Thesis Process Blog

My timeline over the next year will begin with research and selection of the programs, analysis of the site and ultimately choosing one, study of precedents, development of the program and collect existing site data. I will then construct a site model and existing conditions, perform an intensive design period to generate ideas, and distill the ideas into a couple workable schemes. After selecting one, I will move into developing the final design and producing the presentation.

Throughout the year I am keeping a design process weblog on my personal website. I will also use the site to promote the project in May and a portfolio after. The website is located at http://thesis.alexfortney.com/.

I am presently leaning towards the Solvay Coke site due to its interesting location, need for environmental rehab, existing structure and rich history. However, the other two sites have strong potential depending on what program I select. I do not have a preference with regard to program and I think they are all workable. Research will lead me to an answer as well as the tendency to move towards either: realism and actual need (the School of Freshwater Sciences), ingenuity and uniqueness (Environmental Rehabilitation Company) or strong potential and flexibility (Industrial Design School). Research of these three programs will point me in the right direction. I intend to interview a director of the WATER Institute to get a grasp of their needs, talk to one or more existing environmental rehabilitation companies, and sit down with the industrial design director at MIAD and perhaps other schools to understand special needs of that type of school. I intend to make a decision about the site first, probably within the first few weeks of the semester and the program by the middle of October. Once the program and site are established I will then move into examining precedents, and filling out the program and doing a detail analysis of the site. I intend to have all of the necessary research, analysis, data and precedents in place by Thanksgiving. I will then take the remaining weeks of the semester to produce the pre-thesis book, saving enough time to have the book printed.

The winter break will be dedicated to building a physical and digital existing conditions site model to be used to place the final model into later in the semester.

The spring semester will start with intensive design charette to get out a number of ideas quickly. I will start with the structure, site and parti, and later move into components, details and connections. All of these will present them to my committee and together will pare down to a final scheme. I intend to have the scheme selected by the end of February to prepare a solid product for the interim review in April. I will then use the remaining month to produce the final product. I anticipate my final presentation to consist of a visual presentation as well as a physical model and component details.

What is a city? On the physical level it is a collection of buildings, roads and infrastructure allowing people, on the human level, to live, work and play within this physical context. Each city is unique with regard to size, quality, features, landmarks, history and more. Milwaukee is a city rooted in its industrial past and currently struggling to adapt to the post-industrial present. By most metrics, Milwaukee is struggling. Auto manufacturing jobs have left for foreign countries, not to return. Steel and metal fabrication has declined. Breweries have consolidated or shut down with Miller as the exception, who now brews most of the legacy beers. The result is a number of missing teeth in the city landscape. These vacant and dilapidated lots disrupt the city, punching holes in the urban fabric. My goal for my thesis is to design a project which repairs this fabric with a new kind of industrial building to begin to restore Milwaukee to design, innovation and manufacturing prominence.

The design of the building and site will have to be equally innovative as the technology within. The building will be extremely energy efficient, incorporate responsible building techniques, be physically comfortable and benefit its users. I see a high-tech design with exposed structure, wide spans and ultra-modern glass systems. The building will be equal caliber as the modern factories constructed in Germany and the rest of Europe designed by Nicholas Grimshaw, Richard Rogers, Foster + Partners and Herzog de Meuron.

My three programs share themes of environmental responsibility, new industry, and education. There are several other key concepts and themes that I would ideally like to integrate into the project:

• The first one is to reinvent Milwaukee’s industrial image. Formerly Milwaukee was know nationally and internationally as the one who “Feeds and Supplies the World” and was nicknamed the “Machine Shop of the Word” due to all of the manufacturing in the Valley. That image has faded recently, but Milwaukee could now be known as the “Bioremediation Center of the World.”
• Another concept I would like to embrace is an element of historic preservation. The Solvay site has two usable buildings remaining and the Washington Street site has several warehouses and other large spaces. Since the Reed Street is completely vacant this concept doesn’t apply.
• All three sites have connection issues. Solvay is isolated against the water with only one access point, the Reed Street site has the potential for several connections to the south, but none to the north, and Washington Street has a dramatic change in elevation which will make connections a challenge. In all instances, the sites will be more accessible, pedestrian and bicycle friendly. Public transportation will be emphasized in all of the sites and programs.
• The program will be a modern and unique facility. The School of Freshwater Sciences is one-of-a-kind in the country and very different from other academic buildings. A soil rehabilitation company is an unusual industry which fits perfectly into the green and energy efficient trend in building. Finally, industrial design schools exist elsewhere, but integrating the school with a production facility and the use of rapid prototyping makes it for a more distinctive program. The program will all bring cutting edge industries into Milwaukee.
• A critical key concept, as well as the focus of my thesis, is to repair the industrial fabric of Milwaukee. All three sites formerly were busy with rail traffic, storage, tanning, and coke production, but now they are and have been vacant for a long time. These ‘missing teeth’ ought to be filled in.
• Finally, a concept I would like to utilize is ‘industry as an exhibition.’ Basically, I would like members of the public to be able to see what is going on at the sites. Industry is traditionally placed in large boxes, warehouses, with few windows behind fences. While all of the facilities would still be secure, I will provide areas where the public can walk past the production facility at the industrial design school and see students working and visit the gallery, see the soil aeration in progress and learn about the process, and the School of Freshwater Sciences would have the dock area accessible to the public and would have additional displays describing the research advances.