JOSEPH JOHNSTON
This is a two story building located at the corner of Ashley St and Liberty St in downtown Ann Arbor, MI. It is currently used as a nursery, with a large car lane running through the middle of it for bigger pick ups. It is constructed entirely of brick, with wooden truss and support beams. It is not air conditioned, so there is no HVAC system. It has a flat roof with fabric awnings in the front.
The interior is very open, with only one smaller room off to the right. The stairs to the right lead up to the second story. The one room in the interior does not reach the ceiling and is generally used for extra storage. There are three garage doors in the front and two in the rear on either side. The main area is a massive, open space that almost feels like being outdoors when the garage doors are open. On the left side there is a greenhouse, used to store plants. There are also two carports outside where there is a parking lot.
This knolled diagram shows the kit of parts used in the building, containing a garage door, patio doors, windows, lighting, awnings, and piping.
This miro board contains an Actor-Network Theory map that studies the content that will be filling the space: construction stuff and landscaping stuff. The first half looks into the main materials used in construction: brick, concrete, stone, and lumber. It is formatted to show the manufacturing process for each material and how sustainable each material is. Then it looks into the price and lifespan of each material. The landscaping ANT map follows a similar format, looking into the main components of landscaping: mulch, sod, fertilizer, gravel, plants, and soil. It focuses on the positive and negative effects each component can have on the environment.
This diagram shows the organization of stuff being placed in the building. It is assembled in a peripheral pattern circling the focal point of the building: the greenhouse, which was mirrored to extend inside the building as well. The construction materials are located in structures that line the outside of the building and the side lot. The landscaping materials are found in the inner circle around the greenhouse. The greenhouse contains a mixture of both categories.
The plan video highlights where and how the materials are organized throughout the building. It also takes a closer look into the main materials, displaying the lifespan and pricing of them. The main drive way through the building has been taken out, but the two garage doors in the rear of the building still allow for cars to drive through the property around the perimeter where all the heavy construction materials are located. The interior space is deisgned to mirror the outside landscaped yard, with artificial turf and plants filling the space, blurring the lines between what is outside and what is inside.
The elevation view parallax video highlights the largest addition made to the building which is the conversion of the side parking lot into a green space where there is landscape designs on display for inspiration and large bays containing the construction materials on the perimeter.
The peripheral organization of this building allows for there to be a smooth mix of large materials available for pick up via the drive through and smaller items on display from people to browse through. The greenhouse focal point of the building is a community woodworking space where there can be classes held, tools available to borrow, and old pallets from the construction and landscaping materials available for people to use for their personal woodworking projects. These pallets will produce wood chips that are recycled into mulch that is available for purchase.