uploaded items

uploaded texture images, panoramic images and GG/Larkin image sequence movie to the gmail box. i'll post the complete folder of site images very soon...

wednesday class

for those who were not there at the end of class on monday,
please be prepared for desk crits on assignment two. you should have selected your program along with a conceptual idea. these could be conveyed through diagrams, drawings, sketch models, etc. see you all tomorrow.

oh, and here is a link to some good examples of information analysis and interpretation.
http://knowlton.osu.edu/ksa-new/_student/

Nevermind the Wiki

Use cbdspring2007@gmail.com instead for ftp. Thanks.

Posting to the Wiki

When posting to the Wiki, please use "pdf" format for "ai" files and "jpg" format for image files.

2d information PLEASE!!!!

could the 2d team PLEASE post some sort of 2d file of the site, so we can start doing some parti/programmatic thinking with actual context?

this is a critical component and i know a lot of us need it asap!

The Wiki

http://ymcasp07.wikispaces.com/

site from parking lot

assignment two

Program Development – Generative Idea
The first week we focused on understanding the client initiatives, contextual surveys of site, and an introduction to planning analysis.

Your next assignment is the development of the program relative to your initial concept(s). Rather than applying your ideas to a conventional prescriptive program with a set of determined spaces and associated areas, you will have the opportunity to develop your own program based on three simple factors:

1) Interpretation of YMCA’s and Carmela Gold’s objectives within the community context and membership demographics.
2) Selected or all programs stated in the course description, PLUS your programmatic additions in terms of,
3) Your generative concept

Besides the site constraints already covered, we will also introduce a few programming constraints to consider, such as the maximum building of 50,000 GSF (Gross Square Feet), base infrastructure considerations (structure, circulation/egress, and MEP), and the net-to-gross ratios.

We will have desk-crits on Monday, 01.29
The objective is for you to clearly speak to and illustrate a cognisant concept, and to begin the process of threading the numerous gravities together.

height / bulk chart

RC-4 guidelines

Here are the guidelines for the RC-4 District designation. They will give you basic allowed usages, setbacks, FAR(Density), and other requirements. As previously stated, your parking requirements will be furfilled by the use of legal agreement allowing access to parking in the adjacent parking structure being constructed by Hastings College of Law.

The stated building limit in the RC-4 Requirements is overruled by the Bulk/Height Chart. It is 80 ft.

site zoning controls

Following up on yesterday's lecture about zoning controls, the history and background of Planning Departments, and the future of urban planning in California, I'm posting the various appropriate charts to the site. Above, you will see the Zoning Chart for District 2 - our district. From this our site is zoned RC-4.

parcel map

can someone please scan and post the parcel map on the blog? also, please have your site studies pinned up downstairs at the beginning of class. thanks.

site and housing component?

i'm in favor of following the program of the actual new Y (without the housing component). i think there is a lot of richness and complexity to the other components of the program, so it won't be lacking.

moreover, i think that recognizing the social complexities of the block, particularly the issue of homelessness, will be important in how we design transitions from street to building - maybe we can dicuss this further?

-j

historical reference

i found a great book at the sf public library called "San Francisco Y.M.C.A. - One hundred years."

i've scanned the most relevant/interesting pictures and have compiled a pdf at:

https://people.cca.edu/jkleinman/sfymcabook.pdf

and it is also now at:

http://jessfine.com/sfymcabook.pdf

if you want individual jpgs, or want to peruse the book, just let me know.

-j

tenderloin neighborhood profile

Check out this report compiled in 2004 on the Tenderloin's demographics, land use and economics. Click on the link below:
www.andnet.org/communityplanning/TenderloinFullReport.pdf

site

this image is for refernce only. site model will be built at 1:20

assignment one

Site Analysis Assignment
You will roughly divide up into teams to tackle the site research. Within the first week, please thoroughly research the site and have the products ready for use by the entire class by the end of the second week at the latest.

Areas to be analyzed include:
2D site documentation, all planometric information into CAD with appropriate topography. Please have two site sections including the adjacent block in either direction. Four people. FRANCO, SOCORRO, KEVIN, LUIS
Site model. This base will use the prior information to generate a site model capable of use for all the class models. This model should include at least one block in each direction within reason. Base material should be bass wood.
3D site documentation will use the latter information to generate a model including at least one block in each direction. Four people. DOLLY, BLAKE, TASHA, DAVID
Site photography and annotation. This group will do the panoramas of the street context for at least a block in each direction along two streets. In addition, you will need to prepare a report on the history and relevant context of the site as well as a full planning code review. Three people. NATHAN, GRAYSON, MATT
Typology research. This team will provide full analysis of the building type(s) and various precedents. They should also be able to inform the rest of the class as to various planometric requirements and adjacency requirements of elements within the program. Two people. JESSICA, MEGAN

course description

Project
Our term project this semester will be the design of a new YMCA on Golden Gate Avenue. The current location of Shih Yu-Lang Central YMCA, has been open daily at the corner of Golden Gate Avenue and Leavenworth Street since Thanksgiving Day, 1910. In his remarks while laying the cornerstone for the Central YMCA on October 5, 1909, United States President William Howard Taft called the YMCA a "Character Factory," as it shaped the spirit, mind, and body of men and boys in San Francisco. The Central YMCA is currently planning a new home directly across the street from their current location. This will be the site upon which we will plan.

This very urban site mediates between the districts of Hayes Valley and Civic Center to the West and South and the Tenderloin and Polk Gulch to the North and East. Directly, adjacent is U.C. Hastings School of Law, which has an agreement with the YMCA to provide services for their students and staff. This population mixes with the other extremely diverse constituencies that make up the users of the Central YMCA.

The Central YMCA offers programs in health and fitness, education, community-building, leadership development, volunteerism, and wellness. Facilities include an indoor pool, a European-style budget hotel, and a cafe which offers nutritious and economical meals to members and guests. To the extent made possible by generous donors, financial assistance is available to many members. YMCA staff typically serve as volunteers on various community boards, community enrichment programs and are advocates for legislation and positive social change.

As a CBD studio, a parallel emphasis will be on the integration of the programmatic richness, material assembly, and pragmatic regulations.
Students will be required to investigate and demonstrate how their architectural design and tectonics can continue to enhance the YMCA’s goal of providing balance and well being for the community and individual spirit, mind, and body. Engagement of the urban context and mediation of environmental factors through sustainable design will be emphasized. Concepts will evolve into a Comprehensive Building Design Report integrating detailed structural, environmental, and building envelope systems.

Abstract
“The future of Architecture is in the City.” Massimiliano Fuksas

“I am excited by the idea that sculpture creates space, that shapes intended for this purpose, properly scaled in a space, actually create a greater space. There is a difference between actual cubic feet of space and the additional space that the imagination supplies. One is measure, the other an awareness of the void – of our existence in this passing world.” Isamu Noguchi

“The drawing is a lens that reveals otherwise imperceptible aspects; it’s a method for understanding how things can change and evolve and serve, not for crystallizing a form in a definitive way, but to demonstrate the possibilities of what it can become.” Zaha Hadid

Place
Much like the Internet, the City, and indeed society, we’ve come to understand is a living, biological network that is constantly in change. It is a system, much like other systems, that is constantly evolving-a complex adaptive system.
Within this ever shifting reality, we as Architects are challenging with defining ‘place.’ Many assert that the definition of space in the physical denotes a definition within the mental. Does this limit the objects possibilities or increase them?

Making
Do we draw to define what we already know or do we draw to define its realm of possibilities? There is the realm of drawing and the realm of building. If I say this is a drawing of a building, could I not also say that this is a building of a drawing?

Tectonics
The traditional use of materials examined primarily ‘first cost’ as it’s definition of value. With the significant degradation of the earth’s environment, many have come to question that definition of ‘value.’ New modes of thought have engendered a biomimetic or recombinant approach to materials.

We will examine these questions and issues within the context of the making of a project.

Readings
Jorge Luis Borge, The Library of Babel & The Garden of Forking Paths, Ficciones
Hakim Bey, The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism Victoria Ballard Bell, Materials For Design
Kenneth Frampton, Studies in Tectonic Culture
Herman Hertzberger, Space and the Architect
Janine Benyus, Biomimicry
Edward Ford, The Details of Modern Architecture
Bruce Mau, Massive Change, http://www.massivechange.com/
Read the Energy, Movement, Urbanization, & Wealth and Politics sections.
Blaine Brownell, Transmaterial, http://transstudio.com/
Mike Davis, City of Quartz

.

Program
Coed Gymnasium
Women’s Gymnasium
Massage Rooms
Racquetball Courts
Indoor Track
Locker Rooms w/Sauna and Steam Rooms
Indoor 25M sized pool
Senior Center
Full service Café/Restaurant
Community Meeting Rooms
Administrative Offices
Hostel Rooms
Rooftop Garden

Products (meant as a framework-TBD)
Conceptual Model(s)
Building Model
Site Plan
Site Sections, minimum of two
Plans, each level
Wallsections, minimum of two

Reference Building List
The Chapel of St. Ignatius by Steven Holl
http://www.seattleu.edu/chapel/
Integration of design intent and construction material methodology
Tilt up concrete / Light / Beeswax / Site context

Dominus Winery by Herzog and de Meuron
http://www.floornature.com/articoli/articolo.php/id12/sez3/en#
Material construction adaptation of modular gabions
Depth of breathable skin / Light / Environmental control / local

Salk Institute by Louis I. Kahn
The Neuroscience Institute by Tod Williams + Billie Tsien
Environment / material to spatial placement

Samual Mockbee/Rural Studio
San Francisco GSA Federal Building plaza, 450 Golden Gate Ave.

.

Attendance Policy

Studio Schedule:
Attendance in studio classes from 3pm to 7pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday is mandatory. Any course deviation from this schedule must be approved by the Coordinator of Advanced Studies and will be announced during the lottery presentations at the beginning of the semester. Students are expected to remain working in studio for the full duration of the class; do not arrive late or leave early. In addition, we strongly encourage you to work in studio. This is essential to developing a studio culture in which you can learn from one another.

Instructor Schedule:
6-credit studios require a total of 12 hours instructor contact time. 3-credit studios require a total of 6 hours. Typically in team taught courses, each instructor will be in studio two of the three studio meeting days each week.
In general, two instructors will be in each studio class, when we will have pin-ups, reading seminars, and reviews. All instructors will be present the first week and during mid and final reviews.

Absences:
A student will be asked to withdraw or will receive a failing grade for the course for three unexcused absences. The instructors must be notified in advance of excused absences. Excused absences are as follows:
- Personal illness --please notify the instructor within one week after the period of illness; verification may be required.
- Serious illness or death of a member of the student's immediate family --please notify the instructor within one week after the funeral or period of illness; verification may be required.
- Official College trips --notice must be given prior to the event or no later than one week after the event; verification may be required.
- Major religious holidays - a student must notify the instructor in writing of these dates; please submit to the instructor no later that the last day for adding class.

Etiquette:
All cell phones and beepers are to be turned off during class meeting hours.

Statement on Collaboration & Professional Ethics:
The studio system for architectural education at CCA strives to create a laboratory for exploration and the vibrant exchange of ideas. In its best form, the studio creates a collaborative community in which we learn from and propel each other forward. We value and promote this.

The formal presentation of student work, particularly at the end of each semester, is an important component of this collaborative ideal in that it inspires dialog within the school and the architectural community beyond. It also serves, however, as an opportunity for reflection on the development of a student’s education and architectural production. In order for this process to be useful, the presentation of work should offer an accurate reflection of a student’s own educational progress. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of each student to present his or her work in a way that allows for a precise and useful critique.

In this light, we would like to encourage students to acknowledge of the extent of collaborative efforts in their presentations. Similarly, we expect that students understand that, for example, financial compensation in exchange for help with presentations goes beyond the ideal of the collaborative community, creating a model more appropriate to professional endeavors. We encourage all students to think carefully about the goals of their CCA education and to act with respect towards the collaborative community we are attempting to foster.

Plagiarism of the work of others will result in automatic failure.

Evaluation:
Your performance will be evaluated using the following criteria:
- substantial new work prepared for each class meeting;
- sustained and thoughtful response to criticism;
- ability to develop a clear and workable idea and move it forward in a coherent and inspired manner;
- sustained quality of work from beginning to end of exercise;
- completeness of work at each class meeting, pin-up, and review;
- success of collaboration in joint/group projects; constructive class participation;
- attendance and promptness, ability to meet deadlines;
- and, significant progress over the semester within your own frame of reference. Please note that criteria are process oriented: every day affects your grade.

You will receive a verbal midterm evaluation from your professor and an official CCA pass/fail midterm grade so that you are aware of your standing in the course during the semester.

Grading
Final Grades will be based upon:
- active engagement with the work of colleagues as well as with group discussions, pin-ups, & reviews;
- consistency of effort and work product throughout the semester;
- development of critical thinking exhibited through studio assignments;
- progress of architectural skills over the course of the semester;
- completion of all required studio work, including readings;
- attendance at all scheduled studio hours.
- respect for your own work, your classmates, and instructors.

Documentation:
Document digitally all of your work (computer work + all hand drawings and models) as it progresses through the semester. You are required to submit high quality scans on CD or DVD to your professors at the end of the semester. Your professor may use this documentation to publish your studio project.

Email Communication:Students are required to open a CCA email account for normal communication with their professors and CCA. Course syllabi, schedules, reminders, job postings, etc. will be via email. You will need these email accounts to access CCA computers and plotter.