GARDEN FOR COMMUNITIES nathan echstenkamper 2016

bs arch capstone project

With help from chance, this project investigates the public

garden as a landscape for entertainment and martial arts.

Formal garden elements are engaged as the ordering system

for rules of play.

GARDEN FOR COMMUNITIES nathan echstenkamper 2016

lucie fontein, professor

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SITE

The site is located on both Hughes St and Sycamore St near their intersections with Liberty St in Cincinnati, OH. There is

a 16’ grade change going down from Sycamore to Hughes and the site narrows considerably when it crosses Cogswell Alley,

which must also be accommodated.

SITE

The assigned site is located at the junction of several neighborhoods in Cincinnati. The neighborhoods--Mt. Auburn, Over-The-Rhine, and Pendleton--represent different types of communities. Shown at right, the darker blue areas of Mt. Auburn (NE) and Over-The-Rhine (SW) are more affluent while the lighter blue areas of Pendleton (SE) and Over-The-Rhine (NW) are less affluent.

SITE

There is a number of playgrounds already in the area dedicated to programmed children’s’ play; so it is a prerogative to

maintain this band of useful outdoor spaces for all ages.

PROGRAM

The program was determined before chance was implemented and includes general spaces for the community to use, a martial arts center, two apartments for martial arts instructors, and the additional program of performance spaces. The performance spaces were conceived of as more casual spaces for a variety of shows and performances.

CHANCE

Chance was used in this project to initiate inspiration and explore the effects of chance on the design process. Two words or ideas were drawn from a hat: an inspirational word and the

dominant structural system. Garden(s) and concrete frame were drawn and used as the primary inspiration factors.

RESEARCH

Formal gardens were researched to examine the use of architectural garden elements--canals, fountains, terraces, orangeries, winter gardens, relationships to primary buildings, etc.--and employ their ideas into a smaller scale and a public realm for play.

STRATEGY

To treat the martial arts as the primary building and raise it on a type of piano nobile and put other major program under

a Sycamore-level garden. To connect Hughes and Sycamore through the site with a central plaza and performance space.

To link it all with multi-level circulation and interactive canal.

Entrance to the site from Sycamore is through an inviting opening in a wall of hedges and channel glass that is softened by angling the corners.

The canal is a formal expression of play; gently beveling into very shallow moving water with spraying fountains. This element continues through the site where a central pool collects the water from the upper site and a spout from the top of the small west after-school building (orangerie).

An arcade for traversing the site in the shade and for denoting places to sit and face the canal is made with an array of piers. From this arcade one can look down into the community spaces below.

SYCAMORE GARDEN

sycamore st level

longitudinal section looking north

Stairs create a plaza space on the Hughes level of the site and varied heights and widths provide seating for outdoor

performance events. The plaza allows the land to be maintained and trees planted on the west side of the plaza

create a shelter and backdrop for performances.

COGSWELL PLAZA

Entrance to the main level space on the Hughes level is located beside where the canal drops from the Sycamore level. This mostly subterranean level has spaces for a cafe, the community, and performances. Light is predominantly brought into the space from above and from the 4’ wide channel glass monitors that establish the boundary walls of the garden above.

The performance area with stage and flexible seating is conceived of as a winter garden, with natural light being brought in from the low part of the site in the southwest corner.

WINTER GARDEN

hughes st level

transverse section looking west

An elevator and interior stairs wind up the channel glass tower to the martial arts center and apartments, giving varied views

of the garden as one ascends.

The martial arts center is a double-height space with an elevated parent viewing level and mezzanine space for private

training and offices.

DOJO

Two apartments for the martial arts instructors is a rectilinear mass south of the tower accessible by bridges. They are made of layered channel glass facades and opaque walls that, like the dojo, open up to a casual terrace on the south.

LIVING

second floor third floor

The south facade of the martial arts building is a layered composition of the following: a brick screen which jogs for

openings and planters; space for a terrace to walk out onto and open all the glass doors for sufficient natural ventilation; and a

row of piers that maintain the order from the arcade below.

SOUTH FACADE

The Hughes St entrance is a framed gate to the ground level and stairs to access the roof of the west building. This small building was conceived of as a garden orangerie and is for after-school activities. It opens completely to the south for an immediate connection with the open garden. Like the citrus trees of an orangerie moving in and out of the building, so too is it intended that the children would connect to the outside.

HUGHES GARDEN

GARDEN FOR COMMUNITIES nathan echstenkamper 2016

bs arch capstone project