ARCH 420
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ARCH 420 is organized around two separate design projects on an urban site and greenfield site. The first project is a boutique hotel, located on a prominent corner site in downtown Milwaukee. Focusing on Light as an organizing principle, this project will also introduce the structural, circulation, and egress complexities of a multi-story building with a complex program. The building’s southern façade and how it responds to daylighting will become a central architectural concern along with a top floor skylit gallery. The second project will be a spa and boathouse, located on an open greenfield site on the Milwaukee River. A thermally responsive environmental agenda at the site and building scale drives form. Focusing on heat as an organizing principle, the form of the interior space will be intimately connected to both the experience of the exterior environment and to the building’s thermal performance. The building envelope as a mediator of the climate will become a central architectural concern.
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Critics:
Wekeana Lassiter Marc Roehrle Brian Schermer Filip Tejchman Karl Wallick Jim Wasley |
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The site located alongside the Milwaukee River and near the ecology center sits within a densely populated neighborhood, affords the residents with great hiking trails, beautiful views of the river and an overall great atmospheric experience. The Casts is designed to belong on the site and contribute to the experience of the area. When designing all aspects of this project, the following three concepts were strictly followed and are seen in use, linearity, openings, and the relationship between light and heavy. These concepts are seen within material choices, structure, various wall and corridor widths, corridors spilling in and out of baths, wider opening giving the user a sneak peek into other areas, and even the kayak ramp that slopes downward 40 feet towards the river. Everything was taken into consideration to enhance the overall experience of the site and of the program that consists of 7 different types of baths, a sauna, locker rooms, kayak storage, a training area and more.
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Project Images (Click to Enlarge)
Student Presentation
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Sitting just south of the Urban Ecology center at Riverside Park and the Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum a grand staircase brings you to the entrance level of the spa. The idea of atmosphere plays into the experience that the customers would have as they move from space to space. The entrances, through the hall to the shower area and the first bath creates an open atmosphere with lots of natural light, loud noises, a moderate thermal temperature and double height spatial volume. The atmosphere then changes as you are in the cool and indoor bath, having lower spatial volume, lower noise level, cooler temperatures and a moderate level of natural light. Moving into the quiet and hot bath which is connected to the sauna has no natural light, limited spatial volume and is an area with little to no noise. This method of atmosphere manipulation allows for a variation of experience all found in one location. Once back outside the public can gather in a central space created by the placement of the boathouse on the lower level of the hill and the spa which descends the hill side. In doing this people can experience this architecture even when the spa and boathouse are not open.
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Project Images (Click to Enlarge)
Student Presentation
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This spa and boathouse is located on the bluff of the Milwaukee River, just south of the Urban Ecology Center. Although this project is designed for luxury and recreation, I wanted it to push the limits of what this project could be. With this intention in mind, my design goals were to create a private and relaxing experience in nature, while limiting energy sources and cleaning local water sources, all in a way that does not significantly harm the landscape. In terms of water, as this project is focused around it, there are two main water loops to consider. The river cycle brings water up from the river and along an aqueduct connecting the two buildings. The water will be filtered through the spa’s filtration ponds and join the inner spa cycle until it reaches the lowest pond and flows backdown the bluff into the river, slowly cleaning the river. The spa only has one heat source which heats the hot bath at the highest part of the program. The heat transfers from bath to bath through waterfalls and gravity. There are also very limited thermal boundary areas, including only what strictly needs to be kept inside and warm. To conserve the vegetation already present on the site, the design sits at the top of the bluff, where it is mostly bare. I also used this opportunity to restore some natural vegetation and wetlands that will be protected by the building and its encouraged privacy. In conclusion, guests will be able to come here to have fun and relax while being responsible to the environment and the community.
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Project Images (Click to Enlarge)
Student Presentation
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The main idea behind my Spa and Boathouse was to utilize light and landscape to unify the two programs. I accomplish this by allowing the form of the building to terrace down the hillside which separates the two programs into a two-story spa and the boathouse which wraps around it. Connecting these to volumes is a circulation space that gives you a sense of procession as you walk along the west façade down into the lower levels of the spa. This west façade consists of a glazing system that spans the entirety of the building. This allows people to experience the beauty of the landscape and river while still maintain a sense of privacy. From here the occupants circulate into the baths which are branched off the circulation space and connected by a vestibule. The vestibules are open to air and allow the baths to retain their unique thermal qualities while giving occupants a place to dry off, wait, sit, or contemplate. The indoor pool is positioned in a double height space to give a sense of openness which contrasts against the smaller baths enclosed settings. Because the main windows on this building face west I added a skylight above the indoor pool to allow light in during the earlier parts of the day. Overall, using filtration of light and views I am able to create a sense of intimacy and arrival into the baths and allow the two programs of spa and boathouse to conjoin uniquely with one another.
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Project Images (Click to Enlarge)
Student Presentation
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The Bliss Spa and Boathouse is focused on the theme of being peaceful, natural, and relaxing. Located at the base of a 40’ bluff just south of the Urban Ecology Center on the Milwaukee River, the building is located away from the noise and busyness of the city to indulge guests in a peaceful getaway. As visitors approach the building, they have the choice to take a direct stair route to the entrance or take a longer ramp that winds in and around the natural environment that give guests the option to experience a relaxing nature walk before entering the building. At the entrance of the building, there is a boardwalk consisting of ramps and stairs that surround the entire building to address all accessibility needs to the dock and nearby trail. The Spa and Boathouse is elevated on stilts to both protect the existing environment at the site, while also protecting the building from potential flooding. The building also features a green roof to provide more natural habitats for the surrounding environment. The plan of the building is divided into various wedges that meet at the center of the building, where the communal areas of the lockers, bathrooms, changing rooms, and showers are located connected by a main circulation loop. When people enter the lobby and make their way to this central circulation, they can then distribute to the spa, boathouse, or dock.
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Project Images (Click to Enlarge)
Student Presentation
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My design was driven primarily by a desire to create a space that allowed for people to relax in their own way, because at the end of the day, people do not relax the same way. This permeated though my design in many ways, from organizing my baths by creating 2 collections that contain a variety of temperatures each, rather than creating a general temperature gradient across the buildings. At a smaller scale, I articulated the ceilings in each of the indoor spaces to create interesting views and to define spaces within rooms. The secondary system of organization that I used was to conceptually think of my project as a series of thin and thick lines wrapping around a plaza space. I used this to care out my spaces in the hillside and to navigate down the 40’ hillside. In combining these two systems of organization, I was deliberate to make sure that I did not create a ‘correct path’ through my building, but to instead create a web of choices for people to navigate, as to not imply a correct way to relax. Finally, one of the biggest challenges I had in implementing this logic was to allow for enough variety of spaces without diluting the simplicity of the lines. My proposed solution was to create spaces that allowed for many uses, such as the dock splitting into two different ways to interact with the waterfront.
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Project Images (Click to Enlarge)
Student Presentation
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To offer an experience, a journey through unknown destinations which are found with views to the River. Materiality is important, therefore rusted metal and a polished concrete floor is used as metaphor for nature. The Spa and Boathouse are embedded into the terrain, a hill which faces the Milwaukee River. By entering you are found through a narrow like tunnel which forces the journey to be interesting, walls are the guide through and around until you are in a secondary entrance which guides you inside. The lobby is illuminated with natural lighting coming from the outdoor pool. The roof is punctured which circles which are a representation of the life, trees, nature, yet earth is complex in its forms. The highlight of the spa is the outdoor pool which attached is a lap pool 42’ long, supported by a tree form column. The lobby guides you to the indoor baths and sauna. The baths are designed to experience cold, hot, warm from the sauna and finally to the indoor pool. The indoor pool is framed by a view above the lap pool and outside trees to provide a close connection to nature and inside/outside feel. The bathhouse is connected outside by a tunnel which will lead to rotating metal doors which flexible throughout seasons. Leading through along corridor glass which allows to feel as it ended at the edge of the river. A training room was designed with a framed view and skylight to feel connected with the river.
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Project Images (Click to Enlarge)
Student Presentation
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A veil is defined as something to be concealed and not openly visible or distinguished. SpaVeil applies this definition in various way through multiple layers of design. The glass block façade is the meat of this project and is the primary veil. Its semi-transparent qualities along with its different types, styles, and color allows for a unique application parallel to privacy and program needs within the spa and boathouse. Furthermore, its thermal qualities allow for this design to cut down heat gain and manage heat loss in an efficient manner, as this was an important consideration in our project brief. Within the glass block façade itself is a more technical veil. There is a gridded steel system that sits within the mortar channels supporting the roof and stabilizing the block walls. As SpaVeil began to take shape in earlier steps there were several other items in needed to consider. As I studied the site, I developed a series of key words that I felt defined this project. SUN – THERMAL – EXPERIENTIAL – FUNCTIONAL these spark words directed the development and position of my design on the site. They influenced ceiling design, massing orientation, specific detailing, and program location. There are a series of diagrams which I have produced that explain how I have investigated these ideas.
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Project Images (Click to Enlarge)
Student Presentation
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The approach of the project is through the Milwaukee Centennial Arboretum. The project is terraced into the hill so that visitors can experience emerging from the dense forest with an unobstructed view of the river. With its back against the bluff, the project merges with the landscape itself. The sloping roofs of the spa and boathouse create a gently winding and accessible pathway from the top of the bluff to the floodplain below. The boathouse is elevated safely above the floodplain while the spa nestles higher up the slope to gather its own light and views. Water gardens cascade down the terraces and slopes interspersing with the building program to weave the structure to the site. One of the advantages of connecting the building so closely with the hill is that it is a natural shelter. The thermal mass capacities of the earth, the masonry, and the water are augmented with geothermal strategies. Only the necessary program areas are enclosed so that visitors can completely immerse themselves in the natural setting.
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Project Images (Click to Enlarge)
Student Presentation
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