Night-Light Study

Our group decided to take a walk around campus at night and look at other campus buildings and the way the light interacts with the site around it. I found this inspirational and helpful when thinking about how we will integrate lighting in our building not just during the day but at night as well... when many students will be in the space.


Large rotunda above the back stairs at the EUC


Large rotunda at the front entrance of the EUC


View from the Library tower, looking over the EUC, the Mossman building and the Oakland parking deck


Looking the opposite direction from the Library tower over the Caf and fountain courtyard (a little blurry b/c I took it through a window)


Entrance to the Library from College Ave.


Newly constructed Pedestrian bridge from College Ave to the Petty Building


Bridge from another angle


Detail of the material on the bridge to petty with lights below highlighting


Bridge to Petty


Bridge to Music Building


The New Science Building


Gatewood Studio Arts Building

Goals for our Building Form

Our group decided to set some goals for our building and some guidelines for how we imagine its form to help us get started in collaborating as a team.

1. Iconic building for Greensboro and UNCG
2. Support a sustainable environment
3. Create a gestural movement for commuters driving by and pedestrians on the site
4. On-site park/ public art area that connects to the building
5. Innovative, non-traditional use of materials
6. Walkways/terraces that lead you outdoors, throughout the building
7. Juxtaposition of curves and linear form (representing where greensboro was and where it is going)
8. Consideration for day-lighting and night-lighting
9. Playing with solids and voids
10. Creating a landmark

Design Charette

When I first began thinking about the building I was approaching it in a very conventional way. I imagined a building with a large rotunda on the corner and two wings extending from either side, acting as a "welcoming gateway" to UNCG and the city.





I then realized that have a wall lining the street wasn't very welcoming at all and began to reshape this idea thinking of the wings opening up towards the corner like an actual gateway.





I began thinking about the program and how I would organize space within the building. I imagine the offices, resources etc all being on one wing and the studio space on another with an open two-story atmosphere.





I wanted to explore ways of manipulating form to increase interaction with the building and the site. This idea creates a rhythm that interests people driving by, while creating a form that allows pedestrians to interact directly with the front of the building instead of just a long flat wall. The roof structure extends over the back of the building creating covered areas for outdoor use.






For our sites location there is opportunity to bridge across the railroad tracks to the main part of campus, and i wanted to explore the option of a pedestrian bridge incorporated into the building. This design lacks an interesting footprint but i felt that there was opportunity to experiment with innovative materials to bring interest.





After thinking about bridging to the campus I thought about ways to actually have the building bridge the railroad tracks. This could create some interesting studio spaces that overlook the train. Also if the building is over the tracks, it leaves more space on the site for courtyards or interesting mixed use buildings to support the studio arts facility.





I tried to push myself to think more conceptually and played with forms that don't look like typical buildings.





Continuing with my exploration of abstract form I came up with a concept that reflects the activity occurring in the building. The shape creates interest when driving down Lee Street and the progression and scale of the building reflects the progression of the design process and students ventures into the future.

So What Now??

The main thing that stuck out to me in our review from Thursday was Patrick and Travis' question: "So What Now?" What does all of this programming and research stuff mean? Where do we go from here? What conclusions can we draw from our findings?

I think that this is important for everyone to answer individually, because this is how ideas and concepts will begin to form themselves. The idea that stood out most for me is this idea of our site acting as a seam that binds the community and the campus. Another point that was brought up on Thursday was the idea that our site is a transition. A transition from campus to community, a transition from past to future, a transition from consumption to sustainability etc. Using our site as a gateway into Greensboro and as a face for UNCG has been an idea from the master-plan that all of us have embraced, but how do we integrate all of these concepts into a building? and how do we make that building portray the message we want while still holding all of the activities and programming needs that it requires?

This is what I have begun to explore for this week's charette, and we are now challenged to face the question

So What Now?

Late Night!!

Now I know that the programming/precedent/site analysis portion of any design project is extremely important because it lays the foundation for your design... but man am I glad this part is over! I'm ready to design and I'm ready to be working in smaller groups! Organizing one document with 17 people is difficult especially when everyone doesn't pull their own weight. Its been a really long time since I stayed in studio until 4:00 am and I almost forgot what it feels like! but I know the hard work will pay off in the end.

Over and out

Reinvestment Corridor

I noticed this sign on my drive home one day!

Site Design Narrative: First Draft

Please feel free to comment... I'm not sure if I should elaborate more on each point or leave it concise and up for interpretation of each design group. Let me know your opinion!

1. Seam vs. Edge
2. Gateway
3. Pedestrian Access
4. Sustainability

Our site is situated on Lee Street and is part of a large corridor that the City of Greensboro is looking to re-invent. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s vision for the future is to redefine the university as an inclusive, collaborative, and responsive institution that makes a difference in the lives of the students and community it serves. By investing in this corridor plan and extending UNCG’s campus onto this site, it will allow the university to have a greater influence on its surrounding community thus realizing its vision.
Currently, the other three sides of campus are integrated into the adjacent neighborhoods and the campus merges with the rest of Greensboro. The south side of campus doesn’t allow for this same intermingling, but is abruptly cut off by the railroad tracks and a chain-link fence that has been erected. Our goal is to break these boundaries by extending campus to the other side of the tracks and allowing it to become a seam that binds together campus and the south side of Greensboro.
The UNCG campus is right on the other side of this stretch of land, but from Lee Street there is no evidence of this diverse and exciting community. We plan on using our site as a gateway that invites travelers commuting from I-40 into Greensboro, and also as a face for UNCG on this important corridor.
One of the main issues dealing with this site is the fact that is on the opposite side of the railroad tracks from campus. This aspect will really help when dealing with integrating the community instead of blocking them out, but the problem that arises is how to get students and faculty from the main campus to this site safely. Through our design we plan to address this problem thoroughly and investigate different options of pedestrian access from bike lanes, bus routes and access bridges.
The City of Greensboro strives to be a leader in sustainability and we feel that this is a very important aspect to consider when dealing with the site. Since this land will act as a gateway into our city and our university we want it to represent what we stand for and lead by example for the rest of the community. We plan on designing and building on this site using the guidelines from the LEED reference standards and focusing on site specific credits such as parking capacities, pedestrian access, community connectivity, heat island effect and site development.