Further Building

Following the building of my ramps, I have allowed the use of columns to be observed in creating a Corbusier form in the use of pilotis as I identified in my conceptual work with this using the elements and the inspiration of the millionaire artist bringing in the Carpenter Centre. For the bottom area of my front office building area I have decided to explore the idea of the slats used on the Carpenter Centre buildings. The slats as seen in my earlier pictures of the Carpenter Centre are simply concrete panels put on an angle between two floors in a column and row pattern along the entire facade of the building. Talking with Ian the other day he gave me the idea of create smaller rows of these sorts of slat facade pieces that would aim to mimic the initial buildings influence, while still completing three functions:

1. Providing views out of the building, with each gap almost framing the exterior space providing both interest and visual spatial aesthetic on the inside.
2. Letting in light that provides the ability to see in the space but also a play of light and shadow within the interior space to the users (something that is evident in Le Corbusiers Carpenter Centre work).
3. It will give me the opportunity to work with reactive scripts and flexible panels to react to the position of people within the space.

In the second picture down you see me organizing the panels along the exterior of the front building facade that will be the dental office area. The reason I have chosen this front space with adjoining two sections of the space beneath the bridge is that:

1. It has views over the Fraser Park from the bottom floor and with the ability of having slanted louvres this becomes an important aspect in calming patients in the dental clinic a little way back.
2. The space is the closest to the main road edge and hence is more easily accessible to the public who may not want to walk through a serious of passageways or corridors to get to the clinic for the first time. This way, the clinic area is easily seen from the street and with parking on the road edge, offers easy accessibility.

On top of the dental area I have also put light chimneys used in a number of Le Corbusier's projects as to add more direction light into the area, particularly in the areas under the bridge structure where the clinic rooms are, providing natural light while also playing around with the idea of light and shadow that is shown in the Carpenter Centre building.

The third photo down shows my intention not just to use slat facades but also the use of monumental forms within the office space in the top used to house the engineer. The intermediate space situated above the railway tracks between the left and the right hand side of the office space, is designated for the engineer mainly as engineers tend to have to speak to people over the phone (ie. clients), visit sites, etc, therefore would be the least affected by this ramp throughway through the office space and people moving along it. It should also be noted that I have positioned my two mostly public orientated professions (the Carpenter and the Dentist) on the bottom floor which makes it more accessible to the general public while also allowing for easy deliveries as well. The Carpenters office space is on the opposite far side of the railway lines to the dentist with accessibility both through the front entrance and a corridor on the left under the bridge structure but also from the back of the site through a service door allowing trucks to drop off supplies. By doing so I am also having a front and back entrance as specified in the brief.

The pattern of the windows on the right of the monumental structure to house the engineer office space on top alludes to a similar structure on the Carpenter Centre while at the same time allowing natural, dappled light to come in through that area and light up the wall space on the right, with this area used mainly for the desk spaces. Another important aspect of this space is its relationship with the previous building in the back with its engineering orientated structure being visible from the back of the space. Furthermore from that position the engineer is able to look down to the left at the train track and the bridge structure below, both a historical reminder of engineering and construction in NZ and the importance of the surroundings to the feel of the industrial Victorian brought from my first light project.

The bottom picture shows some of my Corbusier influenced light wells that I will speak about in my next section.