MAIN STREET LIBRARY
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Undergraduate Work
CONNECTION: a relationship in which an idea is associated with something else connecting the city
program: develop a cultural center for the city via education through books with each student writing their own program.
This project has been published once, exhibited twice, and received a special recognition award at the graduation ceremony. It was the opening project used in the University of Houston’s NAAB qualification exhibition in 2008 for the continuation of the Bachelor of Architecture degree. As opposed to developing a typical site plan commonly associated with projects, I capitalized on a newly developed light rail line stopping at the site. One Sunday afternoon, I walked the 5-mile stretch and sketched each block, taking note of what each stop on the line could bring to the project. This line became the artery of the project, connecting it to the city as a whole.
Investigating the results of the 5-mile section helped show that there are many educational institutions along the rail line with only 2 libraries (law and genealogy). My program is to contain a space for typical library users while providing a large space for student research. The project is divided into its separate user groups in a cathedral / chapel style relationship as influenced by concurrent classes in history.
Within each user group, ideas of connections, both visually and acoustically, are investigated as well as the connections with other user groups. A visual connection between the individual and the books created a catalyst of way finding. From the central administrative point, a user could view the entire book collection and be directed towards the applicable area along the “wall-of-books”.
series of study models:
controlled environment:
final presentation:  |
