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victor gonzalez thesis manual fall 2012 ar501

To my parents, who taught me the value of hard work and a good education. Thank you for instilling in me the desire to never stop learning and to never settle for mediocrity.

To my instructor, Philipp Bosshart, thank you for your unending support, knowledge and high expectations of what a student of architecture should be capable of producing and achieving.

anomaly n.1.an odd, peculiar, or strange condition, situation, quality, etc.2. a deviation from the common rule, type, arrangement, or form.3. an outlying or odd condition on a physical site that manifests as a by product of urban development

table of contentsIntroduction

LineageCase StudiesLiterary ObservationsPlaceTypologyMethodologyGraphical Identity

Conclusion

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

-Marcus Aurelius

Introduction

Author Tim Ferriss lives life a bit differently than most Americans. Author of three New York Best-sellers, Guinness World Record Holder in tango, multi lingual speaker of five languages and National Chinese kick boxing champion are only a handful of his accomplishments. He has experimented with and honed “lifestyle design,” which describes an ideal lifestyle of working less than ten hours a week, living anywhere in the world and becoming world class at nearly any skill in six months or less. In a recent interview Tim was asked “Do you have a generic method for hacking some advanced skill set?” Ferriss replied with this quote. “I look for anomalies.” He further explained that observing a good swimmer that did not have the physical attributes of someone like Michael Phelps, broad shoulders, long limbs, large hands, massive lung capacity, could lead to the best and most efficient training methods as physical attributes could not make up for poor training.

Most observers view the urban environment, and more specifically downtown areas, as a series of blocks set up on a grid running north/south and east/west. However, upon closer in-spection, it becomes evident that the grid has major shifts or breaks within the urban context. These breaks or shifts come about by a number of factors including zoning, transportation lines (light rail, trains, metro etc), rivers and topography. This shift in the grid begins to create a condition where anomalies in the block size and shape can be found. Taking a closer look at a micro level and one begins to see that these anomalous blocks also contain abnormal par-cels of land. These anomalies are often small, oddly shaped properties that are challenging to design for and build on. So how can these anomalies, scattered throughout the urban environ-ment be used to their full potential?

According to “The Project on Student Debt,” graduates in 2011 finished college with an aver-age student loan debt of $26,600. In some cases students will graduate $50,000 or more in debt. So it is now time to find a job and what better place to look than a bustling downtown area such as center city Los Angeles. However, downtown LA living has become an expensive luxury with very little housing. With debt payments close to that of the average rent in down-town an obvious question is raised. How does the younger, professional generation acquire a high quality life within the urban environment? To follow the example of Tim Ferriss we may need to look at the anomalies. Instead of viewing anomalies in the urban fabric as problems or residual space, these lots could become opportunities for unique architectural typologies in urban housing and therefore, “What stands in the way becomes the way.”

Shape

Size

Adjacency

Shape-Any parcel of land that does not have four corners-Four corner parcels are included if they contain less only one 90 degree corner angle

Size-Any parcel that covers less than one fourth of the block it occupies-Exclusions occur when a single parcel occupies an entire block as such blocks tend to be much smaller than normal city blocks

Adjacency-Any lot that is less than one half the width of two adjacent buildings (sandwiched) -Any lot that is caught between the built environment (street,buildings, etc) and a natural condition such as a river or extreme topography change

Parcels must adhere to at least two of these criteria to be considered anomalous within the urban environment.

Defining the anomaly

As the city develops, more specifically dense downtown areas, anomalies in the urban fab-ric are inevitable. These anomalies present a great opportunity for unique and well designed architecture that can add to the quality of life within the city. Can architects and designers use these anomalies,specifically in shape, to create an affordable housing solution while maintaining a high quality of life for the young, professional generation? This is the question that drives this thesis into the further stages of development and into AR502.

Position

Lineage

Why the cityGrowing up in the San Bernadino val-ley outside of Los Angeles, always made me feel as I was part of a larger city. Even while traveling outside of southern California the easiest and most recogniz-able answer to where I’m from is simply “LA.” I have always been attracted to the city, and as I learn more about architec-ture I am able to understand it even more so than those who have lived in a dense urban environment their entire lives. The city is a high contrast from the suburbs that I was raised in where it always felt as if I lived in a bubble, socially and physi-cally. The city offers a different kind of freedom and so many more opportunities to explore than a quiet suburb where the nearest stimuli is a couple miles away. The mix of creativity and insight into new ideas, as the city is the creative and finan-cial hub of an area, is also a very strong draw for me. More than anything the city is alive and constantly in flux.

To quote William Cowper, “Variety is the spice of life,” and I believe that be-ing exposed to different people, ideas and environments helps you grow as an individual physically, mentally and spiri-tually. More than anything I think life is an adventure and that is no more evident anywhere in the built environment than the dense urban environment. The follow-ing photograph was taken at Calatrava Stadium in the city of Athens, Greece. As I climbed the curved, graffiti tagged i-beams of the entry way into the stadium, the sun setting on the horizon, all I could think about was that the city can have just as powerful of an effect on the mind, body and soul as that of the natural environ-ment. I believe there can be an affordable solution to life in the city that simultane-ously offers a very high quality of life and I look forward to exploring how that can be achieved.

“But one man is possessed by greed that is insatiable, another by a toilsome devotion to tasks that are useless...” -Seneca

Seneca and stoicismI have always been a very practical and logic driven person. I am a realist and accept what I can and cannot affect in my world. In essence I live in the real world. Therefore, my life philosophy, which has developed over that past few years, has been influenced greatly by the practical philosophy of Stoicism.Lucious Annaeus Seneca was an early first century Roman philosopher. His life was riddled with trials and was in highly publi-cized conflict with the emperor which led to his exile around the age of forty. Dur-ing this time period he wrote many of his Stoic philosophical thoughts until he was brought back from exile to tutor Nero who would one day become emperor. Nero would suspect Seneca of being involved in a plot to kill Nero and demanded that Seneca take his life denying him the time to even write up a will. Seneca remained calm throughout the ordeal and focused on passing on his philosophy of life to his friends and family rather than material wealth, of which he had attained a great deal. He chose to cut his wrists and bleed out slowly while having his last words written surrounded by his family.Seneca’s greatest legacy is his iteration of Stoic philosophy which serves to be a simple, practical set of rules for achieving the highest amount living and work results with the greatest efficiency. Rather than using abstract thoughts or understanding lofty ideas that may make a person look smarter over drinks, Stoicism can be eas-ily understood and practiced on a daily basis. At its core Stoicism can be seen to have three basic rules or exercises that can be done everyday for better living.

1) “We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagina-tion than from reality.” -Seneca This leads into the exercise of living out of your comfort zone. Most of our fears stem from the unknown and rarely from those things we have actually experi-enced.

2) “What stands in the way, becomes the way.” -Marcus AureliusThis rule is about embracing challenges or road blocks in life rather than avoid-ing them. Rather than seeing a situation as bad a person should simply see it as a situation and look for the opportunities within that situation.

3) “There is nothing the busy man is less busied with than living; there is nothing harder to learn.” -SenecaThis last rule is to continually remember that this life and everything in it is ephem-eral. I think this means more than any-thing that life is about enjoying and living in the moment you are in and not clinging too much to the past or worrying about the future.

The quote on the opposite page by Seneca sums up my approach to architecture and this thesis,“But one man is possessed by greed that is insatiable,another by a toil-some devotion to tasks that are useless...” I believe that everything we learn or study should have a practical application to life and it is useless to be preoccupied with things that do not lead to direct action or forward progress. That is why I have cho-sen to focus on a topic that can be directly applied to life in the city.

Pet architecture as a precedentThe most prominent and similar prec-edent to taking advantage of anomalous or residual space in the urban environment is “Pet Architecture” which has been an ongoing project for Yoshiharu Tsukamoto. Pet Architecture is a type of architecture that is named for its small, charming and humorous nature, all similar characteris-tics that a domestic pet might contain. In essence these projects are “pets” of the urban fabric as they are not in direct com-petition to larger, more traditional projects in the city. Tsukamoto touches on some-thing very interesting about how the ideal conditions for Pet Architecture manifest; “They are an urban development by prod-uct.” Does this hint that urban develop-ment or the city expands a process? This question is further discussed in the chap-ter on literary observations.

So what defines Pet Architecture and where is it found?

-Range in scale from three to sixty feet in width-Found in small crevices between larger buildings, on subdivided lots and gaps between the geometric designs of infra-structure.-Construction is unique due to its small nature. Things such as signage or an AC unit become extremely important aspects in the design compared to larger build-ings.

The most prominent and applicable attribute of Pet Architecture to this thesis is shape. The small and odd shaped lot sizes produce a very specific type and function of architecture which will be further investigated in the following case studies.

Photo at right is an example of “Pet Architecture”

Case studies

pet architecture in tokyo

pet architecture number 15One specific example of “Pet Architecture,” this project located in a tiny two and a half foot opening between two buildings it is approximately 30 feet long and six feet tall. It is meant to be a small store. This is prob-ably used more as a kiosk than an actual store where product is stored in the building, accessed by the owner and sold on the street. “Number 15” is a very specific example and could lead to more questions in regards to this thesis such as, how does light enter a building such as this or how are views or privacy created.

pet architecture and formThe case study below shows how privacy can be achieved with a residence that faces directly out to the street. To the right, this case study of“Pet Architecture” was inves-tigated purely in terms of form. This case study shows how form plays a role on a very small anomalous lot. These two examples may play a more prominent role when a design solution is being investigated.

Literary observations

Gordon Matta clark

odd lots and fake estatesGordon Matta-Clark was an American artist and was best know for his installa-tions in which he cut section and floors out of old abandoned buildings. However, he had an ongoing project at the time of his death which he entitled Fake Estates. Matta-Clark began by identifying “micro parcels” land in Brooklyn, New York that were small and oddly shaped. These lots were so small in size or in such odd places that they could not be built on or used for anything, except maybe a small art installation. He acquired four-teen lots in total although most of them were repossessed by the city after his death due to tax delinquency.

“Odd Lots” is a collaboration led by Matta-Clarks widow that roots itself in Fake Estates. All fourteen lots were repur-chased and varying artists had the op-portunity to design installation pieces for each one. Although this project is primar-ily an artistic experiment, it has deep roots in urban development. This is extremely relevant to this thesis because it shows that as the city develops and changes it creates these anomalies. Even though these micro lots do not present an oppor-tunity for an architectural artifact they do give insight into how they came about and where larger, “Odd Lots” may be found within the city.

Queens county block 209 lot 160This lot was once a 2000 square foot parcel in 1931. In 1965 the Long Island Expressway began construction and sig-nificantly reduced the lot size. By the time Matta-Clark purchased the property, all that remained was a 27 square foot piece of land. Reasons for keeping such a small parcel as a legal property is unknown. As observed widening of infrastructure can lead to these anomalies in the city.

40th

39th

Borden Ave1931

40th

39th

Borden Ave

40th

39th

Borden Ave

1965

2005

Queens county block 2406 lot 148This “micro-parcel” as inaccessible from the street as it is bordered by three larger lots. This lot came about as a result of four rural lots intersecting when the urban grid of blocks and lots was super im-posed upon the area. This tiny piece of land makes no sense at all, but may have remained its own entity because it was absorbed by a neighboring lot “illegally” and it was therefore difficult to establish as to which lot it should belong.

53rd

53rd1915

The pink dotted box above shows the in-tersection of the four initial lots. By 1933 the “micro parcel” was bordered by four lots. Then in 1965 two parcels merged which resulted in the final parcel, boxed in by three adjacent lots.

53rd

53rd

53rd

53rd

1933

1965

Makeshift metropolis

The city as a processThe early American city has typically been thought of as a very detailed and strategically planned environment. Ur-ban planning has a long history in the development of the built environment. The three major movements in American urban planning are the Garden City Move-ment, the City Beautiful Movement and Corbusier’s Radiant City. Sir Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City Movement began in England but quickly influenced cities in the United States. It was characterized by a population of 32,000 people with open space, parks and boulevards radiat-ing in concentric circles. A few of these cities were built on the east coast but this movement seems to have influenced the development suburban sprawl rather than an ideal, complete city. Around the same time the City Beautiful Movement began to flourish. This movement’s intent was to beautify the city and therefore create social order. This movement is extremely prevalent in cities such as Washington,DC where civic buildings are extremely mon-umental. Some of these principles are still evident in today’s cities as civic buildings are still designed to be monumental focal points in large cities. The most ambitious city plan however was Le Corbusier’s design for “The Radiant City.”

This plan consisted of massive skyscrap-ers spread out over the city and con-nected by highways. This allowed for more natural space surrounding the built environment. It was designed to house a population upwards of six million people. However, people do not seem to respond well to this large scale planning as it actu-ally “feels planned.” Humans are complex creatures with complex emotions and need and today’s cities reflect this truth. The contemporary city develops much dif-ferently than the utopian urban planners would have preferred. The city is shaped by the economics of supply and demand. Residents know what they want the it is the private sector of developers with help from the government that builds projects one by one. Therefore there is a distinc-tion between early urbanism as “The City Planned” versus contemporary develop-ment, which can be seen as “The City as a Process.” It is important to identify that the city does develop through a col-laborative process because the nature of any process creates anomalies. The end result is not planned from the beginning and therefore anomalies form regularly throughout the development of the city. This is explored with experimentation in the following pages.

Opposite page: Top left-City Beautiful MovementTop right- The Radiant CityBottom left- Garden City Layout

the city as a processa methodology for explorationIn order to try and understand the process of development that occurs in the city and how and where anomalies form within that process a methodology needed to be established. First a peg board was set up with a superimposed grid, much like city blocks in a downtown urban area. Various lengths of wooden dowels were then in-serted into the peg board by different vol-unteers who had no architectural school-ing. Each volunteer had five minutes to insert dowels into the peg board before another volunteer took over. This done to show that the sum of the whole process is collaborative, as in urban development. Two rules were set in place to simulate zoning, setbacks, etc in the city.

The first rule was that pegs had to be inserted in groups of four or more. This was to create more density on each block within the grid. The second rule was once the first block was built upon, in the first phase, pegs could only be inserted into ad-jacent blocks. This helped to create a cer-tain density on the entire board that grew from a definitive starting point rather than a scattered “city.” The following diagrams show the development in three phases and then shows where the anomalies happen and how they change as the process con-tinues and the board becomes more dense.

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Trial 1 Anomalies in this exploration are any residual space on a lot that does not have four corners. Some exceptions were made for very small lots that were created and are typically one or two dowel holes in size. The dark circles indicate where dow-els were placed as the light gray outlined in pink represent an anomalous lot. In each phase only new anomalous lots were recorded to show how anomalies changed from phase to phase.

It appears that, the more dense the peg board became, the shape of the anomalies became more radical and strayed farther from the initial shape of the square block. However, a larger sample may be needed in order to determine a more definitive pattern in this process.

Phase 1 Phase 2

Phase 3

Trial 2

Phase 1 Phase 2

Phase 3

Trial 3

Phase 1 Phase 2

Phase 3

Place

Enter Los angelesLos Angeles, California is quickly becom-ing a global city. It is a financial, cultural, and socioeconomic hub that has a far reaching international influence. It is an extremely complex city that developed as a process, mainly around the automobile and the premise that the American dream is a two car garage with a yard in the sprawling suburbs. This type of develop-ment has affected the central downtown area in a very obvious way. Although most people may see a dense urban city as a grid that simply runs north/south and east/west, there are major breaks in the grid caused by zoning changes, transpor-tation lines, rivers and extreme topogra-phy changes.

When the grid breaks or shifts it begins to deform the rectangular blocks. These deformations then create the anomalous lots that have been discussed throughout this thesis. Although San Diego, Chicago and New York were explored as well, Los Angeles seems to have the most potential for experimentation while being close enough to visit and observe on a regular basis. This chapter deals exclusively with investigating anomalies specifically by analyzing downtown Los Angeles.

The los angeles gridThe downtown grid at right represents only streets that run vertically(north/south) and horizontally(east/west.) This shows the breaks, shifts and holes in the grid in the downtown area. The smaller patterns above are the separation of the vertical and horizontal and they help to identify breaks that may not be seen with both overlaid together.

THe anomalous edge conditionThe diagram above is an abstract representa-tion of where the breaks or shifts happen in the grid. The diagram at right shows actual districts that fall into those breaks and shifts. These were mapped because these areas may indicate where the most anomalous parcels can be found.

central coreThe Central Core is located at the north-ernmost edge of downtown. Although the blocks are anomalous the high prop-erty values and zoning of this area do not make it an ideal place to for afford-able housing. The diagram at right shows the zoning of the area. Pink is commer-cial, the light gray indicates public fa-cilities and the darkest gray is open space.

Historic coreThe Historic Core is located at the east-ern edge of downtown. These lots are somewhat anomalous, but are still very similar to the rectangular gridded lots. The entire area is zoned as commercial. Due to its historic nature this area may be a case study in historic preservation or adaptive reuse rather than an opportu-nity for taking advantage of anomalies.

fashion districtThe fashion district is located in the south-eastern corner of downtown LA. These lots are also very similar to the Historic Core and has a slightly irregular grid pat-tern. The area is primarily zoned as in-dustrial although most of the older indus-trial buildings are now being converted to condos or apartments. Industrial zoning is indicated by the lightest gray blocks.

artist districtThe artist district is the largest and far-thest outlying of the anomalous districts. Mainly zoned industrial this area contains the largest amount of anomalous blocks in size and shape. This led to the assump-tion that there would be more anomalous parcels in the area as well. Therefore this area was chosen for further investigation.

The anomaliesAs predicted the Artist District contained a variety of different anomalous parcels. A parcel map was stitched together in order to identify where the parcels were found. The diagram at right is an exploded axon. Each layer contains different information starting from the top: Street, Anomalous Lots, City Blocks, District Border.

The anomaliesThis map shows all the anomalous lots in the Artist District. They are defined in pink and as seen come in various shapes and sizes. Shape was the dominant factor in de-ciding which lots were considered anoma-lies. These are the lots that will be further explored in AR 502 in order to determine how they can be used in an advantageous manner in terms of architectural manifesta-tion. Below are the criteria for anomalies within this study.

Shape-Any parcel of land that does not have four corners-Four corner parcels are included if they contain less only one 90 degree corner angle

Size-Any parcel that covers less than one fourth of the block it occupies-Exclusions occur when a single parcel occupies an entire block as such blocks tend to be much smaller than normal city blocks

Adjacency-Any lot that is less than one half the width of two adjacent buildings (sandwiched) -Any lot that is caught between the built environment (street,buildings, etc) and a natural condition such as a river or extreme topography change

Parcels must adhere to at least two of these criteria to be considered anomalous within the urban environment.

The anomaliesThis is a diagram of the anomalies orga-nized by shape and size. The smallest lots are located in the center of the circles and the largest on the outer rings. As seen al-most half of the lots are triangular or very close to triangular. This may give insight into what may become the dominant ty-pology and could give rise to what shape buildings can lend themselves to be built on these parcels. This is another investi-gation that can be explored further in AR 502.

the qualities of the cityEach city has its own distinct culture and qualitative aspects. Downtown San Diego is vastly different from downtown Los Ange-les, however it is still very obvious that one is in an urban environment. Qualities of the city also vary from district to district and even block to block. The following inves-tigations focus on the qualitative aspects of the Artist District in downtown Los Angeles as previous investigations have led this area to be the potential site for further investiga-tions within the framework of this thesis.

SPatial qualitiesCities differ immensely from the suburbs, but no more so than in the quality and type of outdoor space used by its resi-dents. The streets and city itself become the front yard to urban dwellers. The following diagrams depict the spatial qualities, more specifically the streets in the Artist District. Pink lines represents walls, trees or other spatial framers that occur at the human scale, approximately ground level to 10’ in height.

The dotted gray lines represent the side-walks and the darker solid lines indicate wall, buildings and trees that are above the human scale. The differences in the pink line type denote different types of materials, objects protruding into the users path or recesses in buildings or solid walls. These are meant to show the feeling of the space rather than to liter-ally represent something such as a brick or stucco wall.

SPatial qualities

SPatial qualities

SPatial qualities

SPatial qualities

TRAFFIC STUDYA camera was positioned in two differ-ent places in downtown San Diego in order to capture the quality of traffic in an urban area. The first was set up closer to East Village next to the ball park while the other was set up on 6th Ave in the Gaslamp District to compare the similari-ties and differences in traffic quality. One picture was take every five seconds for a total of two minutes on each street. The gradients are a visual representation of when traffic is in the picture (pink and gray) and the white space represents a lull in traffic.

As seen in the comparison, the two traf-fic flows are very similar and you can see the traffic has a pattern of about five ten seconds of traffic followed by a 30 second or so lull. This shows the pat-tern of traffic and it may be due to the short distances between blocks, traffic light schedules, stop signs and pedestrian traffic. Overall this adds a view into the qualitative aspect of traffic in a specific urban area.

color in the cityThis color collage was done very early in this study in order to understand the color palate of the city. Pictures were taken only of vertical surfaces at eye level and were then organized into a spectrum of color. This was done in order to understand if the color palate in the city was different from the sub-urbs. Although a larger sample is needed this is a useful tool for exploring a more specific area, such as the Artist District in LA in AR 502.

Typology -Urban housing

Pet architecture and the anomalous lotThe PET Architecture typology comes about as a by-product of urban development of Tokyo. These are small lots that can be found sandwiched between larger buildings, in the residual spaces of subdivided urban blocks and at junctions between streets and rail-roads, rivers or extreme topography. These lots are advantageous as they can be used to build small, inexpensive projects that can serve as shops, restaurants, storage and even housing.

These anomalous lots are found in the Ameri-can urban environment at well. As American culture tends to call for larger spaces, design plays an important role in developing these lots into viable housing additions to the city. How can the same quality of life be achieved, as larger urban housing projects, with vastly limited or oddly shaped spaces? The dia-grams below show, in plan, where these lots are found within the urban context.

Communal space and urban housingThe American dream always conjures up pictures of a single family residence with a two car garage surrounded by an acre of land. But where do residents in the city go to achieve relaxation when their front yard is the bustling street. The following diagrams are an examination of different communal spaces contained in urban multi resident housing. These spaces provide privacy and relaxation from the rest of the city as well as

offering interaction between neighbors and visitors. Observing how these spaces work may provide insight into how this type of space could possibly function in a project that is designed for a small or odd shaped lot. This is another piece of the puzzle that could contribute to the overall quality of life to a small housing unit within the urban environment.

the outliersThe pink outlines in the diagrams denote a outdoor shared/communal space while the gray shows the remainder of the build-ing. The solid pink lines indicate a space at ground level. Dotted lines indicate a shared/communal space above ground level, typi-cally on the rooftop. The overlapping condi-tion of solid and dotted line on diagram at right signifies that two shared spaces overlap one another at different levels. The middle diagram shows shared space that surrounds the built environment much like a yard sur-rounding a house while the diagram at the bottom has two different levels of shared space above ground level. These three dia-grams are the most odd or outlying condi-tions within this investigation.

the courtyardThis condition appeared the most within this investigation. It is characterized by a central communal space surrounded by units that look into the courtyard. This space typically occurs at ground level and is advantageous as there are always eyes on the central communal space which makes it safe even if non residents wan-der into the courtyard. However, it is not a truly private space for the residents if it is not gated from outside trespassers.

the courtyard

the outskirtsThis condition is characterized by a commu-nal space that occurs on the outside edges of a building. They too are typically at ground level and some of them become part of the urban fabric and are shared by the public at large. These spaces have a different feel from the courtyard condition as they may not appear to be as safe. However, the do provide a strong connection to the city and reinforce the atmosphere of city living.

The roofThese communal spaces are located on the rooftops of buildings in the urban environ-ment. They utilize otherwise unused space that is typically used for mechanical and ventilation equipment. This type of space also provides excellent views of the city while taking the users away from the noise and traffic providing a somewhat serene set-ting within the dense city. The lighter pink denotes the size and shape of the rooftop communal space.

High density urban living

Learning from the dorms

The dorm is very similar to high density urban housing, however it is typically in a more controlled environment on the college campus. However, this type of housing is a bare bones version of an apartment or condo and could provide good insight into design-ing for minimal living spaces.

The towerThe dorm tower makes a good comparison to the mid rise housing tower in the urban environment. Each floor is laid out with a central core containing bathrooms and vertical circulation such as stairs and eleva-tors. The dorm rooms surround the core and circulation occurs around the core. This provides light to all units while providing convenient amenities for all residents on that floor.

Tower typology-elevation

LightIn the tower configuration approximately ninety percent of the dorm have a single window that allows natural light into the room. The bottom diagram shows how natu-ral lighting enters and where it is brightest in the room. The gray bar represents the fen-estration. Natural lighting is less dominant farther away from the window.

ProgramThe programming of the dorm is based on the time spent doing each activity in a time span of sixteen hours. This takes into ac-count that approximately eight to ten hours are spent outside of the dorm during the day.

sleep 45%

leisure 40%

work 10%

eat 5%

The quad

quad typology-elevation

LightIn the quad configuration the dorms are long and thin compare to the square dorm in the tower. Light typically enters from a single window as in the tower dorms. Therefore light penetrates deeper into the dorm. This shape is therefore more efficient for allow-ing natural light into a unit with a single window.

program

sleep 45%

leisure 40%

work 10%eat 5%

The programming of the quad dorm is the same as the tower. However, due to its shape, spatial organization will differ from the tower dorm.

MethodologyThe primary methodology for investigating this thesis has been analysis, diagramming and photography. The following chapter is a brief explanation of the various methodolo-gies used throughout AR 501.

step 1

step 2

step 3

step 4

step 1

step 2

step 3

step 4

Graphical identity

A Manual to the manual

Text and graphic setupBody Text-Times 13 ptTitle font and sizes are shown on the adja-cent page. As seen titles were placed in one of three places on the page grid. Labels were also the font type Couture but were size 15. Body text was placed below the titles. Body text was always split into two columns and kept within the confines of the vertical grid but was allowed to contin-ue down if into another grid square if text needed more space. The text is aligned left and has a ragged edge in keeping with the theme of anomalies, as the ragged edge creates an anomalous condition in contrast the hard left edge.

Colors throughout the book consisted of gray scale pictures and diagrams with varying degrees of gray. Pink was used to point out important information within the diagrams. Most layouts consisted of one page of text coupled with a picture or diagrams on the adjacent page. There are variations on this layout. The next few pages are a few different layouts found throughout the book.

chapter titlesmain titles

sub titles

couture 23ptcouture 19pt

couture 17pt

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diagram or picture

titleUm, velis veritiusam, ut idelique ped molup-tatquam aut del et evenia quatia pro dolup-tam, veriorem quam coriostiur? Igenimi, sit latus, opta endel is nemoluptam volupit int que num eatur, expe lique porempos cul-parum aut quod minci dolest, sam, offictem et eatiaspit asperunda dolore, cusant liquiate rendipit, cusae ium quati solest voluptam fugitium quia consequ idiorem porerum is sus maxim hitiis reici duciatus eostis aut volorepra acepreritiae velitatur, omnime doluptatur, consedissi vit earunt

diagram or picture

diagram or picture

“Important Quote”

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Um, velis veritiusam, ut idelique ped moluptatquam aut del et evenia quatia pro doluptam, veriorem quam co-riostiur? Igenimi, sit latus, opta endel is nemoluptam volupit int que num eatur, expe lique porempos culparum aut quod minci dolest, sam, offictem et eatiaspit asperunda dolore, cus-ant liquiate rendipit, cusae ium quati solest voluptam fugitium quia con-sequ idiorem porerum is sus maxim hitiis reici duciatus eostis aut volore-pra acepreritiae velitatur, omnime doluptatur, consedissi vit earuntOn conseca esecesti ist veres voluptas et andictat pelique simint, ut volum id quia volupta quatem ad mos ex earum rersperum ad et vella debitisitate pratinvene volorun tessimil elentorum quas aperum il iliquid et ex esent lit unt pe labore int dollatem quid un-tiore mo tem. Et officto que dolori omniet quatur? Quist aut velita eos am eatisquia voluptatem quae. Et omnis autenisti te qui tet et, andipienis ea qui iunt quae volum rectium quo bla adignis apernamene si conet, occum verit evel exped ma voluptatus quibus, cum quistis ut aut ipist, omnimol oruptatese parum quia volorerum, om-nimolore volupta tenihitati blab illorit iuntium quati senienti tet, aut volorro cone nimet optatium ra doluptatur, ut lam audae volorat quiatissum cus, temqui consed que quaesto consedit as nus re eaquae con perum imollaborum qui quis dolupta spelia cusdae dese-quaspid mos dolupidipit pratati usdae-pe rature min cum ressi blaborem quis dellescim res acerferore nossitibus as doluptaerunt qui opta voluptur, nisqui

titleUm, velis veritiusam, ut idelique ped moluptatquam aut del et evenia quatia pro doluptam, veriorem quam coriostiur? Igenimi, sit latus, opta endel is nemo-luptam volupit int que num eatur, expe lique porempos culparum aut quod minci dolest, sam, offictem et eatiaspit asperun-da dolore, cusant liquiate rendipit, cusae ium quati solest voluptam fugitium quia consequ idiorem porerum is sus maxim hitiis reici duciatus eostis aut volorepra

diagram or picture diagram or picture

Um, velis veritiusam, ut idelique ped moluptatquam aut del et evenia quatia pro doluptam, veriorem quam coriostiur? Igenimi, sit latus, opta endel is nemo-luptam volupit int que num eatur, expe lique porempos culparum aut quod minci dolest, sam, offictem et eatiaspit asperun-da dolore, cusant liquiate rendipit, cusae ium quati solest voluptam fugitium quia consequ idiorem porerum is sus maxim hitiis reici duciatus eostis aut volorepra

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Conclusion

Throughout the course of this investigation shape has seemed to be the most prominent aspect within the anomalous lots that were explored. Changes in the shape of lots as the grid shifts led to the discovery of the odd shaped parcels within the outlying anomalous districts in Los Angeles. The anomalous shapes also help to define a specific architectural typology as seen in the “Pet Architecture” proj-ects. This typology produces various challenges and opportunities ar-chitecturally and perhaps economically. Architecturally, design solu-tions need to be very creative and economic in order to achieve a high quality of living. In addition, due to the lots anomalous shape, these properties may be lower priced and would help to bring the total cost of the project into an affordable market for the targeted young profes-sionals with massive debt. This is one aspect that needs to be further explored in AR 502. In conclusion, this manual suggests a clear direc-tion in which to further this thesis, for “If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.”

w

“If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.”

-Seneca

Anomalies

Bibliography

Aranda, B., & Lasch, C. (2006). Pamphlet Architecture 27-Tooling. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press.

Ferriss, T. (2007, January). In The Blog of Tim Ferriss Experiments in Lifestyle Design. Retrieved December 16, 2012, from http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/

Kastner, J., Najafi, S., & Richard, F. (Eds.). (2005). Odd Lots Revisiting Gordon Matta-Clark’s Fake Estates. New York, NY: Cabinet Books.

Tsukamoto, Y. (2001). Pet Architecture Guide Book (Vol. 2). N.p.

Rybczynski, W. (2010). Makeshift Metropolis. New York, NY: Scribner.

Seneca, . (1969). Letters from a Stoic. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

Yi, E. (Ed.). (2006). LA Now (Vols. 3 - 4). Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design. Retrieved December 16, 2012, from http://morphopedia.com/projects/la-now