I will start by saying that your proposal is aesthetically daring and that a building like this cannot be overlooked or missed! Knowing how hard you have been working on your project and being aware of the various stages it went through, I believe that you were successful in coming up with an overall functional, coherent and aesthetically intriguing result! Well done!
While the structural system and materials for your proposal are not fully resolved yet, I find your elevations powerful and at the same time elegant in their own way. One small criticism I have here is about the main entrance which is well placed on plan but not easily identifiable on the elevations. Another point that I want to raise is the fact that Doughty Street and Elizabeth Pl could now turn into two “dark and narrow alleys” (compared to what they are now). This is not a weakness in your proposal but I bring it up because I want to highlight how designs have an impact on their immediate surroundings and context. For this reason and regardless of what the local building codes allow, I think that it is always prudent to be aware of how a design can affect its surroundings.
I like very much the fact that you have used color in some parts of your building and I am curious to know why you didn’t experiment more with this. Also, I look at your floor plan layout and I think some of the interior walls compromise the functionality of the spaces within them (e.g. the wall between the kitchen and the lecture hall on the top floor). This is not a major issue though and it can easily be corrected.
A few points regarding your presentation slides:
1. Overall, your drawings and renderings are nice and clean! 2. The annotation on some drawings is inadequate. On your plans for example, there are no section cut lines and no north arrow. And on your ground and mezzanine level plans there are no labels for all the spaces and this makes it very difficult for others to understand what these spaces are and how they work. 3. A staircase that is drawn on one plan is missing from the other - architectural drawings or diagrams (even at this level) need to be consistent. Also, in your section and renderings one can see floor / roof slabs and staircases with almost no thickness and this is wrong. 4. You have 2 interior renderings: slide no. 17 is very informative about your building entrance lobby and main staircase (a space with lots of potential btw) but unless I have missed something, slide no. 18 does not say anything about your design. When you are presenting your work, don’t show a drawing or a rendering that will not help you. 5. Your animation does not play smoothly but I am not sure if the issue is with my computer / browser or with the animation rendering itself. Nevertheless, short animations like this can be a great design and presentation tool so well done for making one!
I know how architecture students always struggle to finish everything on time, but when you put so much work and effort in a design with very good potential and at the same time you omit little things like these then you are being unfair to yourself. Nevertheless, this does not change the fact that you worked very hard and that you produced some great work! Again, well done and good luck with everything you do next. Following you online was a pleasure.
Merry Christmas and best wishes to you and all your loved ones for a Happy New Year!
Dear Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI will start by saying that your proposal is aesthetically daring and that a building like this cannot be overlooked or missed! Knowing how hard you have been working on your project and being aware of the various stages it went through, I believe that you were successful in coming up with an overall functional, coherent and aesthetically intriguing result! Well done!
While the structural system and materials for your proposal are not fully resolved yet, I find your elevations powerful and at the same time elegant in their own way. One small criticism I have here is about the main entrance which is well placed on plan but not easily identifiable on the elevations.
Another point that I want to raise is the fact that Doughty Street and Elizabeth Pl could now turn into two “dark and narrow alleys” (compared to what they are now). This is not a weakness in your proposal but I bring it up because I want to highlight how designs have an impact on their immediate surroundings and context. For this reason and regardless of what the local building codes allow, I think that it is always prudent to be aware of how a design can affect its surroundings.
I like very much the fact that you have used color in some parts of your building and I am curious to know why you didn’t experiment more with this. Also, I look at your floor plan layout and I think some of the interior walls compromise the functionality of the spaces within them (e.g. the wall between the kitchen and the lecture hall on the top floor). This is not a major issue though and it can easily be corrected.
A few points regarding your presentation slides:
1. Overall, your drawings and renderings are nice and clean!
2. The annotation on some drawings is inadequate. On your plans for example, there are no section cut lines and no north arrow. And on your ground and mezzanine level plans there are no labels for all the spaces and this makes it very difficult for others to understand what these spaces are and how they work.
3. A staircase that is drawn on one plan is missing from the other - architectural drawings or diagrams (even at this level) need to be consistent. Also, in your section and renderings one can see floor / roof slabs and staircases with almost no thickness and this is wrong.
4. You have 2 interior renderings: slide no. 17 is very informative about your building entrance lobby and main staircase (a space with lots of potential btw) but unless I have missed something, slide no. 18 does not say anything about your design. When you are presenting your work, don’t show a drawing or a rendering that will not help you.
5. Your animation does not play smoothly but I am not sure if the issue is with my computer / browser or with the animation rendering itself. Nevertheless, short animations like this can be a great design and presentation tool so well done for making one!
I know how architecture students always struggle to finish everything on time, but when you put so much work and effort in a design with very good potential and at the same time you omit little things like these then you are being unfair to yourself. Nevertheless, this does not change the fact that you worked very hard and that you produced some great work! Again, well done and good luck with everything you do next. Following you online was a pleasure.
Merry Christmas and best wishes to you and all your loved ones for a Happy New Year!
Phanos