Design Integration Laboratory

Architecture 683 - Winter 1996

Oregon House Visitor's Center

Instructors: Jenny Young, Bill Gilland

Brief Description of Project:

The common project for the term will involve the design of "Oregon House", a cultural and visitor's center in downtown Portland. "Oregon House" is intended to be a place to learn about the state, where people can become oriented to Oregon's special physical and cultural heritage. The building will be a focal point for both residents wanting to further discover their home territory and non-residents who may be coming for recreational, cultural or business purposes.

Context (Site) for Project:

The project is a small urban building in a tight and vivid context in Portland's Skidmore historic district, known as "Old Town."

Design Issues to be Stressed:

Arch 683 is the culminating studio of the graduate Option III introductory design program sequence. It is the critical studio in preparation for intermediate level Arch 584 studios, which offer a wide range of project types and have expectations of the mastery of fundamentals of design. This studio will build upon Arch 681 and 682 in emphasizing the development of a clear method of thinking and working toward creative building solutions which are integrative of activity, space, structure, and site. Drawing on the Design Arts I course taken in the fall and the Design Arts 11 course being taken concurrently, the focus will be on issues of spatial ordering and place response, while accommodating human activity and supporting human purposes. In the first half of the term, the articulation of clear, simple design concepts and organizational clarity in the generation of schematic proposals will be central. In the second half of the term, the development and refinement of a scheme through design of the materials assembly of the building, their form, texture, color and detail, will be emphasized.

Design issues critical to this project include:

The nature of an urban building: relating an individual building to the making of an urban environment.
The nature of a multistory building: vertical and horizontal connections in interior organization (stairs, elevators and horizontal circulation), section and exterior facade development.
The order of rooms and service spaces.
Clear vertical and horizontal circulation and accessibility. Spatial quality through consideration of composition: hierarchy, proportion, scale, rhythm, sequence, light and the use of materials.
Spatial quality of parts of built places: rooms, halls, transitions, doors, windows, stairs, gardens, etc.
Integration of basic building technology (structure, construction and environmental control systems)to define and support the spatial organization of the building.

Process Issues to be Stressed:

Sketching and drawing (both by hand and computer) to explore spatial qualities of site, building, room in plan, section and elevation.
Models (both physical and computer) to develop three-dimensional design explorations. - Materials and color studied through media.
Final presentation media of high quality.

Special Instructional Methods:

Emphasis will be on a mutually supportive studio environment stressing collaboration and design development through recycling of ideas. Work must be developed and shared in the studio. Cooperation will be necessary in class efforts to prepare case studies, base drawings and models as needed. Critiques will be organized by design section in pairs of two, changed three times during the term. Design reviews will involve both sections of Arch 683 studios. Sketch problems should be expected occasionally as part of the process.

Reading Materials/ General Bibliography:

Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language; A New Theory of Urban Design.
Allen, Edward. Architect's Studio Companion
Bacon, Edmund. Design of Cities.
Koetter and Rowe. Collage City.
Krier, Rob; Urban Space, Stradtraum In Theories Und Praris. English.
Krier, Rob. Elements of Architecture
Lynch, Kevin. The Image of the City; A Theory of Good City Form.
Jacobs, Allan. Great Street.
Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
Mumford, Lewis. The City in History.
Olsen, Donald J. The City as a Work of Art: London, Paris, Vienna.
Rossi, Aldo. The Architecture of the City.
Rybczynski, Witold. City Life.
Whyte, William. City: Rediscovering the Center
Vaughn and Feriday. Space Style and Structure: Building in NWAmerica

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http://www.dil.uoregon.edu/error.html - Posted 95.05 KMM, rev. 96.02.16 SEP