My latest: Boutique Hotel in NOLA

[Mings]

So the second project this semester is a boutique hotel and they are really playing up the digital modeling aspect with this one...so you are all in for a special treat. Instead of seeing things at the end, you get to see them in the middle as well. Ignore the layout, because it was a basic just for an interim review thing. The layout of the building will change some since the way I laid out the tower compartmentalizes the public spaces below and they wanted to see an architectural seperation of the public and private spaces as well as other things... anyway here is the underlying concept and image...

Using the notion of intersection due to the sites location at a place where the scales of both the Central Business District and Warehouse District intersect each other, my project explores the notion of intersection through the use of the mat and tower typology, to represent both scales. The mat and tower however doesn't address the intersection between the two, and I explore this intersection through the use of folding to create the intersection between the two as opposed to simply placing the tower upon the mat, or doing a complete seperation of the two.

So, I'm going to be reworking some things in the next few days and would like to hear what you all have to say.

[gingerbreadmann]

I don't know the first thing about architecture, but I think you should invert the colors on the traffic chart. Red signifies, to me, a slowdown and green means "Go." Otherwise, the building looks nice. The folding concept is interesting for the space you have to work with.

[Mings]

Actually....the green is the primary roads (busiest), yellow is secondary (middle), and red being tertiary (least traffic). Not trying to be an a-hole here, but I have them right.

Anyway, here is an update to the massing after my review on Friday.

[SDX]

You certainly have a knack for designing some very funky buildings

[Shmee]

Actually....the green is the primary roads (busiest), yellow is secondary (middle), and red being tertiary (least traffic). Not trying to be an a-hole here, but I have them right.

Is this an industry standard? As another observer who knows nothing of the architecture or civil engineering fields, that seems odd to me, too. Any time I've seen a map indicating traffic patterns, congestion and/or heavy traffic has been identified as red, medium traffic has been yellow, and light traffic and low congestion have been green. I'm also "not trying to be an a-hole," it just seems like a strange system if it is the standard.

[Mings]

Actually....the green is the primary roads (busiest), yellow is secondary (middle), and red being tertiary (least traffic). Not trying to be an a-hole here, but I have them right.

Is this an industry standard? As another observer who knows nothing of the architecture or civil engineering fields, that seems odd to me, too. Any time I've seen a map indicating traffic patterns, congestion and/or heavy traffic has been identified as red, medium traffic has been yellow, and light traffic and low congestion have been green. I'm also "not trying to be an a-hole," it just seems like a strange system if it is the standard.

Those systems are also basing it off of the notion of time, with heavy traffic equating to more time hence it being red. Those also tend to deal more with interstate and major highway systems. Since the streets next to the site are not ones that become backed up or have extremely heavy traffic, my coloring system is based off of use, flow and a notion of how often one would use a certain street.

Green becomes the primary streets due to flow (i.e. higher speed limit, wider street, more lanes, quicker), and the street is used to get to other parts of town very easily, and in my travels is used quite often.

Yellow is a secondary street, as it is not as used, flow is decreased due to a narrower street, and is mainly used to get around in a certain area of town, therefore not used as often.

Red becomes the tertiary streets, as they are ones that are rarely used (only in specific instances), are very narrow (1 way and 1 lane), and have little to no traffic flow.

It is not a time based system that you see on the news and other charts that note traffic more for the amount of time one takes to get to a destination/how backed up/etc...

Two completely different things. I should have explained this more, but I never expected people to comment more on a diagram than anything else. Its good that you guys are looking in detail, but I'd rather the focus be on design.

[burgess]

When I first saw this thread, I thought:

Road signage?

Like this, maybe?

[oddball]

I'm trying to figure out why you designed the building the way you did. I'm just not sure what you were going after and so until I know that, I can't properly comment.

[Shmee]

As far as things that aren't traffic maps go:

1. It reminds me of this: http://www.barclayscenter.com/venue/venue_5.shtml. I'm not entirely sure why, but the strange building shapes you've chosen seem similar to me.

2. I don't know why you called the thread 'Who wants to design signage?"

3. I think you should change the list of space designations to read as columns rather than rows. It seems unintuitive the way you have it now.

[Mings]

Hey all I haven't been avoiding this just very very busy. Here is an update, plus I should have my final board layout up here for comments and revisions tonight or early tomorrow morning.

Responses:

Shmee:

1) Definitely see what you mean by the Barclay's center, although that wasn't a precedent that I looked at (on a side note...pretty much everything ever done looks like something else eventually...architecture has been around quite awhile). The shapes are actually a response to the program inside as the rooms change from Double Occupancy (2 beds) to Single Occupancy (1 bed) and also react to the site conditions and to allow for light to enter the rooms even if future construction of surrounding buildings matches the height of my project.

2) Me neither.

3) Word. I will change the space designations on the final board.

4) The traffic diagram is going by the wayside. I'm not putting it in with the final as I have some diagrams that better fit the building.

Oddball:

I sort of explained it and explained it a bit further above. I was planning on fully writing out my concept (I have it in my head right now) on Tuesday but as soon as I get it done I'll put it in with the final board.

Burgess:

It could be seen as road signage (This would be seen from US-90 and the Crescent City Connection).

Sjdyson2k:

That is like a comment a reviewer would give. But yeah, I guess I kind of do. I just remember that no matter what, someone is going to hate what you do, but it still draws a response from everyone, so thank you.

Alright look for some more visual updates tonight or tomorrow morning. This board is a big one (9' wide by 8' tall) so I may need a bit of help in tweaking it.

Also....I need a name for the hotel and my professor told me nothing too quirky or "New Orleans Touristy crap". So what I have now is "The Tchoup" (pronounced chop) since it is on Tchoupitoulas St, but I don't have any more ideas currently since I'm working on the documentation. Feel free to suggest ideas.

[Mings]

Alright everyone I have an update for you. The renderings aren't the final renderings, but I think the basic layout is complete.

Here is the concept statement:

Inspired by the intersection of scales and districts at the site. The notion of intersection becomes paramount in the concept. The site rests at the intersection of the Central Business District, where the majority of the buildings are skyscrapers, and the Warehouse District, where the majority of structures are two to three stories. This led to an exploration and re-imagining of the Modernist mat and tower typology, specifically the intersection of the mat and tower. The mat, relating to the scale of the Warehouse District houses all of the public functions of the hotel; while the tower, relating to the scale of the CBD houses the individual hotel rooms, offering a view of the Mississippi river and the CBD from each room. The form of the tower folds programmatically due to the distribution of single and double occupancy rooms and integrates itself with the mat. The mat and tower then integrate themselves with the courtyard and ground plane through further use of folding.

Hope you enjoy!

[Mings]

Final Renderings!

Street Level view at Tchoupitoulas St

Street Level view at Commerce St

Courtyard

[JayJaxon]

That is one beautiful building. You did a great job on this.