The Center for Urban Play : Seattle
Midterm Review | ARCH 807 | 03.16.2012 Rachel Lehr | Professor Condia
miamibikrambrickell.com
1
Executive Summary The Center for Urban Play : Seattle is a place for play of the most serious kind. It is a place where residents of Seattle’s downtown neighborhood of Belltown can come together and rediscover childlike pursuits they have forsaken while becoming “grown ups”. It is a venue for residents to come together play, connect, and refresh. Any urban environment has a lot to offer its residents. Access to business, cultural, and entertainment centers allows residents to pursue interests and develop community. These things add vibrancy to life, but are not without their costs. The constant noise and movement of a city negatively affect everything from hearing to sleep, the cardiovascular system to task performance 1. Urban residents’ minds and bodies are affected. Stress chemicals in the brain are released and prepare the body for ‘flight or fight’; The constant level of stress chemicals increase the likelihood of cardiovascular related disease. Noise pollution effects the mind by reducing concentration, motivation, and social connection. In urban environments, there should be some release, some break from the constant flow of noise and information. That release can be found in play. Play is not only for children but it is also necessary for adults. It is not frivolous or unnecessary2. It is an integral part of the human experience, but is unfairly discounted as a waste of time by many whose lives have become a never ending to do list. Play stimulates the mind allowing the brain to make new connections socially, academically, and professionally. Play relaxes the body by decreasing stress hormones in the body. Play counteracts all the negative effects of the urban environment. The opposite of play is not work, but depression3. Play consists of two aspects: group play—an external expression of play—and individual play—an internal expression. External and internal play is mentally stimulating but can be either physically active or physically passive. Akin to play are quiet and physical activity; both are shown to decrease stress hormones in the body reducing the frequency of chronic illness and mental illness while positively affecting cognitive abilities. The combination of play, quiet, and physical activity can aid in enhancing the urban lifestyle. Those relationships inferred a diagram that began to inform the organization of space. The primary spaces to facilitate play are music spaces, a cafe, yoga studios, art studios, quiet spaces, and an acting space. These spaces engage multiple levels of play for people of every age, generation, and background. They are not the only solution, but they relate best to the need to play as it has been defined by Stuart Brown. With the intent of play in each major space, forming an environment that is safe, creative, and conducive to personal growth is an integral part of the experience of the Center for Urban Play : Seattle. The experience is specifically controlled by the use of thresholds, the quality and characteristics of one space preparing a person for the next. When the patron catches the first glimpse of the Center for Urban Play : Seattle they cross into the first threshold. As the patron moves down the street and approaches the building minor modifications to the street will be introduced to prepare them for the next space. The anticipation grows as the next thresholds are reached, the block then the entrance. The series of three thresholds will repeat until the patron has reached the space to play, connect and refresh. Each series will include vertical movement through the building, a pause to collect objects and thoughts necessary for play, and the play space itself. 2
As more of society’s “community” is in the digital world, creating a place to entice people into real, face-to-face, social interaction is an issue that all designers must face. In creating these places, appropriate provision must be given to allow space for people to gather. For the Center for Urban Play : Seattle, it must be a place for people to gather so they can experience the benefits of play, make connections to form a community, and leave refreshed because they have been engaged on multiple levels. The question of the Center for Urban Play : Seattle is if it can be just that.
How can architecture embody play by engaging the mind and body to enhance community? The two ways that this has been explored is through form studies and facilitating movement/gathering. Each form study was a slight manipulation of the parti that took into consideration site relationships and structure. From that a central stair developed as a place to observe specific play happening within the rooms as well as to connect general gathering spaces that provided for serendipitous play. The form continued to develop as volumes were eroded away to allow for natural light penetration, porches, and a roof top garden. The building form draws users in on the street level while maintaining the urban edge and relating to the context. Play is manifested in several ways throughout the building. There are specific, defined rooms that are tuned to be places for either music, acting, yoga, or art. These spaces are the anchor of the building, the reason for the residents of Belltown to come together. Play is allowed to flow freely through the building by means of the movement and gathering places. The stairs pull natural light through the building that defines the path to move from space to space. The stairs provide a unique vantage point, allowing the patrons to see into each space. The stairs do not lead to the specific play spaces, but to the gathering spaces. In these places, patrons can pause, get to know each other, share stories, and engage in play. The Center for Urban Play : Seattle is a place of play and for play. The very nature of the building is play filled; its spaces allow for personal connections that feed the mind. The building is dedicated to play; its spaces encouraging play that engages the body. It is a place to play, to connect, and to refresh.
Goines, Lisa, and Louis Hagler. “Noise Pollution: A Modern Plague: Southern Medical Journal.” Southern Medical Journal 100.3 (2007) : 287-94. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. <http://journals.lww.com/smjournalonline>. 2 Behncke, Isabel. “Isabel Behncke: Evolution’s Gift of Play, from Bonobo Apes to Humans | Video on TED.com” TED : Ideas Worth Spreading. Mar. 2011. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.ted.com/>. 3 Brown, Stuart. “Stuart Brown Says Play Is More Than Fun | Video on TED.com.” TED : Ideas Worth Spreading Mar. 2009. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.ted.com/>. 1
2
What I Mean By... Play: [verb] To engage in a creative, imaginative act free from restrictions; to spend time in aimless activity; to engage or occupy oneself with; to derive pleasure from an activity; to pause for enjoyment; From Stuart Brown: Body and Movement Play (a spontaneous desire to get ourselves out of gravity.); Object Play (The human hand, in manipulation of objects, is the hand in search of a brain; the brain is in search of a hand; and play is the medium by which those two are linked in the best way.); Imaginative Play (A really important part of being a player is imaginative solo play.); Social Play (curiosity, exploration, are part of the play scene. If you want to belong, you need social play.); Friendship and Belonging Play; Rough-and-Tumble Play (a great learning medium for all of us; a lot of emotional regulation and a lot of the other social by products -- cognitive, emotional and physical is developed here ); Celebratory and Ritual Play (face and body language); Storytelling and Narrative Play (The unit of intelligibility of most of our brains is the story.); Transformative-Integrative and Creative Play. The opposite of play is depression; play establishes trust and safety through play signals. Quiet: [adjective] Enjoyed in peace and relaxation; free from noise or uproar. Noise: [adjective] Undesirable sound; loud, confused, or senseless shouting or outcry; one that lacks agreeable musical quality or is noticeably unpleasant; any sound that is undesired or interferes with one’s hearing of something. “Noise is a stench in the ear”—Ambrose Brown. Sound: [noun] a particular auditory impression: tone; the sensation perceived by the sense of hearing; mechanical radiant energy that is transmitted by longitudinal pressure waves in a material medium (as air) and is the objective cause of hearing. Activity: [noun] A pursuit in which a person is active. Community: [noun] a unified body of individuals: as the people with common interests living in a particular area; a group of people with a common characteristic or interest living together within a larger society. Threshold: [noun] End, boundary; specifically the end of a runway; the place or point of entering or beginning. The point at which a physiological or psychological effect begins to be produced; A threedimensional space in which the sensory experience prepares a person for the next space. The definitions in italic were developed through my study. The types of play are borrowed from Stuart Brown’s book Play : How It Shape the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul. The rest of the definitions were acquired from Merriam-Webster.
4
Space List 3.1 Play Space 3.1.1 3.1.1a 3.1.2 3.1.3 3.1.3a-c 3.1.4 3.1.4a-c 3.1.5 3.1.6 3.1.6a 3.1.6b
Music Communal Jam Space Cafe Art Studios Studio (3) Yoga Studios Yoga Studio (3) Quiet Space Acting Auditorium Stage Shop
3.2 Support Space 3.2.1 3.2.1a-c 3.2.1d 3.2.2 3.2.2a 3.2.2b 3.2.3 3.2.3a-b 3.2.3c-d 3.2.4 3.2.5
Offices Office (3) Receptionist Desk Locker Rooms Men’s Lockers Women’s Lockers Restrooms Men’s Restroom (3) Women’s Restroom (3) Circulation Mechanical
3.3 Outdoor Space 3.3.1 3.3.2 3.3.3
Street Level Porches Roof Top
5
Site Information The site for The Center for Urban Play is located at 2300 Second Avenue on the corner of Second Avenue and Bell Street in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It is in a vibrant, eclectic, mixed use neighborhood, within good proximity to public transportation, parks, and the waterfront. Belltown in the largest residential district in downtown and is adding several new apartment and condominium buildings to accommodate future growth. The city is working in conjunction with SvR Design to develop a new streetscape and park along Bell Street between First and Fifth Avenues. The design will create a space for pedestrians to gather; this project will create what is essentially a front porch for The Center for Urban Play : Seattle. Because of these efforts by the city, it is imperative that The Center for Urban Play : Seattle connects to the context by means of a threshold, a point in a sequence of spaces where a person has been conditioned to shift their frame of mind. There are several thresholds in this project that will be helpful in creating two types of spaces: active community spaces and quiet individual spaces. 4
105’
120’
1
3
2
10’ 25’
50’
100’ N
1
2
3
4 View from Thresholds 6