A UNIT OF MEASURE.
This short design problem is an opportunity to identify the essential and driving components of a “living unit” as a way to (1) assess the carrying capacity of the land, (2) organize the spatial functions of the given program and (3) consider the practicability of built typologies at a comprehensive level prior to responding to the larger planning strategies.
We have learned through our mapping that it is almost impossible to study a dataset without referencing several others that are intrinsically linked. You might also say that the same is true in devising a system of operations for a site and its program.
For example, one might imagine quickly the articulation of the ground would immediately confront the question of surface drainage, its requisite contour and its material composition. The same might be said through the means of crafting a roofline which would systematically deal with the mitigation of rain, sunlight and ventilation etc.
Finding a way to control and regulate what might otherwise be a problem into a resource can formulate a unit of measure or a design imperative for an otherwise complex and deeply encrusted site.
Choose one or several compatible unit/system relationships that you might anticipate for the project. Consider the relationship between a localized condition (unit) vs. a shared/communal one (infrastructure). For example, does the "living unit" mitigate the climatic conditions of the site throughout the use of blinds/screens or is it done through the infrastructure of the project (Central A/C?) Does each individual unit collect potable water for its occupant load or is it supplied centrally through a cistern with filtration?
Can this lead to a tangible strategy for developing the site and furthermore how is that relationship manifest in architectural form? What material and labor might be required for such a unit and how are its users related in its daily or seasonal function? (I.e. Does the user simply flip an electronic switch or does it require a physical act to make it function?) The "living unit" can shape the directives of the urban systems through its exigencies just as the limits of a system will, to a great part, determine the underlying constraints of the unit.
For this assignment we ask that you do not to simply plan out a strategy but attempt to build it. Workings in pairs consider the unit first as a diagram and then quickly attempt to build a concept model to scale. The “site” is an imaginary edge on the right bank of the Adi Ganga canal. As you build the model of the unit, simultaneously attempt to draw the section thought it while developing the narrative of compatible unit/system relationships.
Schedule
April 2nd Working Desk crits in pairs.
April 6th Group Review of models and diagrams
April 9th Proposals for site strategies with a unit of measure.
This short design problem is an opportunity to identify the essential and driving components of a “living unit” as a way to (1) assess the carrying capacity of the land, (2) organize the spatial functions of the given program and (3) consider the practicability of built typologies at a comprehensive level prior to responding to the larger planning strategies.
We have learned through our mapping that it is almost impossible to study a dataset without referencing several others that are intrinsically linked. You might also say that the same is true in devising a system of operations for a site and its program.
For example, one might imagine quickly the articulation of the ground would immediately confront the question of surface drainage, its requisite contour and its material composition. The same might be said through the means of crafting a roofline which would systematically deal with the mitigation of rain, sunlight and ventilation etc.
Finding a way to control and regulate what might otherwise be a problem into a resource can formulate a unit of measure or a design imperative for an otherwise complex and deeply encrusted site.
Choose one or several compatible unit/system relationships that you might anticipate for the project. Consider the relationship between a localized condition (unit) vs. a shared/communal one (infrastructure). For example, does the "living unit" mitigate the climatic conditions of the site throughout the use of blinds/screens or is it done through the infrastructure of the project (Central A/C?) Does each individual unit collect potable water for its occupant load or is it supplied centrally through a cistern with filtration?
Can this lead to a tangible strategy for developing the site and furthermore how is that relationship manifest in architectural form? What material and labor might be required for such a unit and how are its users related in its daily or seasonal function? (I.e. Does the user simply flip an electronic switch or does it require a physical act to make it function?) The "living unit" can shape the directives of the urban systems through its exigencies just as the limits of a system will, to a great part, determine the underlying constraints of the unit.
For this assignment we ask that you do not to simply plan out a strategy but attempt to build it. Workings in pairs consider the unit first as a diagram and then quickly attempt to build a concept model to scale. The “site” is an imaginary edge on the right bank of the Adi Ganga canal. As you build the model of the unit, simultaneously attempt to draw the section thought it while developing the narrative of compatible unit/system relationships.
Schedule
April 2nd Working Desk crits in pairs.
April 6th Group Review of models and diagrams
April 9th Proposals for site strategies with a unit of measure.
I'll leave you with Nate's exhaustive collection of photographs he took in Kolkata with his D-SLR. I think he wins the award of the most articulate collection for the six days he documented (he later got sick so he wasn't in a position to continue). I've linked directly to each of the six sets he has posted on Flickr, representing the six days he shot:
JFK, Dubai, Kolkata - Day 1 (36 hours)
Kolkata - Day 2
Kolkata - Day 3
Kolkata - Day 4
Kolkata - Day 5
Kolkata - Day 6
I'd highly recommend clicking on the slideshow link. Ah, and sit back with your milk and cookies, there's a lot of 'em!
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