Atmospheric: Site

By Dempson Haney



My blogs for the remainder of the semester are going to be of my thesis and its progression throughout the semester. Starting the Atmospheric Series is my first attempt at my abstract.

Choosing a site for ones thesis can become a grueling task. Out of the entire world, you need to pick one location. The steps I took to figure out my site were as follow. First I needed to decide what kind of space my thesis would best be applied to. With total design and phenomenology, it was apparent I needed to focus my attention on a public space. A public space would allow my thesis to effect the most people at one time. Museums are typically overused and a park did not allow me to incorporate total design into a structure, except for maybe a pavilion. It was decided that a small community center would be the right program size since I am taking on the challenge of designing all furniture and fixtures as well.

Where to locate a community center was the next problem. I remembered back when I first visited the Antheneum by Richard Meier in New Harmony, Indiana. New Harmony is a small, very historic town and down by the river is this pure white abstract form (the Antheneum). This small community hired a world renowned architect to build a great piece of architecture and cherish it. My experience visiting New Harmony is what led me to wanting to give communities that once could not experience great architecture, the ability to. I live 20 min. north of Vincennes, Indiana and it was quickly apparent that they had no city community center. One has recently just been built (by a local group) that can be rented out. The building is very remote from the residence of Vincennes. They have to travel across a highway in order to get to it. It was now apparent what city my project was going to be located in.
Downtown of Vincennes is the Memorial Bridge and across from that is the George Rogers Clark National monument and park. It is of only two national monuments outside of Washington D.C. the other being Mount Rushmore. The front half of the site is representative of the original master plan in 1939. The back half of the site (cultural landscape) was added later. It is that back half of the site that I chose for the location of the Vincennes Community Center.

The site is across from a main residential area of Vincennes. Located south from the site is the location where Vincennes holds it Rendezvous ceremony, which is period reenactment. Located South east is a plot of land that is where the new Indiana Military Museum is going to be built. North of the National park is the Historic Downtown Main Street, The Old Cathedral, and east Rivet (private school). West of the site chosen is a grand view of the Wabash River with the Memorial Bridge crossing over into Illinois.

The community center would make better use of the park grounds and create a unified park district downtown. The residence of Vincennes would be able to drive or walk to the community center and the attractions that surround it while still maintaining a park atmosphere.