Building-As-City

The design process for this studio was founded upon an initial analytical investigation of Paul Rudolph's Orange County Government Center. Certain generative operations were discovered that applied to the design process of this building: mass, divide, pull (horizontally and vertically), and repeat. Following these operations, an urban effect was found within the architecture — carving out space for an interstitial network and support services to wrap around nodal centers of connection. These analyses were applied to two core projects: a one to "X" scale model in Rand Hall on campus and a larger site located on the Commons in Ithaca. The intention was to use the same operations to produce spatial conditions that nested interstitial spaces around nodes of engagement. The result in Rand Hall was an interactive model with six components of various scales, which acted as independent elements of social interaction (ie. sitting, standing, jumping, talking, etc.) while simultaneously shaping movement and light through the "in-between" spaces that were left from pulling the unit apart. Similarly, the site at the Commons used the process of pulling to generate a network that defined and connected the program of the building, weaving a complex interior composition that united the city and the building.

Part of this project was done in collaboration with Tess Clancy (M.Arch. '17).