Graduate Housing

Case study on 29 Garden Street Harvard Graduate Housing: Cambridge, Massachusetts 
By: Jabina Shrestha

29 Garden Street was redesigned to support graduate student needs in Harvard University. The building itself was built in the 1920 and got renovated in 2003. In 2004 green roof was added to it giving a sense of communal space. This six-story complex contains 75 apartments. Harvard Graduate Student Housing at 29 Garden Street in Cambridge, MA clearly demonstrates adaptive reuse as the former police station was transformed into a new residence hall. So with the reopening, Jonathan Levi an Architect, have successfully captured this space aesthetically and has produced a place that respects its historic Cambridge context. It also includes a variety of shared spaces intended to encourage a sense of community like the open-air courtyard and spacious common areas creates a community feeling at this complex.

Jonathan Levi Architects has responded to the university's requirements with two kinds of double studios. In the smaller, students share a kitchen and bath while in the larger, each has a private bath. One can find three other residence types and they are: one-person studios and two- and three-bedroom apartments. And for each type, the architect has designed stylishly contemporary living quarters. Built-in shelves, tables, and desks ease the move in transition for new students and the birch-veneer cabinetry visually warms the rooms. Kitchens also features translucent-front cabinets and under counter refrigerators that allow for maximum counter space. Ceiling-mounted convection heating/cooling valances are sleek, quiet, unobtrusive, and energy efficient, and allow residents to control their thermal environment. It includes a ground floor convenience store with an adjacent dining/common room, and light-filled double-height lounges on alternating residential floors. Especially impressive is a new garden located on what had been the blacktop roof of the building's one-story garage.

Levi's design has also expanded the urbanistic potential of 29 Garden. The building fronts Arsenal Square, a small green space where two major streets converge, just beyond Harvard Square. In the middle of the Garden Street facade, the architect cut a three-story entryway into the volume of the building; from here, residents can access the ground-floor lobby or ascend a grand stair to the garden. The gesture is monumental but the materials are modern. The garden entry is a glass curtain wall, and the side walls are clad in metal panels offset to create a sculptural pattern. And to revitalize the pedestrian environment at street level, landscape architecture firm Richard Burck Associates has introduced shade tree plantings and new sidewalks.

Over all, the garden courtyard provides a beautiful outdoor amenity space for residents and has tried to make this housing building one of the most popular places to live on campus and in my opinion I believe it should have that sense everywhere. With this architectural move, the architect is able to transform a dead facade or a space into a graceful and livelihood .

Olympic History

Past, Present, and Future Olympics
By: Colleen O’Malley

Last semester our architecture studio was assigned to redesign the legacy site for the 2016 Olympics which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This complex project included class research, group master planning, and individual programing for housing or a hotel. For many of us, this was the largest project we had the opportunity to design for. For this reason, I faced many hurdles that I can now apply to future projects. This class was also a comprehensive studio which meant we were to not only design the building and its functional program, but we were required to work out the mechanical, plumbing, codes, structure, egress, etc. The process of a comprehensive studio was very challenging, but extremely rewarding. While reading, I came across this article about the past Olympics and how not to design for the big event. I thought this article was very interesting and my classmates and other viewers would enjoy it as well.

How (Not) To Host The Olympics 

So – you want to be an Olympic City do you? Well let’s hope you’re going for gold.

First of all, the Olympic bid is no child’s play. You can spend millions just to prove (often unsuccessfully) your worthiness. And, if you do get the bid, who’s to say that your Olympic Dreams won’t be dashed by elephantine debts, colossal inefficiencies, and your own citizenry’s open animosity? Everyone may think the Olympics is all guts and glory, but frankly, the truth is far more complex. Which is why we’ve come up with a User’s Guide – the Do’s and Dont’s to Hosting Your Very Own Olympics.

Torre Calatrava, designed by Santiago Calatrava, is a symbol of the Barcelona Olympics – one of the few modern Olympics that was economically beneficial to its host city.

We’ll begin with the GOLDEN RULE: “The best thing to do if you’re bidding for the Olympics, Is to Not Get the Olympics.”

Now, why is the GOLDEN RULE important? It’s a question of attitude.

If you jump onto the Olympic bandwagon with half-baked ideas, blinded by glory, you’ll be headed for disaster. The key to “beating” the Olympic Games is to bid as if you’re not going to get them: to merely see the Olympics as the catalyst by which you’ll speed up your (already existent) plans for Urban Renewal.

Which leads us to our first DON’T: Design “White Elephants“

No Architect would care to have his/her design for the crowning symbol of the Games, the Olympic Stadium, described as “Tragically underwhelming” (as London’s Olympic Stadium was critiqued by The Times critic Tom Dyckhoffof). But better “Tragically Underwhelming” than “Tragically Useless.” Olympic Stadiums, for their colossal size and subsequent high cost of maintenance, often end up enormous, tenant-less, economic drains on their cities.

Take the example par excellence, Montreal’s 1976 Stadium, nicknamed the “Big O” for its circular shape and the “Big Owe” for the amount of debt it incurred. A perfect storm of labor strikes, mismanagement, and complicated design (Rogert Taillibert‘s plan demanded an inclined, 175 meter tower to house the retractable roof), meant that – come Opening Day – the Stadium stood, tower half-built, roof non-existent. The tower was eventually finished in 1987, but the roof subsequently collapsed – twice. In the end, the Stadium contributed to about 1 billion of Canada’s 1.5 billion dollar Olympic debt, a sum Canadians only just paid off in 2006 (30 years later). To add insult to injury, since the Montreal Expos moved to Washington DC in 2004, the Stadium sits empty.

Athens’ Stadium similarly lies in disuse and disrepair. Even China’s stunning “Bird’s Nest,” which seats 91,000 and costs about $9 million a year to maintain, hosts a mere smattering of events (the occasional opera concert, a winter theme park). The Nest is mostly a tourist attraction (4.61 million visitors in 2011) that will, eventually, become a shopping mall. But for now, experts say it will take about 30 years to recover the 3 billion yuan ($480 million) the Stadium cost to build.

DO: Place Post-Use As The Priority

But how can it be avoided, you say? The International Olympic Committee (IOC) demands a state-of-the-art stadium large enough to house thousands for the opening/closing ceremonies. It must accomodate athletics of all types – from track to the javelin throw. And, most importantly, the Stadium is the most blatant symbol of your Country’s awesomeness. It must be BIG. But that’s not to say that it can’t be smart. The most important rule to designing the Olympic Stadium, and really any Olympic building in general, is to design with conversion in mind.

Los Angeles and Atlanta, who hosted two of the most un-noteworthy Olympics of our times (1984 and 1996, respectively), at least had the good sense to design (and in the case of LA, reuse) stadiums built for other Sporting events.

From the beginning, Atlanta’s Stadium’s ”destiny was baseball, not the Olympics,” according to Stan Kasten, the former president of the Braves, who took ownership of the Stadium after the Games. The Braves spent about $40 million (relatively cheap in Stadium-talk) to convert the Stadium into Turner Field, and Kasten notes,”Thirty million people have used it since the Olympics.”

Moreover, Atlanta placed many of its structures near a University, Georgia Tech, who then subsumed the facilities for student-use. Beijing did the same, and went one step further by designing its fencing hall, Indoor Stadium, and Olympic Village as convertible spaces (they are now a conference center, an arts & entertainment center, and private residences).

Which is exactly why the London stadium is in a bit of a pickle right now. With football (soccer) the national obsession, the obvious choice for its future-use would be as a Football Stadium. But, the 80,000 seat stadium has yet to find an occupant (a process that should have finished on May 21st). As one potential bidder put it, the Stadium is just “not fit for football,” as it lacks the tiered-seating and intimacy of a Football arena.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Your Stadium’s Not a Sprint, it’s a Marathon. Design for the post-Olympic long haul.

Reference: http://www.archdaily.com/242480/how-not-to-host-the-olympics/

Break

A Well Needed Break

By: Chris Pacanowski

            Architecture can be a very stressful curriculum, with the long hours the tough projects and the constant need to create better designs. How do we as students deal with the stresses? well there are multiple ways, some good and some bad, but the best way that I have learned is to step back and take a break for a while. Breaks allow you to reflect on what you have done as well as what you need to do. Well spring break is coming upon us, and what do most college students do? well they go to party. Sometimes this is a well needed party, but other times it can just mess up the rhythm of things. There are many different things out there for students, specifically architecture, could do. There are programs to work for an architecture firm during break, there are also service retreats where students can go work and build homes for a week. Those options are always a great thing to do, but more than most they don't get you relaxing enough to where you mind can wonder. Wondering minds are always a great way to come up with new ideas and they usually create ways to look at something differently. The best way that I have found to relax is to go out of the country, usually going somewhere that's warm and on the beach. Yes, that's usually where all of the party students go but going out of the country usually detracts a lot of the crazier students. This warm and peaceful environment can allow for people to relax and reflect on thing or just let their minds go.

            I am going to Mexico, which has all of the opportunities to have a good time, but also to as great ability for relaxation. These trips are great and well needed when working on a thesis and trying to balance other classes has been your life for the past few months. What is always important to remember when you go on trips, is to experience the place in which you are traveling to. Go into the city, meet new people walk the environments. All of those experiences can come back with you and influence designs that you will come up with now and in the future.

Enjoy! 

Green Walls

Green Walls
By: Chris Harpstrite

In my Sustainable Landscape Practices class, taught by Karen Midden in the School of Agriculture, we recently were studying green walls, or living walls. After the lecture we had to do research on a case study of a living wall and write about it. I really enjoyed this assignment so I decided to post my find for all of you to enjoy.

Green Wall Case Study

Designer: Janice Nath of Ambius
Construction: Ambius
Owner: Andaz San Diego

Location: San Diego, California

Source: Landscape Management
Result: http://landscapemanagement.net/2012/10/10/case-study-green-wall-revitalized-at-andaz-san-diego/

Description: An A-list hotel in San Diego’s historic Gaslamp Quarter is a chic hotel and hot-spot for both visitors and locals. They contacted Ambius because a green wall they had was dying and it was making the hotel look bad. Ambius came in a redid the green wall to make it into a lush

Performance Benefits:
- Environmental: Like all green walls, it can help control air contaminants and filter them out. - Aesthetic: How the design was thought of was never mentioned in the case study. However, the hotel has mentioned that this asset has been a positive factor in securing events for the hotel, and is a great backdrop for photos for weddings, private parties and the club scene.

- Functional: The hotel does not use this green wall for anything except aesthetic purposes, besides the better air quality, there are no other functional uses.
- Social: This wall has been a gathering place for photos and conversations for the hotel. It has got great publicity and has brought visitors in specifically to see the hotel.
- Educational: The hotel does not have any signage up explaining the benefits of having a green wall or how it was created, so it does not look as if any educational aspects have been met.
- Economical: Although the green wall itself is not directly making the hotel money, indirectly it has brought in a lot of customers and created a nice place for entertainment, which has brought in revenue.
- Psychological: I believe this wall has a nice calming effect, it makes you feel like you are outdoors surrounded by fresh air, they wall is beautiful and puts people in a beautiful place.

Additional Details:
Most of the original plant material was dying on the original green wall, there was no supportive structure left or ever installed on the wall so plants and soil were just falling out. The original irrigation system installed was not working so the company was manually watering the plants, however, it wasn’t enough and they continued to die. Ambius replanted the wall after installing their own structure planted the entire wall with 2x2 mesh and proceeded to plant their plants. More than 200 plants were used in the green wall.

Project Evaluation:
Overall I believe this project was a success. Going from a dead wall to a live wall was a substantial improvement. It seems that Ambius is a pretty legitimate company and the wall they installed will work well. In addition the wall is bringing in additional revenue and that is always a plus.

As I said I really enjoyed this assignment and learned a lot about how green walls are installed and cared for. I actually didn’t realize the design potential that green walls hold, choosing different types of plants with different colors and textures to create a design was really fascinating to me.

Floating

What Makes it Float?
By: Brad Hoepfner 

If you are keeping up on reading these blogs week after week, hopefully you will have seen by now that I am working with architecture that is amphibious. Specifically, looking at architecture that is on land the majority of its life but when the Mississippi River floods, the home will be able to rise with the water and remains undamaged. So it is important to think about what types of technology can be used to achieve this floating and choosing or creating a technology that would work for the region of Southern Illinois specifically.

Of course, there are many examples of architecture that is floating the majority of their lives. For example, boat homes are seen around the world and can vary in size and type but they are typically larger boats with an enclosure and are docked at a port and don’t move. Some of the floating homes I have come across use a pontoon strategy, this can be described as using two or more pontoons, or light-weight floating metal tubes filled with air, that have an extremely high buoyancy. Some areas around the world deal with wet and dry seasons and it allows the homes to be built upon stilts, which boosts the home far above the earth during the dry season, but allows the homes to rest on top of the rising water. Now we are starting to see more and more solutions using these technologies in different forms. One of these technologies involves using a light-weight concrete air filled foundation that will give a larger home some buoyancy, but to keep the home from moving they use guide posts within the structure of the home. This strategy also allows the home to have a basement and to be partially underground.

So for me, the next few weeks will become more about deciding what technology I want to use in Southern Illinois to solve this great floating problem and on top of that taking in consideration earthquakes and tornadoes.

Rain Gardens

Rain Gardens

By: Andrew Ewing

ENVIRONMENTAL: Currently about 14 million pounds of toxins enter Puget Sound each year. Rain gardens should diminish this significantly. Puget Sound is a large part of the economy both commercially and recreationally. "Rain gardens are a smart and proven way of using beautiful landscaping to: clean our waterways, protect our precious natural habitats, improve homes and neighborhoods, limit flooding and save millions of dollars in pollution clean-up and expensive storm water projects." The impact of rain gardens on the adjacent area is that it is a place to plant native plant, reduces flooding, replenishes soil moisture. Downstream it reduces flooding and pollution significantly.

AESTHETIC: A drainage or flooded area can look pretty barren. A rain garden allows this area to be planted with native plants and control where the water goes in a series of permeable rock beds. Being able to control these features allows the aesthetics to be more pleasing.

FUNCTIONAL: Rain gardens typically aren't used for walking or driving on in this project, but are located typically along walking or driving paths.

SOCIAL: Rain Gardens can be done in neighborhood, helping create a unified look among the houses, as well as increasing public involvement. They can also be strategically located along walking trails to be used as places to stop and rest.

EDUCATIONAL: This is a project that can be done by all three. It’s a great learning tool for students of all ages teaching them about the environment, flooding, native plants, etc. For communities it increases outreach, education, and promotes environmental activities. Private sectors can be very effective to industrial businesses, as well as an excellent opportunity to host seminars educating staff members on rain gardens. Puget Sound project has made sure to include all three of these in the process of creating 12,000 rain gardens.

ECONOMICAL: Rain gardens take some initial upfront money to design and build. However once the rain garden has taken off there is very little maintenance needed typically. Also, some of the flooded areas require maintenance due to erosion. A successful rain garden should cut down on this as well.

PSYCHOLOGICAL: Rain Gardens do have the opportunity for a healing or restorative opportunity. This particular project is specific to individuals and corporations but does not give an exact example of this.

EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT: This project is pretty ambitious because of the time frame. They currently only have about 1,000 of the 12,000 they are trying to get. However they seem to have a wide variety of businesses, homeowners, and schools involved on this project. In areas where they have planned clusters have had significantly more success. As a result, this should perhaps be more of a focus, but overall this has the opportunity to be a successful project, and an excellent example of how to effectively use rain gardens at a regional level.

Tom Sawyer

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
By: Adulsak Otto Chanyakorn

Tom Sawyer is boy who lives in the Mississippi River town. He lives with Aunt Polly and his half-brother Sid. He is a vivid and playful boy. He always comes up with new ways to play. He engages his friends with interesting manners. Tom makes the boring job like painting Aunt Polly’s fence become fascinating work for his friends who even give him their marbles in exchange for letting them do his job. He makes every day a fun and exciting day, and tomorrow is the day to look forward to. Tom never gives up with obstacle on his playful times. Often, he will have his adventure with his buddy Huck Finn who all the boys in the town think is the coolest boy. So, every boy wants to be friend with him, but their parents never let their kids to go close to him. Tom and Huck Finn sometimes create their own adventures together. Often, their adventures take them to face difficult problems such as seeing unforgettable incidents and getting lost in a dark and labyrinthine cave. Tom sometimes sees the darkness and foolishness of the adult world through his naïve and wonderful mind. However, the dark side of human nature never stops his playful and vivid mind. The world is a big playground for him and his friends. He creates the joyful and endless experience of childhood. He wakes up with profound passion for his adventurous life.

The adventures of Tom Sawyer is a book by the great American author Mark Twain, which recalls my passion for architecture. As an architectural student, I wake up every day with eagerness to improve my design. I want to spend my day drawing and building models. Even though, the project I am doing is not real, I‘m happy to see my architectural imagination manifest itself to become tangible. My dream of seeing people use the buildings I design is pleasant and joyful since it contributes knowledge and architectural passion to our society. My dream is to see the beauty of art become an important part of my life. Tom Sawyer is a boy who influences me to look at this world as a wonderful place, to look to my life as a remarkable journey, to look to friends as a wonderful gift. I go to studio with eagerness to see friends, to talk to professors, to share my architectural passion with people who understand and communicate in the same language with me. I see the studio as a place of creativity for architecture students, a place in the architectural school that will create future architects who care about building a better world together and contributing themselves to our society.