TRAVIS SHOCKLEY ETHOS OF EXPERIMENTATION
ETHOS OF EXPERIMENTATION
EPA LAB | HOUSTON, TEXAS
TRAVIS SHOCKLEY Master of Architecture Thesis Project – Spring 2014 Kansas State University
This project won the Heintzelman Prize [an award that recognizes outstanding individual design achievement to one student in their fifth year at Kansas State University]. Major Advisor: Michael Gibson, Assistant Professor of Architecture Heintzelman Prize Jury: Ian Colburn, AIA, Senior Designer, Sn Ø hetta, New York City Eric Hoffman, AIA, Professor of Practice, Washington University, Saint Louis Zoka Zola, AIA, RIBA, Principal, Zoka Zola Architecture + Urban Design, Chicago
introduction Concerning the future, the cross-pollination of science and environmental testing will generate positive echoing effects. The focus of this work is the celebration of science. This project presents an argument for how a laboratory can promote the ethos of experimentation and value the incredible richness of collaborative efforts. Located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas, the Environmental Protection Agency Regional 6 Facility offers the scientific community a new level of connectedness to their research and each other. Additionally, there is exploration into the blending of architecture and landscape, as the building and site manifest themselves into the urban fabric of Houston.
HISTORY LESSON
The Holocene Epoch, or Human Era, marks the occupation of Earth by modern-day humanity. Before our era was the Pleistocene; the period of time when the geology of Houston formed. During the Beaumont Formation, clays, silts, and sands were deposited in coastal marshes. The voids around these collections of sediment are the precursors for the bayous. Through this history lesson, it is evident that the implications of our actions effect a far larger context of the environment—the future of humanity.
Peter Cook, in Experimental Architecture, suggests that architecture is not just about buildings, but a strategy for future change. Experimentation is inevitable; without this practice, architecture will fall back on traditions and styles. Concerning this inevitability, an incentive exists for material and discovery of new things. Cook says there is a common overlay in experimental architecture, “the looking towards technology as a great force for a new architecture”.
dIVISION OF TIME EXISTINg EPA LAbORATORY
40%
60% LAb
OFFICE
The current EPA Region 6 Laboratory is located in a built-to-fit office building in a generic office park in Houston, Texas. Severe program segregation has created a disparate relationship between the scientists and their research. Labs and offices are not afforded windows for natural daylight, and are visually separated from each other by opaque walls. The existing conditions are not conducive to human well-being, as scientists have reported feeling lonely. A scientist’s workday is spent: 40% alone in the lab spaces; 60% sequestered in their office. Clearly, this is not the best environment for discovery and collaboration. It is in chance encounters and impromptu conversations where the future begins.
Where is the science actually happening?
CONFuSEd PLAN EXISTINg EPA LAbORATORY
?
Severe program segregation in the existing facility has also created a confused working environment. Raw samples are brought in one side of the building. Scientists enter in the opposite side. The sequence of information, after this inventory process, is a mystery.
Where is the knowledge going?
THESIS
How can architecture synthesize the ethos of experimentation to create a harbor for design- and science-based research? How can this synthesis be a catalyst for conversation about the future?
ethos of experimentation: search for knowledge immaterial celebration of science
Levels of Ethos individual
Science Lounge
group
institution
Experimental Labs
Pocket Parks
OUTDOOR Auditorium
Bike Trail
SMART SECTION PROPOSEd EPA LAbORATORY
After identifying the issues with the existing facility, a distillation of the sequence of information illustrates a clear diagram of the new EPA facility. This project proposes a smart section; where samples and scientists enter at the same point. The result of experimentation is the outlet of knowledge, or the celebration of science.
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The new EPA Laboratory is located in the southwest portion of the Texas Medical Center district. Edges of the site are visually defined by Brays Bayou on the north, and the Metro line to the south. The ground floor is dedicated to the energy-heavy laboratory spaces, while the upper levels are reserved for offices and the public realm. Scientists and visitors arrive to the southwest corner. Here they pass a security house. Visitors and group buses may park just beyond this checkpoint. Scientists park under a large lawn. All users on foot then circulate through the tower gate, and up a ramp into the facility. Users may also arrive by foot or bicycle via the bike trail that cuts through the site. This bike trail ramps up over the functional labs, and through the exterior portion of the office volumes. Pocket parks afford people a shaded resting area for lunch or coffee, overlooking the bayou. Visually connectedness is the focus between people in all spaces; interior and exterior. Science becomes the glue that brings people together.
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FIRST FLOOR PLAN: LAb LEVEL
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ENTRANCE bIKE TRAIL PARKINg LOAdINg dOCK SAMPLE STORAgE SAMPLE PROCESSINg EXPERIMENTAL LAb FuNCTIONAL LAb PRESENTATION ATRIuM SEMINAR ATRIuM MECHANICAL LAbORATORY PARK SECuRITY HOuSE LAWN / OuTdOOR AudITORIuM RECEPTION COLLAbORATIVE OFFICE SCIENCE LOuNgE POCKET PARK
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ENTRANCE bIKE TRAIL PARKINg LOAdINg dOCK SAMPLE STORAgE SAMPLE PROCESSINg EXPERIMENTAL LAb FuNCTIONAL LAb PRESENTATION ATRIuM SEMINAR ATRIuM MECHANICAL LAbORATORY PARK SECuRITY HOuSE LAWN / OuTdOOR AudITORIuM RECEPTION COLLAbORATIVE OFFICE SCIENCE LOuNgE POCKET PARK
bIKE TRAIL
INSTITuTION LEVEL OF ETHOS
Passers-by on the bike trail are afforded views into the experimental labs. This glimpse into the life of the EPA acts as visual transparency to counter any preconceived connotations of the institution’s agenda.
EXPERIMENTAL LAbS gROuP LEVEL OF ETHOS
“Conversation is the catalyst for innovation.” John Seely Brown former Chief Scientist of Xerox director of Palo Alto Research Center member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Arguably the most important arena in any scientific community is a space which accommodates collaboration. These large spaces offer groups of collaborators freedom to be messy, discuss, and construct larger scale experiments. Scientists in the experimental labs are visually connected with scientists in their offices above.
FuNCTIONAL LAbS
The functional labs are for EPA daily experiments with soil, water, and air samples. These nine labs border the experimental labs, have ample north light, and offer views out to Brays Bayou.
SCIENCE LOuNgE INdIVIduAL LEVEL OF ETHOS
This space is a refuge for a scientist to be alone in their minds; allowed to question and reflect as the world spins outside.
THE LAWN gROuP LEVEL OF ETHOS
This harbor for design- and science-based research promotes collaborative efforts and provides a venue for the outlet of knowledge... ...the celebration of science.
CELEbRATION OF A NEW dISCOVERY
SECTION I – I parking, the Lawn, outdoor auditorium, science lounge, offices, and experimental labs
SECTION II – II bike trail, pocket parks, and functional labs
SECTION III – III bike trail, functional labs, outdoor auditorium, and the Lawn (with light wells to parking)
SECTION IV – IV parking entry
SECTION V – V on-foot transition from parking to tower gateway (with bike trail and entry ramps)
SECTION VI – VI outdoor auditorium and sample loading dock
SECTION VII – VII science lounge and sample storage
SECTION VIII – VIII reception and sample processing
SECTION IX – IX pocket park, bike trail, office, functional lab, experimental lab, and mechanical
SECTION X – X bike trail and presentation atrium
SECTION XI – XI bike trail and seminar atrium
SECTION XII – XII laboratory garden and bike trail
SMART SECTION
bIKE TRAIL PASSER-bY LOOKINg INTO EXPERIMENTAL LAb 20 JUNE 20 MAR 22 SEPT 21 DEC
SCIENTISTS VISuALLY CONNECTEd bETWEEN LAbS ANd OFFICES
In order to combat the sense of loneliness, all labs and offices are visually connected to each other. Additionally, the public may observe the experiments from the bike trail above. Science becomes the glue that connects people; the ethos is given a clear environment to thrive.
Conventional engineering mass flow models diagram air in a rainscreen cavity as moving vertically in a two-dimensional fashion through the system. In reality, there are much more complex physics and subtle forces at work. These complexities are especially important to understand ventilated lightweight cladding systems in hot climates. The Turbulator is a cavity geometry insert; the result of research and iterative live- and computertesting. Its aim is to reduce the heat flow from the cladding onto the drainage plane of the building envelope. The insert introduces turbulence within the cavity, causing cool-inlet air to slow and exchange heat from the aluminum cladding. Warm air then accelerates as it is drawn towards the outlet. The Turbulator is an improvement on conventional ventilated assemblies, which may be installed with new construction or retrofitted into existing rainscreen cavities. The offset wavy geometry is effective across the three-dimensional face of the building. Additionally, the insert may be made of lightweight aluminum, plastics, or wood materials.
COOL-SKINS TURBULATOR ASSEMBLY
Cool-Skin Turbulator design team: Jake Hofeling Brian Prichard Lindsey Telford
MASSIVE LIMESTONE CONSTRUCTION
WALL SECTION Scale: 1/2” = 1’-0”
To complete the smart section, the Cool-Skin Turbulator panel is integrated into the assembly of the building. Texas fossil stone shelters the energy-heavy laboratory spaces on the ground floor. This earthy material is a physical lamination of the bayou’s history and formation. Massiveness of stone, is contrasted by the thin profile of the aluminum panels. Turbulator panels wrap the second level office spaces. This portion of the building envelope experiences the most direct solar radiation.
Bike trail ramp from Brays Bayou level to the Lawn – view from Northwest
South Braeswood Boulevard and Metro rail on South edge of facility – view from Southeast
Bike trail cutting through office volumes with pocket parks overlooking Bray Bayou to the North
BIBLIOGRAPHY Cook, Peter. Experimental Architecture. 1970. New York: Universe Books. Print. Seely Brown, John. Commencement Speech. Singapore Management University. 2013. Video.
IMAGES CITED All images, unless otherwise cited, were created by the author of this book. All maps, unless otherwise cited, were generated using googlemaps.com Geologic Atlas of Texas. twdb.state.tx.us/groundwater/aquifer/GAT/houston.htm Quarried Limestone. Cistercian Chapel. Cunningham Architects. cunninghamarchitects.com