Degree Project Book

//stratification degree project

architectural design

massachusetts college of art & design

spring 2014

shannon smith

/table of contents thesis

03/project statement 04/precedent studies 06/concept sketches 07/abstract diagrams 08/abstract models

site

10/analysis 12/sun studies 14/site photos 18/sketches 20/diagrams

program

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23/program info 24/organizational diagrams 27/final program diagams 28/a day in the life

design

30/final design 31/context plan 32/floor plans 34/elevations 36/sections 38/ 38/massing models 39/final model

misc.

40/bibliography

/project statement Through the identification of a social stratification between three intersecting communities near Ruggles Station, my intent is to reintegrate and regenerate these groups with architecture. Acting as a terminus for the Southwest Corridor Park, a health community center will both provide users with a common social ground as well as a source of nuturitional, recreational, and clinical healthcare opportunities.

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/precedent studies Brooklyn Botanical Center Brooklyn, NY WEISS/MANFREDI 2013

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/precedent studies Magok Central Square Soeul, South Korea Wooridongin Architects Not Yet Completed

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/concept sketches

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/abstract diagrams

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/abstract models

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/abstract models

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/site analysis For my degree project, my goal is to use architecture to address a social stratification that I identified in the area of Roxbury across from Ruggles train station. Within this community live three very different types of groups: students from Northeastern University, a lower income residential community, and institutional/business commuting population, such as the Boston Police Headquarters. These various groups very uniquely intersect at one point in the Southwest Corridor Park, a long linear pedestrian and bicycle pathway running through Boston. My intent is to encourage use of the section of this park where these three sections of the community link by creating a terminus and reintegrate the inhabitants.

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/site analysis

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9AM

3PM

JUNE 15

MARCH 15

/sun studies

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9AM

3PM

/sun studies

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/site photos

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/site photos

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/site photos

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/site photos

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/site sketches

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/site sketches

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/site diagrams

PEDESTRIAN

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VEHICULAR

/site diagrams

GREEN SPACES

STREET EDGE

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/site diagrams

INHABITANTS

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POINTS OF ENTRY

/program info In the attempt to create a program that all parts of the public would use, I chose to design a community health center, as to target the universal human need for health. Specifically, the three programmatic categories I focused on are nutrition, recreation, and clinical healthcare. To elaborate, the center contains a village market, space for a farmer’s market, and a cafÊ/juice bar for nutrition, a two-story gym and studio classrooms for fitness classes such as yoga for recreation, and a small walk in health clinic for general healthcare. To link these three main categories of health, I created an extended lobby that also features an educational exhibit space, displaying informational shows for the public about different forms of health.

On the second floor is a greenhouse/winter garden that both acts as a space for growing food for the village market but also a warm place for the public to enjoy that still receives sunlight during the many months of winter in Boston. Lastly, a glass bicycle bridge links the pre-existing Southwest Corridor pathway both across Ruggles Street and up to the second floor rooftop area with extra indoor bicycle storage. This pathway not only encourages use of the building by displaying an interesting glass bridge but also emphasizes the linear qualities of the park on which I am building on and attempting to reactivate.

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/program organization diagrams

SIZE

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RATIO

/program organization diagrams

RELATIONSHIP

ORDER

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/program organization diagrams

SITE ORDER

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SECTIONAL ORDER

/final program diagrams

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/a day in the life 6:30am - A young male, mid-20s walks over from his family’s apartment to the new fitness center. As he walks through the park, he sees a group of younger kids playing on the basketball courts. Pretty early for a game, he thinks.

7:45am – The local coffee store facing Ruggles Street is buzzing with customers needing their morning pick me up. Looks like lots more people would rather stop in the new, fresh location than the very small Dunkin Donuts located in Ruggles Station. With healthier breakfast options and the option of a juice bar next doo door, who could blame them?

8:30am – Bicycles riding through the long, linear Southwest Corridor Park from Forest Hills area to Back Bay make their die hard environmentally-friendly commute a bit more interesting and brief warmer with the glass covered bridge across Ruggles Street. With this snow, there sure aren’t many, but the bridge gets much use as it makes the crossing of the busy street a lot safer.

11:30am – A mother and young daughter go upstairs to the free nutritional health clinic to talk with a volunteer physician about a possible allergy to gluten that the young girl may have.

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/a day in the life 12:15pm - After the talk with the physician, they come to the conclusion that their concerns seem justified and she appoints them to an allergy specialist. On the way out, the mother takes some free pamphlets about eating ones fruits and vegetables in spite of the constant cold Boston seems to be in lately.

12:30pm – Up on the roof garden, a young couple from Northeastern sit and eat their lunch on a bench. This has become a tradition of theirs since this past summer when the entire roof was open. Now that it is winter there is snow everywhere but not in the winter garden in the rooftop greenhouse. Great for a bagged lunch or bringing food over from the cafe.

2:00pm – The urban farmer’s market that is taking place in the indoor recreational room has lots of people looking for fresh vegetables.

They go quickly due to the time of year, but that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing left.

Homemade granola, winter squash, and more local eats are being sold today. It’s a year round weekly tradition, rain or shine, thanks to both the indoor and outdoor locations.

5:40pm – A commuter student from MassArt walks from campus to Ruggles Station to take the train home, but before he crosses the street, he goes into the supermarket to buy a thing of milk. How convenient.

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/massing models

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/context plan

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/floor plans

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/context plan

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/elevations

front elevation

park side elevation

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/a day in the life

back elevation

residential side elevation

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/sections

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/sections

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/final model

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/bibliography “Boston.” 42º20’09.01”N and 71º05’22.01”W. Google Earth. 24 August 2013. 20 May 2014.

"Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitor Center / WEISS/MANFREDI Architecture/ Landscape/ Urbanism" 07 Nov 2013.

ArchDaily. Accessed 20 May 2014. <http://www.archdaily.com/?p=445453> "Magok Central Squares Competition." Arch2o. 4 Oct. 2013. Web. 20 May 2014. ,http://www.arch2o.com/magok-central-squares-competition-wooridongin-architects> “Ruggles Street, Boston, MA.” Map. Google Maps. Google, 20 May 2014. Web. 20 May 2014. <https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ruggles+St/@42.3346223,-71.0894023,17z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x89e37a238fe857 4d:0x3c417c4e57b819a1>

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