cabin in the wood

Project synopsis

In the progress of architectural design, the creation of space is driven by the primary need of people. But the presentation of the building is decided by the designer, who is influenced by ideas that seem to best express what a good house should be during the time. The increasing pursue of bigger space distract architects from thinking as an individual but a representative for design trend. Sometimes the house becomes a performance stage rather than a practical object.‍

Time occasionally seems to work in favor of certain ideas, which in turn allow us to see the usefulness of things that we had initially dismissed. The house with equal-sized rooms is one way to seek for the primary goal and principle of architectural design. Go back in time, the untiring exploration of space and form started with uniform grid and highly concentrated method of manipulating space.‍

Info

Individual Work

Cabin in the wood

Student center design based on the exploration of grid system

Precedent study

Back in 1969, the No-Stop City by Archizoom proposed an endless grid as the basis for a city designedfor a society freed from its own alienation; free, therefore, to express in an autonomous way its owncreative, political and behavioral energies, as Andrea Branzi described it. In this project, mass societyand its correspondent city was envisioned as an endless ocean, with neither a center and nor frontiers.Branzi wrote:“

In No-Stop City, this social dimension became a spatial dimension [...] the metropolis was seen as onelarge interior, a single space.”

When designing the Student Center, the function is decided by the users- the student. The function can be rather temporary or stable. The arrangement of boxes is fit to the continuous demand of certain function with a slight control by designer according to the environment. The gradually growing grid implies the possible function and provide the rhythmic transformation of atmosphere.

Composition

Different elements that make up the various form of the grid are discussed below.

Accessibility

Vision

The demand for open vision and indication of oriention generate continunous passages and windows

Penetration

The demand for tranquility or particularusage generate space with less distraction of the surroundings

Continous

Movement

The great accsessbility provides flexible plan. The boxes become multifunctional and of highmobility

Cut off

the unidirectional channel of an enclosed space assigns the box to specific function like lecture room

Transitory

Privacy

Scale

Space with a large scale and free connections bocome a distributing center with transitory multifunction

Open

Space with a large scale and limited connections has a single and stable function such as performance

Box with extroversion and a small scale become the entrance or a temporary rest space

Open

Box with introversion and a small scale become a meditation room or a secure space for special usage

Volume

Layer

Boxes with similar function will fuse together and become functional groups

Integrate

Boxes with similar function will separate into different parts for particular reason

Disperse

Opposite/Overlap

Boxes with opposite funcitons like reading room and movie theater will be separate by passages or transitional function space

Segregate

The plan is not absolute in different environment. Even in the same condition, people's preference towards certain function is constantly changing. When assuming the student center locates at a woody plain, the influence of landscape could generate a possible plan as above.