Studio 8

Over the last week (leading up to the studio in week 8), I have been looking into adaptive and responsive architecuture, in an attempt to find a starting point for this assignment. It was my intention to look at what technologies and techniques are used today and then explore how they could develop by 2030. 

A lot of what i found was similar to what can be seen on this website.

http://yazdanistudioresearch.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/kinetic-facade-products/

It became apparent to me that this sort of adaptability and responsiveness does effectivly nothing for the user of the space. Yes it can help to conserve energy, and perhaps change the comfort levels of the user, but does this really do anything for the architectural experience of the space. Does it make the space and more enjoyable, more usable. Is there anything the user gets out of this that they would not get from a large air conditioning unit, other then a smaller power bill?

In the studio I discussed this with Davor and he agreeed that this type of adaptability that is becoming more and more prominent in today's architecture does very little for the experience of the user. What I want to achieve from this project is an architecture that will adapt and respond to its user in a way that changes the way they experience and use the space. I want it to be able to be used by permanent inhabitants as well as passers by in a way that is both enhancing the usability of the space and creating a stimulating experience.

This is going to be a main focus for this project. I want to integrate this into a building that combines a Maglev station with a public space and commercial/retail businesses. The goal is to create architecture that will provide maximum benefit to all users at all times. 

Vertical Public Spaces is another concept that I want to try to integrate into my building. By this I mean taking the existing horizontal public realm, which is a transitional zone, and re imaging this in a vertical space, as can be seen in the image below. 

The main problem with this is that people are lazy, and do not want to use stairs, and elevators break up the public space. By using either of these methods it changes the space from a transitional space into a destination space. Davor said that I should not let this prevent me from designing this sort of space, but rather take it as a challenge to find a way to successfully design a new type of public space.