sustainable urban community design studio

Week Three (Group 7)

This week we decided to explore new design opportunities. The result was unexpected; and the floor plan that we’ve generated is substantially different than what we had intended in the diagrammatic phases of the project. Still, through this contrast it becomes apparent that our original intentions were not entirely abandoned. We took our existing design and concept, stepped back, and solved the project from an entirely new perspective.

Many of the adjacencies in the plan are similar, and the open-flow principles we set out to embrace are still prevalent throughout the newer design. But we improved. Long, enclosed spaces have been perforated with glimpses of the outdoors, effectively distributing natural light to all parts of the building that require it.

After our most recent critique in Oklahoma City, we began to analyze the functional aspects of each room based on the input of those with first-hand experience in senior wellness centers. Through these discussions, we determined that while the multipurpose room seems to be a very centralized aspect of the program, in practical application the room is reserved for specialized functions and receives relatively little everyday use.

So we made some changes. We kept it centralized, in a geographic sense. In an architectural sense, however, the building focuses more on the fitness and wellness aspects of the program. We haven’t simply discounted the community aspects of the center; rather, we’ve established a hierarchy of architectural significance that draws the user into the spaces regardless of his individual aspirations. That is to say: just because somebody has come to the facility to exercise doesn’t mean that he can’t happen upon an opportunity to socialize as well.

The new design is engaging – and it conveys the true spirit of a community center much more effectively than our previous design. We’ll see where it goes from here.

“Think of and look at your work as though it were done by your enemy. If you look at it to admire it, you are lost” — Samuel Butler