Film Center
Tyler Selby Studio 609 Spring 2009
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Tyler Selby Studio 609 Spring 2009
Program: NY Film Center Site: Dumbo, New York Document: Design Process Narrative Studio Critics: Robert Riccardi and Dominique Davison University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
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Contents
6
Reverberations
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Introduction
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LightEnergy
1. Concept Development
3. Slumdog Millionaire
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4. Beyond the Object
The Sandbox
1. Context Analysis
3. Analysis
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2. Existing Buildings 4. Elements of Development
5. Ground Plane Manipulation 6. Park Developed
Generating Space
1. Spatial Awareness
3. Pure Generation of Space
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2. Projected Porosity
4. Manipulation of Existing
ReCognition
1. Deja vu, Jamais vu
3. 1 + 1 = 1
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2. SpaceTime
2. Molecular Gastronomy
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Design Drawings
1. Distributed Lobby
3. Elevations & Section Drawings
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2. Floor Plans
4. HVAC System
5. Existing Floor plates
Threshold
1. Open Bay Plaza
3. Passive Facade
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2. Social Facade
4. Multi-Layer Building Envelope 5. Screen Facade Panels
6. Facade Connection Detail
Theaters
1. Theater in Park
3. Theater Theater
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2. Theater Window 4. The Perfect Theater
Conclusion
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Reverberations
Past experience offering coordinates for present decisions Future expectations influencing the current moment Is a moment the action of one foot off the floor? Or is it the brink of a scene cut in the theater? The grass rolls along the outdoor theater. The curve of your back an echo of the railroad track. My eyes track rows of beams once separating cargo from the freight on the left and that on the right. Deja vu: the right side of my brain processes faster than the left. The underground theater mimics its above ground counterpart -- devoid light. If you draw the light patterns of the bay doors, you will find my pattern -- the office, the editing room, my apartment -- my movement. The movement of the sun from winter to summer Enough to change heat into shadows. Shadows run from the light creeping through the windows and doors. In this shadow there are one thousand edits. I edit from before and beyond I analyze the light’s illumination of this moment.
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The cinematic experience of Architecture Berlin Holocaust Memorial by Peter Eisenman
A simple, ordered system of square volumes creates the experience that has a disorienting and chaotic effect as users are forces to think about their movement though the circulation gird. Contrasting between logical order and perceived order to create an experience that is, more than concrete forms, a space for reflection of the Holocaust. The experience becomes the highest form of architecture.
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Introduction
Objectives
Process Narrative
The objective of this document is to provide a narrative of text, diagrams and images to communicate the work completed during the Spring Studio 609 design studio. This work is focused on providing a clear understanding of original concepts through the execution in the final design of the building. The following will be achieved linearly starting with the broad topics and will progress towards the specific as design decisions are explained. Studio 609
The main objective for Studio 609 is the achievement of design from theoretical and philosophical concepts into a final design that is executed to connect back into the reality of the physical environment. The goal of the studio was to design a Film Center to be located along the Hudson River bank in Brooklyn, New York.
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LightEnergy SpaceTime
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LightEnergy
1 Concept Development
The design concepts were developed from an ongoing study of time and space through lenses established from the design studio’s objectives. This process began with viewing the film Slumdog Millionaire and analyzing data collected from researching and visiting the site three weeks into the project. This project explores the idea that the past and future form a collection of events that come together in a single point defined as the moment. This moment creates an opportunity, independent of time, for the interaction of the unlikely and the realization of the individual as well as the collective. From a series of moments frozen in time the medium of film has the ability to capture an experience with a focus that often surpasses that of any other. The captured experience is itself a moment in time, only a snippet of the trillions of events that take place continuously as we exist in reality. The history of the Fulton Ferry site emerged through moments of time captured on film and text found in newspapers that remained through collections of fragments in historical archives.
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Empire Building c.1900s
Dumbo’s past has always been in development with buildings no longer able to provide use, buildings were torn down with new buildings. Today, the long warehouses extending into the river no longer stand.
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LightEnergy
2 SpaceTime
Development Process > > > >
1D
>
2D
1 3D
TIME
XY
Z
00:00
POINT
LINES
PLAN SECTION
SPACE
EXPERIENCE
MOMENT
SITE
EMERGENCE
COLUMN GRID
CIRCULATION
DETAIL
XYZ POINT
>
The design process can be understood using a chart organized by dimensions of space. These dimensions are measured using the well known coordinates of x, y, z and standard time. The methods of analysis and representation developed in sync with these dimensions. The concepts developed the entire design although each dimensional state is more visible in certain areas, as executed in the built environment.
Projects begin at infinity, overflowing with every available possibility. Every dimension of the
site is analyzed using points of projection based on concepts developed from film analysis.
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The moment, a balance between nothing and everything, provides opportunities created from
the manipulation of x, y, z and t.
The moment is executed into every aspect of the building. The design is finished once the
balance between freedom and restriction is achieved to provide for the maximum opportunity.
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Projected Lines
1
Final Design
Moment in Detail
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LightEnergy
The film Slumdog Millionaire uses an untraditional story-line that weaves between three characters through three different stages of their lives. Each of these characters represents a moment in time: past, present and future. Films usually show the development of a character over the course of the story although the main character, Jamal, exists throughout the film in the same state of being; in the present. The two supporting characters are the ones that develop, Latika is constantly trying to keep up with events that have already taken place and Salim aggressively pursues the future in order to make it rich. Illustrated in the image, the past exists as a ribbon that orbits around the present, varying in relative distance. The straight lines (becoming blue when the line begins to interact with the present) speed into the future, in the attempt to control the present by constantly running ahead. The present can only be recognized because of these two forces that are illuminated by the present: the source of LightEnergy.
Time as a series of events
Time as perceived by the Moment
The time line measures changes and events relative to an established standard of time to help us understand change between the past, present and future. The time line is powerful, being able to represent everything between the singular and the infinite. In the moment, time is always the same, existence is timeless. The physical state may change in appearance although the moment remains inside, largely unaffected. Inside the moment, time disappears into a state of consciousness that is completely connected to the present. These feelings exist eternally present although awareness through a connection with physical reality is not automatically achieved. Once awareness is achieved, time and space fade away becoming secondary as the experience of being in that moment synthesizes the senses into a single feeling of being perfectly connected to the present. For the moment, the time line is but a single point. 16
The Moment
Visual interpretation of Slumdog Millionaire adobe illustrator, 3ds max, adobe photoshop Assignment #1
LightEnergy
4 Beyond
the
Film
Infrastructure
Cosmos
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Object
Film
The medium of film and the concept of the moment clearly demonstrates that creating an experience is not fully reliant on purely an existence of physical reality. A sequence of events create an experience that can be measured by time. Thus time can become a building element that can be manipulated just like 3-D space. The element of time can be manipulated to create moments that are perceived to be timeless. Moments of timelessness are achieved throughout the film Slumdog Millionaire as the main character, Jamal ties different times in his life back to the same core feelings being represented in different ways. Moments are created through design that focuses on the user’s experience, creating feelings from events that are on the surface the same but originate and connect back to core concepts of the Film Center’s design. Infrastructure
The flashiness and glamour of highly stylized spaces are not necessarily needed to create highly eventful spaces. Many of the design decisions in the Film Center perform simple disturbances to the existing infrastructure without having to add an additional layer of design on the surface. The physical object does not necessarily directly represent the experience until the moment in time which activates the object, creating an experience. These objects are sometimes unappealing and banal such as firework shells, cellular film and the lattice of steel behind the advertisements in New York’s Times Square. Cosmos
Another way of looking at this is to think of man’s interest in the stars. A night sky filled with tiny points of light provides endless possibilities for interpretation. This situation enables each person to reflect and create without being prescriptively informed on a single interpretation. A star gazer may look up at the night sky and see a bear, or connect the dots differently and find a ladle. The film center operates by providing an infrastructure like that of the cosmos, acting like a fun house mirror that reflects their thoughts and feelings with small amounts of influence that slightly bends or distorts their own perception of the buildings spacial environment.
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The Sandbox
Analysis -------> Execution
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Site Conditions
1 Context Analysis
The context of the Film Center includes a park along the Hudson river, two local streets, condominium housing, a small cafe, the Galåpagos performance space and the Tobacco Building, which consists only of exterior brick walls with a panoramic view of lower Manhattan flanked by both the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. The park offered visitors a path that followed the river and provided a wooden platform to view the city. Visitors often came for this reason alone which provided a limited and overlooked experience of the renewed energy that could be found in the Dumbo area. Also, because of the wall of unpunctured brickwork formed by the Empire building, Dumbo itself was separated from the park with only two small entrances. The surrounding streets consist of a healthy mix between vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Several retail, eating and entertainment businesses make up the Film Center’s neighbors. The street to the east of the site is open to vehicular traffic although is often mixed with pedestrians because the street is not used as a main thoroughfare.
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1. Adjacent building use, Site access options 2. Pedestrian and vehicular circulation 3. Surface treatment
open green space, water, streets, buildings, boardwalks
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Existing Buildings
2 Empire Building
North facade elevation 1/170� = 1’
Existing floor levels Bay 7
Bay 6
Bay 5
Bay 4
Bay 3
Bay 2
Bay 1
Footprint and existing bays Brick construction, timber inside, stone firewalls create bays, 4, 5 stories tall.
Research discoveries after the first design led to additional information allowing the existing firewall and interior timber construction to become a part of the existing brick facade. This added an additional layer of information that would begin to help influence and allow the design to connect to the existing warehouse. 24
Existing structural matrix Isometric View
Scale 1”=8’
Existing beams and deck Isometric View
Timber Piece Bay 3
Size
One module in structural matrix Isometric View
Quantity (bay 3 only)
Total Linear Ft
Use
Post
1’x1’x11’
298
2,980 ft
4 Floors
Primary Beam
1’x1.5’x11.5’
298
3,427 ft
3 Floors + Roof
Secondary Beam
4”x12”x18.75’
3975
74,531 ft
3 Floors + Roof
Deck
4”x14”x11.5’
5088
58,512 ft
3 Floors
*The ground floor uses the ground instead of timber and the roof uses thinner decking.
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Existing Buildings
Tobacco Building
The Tobacco Building is a remnant of a four story warehouse that previously had been used very similarly to the Empire Building. In a state of disrepair, including a caved in roof, a decision had to be made about the building’s future. The result is a two story perimeter of brick walls that provide for an unprogrammed, unsheltered event space. This space is heavily used for a variety of activities, from yoga to weddings. Users of the space choose to spend time inside the four remaining walls instead of locating themselves in the park. People are attracted to simplicity and tradition. The existing walls of the Tobacco Building have been proven tried and true over a long time span through their many functions. The walls of the Tobacco Building connect to the history, realness and truth (even if it may be fictitious truth) of the past that people love. Although simple structurally, the walls serve as a memory for an earlier way of life. This space can create as many possibilities as there are stars in the cosmos. Understanding the history and use of the Tobacco Building influenced the design of the Film Center in an attempt to provide a place that provided a maximum amount of opportunity. Inside, a confident space restricts use just enough to create a comfortable environment to spend time in. Design influence from the Tobacco Building include keeping each archway in the facade open for entry|exit and was referenced when making a decision about the removal of an entire bay to create an open plaza.
Tobacco Building facade.
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Analysis
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Empire Building c.1880s
A space for goods to temporarily rest.
Facade
The historical warehouse had originally provided temporary rest as goods were unloaded from ships to be distributed throughout the city. The seemingly solid building was actually punctured with openings every 18 feet along the over 300 foot long building. When originally used as a warehouse, these openings, repeated at every floor height, provided access to a series of cantilevered pulleys that provided vertical movement for the goods on each side of the building.
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Study of Empire Building facade. 1/256” = 1’
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Development of Site
4 Elements of Development
Manhattan
Usage analysis of the site reflected the site’s well known observation edge that offers a view of lower Manhattan from across the river. The existing boardwalk along the periphery of the park reinforced this observation. The Film Center park held relatively successful outdoor film events during the summer, considering its less than ideal situation. The site is now designed to be an extension of the new Film Center by providing several connections to be made.
Rail lines formerly located on site Brooklyn Bridge looking toward Manhattan, 1933
Interpretation of rail lines
Creating paths and a density map to manipulate the existing terrain.
Rail Lines
When the Empire Building had been a fully operational warehouse in the past, typical movement of goods occurred linearly from the river on the north to the street south of the warehouse. While this was typical, for several decades rail lines were also located on the site, loading goods from the ships and transporting them off site, possibly to other warehouses. Several rail lines were located in the park area so that many trains could be loaded at once, although these lines converged into a single set of tracks before leaving the site. This set of tracks converged at the park’s entrance running along the north facade of the Empire Building. It was possible that this small width of land existing between the water cove and the north facade was an existing remnant of the converging lines. 28
Development of Site
Existing boardwalk along edge of parking looking towards Brooklyn Bridge
Beyond Preservation
The Empire Building was the Butler Building of its time in the 1850s, originally built as a work horse of use. The concept of USING a space instead of just existing inside a space is important for understanding the project’s attitude towards preservation and historical perspective of the Empire Building. The visitors should never think about how the building is making the event and experience; good design is invisible. Rather, the events and experiences of the people should be in the foreground. Some visitors to the Film Center may never even noticed the architecture, except to notice, through the experience, that it is something special and different from their normal lives.
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Development of Site
School of forms:
diagram of an ideal architectural setting, in which an armchair cradles a ming-tang, a bright courtyard.
Interpretation of rail lines, creating paths and a density map to manipulate the existing terrain.
Reactivated Paths
The narrow strip of land is reactivated in the new design of the site to once again become the point users would enter and exit the park at. The primary reason for visiting the park could remain the view of Manhattan’s skyline, although opportunities now filled the space between the entrance point and the river’s edge. The lines from the rail tracks became circulation paths that would begin between the entrance and the water’s edge. While following the curved paths users would begin interacting with the Film Center’s park elements. Following the time spent at the parks edge to view the city, the user would again follow the curved path, funneling back to the entrance. Although exiting the park would not only be one of several options once a user reached the area where the paths converged. The user could exit, although the visitor’s interaction with Film Center elements in the park may have led them to other exit points, located above. The single entry point becomes several exit points below and through the open bay plaza, that influenced circulation to flow into the Film Center’s interior spaces. This influence is not meant to trick the user into something that does not exist, but rather to help foster a connection that may have been made into a space that would allow for further interaction through discovery.
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Development of Site
Concrete curtains fortified by a square mesh
Ground plane shifted
Kyushu Island, Japan.
Using internal grid to break up the smooth ground plane
Shifted Grid
The established Cartesian grid provided a starting point that directly connected the Film Center’s interior ordering system. A new density map was overlaid with the existing topography resulting in a new topography that would provide a sloped seating green space. This refocused the site to create an inward focus towards the Film Center. Removing one bay in the warehouse to create an open plaza enables the park to connect to the Film Center and Dumbo neighborhood. Underground, the basement level continued into the site where the cafe and editing booths existed. The raised site could provide for an underground parking structure to exist beneath.
The glass facade frees itself from the building Jewish Museum in Chicago Il.
Folded Plane Facade
The final adaptation of the circulation plane that was previously folded in half now becomes the facade.
Film in the Park
The screen facade unfolds, sliding along a rail system out into the park for the viewing of films from the raised green deck. The hybrid design enables an active façade that can become a series of events, creating an experience of movement and interaction to visitors. The viewing of the film not only exposes the work through projection on the screen but also exposes the interior spaces to the “workers” behind the curtain itself. 31
Ground Plane Manipulation
5 Site Plan
Project Site
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Manipulated Planes
Before
After
Compression of the Film Center into three bays coincided with manipulation of the site. The fairly flat site’s topography is manipulated to change the use, focus, access and spacial qualities of the site.
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Ground Plane Manipulation
6 Park Developed
gap between the two pieces are filled with an additional triangle of screen fabric that unrolls from adjacent beam when deployed
boat dock
underground parking elevated seating
internal column grid continues throughout
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East River
Final Site Plan
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Generating Space Programming Porosity
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Initial Design Development
1 Spatial Awareness
The Film Center is composed of four discrete programs that traditionally operate independently to support interest in Film. These spaces were initially organized into Event spaces, a Production & Education Zone, and an Artist Living space. Social connections to the public use various methods of distribution including theaters for viewing film. The Center’s support for production of new work includes a film production sound stage as well as the support services needed for operation. Educational support spaces provide opportunity to learn, research, study and discuss the discipline. Artist residences maintain a connection to the present with inhabitants that help make the building come alive with energy as they connect to fellow artists and the wide range of opportunities in the center. With these elements all located in the same shared space, the Film Center is able to provide the maximum possible connections to the entire discipline of cinema. The center is focused on one major discipline, although by including the entire range of program elements the center helps to foster interest for users that may typically only be connected to a single aspect of cinema. The film patron could expand their interest from the viewing of films to education and the process of making. The artists are given a space to live and meet other artists visiting, allowing themselves to keep in direct proximity to their work mentally and physically. The artist can also easily connect to the society in which inspiration originally developed from and continue this connection throughout the process of film production and the release of their work back into society. Together this creates a hub of activity that is alive throughout every hour of the day.
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Production & Education Zone Editing Powershop
Production + Soundstage
RR Computer Lab
Sound Rec
Auditorium 125 seats
Media
Conference Research + Room Film + Video LIbrary Agency Offices
Controlled Collection
Editing
Staff
Classrooms
Director + Admin
Break Area
Bookshop + Video Rental
RR
Auditorium 300 seats
Lobby
Artist Living Tkts
Lobby
Lobby
Auditorium 125 seats
Shipping + Receiving
Private Rooms
Laundry Room
Kitchen Living + Study
RR
Event Spaces
Private Rooms Private Rooms
Initial organization of program’s spacial relationships
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Initial Design Development
2 Projected Porosity
The porosity of the existing brick building is visualized using lines that connect each opening to every other opening that can be accessed using a straight line. This visualization shows every possible way a user could move through the warehouse from one side of the building to the other. This demonstrates that the Empire Building did very little in restricting movement from the street to the park and was in fact a visual rather than a physical wall of separation between the two spaces. The openings in the facade regularly spaced out although the levels of porosity varied throughout the building. The lines also created a density field that helped to highlight areas with high levels of movement through the building as well as pockets of space that were never activated during this vector analysis. The density map influences the placement of spaces that match intended levels of activity and interaction. The pockets of space with the lowest levels of density provide opportunities for secluded spaces (such as editing booths) to be placed among or adjacent to areas of high activity while continuing to maintain privacy.
The city enters the building and theater. Teatro Olimpico by Andrea Palladio
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Hand drawn diagram of lines connecting openings in the brick facades
Overlaid in black ink plus final spaces created emphasized; areas untouched by projected lines
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Projected Line Development
1. Original line drawing pen on trace
2. Black and white conversion adobe photoshop
3. Colorfields based on density of lines adobe photoshop
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Projected Line Development
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6. Spacial circulation from activation of facade with site adobe illustrator
Site
5. Final set of vector fields chosen to be used as lines and spaces adobe illustrator
4. Convergence into straight line vectors adobe illustrator
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Initial Design Development
3 Pure Generation of Space
Warped Plane
Armature
Generation 1
A series of steps were performed to allow clarity to emerge to the limits of simplicity to avoid the loss of the diagram’s embedded information. The porosity analysis now represented lines and shapes that would define unique spaces to be assigned to the entire program required for the Film Center. The design of the art center emerged entirely from the existing built environment and could now begin to be further refined through manipulation. The first design relied on an armature that extended throughout the building. Additional space for circulation and program elements followed a warped plane that used the resultant space between this armature and the exterior shell.
At entrance, looking at central lobby space
In gallery space, looking towards entry and theaters
Vertical circulation uses long ramps that bridge the spaces on different floors while holding program elements such as rest rooms. Longitudinal Section
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1st Generation Floor plans
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Further Design Development
4 Manipulation of Existing
Generation 2
In order to create a higher density of interaction between program elements the Film Center was condensed to use half of the volume used in the first design. The Film Center now would occupy the three eastern-most warehouse bays instead of the entire seven available. The east end of the warehouse was chosen because it provided a diversity of interaction between surrounding elements: the park, river, adjacent cafe and live entertainment venue. Activity is also generated from the surrounding streets, businesses and residences that attract a diversity of visitors and locals. Two objects were extracted from the first design to be manipulated; the armature element and a warped circulation plane. By folding these two objects upon themselves density and interaction increased. This enabled elements that had previously been located at separate ends of the building (theatres in east half originally, offices and learning spaces in west half of armature) to be located directly adjacent to and on top of the other. The large central lobby of the first design became the folded joint, distributing lobby space vertically throughout the Film Center.
Folded spaces in raw form
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7 Bays in Use
1st Generation: Armature element A purely generative form that creates a natural flow through building uses
2nd Generation: Armature element folded to provide new adjacencies Providing fresh interaction of spaces while increasing building use density
3 Bays in Use
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ReCognition Turning spaces into a building
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Further Conceptual Development
1 Deja vu, Jamias vu
It is essential to create a building that people can recognize, navigate and understand on an intuitive level. ReCognition is achieved by incorporating new and old elements to create a building. This allows people to recognize the building because it uses existing structure from the warehouse but creates a completely new film center experience. Two different phenomena of perception referenced to achieve this connection to the past are déjà vu and its inverse jamais vu. A person experiencing deja vu feels as though what they are experiencing in the present has already occurred in the past. Using déjà vu, a visitor to the film center can be in a space in which they feel like they have visited before, only it looks like nothing they have ever experienced. Through the brick walls and timber beams the visitor connects to the past; however, the actual spaces created and the programmed use had never existed inside the historic warehouse. Jamais vu, the opposite of déjà vu, creates the perception of the unknown in a known space, providing an unrecognizable experience. A visitor to the outdoor theater may have used the park during the day without recognizing it is the same piece of land when they revisit to watch a film that night. Both of these perceptions allude to the theory of the polyphony of senses in which people remember just as much through their bodies as through their brains. These memories strengthen a person’s sense of reality. Therefore, if a visitor recalls through the senses a familiar component of the building, he will be able to connect it to a preestablished idea, thus aiding in the visitor’s understanding.
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Further Conceptual Development
2 Molecular Gastronomy “The task of architecture is to design for the whole human experience; the body and the mind as a totality of senses and existence.” Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin
The Cyber Egg
Key ingredients: Carrot, coconut milk, cauliflower, agar Method: Spoon dollops of carrot-cardamom puree mixed with sodium alginate into calcium chloride so their surfaces form a skin. Mix the coconut milk with agar, a powerful thickening agent, and let it harden in a ring- shaped dish. Marcel’s tip: “I prefer agar to gelatin for this sort of dish because it’s easier to use and can be heated without melting.”
Mixing ingredients
Finished “egg”
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Further Design Development
3 1+1=1
Incorporating elements of the existing warehouse into the design process led to the positioning of the Film Center’s floor planes. At this point in the design process the spaces have been generated, the program adjacencies have been worked out and the interior volume has been fixed. The original design had generated spaces from an analysis of the shell without recognizing the existing internal order that already had established floor and column positions. The folded design of the Film Center required floor planes to become ramps to another floor plane. The existing warehouse offers order with a brick exterior shell and a finite matrix of timber framework on the interior. The exterior shell provides a rhythm of openings along an unwavering facade. The timber matrix offers points of interaction.
The 3D point matrix enables location nodes to provide
decisions for manipulating the floor planes by moving points attached to the floor plans from one node in the matrix to another node. This modification rule would be used directly for all of the existing framework of timber columns, beams and decking. The pervious folded design reincorporated itself into the internal structural order using this rule for modification of the timber framework to be reconfigured; enabling much of the existing floors to be used in the design of the Film Center. Some interior spaces would not require any additional building material to realize the contemporary spaces.
Shifted floor planes create the Film Center’s spaces Study Model Scale: 1/32” = 1’
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Existing design folded spaces 3d Perspective
Existing structural matrix Isometric View
Column Grid Up to Fl 2
Ticket Sales and Video Rental delivered by Vending Machines
W RR Open Lobby
M RR
and Display Space
Mech Space
Theater
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Concessions
Production and Soundstage
Production Shop
Theater Lobby
Shipping/ Receiving
Up to Fl 4
Up to
Freight Elevator
Floor 0 Ground Level Scale 1/128� = 1�
Existing column grid providing support for ground floor Plan View
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Design Drawings Plans + Sections
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Design Drawings
1 Distributed lobby
Spaces in Motion
Interior organization of spaces for the four major components of the Film Center are inter woven through a high dynamic range of connectedness between the extremes of keeping components distinctly separate and the neutralization of unique components into an unrecognizable puree of uneventful sameness. Meaning, individual experiences are possible from a mixture of circulation options that transgress through interdepartmental spaces. Each purposeful visit to the Film Center provides opportunity for the interaction with other functions of the building. Motion in Spaces
The concept of centrality in relation to the Moment is not the creation of a single central lobby. The central lobby traditionally distributes users into spaces surrounding the lobby. The typical central lobby only allows adjacent spaces to connect via the shared lobby. Connection to other spaces in the building should not only happen through the shared lobby space but also through independent connections to adjacent spaces. Non-central lobby and circulation space dissolves into spaces shared by many, if not all the different building occupants. EnergyVectors are powered by and encourage increased movement through spaces “on the path less traveled� from one point in the building to another. Introspective spaces could benefit by becoming more social with EnergyVectors. Vertical Motion
Floor levels are pushed and pulled vertically at points located in the structural matrix creating ramps that provide circulation and interaction between the floor levels. Floor levels connect vertically throughout different areas of the building; connecting spaces with similar or connected uses to provide building occupants convenience when these spaces are used in conjunction with or in a series of tasks. 56
Computer Lab
m Classroo
Theater 2
Apt 3/
Mail Room
Roof
Agen Office cy
t5
Ap
Theater 2 Production
Theater 2
Theater 2 160 Seats
Theater 1
Production
Apt 2
Theater11 Theater 389Seats Seats 389
Film Production
Production
Film Resources
nce fere Con Room
Film Viewing
Open Metal Grate Bridge
Film Residents
Apartments / Condos / Lofts
Floor 5 3 4 Floor Living Production Learning, Artist’s 0 Research, 2 Support and Offi andce Ground Lobby Agency and Courtyard Artist’s for Spaces Level Theater Spaces1
Production
n
uctio Prod
Scale 1:500
Circulation diagram with stacked floor planes shown (white space is location of walls at floor cut)
m
Computer Lab
Classroo
Theater 2
Mail Room
Apt 3/
Roof
Agen Office cy
t5
Ap
Theater 2 Production
Theater 2
Theater 1
Production
Apt 2
e
nc fere Con Room
Production
Floor 5 3 4 Floor Living Production Learning, Artist’s 0 Research, 2 Support and Offi andce tion
uc Prod
Production
Ground Lobby Agency and Courtyard Artist’s for Spaces Level Theater Spaces1 Scale 1:500
Only circulation lines shown
Never directly intended, central circulation spaces subtly reveal themselves by stacking each of the individual floor’s circulation diagrams into a single plane.
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Design Drawings
2 Floor Plans
Grounds Floor
The ground floor provides access to main production and theater spaces at several points around the facade. Production space is located on the ground floor to enable for easy movement of sets in and out of the building. The ground floor provides three options for access to production spaces; from Water Street, a private south entrance enables direct access, from the open lobby space there is an entrance for everyone and large bay doors provide access to the power shop and the alley for deliveries.
Second Floor
The second floor is largely removed to create an open ground floor, enabling the theaters and production space to become armatures inside the exiting matrix of columns and beams. The only remaining floor space provides an elevated waiting space for the largest theater.
Interior view towards production, wrapped in by a single surface that is lifted to reveal interior production area. 3d Perspective
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Up to Fl 2
Ticket Sales and Video Rental delivered by Vending Machines
W RR Open Lobby
M RR
and Display Space
Mech Space
Thea
ters Concessions
Production Shop
Production and Soundstage
Theater Lobby
Up to Fl 4
Up to
Shipping/ Receiving
Freight Elevator
Ground Floor
Production , Shipping/ Receiving, Gallery and Theater access 10’
25’
50’
Water St.
MainSt.
Theater 2 160 Seats
Theater 1 389 Seats
Floor 2
Lobby for Theater 1 10’
Front St.
25’
50’
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Design Drawings
Third Floor
This partial floor provides support space that wraps around the production stage. This could be used for a variety of activities that are in need to provide direct support during production. The floor also houses the agency offices in a more secluded area that is not intertwined as much with the public accessible areas. This floor does provide connection from the ground floor to the artists area and also a ramp up to the fourth floor.
Fourth Floor
This floor holds many spaces tied to the research and education of film This is laid out using the existing column structure to create a modular space that can adapt when needs change. The walls for each of these spaces would also be modular so actual construction would not be needed to convert an open conference space to a heavily controlled film storage space. This floor also contains the social living areas for the resident artists. Their space contains a large space to watch films, living, studying and eating spaces. The artist’s private space overlooks this space from a lofted position on floor five.
Modular Units Provide for continuous adjusting and rearranging of work spaces. Open, Opaque Walls and Glass Panels combine to create the spaces
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bb y Lo Do w
nt
oT he
a te
rs
an
d
to Artists’ Living
Up to Artists’ Living
Agency Offices
Theater 1 389 Seats
Floor 3
Production Support and Agency Offices 10’
Artist’s Private Exhibition/ Theater Space
25’
50’
Artist’s Kitchen and Group Living Area
W RR M RR
tal Me ge en rid Op te B a Gr
Film Library and Resource Center
Film Collection
Theater 1 389 Seats
Computer Lab
Classroom
Meeting Room Staff Rooms Mail Room Offices
Director and Admin
Floor 4
Break Room
Learning, Research, Office and Artist’s Spaces 10’
25’
50’
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Design Drawings
Floor Five
A good space for an artist’s living space requires the option for these people to have a bit of privacy from the everyday event. In the Film Center, resident artists are given privacy including an outdoor space of their own on the fourth floor by using exterior walls of the Empire Building to provide enclosure around the rooftop of the 300 seat theater. As mentioned during the Tobacco Building analysis, these simple walls contribute by make connections to society’s love of the past without the input of additional energy or materials. Entry to the private rooms penetrate through each floor to provide access to the social living spaces. Folding doors provide access to the rooftop courtyard.
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Apt 1
Apt 2
Apt 3
Apt 4
Apt 5
Apt 6
Outdoor Rooftop Deck
Floor 5
Artist’s Living and Courtyard 10’
25’
50’
10’
25’
50’
Roof
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3
Elevations and Section Drawings
Scale 1”=16’
North Elevation
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Street
Apt. 2
Theater Lobby
Apt. 1
Apt. 3
Apt. 5
ace
Apt. 6
Stairs to ar tist’s living sp
Apt. 4
Apt. 7
Gallery Space
Agency Offices
Library
Facing South Scale 1”=16’
North Section
Open Bay Plaza Down to Theater
Unused Empire Bays
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Water Street Galapagos
Door
Theater Window
Door
Elevations and Section Drawings
Door
Scale 1”=32’
East Elevation
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Theater 2
Group Living/ Dining Space
Theater 1
Artists’ Apartments
Facing West Scale 1”=32’
Building Section
Shipping/ Receiving
Rooftop Deck
Galapagos
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individual units for artist’s private rooms, editing bays
3. Private Spaces self contained, low voc air handling option for theaters
6. Theaters
watertanks, electricity, telecom, pumps, sprinklers
5. Basement
2. Roof Cooling
boilers, generators
multi-point entry, low velocity air handled through single production wall and ceiling
4. Production Studio
1, 3, 4: air handling for adjacent floors
1. Open Floors
4
5
in Section
HVAC System
1
3
Elevation and Section Drawings
1
2
Facing North Scale 1”=32’
X-Ray View Section
3
6
1
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Unused Empire Bays
moveable screen facade
Open Bay Plaza
internal floor, beam and post construction using existing timber
fixed curtain wall glazing envelope
Production
Conference Room
Power Shop
Apt. 7
In light grey behind section, the existing floor planes demonstrate how much the internal structure has been manipulated to create the design of the Film Center
shown in Grey
Existing Floor Plates
Conference Room
4
Elevation and Section Drawings
Facing North Scale 1”=32’
Apt. 5
Apt. 4
Building Section
Apt. 6
Apt. 3
Apt. 2
Theater Lobby
Theater
Apt. 1
Theater Window
Inside I begin from the South, Water Street to the park, only a line across the open bay stands between A and B, changing spacial qualities synchronizes with the undulating screen, increases, decreases, increases to opacity forming the Film Center’s layered mask to the plaza, I view myself travel alongside a surface of steel, small fingerprints fight the mirror finish, wonder teases the hidden production stage reflecting from the inside, back on the chosen society that gathers today in this space.
Threshold Plaza|Facade|Film Center
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Threshold
1 Open Bay Plaza
The Open Bay Plaza
I begin from the South, Water Street to the park, only a line across the open bay stands between A and B, changing spacial qualities synchronizes with the undulating screen, increases, decreases, increases, to opacity forming the Film Center’s layered mask to the plaza, I view myself travel alongside a surface of steel, small fingerprints fight the mirror finish, wonder teases the hidden production stage reflecting from the inside, back on the chosen society that gathers today in this space.
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Open Bay Plaza Looking North through the bay towards the park and Manhattan 3d Perspective
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Threshold
2 Social Facade
Facade Development
Open Bay Plaza allows for better access to park with the park + film center + street coming together to create a social space. Following the removal of bay 4 to create an open plaza space a new facade needed to contain the Film Center’s now exposed west elevation. The plaza provides a way for the public space to become Film Center space as the facade begins to hold the space to the building, facilitating interaction between the Film Center and the surrounding environment. Several spacial studies were performed in section to finalize the vertical relationships between floor levels and how the floor levels would shift vertically to achieve the connection between levels. The surface created a connected plane between the floor levels. The plane would no longer be used for actual circulation space although the facade allowed the ground floor to visually connect with the floors above as the facade’s angle cantilevered over the space below. This narrow space created a straight path through the Film Center from the street to the park. The narrow space also create a cavernous space that would penetrate the roof line to allow daylight to find its way in to the central areas that were farthest removed from openings in the facade like the perimeter spaces. Activated Facade
After several design studies, the fluid plane that had inspired the facade became simplified into triangular planes, each remaining unique panels, but allowing for actual construction of the facade to be more plausible. The narrow access space created by the facade became a plaza by taking out the adjacent by in the Empire Building. This allowed the angled facade to really expose the guts of the Film Center’s internal spaces and further connect to the surrounding context. The facade next stage of development would increase activity by creating a truly active facade. The facade would become mobile, allowing the angled plane to move out into the park to flatten out and create a screen to project and view films from.
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Design Studies
The circulation plane that had been folded would be represented in the final design as the building facade for the East side of the Film Center.
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Threshold
3 Passive Facade
3. 1.
2.
Passive Energy Properties Wall Section Diagram Scale 1” = 4’
Passive Energy Properties
1. The gap between the facade and interior glass envelope create a double skinned facade. A natural chiminey effect keeps air constantly circulating vertically so the interior and exterior temperature difference is less than the actual temperature in the surrounding environment. 2. The sloped angle of the east facade acts like a roof overhang to provide protection from the sun during summer months. The sun’s lower angle in the winter enables the sun to reach the interior spaces to help with day lighting and heating. 3. During the winter months this plaza would be shaded throughout most of the day. The slopped facade redirects the sun and warmth to the public plaza below to create a more enjoyable space year round.
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Threshold
4 Multi-Layer Building Envelope
1. Screen Facade
glazing vertical steel I beam for curtain wall
2. Curtain Wall
6 in
weather envelope
3. Existing Timber 4. Production Wrap
1
2
3
4
Multi-Layer Building Envelope Wall Section Detail
Scale 1” = 4’
Multi-Layer Building Envelope
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Design Details
5 Screen Facade Panels
Sliding out, the curtain facade reveals itself: a screen for viewing film in the park. The panels, created as independent pieces, link together along adjacent hinged spines to create a train of panels. Exceeding in flexibility, single points of contact glide along an overhead rail. The surface, a perforated screen interwoven with elastic material, ensures a taut surface at all times. Beyond the surface, the gap between exterior screens inter-connect with the surrounding environment. Steel members form an infrastructure to hold-in-place the bolt-in-place speaker systems, PV panels and LED Video panels available.
Theater 1 389 Seats
West Elevation
West Elevation with Lower Level Section Scale 1” = 64’
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Scale 1”=16’
A1
A2
A3
A4
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
A2
A3
A4
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
A3
A4
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
Screen Surface
A1
Screen Surface + Steel Frame
A1
A2
Steel Frame
Screen Armature Panel Assembly
Scale 1”= 48’
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Design Details
6 Facade Connection Detail
Electrodynamic Levitation
The facade is held at a pivot point that enables the piece to move freely in any direction needed up to a point. The rail is activated using electricity to power a magnetic field to elevate the panels when moving back and forth between the park and the building. This movement would be relatively easy once levitation begins because the whole structure would actually be frictionless sitting on a pillow of air.
screen clamp
screen facade
wraps around structure so no frame is visible
screen fastener
placed over the surface to keep the screen in place
4x Screen Connection Detail Scale 1� = 1’
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iron ball joint
connections to building to support rail and facade
overhead support supports facade also provides a track for movement
electromagnet to provide levitation for facade movement also uses attractive properties to lock pivot in place
main horizontal steel box beam transparent pv panel and/or led system inside structure
vertical metal structure
cross bracing steel structure
secondary cross bracing steel ties
Top Connection Detail Scale 1� = 4’
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Theaters 1. Theater in Park
2. Theater Window 3. The Perfect Theater 4. Theater Theater
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Film Center
1 Theater in Park
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Film Center
2 Exposed Theater 389 seats
The large window broadcasts, from inside the brick facade, a film center teeming with activity. East Facade with street, Theater Window in black Photo + 3d Composite in adobe photoshop
The theater provides a window to the street whenever a film is not being shown. This mirrored effect creates a duality of scenes and audiences opposite each side of the glass. Inside, visitors waiting for the feature film can watch the live action taking place in StreetLife. People in the street and across the street can take part in the live cinema. The public becomes the film as they also become an audience viewing those waiting for the film to begin. During the film the connection is severed, the screen, black out curtains and speakers slide in place to enclose the theater. The exterior wall can remain dark or it can be lit with LEDs to provide a large video board for the public gathering space to use.
Study model to test how design fit in the surrounding spaces and park
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Scale: 1/32” = 1’
Section view of theater open to street Scale: 1/8” = 1’
Plan Detail
Theater 2 OnDisplay
Scale 1”=8’
screen storage reel
screen runs along tracks at the top and bottom of the screen
curtain storage
glass wall uses fluid connection to connect to wall notch provides complex connection to be hidden
5/8 in double glass unit
6 ft x 9 ft units throughout
double glass unit with .5” laminated glass
6 in of air space to meet acoustic requirements
vertical steel columns
to support heavy acoustic dampening glass
interior acoustic curtain
also serves to black-out theater, blocking out natural light
theater screen for film projection
speaker enclosure
Wall Detail in Plan View Scale 1”=12’
with Brick Facade
view from apartment across street
without Brick Facade
view from apartment across street
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Film Center
3 The Perfect Theater 160 seats
Two smaller theatres create perfect spaces for viewing film. Each theater provides optimally aligned seating matched with a screen in the correct proportion for the eyes to best view film all inside a well insulated truss box structure integrated with a low velocity HVAC system. The two smaller theatres are the same in almost every way, including the stairs that provide access to the theater’s entrance. Location differs, one being on the ground level oriented east in bay 1, while the other is located in the lower level under the plaza oriented north. Construction is exactly the same for each, including the same finish materials and artificial lighting. Visually each of these theatres look completely different and would not be immediately perceived to be the same theater inside. The above ground theater is positioned as an object forced between two floor planes, the underground theater is largely built in to the earth with only a single side exposing itself to the subterranean vault of stairs leading down. This conflict between similarity and difference help create an experience, for visitors unaware, that is similar to experiencing deja vu and jamais vu.
Mechanical Systems Theater HVAC
return air
sound isolated enclosure low velocity, high volume fan chiller / heating element
projection room
chiller / heating elements can be individually controlled to recondition the return are to the desired temperature.
air supply located under each chair con
ditio
ned
air
Theater 2 and 3
160 Seats, 4 handicap Scale 1� = 10’
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Film Center
4 Theater Theater 160 seats
Theater 2
Elevation Facing South Ground Floor, Bay 1
Theater 3
Elevation facing East Basement, Open Plaza Bay
Mechanical Systems Theater HVAC
HVAC + Structure
projection room
speakers behind the screen
self contained hvac system
curved screen to counter lens distortion
Theater 2 and 3
160 Seats, 4 handicap Scale 1” = 24’
Theater 2 and 3 160 Seats, 4 handicap Scale 1”= 8’
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Conclusion tell them what you just told them
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Conclusion
As the semester and project progressed focus was readjusted several times. Focus for this project began with creating powerful concepts that were connected to qualities of perception in respect to time and space. Concepts were then applied to the project through the analysis of film and the long history of the Dumbo site. This generated form and spaces that would become as much a part of the existing then something completely new by interacting and engaging the site and context. This culminated with a design that is focused on the creation of an experience that creates Architecture for society to USE. Finally, it became clear that while experience is important, representation of ideas followed through in the execution of concepts to the details were required to achieve success with the design becoming a part of the built environment. The creation of a process narrative to document design decision from an entire semester of work is difficult. Heavy amounts of editing often condensed a week or more worth of work into a single image or line of text. An enormous amount of data was generated during the semester including over 15,000 files using 105 gb of space. The study of film led to an investigation into the nature of time. Time is the ordering system that experience is created from a series of events. Slumdog Millionaire introduced the Moment, in which time stood still, creating a situation where the past, present and future were all collapsed into a single point. Behind the single point lies is experience, using a physical object gives life to the moment. For example the cinematic story requires the simple medium of film to be projected. These objects were often not representative of the incredible experience performed. Experience in the Film Center would be achieved by not big flashy design but by creating an infrastructure where opportunities for making, viewing and learning about film would occur. The project site, located between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges in Dumbo, would provide the setting to tell the story of development for the design of the Film Center as well as the adjacent 92
park. Many hours would be dedicated to learning about this historic site with a clear emphasis on the organization system of the openings in the brick facade that occurred regularly thoughout the Empire Building. Historical rail lines would provide inspiration for readapting the park to a place to watch film. Refocusing the park inwards towards the Film Center created a space of its own instead of being completely dedicated towards the view of lower Manhattan. Creating a Film Center again, looked towards the site and the existing buildings for clues on how best to use the huge, empty warehouse. Lines were drawn between openings in the brick facade enabling a density map to make visible the porosity that existed between the brick facade’s heavy walls. Spaces were created and spaces for the Film Center was generated for the first time out of a set of lines that had been created by adapting the projected line drawing. Occupying the entire Empire Building, the major armature that contained many of the Film Center’s spaces was folded in half. This created new opportunities for interesting adjacencies to be created in the three eastern bays of the warehouse. Now that spaces were created, it was time to create a building that would be comfortable existing inside a structural frame matrix that divided the interior spaces into cubes of space between timber beams and columns. The perceptual phenomenon of Deja vu and Jamais vu helped to explain a method of integrating the new and the old into spaces that tricked the memories, a priori of what a film center and an abandoned warehouse could achieve. Senses come into play anytime perception is discussed, so a quick study into creating eggs out of different (never considered egg like) ingredients to produce something that is only an egg on the surface visually. Time is to be thought of as an physical element that could be manipulated and changed at will. The recognition of the Film Center into the existing warehouse created a rule based system for manipulation that resulted in a design fusion where neither of the previous components could be separated back into old and new elements. Final floor plans, elevations and sections emerged that provided opportunities for users of the center to be successful in highly connected spaces for interacting with the wide range of activities in the film discipline. A system of lobbys distributed throughout the building created many central spaces instead of only one main lobby. Many of the spaces became more social by creating circulation spaces to exist through areas instead of running parallel to action in a separate corridor. It was easy to see in section that, although the design had been based on the existing floor level locations, the design of the Film 93
Center had created a truly new and unique environment to house the programmed spaces. The threshold between the surrounding environment and the interior spaces had always been important for the design of the Film Center. The opening of the fourth bay, adjacent to the Film Center’s three bays, created a new path for interaction between the street and park. The plaza would be connected through a similar public type of space like the street and park. Perceived to be public space without a connection to the Film Center the design goal after is meant to dissolve the spaces between the plaza and the Film Center’s interior spaces. Inside the plaza, the angled facade invited people inside to become further interested in what the film center had to over. The plaza helped provide an open invitation into the building by creating a series of small subtle thresholds that transition between the open public spaces to the core of the film center. The facade created a new face for the Film Center to call entirely its own. The undulating, angled surface provided further interaction between interior, exterior and park spaces. The facade would prove to not only engage relationships with society but also towards a sustainable environment with many passive energy properties that control sun light as well as adjacent air temperature in the multi- layered building envelope. The facade’s mobility is created using movement out into the park along a rail, unfolding, to provide a screen for the projection of films. An electrodynamic levitation system would attempt to tackle the problem of guiding such a huge surface between the plaza and park locations. The theatres are the location where film is experienced. The theater, more often than not, is a perfect box secluded from the world in a highly regular layout of ticket offices, concessions and banks of theatres to receive the dose of cinema. Theatres in the Film Center offer a variety of spaces for viewing film. The theater in the park offers a social experience that connects to the environment, under the moonlight were dreams originally played out among the stars. The largest indoor theater is exposed to the street with a large window that is located behind a deployable screen and blackout curtain that move out of the way before and after films to create a double viewing/ watching situation of interaction to occur between those seated before a film and those in the street playing out their day. The final two theaters create experiences of deja vu and jamais vu to force the viewer to further explore their sensual perceptions that are in conflict with on another.
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