Advanced Design Studio 01   Fall '14

The studio was an online course organized by John Abela. The focus of project was to create a multi-purpose pavilion at Palmer Park in Detroit. Frederick Law Olmsted designed the park in 1893. The pavilion’s ambitions are to serve as an outdoor amphitheater, indoor performance theatre, and a gallery space. Design requirements involve reconnecting existing park trails, integrate building site with landscape, and provide shelter to visitors of the park.

Experiencing the park was imperative to gathering a comprehensive analysis. The explicit detail that stood out was the number of trees that nearly encloses the site. The choice of wood as the primary material would create a great characteristic quality. This intention of using the building component in such a way that it is a sustainable, longer lasting material would strengthen the thesis of the pavilion and the theme of the studio; building design through the notion of smarter, faster, lighter, stronger, cheaper, and better. Therefore, composing interior glulam arches in the design will provide a strong structural integrity and enclose the pavilion to offer shelter. In relation to the site, these arches represent a metaphorical gateway into the forest of Palmer Park.

A barrier of glulam arches is created around the handball courts to help maintain identity. Preserving the courts so the visitors could recognize and relate to the pavilion is a very important idea to the design process. So, the pavilion will have an opportunity to impact the existing terrain and it’s visitors through the characteristic qualities of Palmer Park.