Progress

I started designing my chapel based on the idea of guiding the congregation with a strong circulation system into and through spiritual spaces. I have expressed this idea through a strong transparent (at least above a certain height, 6 ft) corridor with a low ceiling; this corridor is set at an angle and guides the visitor through the campus. This transparent corridor will allow the visitor to see the roof above giving them awareness that they are being guided through a larger, more continuous space. The corridor is paired with a translucent cube lobby, set at a different angle (which mirrors the back chapel wall). As the corridor runs through spaces, such as the lobby, I want the walls to erode, so that some remain, but the low transparent ceiling is continuous; so inside the lobby space, even when there aren't corridor walls (as to allow movement within the lobby), the ceiling will remain as a guiding path.

These two pieces work within a system of a rectangle cut out and pieced together--with various angles working in conjunction on a large axis.


The classroom and bathroom area (seen at top of picture) fits into the cut-out of the larger rectangular system, but is displaced. This displacement defines the outdoor, courtyard area. Although not modeled here, the corridor will (via erosion) continue into the classroom space, guiding the visitor across the courtyard. The circulation is as follows through the corridor: the lobby, the chapel (through which one can access the side chapel), the office space, the courtyard, and the classroom. A thick diagonal wall, which forms a side wall of the chapel, will actually cut through the corridor sweeping visitors into the chapel with the grand gesture of the thick angled wall, or squeezing (through a condensed space) visitors onwards through the corridor.

I want my main chapel to be a place for communal worship, so I have designed an inward-facing chapel. Therefore I want to focus on how to bring that into the space--via central light and form--rather than outward facing vista views. On the other hand, I want my side chapel to be all about the view; I want that space to be a low slung, outward looking chapel in which visitors may sit and be contemplative or spiritual individually. I have been playing with the specific siting of the side chapel; I'm playing with how I want it to be and feel connected to the chapel, and how it will fit into the larger puzzle-like system. At this point I think I want to extend the angled side wall of the chapel, letting it define a small outdoor space, and then becoming the side wall off the side chapel.

I've tried to define both of these ideas of circulation and focus in two central ways: light and form. I'm using a light system based off of the concept behind my wall project--a system of falling glass on a grid, which lets light flood in at the top and more "peek" views below. I want to use this system to guide circulation on the front wall of the whole campus/building, I want to use it to let light, but not view in to the main chapel, and I want to use it as the guiding connection from the main chapel to the side chapel. The form I want to use is that of the wave. It's in reference to the waves just off of the cliffs of the location; and I think the undulation helps define the focus and experience of the viewer. In the main chapel the wave will encompass the entire space, serving as a ceiling; it will meet the wall of the entrance (I'm still playing ideas for this wall) and drape just in front of it. I hope to make this interaction (between the wall and the wave) a unique experience, and my beloved detail. I want to let light in to this unique gap space, and for the visitor to experience this installation-like space upon entrance to the chapel. The wave of the side chapel should be going the other way--out towards the ocean, so that the visitor's attention is drawn out and to the ocean; this wave will start as the roof, become the wall, and then the floor providing one continuous sight line. I am also still questioning materiality of the two waves, and how that may differ based on the difference in purpose. The specifics of the wave shape will be determined by actual ocean wave algorithms (based off depth of ocean just off of the site).


The two images above are of my 1/2" scale section model and show my first iteration of the wave as a draping roof/ceiling.
I was unsatisfied with the flat roofs following the waves, so I have abstracted the wave into a more angular, regular roof system, so that the wave then becomes a more regular part of the building and overall system. I am still playing with whether this abstracted wave will be the actual roof, or will be a second, floating roof. It may span the two buildings as shown above, making the courtyard a semi-outdoor space.

Sam's Wall Design and Model

I started off working in the basic grid system of 2x2 squares within 4x4 sets. Within the grid I wanted to create a system of differentiation of light and play with the idea of public versus private in the community center. My front facade stems from this idea. The intention is that the four top rows of the grid were all initially glass, but that some of these pieces fell. The pieces that fall are replaced by solid and reappear below (in the same grid column), usually rotated to indicate falling. This system allows a lot of light to enter through the top of the front wall, with sporadic windows as you go down; these fallen windows allow in additional light and allow a viewer to see peeks of what is going on inside. What I thought was interesting when I actually modeled this was that in the predominantly glass portion, the top, the grid system is very apparent, whereas further below the grid is still very rigid in terms of creation, but not to a viewer. The order seems to melt into a more chaotic system.

My next intention was to penetrate the front wall at an angle with a rectangular mass. This mass serves as a bench on the outside of the community center, and as a platform on the inside. The platform has a floating step below. This platform is the basis for the inhabitable space--it is a room within a room. The room has a side wall, parallel to the front one and a ceiling, which is lower than that of the center. The roof of this inhabitable space, the room within a room, also penetrates the front wall. The inhabitable space is the most private part of the center; it can serve as a conference room or meeting space. This space has sliding translucent screen doors.

I then decided to have the wall turn at the same angle as the penetrating mass, to create a sort of continuation of line. While the envelope, massive part of the wall turned I left the skeletal frame behind on the frontal plane. The image above was the first step in my modeling process, in which I had yet to insert the acrylic windows. At this point I left the full frame. I then proceeded to employ the chaotic and erosive schematics to the frame, with both the glass and the frame eroding as you move down and to the left (see below).

Two 4x4 squares get punched out and become seats, where the bottom of the punched out cube is the seat itself. One cube, just above the ground gets punched in so one can sit in it from the exterior of the center. The other is raised and punched out, with the base at 12 feet high. The grid pattern with solid and glass is continued onto these cubes. To reach the higher cube there are stairs that lead to a loft from which you can access the seat; the platform and stairs are meant to feel informal and intimate to make this seat a separate experience.

The higher of the two seat cubes is also the place from which to witness the zen view. I cut a window in the side wall at the 14 feet, the site line from sitting in the cube. The window wraps around the corner, bringing the grid system around the corner. From sitting in the raised cube one would have a view of both the courtyard, but more importantly, of the park through the side window. This view as well as the privacy and intimacy of the seat cube would make this a unique experience.

Wall Inspirations