INTRINSICAL-NESS

Diamond Ranch Elementary School

2021 FALL 2GAX Design Studio

Instructor: Marcelyn Gow

Partner: Hao Wang, Suyue Jin

Software: Rhino, Cinema 4D, Maya, Redshift

Diamond Ranch High School was established in 1997-1999 to inject more vitality into the community and recruit more students. The studio centers on public education, especially elementary learning. And the project will be Diamond Ranch Arts and Sciences Elementary school. The notion of scalar change focuses on our design from small items at the scale of chairs to large-scale work on the context and site in the surrounding environment.

The reference of this method of close up and zoom out is the movie ‘The Powers of Ten’ created by Charles and Ray Eames in 1977. The intention is to work through scalar changes to navigate the project in all scales, understanding that interiority and exteriority are intermingled into a single narrative.

The pedagogical position of this project is to create small learning environments in the school where students reflect on the relationship between people and nature. From a functional point of view, holes of different sizes and walls of varying shape also introduce natural light into the rooms and allow for natural ventilation, which cools down the perennially hot building. The project reflects a belief that architecture should create a connection rather than a separation between people and nature.

Studio_Intrinsical-ness_Diacmond Ranch Elementary School

Stage1 floor plan with furniture embedded

To combine different chair models with the arid weather of the site and bring more vitality, low saturation colors were applied to chairs and space.

Stage 1: Design approach: Chairs

The design concept of the chair came from the Thonet chair. The chairs are curved and intrinsic with different pipe widths and deformed into various models, beginning from simple line work. Since chairs are for the elementary schools, more vitality is considered to be brought into the site. The chair design exaggerates some features derived from the Thonet chair and transforms the color palette.

FALL_2GAX Design Studio_Intrinsical-ness_Diacmond Ranch Elementary School

Classroom interior

Stage 2: Classroom

For the classroom scale, the architectural shape is designed and developed from the form and concept of the chair. A unified and clear architectural language can enhance people’s first impression of this school and improve the integrity and harmony of the design. A natural and organic design language throughout the entire process. With the meandering wall forms and the textures applied to them, the birch bark material creates natural terrain and plant growth qualities.

The classroom is the landscape, which blurs the boundary between architecture and nature, allowing natural elements to be introduced into the indoor spaces. This creates the possibility for sunlight, air, and plants in the natural environment to enter the indoor spaces.

Classroom Diorama

To test the three-dimensional relationship between the furniture and classroom space in real life. A 30" x 30" diorama was made to present the classroom scenario. The furniture and the image of the classroom were printed on a scale of 1:10.

Stage 3: Clusters

Different architectural shapes and coherent design language as a large template to create different microclimates nested into the form. The interlocking of classroom clusters defines a spatial sequence for students and teachers to discover various aspects of the architecture and the site over time. The linear wall elements create distinctions between the classroom clusters with our meandering circulation paths and other detailed techniques. The meandering circulation paths weave through them, tying the clusters together. This creates continuity and integrity of the space in the overall structure and the more detailed spatial design. The role of lines in the project shifts radically, producing twisted and woven walls and mesh-like roof structures. This creates an impression of lines becoming surfaces.

Interior space of the classroom

Natural texture and the weaving form of the classroom wall introduce green, natural ventilation, and sunlight into the classroom interior.

Behind the walls

Removing the classroom wall, we can see the introduction of nature and nature and the harmonious relationship between nature and people inside the classroom.

Stage 4: Into the site

Moving on from clusters of classrooms, in the scale of the landscape, community assembly, Sports stadium, and art center are taken into consideration and placed in the site with classroom clusters. The community center locates at the end of the main road of the existing middle school site for public people to access this site. As the building mainly serves students and faculty in the school, the art center and sports stadium locate the inner part of the site, which nears the sports field. On top of this, the circulation from one building to another was placed created for people to circulate inside the site.

Drone view of the campus

Elevation of the campus

Variation of material and weaving form from ground level to the second floor creates the diversity of the visual and walking experience throughout the school.

Stage 5: School campus

The final scale is the site and the surrounding environment. Our site and building are quietly located between the land and the mountains, and the campus has a strong sculptural quality. The free and organic form also shapes the adaptable indoor space comprised of walls, floors, ceilings, flexible interiors, and the landscape of the campus. The design language of meandering, which is driven from the lines, creates an escalating landscape and zoning along with the existing site. These forms allow teachers and students to roam, experience nature, and look at the sky and mountains at any time. They blur the boundary between architecture and nature.

Classroom

Classroom

Nature inside the classroom space

Drone view of the overall campus

Fusion of the artificial and nature

Each classroom is placed inside the site and surrounded by different levels of the landscape and circulation. Teachers and students can experience nature in and out of each classroom building.

In addition to the landscape that escalates along with the site, the organic form of ramps that attach the walls form another form of landscape that allows people to climb up to the second floor.