Well week 6 has come and gone and with it a significant change to my project. Most notably, I have moved the location of the building itself. I have moved it east across the commuter rail tracks to the area formerly occupied by the coal pile. I am converting the area to a wetland and having the building integrated with, and overlooking, the wetland has been an important part. Unfortunately, it was proving unrealistic to try to connect the building and wetland across the elevated commuter rail, which proved to be a significant barrier.
Below are a few images of the first scheme, presented on Monday, which shows the original location of the building. The tunnel and visual connections were only barely effective. Additionally, I was unable to reconcile both the 90° angle between the Amtrak rail line and Greenfield Avenue, and the roughly 60° angle between Greenfield and the Commuter track, only a few hundred feet east.
Ultimately there will still be a building on the original site, but it will be a rectilinear building bordered by a new road, Innovation Drive, cutting south across the former Solvay Coke and Gas buildings. The two buildings can be preserved as an urban ruin, or be turned into some other use which I will define later in my schematic site development.
The building on its new site takes two shapes: one is a north/south bar which creates a courtyard between the Commuter line and Milwaukee Innovation Center, the other employs the same bridge-like structure above the landscape. Presently I am leaning towards Scheme B because it is much more dynamic and creates a better space beneath the building.
Below are some renderings prepared for crit on Monday:
Next week: pick a scheme and develop it further. I am now working toward my goal of a fairly developed scheme before Spring Break.