Design journal entry 5/6 (3 units):
Since this module’s exercises primarily work in plan, I’ll explain some of my key strategies or noteworthy design elements as they relate to the spatial layout:
- I allocated a higher overhead allowance; this is to accommodate an above average amount of circulation space — my designed building will be largely one floor, with the exception of a second floor dining area. This is to promote accessibility, and it also takes advantage of the fact that there is a lot of land at our disposal at Jasper Ridge, which has almost no surrounding buildings. However, to compensate, the amount of walking the average visitor will have to do to get through the exhibit is greater, and the circulation space is thus higher. I also plan on having some completely non-loaded circulation space (i.e. just a glass hallway with no rooms on either side), which increases overhead space
- Contrary to most exhibition designs, I’d like to have my gift shop and cafe non-accessible from the lobby (this is also shown in my bubble diagram). I’ve been to a few museums in which the gift shop and cafe are accessed at the end of one’s journey through all the exhibits, and I like this approach more. Having a gift shop near the entrance has always distracted me from the actual point of the exhibit, and having a cafe near the end makes the visitors hungrier and the meal more rewarding
- As was suggested in one of the module videos, I think it is prudent to have the offices and administrative areas close together and removed from the more public areas — as such, I’d like to have an ‘admin wing’, which is connected only to the public areas through the cafe space, which can serve as a shared cafeteria
- All of the spaces surround a central courtyard-like space, and supply different views to that courtyard
My deliverables are below…
Space budget link:
Bubble diagram:
This was the bubble diagram I had submitted in the practice exercise -
I also added some additional annotations to the bubble diagram for this project check-in -
Rudimentary floor plan:
This isn’t exactly finalized, but is an idea… Some key attributes of the floor plan:
→ Generally the exhibits are either oriented with their main axis to the north-south, aka purposefully suboptimal for daylighting, or are placed mainly on the north side of the building. (I neglected to add a compass, but the intuitive up is north and down is south applies to the above) This is because I’d like to take advantage of wall space in the exhibits, and as such, don’t want to make the exhibit spaces areas with a lot of fenestration. It is also easier to see things in an exhibit under artificial light rather than glaring natural light.
→ As such, the spaces that do take advantage of the natural southern light include the seminar rooms, the permanent offices, the dining area, and the lobby — this is all intentional.
→ In addition, I played with the circulation here a little bit, whether the path meanders through exhibits on both sides, is on the ‘inside’ towards the courtyard or on the ‘outside’ away from the courtyard, or just in the middle, it is clear that there is really only one path through the building that a visitor can take. This is intentional and is part of the experience! In my Revit model, I’ll try to organize paths of egress so that everything safely aligns with code.
Revit floor plan and model link:
Model link: (also at the top of the design journal entry)
Some of the lines here aren’t actual walls, but are space separators that I put in so I could define spaces by their space tags more accurately. Anyway, since this building is pretty expansive (as it’s only a single floor in most areas, here are some zoomed in images from different areas of the building…
Admin building (East wing):
Main exhibit (North wing), shopping and dining:
West wing exhibits and glass corridor:
Lobby and opening exhibits (South wing):
Level 2 is a simple floor as of right now — it’s going to just be an outdoor dining area:
Isometric:
Something that is interesting to note is that I’ve intentionally left many conditioned spaces connected (i.e. no doors in between them), since I feel like this suits the flow of an exhibition/museum type building better. I’m interested in seeing how this will impact conditioning loads. It also creates some flex or undefined space, as exhibit space and circulation space kind of become one and the same. Another thing I’d like to mention is that in order to meet the 250ft to egress requirement, I placed some emergency exits within some of the exhibits — these are not necessarily meant to be used on a regular basis.
Floors, roofs and wall assemblies are coming in the building envelope module! I also updated my space budgeting spreadsheet with the current areas of all the areas as they are modeled. My elevator (above) could also use some work, and I’ll bring it up at check-in this week!