GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Beginning with a series of week-long charrettes, this comprehensive studio, titled 4 Extremes x 4 Sites x 4 Beginnings, explored extreme conditions in our nation’s national parks. Assigned to explore the extreme condition of ‘Invasive Species’ my charrette projects explore the manifestation of invasive qualities through Site, Light, Thermodynamics, and Gravity.
My final research facility, located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, aims to start a dialogue around one of the most invasive species in the park, man. Positioned adjacent to and above a man-made cut in the mountain-side, my design aims to create a new experience for the visitor, allowing them to experience the cut from afar, from below, from within, and from above, respectively. The procession through nature, up to and through the cut, to the other side of the cut allows the viewer to constantly reflect on the significance of the physical deformation of the natural landscape caused by man. Through a series of layers, bridges, and cuts stemming from the existing cut of rock, the building’s visitors are enabled to discover their relationship between themselves, the cut, the nature, and the distortion.
The building is intended not to fill the destruction, the distortion, the voids, the cuts, caused by invasive man, but rather exists as support spaces within and around them, respecting the existence of them, in order to create an opportunity to learn from them.
Programmatically, the building’s main circulation acts as an exterior cut, that connects the ground level at the road, to the upper levels resting on the top of the cut, around 30 feet above. Each level being accessible from this exterior corridor, the main exhibition spaces are located on the middle floors, encouraging visitors to experience the other spaces along their procession either from the top or the bottom to the exhibition space.
Addressing issues such as site, light, thermodynamics, and gravity, the building is strategically located to take advantage of the suns positions and the very moist and damp climate for heating and cooling strategies. Through the exploration of and expanding on the existing conditions, an integrated architecture was developed to aid the research and display of scientific research regarding the Smoky Mountains and the invasive species that occupy them, those of both human and mother nature.
The Cut | Washington University in St. Louis, Graduate Year 1
Prof. Philip Holden +Valerie Greer | Rhino | Photoshop | Illustrator
PROCESS PAGES:
Precedent Modification - Site - Light - Thermodynamics - Gravity
My final research facility, located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, aims to start a dialogue around one of the most invasive species in the park, man. Positioned adjacent to and above a man-made cut in the mountain-side, my design aims to create a new experience for the visitor, allowing them to experience the cut from afar, from below, from within, and from above, respectively. The procession through nature, up to and through the cut, to the other side of the cut allows the viewer to constantly reflect on the significance of the physical deformation of the natural landscape caused by man. Through a series of layers, bridges, and cuts stemming from the existing cut of rock, the building’s visitors are enabled to discover their relationship between themselves, the cut, the nature, and the distortion.
The building is intended not to fill the destruction, the distortion, the voids, the cuts, caused by invasive man, but rather exists as support spaces within and around them, respecting the existence of them, in order to create an opportunity to learn from them.
Programmatically, the building’s main circulation acts as an exterior cut, that connects the ground level at the road, to the upper levels resting on the top of the cut, around 30 feet above. Each level being accessible from this exterior corridor, the main exhibition spaces are located on the middle floors, encouraging visitors to experience the other spaces along their procession either from the top or the bottom to the exhibition space.
Addressing issues such as site, light, thermodynamics, and gravity, the building is strategically located to take advantage of the suns positions and the very moist and damp climate for heating and cooling strategies. Through the exploration of and expanding on the existing conditions, an integrated architecture was developed to aid the research and display of scientific research regarding the Smoky Mountains and the invasive species that occupy them, those of both human and mother nature.
The Cut | Washington University in St. Louis, Graduate Year 1
Prof. Philip Holden +Valerie Greer | Rhino | Photoshop | Illustrator
PROCESS PAGES:
Precedent Modification - Site - Light - Thermodynamics - Gravity