Outdoor Spaces

By: Andy Cunningham

Hey how’s everyone doing, here we are with 6 weeks left in the semester, and for me things a starting to go pretty well, and I hope things are going well for you to. I’m going to write to day about something that is a pretty big part of my thesis and can be a major part of any building.

Today I’m going to talk about outdoor spaces. When some people design they think mainly about the inside of the building, which is also important to create an experience inside since that is where a majority of people’s time is spent.  The exterior space in a project can be just as important and creating an experience leading up to the building can have a big effect on how the inside is experienced. This is something that is currently happening in my project. I’m taking a site that is adjacent to both a sporting arena, and a college. Since my site is a single part of a sea of parking lots to accommodate the arena, one of my goals was to create an invite exterior plaza space as well was the buildings that I am creating on the site. In an area grey from parking lots, I felt that incorporating as much green space as I could was necessary, because it would give people a reason to be outside. On a nice day students could walk across the street and lay in the grass or study outside, and it would be a way to try and make the are a lot more people friendly. As well as for sporting events or concerts. Even though a majority the Blackhawks and Bulls season is played during the winter we do get oddly warm days throughout the winter and with the success both teams have been having of late, the playoffs start just as the weather is getting consistently warm so it is reason for fans to get the arena early, since currently people just show up watch the game and leave. There’s nothing keeping them around.

Sometimes these designs don’t have to be anything fancy or complicated. It could be as simple as a trellis system that people walk under, or the path they take into the building. Outdoor space can really enhance the building they’re surrounding, and it isn’t something that should be looked over in design.