Group Project Force Field

This project, located in the entrance to Philadelphia's Navy Yard, capitalizes on the concept of bending force behavior of a field of steel columns that strategically bend locally and globally to create thresholds, gateways, living spaces, viewing spaces, gathering spaces, isolated spaces, flexible spaces, and adaptable spaces. The ground floor accommodates an open-air public market accessible to pedestrians and bike drivers alike which are divided and guided by the grid of steel columns. On the second level, the steel columns bend outwards creating a series of bulb-shaped enclosures that visitors can rent for an hour and up to a whole day to rest and have a privileged view of the adjacent navy ships. Finally, on the last floor, a series of bigger floor plates congregate to form areas where people can gather and watch all of the Navy Yard to the south and the skyline of Philadelphia to the north.

The project also creates a self-enclosure and structural equilibrium through bundling of the steel columns where there is a deliberate change in their density and redundancy based on the program or on differing levels of privacy vs. publicity or congregation vs. isolation. The bending nature and bundling steel column system is therefore utilized to regulate all spatial, experiential, and circulatory behaviors in the project, from bicycle storage to private living and resting spaces to much larger gathering recreational spaces.