First year Architecture, introduction to Model building: Geary Hall Bathrooms.

-Geary Hall is one of the large dormitories in Penn state’s East Halls area. The dormitories have large communal bathrooms on each floor. In this project I endeavored to design a cleaner and more functional space.

Part I: Figure Ground Sketches. This process started with these three black and white drawings. I took my inspiration from the shapes, spaces, and patterns created in an Antarctic glacier caves.

Part II: Extrusion Models.  For this model I wanted to experiment with water as a structural substance. To do this I made my extrusion models by carving out insulation foam to create “Ice Trays.” This allowed me to create many copies of my model and experiment with the properties of water and ice.

 

 

Part III: Small Sketch Model. This model was meant to bridge the process from the conceptual elements of my inspiration to a real form that could be used as a bathroom space.  After studying water in my extrusion models I decided that I liked the irregular curve and texture inherent in ice formation as well as the clean opaque effect that the ice created with light. From this I decided to

Part IV:  Full Scale Model. This model was to be at the scale 1″=1′ and be self lighted. By this point in the project I had fallen in love with the effect of the light through the white opaque filter. I build my model of the space so that almost all of the structure was made of frosted glass; not only providing a nice effect and clean feel, but also providing light to the bathroom and hall ways of the whole floor. I also incorporated the curved enclosures that I had started with in the glacier cave which created comfortably secluded shower areas and stalls.  

Part V: Drawings.