EMILY STANCLIFF
Getting out of No-Man’s Land.
In keeping with the spirit of the studio, my chosen “excommunicated” population to serve was veterans and their loved ones or other involved persons.
This building is an exploration in how urban forms can influence domestic architecture.
One notable characteristic of this building was that it was closely designed with Mardy (physical immobilities in the middle) and Qilmeg’s (the elderly to the far right) buildings. As such, all three buildings were designed around complete mobility and accessibility between each other; therefore, there is free circulation between all three buildings on their ground and second floors. The above floor plan shows the meandering circulation through the ground floor, acting as a built-in physical therapy route for the elderly, residents of other physical immobilities, and veterans.
All three buildings also had the constraint of keeping two existing buildings within the design, and all sit on a 3-foot base to accommodate the aptly named “Adam Miller’s” house, whose ground floor elevation starts 3’ higher than ground level.
All three buildings also have a call to the same roofline, which is better depicted on Mardy’s webpage elevation.
This image shows the northwestern facade view of my individual building, featuring an alternating black and white facade for greater visual clarity, stepped landscaping for community gathering, and a ramp for greater accessibility along the alley.
As previously discussed, the building form takes inspiration from the urban landscape, and as such this ground floor is reminiscent of a dense street wall facade that opens up into a plaza on the interior. In this instance, the plaza is an urban idea that is influencing domestic architecture with a decreasing scale shift in order to fit into the residential landscape. Defining features of this floor include a shared kitchenette with Mardy’s structure; resident-designed spaces that are defined by exterior boundary walls and entrances; restrooms; and an elevator connection to the second floor.
This section shows a better depiction of the activities that would occur on the ground floor with the added benefit of seeing the density contrast between the ground and second floor
The second was conceived as a series of small structures that are closely packed together, like those of a dense urban street. In this case, though, the house in the urban landscape becomes a room in this building; a street in urban form, becomes an interior corridor. There are 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms, with the corridor itself acting as the main living area with eating, cooking, and general domestic activities. The 6 bedrooms range in sizes to accommodate different circumstances. For example, a large bedroom might be used to house an older veteran who requires live-in assistance. The smaller bedroom might be used by someone who is just living by themselves and doesn’t want a larger space for fear of PTSD episodes. The building could also conceivably host two different families if the need arose. The idea is simply to be as mobile as possible for these residents.
The following slideshow shows the axonometric views broken up by floor. The first axonometric allows you to understand how the floors line up one on top of the other. The second axonometric shows the circulation through each floor.
The following slideshow shows the western elevation of the building, where you can see most clearly the various skylights that allows light into the second floor. The accompanying diagram depicts the variety of light angles that would be possible under these circumstances.