Project Name. Woodland Arts Center
Project Studio. Retail & Hospitality Fall 2016
Project Location. Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church - Downtown Phoenix, Arizona
Programs Used. Revit, Sketchup, Podium, Photoshop
Objective. To study and analyze the existing church site and create a new space that includes a restaurant, retail, and venue for the community. With an emphasis on historic preservation.
*this project was shortlisted for the Gensler Brinkmann Scholarship
pre - design
At the beginning of the studio semester, each student was given three locations from around the world to take on as a case study to understand the site and design of the space. Below are my three case studies I was assigned. We had a week to dive into each of them and create graphics and give a presentation on our findings from each. Below you can click to then see my final analysis drawings and understanding of each site. You can see further on in my final project how each of these spaces gave influence in my contrast of materials, interior/exterios material connections, and communitya dn cultural influences.
existing conditions
This site is an existing historic building, which was built in three different years; 1918, 1938, and 1959. the owner was interested in turning the site into a venue, restaurant, and retail space for the community. This complex is located in the woodland historic district, therefore my proposal for this design was to transform the space with a rehabilitation approach, not touching the existing walls, but creating new ones with the incorporation of copper materials throughout.
We spent a week as a class on site photographying, measuring, and really understanding the space. This was our first introduction to useing the program software Revit. Where we had to create the existing floorplans. During this time we had to come up with a concept on how we can create a new space that merges a venue, resturant, and socail gathering space for the community.
inital branding concept
My inital concept was to create a space that was influenced by one of the 5 C's of Arizona: Copper. Taking influence from Case Study #1, I was really drawn to the juxtoposition of old and new materials. The reflectiveness of copper would respembel to new modern space and the events that could take place within with music, food and community engagment.
inital floor plan
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circulation analysis
The client really wanted to create a place for the community to come together for events and activities. Within the different spaces in the building, they all needed to cohesively have a brand as well as a similar atmosphere. With the historic rehabilitation aspect, it was important to consider making the site up to code with the re-design. The need of open circulation for ADA accessibility was a priority; three ramps were incorporated to have easy access from space to space. As the structure and flooring materials could not be touched, it was a challenge to create a new space, while incorporating the old.
values analysis
Studies were done of value, hue and texture within the spaces to determine the selections of the color range and materials for each space. This process was to understand the relationship between the materials used in a three dimensional composition. Breaking the materials used into layers of value, temperature, texture, pattern, hue & brightness helped determine what was working for each space. This was done by representing it through grey tones and lighter colors with hand sketching.
material board
The main materials are wood, metal and some leather while also pulling out a lot a colors from the natural patinated copper. shown to the right is a render of the bar area. This is where the patina copper rides up the wall and wraps along the ceiling to continue outside. This was an architectural movement done in order to create a relationship of a new material becoming apart of the historic structure. However, not giving such a huge contrast as it is patinated copper, rather than being shiny and raw.
final floor plan
blocking and material plans
The design started with a contrast of freestanding raw copper arches on the exterior against the historic church façade. This is done to draw in the community. On the interior there are two patina copper panel structures that wrap through the walls. This creates a wayfinding experience from space to space. the exterior shows a contrast from new to old materials, whereas the interior has aged copper, to show a connection to the historic building, yet expresses a new material wrapping throughout the space.
custom furniture
We were instructed to design our own pieces of furniture, which involved a lot of study into the joints and angles. Also with designing the furniture pieces, it took a lot of trial and error to see which styles of furniture worked with the wrapping of the copper from interior to exterior. My favorite piece I designed was the patio chair which was implemented in the back yard of the building.
final renders
Being in the arts district, this place desired to have a unique character on the inside and out.
We had the ability to preset our final project in any way we desired. I took the opportunity to work on my skills in video editing, and presented this final video below to showcase my project.