Schematic Design

My name is Daniel Roman, I am a second semester masters student at Southern Illinois University. As the seventh week of school comes to an end, many more advances in our classes have occurred. As this week moves on pretty quick due to the fall break many projects are being due. Preliminary designs for our actual buildings for studio are due in a presentation for Wednesday and Friday. My group presented Wednesday and I was able to get that out the way. Over all it went well, there where a couple flaws in my building that I realize now. To recap, I am designing a hotel on our site, which is located in Baltimore, Maryland.  The hotel is supposed to be a five star hotel, which program is really complex.

 In my research I found a great quote from architect Tom Wright, “If you can draw a building simply with a few pen strokes of a pen, and its instantly recognizable…..you have created something iconic.” Even though I didn’t agree with his statement 100% I went ahead and led it lead me in a direction. He gives examples of iconic monuments such as the pyramids of Egypt, the Sydney Opera House, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and then the 7 star hotel in Dubai. I quickly followed with an example of mine, by going ahead and drawing a simple rendition of my proposed building, which is on the right hand side. The building tapers from a wide base to a narrow top. This allows for larger venues and parking on the bottom and more independent rooms on the top floors. The curve lines represent an exoskeleton structure that would allow for additional structure, but it would be more for esthetics. The exoskeleton mimics the close relation to the native dish which is crab that people in Baltimore really enjoy.

            The other classes are coming alone in a very fast pace and it allows for more work to be done. It is over whelming as to how much research can be done for my topic, and all the information that is out there. It seems like every time to read source, that source has a source which has a source, and it really becomes a neve ending cycle some times. I am trying to look into Marlow, whom is the one responsible for the Pyramid of Hierchy. He is the pioneer in this theme.

            Last week we turned in new sheet in the zoning and planning class, they where site analysis sheets, but they where more in details, they had to have soil reports and charts, its interesting being from the city and seeing how much nature effects a building, and how it ca be use to our advantage when used properly. The city is getting better at implementing codes and regulations. Hopefully it all leads to a safer and greener practice. Looking ahead of time, we have a sheet due for this class next week, and its actually our plans, and we will be graded based on code regulations and making sure we meet the requirements.