Monday, February 11, 2008

Step1 Structure


There is alot more structure details for the south Building, but i dont want to post them yet, till My structure Consultatnt Kurt says OK

5 comments:

werner said...

Amr,
I haven’t commented on your work in awhile, sorry. I had to let you go further in the development before giving some additional comments. You are drawing from your firm’s experience and incorporate it into a very different environment than we are typically associating with live-work. A few questions are along the same lines as Eddie’s: why Mediterranean plants, why French stone? Why even a natural stone wall? Couldn’t you find elements that have more to do with the program or the location?
I still cannot quite picture how your building interacts with the neighborhood. From what I can see so far it is rather insensitive to the context. Some windows from the next door neighbors’ housing units will face a presumably blank auditorium wall, an egress stair and the back of toilet rooms.
The existing fire wall on the other hand will be prominently displayed, as your building follows the train track geometry…
The large brise-soleils on the south side are well intentioned, and the pigeons and other birds will appreciate the large protected nesting areas…
I can’t wait to see site plan, elevations and maybe a model of your building.

Amr Raafat said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Amr Raafat said...

My Teacher Werner,
I missed your very important input here.
Almost every hour i check my blog to see a comment from you.
You dont realize how this is important for me. Its not only for Your Architectural input but for encouragment as well, even If teh work is too bad, i still would like to hear words like good work, hard work, Ok work.some fuel to raise up the bar!!!!!
I dont drink coffee to keep me awake all night, but words like that would make me never sleep and keep working harder and better.

Your last comment to me encouraged me to work hard.

well back to work.

"why French stone? Why even a natural stone wall? Couldn’t you find elements that have more to do with the program or the location?"_Werner.

I can understand the Question of why french stone and elements that is more to the location.
but i didnt understand more related to the program???

Could you please clarify that?

I am having classrooms, studio spaces and Auditorium. Isnt this suitable for a school program?
Please let me know your thoughts in more details.
Also in our visit to Genzyme we found trees from all over teh world, and the medittranean was one of them, these guys are mediacal research company!!!

they dont work looking at the trees ias i am doing in my building. i am involving nature more with people studing here.

Genzyme got a platinum, what i would get?

Yes I am incorporating my Firm experience because simply, Its my Major Architectural Experience,Thats why I am in this program called, practicing professionals Distance M-Arch.
My practice and my studies should support each others.
I am not going to do Stadiums, I will always work on Buildings with Nature.and That what my thesis will be and thats my focus of work and study.

The subject of Nature and how to incorporate it with humans in buildings.

I dont know if that a positive or negative thing. but this is Architecture for me.

I will do a mozaic art work on the wall of the Auditorium so the neigbors have a pleasant look at it.

Yes in my early step i meant for the brise-soileils to be where they are now.

After i am done with the plans and sections i will put them in 3d studio Max.

According to your comment I will re-consider the natural stone wall i would use other materials for sustainbility reasons.

Amr Raafat said...

Werner,
Do you think a blank wall audiotorium wall facing the neigbor rooms is the ultimate senstivity, NOT the insenstivty?
Protecting both my client and neighbor's privacy?

If you think this reason is not strong enough, i can move the Auditorium mirrored to the other side.

and let the neigbors share the plaza rock views. but its like a puzzel if i move the Auditorium the otherside, its truse that will show the people comming from boylston the full view of the bneigbor brick wall. but here i can make a statment of the glass, sunscreen against the brickwall.
The old against the new! material contrast.

plz let me know what you think.

werner said...

Amr,
we all are comfortable doing what we know well. So, it is nothing but natural for you to bring your personal experience to the studio. And this is good. You were able to challenge the current paradigm of building making by employing an aquarium language to the program.
To bring it to a next level you would have to ask you with everything you do, am I simply copying or can I re-interpret and find a new meaning in the forms, spaces and structures I'm borrowing from a different building type. The rock wall in a aquarium helps to create the illusion to be in a particular place in the world, visiting the exhibits in their most "natural" state. Should the intensive to be located in a stage set for 'jurasic park'? or could the elements that house the jungle relate back to architectural traditions, orders, patterns, materials that express 'man made', et cetera. When comparing to Genzyme you will realize that the built environment is clearly dominant, the elements of nature being introduced to connect back but not to form the stage itself. This in contrast to modern exhibits of animals, where (artificial) nature becomes the dominant feature, architecture simply an element to control temperature, humidity, and provide security. Compare to the early zoo buildings i.e the bronx zoo elephant house (http://www.newyorkcityzoos.com/elephanthouse.jpg) where you only find architecture, no nature.
We are building a scholl for architecture. You will have to answer to what is an appropriate environment for learning? for being introduced to the school? for learning in the exhibit space about the program, the work being performed, the methods studied?
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The comment to the blank wall has as much to do with the wall itself as with the distance you are allowing between the neighboring building and your project. I could see a space (filled with good program; i.e. a place where you can experiance the true local weather outside the bubble), lined with local plants, providing a comforatble view out the condominium windows.