High Rise "Untitled"

Program
Concept
Context Renders
Elevations
Section Details
Museum Annex
Residential Tower
Diagrams
Model Photos

Carnegie Mellon University

Fourth Year | Fall 2018
Advanced Synthesis Option Studio 48-400: High_Rise ”Untitled” 2018, New York, NY
Studio Professor and Coordinator: Gerard Damiani

Studio Introduction

The introduction to the studio was initially written by Professor Gerard Damiani, and is paraphrased here.

"This studio will look at the role of the architectural promenade and how it can be adapted to the typology of the high-rise. The promenade architecturale first described by Le Corbusier as a sequence of spaces and direction of movement in the Acropolis in Athens is a way of constructing views, vistas and experiences. The high-rise, an American typology, acknowledges maximizing building area but does not address the role of the architectural sequence. This studio will investigate the high-rise typology through the hybridization of the typology with the architectural promenade.

This studio will focus on the writings and artistic output of Donald Judd as the intellectual underpinning of the studio, which will inform the spatial and detailing agenda of the studio project. Often considered an artist of obdurate space, Judd’s works are highly refined being conscious of their context (what he called fundamental realities), space, material, color and detail. An inspiration to architects such as Steven Holl and Herzog & de Meuron, the works of minimalist artist Donald Judd (1928-1994) spanned both art and architecture through a search for autonomy and clarity for the objects and the spaces they occupy."

Program

The program will focus on a urban high-rise structure located in SoHo in New York City directly across from the Judd Foundation. The building is to be a high-rise construction (75 feet or higher) consisting of vertical galleries, a museum store, studio workspaces for visiting artists, and apartments.

The site is directly across the street from the Judd Foundation.

Site Plan

Concept

...These ideas were precedents for some small pieces and then for the 100 mill aluminum pieces in the Chinati Foundation. The renovation of the building and the permanent purpose of the building are precedents for the larger spaces in my place in Texas, La Mansana de Chinati, for the Chinati Foundation, and will be for Ayala de Chinati.

- Donald Judd, "101 Spring Street, 1989

This section from Judd's writings looks at his renovation of 101 Spring St. as inspiration and precedent for many of his later works and for the Chinati Foundation. I found this statement insightful on his ideas as an artist and an architectural designer, particularly when understanding how he drew from his previous ideas as precedent for all of his later work, and that all of his pieces are inherently precedents of each other.

In the same way that Donald Judd used 101 Spring St. as precedent for many of his later work in Marfa, TX, I wanted to use his projects in Marfa, TX as precedent for the new Museum Annex and Residential Tower adjacent to 101 Spring St. in New York City.

Judd Foundation at 101 Spring St.

Moments

When visiting Marfa, I was struck by the incredible scale of each work in the 15 Untitled Works In Concrete. Each concrete piece that was cast and assembled on the site is of the same dimensions, making the layout of these pieces the varying factor in the designs. The potential habitable scale of these works left an impression on my experience at the Chinati Foundation, which I used as inspiration for creating habitable moments within my building.

For the residential tower, the 15 Untitled Works In Concrete served as inspiration for indoor/outdoor flexible living spaces, and for the museum annex, the pieces served as inspiration for key gallery moments.

15 Untitled Works In Concrete - The Chinati Foundation

Facade

For the exterior facade of the building, I chose to use a 10 x 3 bay system, as a reference to the same bay system as the adjacent 101 Spring St. This allowed the building to fit in with the rest of the Soho context, as well as draw a visual connection to the neighboring Judd Foundation. When considering the more detailed aspect of the exterior facade, I looked to another of Donald Judd's pieces, a small extruded colored aluminum piece that looked as though it could be an adaptation of a mullion. I saw this extrusion piece as a representation of what Judd would perhaps consider a 'detailed' piece in his design studies, and used it as inspiration for a Miesian, modernized, neo-classical facade system.

A larger collection of these works were later manufactured and displayed at the Judd Foundation (101 Spring St.) as an installation titled '15 x 105 x 15 Installation of 12 Extruded Aluminum Pieces.'

15 x 105 x 15 Installation of 12 Extruded Aluminum Pieces.
Image from Contemporary Art Daily

Context Renders

Full Building Render - Mercer St.

Night Render - Mercer St.

Elevations

Spring St. Elevation

Mercer St. Elevation

Section Details

Transverse Section - Spring St.

Section Detail

Museum Annex

This mixed-use tower is to provide additional exhibition space for artists curated by Flavin and Rainer Judd. The spatial container provided must allow for artwork to be presented in a number of formats.

1 Gallery: Interaction with daylight
1 Gallery: Integration within a neutral spatial container (white box)
1 Gallery: Integrated within the architectural context you provide
Museum Store
Ticketing Desk
Public Restrooms