i n h a b i t

psu architecture 282 design studio


Welcome to the online studio report for Architecture 282, the spring quarter second-year undergraduate design studio at Portland State University's department of Architecture. As our focus for the term is the investigation of community and collective experience, we recognize the importance of communication and shared information in fostering these themes. Hence, our new digital community--this blog.

Our non-virtual exploration seeks to imagine a community of dwellings and businesses in a dense and ever-changing neighborhood close to the urban core of Portland Oregon.

We are students of architecture, not developers. So over the next two months we'll be looking at the 'Portland Dense Housing' issue through a slightly different lens than what is normal out there under the construction cranes.

We will form our own design community, and will ultimately collaborate on a single 'development' to take place on the corner of north Mississippi ave. and north Fremont st. Instead of focusing on the developer-driven priorities of profitability and product marketing, we will base our work on often overlooked values--such as domestic ritual, collective social arrangement, the psychology of materials, and the physical, social, and phenomenological patterns of the surrounding neighborhood.

Yes, this project is purely hypothetical, but by exploring these priorities, we aim to delve much deeper than issues of mere 'style', 'image', or 'performance' in proposing an ideal by which future development may be judged.

Please visit this blog often and feel free to comment, as things are taking shape rather quickly as I write. We'll make sure to post all of our research and progress designs as this exciting project develops.

-your humble scribe,
Garrett Martin

Friday, May 16, 2008

THE NEXT MOVE FORWARD

We presented the schemes, we digested the comments, we re-organized our priorities, and we heard from the neighborhood that a tree must be preserved. Shown below is a summary of our new marching orders, and a set of very basic diagrams meant to organize them:

OUR QUALITATIVE PRIORITIES:
M I D - T E R M C H A R R E T T E R E S U L T S
agreed-upon features for further development
• 'clarity' at open corner o generous green space as point of entry o informality of green space
• private outdoor spaces for most-if-not-all units
• collective outdoor spaces for residential units
o 'kidspace' terraces adjacent to family units
• density and compact size of residential units
• broken-down scale at residential zone
o maximize 'coastline'
o maximum exterior surface area per unit for light and ventilation
o massing to honor neighborhood scale
• topographic respone
o digging into slope for more commercial/public square-footage
o rooftop as ground.
o Public 'plinth' to support private 'aggregations'
• PARKING:
o Bicycles
o Cars: 1 space per 2 residential units
• Public program priorities:
o Community services
• Library
• Day care
o Commercial (retail) services
• Food market • Restaurant
• Residential lobby as 'vortex'
• 'threshold' element at open corner
o clever screening/schemes to meet street-frontage requirements
• FIRE:
o 'communal' glow from within
o consideration of night-time activities / attractiveness of public spaces
• 'skin' as screen:
o transluscency over opacity
• more dense open-air space at upper (residential) levels
o 'new york fire escape' model
• 'community house' collective space programmed for residents
• OPTIONAL: roof-top public / commercial amenity
o bar?
LATE ADDITION: SAVE THE TREE!
 RESULTANT DIAGRAMS:


STUDENT RE-ASSIGNMENTS:
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