BEN SOLL
This two story building is on the west side of Ann arbor and contains a auto repair service. The walls are constructed from concrete block, and the roof is flat with a painted wood siding on the top of the north wall.
The interior is an open space. It contains two rooms at its east side, used as storage, office space, and a desk counter for service. The space is primarily defined and divided by the actions that take place within it, and the vehicles that occupy it. Spaces are partitioned with car lifts, each of which signify a work station.
The diagram shows the building as a kit of parts, and showcases the utilitarian minimalist nature of such a shop. Every item, whether it is shelving, lighting or the ventilation serves the purpose of keeping the building furnished without taking up the space primarily occupied by cars and workers.
The ANT diagram attempts to make sense of the cycle of materials used by the food industry and the manufacturing of workout equipment. The connection found is one that is harmful to the the environment and, in turn, the people and animals which inhabit it. The ANT diagram did not directly inform my project, but rather informed the angle with which I thought about the project, allowing me to further research a topic that focuses on the harm of factory equipment from the perspective of the health of factory workers. The harm of production to the environment is widely discussed, but the harm the workers themselves face is more overlooked. My following research linked the topics of exercise equipment and factory workers. While exercise equipment is designed for the user to have healthier posture, form, and movement, factory equipment is designed for production and safety, with many pieces of equipment often lacking the same emphasis on form, movement and posture. Consequently, the number one cause of injury factory workers face is related to back pain, arthritis and poor posture. The project develops from this idea, by attempting to merge the positive qualities exercise equipment is designed for to create a space that aims to help factory workers have a healthier interface with their equipment through personal training.
My design starts with two organizational patterns: knowled and confetti. Confetti influences the layout of the floorplan, while objects are both knowled in entirety in some instances, and knowled and then recombined in others, creating hybrid forms between factory equipment and exercise equipment. These hybridized objects serve the purpose of creating exercise equipment that allows workers to train the movements they use when interacting with their work equipment, while having the guidance of trainers to help them create safer habits. The addition of weights is based on the principle that if you have a muscle that you use a lot, strenghtening it will decrease your chances of injury.
Inside the walls of the original mechanic shop, glass pods containing equipment for giving personal training to factory workers fill the space. The confetti layout provides curved and playful circulation throughout the space, which guides users through the experience of different workout stations. The core of the building primarily contains personal training pods made from glass, with some free weights, while the perimeter of the structure is converted into an open space for individual workouts. The idea is that more advanced users of the gym who have already received personal training but want to continue their workouts can use this space to continue their exercises.
The parallax highlights the layering of knowled objects and spliced equipment, giving a greater understanding of not just the type of equipment the building contains, but the quantity of objects within it.
Perspective images highlight the arrangement of the space and the playful and unexpected experience of designated workout spaces. It is a space that is dense with objects, but color and partitions, along with the paths created between confetti pieces attempt to give legibility to its use and program.