WILLIAM SHEFFIELD ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO
CONTENT INTEGRATED | GYMNASTICS FACILITY US OLYMPIC TRAINING FACILITY
NEXUS | URBAN MIXED USE HUB
CASTIGLION FIORENTINO THEATER AND MIXED USE
ABROAD | URBAN MARKET
CASTIGLION FIORENTINO URBAN FARMING AND MIXED USE
COLLABORATE | MUSIC CENTER
TEXAS A&M MUSIC EDUCATION AND PERFORMANCE SPACE
UNITED | REFUGEE INTEGRATION CENTER
DOWNTOWN DALLAS MIXED USE - FINAL STUDY IN PROGRESS
ANCILLARY | PHOTOGRAPHY
INTEGRATED US OLYMPIC TRAINING FACILITY
The Olympic Training Center is designed specifically for the US Women’s Gymnastics team to replace their existing facility outside of Huntsville, Texas. While current facilities meet their most basic needs, the camp-like feel does little to portray the image of world-class athletes such as the main US Olympic facility in Colorado Springs does. An update is crucial to the continued development and showcase of the program. The facility consists of central building and twelve individual housing units. The central building contains training gyms, locker rooms, a cafÊ, and administrative offices. The housing units are laid out in two configurations: a motel-like layout for senior athletes and a cabin-like layout to facilitate summer camps and junior athletes. All of these buildings are located around the main lake of the extensive site which served as a design factor itself for the facility. The uniqueness of this project came in its size and scope. The expansive site required careful research to determine ideal placement of the facility. The training center itself is over 100,000 sq ft and required extensive management to not lose sight of smaller details. The focus of the studio itself was to integrate structure and systems into the design, which developed an understanding of the etirety of what goes into a building complex in the creation of detail drawings, framing plans, and HVAC design.
The design for the main building came from a two-fold process. Functionally, the massing was split into four forms comprised of the three gyms and the support program such as administrative and cafĂŠ spaces. On the other side in developing the plan, the natural curved side of the lake formed a portion of the perimeter of a circle, from whose center radii were drawn to the edge. Along these, the forms created from the program were positioned so as to direct focus towards the lake. In keeping with the theme of engaging the lake, the west and east wings actually cantilever out over it and the middle plaza steps down to the water itself. The housing units also keep with this idea, in that their axes are directed towards the lake with a central plaza between pairs.
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A major issue in dealing with the form of the project was how to deal with the massive rectangular forms created by the gyms. The first part of this was making the rest of the programmatic forms work with the large 50 foot structures. A large lobby that served as circulation space as well as display space for Olympic banners and awards from competitions was created to span around and between the gyms. This not only connected the programmatic spaces, but also served as an intermediary form between the large gym forms and smaller parts of the building.
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A The second issue to deal with was how to break up the traditional rectangular gyms. Functionally, the plan had to remain the same. In section though, the trusses that had to span the large space gave an opportunity for design. The solution here was to design a truss and roof system that not only broke up the form, but could serve a purpose for the gym space below.
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The final design was based on a precedent used in the Rafael Arozarena high school in Orotava, Spain, which utilzed a curved truss with a suspended ceiling. The uniqueness of this though was that the truss seemed to cut through portions of the suspended ceiling. In the version used in the training center, three ceiling planes were suspended from the truss and had cutouts for where the truss would “pass through.� The reasoning behind this was not only to break up the large planar ceiling, but to work with a similarly shaped roof above to allow indirect natural light into the gyms. In talking with the current center’s administrator, the gymnasts prefer no direct light to interfere with their routines, but some sort of connection to the outside was also desirable. The clerestories created solved this issue as well as creating an interesting form.
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NEXUS THEATER MIXED USE
This first year Master’s project was completed in conjunction with a third-year undergraduate studio while I was the graduate assistant for the college’s Italy study abroad program. I worked with a team of three undergraduates and led design work, content creation, as well as managing other groups whose design I was not directly involved with. This mixed use complex is situated in Piazza Garibaldi, the main square outside the old city’s walls of Castiglion Fiorentino. The current site is a large vacant parking lot that is used as a thriving market on Fridays and the site of a horse race during the summer. It is located at a central inetersection of the town, where the old and new meet, buses depart and arrive, and the community comes together for festivals and markets. It is the optimal place for a hub to better accommodate the activities of the townspeople, as well as a perfect destination for outsiders to promote the town’s value and image in a decaying rural Italian culture. The program consists mainly of a 300-seat theater that can be reconfigured depending on the event, as well as the needed support spaces for actors, guest speakers, and workers. The rest of the main building is dedicated to rehearsal rooms, open workshop spaces, a concession bar, and offices. The rooftop floor also features an outdoor theater space that terraces down into the central piazza created by the two buildings. The second building is a combination of a fully-functioning cafe as well as dedicated market vendor spaces to better integrate the displaced market with the structure. The entire complex is built out at the perimeter of the site to create a large public piazza in the center to encourage people to use the space even when events are not happening. The piazza is vital in Italian urban development over its entire history and is a primary indicator of the life happening in adjoining buildings. The need for one here was crucial to the success of the complex.
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ABROAD U R B A N FA R M A N D M A R K E T
Located in Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy, this mixed use facility with an emphasis on urban farming was developed while studying abroad in the town itself. In conjunction with the Milan World Expo focused on food, our research centered around the concept of the supermarket of the future and locally-based farming practices to provide for local communities. The project also sought to provide for future needs and made available implementation of future technologies such as smartphone features, interactive market shopping screens, and hydroponic gardening. The site itself is at the heart of the new town outside the medieval city walls adjacent to the much-used train station and within walking distance of housing and other commercial facilities. As such, it made sense to expand the program of the project into a more inclusive community center focused on education, training, and practice of locally-based farming and marketing. The existing building on the site was removed, but the grain silos presented a unique opportunity to tie back to the orignal complex as well as provide a function in developing hydroponic gardens. In keeping with Italian building traditions, the mass of the facility was stretched around a piazza space that acted as the centroid of the site itself. From this plaza, access to each function is simple and unobstructed, and allowed for multiple entrances to the site depending on the arrival of patrons from the rest of the town or from out of town via the train station. The building’s adjacency to the station makes it the first visible attraction of the town, standing as a memorable monument to Castiglion’s emphasis on local farming and innovation. The full program of the project includes the supermarket, two cafÊs, hydroponic gardens inside repurposed grain silos, greenhouse farms, rooftop gardens, classrooms, studios, and an exhibition space. The exhibition space features a massive glass envelope that allows light to the point of imitating outdoors as well as serving as a large mass that attracts patrons and ties the other buildings together at a firm corner. The bottom floor envelope is a solid wall that forces people to investigate the box itself through the rest of the complex.
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COLLABORATE TEXAS A&M MUSIC CENTER
Locating a building on the site of Spence Park presents a unique opportunity as well as a hefty challenge. The site is currently a public space, one that is very meaningful to Texas A&M and the people that make up the university. In order to justify a building here, it should not only give back space and function to the public, but its private use should appeal to and benefit the public as well. The majority of people, students especially who use this year round, do not listen much to classical or traditional music. Instead, the prevalent genres are rock, indie, country, rap, and religious. This building should be focused around these genres and artists that are engaging the people who live on and use this campus. Artists that present a precedent from which to draw from a PROGRESSIVE musical style and a COLLABORATIVE experience include Kings Kaleidescope, a religious band from Seattle that makes use of a large group consisting of guitars, drums, strings, brass, woodwings, and many other instruments; Mumford and Sons in collaboration with Baaba Maal, a British folk-rock band with a traditional and Afro-pop African singer; and Colony House, a four-piece rock band from Nashville. The diverse needs and various sizes of these groups set the precedent for program sizes and features. The diversity will allow for a greater use by students and other musicians, and create a more dynamic and inclusive experience for both artists and listenerers alike. Specific elements and design features revolve around spaces that can be utilized for multiple purposes. For instance, the primary auditorium should operate in such a way so as to accommodate an outdoor auditorium as well. Practice rooms should have some sort of interaction with public spaces to provide space and capabilities for improvised concerts and assemblies. The outdoor landscaping and plaza space should also accommodate to large groups of people, especially in regards to football gamedays to provide space for tailgating. Privacy and security is important though, and private spaces should be situated so that only authorized access has entry. This can be done through reception areas and secured portals.
Wall Section and Roof Detail steel shading panel metal plate connector steel w flange girder steel w flange
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metal framing batt insulation decking end cap blocking steel L brace
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raised concrete pavers vapor barrier decking rigid insulation concrete fill steel decking cantilevered steel truss ceiling hook suspended ceiling
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polished concrete topping slab concrete fill metal decking batt insulation w flange beam
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level 1 (public + restricted) 1 Main Auditorium 2 Cafe 3 Lobby 4 Practice Rooms 5 Storage 6 Performers Suite 7 Black Box Auditorium 8 Restricted Access
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level 2 (restricted) 9 Office Suite 10 Lounge 11 Recording Rooms 12 Production Suite 13 Rooftop Plaza
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UNITED
REFUGEE INTEGRATION CENTER (in progress) The refugee crisis is perhaps the most pressing humanitarian concern of our time. In 2016, there were over 21 million refugees worldwide ranging from Syria to Somalia to Burma to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While efforts have been made across the world of architecture in terms of camp redevelopment, temporary shelters, and public housing, very few attempts have addressed the need of integration between these displaced people and the citizens of the foreign nations they reside in. This is quickly becoming a pressing need in Europe and the US as well, as more refugees will continue arriving for the forseeable future and tensions between locals and their new neighbors rise as well. With people groups continuing to divide themselves and sides being taken and assigned everyday, solutions to actively unite are needed just as much as practical needs of housing. This study seeks to find ways to not only provide for basic needs of refugees, but even more so to give them avenues to express and support themselves, find common areas to integrate them with the local population, and provide a means to give back and develop the community they now reside in. Located in an area of downtown Dallas that is experiencing a rapid growth and redevelopment, the Refugee Integration Center is designed to support refguees to the US in their first 90+ days of arrival. Aside from providing housing for varying demographics, the center has space for partnering NGOs working with the refugees on continued immigration processes, market and commercial space for the refugees, and public space to invite locals in to provide opportunities to mix with the refugees. It is strategically located across the street from the already thriving Dallas Farmers Market and acts as a complimentary extension of its program. Market spaces allow refugees to not only craft and sell wares, but also to seek opportunities to continue supporting their previous careers such as non-professional consultation spaces for Syrian doctors. These flex spaces are designed to accomodate changning needs of new refugees cycling through the center over extened periods of time.
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