because the more I learn about how buildings function and how they operate, the more it can inform my conceptual work at school.

Request for Information To:

Rob Paccione Pfeufer/Richardson Pc Arch 700 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 Ph: (617)354-3561 Fax: (617)354-1487

RFI #: 260 Date: 12/17/2010 Job: 866 FSC - Residence Hall Phone:

CC: Subject: Roof Detail Adjacent to Elevator 1 Drawing: A118N, 4/A440, 1/A520

Spec Section:

Request:

Date Required: 12/22/2010

There is a small section of roof just west of the Building 1 elevator penthouse. The current area is surrounded on all 4 sides (parapet, raised expansion joint, and elevtor overrun wall) and does not have a way for water to drain. Please provide a drainage detail.

Requested by: Jeff Cammuso Consigli Construction Co., Inc Response:

Please see attached SKA-261 for revision to Expansion Joint. Provide tapered rigid insulation to raise protection board to height of expansion joint blocking. Lower foam rod tubing to minimize projection above expansion joint blocking.

Levi Tofias Answered By Company

12/17/10

PRA Architects

Date

Forward: Page 1 of 1 Consigli Construction Co., Inc. Construction M anagers and General Contractors 72 Sumner Street, M ilford, Massachusetts 01757 phone 508.473.2580 fax 508.473.3588 web www.consigli.com Enfield, CT Portland, ME Milford, MA

FOAM ROD TUBING (COMPATIBLE) FLASHING STRIP; HOT-AIR WELDED

1" GALVANIZED ANNULAR RING NAILS 4 " O.C. STAGGERED

ROOF FASTENER AND DISC TYPICAL ROOF ASSEMBLY: 60MIL FULLY-ADHERED ROOFING MEMBRANE 5/8" TYPE "X" GYPSUM SHEATHING TAPERED INSULATION; SLOPE 1/4" PER FOOT (REFER TO ROOF PLAN) 3" RIGID INSULATION BASE LAYER VAPOR BARRIER 2" CONCRETE TOPPING SLAB; REFER TO STRUCTURAL DRAWINGS 8" PRECAST CONCRETE PLANK; REFER TO STRUCTURAL DRAWINGS

P.T. WOOD BLOCKING

TYPICAL ROOF ASSEMBLY: 60MIL FULLY-ADHERED ROOFING MEMBRANE 5/8" TYPE "X" GYPSUM SHEATHING TAPERED INSULATION; SLOPE 1/4" PER FOOT (REFER TO ROOF PLAN) 3" RIGID INSULATION BASE LAYER VAPOR BARRIER ROOF ASSEMBLY; REFER TO WALL SECTION

ADD RIGID TAPERED INSULATION TO RAISE PROTECTION BOARD FLUSH WITH TOP OF EXPANSION JOINT BLOCKING

Main Roof 291' - 0"

Roof Expansion Joint on Curb 3" = 1'-0"

PROJECT:

New Residence Hall Framingham State College 136 Lincoln Street, Boston, MA PREPARED BY:

Massachusetts State College Building Authority

CONSULTANT:

P|R|A ARCHITECTS 700 Massachusetts Avenue, 4th Floor Cambridge, MA 02139

PREPARED FOR:

Tel. 617-354-3561 Fax. 617-354-1487 www.praarch.com

DRAWING TITLE:

Expansion Joint Revision

REFER TO:

RFI REF. NO.:

4/A440 260

BULLETIN REF. NO.:

1 SCALE:

3" = 1'-0"

JOB NO.:

V0010.01

DATE:

12/17/10

REV. #:

REVISION:

DRAWING NO.:

SKA-261 DATE:

A large portion of my time during CA has been spent in the office. I often review shop drawings from Subs, answer RFIs and produce SKAs. There are always things that come up during construction, but the more things you can account for ahead of time in your drawings the better. CA is when mistakes show up, having a good team of consultants and GC is crucial to making sure the project stays on track, and then questions can be answered quickly when a response is needed.

FSC Parking Lot Addition My role on the project was as a draftsman. Included among PRAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ongoing work with Framingham State University for campus improvements is the addition of 120 new parking spaces, nearly doubling the parking capacity on Normal Hill. The new parking spaces, replicating parking relocated from a prime building site in the center of the campus are provided on a terrace and deck, carefully set into a sloping hillside.

It was a good project to get acquainted with structural detailing and coordination and reading of structural drawings.

//THANKS TO THOSE WHO SUPPORTED ME TEACHERS, COLLEAGUES, FAMILY, FRIENDS

//end

//corpus levus design //2009-2011