Explanation:
Education is the stepping-stone between humble beginnings at in the home and commercial success. The site is anchored between two streets. E. Bay Street is a commercial street full of bustling shops and delicious restaurants. The parallel road on the other side of the site is called State Street, which runs through a quiet residential area. This context gives the program a unique opportunity to unite these two juxtaposed environments. The question than is how to tie these two together? By placing the administration programmatic elements on the residential street, it gives enhances the effort to bring new students from the homes into the school. Likewise, the public service portion of the school is located on the commercial street. In the center is the education portion, anchoring the means of the journey with the end. There is a large lobby area that begins to encompass the alleyway that unites the two streets alongside the building. This exterior space acts as a piazza, creating exterior circulation opportunities on each level, much like the single house plans of Charleston.
Judges Comments:
-Programmatic organizational ideas were not strongly represented
-structural system wasn't modern enough, needed to be relevant to both our time period and Charleston
-liked the main lobby area that interrupted the alley and created a large public area
-the project as a whole needed unity and a stronger driving idea
From here:
-I want to reevaluate how I'm organizing my program and really emphasize my big idea for the way the spaces are organized. I wish to make these ideas so prevalent in my design that no one would accuse me of not considering the program organization.
- I need to reconsider my structural system and make larger gestures. I liked the effect that my varying sized lateral and vertical elements had, so I want to explore that further.
- I think that I should move away from the 3D world for a little while and focus on my plans and sections as a way to develop my design.
