VISITOR CENTER
Located at 2300 glade road, in Blacksburg Virginia, this park and recreational area is a hub for hikers, bikes, and other recreational activities.
This site, shown to the right, is located about a mile or so north of Virginia Tech's campus. It currently has a couple abandoned barn sheds, and other structures that have long been worn out and out of order. This project was a building that would be replacing the visitor center and creating a haven in which people could learn, interact, and be a part of the little community that is present within the recreational park. |
CONSTRUCTION IDEAS
One thing that I felt was necessary implementing into the project was a sustainable approach. The entire site had a feel that was very untouched, and very pure. I didn't want to add anything that would seem manufactured and unnatural. However, the place was littered with small buildings that were rusty, old, and worn away. This was a hard combination to add to and somehow make better, but after brainstorming a couple ideas, I came upon the idea of shipping containers.
These were sustainable, but could fit into the old, wrecked, scenario that was being played out on the site. I could have just started my creation process there, but I still wanted to iterate possible ideas that could be implemented into the project. The thing about shipping containers is that they have hinges, because they are used as big doors, and so I decided to use that to my advantage.
These were sustainable, but could fit into the old, wrecked, scenario that was being played out on the site. I could have just started my creation process there, but I still wanted to iterate possible ideas that could be implemented into the project. The thing about shipping containers is that they have hinges, because they are used as big doors, and so I decided to use that to my advantage.
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When I was designing the windows and openings, I came across the idea of creating massive mechanisms that could allow for light passage in and out of the building.
It was a method for allowing a second type of insulation and power saving for a building that didn't necessarily need to be operated to 24/7. The design ended up to be 4 shipping containers stacked in such a way that the top story had a balcony (shown far right). |
The big window cut-outs had their own way of concealing their openings with mechanical rollers that allowed steel shields to cover and expose different parts of the interior glass facade.
The photos above of the model show how the outside steel shell slides over to cover the window on the second floor.
Below, there are other photos that show what's going on on the other side of the building in regards to the shifting steel shields.
Below, there are other photos that show what's going on on the other side of the building in regards to the shifting steel shields.
PRESENTATION + BOARD
The rendering that was made for this project is displayed below, along with the presentation board that was used to present the idea to be ruled.