Shelter- New Haven

This next project was the big one of the semester. I ended up dropping my class because of personal reasons but I did get quite far in this process regardless.

The site is located on the intersection of Orange street and Chapel street in New Haven, CT. 

The project program was to "design a mix-use space which included transitional housing and residential support in a city center" which was in terms a homeless shelter.



So to jump right into it here were the building specs we needed.

So like any project you need a site analysis.

NOISE AND ACOUSTICAL 

WEATHER

MORE WEATHER

And then you gotta have precedents for your site.

My main intention for this building was to emphasize on the connection of the people and the city. I love utilizing green space as a way of connectivity. It not only draws the building into the skyline of whatever is around it, but especially for this project, it draws the people it's being designed for into it as well. Meaning, these people have been living outside homeless, so anything with a small similarity gives them that much more to feel comfortable with in this transition. "Transitional housing"

This brings me to the precedents of how the design was going to be.

Now we get to the fun stuff, where I start putting it all together.

Hey there Sketch Up, nice to see you again.
So here we have some rough rough elevations. As you can see this is where my semester ended for me. I didn't finish adding windows and such.

Then I played around with how I would want the circulation to pan out for public vs private spaces of the building.


The bottom two floors consisted of public space where you'd find coffee shops, a little convenient store, mailroom newspaper stand, clinic, etc.

The idea of adding these spaces specifically was one because there was a bus stop right on the corner so a coffee shop, new stand, etc. would be beneficial, and also because adding places where jobs were needed to be filled allowed the homeless people to be able to transition to the work force. 

This last render is the last of what I completed in this project. This angle showcases the ideal of green space and how it connects the whole building and doesn't give a harsh skyline addition. 

Thanks for keeping up with me,

Michelle 

What Happens When You Move to New England

     So you were expecting Design 5 right? Well, when you leave a two year program for a 4 year program with the added engineering aspect, you gain 3 more years of fun gen ed's and accumulations of architectural engineering classes. 

     
     I decided to move away. And if I had a dollar for every time someone asked me "why the hell did you move to Connecticut", I wouldn't need to be studying to have a good job. I was so sick of Florida. I could tell you everything about every single street, and destination, and I was tired of that. I didn't want to see the same people from high school, I was over the tourists, and cast members are the devils. To summarize it, I moved because I moved. 

     The first day of class I was given a warm welcome to New England, and their educational system. From design 1 thru 4, we weren't supposed to have a base on any of our models/designs, excluding windows, doors, and wall-like additives. DAY ONE of design 4 (design 4 at my new school is on par to Valencia's design 5) I was expected to know what an elevation was, understand codes for buildings, meanings of egress, etc. I was so lost, but so happy I was where I was. I like to learn when I am under pressure. No negativity towards Valencia, but the amount of information on realistic architecture and sustainability was at a loss. One thing I can say is they are so lenient on deadlines here at UHart- I was terrified to not have my axis/models ready for Baldwin. I like have a strict timeline, and if you're not done, you are DONE. I am so very blessed that my professors at Valencia kinda forced us to hand draw/design most things, because it gave me a great upper hand. So many people in the program started off using Revit and other programs to execute ALL of their assignments. Sorry but rectangular building with the paint bucket tool for "bricks" isn't enough. Baldwin would ask you to come back next semester when you're ready to work.




     So I will leave you with my first task in "new Design 4". We were asked to design a multi-use building including retail on the first floor, incubator space on the second, and finally residential on the third. I wanted to tie together each floor with similar details even though we were told to define each different space. I wanted the building to still read as a working unit altogether. This was a very fun first assignment to do since I'm not at all used to how Northern multi-use building look/work. 
***Fun fact, not many know what mylar is up here***

     For my materials and methods class, my professor should get an award. Its probably the most informative class I have ever taken, and it saves my ass for anything I need to know code-wise, or with means of egress. The textbook has EVERY building code (northern standards), material cost, egress requirement, etc. 

     The real majority of the semester within "new design 4" involves a master plan, and building idea that is still in the works, so stay tuned.



Thanks for keeping up with me! -M