WILLIAM CHADWICK - ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN II
CLIENT
The first step in the concept design process was to pick a dead female client to make a memorial for later on. Rosa Parks was the first person who came to mind since she had to face the mid 1900s civil rights problems all while being female, a woman of color, and more on the introverted side.
The drawing consists of two main factors which include bringing two sides together shown by the Yin and Yang symbol and the chains as well as a colorful style in some places since she was a seamstress. The two people on top of the drafted buildings in the back are the ones who motivated Rosa Parks the most: Claudette Colvin, a young girl who went through a similar situation that she did, and Johnnie Rebecca Carr, another civil rights activist and one of her close friends. MEMORIAL
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The next step was to design a memorial with a floor plan, elevation, and section views. Since memorials are meant to be symbolic, for Rosa Parks,' I included a bridge big enough for a bus to travel through that the tower representing her legacy sits on top of as well as a wall along the back and two pillars on the top of the tower. The wall and the pillars didn't have much of a purpose here other than to show growth and a separation placed on society at the time, but later on they became the two most important elements after some thinking. The memorial is meant to have a linear path that you would use to walk through it and see everything there is in store. You start on the left side walking across pathway representing Rosa Parks' journey. You take the path on to a mimic of a road with another path on it's left which leads to a staircase. This takes you to the legacy tower and then to another path and staircase that take you to the other side of the bridge. The bridge in this drawing only has one side opened to the public but later on they're both visible just for aesthetic and not a windy pathway. The trees ended up being removed later on as well since I switched to a more indoors and national viewing experience as opposed to just local visitors. The windows below the roof on the legacy tower ended up staying though since they're meant to bend incoming sunlight for those inside. |
The place I picked to put the memorial was on an empty grassy field just north of the Montgomery, Alabama cityscape to the left of what looked like farmland. This was definitely the best and most obvious choice since Rosa Parks' first major step in the civil rights movement took place here with the Montgomery Bus Boycott and her refusal to give her seat to a white man on a bus.
This part of the design process was where I had the most realizations, the first one being about how people visit the memorial. When I first scoped out this part of Montgomery, I didn't see any any airports nearby so I leaned more towards the local visitations mindset. However, after digging a little deeper, I found out there's a pretty huge airport only about six miles southwest of the site. This immediately changed my focus to a more national radius and made me question if a 100x30 foot memorial would be large enough to hold that many people.
I don't know how I didn't notice this at the time, but after examining the site for about two more seconds, I realized the part to the right of the empty grass field isn't actually a farm, it's a graveyard. This would have been a problem if it extended onto the site parameters, but there are some existing living spaces on the bottom left corner of it which should hopefully keep it from extending any more leftwards.
This part of the design process was where I had the most realizations, the first one being about how people visit the memorial. When I first scoped out this part of Montgomery, I didn't see any any airports nearby so I leaned more towards the local visitations mindset. However, after digging a little deeper, I found out there's a pretty huge airport only about six miles southwest of the site. This immediately changed my focus to a more national radius and made me question if a 100x30 foot memorial would be large enough to hold that many people.
I don't know how I didn't notice this at the time, but after examining the site for about two more seconds, I realized the part to the right of the empty grass field isn't actually a farm, it's a graveyard. This would have been a problem if it extended onto the site parameters, but there are some existing living spaces on the bottom left corner of it which should hopefully keep it from extending any more leftwards.
SITE ANALYSIS
The two main things I decided to map out while analyzing the site after settling with it were the buildings and the trees. Since the region I picked is more suburban, buildings are nestled into small sections with a grid-like system of roads in between them so mapping out which areas did and didn't have them was crucial. The other factor is that that trees are just about everywhere except for the memorial's spot which made me change my mindset again to a more indoor focused foundation.
MASTER PLANS
After selecting and examining the site, the next step was to begin developing a set of master plans to get a rough idea of how elements such as an education space, a memory space for important documents and items, an action space, a service space, and a fellowship residence as well as a few other design specific ones could create a basic foundation. The three master plans I created each demonstrate a different kind of movement and experience for the visitor.
For my first design, I mixed a combination of an indoor and an outdoor experience by putting the memorial outside and every other attraction inside. My second concept demonstrates a completely indoor experience by including a plaza and a hallway to travel to everything else.
The third design ended up being my favorite since it involves a set of pathways outside leading to the only indoor attractions being the different spaces and the memorial. This concept also includes a playground to make the experience applicable to all ages and further inspiring the my favorite concept design. |
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CONCEPT DESIGN
After mapping out various ideas relating to the site, it was time to begin work on concept design where the ideas really begin to take shape. The three concepts I came up with each have a bubble diagram, a study model, and a rough sketch of each of the different components included in the design. They also include a unique symbol or building for the main idea.
CONCEPT 01: GIFT SHOP
This first design takes inspiration from my third master plan drawing by having most of it take place outside, the only difference being that some of the attractions are connected to each other. As shown by the study model below, visitors would start in the bottom left at the parking lot and take the beginning of the pathway straight to the service space. Further down the pathway is the giftshop attached to the offices for the employees managing it and the rest of the foundation. To the right of the parking lot is the playground mentioned before which ended up being a part of each of these concepts. The large building all the way to the right of model is the education space, action space, and the memorial as well as the memory space taking place in the legacy tower. Out of these three concepts, this one has okay movement but not a very symbolic symbol.
This first design takes inspiration from my third master plan drawing by having most of it take place outside, the only difference being that some of the attractions are connected to each other. As shown by the study model below, visitors would start in the bottom left at the parking lot and take the beginning of the pathway straight to the service space. Further down the pathway is the giftshop attached to the offices for the employees managing it and the rest of the foundation. To the right of the parking lot is the playground mentioned before which ended up being a part of each of these concepts. The large building all the way to the right of model is the education space, action space, and the memorial as well as the memory space taking place in the legacy tower. Out of these three concepts, this one has okay movement but not a very symbolic symbol.
CONCEPT 02: BRIDGES
This second concept makes use of bridges along with pathways to further symbolize Rosa Parks' path of growth. Like the memorial's original design, this concept follows a linear path. Coming from a parking lot to the left of the two story building with the ramp, the journey starts inside with the welcoming center. It continues with a path leading outside and to the bottom story of the memorial to learn more about Rosa Parks. Visitors then take the path on the front side of the memorial which passes by the playground to the ramp leading to the action space. They then exit through the roof onto a rickety drawbridge to demonstrate Rosa Parks' rough journey. The journey ends with the memory space inside the legacy tower at the end of the bridge. Undoubtedly, this concept design is my favorite simply due to its symbolism and convenient use of pathways.
This second concept makes use of bridges along with pathways to further symbolize Rosa Parks' path of growth. Like the memorial's original design, this concept follows a linear path. Coming from a parking lot to the left of the two story building with the ramp, the journey starts inside with the welcoming center. It continues with a path leading outside and to the bottom story of the memorial to learn more about Rosa Parks. Visitors then take the path on the front side of the memorial which passes by the playground to the ramp leading to the action space. They then exit through the roof onto a rickety drawbridge to demonstrate Rosa Parks' rough journey. The journey ends with the memory space inside the legacy tower at the end of the bridge. Undoubtedly, this concept design is my favorite simply due to its symbolism and convenient use of pathways.
CONCEPT 03: CLOCK
This final design takes inspiration from my second floor plan by having the whole operation run inside. Movement is a lot more simplistic in this concept due to it not following a linear path. The overall design includes a massive circular plaza with a playground in the middle along with three of the attractions in rectangular form sticking out every 60 degrees. The education space and the action space stick out of the front of the plaza while the memorial sits it the back allowing the legacy tower to be visible but unknown to visitors out in the parking lot. This model for this concept is the only one to show the legacy tower's beams mentioned earlier, but at this point in the design process, they are each tilted at specific angles to create a ray of light on the inside allowing something in the memory space to be lit up depending on the time of day. On top of the plaza rests the symbol of this concept, that being a giant clock that could also be lit up depending on the time of day this time electronically rather than naturally. I would say this concept and its multiple pathways and the three beams matching the amount of attractions sticking out of the plaza definitely make it shine, but the clock on the roof might be too literal rather than symbolic.
This final design takes inspiration from my second floor plan by having the whole operation run inside. Movement is a lot more simplistic in this concept due to it not following a linear path. The overall design includes a massive circular plaza with a playground in the middle along with three of the attractions in rectangular form sticking out every 60 degrees. The education space and the action space stick out of the front of the plaza while the memorial sits it the back allowing the legacy tower to be visible but unknown to visitors out in the parking lot. This model for this concept is the only one to show the legacy tower's beams mentioned earlier, but at this point in the design process, they are each tilted at specific angles to create a ray of light on the inside allowing something in the memory space to be lit up depending on the time of day. On top of the plaza rests the symbol of this concept, that being a giant clock that could also be lit up depending on the time of day this time electronically rather than naturally. I would say this concept and its multiple pathways and the three beams matching the amount of attractions sticking out of the plaza definitely make it shine, but the clock on the roof might be too literal rather than symbolic.