Three weeks from the deadline and I'm set to conquer. One thing that's been slowing me down is the plan. Howard had mentioned that there would be no difference between an organic "Gehry-like" plan, and a plan inspired by longtong housing- I can go either direction, and still have a thesis. However, I've been working on both simultaneously since the last crit, and both have advantages and disadvantages. I was thinking of combining the roofscape of the organic fragmented plan with the long tong geometry. It could be interesting. I also need to think about vertical circulation. Right now, I need to focus on the big box plan, a simple longtong module, and key buildings. I may not be going in circles, but actually tightening up my plan.. this is good.

Steaming Ahead

I finally seem to have a plan that is workable, and scaled. Still having trouble creating the vertical penetrations. Also need to consider the economics of the project. My gut feeling right now is that it is partly infrastructure, partly architecture. Since it is infrastructure, it should be possible to get government funding for such a project. Since I'm creating a new ground plane, perhaps it will have its own economics. Buildings are bought and sold by the cubic foot (by volume). To alter a building, one could dig into the big box, providing that adequate links are provided into the big box. The big box would essentially "sell" volume, which would then be bought by the owners above.

Crunch Time

I need to get my act together and start firming up the architecture. Right now, I'm still playing with concepts- some that I like, some that need refining- and I'm still searching for a grid that can organize everything. The long-tong grid is a real Chinese grid, but it is structurally inefficient. The big box in the bottom is now divided into three zones: the grocery store, the technology store, and the home furnishings store. The scale of this project will be around 100,000 sqft times 3. I will probably design the architecture first and foremost, and context will not be important. The roof of the big box will be structured by the gardens and the roofs above. Everything will be enclosed in a permeable membrane.

Worlds

The world of the car, machine-made spaces for machines- everything dangerous, everything safe. All you really want to do is to transcend this space.

The world of the big box- things reorganizing themselves in infinite possibilities, creating new situations, new ambiences, structured for the commercial world.

The world of the village green- light wooden houses with big roofs, some roofs floating away, some roofs peeling off buildings. Festivals in public plazas, trees everywhere, people mowing the lawn.

What If?

What if strata disappeared, and all that is left are surfaces, slightly sloped, slightly out of alignment? What if the aquarium could be viewed from below and was gigantic? What if the building was this big long section that hovered over buildings and even houses? Maybe charter planes can land on the roof? What if trees could be planted above, below, on top, inside, outside, upside-down? What if the roofs could fly away?

New Babylon

Constant's New Babylon was thinking about the city as an entirely artificial construct, based on psychogeography and situationalism rather than form. Architecture does not create atmosphere, atmosphere creates new architecture. This idea opens up new possibilities in architecture as social space, as conventions are thrown out. This cloud that hovers over the flat land, supported entirely on a handful of supports, becomes a playground of situations, no longer bounded by land.

On Tectonics

Michael suggested that I should look into the vertical circulation between each strata of this complex. Vertical circulation consists of atria, elevators, escalators, and stairs. He suggested that the roof of the big box should be this mega-truss, with columns holding up this truss, which bears the buildings. Alternatively, the buildings could act as the structural anchors for the roof. The parking lot would be made of concrete, the big box out of steel, and the buildings out of something lighter. Could the truss taper into something paper thick at the edges? The floor plates do not have to be flat either, then can slope, or even curve. Also, Robert briefly asked what the diagram of my building is. Is it a middle strata with objects above and below? Can there be a way to eliminate strata?

New Inspirations

What if these constructions would somehow be the structural pylons of the whole building?