week twelve and thirteen progress

Still deciding on a finalised roof plan...

From week 11 I have felt that I have a relatively resolved concept for building form in terms of the floor plan and arrangement of the walls and spaces within the building. What I felt like I needed to concentrate on over the two weeks was formalising a roofplan and really bringing together the vertical and horizontal aspects of the design.

Bringing together different elements of the building...

Another issue I have faced this week has been grasping the design of the two ends of the building. The curved concrete element which represents the entrance and first half of the building does not seem to be linking together well with the very angular and box-like form of the cinema and observatory spaces. Originally I had created the observatory as a curved space and had changed it back to a straight facade. After discussing this with Yvonne I have decided to reintroduce the curved feature of the observatory to continue with the first half of the building. I have decided to maintain the box shape of the cinema because it is located around the support of the bridge. Distinguishing this space between the bridge supports not only provides a connection with the bridge but also distinguishes the space from the rest of the building as the heart and core of the building- this is where the vertical access is situated.

Treatment of the facade facing the river... changes to the materiality and approach...

In week ten my approach to the front facade of the building was an interactive screen for the vertical access and clear glass for the observatory as shown below.

After realising that having people walking up the spiral staircase and stopping to interact with the screen probably wasnt the most efficient way to move people through the space I decided to treat this section of the facade as clear glass (also as a way to respect the form of the bridge support structure) and to transfer this treatment to the observatory.