ABSTRACT
ARCHITECTURAL PHENOMENOLOGY: TOWARDS A DESIGN METHODOLOGY OF PERSON AND PLACE
by David Thomas VonderBrink
This thesis document investigates the philosophical movement of phenomenology and its implications in forming an architectural design methodology. The writings of such existential philosophers and authors as Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Christian Norberg-Schulz are discussed. To position the argument within a current dialectically opposing discourse, the deconstructivist writings of Jacques Derrida and his influence on the architecture of Bernard Tschumi and Peter Eisenman are explored. Steven Holl’s Museum of Contemporary Art and Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute for Biological Studies illustrate a phenomenological approach in design through a foundation in the writings of the aforementioned authors. Through these examinations a design methodology that seeks to express the interdependent relationship between person and place is formulated. This methodology is then tested in the design of a large residential and pedestrian path sited in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Architectural Phenomenology: Towards a Design Methodology of Person and Place
A Thesis
Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture Department of Architecture and Interior Design by David Thomas VonderBrink Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2007
______John Reynolds - Advisor
______Craig Hinrichs - Reader
______Gerardo Brown-Manrique – Reader
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page #
1. INTRODUCTION
2. Heidegger
2. Merleau-Ponty
3. Norberg-Schulz
6. Bernard Tschumi
7. Peter Eisenman
8. Steven Holl
11. Louis I. Kahn
13. DESIGN METHODOLOGY
14. ADDENDUM
21. BIBLIOGRAPHY
25-41. DESIGN PROJECT IMAGES
ii INTRODUCTION The essence of our existence consists To understand phenomenology in of concrete phenomena. This includes order to form a design methodology I everything from trees and forests, to will discuss the writings of such people and animals, to stones and water, existential philosophers and authors as to furniture, windows, houses, streets, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau- and cities. It also includes celestial Ponty, and Christian Norberg-Schulz. bodies such as the sun, moon, and stars To position my argument within a as well as impalpable phenomena such current dialectically opposing discourse, as emotion and perception. I will discuss the deconstructivist Phenomenology, a philosophy of writings of Jacques Derrida and his investigation into the things that enable influence on the architecture of Bernard us to gather the world, opposes an Tschumi and Peter Eisenman. abstract method of viewing our world. Illustrating a phenomenological Meaning, abstract methods of inquiry approach in design, I will investigate, such as scientific, diagrammatic, through a foundation in the writings of geometric, and analytical approaches the aforementioned authors, Steven that arrive at objective knowledge do not Holl’s Museum of Contemporary Art in adequately describe the structure of the Helsinki and Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute concrete world. Phenomenology allows for Biological Studies in California. us to express the essence of our Through these examinations I will existence through architecture. Thus, formulate a design methodology that seen in its totality within seeks to express or reveal the phenomenology; architecture becomes interdependent relationship between the “concretization of existential space”. person and place. In other words, approaching the process of architectural design through a phenomenological lens presents the possibility of bridging the interdependent relationship of human existence and the world.
1 Heidegger context with your world. In reaction to In the text Being and Time (1962), the destructive dominance of positivism the German philosopher Martin in the early nineteenth century, Heidegger (1889-1976) argued that in Heidegger sought original experience conventional philosophy and psychology through ontology, the study of the the relationship between person and origins of language. Within an world has been reduced to either an architectural discipline, Heidegger’s idealist or realist perspective. In an interpretation of Bauen, the German idealist view, the world is a function of a word for building, as “dwelling” is person who acts on the world through recognized. Architecture is not just consciousness and, therefore, actively about thinking, it is about feeling and knows and shapes his or her world. In that feeling depends on time, place and contrast, a realist view sees the person as subject. The feelings invoked by this a function of the world, meaning, the experience lead to poetry, narratives, and world acts on the person and he or she ultimately built form in order to reacts. Heidegger claimed that both demonstrate our existence. perspectives are out of touch with the Heidegger states that things gather, nature of human life because they or are the intermediary between human assume a separation and directional existence and the world. In other words, relationship between person and world built objects create a place for that does not exist in actual lived ontological events. These events where experience. In this sense, the gathering of the four dimensions of phenomenology supersedes the idealist the world – earth, heavens, mortals, and and realist division between individual the divine – takes place are where and world with a conception in which humans dwell. the two are indivisible—a person-world whole that is one rather than two. Merleau-Ponty This is Heidegger’s phenomenology, The French philosopher Maurice one of experiencing Dasein or “being Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961) considers there”. You are being in context, rather phenomenology an existential than Sosein or “being thus”, out of philosophy like Heidegger, but
2 concentrates on the importance of the for our conceptual understanding of the body and perceptual experience. things around us with the action of the Merleau-Ponty begins to place one being body as the ultimate root of knowledge in the world, or his or her self- of the world. The body, in a sense, acts awareness, as an objective engagement as an interface between our mind and the with the world, where the body is the world. Our physical engagement with objective intermediary between what the things that surround us provides both Heidegger speaks of as the person-world the source and the limits of our relationship. understanding of those things. Hence, as The mind's access to the outside the body provides knowledge of the world must inevitably arise from the world, the external world presents body's movement in it, which also knowledge of the body (recalling necessarily involves a movement of it: Heidegger’s notion of being-in-the- "Visible and mobile, my body is a thing world). For example, as grasping a among things; it is caught in the fabric of hammer and swinging it to build or the world, and its cohesion is that of a destroy speaks to our relationship to the thing”. Merleau-Ponty’s most famous world and things, the object of a hammer example is that of the blind person tells us about the composition, scale, and navigating with the aid of a stick, where proportion of the human hand. the stick, like a carpenter’s tool, gradually becomes an extension of the Norberg-Schulz arm that holds it. The contemporary author, Christian Merleau-Ponty, along with the Norberg-Schulz applies the philosophy French author Henri Bergson (1859- of phenomenology within architectural 1941), specifically in the text Matter and discourse to arrive at an existential Memory (1892) suggest that: "the objects emphasis on space. Rather than placing which surround my body reflect its importance on abstract space, such as possible action upon them". Their Modernist, universal space, Norberg- argument places an importance on a Schulz calls for a return to figurative, priori structures of perception. Bergson qualitative architecture. This and Merleau-Ponty propose a framework investigation into how one dwells
3 establishes a meaningful relationship might offer a solution to the current between humans and the environment. problem of individual connection to our The existential purpose of building is to world. create place from a site, that is, to reveal the potential meanings given within a Deconstruction situation. Humans dwell when we are Within a phenomenological able to concretize the world in built framework and an architectural form, where concretization is the result methodology, the writings of the French of art rather than science or the abstract. philosopher Jacques Derrida (1930-) Architecture concretizes, or gathers the provide an opposing argument on the entanglements of our everyday life- philosophical spectrum, a movement world, where gathering refers to the within philosophy and architecture primary aspects of humans “being-in- known as deconstruction. This the-world”. Dwelling, through movement challenges the formulations identification and orientation, gathers the of certain basic precepts of Western world or environment into building. metaphysics such as presence, truth, the Norberg-Schulz asks, what is the position of the subject, and the nature of task of architecture? It is to "make a site identity. become a 'place', that is, to uncover the Derrida’s process materialized out of meanings potentially present in the given an opposition to structuralism and a environment". Thus it becomes clear desire to expose the ambiguity of what the German poet Friedrich language. In other words, Derrida Hölderlin means by saying "poetically, deconstructed, or dissected the works of dwells man upon this earth". This belief previous scholars in order to prove that makes it clear that architecture facilitates language is constantly shifting. Using a way of dwelling in a Heideggerian linguistics, he argued against traditional notion: "The way in which you are and I assumptions that text possesses an am, the way in which we humans are on unchanging, unified meaning. The the earth, is dwelling." If we dwell in linguistic model he presents differs that sense "it is through dwelling itself greatly from Merleau-Ponty’s notion of that we let the earth be as earth" and this the subject-object relationship and
4 especially Heidegger’s belief that metaphysical assumptions of text, language reveals basic existential deconstructivist architects focused on a structures. Derrida redefines the series of theoretical projects and sought creation and operation of textual to de-center the concept of classical meaning such that there is no movement order and space. Thus, rather than from the marks on the page to mental attempting to uncover the meanings concepts. He aims to show the inherent potentially present in a given tension between the principles of clarity environment, deconstructivist architects that rule philosophy and the inescapable such as Bernard Tschumi and Peter shortcomings that are associated with its Eisenman created a method of critiquing construction. architecture that ignores experiential Derrida believed that no theory could concerns and matters of human pretend to be absolutely consistent, perception. The critique became the logical, or present itself as a self- formation of built form and space purely contained system. If it did, it could only for the sake of theoretical architecture. do so by hiding or repressing something Whereas architectural that did not fit its view of things. This phenomenology attempts to alter the ideology in turn led to a loss of meaning paradigm of form follows function to in all levels of social interaction. Thus, form follows experience, deconstruction it is evident that deconstructive inquiry, mirrors Modernism in numerous ways unlike a phenomenological or by implying function is coincidental to perceptually based approach, seeks to form. Thus, the writing and blur the lines of meaning in the world accompanying built work is elitist and rather than attempt to arrive at a greater detached from any experiential understanding of our relationship as sensibilities. The deconstructivist humans in the world. tendency is to discount the given conflict Deconstruction within architecture between poetics and pragmatics faced by provides a method of critiquing the architects. Individual connection, our supposedly unifying and idealistic, relationship of being-in-the-world, is movement of Modernism. As Derrida simply disregarded. sought to dissect traditional, or
5 Bernard Tschumi The follies took the form of a A major constructed manifestation of collection of steel pavilions that this method emerged in Bernard ultimately create events within the mesh Tschumi’s Parc de la Villette in Paris of layers that question meaning. This (1983). His anti-modernist approach resulted in a match and mismatch of deconstructed the traditional doctrine of forms aspiring to an anti-Classical form follows function, and focused on architecture of unexpected contemporary society's disjunction configurations. The process and between use, form, and social values. arbitrary result attempted to ignore the Tschumi believed these systems were basic tenets of architecture throughout completely unrelated. He superimposed history - composition, hierarchy and three ordering systems: points (or order. follies), lines (or paths), and surfaces (or programmatic spaces) where violent collisions were encouraged.
Fig.2 The grid of red follies create reference points that are non-contextual in their form and color in order to dissolve a priori meaning. However, Fig. 1 Tschumi alleges the follies lack any
6 historical precedent in order to create way that Derrida disrupts texts to force non-meaning, but there exists a definite the reader to approach the content in a influence of Russian Constructivism in more critical way, Eisenman disrupts the formal characteristics and use of order and convention in built form. For structure; easily seen in this painting by example, Eisenman attempts to destroy constructivist artist, Iakov Chernikov. the predominance of the right angle – the Modernist sign of rationalist order and of the predetermined. Thus, form, in the sense of a representation of things, reflects the infinite plurality and instability of experience. As seen in Eisenman’s Aronoff Center for Design and Art in Cincinnati (1996), this often Fig. 3 meant dissolution of visual order. Thus, meaning is inherently Eisenman deconstructed the forms of attributed to or can be extracted from the Modern Architecture by creating work. The desire to create built form apparently illogical clashes of grids, that points in all directions, and thus spaces, and volumes, breaking open the meaningless architecture, is seen here to form of the building to expose the be limited and ultimately a hollow complex and contradictory nature of the reconfiguration of conventional form act of building itself. For Eisenman, the and order. form of the building expresses the
infinite possibilities and solutions for the Peter Eisenman specific site, situation, program, and The American architect Peter context. The diverse materials, Eisenman also openly exploits Derrida’s unrelated construction methods, multiple methods to ground his work. Eisenman axes, and disconnected volumes must utilizes formal fragmentation, where express that no particular form is buildings display an affinity for the valuable in and of itself. By the distortion of volumes and recombining supposedly incomplete form of the them according to principles of building, Eisenman attempts to state that disruption and dislocation. In the same
7 other options and forms are possible and Part of the deconstructivist in fact, there is no ultimate truth or order philosophy was therefore to detach that can be expressed in any single architecture from function and to allow a building. free play of design, free from practical constraints. Indeed deconstruction
would deny any direct relationship
between the form and the function of a Fig.4 building. This relationship is a matter of
coincidence. Here architectural form becomes a self-propelling thing in itself and while the program and client may offer a necessary starting point, the resulting form is inevitably unpredictable and results in mere architectural dynamics and a work of continual self-analysis void of Fig. 5 experiential meaning. In this approach,
then, the concept of the person-world relationship is completely lost.
Steven Holl Avoiding the deconstructivist, analytical method, architect Steven Holl approaches architectural design through a phenomenological lens. Similar to Merleau-Ponty’s existential belief that one’s self-awareness and body exist as object engagements with the world, Holl focuses on human perception as one
moves through space. Rather than Fig. 6 approaching the project from the exterior
8 into the interior, Holl first attempts to qualities of the space will be. understand the experiential relationship of the human body to light and interior space. Working conceptually from the inside out, incorporating various scales and levels, and utilizing two themes he labels as anchoring and intertwining, Holl creates sculptural spaces rich in light that form perceptual and sensual experiences. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Finland
(1998), or Kiasma, exemplifies Holl’s empirical and tactile design approach; an Fig.7 approach that begins with the suspension Holl’s use of metaphor also serves as of pragmatism leading to discovery and a starting point. The metaphor first playfulness that ultimately directs his "anchors" a project to the site in a design process. He implements a mind- physical and metaphysical sense in order body experience of architecture through to not just rest on a site but also begin to reflection of light off internal surfaces explain it. Thus, the metaphor goes on to and overlapping perspectives created provide a conceptual frame through through movement. which to understand the project. This To achieve this experiential concept Heideggerian notion of anchoring that drives the design, Holl sketches with gathers the meaning of the situation; it watercolor. With his intuition in control, connects the phenomenal properties the watercolor allows him to explore in a given within the site to the conceptual playfully vague manner, resulting in a strategies. process that is simultaneously In Helsinki, Holl creates two conceptual and sensible. The medium metaphors, a line of culture and a line of allows him to capture qualities of light, nature. Kiasma, a Greek word borrowed reflection, and movement as he attempts from Merleau-Ponty that means to understand what the experiential intertwining, occurs where the
9 intersection of these metaphors take Due to Helsinki’s high latitude and place. The building's mass intertwines horizontal rays of the sun, the design with the geometry of the city and curves in both plan and section to landscape. The curvilinear slice through capture the distinctive natural light the building implies a cultural line creating variations in light quality that linking the building to Finlandia Hall, a invigorate the visitor with subtle but leading concert and congress hall in phenomenally experiential differences. Helsinki. The natural line of the building connects it to Töölö Bay, the topographic heart of Helsinki. Here, within this intertwining, lie folded planes, natural light, and silent spaces for displaying works of art. The folded planes that create overlapping perspectives in the interior are anchored in the geometry of the city and surrounding landscape. However, the resulting form and quality of these Fig.8 planes is derived directly from Holl’s Silent space, as Holl and colleague desire to express the movement of the Juhani Pallasmaa refer to it, is created body through the space. The folded within the museum by eliminating the planes create multiple vanishing points, intermediate scale of the building, thus opening a condition of spatial parallax – allowing the work itself to fill that void. meaning, an ever-changing space based For example, columns, moldings, and on the body’s relation to the things window openings are not articulated in around it and the constant flux of light favor of neutral wall masses. The gathered by those things. Thus Holl architecture is expressed through details draws from Merleau-Ponty’s belief that such as the twist of a door handle, the the body acts as an interface to the world edge of a stair, and the exposed as well as Heidegger’s notion that things thickness of a slab of glass, allowing the gather the world. body and its direct connection to its
10 surroundings become of primary poetically states, “Silence to light”, importance. Hence, within Holl’s meaning the desire to express and phenomenological approach, the explain through building brings function of the space is tailored to the possibilities into presence. The simple, experience of being in that space. relatively unadorned mass of the Again, it is evident here that Holl draws flanking laboratories allows such things from Merleau-Ponty’s and Bergson’s as human activity and interaction to belief that the action of the body is the speak within the space. Recalling framework for conceptual understanding Heidegger’s notion of gathering, the of the things around us. vertical building masses, horizontal floor plane, and sky above frame one’s Louis I. Kahn connection to the landscape beyond. The architecture of Louis Kahn This connection is taken a step further in (1901-1974) also seeks to explore the Holl’s reading of the space; “There is a interrelationship of person and world time of day when the sun, reflecting on specifically in how one engages building the ocean, merges with light reflecting and how a building engages site. The on the rivulet of water… Ocean and Salk Institute for Biological Studies in courtyard are fused by [this] La Jolla, California exemplifies Kahn’s phenomenon… Architecture and nature architecture of phenomenology. Kahn are joined in a metaphysics of place.” would ask himself, “What does the building want to be”. Thus, although he did not speak directly of phenomenology, it is evident that he thought within the framework of an experiential method, one of connection between site, building, and body.
When one first approaches the Fig. 9 interior courtyard, what Kahn refers to As one moves through the plaza as silence in architecture, a term applied toward the horizon, the plaza extends similarly by Holl, becomes present. He downward through a series of steps and
11 water falls to physically connect to the Kahn believed in revealing how a landscape. The gathering of the world, building and its materials were formed. through the building, into being is This concept reflects Merleau-Ponty’s evident. and Bergson’s belief in the In the same way, Kahn brings light interconnected relationship of into the courtyard and interstitial spaces knowledge between the body and the between the offices and laboratories to world. It is also evident that gather the world, to reveal the form and Heidegger’s thoughts on language and materiality in natural light so that one poetry seep into Kahn’s method, even if can begin to directly connect to the not explicitly. Through reading Kahn’s world. Through shadow, the process of poetry and narratives, one can see the creating the form is revealed as well. influence of language on his designs and For example, the pattern created by the the connection to Heidegger’s notion of formwork of the concrete is accentuated being-there rather than being-thus. The and the ties are left in place to speak of emergence of essence is apparent in such the method through which it was writings as this: constructed. Silence to Light Light to Silence The threshold of their crossing is the Singularity is Inspiration (Where the desire to express meets the possible) is the Sanctuary of Art is the Treasury of the Shadows (Material casts shadows shadows belong to light)
Fig. 10
12 DESIGN METHODOLOGY In order for humans to dwell, and As Holl accomplished in his therefore experience concrete watercolor sketches and metaphoric phenomena and place, architecture must anchoring and Kahn in his poetic allow the body to experience and engage readings and study of material, one must the thingness of the built form that arrive at the essence of the site and surrounds it. In this sense, the building program to create a concept. Metaphor must engage the site in order to make the and language become necessary tools for site present to the body; it must finding this essence. Thus, “the essence physically and metaphysically explain of a work of architecture is an organic and reflect the concept of site. The link between concept and form”. building must gather the meaning of a The ontological narrative or poem specific situation. then becomes a jumping off point from To begin a phenomenological which to discover underlying approach, one must put into language commonalities that mark the essential what he or she gathers from the world. core of the phenomenon. In other Meaning, the essence of the concrete words, the phenomenologist perceives phenomena that surrounds us and specific instances of the phenomenon penetrates us must be deciphered. One that is site with the hope that these puts into language this gathering by instances, in time, will point toward relying on perception, our body’s more general qualities and engagement and knowledge of the things characteristics that accurately describe that are presented to us, and past the essential nature of the place and our experience or memory. As exemplified relationship to it; meaning, its presence in Kahn’s process, by asking one’s self: and significance in the concrete lives and what does the site tell me about what is experiences of humans. there or what was there, what does the From this point, language must begin building want to be, how do I want the to inform the experience of each space body to experience and engage the within the program of the building and space; language will begin to present context of the site. That is to say that the itself. experiential quality of each space that is
13 to be, and the implementation of the meaning. Through this methodology, concept into sketches, models, paintings, architecture will be about experience and etc. must grow out of one’s perception of will enable humans to dwell in places his or her relationship to the site. that comprise “existential space”, space For example, the exploration of that quenches our desire for orientation materials within modeling and other and identification, and built form that methods representing what is imagined expresses our being-in-the-world. as well as materials that would actually be used should help explain or gather the intended experiential quality of the space. Color, texture, scale, etc. should be considered as a means of expressing or fulfilling the desired experience. This methodology denies such seemingly abstract methods of investigation or formal influence as geometry as applied within deconstruction. However, that is not to say that geometry, for example, cannot be used as a method of inquiry all together. Rather, geometric approaches may be the result of such inquiries into historic or cultural influences that may lead to experiential phenomena with a goal of metaphysically explaining a site. A phenomenological design methodology grounded within Heidegger’s ideal of an interrelated person-world relationship and Merleau- Ponty’s notion of body establishes the possibility of creating architecture of
14 ADDENDUM As I began thinking about which site Ohio River. Mt. Adams consists of I should choose to explore this idea or steep, winding streets, quaint boutiques, method of designing through a art stores, restaurants, bars, market-rate phenomenological lens, the criteria I housing, and high-priced single-family discovered to be necessary was actually homes, row houses, and condominiums. quite limited. In other words, any site The Cincinnati neighborhood is a very that I chose inherently had meaning, popular local attraction and destination history, and an essence that could be for shopping and nightlife. Mt. Adams explored and ultimately discovered. is also a hot spot due to its adjacency to Therefore, I found it important to choose Eden Park, a well-used public space a site that first and foremost could be home to the Playhouse in the Park, the easily accessible on a daily and nightly Cincinnati Art Museum, and the Krohn basis; a site that was relatively bare in Conservatory. the sense of pre-existing structures so as The Ohio River, a Cincinnati not to have my intentions misdirected centerpiece of commercial transportation toward a discussion of renovation or re- and public recreation, runs along the habitation; and finally a site that seemed south of the site. Between the southwest to be lacking something, even if I didn’t corner of my site and the shore of the know what that was when I first began Ohio River lies Sawyer Point, a mile- my investigation. long linear park that features award The site that I chose for the purpose winning landscaping, a performance of exploring architectural pavilion, many outdoor activities such as phenomenology and the person-place a children’s playground, tennis, relationship is situated between Eastern volleyball, an ice rink in the winter Avenue and Columbia Parkway in months, and a Cincinnati landmark Cincinnati, Ohio. The site is often restaurant, the Montgomery Inn referred to as Adams Landing because of Boathouse. (See Fig. 11 – Existing Site its location at the base of Mt. Adams; an Plan) affluent neighborhood overlooking the The area known as Adams Landing, Central Business District (CBD) and the a 28-acre stretch of land along Eastern
15 Ave., 7.5 acres of which encompass my condominiums and apartments, small chosen site, has experienced many commercial and retail spaces, supporting design iterations for multifamily housing parking, and interwoven plaza/green dating back to the late 1980’s. Once space. These elements became the slated to bring over 1,000 units to the framework in which to create this area, it is currently designed to house pedestrian connection as well as the about 600 apartments, condos, and town metaphysical connection or gathering of homes throughout the entire site. the environment into building. The major flaw I recognized within The environment that began to show all of the previous master plans was the itself through my site investigations was perpetuation of the proverbial brick wall one of seemingly opposing elements. It between Mt. Adams and the river that possessed an active, energetic sensibility already exists due to the major vehicular but also a feeling that demanded a place arteries of Columbia Parkway and for calm reflection. The site spoke as Eastern Avenue. Rather than using the both an intermediary place as well as a building program to not only create a destination; a place in motion as well as place for persons to dwell but also to a place that could stand still. What I felt create a pedestrian connection between the site wanted to be, as I discovered two wonderful amenities within the city more and more about the environment I of Cincinnati, the previous designs found myself in, was a place for living, a called for a building plan that isolated place for gathering one’s day through the proposed units within the site and Heidegger’s notion of dwelling. further secluded Mt. Adams from the The site’s elevation change of nearly river. This was the thing that I felt could 100 vertical feet from Eastern Avenue to not be ignored. Columbia Parkway could not be Through extensive site investigation overlooked, both pragmatically as well it became apparent that this connection as metaphysically. To address this, the was to be the focal point of the program residential buildings step back on the and the design. The remaining program southern façade to mimic the slope of elements include relatively dense the earth below. The necessary clusters of one, two, and three bedroom supporting parking decks below the
16 buildings also step with the existing that can be found winding through and contours to allow for minimal cut and between each building. Cantilevered fill on the site. This in turn affords a walkways and exaggerated stair landings gradual stepping through the open plazas create elevated, semi-public gathering between each building, whether it be a spaces for the residents and visitors built-in hardscape with green roofs, alike. (See Fig. 26 – Wall Section, and shallow pools, and tree planters, or Fig. 30 – Plaza) mounded earth and grass above the As one navigates from Mt. Adams garage below. Thus, framed by each through the plaza and down to Sawyer resident’s private dwelling, public space Point and the River, the experience and is created for movement and interaction. connection between these three places (See Fig. 21 – Site Section, and Fig. 23- and one’s body reveals itself. There 25 – Mass Model Photos) currently exists a concrete stair that Throughout the eight multi-terraced begins at a small park on Hill St., runs buildings I’ve proposed for the site, down the steep grade of the hillside, and there are a total of 237 units – (80) one- awkwardly intersects a narrow bedroom, (121) two-bedroom, and (36) pedestrian bridge that spans Columbia three-bedroom dwellings - a total far less Parkway. It is at this intersection where than the most recent master plan, which I began my redesign of this much needed called for nearly 400 on this seven acre connection. I have redesigned the bridge plus parcel, allowing for open green to intersect the stair in a more direct space and roof terraces. This mixture of way, eliminating the almost turnstile units is carried throughout each floor and existing condition. I’ve widened it and from front to back to afford each type of gave it a gentle slope to carry visitors unit many different views of the river, into my site. Once arriving, one is Mt. Adams, the interstitial plazas and greeting with an extended landing and an green spaces, and the city skyline. (See opportunity to take in the view of the Fig. 14-20 – Floor Plans) The buildings river and the Kentucky hills in the are mainly single-loaded to afford distance framed by two of the residential maximum visual connection between buildings, the main plaza, and the sky. units, residents, and the public spaces At this point, a gently sloping path
17 that is carved into the existing grade units, framed by the cantilevered begins. The path is situated in the side walkways of the units above, enter of the hill so as to allow the grade to directly off of these stepped plazas, meet the path and be an extension of it at again creating a very tangible connection certain locations. From the arrival point between semi-public and public space. at the base of the bridge, a re-circulating From these plazas and pedestrian water feature cantilevers over the path, walkways the river is always framed and drops into a shallow pool that one can always in site. (See Fig. 32 – Plaza and easily touch, and slides down a large River from Walkway) retaining wall that doubles as the back of The level below the residential units a concrete bench. This seating area houses small commercial space. (See allows for those traversing the winding Fig. 13 – Level 514’ – Commercial) path a place to rest and take in the This allows for street visibility for any framed view of the river and plaza while potential commercial users as well as the cascading water drowns out the pushes the dwelling units up another sound of the traffic above. (See Fig. 31 level above the street to give all units a – Hillside from Stair Landing) view of the river and Kentucky hillside When one arrives physically within beyond. At this level one can either the building’s frame, the indication of walk down a gently curving stair to the the site’s slope still exists but in a much retail floor below (See Fig. Fig. 12 – different way. In the existing site, the Level 500’ – Retail) or continue across a slope began to flatten out slightly here. pedestrian bridge that carries persons In the proposed structure, a stepped across Eastern Ave. (See Fig. 23 – Mass parking garage exists below grade. With Model Photo, and Fig. 21 – Site Section) the necessity of parking to deal with, and The retail level is meant to house yet still wanting to mimic the existing small supporting spaces such as coffee site conditions, I’ve created multi- shops, dry cleaners, and the like for leveled, tree-lined terraces that not only inhabitants of the site as well as those continue to wind persons through the site utilizing Eastern Ave. as a vehicular but also create numerous seating, play, access into and out of the Central and meeting spaces. The ground level Business District. The form of this level
18 has multiple curves in plan and a large the river. On the western most terrace, canopy to address the moving street the city skyline can be seen and the traffic as well as create multiple sight evening sunset can be fully experienced. lines for any potential tenants of the Given its proximity to the CBD, I felt a space. The plaza between the retail and metaphysical connection, like the the street is elevated about five feet with physical connection to Mt. Adams and a series of retaining walls, trees, steps, the river, was necessary. Here one can and ramps for access from pedestrian wind down one’s day with a cup of traffic and street parking along Eastern coffee, neighbors, and a spectacular to create a comfortable buffer from the view. An open canopy and reflecting speed of the traffic below. (See Fig. 12 pool frames one’s view of the city – Level 500’ – Retail) skyline and the ever-changing sky The slender pedestrian bridge beyond. (See Fig. 27-29 – Rooftop crossing Eastern also creates an Terrace) The opposing terrace, similar observation deck for the ice rink and ties in form yet facing east, captures the into a rooftop terrace and steps that sunset in a similar way allowing double as the roof of a small recreation residents to begin their day with a center. Here, one arrives at the other moment of silence and serenity. anchor of the site I’ve chosen – the river After tackling such a large site and and Sawyer Point. (See Fig. 21 – Site program, I realized that a more intimate Section) program would have been better suited As I previously mentioned, each to explore the idea of phenomenology floor of the buildings step back to mimic within design methodology. I feel that the existing hillside, but just as having allowed myself the energy to importantly, this terraced effect also truly get into each experience of one’s allows the built form to reach a height typical day, I might have come to a more necessary to afford the residents two, concise conclusion or a more specific almost sublime rooftop community explanation of how a phenomenological spaces. These spaces are located on the lens could assist in designing for the top-level terrace of the buildings framing human experience and our the connection between Mt. Adams and interconnectedness with the world
19 around and among us. However, I feel the design decisions I made, both in program as well as form and adjacencies, begin to exemplify a thought process toward a personal design methodology rooted in the concepts of phenomenology. The program and proposed form begin to not only fulfill the pragmatic requirements of building upon a site but also speak to how a site can be interpreted and understood, ultimately adding another dimension to a proposed built work; a dimension of a person-world interconnection. When I visited Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute, I was able to explore and begin to understand what Heidegger meant when he explained that built objects create a place for ontological events; what Steven Holl meant by anchoring and intertwining; and what Christian Norberg-Schulz meant when he urged us to “uncover the meanings potentially present in the given environment”. It is these things that I sought to uncover and exemplify in my approach, my method, and my design and hope to explore even further as I continue through my architectural career.
20 BIBLIOGRAPHY
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