March 27th, 2010 by
Alex Fortney |
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General Posts, Milwaukee Innovation Center |
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This week was a complete tear-down and rebuild of my whole project. After the 180° turn from last week I have put in many, many hours with my Revit model. Some major changes include:
- Jacking up the diagonal commuter railway on piers and letting the mound landscape flow below – solving the problem of the railway by eliminating its impact on the site.
- Using the piers to to envelop the raised office bar, rather than piece it.
- Add a roadway in front of the building running north-south.
- Preserve the idea of an exterior southern courtyard, as well as add an interior one.
- Bury the west elevation into the hillside and let the landscape flow over it.
- Add a bar to be used as a beacon as well as for light above the production area on the west side.
I also had to break my model into worksets and shut off the majority of the site and tree, etc so that I am able to effectively work on only a portion at a time.
Below are some plans and images of this weeks’ work:
March 20th, 2010 by
Alex Fortney |
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General Posts, Milwaukee Innovation Center |
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Week 8’s big event was my pre-interim presentation. It was the first time that I was able to get my whole committee together for a meeting – and the only time they could was Thursday over lunch (before studio, but after morning classes). Needless to say, the presentation was rather rushed, but I was able to get all of the information across that I wanted.
Unfortunately, the committee did not care for my site change. I did it to solve issues with the diagonal railway, but as Kyle pointed out, it simply created bigger problems of access, orientation, etc. They also criticized the varied systems of organization and all the stupid ramps.
However, not all is lost. My committee did appreciate the usage of channel glass for the stairway and corten steel panels for some of the facades, as well as a number of other design choices with the office level especially. But, overall, back to the drawing board.
Below is the presentation:
March 13th, 2010 by
Alex Fortney |
Posted in
General Posts, Milwaukee Innovation Center, Precedents, Program, Thesis |
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Week 7 has consisted of some research and a lot of design work, but I have tabled crits until next week so there is little output to show. I decided that next week, before spring break, I will present my pre-interim presentation with my whole committee. Up until this point, due to schedules, I have been unable to get my whole committee together to discuss my project, but next Thursday that will change. I won’t be taking a spring break, but instead use that time to get ahead on their design changes and avoid and surprises as the actual interm presentation which is in a month.
During the course of my research I came across an article in Wired magazine from January which seems like it was written for me! The title of the issue was “Atoms and the New Bits” detailing how do-it-yourself has moved from software to hardware, i.e. people now have the capacity to make their own products and sell them worldwide without a huge investment in equipment – which is exactly one of the ideas for the Milwaukee Innovation Center.
From the article:
Tech Shop
In June, Local Motors will officially release the Rally Fighter, a $50,000 off-road (but street-legal) racer. The design was crowdsourced, as was the selection of mostly off-the-shelf components, and the final assembly will be done by the customers themselves in local assembly centers as part of a “build experience.” Several more designs are in the pipeline, and the company says it can take a new vehicle from sketch to market in 18 months, about the time it takes Detroit to change the specs on some door trim. Each design is released under a share-friendly Creative Commons license, and customers are encouraged to enhance the designs and produce their own components that they can sell to their peers.
Local Motors
Local Motors plans to release between 500 and 2,000 units of each model. It’s a niche vehicle; it won’t compete with the major automakers but rather fill in the gaps in the marketplace for unique designs. Rogers uses the analogy of a jar of marbles, each of which represents a vehicle from a major automaker. In between the marbles is empty space, space that can be filled with grains of sand — and those grains are Local Motors cars.
Read the whole article here: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/01/ff_newrevolution/all/1
Below is a preliminary rendering of the interior office space, and a couple photos I was playing with:
Preliminary Interior
Interior
Exterior
