Zooming in...

At the advise of my cohort and advisors, I am trying to zoom in and focus the design (similar to everyone else) as we lead up to the intensive (one week!).  I'm looking closely at how the paths will look and feel at the pedestrian level; the path material; elevation changes; how the landscape meets the buildings, etc.  At Denise's suggestion, I am also looking at how some of the wavy, linear forms actually get supported and fastened in place.  I will develop the images below for next week to include on my boards.  The third thing I am working on now is the layout of my presentation boards.  I am treating this as a competition and am looking to capture the essence of "walking the highway" by visually "walking" through the boards, zooming in and out on certain aspects of the site and design.

As mentioned above, I am exploring the materials and method in which the pedestrian paths move througth the moulded landscape forms and connect to the buildings.  Shown here is a design for a raised platform with open metal grates.  This path would rest a few inches above the ground below and in fact would allow meadow grasses to penetrate through the grates, giving the feeling of walking in the meadow while remaining on the path.  The grated path also provides a blended transition between the building and landscape mounds; allowing the landscpae to flow through, yet providing the pedestrian path.

This image is of an idea Denise and I discussed last night and one that I am continuing to develop.  There is an issue with the mounds simply dying into the built forms.  We discussed adding a buffer of sorts; pea gravel or mulch.  What I've shown here could be a path when widened upwards of 5' or it simply can be a material break, 2 to 3 feet.  the key element is the use of steel or metal as a material break / retaining piece. I like the idea of these pieces subtely undulating and cutting through the mounds; creating pedestrian paths or simply helping to define earth mounds and building transitions.  there is something very sculptural and graceful that I think can form a relationship with the vertical forms I have created.

I am also looking at how the "wavy forms" actually connect to structure and don't simply "float".  These images simply show one connection - in reality, there will be thousands of these connections using large threaded bolts to connect the linear forms with the columns.  The columns would be high strength steel - the linear beam forms could be wood or some type of synthetic or composite material - it would depend on where the materials were being used and the amount of stress they could be under (wind, gravity,cantilever, etc.) 

Construction ties would be used as well to anchor the linear forms to the steel columns as well.  in fact it is possible that some of the linear forms would be steel as well; either exposed or wrapped in a material to match. This would add more lateral stability and prevent racking / shear on the system.  I am going to develop a small section to better illustrate how this will work (potentially) for next week.