assignment 01: the exposition

precedent analysis

The precedent project that I explored was Terrassenhaus, also known as the Lobe Block, built in Berlin, Germany in 2018. This project responds to Berlin’s rising property and construction prices by converting a former scrapyard into a commercial and residential building, exchanging economic benefits for collective space. By including aspects of commercial usage into the building, it was able to overcome legal standards of zoning laws, creating affordable, community-centered housing. 

The ground floor is the commercial area, having facilities like an atelier, co-working spaces, meeting rooms, and rentable offices. 

The program is aligned with the floor depth and amount of light, with the residential typology receding in scale with rising levels, being user-centered by providing varying accommodation options to different users.

The internal fit out follows a logic of indeterminacy with technical connections and sanitary facilities being preinstalled. Internal divisions are not present, bringing an element of user participation and allowance for adaptable, flexible space. 

The North-South orientation of the terraces allows for cross ventilation with the operation of sliding doors on each elevation and natural lighting and passive heating with the full-height glazing and concrete floorplate. The semi-public terrace spaces are divided and informally occupied through the population of temporary dividers like planters, pots, and furniture. 

A key feature of the building is its external circulation and semi-public outdoor areas that serve to create practical and social value. 

The typology of the building combines 1900s dwellings with a climbing hall with 6-meter depth terraces. Each terrace creates an overhang that forms a sheltered sidewalk to the semi-public plaza. The terrace typology also facilitates the visual connection between levels which allows for user interaction across levels, connecting the residents of the building. 

context mapping

The middle-ring snapshot I analyzed is found in Williamstown, capturing aspects of Jawbone Conservation Reserve and Ralph Willis Park. In mapping this 400x400 meter snapshot I aimed to analyze aspects of a suburb that activate community interaction and facilitate social activity. 

What I found was that while the private properties are quite segregated and heavily defined with the use of fences and gates, the Reserve acts as a public space where people gather for social, leisure, and fitness activities. 

The circulation routes through this snapshot also facilitate movement and gathering. There is a mix of main, secondary, and private routes which are often bordered by sidewalks that lead to the reserve paths and playgrounds.

 A key element of the area is the retirement village in the middle left, which while being a gated community, serves a model for a micro-community, in which sporting facilities like a tennis court and social facilities like the community hall gather residents and heighten interaction while having their own autonomous dwellings which they can recede to. This gated community also serves to facilitate wider social interaction by encouraging family members and other visitors to enter, a large amount of car parking facilities are featured within the gated area, suggesting a welcoming of visitors. 

Overall the findings are that circulation, both vehicular and pedestrian, are found necessary to facilitate communal activity as well as green space and communal facilities for social and cultural value.