The following is a revised Thesis statement and expansion thereof. It's still a work in progress so bear with me.
1. Vorsprung Durch Technic - Architecture and the Automobile: A composite panel to reduce carbon emissions and generate oxygen and usable fuels, exemplified in the new Pittsburgh Automotive Museum specifically highlighting sustainable strategies.
3. Synthetic photosynthesis has allowed man to harness nature and create oxygen and usable fuel from sunlight and a natural chemical reaction. Implementing this technology in a composite structural or curtain wall panel gives buildings the ability to "breathe," producing oxygen for its surrounding environment while the chemical reaction byproduct can be used to generate fuel to power the building. The panels will be dimensioned according to current building standards so that they are able to be retrofitted for existing structures as well as new construction and adaptive reuse projects
9.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Site Matters
Last week I chose to look at program as part of the thesis design. This week I read Defining Urban Sites by Andrea Kahn in order to gain an understanding of site and location for my thesis. There are a number of ways that one may determine what an urban site is. Scale, location and context are but a few of the methods. What Kahn stresses is the method of determining an urban site by means of boundary. She gives an example of an anonymously drawn plan of Palmanuova, as well as a plan of Milan drawn by Leonardo DaVinci. Kahn notes that the Palmanuova plan has a rigid, defined wall or boundary, whereas the plan of Milan has a plan that blurs boundary; it is near impossible to delineate what is 'inside' and 'outside' of the city. Boundaries need to remain porous and flexible, enabling the site to link itself to outside forces and context.
These boundaries need not only be physical, however. Examples of world wide media and commerce, as well as physical roads and links to other areas of destination. The key is to realize that an urban site is more than just its immediate being. In fact, part of the reason why the urban site is defined as such is because of its surrounding context. Kahn then speaks about five conceptual methods for urban site thinking. Mobile Ground, Site Reach, Site Construction, Unbound Sites, and Urban Constellations all consider urban design sites as "relational constructs," according to Andrea Kahn. These concepts allow one to think of the site as more than just a physical being, and allows the site to be spatially flexible and have varied significance.
In my own thesis project, the "Unbound Site" concept struck a chord that was rather intriguing. Kahn states that, "...Urban designers need to ask how many ways sites are linked to an "outside," to spaces, times, and places beyond their present and immediate control." In past posts I've been throwing around the idea of creating a composite panel that basically performs a synthetic photosynthesis in order to "inhale" carbon dioxide and "exhale" oxygen, with sucrose as a byproduct. This panel system would be modular, and based off of current construction dimensions (i.e. a variant of 4'x8') so that it can be integrated into the current construction industry, allowing the panels to be used in new projects or as a retrofit for adaptive reuse projects. I've also been relating my thesis a lot to the automotive industry and the strides they have been taking to reduce carbon emissions and increase efficiency.
In order to implement the composite panel and integrate all of the facets that I have been exploring, I am proposing an adaptive reuse project. Utilizing an old steel mill within Pittsburgh (the site), I will design an automotive museum that focuses on sustainability and green practices. Contextually speaking, the project is relevant on a number of levels. Pittsburgh is known as being a progressive city for its green practices. Additionally, there have been a number of newly created automobile museums over the past few years. BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche have all completed new museums documenting their history. The museum in Pittsburgh, focusing on environmentally beneficial efforts as opposed to a certain manufacturer will display efforts put forth by many manufacturers. American car makers like Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler/Dodge, will be exhibited along side European and Asian car makes like Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar, Fiat, Ferrari, Honda, Toyota, and Nissan among a multitude of others.
Where the "Unbound Site" takes shape into this scheme is in regard to time and progression, or more specifically the history of the content within the museum. The site also extends itself to different museums around the world, and public access via internet or word of mouth. The site needs to be relevant to its immediate context, the content of its program, and also its relationship to the human scale and interaction. Uniting architecture and automotive design is apropos since people spend the majority of their life either in a building or in an automobile. Additionally, the museum would show how automotive and building technology can coexist and build off of one another through a real world application.
These boundaries need not only be physical, however. Examples of world wide media and commerce, as well as physical roads and links to other areas of destination. The key is to realize that an urban site is more than just its immediate being. In fact, part of the reason why the urban site is defined as such is because of its surrounding context. Kahn then speaks about five conceptual methods for urban site thinking. Mobile Ground, Site Reach, Site Construction, Unbound Sites, and Urban Constellations all consider urban design sites as "relational constructs," according to Andrea Kahn. These concepts allow one to think of the site as more than just a physical being, and allows the site to be spatially flexible and have varied significance.
In my own thesis project, the "Unbound Site" concept struck a chord that was rather intriguing. Kahn states that, "...Urban designers need to ask how many ways sites are linked to an "outside," to spaces, times, and places beyond their present and immediate control." In past posts I've been throwing around the idea of creating a composite panel that basically performs a synthetic photosynthesis in order to "inhale" carbon dioxide and "exhale" oxygen, with sucrose as a byproduct. This panel system would be modular, and based off of current construction dimensions (i.e. a variant of 4'x8') so that it can be integrated into the current construction industry, allowing the panels to be used in new projects or as a retrofit for adaptive reuse projects. I've also been relating my thesis a lot to the automotive industry and the strides they have been taking to reduce carbon emissions and increase efficiency.
In order to implement the composite panel and integrate all of the facets that I have been exploring, I am proposing an adaptive reuse project. Utilizing an old steel mill within Pittsburgh (the site), I will design an automotive museum that focuses on sustainability and green practices. Contextually speaking, the project is relevant on a number of levels. Pittsburgh is known as being a progressive city for its green practices. Additionally, there have been a number of newly created automobile museums over the past few years. BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche have all completed new museums documenting their history. The museum in Pittsburgh, focusing on environmentally beneficial efforts as opposed to a certain manufacturer will display efforts put forth by many manufacturers. American car makers like Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler/Dodge, will be exhibited along side European and Asian car makes like Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar, Fiat, Ferrari, Honda, Toyota, and Nissan among a multitude of others.
Where the "Unbound Site" takes shape into this scheme is in regard to time and progression, or more specifically the history of the content within the museum. The site also extends itself to different museums around the world, and public access via internet or word of mouth. The site needs to be relevant to its immediate context, the content of its program, and also its relationship to the human scale and interaction. Uniting architecture and automotive design is apropos since people spend the majority of their life either in a building or in an automobile. Additionally, the museum would show how automotive and building technology can coexist and build off of one another through a real world application.
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