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1. Which building typology are you researching?
The building typology I have chosen to research will be Community Centers.
The building typology I have chosen to research will be Community Centers.
2. Why are you researching this building typology?
Based on the site analysis of the site I chose, having a Community Center will not only help the youth and residents of Red Hook,it will also attract more residents and make the community better through time.
Based on the site analysis of the site I chose, having a Community Center will not only help the youth and residents of Red Hook,it will also attract more residents and make the community better through time.
3. What is the specialty of the building type you would like to
research i.e. museum for dance, school for digital media...
The specialty of my building will be providing the neighborhood residents with recreational activities both indoor and outdoor. It will also provide educational seminars educating them on health, environmental awareness, and community activities such as planting gardens and learning about the different trades within the Red Hook.
The specialty of my building will be providing the neighborhood residents with recreational activities both indoor and outdoor. It will also provide educational seminars educating them on health, environmental awareness, and community activities such as planting gardens and learning about the different trades within the Red Hook.
4. What are the examples that you will be researching... list
the examples, location and architect (10 examples)
Gleneagles Community Center/Patkau Architects/British Columbia
Coal Harbour Community Center/Henriquez Partners/British Columbia
Chula Vista, California
Bronx, NY
Montebello, California
Bronx, NY
South San Francisco, California
Brooklyn, NY
5. What are your goals for working with this building type?
My goals for working with the Community Center are to give the youth and residents of Red Hook, as well as the rest of Brooklyn, a place to go after school and on the weekends to play and learn more about the importance of health, helping the environment, and making Red Hook a better community. Besides working with the community and its residents, the various trades that inhabit Red Hook will also play a big part in educating the youth and helping out with community activities.
6. What are the program elements that you see included at this
point in your building? (may evolve once more research is
done)
- Rooftop Field
- Snorkeling
- Rock Climbing
- Classrooms
- Auditorium/Theater
- Community Garden
- Offices
- Bathrooms
- Mechanical rooms
- Indoor Pool
- Indoor Gym
- Green House
- Parking
- Rooftop Field
- Snorkeling
- Rock Climbing
- Classrooms
- Auditorium/Theater
- Community Garden
- Offices
- Bathrooms
- Mechanical rooms
- Indoor Pool
- Indoor Gym
- Green House
- Parking
I think the community could definitely use a community center. Good idea
ReplyDeleteTry to incorporate the waters edge in your research and your project. This location should drive your program and development of the building and its connection to the site.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion one of the most important requirements for a community center is ease of access. Public transportation is somewhat limited in this area, so will have to address that in order to attract people from other parts of Brooklyn or the city.
ReplyDeleteHere is a very successful example of a youth community center in Denmark by BIG.
http://www.archdaily.com/11232/maritime-youth-house-plot/
http://flash.big.dk/projects/mar/
I would like to challenge you to elaborate and redefine the term "community".
ReplyDeleteBecause of your site being in Red Hook, you seem to be limiting your user group, as "the youth and residents of Red Hook," but you also furthermore said to reach out "....the rest of Brooklyn..."
I would like to see how far you can aim for this ambitious goal for your community center, that your community can be reaching out not only locally within Red Hook but the whole Brooklyn community, maybe even the five borough, or Tri-State??
Conceptually, IKEA, that can also be seen as another type of "community center" but a very unique one, which may fit in the criteria. This retail store has become a melting pot of multi-racial community from all 5 borough under the one roof of IKEA. These visitors share a certain "common threads" that they are particularly attracted to what IKEA has to offer. It have a mixed program of shop and restaurant, entertainment, there's even day care center and outdoor public space. It have ferry access for Manhattanite can visit Red Hook.
I think your proposal should have a unique identity (programmatically, socially, and architecturally) that attracts us to your center, that I would not mind riding my bicycle from Williamsburg or Bed/Stuy just to visit your facility.
Hello Mr. Velazquez.
ReplyDeleteThere are some great examples of community centers in New York that you can study and visit.
I listed a few that you can add to your research (since your research list has community centers so far away, ranging from France to Canada to California):
1 - The Goddard Riverside Community Center's Bernie Wohl Center in Manhattan (2011, by MDA Designgroup International);
2 - The Sephardic Community Center in Brooklyn (2010, by BKSK Architects);
3 - The Jewish Community Center in Manhattan (2002, by Diamond Schmitt Architects in association with Schumman Lichenstein Claman Efron Architects).
You can check the authors' websites for project photos and information and google maps/bing maps for site overview before visiting them.
Be sure to check all the community center's websites as well as they are a great source for information on how to develop the building program.
And don't forget to pay them a visit if you have the time for it (if you don't have it, make it).
Best regards,
Eugenio dos Santos
Hello there,
ReplyDeletefirst of all I think that a community center is a really good idea in a district like Red Hook. Before defining the program, probably you should spend some time studying the usual activities that people do, what are their hobbies or even make some interviews and ask them what is that they will like to do. Small gardens with vegetable or flowers might be a good idea, something that the whole neighborhood could benefit from it and it is also good decoration.Different craft rooms or small libraries and places to read could also be interesting for this type of building. You should maybe also think of another type of users, not only the local resident or the people living in Brooklyn, but tourists as well. As I can see there are wonderful views to Manhattan, the Governors Island and The Statue of liberty. If you add to the program something that will drag tourist there, there will be also economic benefit for the whole district.
Ikea is a kind of global known spot that attracts people, but it is nothing near a community spot. You can do a lot of this there, but it always includes money.And that excludes certain social categories of people. Just like the shopping malls.
And of course one thing that you should not forget is the sea and the connection to it. I`m sending you a link of incredible project of sea swimming pool in Kopenhagen, Denmark. http://www.archdaily.com/11216/copenhagen-harbour-bath-plot/
And another one, from Oslo, Norway, a building surrounded by water. The masses of this building come very near to the water, creating a unique public space.http://www.archdaily.com/440/oslo-opera-house-snohetta/
I hope you find this comment helpful.
Keep working and all the best!
Elena
Thank you very much Elena for the examples involving bodies of water. They are really helping me out in my design to incorporate the waterfront within my project. I have also enhanced my program and case studies to make my project a community center and cultural center hybrid in order to bring in people of all ages and from all the boroughs together. Hopefully this will attract tourists as well. I will be posting my final program and first drafts of my design in about a week or so.
DeleteHello, I think that it would be useful to try and talk to neighbours, nearby communities and get some feedback on what their wish list would be for a community centre from their perspective, as Elena says above - so that you have a firm idea about who your community is. I also agree that to consider maximising the waterside location as this makes the site unique. I would also suggest looking for precedents in Europe and also Australia and New Zealand would be useful research. I will try and send you some ideas from the UK.
ReplyDeleteIn the Parti and Massing diagrams - I think it would help to make one sentence about each architect's 'big idea'.
The other thing is to make sure you look at how the community will be used throughout the year, in different seasons and times of day.
Elizabeth Motley
Thank you very much for your comment Elizabeth. I have taken into account the comment on maximizing the waterfront since I would like to incorporate a lot of activities that involve the waterfront. I am currently writing the sentences for the parti and massing diagrams describing my idea of the architect's big idea and will update this post.
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteMy apologies for slightly delayed comments.
Site Selection:
Firstly, let me congratulate you for an excellent site selection. In my opinion, this is a very interesting and significant locus for not only community development, but identity creation. Waterfronts have always been a very crucial edge in defining the city identities, both physically and culturally. And dockyards are even more significant study sites as they represent an important aspect of historical age, economics, and culture. These crude areas are under-going rapid transitions and evolution and hence need to be carefully examined for its contextual richness, in order to come up with architectural language that does not over-write the historical heritage but amalgamate it.
Program Selection:
- From your site studies, although it is not very clear why a cultural center is the ONLY program that could be chosen, it is a good choice of program, nevertheless. However, there could be multiple other choice of additional appendage programs connected to the cultural center. For example: Exhibition Gallery, History and Arts Museums, or even spaces of weekly markets.
- The reason for your choice for sub-programs of snorkelling and roof top field and gym was a little disconnected for me, for a "cultural center" that would aim at reviving an identity and landmark for a prime site like this. In my opinion, this would be just another fitness center with a larger auditorium. Although, I believe it has the potential to become something more, and give people (and not just youngsters) something that would give them a platform to not just showcase but develop and evolve their talents. I would suggest refining and re-defining the meaning of "cultural center"
Case Studies:
- Although I must appreciate the fact that you have chosen quite varied case studies for researching the examples of cultural centers, I fail to understand the relevance to the site you have chosen and the program on the site.
- I would have chosen something like Tate Modern, which is a classic example of transition of an unused structure that represented a historical era of past and converting it into something that is a landmark identity.
- Even the study of glass farm by MVRDV is a very good example of understanding and sensitizing the existing contexts and reforming and redefining architecture that is not a-contextual and bizarre but sensitive yet new.
- Also, apart from understanding the various contexts in your chosen research examples, it is very crucial to understand the volumetrics that have evolved and the reasons for it.
- The structure, material usage and the resultant architectural language is also a very important study and analysis aspect, as it governs the design not only in terms of its architectural performance but its climatic response and behavior.
General Comment:
- There is a lack of a "concept" or a larger aim, that you want your design to have, that is so unique to this site and this program and particularly to you, as a designer, that needs to make your design stand apart from it being a just another cultural center from just another architect on just another site. I would love to see that reflect in the studies and analysis as it would be a very strong driving force at all the stages of design and resolution and will sew app the aspects of your design together.
All the best for further work, and good luck!
Dishita Turakhia
No apologies necessary. I have read your comments and I would like to say that they helped out a lot. I have been reworking my program selections and have decided to go with a hybrid of a community center and a cultural center because not only will groups of different ages be able to enjoy my proposed project, but it is something that could possibly bring people together from all 5 boroughs. I must admit that I did not think about searching for structures near water for my case studies,but I have been looking into Community Centers and Cultural Centers that are near or on waterfronts. In about a week I will be starting my design concepts for my proposed project and final program selections. Thank you very much for your comments.
Delete