PROJECT Between the Screen
LOCATION Plano, IL
PROJECT COMPLETION DATE 5/11/2016
PROJECT CATEGORY Undergraduate / Beginning Design
PROJECT TYPE Studio
ENTRANT Kristen Hoover
TEAM MEMBERS
SCHOOL Morgan State University
FACULTY SPONSOR Adam Bridge, Lecturer / School of Architecture & Planning
SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT
The goal of the assignment was to design a visitor’s center for the Farnsworth House in Plano, IL. The existing site lacks a permanent structure that begins and facilitates the journey to the Farnsworth House.
Between the Screen is an in-depth exploration of Mies van der Rohe's work and incorporates a range of his techniques. The visitor's center is to support and complement the Farnsworth House while giving the visitor more insight to Mies’ design philosophy.
STUDENT'S STATEMENT
Mies Van Der Rohe’s approach to architecture contributed heavily to creating and evolving Modern Architecture.
Similar techniques and approaches were pursued when designing this visitor’s center. Through a dynamic series of thresholds, the visitor slowly submerges into the site. Paying homage to some of Mies’s earlier works; the Barcelona Pavilion and the Brick Country House, the use of the grid and sliding planes allows for interconnectivity between the site and interior spaces. The visitor’s center uses the grid of the Farnsworth House to set up the relationship between interior and exterior spaces.
Though the new visitor’s center is almost three times the size of the Farnsworth House, it is able to incorporate some of Mies’s techniques to achieve a similar fluidity within the site. The flat roof and use of linear planes allow for space to be defined without limiting the visitor to a specific place.
The path leading to the Farnsworth House is a small wooded area that gives the visitor glimpses of the house without fully revealing the whole structure until the path ends. The transparent screens and large masonry walls of the Visitor’s Center serve a similar purpose for the user. The various screens provide an obscure view of the next space ahead. It is designed to entice people from one room into the next until they are back outside and ready for the outdoor journey to the Farnsworth House.
In designing this building, it was imperative to respect Mies and his design strategy while not trying to compete with the beauty and simplicity of the Farnsworth House. Inspired by some of his first projects, this design seeks to bridge the gap between his earlier works and the Farnsworth house.
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MEDIA FOR DOWNLOAD
Between the Screen
Category
AIA Maryland Student Design Awards > Undergraduate > Undergraduate / Beginning Design
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