Q1 Fall 2009: Studio 683 – Portland Sustainability Center
Professor Don Genasci and Professor Hajo Neis

After working on design for a few weeks and mostly working on producing a good set of images for the final review, this is what I arrived at. For a first project and first quarter in grad school, it was a large endeavor. As always, I wish there was more time. But there isn’t, and you just have to learn to focus on an overall concept and develop a few details. For this portion of the blog, I’ll include links to high resolution versions of the boards and thumbnails to individual drawings.

I thought the term as a whole was a good introduction into what the school emphasizes and teaches. There was a strong emphasis on the urban portion of the design as well as integrating sustainable technologies into the building. Using these technologies is more than just saying they’re there, but integrating them into the building design itself. Whether or not I was successful in doing so, I tried to make this building about water. There is surely more rain than sun in Portland, and why not use this to the building’s advantage?

The large plaza acts as a rainwater collection device, using pervious paving material that directs the water to a water storage cistern in the basement.  Rainwater is also collected on the rooftops, and stored locally at each floor through a series of cisterns.  There are several diagrams on the boards that explain this visually and in greater detail.

Final Boards:

Q1 Fall 2009: Studio 683 – Portland Sustainability Center
Professor Don Genasci and Professor Hajo Neis

Coming out of my mid review for the building design I had a good grasp on what my building was but there were certain elements I needed to focus on.  While my urban space was strong, the Oregon Sustainability Center needed a stronger focus on well, sustainable elements.  While I had indicated the building was about rain water harvesting and recycling, it needed to take it a step further and represent it stronger.  Below are images used from my mid review and general comments I needed to improve upon.  This was also my first go at rendering with Rhino and Vray, much improvement was made in my final review.

Q1 Fall 2009: Studio 683 – Portland Sustainability Center
Professor Don Genasci and Professor Hajo Neis

The next step was to begin thinking of building program, and how this related to the building form I arrived at. The building form and first image, the orange elements relate to internal function which are mostly where less light is needed, such as conference rooms and lecture halls.

Q1 Fall 2009: Studio 683 – Portland Sustainability Center
Professor Don Genasci and Professor Hajo Neis

Within the building I started to look at how it could relate to the urban context and space. The main idea was to create a perpendicular axis to the space created that extended over 4th and 5th streets. This axis would in effect connect the existing church with a proposed atrium in the building. The atrium would act as an internal hub of activity, whether through office functions, exhibits or classrooms. It was to be an engaging and place of learning. This would be accomplished by including sustainable elements such as a series of living machines directly connected to the atrium every 4th floor or so. Other elements would include a vertical green wall that could be used to harvest herbs and other consumable foods and a water feature in the lobby.

Q1 Fall 2009: Studio 683 – Portland Sustainability Center
Professor Don Genasci and Professor Hajo Neis

Moving on, instead of designing the building first (minus general ideas and concepts) urban space became the focus.  My initial intent and belief was to create a strong and memorable place along the Montgomery Street Corridor.  This would be achieved by creating a strong urban plaza on the north end of the site, connecting it with the north block along Montgomery Street.  The plaza would extend (ideally, traffic is considered) accross the streets to the adjacent east and west lots.  Each of these sites were to have a strong relationship with one another, through the use of water features.

Along with that, the urban space would also create strong connections with existing elements in the context, including a church on the north block and an existing apartment building on the site.

BELOW IS THE EVOLUTION OF THE SITE PLAN

Q1 Fall 2009: Studio 683 – Portland Sustainability Center
Professor Don Genasci and Professor Hajo Neis

The next portion of the studio was to move on to designing the Oregon Sustainability Center.  I had my site chosen, which was on the southern end of Montgomery Street.  Taking elements from the urban design portion I wanted to somehow integrate the canopy into the building, having an urban element become a building element.  Originally I wanted this to be emphasized in the north facade.

This turned out to be an exploration and that was all pretty much, as the idea didn’t seem to jive with reviews.  The idea of the urban canopy didn’t mesh with this area, and the fact it didn’t need to work as a wayfinding device on this building.  So continuing the urban canopy from other blocks, I came up with the idea that the building would overhang a portion of a pedestrian path, acting as a canopy so to speak.