Week Two // Extraction
This week concluded our first extraction project. While the structure of both of my original drawings remained similar, I worked to improve the clarity and legibility of the drawings. I added in “navigation layers” to the lifecycle drawing to guide viewers through the sequences and expanded the scope to include the migration of maples due to climate change. On the constituents drawing, I added in new layers of detail, improved some of the data displayed, and made some graphic tweaks to improve the overall legibility.
We also started the second project of the Extraction phase. While the project is a multiple-sector analysis to guide our design process later on, our goal is to develop printable booklets that explain the analysis to our stakeholders, so we can work them efficiently and productively during our site visit. In teams, we will be developing analysis booklets, consisting of 9”x6” “transaction cards” that can easily be dispersed and shared with our stakeholders, or viewed together as a publication.
I am working in a group tasked with analyzing the spatial programming of our project. Essentially, we are studying and distilling key techniques in similar projects that lend a certain quality of space or quality of experience to the project. This requires two-fold analysis, first to uncover those techniques in precedents, and second to represent them in a clear and concise way. One of the first projects I reviewed was Nest We Grow, a student design-build competition project by a team from UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design. The project is compelling as a precedent, because while it looks and functions like a building, it isn’t fully enclosed. Instead, it strategically offers protections from the elements through calculated design elements and uses those elements not only as protection but as an active replacement for standard utilities. Nest We Grow also distills the structure and organization of the tree and uses it as a space-making tool, establishing a primary structure using nine trunk-like vertical columns, and using a secondary light-timber structure to house secondary spaces.
Francis Kéré, an architect from Burkina Faso uses a similar tactic in his buildings, which are known for their elegant simplicity. Two of his recent pavilions, one at the Serpentine Gallery in London and one at Tippet Rise in Montana, channel the tradition of the gathering tree to create vibrant and engaging community spaces in their respective locations. While Kéré’s pavilions and Nest We Grow all engage with the tree as a spacemaking device, it’s not always formally apparent. Xylem, Kéré’s pavilion at Tippet Rise creates an internal landscape reminiscent of a forest, but sinuously carves the top face to blend into the rolling foothills it is nested into. Nest We Grow uses a translucent polycarbonate screen to initially mask the branch-like interior structure and reserves the forest experience for the spaces inside.
As we develop our booklet, these are the ideas my team and I hope to share with our stakeholders. By communicating these spatial strategies, we can work with them to develop a joint vision for the project, and efficiently propel our conversations on site.