What to say about a well-rounded group of designs presented this past Friday. The goal of the progress review was to provide the Charleston Parks Conservancy with four interesting proposals where each targeted a different but equally important issue or opportunity.
Our first group which was comprised of Katie, Tyler, and Lynn were tasked with creating a structure that looked at a really interesting roof form. In this design, a ruled surface was created going 15 degrees up and down utilizing a total of 31 main beams that shaped the form.
JT, Yage, and Juhee were up next, each bringing a different perspective to the table, a nice combination of really well thought out details and extremely imaginative design. This scheme showcased two separate structures, one for the storage and one for a pavilion, each encompassing a sort of pulley system to operate their moveable walls.
The third team which included Lillian, Mike, and Perry, focused on water collection and looked at the way barns historically have been built and added on to in a very natural way. Angled columns and two inwardly-sloping roof forms come together to form a butterfly roof with a central water collection trough to gather rainwater and transport it to a storage cistern.
Our last team included Ailed, Matt, and myself. We chose to focus on play and fun. We wanted to not only create a memorable entry into the garden and park for adults but also one that was unique and special for the kids while doubling as a teaching tool focusing on gardening and collecting water. The design intent was to convey the honesty that children naturally possess into the way we also treated our structure, highlighting the connections and incorporating other uses (like seating, planters, and work surfaces) into the same cast-in-place concrete structural elements.
Our next steps include trying to meld all of the feedback that we got back from the Parks conservancy into one proposal which will be presented to the client on October 11th. Some of the things they Conservancy wanted to keep are listed below:
- Multiple seating areas
- Kid play space
- Highlighting water collection as a learning element
- A wash sink that is always in the shade
- Shallow storage to make the square footage more efficient
- More roof space to increase amount and duration of shade and water collection
- Lighting at night to increase safety
- The use of pavers or other permeable substance for paths