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Slide Title:
The Site |
Description:
The thesis identifies two constraints which guide the re-development of the site.
- Four unique site conditions: the manufacturing building, the garage, the warehouse and the hill site.
- The existing structures have three unique structural systems which define a starting point for redesign. The new development on the edge of the site reflects the introduction of a fourth, sloped, system construct on the hill.
Slide Title:
The Western Electric Company Complex
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Description:
This site provides a rich foundation for investigating theories of building conservation and to explore issues of diverse housing conditions. The following section focuses on one aspect of the thesis: the re-design of the warehouse.
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Warehouse Re-design
By slicing the warehouse into rows of housing units, it was possible to provide sufficient light to each unit. The concrete slab base allowed garage space in each unit, accessed through the corridors between rows.
Bringing the automobile into the home creates the classic neighborhood problem that Mumford’s Radburn Idea and Le Corbusier’s housing projects tried to address: how to deal with the pedestrian and the car.
Borrowing from the Radburn Plan, the pedestrian and the automobile use opposing entrances, creating a definate front and back of each unit.
By changing the orientation of each warehouse row, three different corridors are created: the front-to-front pedestrian corridor, the back-to-front combination corridor, and the back-to-back vehicular corridor. All interaction between the units (vehicular, pedestrian, social or some combination of these) takes place in these corridors. These differences subtly change the design of each unit.
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Housing Unit Orientation
Slide Title:
Front-To-Front Pedestrian Corridor |
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Description:
There are front courtyards in this corridor, with low fences opening onto the communal path. Like the Radburn model, the design of this corridor promotes greater social interaction.
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Back-To-Front Combination Corridor |
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Description:
Since there is no designated outdoor space on the ground level, private roof terraces are provided for each unit. This corridor is reminiscent of Le Corbusier's approach to housing.
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| Slide Title:
Back-To-Back Vehicular Corridor |
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Description:
This service corridor is susceptible to only minor interaction. It is the buffer space created from the two opposing housing designs on either side.
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Housing Unit Design
Different corridors influenced the design of two unit prototypes: the Radburn model, with garden courts connecting to a shared pedestrian walk, and the Corbusian model, where the automobile forces the outdoor space to a roof terrace.
Slide Title:
Inside the Radburn Model |
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Description:
Standing in the loft looking down into the living/work area, and outside to the courtyard and pedestrian corridor beyond.
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| Slide Title:
Inside the Corbusian Model |
Description:
From the living/work area, looking towards the kitchen and garage, and up to the loft and roof terrace above.
Conclusion
By providing multiple options, the future inhabitants can choose how they will live. The result is two rows of units with courtyards that will cultivate interaction, and two rows of units with private terraces. Each corridor ends at the railroad loading dock. This dock is the pedestrian link that joins the rows to each other and to the communal space in the manufacturing building. Remnants of the original warehouse wall separate this pedestrian walk from the automobile and provide a visual link between the historical setting and the proposed redevelopment.
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