Friday, September 7, 2007

GROUND INTERVENTION

SITE PLAN
GROUND FLOOR

BIRD'S VIEW FROM THE PARK


THE CITY WALKER GOING WEST



THE APPLE VISITOR AT THE STAGE





SKETCH AT STARBUCKS WHILE WAITING FOR THAT CUP OF JAVA!


Thank you all for the comments and critiques! Keep'em coming, good and ugly. Above is my intervention of the ground plane to annunciate to the passerby that they are entering the Apple corner. After carefully reviewing the photos of the existing paved walkway outside CVS and the Bank, I decided that it needed to be done. This also picks up on Ted's comment on how would I create a transition between the audience member to actor. I decided to bring the Apple visitor to the immediate area outside the store. There are currently two points on the existing Copley Square area that are being casually occupied, one is the square itself, the second are the steps of the east end of the library where many of us sketched and traced over the existing fabric.
My intent with the proposed intervention of the new apple corner is to bring life to the street corner. The elements that define these are as follow:
  1. Seats are created as the structural glass fins that hold the tracks for the overhead doors hit the ground.
  2. Benches are strategically placed to force the passerby to choose a path of entry.
  3. A faux grass mound is placed within the immediate path of the passerby to bring her/him closer to the store edge. Also the grass mound will raise approximately 3'-0" to raise the eye of the walker from the floor in order to notice the church carriage entry in the foreground and the store as well.
  4. A tree canopy has been introduced along the edge of the side curbs along Boylston and Dartmouth street to provide scale and an edge.
  5. The paved areas change in pattern and orientation to break the monotony of the walking surface as well as to minimize the scale of the surface at hand.
  6. Paved area A-1 incorporates a seating area cascading from the stone veneer of the north volume. This seating area is to resemble in occupancy what the Berkeley college of music students do at their entry. The Apple visitor at the ground level will have the opportunity of checking out macbooks just like library concept of checking a book. This will allow the visitor to test the equipment on his/her own terms and comfort, whether inside the store or just outside.
  7. The "T" stop adjacent to the store is getting a new canopy. That will be my only intervention to the stop. The ground floor continues to be inclusive of the same program established during the intensive.

As mentioned on my previous post, I introduced columns, not excessively as I would rather see a more open flow. The monumental stair/stage has been elongated and edited since the intensive, picking up on Eno's suggestion of bringing it closer to the entry of the building.

The study of the blue glass at the harvesting mezzanine level is to create a difference between the upper and lower level. The intention is for the viewer from outside and inside to experience this with a different level of transparency, like Rowe and Slutsky's transparency. Great reference Ted, Thank you! The decision on the color is not definite, I will probably be testing the levels of transparency over the weekend.

In reference to Amr's comment on why not locate the harvesting level at top is because the harvesting level is for the passerby to see, whether on automobile or on foot. Is also in metaphor to the process of obtaining the apple product, like the mapping experience, you visit the store, see, research, order, see the desired product and then as you order your product you see the object being retrieved for your consumption.

The consumer as it occupies the ground level and its stage will be able to look up and experience the harvesting level, the opaque floor of the experience retail level and as the visitor makes its way up it will experience all. I promise some sections and renderings of this space very soon.








2 comments:

Rick E said...

Eddie I particularly like the napkin sketch. Something about a hand sketch is so much more expressive of the design intents. I am glad to hear that "harvesting" is to remain visible to the customers.

bac dmarch said...

Eddie,

The graphic projections really help define the site and related building conditions. They are visually limited and as a result quite clear.

A couple of concerns / questions worth considering. What is the effect of the column grid on the galss floor? The grid is shown in plan, but implicit are a set of beams spanning between these columns. Which set of rules do the columns play by? That is to say, are they part of the Euclidean geometry or the fractal geometry that shows up in the stairs, angled walls and glass floor framing? My sense is the latter, but would rather you define this for yourself.

I think Amr's questions about the levels of the G bar and its effect on the form is worth further consideration. The tube implies a certain amount of homogenaity that I am not sure you want to communicate. Consider if the change in level is enough, or if there is some other, possibly more subtle way to communicate this. A finish designer bent a glass tube to create nesting glasses. They seem to lean into one another and define a front ant back to an otherwise undefinable cylander. Maybe this is a place for your to start looking. What subtle move can be made to adjust our perception of the cylander and allow it to reveal more about the levels?

THe grassy knolls are interesting. Why not put one center stage - just inside the store. Blurring inside and outside is a strong aspect of this scheme. I can imagine this island in the center of the building as a place people would gravitate toward.

I think the benches are starting to work well. It might make sense if they were more than one person wide in some places. The idea of individuals downloading songs at some of these viewing stations and others actually viewing an event is really interesting. relatedly, should there be one or two more obvious benches built into the stair system? Certainly some will use the stairs to sit, but can they invite sitting more than an average stair or simply serve as vertical circulation?