Concept Development

From the early beginnings of my career as an architeture student i have always been a firm believer in the idea of a concept. I feel it important to add a character a personality, a deeper meaning to your structure. With the help of a concept that is able to apply itself to your ideals, goals etc your building will not only reflect a deeper understanding for context, fuction and uses but will in progress create a name and a meaning that will undoubtedly leave a mark on each and every would-be user and maybe even establish itself as an icon in the depths of history. For this specific project i decided to focus on the one thing that sperates an architectural institution from most other modern day universities, its studio culture. In my specific school there will be a total of 5 years for the Undergrad program and 3 years for the Graduate program. The studio is the heart of each and every year and quite obvious the heart in the instruction of architecture. After much research i decided upon the concpet of Aphelion which is defined as the point on its orbit when earth is farthest from the sun. I felt this idea suitable and will help me greatly in designing a school in which a character such as the studio needs to be celebrated and given a respect and hierarchy visible and experienced by all.


Concept: Aphelion
Philosophy/Bullet Points

*Freedom and education should go hand in hand, hence why the studio culture is so pertinent in the instruction of architecture design.

*Studio culture aligned with this idea of Aphelion starts a negotiation between subjective and objective realities, a truly importnat life skill.

*Studio culture just like aphelion follow parameters that define them as they are but there is a a degree of unpredictability with both which stray away from the caged setting of classrooms.

*In this ideal way of teaching/learning one learns to create his/her own structure, amonst the skill sets learned are self discipline and organization.

*Amongst many basics to the concept of aphelion, Apsis is a strong character related to celestial mechanics and defined as “center of attraction”, relative to season.

*Milankovitch Cycles
Describes collective effects of changes in the earth’s movement upon its climate.

*Keplers Laws
1) orbit of every planet is an elipse with the sun at 1 of 2 focii.
2) planet moves faster near the sun, so same area is swept out in a given time as at larger distances

Underlying Design Principles

Human Element

Dead Architecture

Architecture for the most part has lost its personality and slowly become a monotonous language which no longer manages to evoke emotion. I am here insisting that our future buildings begin to convey more of a personable image. The traits that make humans unique and incredibly magnetic have to be relayed in our architecture in order to start a form of revival in our field.

Contextual Impact of My School of Architecture

A mutualist relationship between downtown and school

Performative program/Personality

Triggering Moment

A self sustained Environment

These ideas have helped to form an overall idea and experience that i want to convey to the inhabitants of downtown and beyond with my new addition. Its important to understand that my project will belong to the context and therefore must fit within the context. A building that manages to exist mutually while showing great personality and features unique to itself is sure to be a great addition to an already budding city with high ambitions.

Provocative Dynamic Design(PDD)

Facade that will be capable of displaying student work to surrounding city

It is vital that studio culture and tertiary classes be integrated to maximize learning experience.

Interactive classrooms that will maximize and stimulate the learning experience.

An outer shell that transforms and manages to encapsulate the true meaning of Morphing.

Formal/Spatial Synthesis
Referencing back to the site analysis i went back and extracted a few findings. I was in search of Aphelion and Apsis within this information. I began to study the intricacies created by the overlapping of the layers these diagrams had created. I found many instances which i decided to extract and incorporate into the designing and layout of my school. Therefore embedding some of the surrounding urban landscape within my entity.

Downtown Limits

Density/Infrastructure

Overlapping Layers

Scheme 1

Studio, designated by the yellow is conveying the idea of Aphelion. It is the furthest from any of the other surrounding program. This scheme hopes to give studio prominence by its location. As i mentioned before, design and placement of the studio is critical as it is the heart of my institution.

 Scheme 2

 The next scheme is an approach towards Apsis. Another form of giving prominence to something is by placing it centrally and making it your main actor. Studio shrink in size a bit as to not overwhelm but fit in and work simultaneously with the rest of the program.


 Scheme 3

The third scheme also pursues Apsis but this time studio is given an upgrade in size. Since studio is the essence of any architectural school it has to be dominant  and almost overwhelming in contrast to the rest of the program as to give the utmost importance.

Plan Deformations

The drawings took me further into how the studio’s could either embrace the rest of the program or build itself from the inside out.


Physical Models

The models were further explorations as to how the studio could be manipulated and sprinkled throughout the rest of the program.