Hi Class,
Hope you're out of town enjoying the break - or hunkering down to relax while occasionally catching up on the semester. You should have all received your mid-semester evaluation by now. These were written before our desk-crits for Topic 4.
We're all set for our review on the 27th with the editor. Lauren and I are relying on you to orchestrate revisions/additions/printing of all case studies within the template with your partner, and that you will also develop a response statement to (2) of the (3) prompts given out in last weeks assignment sheet. Be bold and eloquent.
Once you solo-post your drafts as this week's blog post exercise, we'll be able to give you feedback before the review. Give yourself a solid 30 minutes for each and fire it out there for us to chat about as soon as possible.
We'll be following up with a synthesis of the conversations we've had as a class around the 'graphic criteria' component on the first page of the case studies - there may be a revision to that component of the template in the next few days.
Cheers, Kyle
A seminal book titled The Third Teacher identified the built environment and the third teacher in students lives - third only to the parent and the educator. As both a philosophical and pragmatic statement, the book suggests that the careful articulation of the built environment is a critical element in the successful education of young people.
ReplyDeleteThe book communicates 79 design ideas intended to strengthen the link between bricks and mortar and student learning. Personally, I believe it makes a statement that educational facilities should exist as much more than static warehouses of learning. They should, rather, be integral tools used in the learning process. In short, the building itself should teach.
To that end, for this courses design exploration, I intend to marry the idea of a teaching building with several principles of sustainability studied in this course and apply that marriage to my Master's thesis project which is a mixed use educational facility.
The roughly 200,000 SF building in the Seaport District of downtown Boston is large enough to accommodate and benefit from several systems. The sustainable systems I intend to pursue include rain water harvesting for reuse in toilets and irrigation applications and a vertical green surface intended as an air purification system and way-finding device.
Excellent response. It's great to hear that you're leveraging your thesis topic for the visual polemic.
ReplyDeleteFor your second essay - consider engaging either White's or Ford's essay. Are you essentially farming air and water? Relative to Ford's writing, how more overt detailing assist in the delivery of the educational ambitions of the visual polemic/thesis. Also consider the synergies between the two systems you are choosing to employ.
Here's a list of plant species that best filter the air (not only producing oxygen from CO2, but also absorbing benzene, formaldehyde and/or trichloroethylene.) There's a diagram these somewhere!
http://www.mnn.com/health/healthy-spaces/stories/best-air-filtering-houseplants-according-to-nasa
Thanks for jumping out in front of this!
Through my precedent studies, I have become interested in exploring the idea of utilizing design as a function for education. I am thinking of creating a design for a small "Water Pavilion" that would utilize formed acrylic (clear) pieces to create the structure and roof of the building. Inside the structural elements would be layers of earth and rock that would filter rainwater. These elements would be visible through the clear acrylic. The water could then be sanitized using a UV filter and then dispensed as potable water in locations where potable water is scarce. There are 377 million people without potable water access in South America and The Caribbean alone (http://water.org/water-crisis/water-facts/water/). However, most of South American and the Caribbean have a very high annual precipitation. The design for this pavilion would create potable water access in locations that need it the most, and raise awareness about water born pathogens and how to reduce your risk of being exposed to one. 3.4 million people each year die of water-born illnesses which are completely preventable. The design would also educate people on strategies for collecting potable water onsite, increasing overall access to drinking water. I have made a quick 3d model of the idea and here is a link to a perspective rendering in the dropbox folder: https://www.dropbox.com/s/c99v9z51db8n3fp/120112_Perspective%202_cr.jpg
ReplyDeleteThe basic idea is to design an educational pavilion where the structure actually becomes a sustainable element. A small step in the direction of making all components of a building sustainable.
Daniel,
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful idea and a beautiful form you've begun to create.
Some questions as you move forward:
Are you imagining this a portable or site-less design?
How do you imagine this in a city vs in a rural community?
Are you considering glass instead of acrylic?
What is the human interface with this form/device?
How might you challenge this design by imposing the constraint of being a part of a school building rather than a stand-alone piece of infrastructure?
How many people will this serve? How many does one community need?
What is the critical detail and what is your attitude towards expressing it? (Have you started drafting this essay)?
Thanks for getting ahead with your thinking on this!