Groundbreaking and construction progress!

We've broken ground!  I'm sure if you have been by Moss Street's backyard you've noticed the orange fence surrounding all of the foundation holes.  We are all excited with the current progress and can't wait to continue building!

Final Poster

Construction Documents

Here the design team was really looking into how this structure is going to be built.  It is starting to reflect elements of MSCC in the connections and the structure.  The deck and green roof are also built into this model and further contribute to the up and out spiral of the roof forms.

Process

This iteration was developed right after our meeting with the Campus Planning Committee and MSCC.  The roofs began to fan and spiral outward which provided an opportunity for a large central open space to emerge.  Here we were happy with the spaces created by this organization, but doubts were raised on the feasibility of building this structure in one term with our limited construction knowledge.

Journeying through the elements

Hi Moss Streeters and designBridgers!

This week we worked towards unifying our ideas into one scheme and met with Jen and Peggy from Moss Street for some feedback.

The concept for the whole site is a journey through the elements. And so kids will travel through zones that emphasize earth, sun, wind, and water. One of the really exciting ideas is that there will be a hill that the kids can hike up in the southeast corner. The hill is planted with food and natives. At the top, the path passes through a hut-like enclosure made from living reeds or tall grasses. Behind the structure we are looking at using native plants to create a small area of Pacific Northwest rainforest with ferns and vine maples.

Speaking of the structure. We took a cue from Dr. Seuss for the form and are thinking of this class room as the place where all the elements meet. In this iteration, we looked at Truffula Trees. With playfully canted vertical posts supporting simple roofs that drain into rain barrels. (check out the photos...it'll make more sense).

Our meeting with the Moss people was really positive. It seems that they are happy with the direction we are going and made some helpful suggestions as to the structure. They'd like to see us integrated the tree into the structure and also to have a more circular form (a la the Story Spiral form).

So what we need from you now is IDEAS! Take a look at the photos of our model, and tell us what you think. Another great thing you can do is to come visit us in studio--PAC 218 (next to the dB office.) We'd love to have more input and more iterations. Each member of the team will be coming in to Wednesday's studio with a new iteration of the classroom structure. We'll probably all be spending plenty of time there in coming days so please, stop by and work with us. Or at least check out what we're up to and give a crit!

Also, this week's meeting will happen on Wednesday from 5:30-6:30PM in PAC 218. We know it's a busy term but this will be so much better of a project with continued involvement of the whole team!

Cheers!

First Round Models: 1

These models were generated in studio based on schemes carried over from fall term.  They are placed in the same location on the site and obey many of the same principles but vary in form.  Please post any feedback or comments you have, and if you want to see these models they are in the dB studio.