Toolkit: Sketchup, Enscape, Lumion, Yulio (AR), Revit, Illustrator, Photoshop, pencil and paper.
Role: Designer and Project Architect.
The Kennesaw State University campus in Marietta is experiencing rapid growth in research coupled with a 15 percent increase in enrollment over the past two years. Research and teaching labs have become over utilized and are not able to support research innovation and a changing teaching environment.
In addition, the Marietta campus, previously Southern Polytechnic State University, does not reflect the culture, identity and architectural language of KSU's main campus and lacks a defined campus entry.
The following objectives were established prior to the start of the research process:
The first step is to understand site attributes and constraints. Located at the edge of the campus quad, the parcel is highly visible from the main vehicular campus entry. A number of existing utilities are running through the site, including a main power line with a 100ft setback, and main water and electric lines. Existing building service entries and setbacks were also surveyed in order to inform the future building footprint.
At a macro level, the campus is made up of two to four stories buildings, all oriented towards the campus quad. The majority of the buildings were built during the 60s and have a mid-century modern style characterized by clean lines, expansive glass facades, steel structures and concrete sunshades.
With an emphasis on walkability and connectivity, the campus architecture prioritizes pedestrian circulation. Buildings are arranged in a way that encourages foot traffic, with pathways, plaza, and open spaces strategically positioned to facilitate movement and interaction.
Looking at the program set by the client, it becomes clear that the goal is to provide a conducive environment for learning, research, and collaboration in engineering, technology, and applied sciences.
Below is a benchmarking analysis of the proposed building program compared to similar STEM buildings at other universities (names and locations are left out for privacy purposes)
While the building square footage is set to be below the average total area of similar facilities, the area set towards research spaces is well above what is seen across the industry. This observation helped facilitate conversations with the client about program needs given that the cost per square footage of research space is among the highest by space type.
Prior to our programming workshops with user groups, the building was set to be 100,000 GSF. After a few program iterations and efforts to understand gaps in space utilization during pre-design, the building program came down to 70,000 GSF. This was a crucial step in getting the building on budget prior to going into the design phase.
During the pre-design process, a series of four workshops were conducted to understand the vision for this project. The following key findings were identified:
Prior to considering the exterior massing or design of the building, the spacial organization of the building’s interior spaces and its relationship with the surrounding environment were studied. This process involves considering various factors such as desired adjacencies, functionality, life safety, building codes, accessibility and efficiency. Spaces are arranged in a logical manner to facilitate movement and activities within the building. This includes considering the flow of people, sight lines, and relationships between different areas.
To understand desired adjacencies, a "perfect diagram" exercise is conducted during user group interviews. Direct, indirect or visual adjacencies are identified in order to inform the buildings spatial organization.
Using the building map and our findings from the site analysis, a total of sixteen planning options were explored. The final three were presented to the user groups, and one was picked for its best response to site and planning. This is a crucial step in the architectural design process and lays the foundation for the development of architectural drawings and construction documents.
Concurrently to creating the initial building planning, the overall building massing is being explored. The site conditions, surroundings, and context of the building inform decisions about orientation, views, natural light, opacity, transparency and environmental impact. This step requires onboarding and collaboration with engineers to create a successful building design.
While the massing is not finalized at this stage, the materiality of the building and its relationship to existing buildings on campus are being researched. Materiality plays a significant role in shaping the sensory experience and visual identity of a building. The campus has a strong mid-century language with the use of brick, glass and concrete rain screens. It only seemed appropriate to celebrate this heritage and use similar materials in different textures, surface treatments and locations to contribute to the identity and context of the campus.
The building planning purposely distributes shared resources, program, amenities, and entries to draw the general student population through the building and engage with the research and specialty labs. The central block of “super labs” creates a flexible core of research visible to all who enter. Specialty labs like the cleanroom and cyber lab are showpieces on major circulation routes. The depth of the circulation path varies to create spaces for collaboration and workspace outside of the formal research and instruction spaces.
The new ISB will be located at the front door to the Marietta Campus and become a visible center of the commitment to STEM education and a catalyst for interdisciplinary learning. The building massing and articulation was carefully set into the scale of the campus. The brise soleil detail is a reinterpretation of the rain screens found on existing mid-century buildings. The design emphasizes the main organizing spaces and collaboration areas on the north façade along the main campus quad to activate and enhance the main campus thoroughfare.
To showcase the design to the client and stakeholders, I created fully immersive VR scenes using Sketchup and Lumion before importing the scenes into Yulio. By experiencing the design in VR, the client is able to visualize the team’s vision and provide feedback in a more intuitive and immersive manner. This leads to more informed decision-making and greater client satisfaction.
Coded with ♥ by Aurélie