Studio Final: Model and Perspectives

The building is “interactive” with the customers so that the metaphorical Digital Gateway idea has more depth and interest to people passing by the store. This has been addressed by opening the exterior form of the building at the ground level and by using materials that are on the cutting edge, such as smart glass.
Exterior view looking up Dartmouth at Digital Store and New Old South Church.





Exterior view from Copley Square from the south looking at front of Digital Store.







Exterior view at Entry Plaza looking at Store Entry. (Outdoor Seating Area to the left)





View from Digtial showroom Ground Floor looking back at Entry.




Interior View at Third Floor looking into main Digital Store showroom.

Plans & Sections

In the ground floor plan I wanted to create an inviting, open space to allow pedestrians, and customers to easily flow into the 'digital store'. I utilized the undulating wall to convey a less rigid flow to the entrance. The remainder of the open exterior space on the ground floor is the Entry Plaza and Outdoor Seating for the Internet Cafe'.

The Entrance to the 'Digital Store' is angled off of the axis of the physical gateway, also a more inviting gesture. I decided to use round columns at the Entrance to further differentiate it from the rectalinear physical gateway. The round columns at the entrance will be a modern material (i.e. stainless steel) to mark customer's entrance into the "Gateway to the Future". Once inside customers can freely flow from area to area, and vertically move up the scultural stair to the second floor.


On the second floor of the 'Digital Store' customers will be able to continue to enjoy the pleasures of the digital future. At this same level there will be a Restuarant which is accessible from the elevator at the Cafe' Vestibule. At the second floor portion of the Restuarant diners will have the opportunity to visually interact with activities on the first floor of the 'Digital Store', which is a triple height space. Patrons of the Restuarant will also have access to an exterior Deck, or Balcony. No dining will occur on the Balcony since this feature was designed to visually 'bridge' users of this building with pedestrians at the 'collector space' at Copley Square.


The third floor contains additional Restuarant seating, Kitchen, and operational functions for the 'Digital Store'. The diners at this level have limited space to experience the the triple height space. And the walls in the Offices and Conference Room facing the triple height space are full height glazing to allow visual access of the store operations to mangers and store personnel.


The South Elevation includes the taller element constructed of puddlestone panels to tie into the 'gateway' theme. This element also includes a skylight which symbolizes the infinite opportunities of our digital future' and also allows natural light into the building. The undulating wall is a butt glass system, to allow floor to ceiling unabstructed viewing into the 'Digital Store'. The major portion of the facade is a curtain wall system which utilizes smart glass as the glazing material to allow the the option of visual interaction of the 'Digital Store' with it's customers. The store can run promotions and "alter the smart glass whenever a sale is made, or when repeat customers enter the store". Fenestration at the vertical break directly behind the Balconies is a clear storefront system.
The major space is the triple height volume the houses the Laptop and Desktop Areas. The Kid's Room is a place where children can safely explore educational digital devices while their parents freely browse the store.

All ow the support functions are at the back of the store adjacent to the rear alley.

Site Analysis

I have included this site analysis of the viewsheds directed towards the building.

This view shows the site looking north up Dartmouth.




The vehicular traffic flowing from the South End is visually directed towards the building. And Copley Square serves as a transition space between the South End and the Back Bay area to the northwest. The building will play off of the Old South Church to form a gateway to the Back Bay area.

Section Studies

The zone designated as the Gateway includes an outdoors ‘collector’ space at the corner of Boylston and Dartmouth; and an internet café’, with out door seating near the northwest corner of the ground level. Also included in this zone is a restaurant in the second and third floors. I wanted to study the triple height volume, which includes a sculptural stair, which is centered in the digital store.

This site section shows the triple height volume facing the store entry, and the restaurant, which includes seating, which overlooks the digital store showroom. From comments I received from the study model, I explored breaking up the Boylston façade by introducing a setback between the gateway and the smart glass panel system. This setback visually marks the entrance to the digital store, and provides opportunity for exterior decks facing Copley Square. These exterior decks are accessible from the restaurant area.

This section shows the undulating glass wall at ground level and the sculptural stair, which links the triple height volume with the single height spaces near the rear of the digital store.

The wall sections simply illustrate materials. Panels made of Puddingstone, and Smart glass.

Digital Store - Images from Study Model

The Gateway to Back Bay

Site photograph
looking up Dartmouth

Study Model
looking up Dartmouth

From Hancock Building

Aerial view from southwest

Looking northeast on Boylston

Looking northeast at building

From corner of Copley Square
looking at Digital Store 'collector'

Fall Intensive – Final Review Drawings & Comments

Sorry I haven’t posted until today. Our IT people at work are in the process of upgrading our computers with new Windows software, so I didn’t have access to the scanner.

I appreciated the constructive criticism from all of the reviewers last Saturday. There were several comments made that would significantly enhance my design. Three that really came to the forefront were:

1. Make the building “interactive” so that the metaphorical Digital Gateway idea has more depth and interest to people passing by the store.
   
   This could be addressed by change in materials or opening the exterior form of the building at the ground level.
   
   
2. There are “multiple experiences” (driving, walking, pedestrian stopping, etc.) that must be addressed.
   
   A corner entrance will be designed to more inviting and this area can also act as a “collector” of potential customers, responding to the collector at the northwest corner of Copley Square.
   
   
3. The Gateway concept is a good beginning, however, The Digital Gateway could be more interesting than the Physical Gateway.
   
   The Physical Gateway will be the primary focus to bring vehicular traffic from the South End towards the Back Bay area. The Digital Gateway will be designed to focus attention to the store.

Viewshed Analysis

Study Diagrams

Matrix

Bubble Diagrams

Block Diagrams - Plans

Block Diagrams - Sections

Looking North on Dartmouth

From Southwest
at Dartmouth and Boylston

From corner at Copley Square

Section at Boylston Street through Copley Square

Section at Dartmouth and New Old South Church

Object - Fabric "Incompatible Infill"

Postcard of Lincoln Institute

As my case study for compatible (or incompatible) infill I chose to study the quadrangle at Lincoln University, a historically black college in Jefferson City, Missouri. This was the first school named for President Abraham Lincoln and was created from the donations of black and white Civil War soldiers. The only institution in America founded by black American Civil War veterans. The school was founded in 1866; however, the buildings that form the nucleus of the campus were not built until the 1920’s and 1930’s after the institute became a university in 1921. The university is located just to the south of Highway 50 at the corner of Lafayette Street and Dunklin Street. The Lincoln University Hilltop Campus presents a remarkably unified appearance. The Georgian style buildings were designed and built over a period of a quarter of a century. Built in 1895, historic Memorial Hall was one of the most widely recognized buildings on the Jefferson City landscape. It was designed by Charles Opel, a self-taught local architect. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, historic Memorial Hall was the dominant academic building on the Lincoln campus. I housed both classrooms and faculty offices. Arguably, the most distinguishing feature of Memorial Hall was an auditorium named for Inman E. Page, the Lincoln president under whose administration the building was erected. Page Auditorium contained a ‘perspective’ stage. Perspective stages were “raked”, or slanted downward toward the audience rather than being flat like contemporary stages. The raked stage emerged during the middle ages but was rare by the beginning of the twentieth century. Distinguished speakers to appear in the auditorium were the great historian W.E.B. DuBois, and writer Carl Sandburg. The building fell into a state of disrepair in the 1960’s and was condemned in 1969. Despite efforts by faculty, students and alumni to save it, Memorial Hall was razed in August of 1972.

Stamper Hall

Schweich Hall

Stamper, Schweich and Foster Halls

Foster Hall

Historic Memorial Hall, razed 1972

New Memorial Hall

Founders Hall

Site Plan

Sketches

Diagrams

Building Location/Alignments

Historic vs Non-Historic

Massing

Fenestration/Style