Chun Wang
The documented building is Liberty Research Annex in the downtown area of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Renovated from an old garage warehouse, Liberty Research Annex is an 19000 square foot open space for researchers and faculties in Taubman college to work on their projects. In addition, an over 3000 square foot exhibition space is provided for public exhibitions and seminars.
Faculty offices are located in the space to foster interaction between research and making.
The building is composed of two main spaces: the quadrilateral exhibition space with the old brick walls reinforced by steel columns and beams, and the rectangular faculty office space with large glass facades and high side windows. Trusses running through both directions allow the office space to be open and continuous. The duct system and lighting system are placed across the trusses.
The knolled diagram above shows different parts of the building elements from structural elements to Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning systems. Brick walls from the original warehouse are joined with the new brick walls with large window facades. Steel trusses of different sizes are painted in different colors to address their positions. Steel columns and beams are added to reinforce the structure of the whole building.
The actor network map is about items in two categories: food items and accessible mobility items. Different types of food production and delivery process are analyzed, and the co-operative structure of business ownership provides the inspiration of gathering local people together through planting vegitables and making food. Three common accessible mobility items- walker, wheelchair, and electric wheelchair- require different dimensions and scales of the corridor, the doors, and the restroom. Americans of Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines provide certain dimensions for those spaces. The final design concept is creating a community kitchen especially for the elders and the kids to spend time together during the daytime. With the intension to build connections between the elders and the children, a series of activities are identified, such as growing vegetables, making snacks, dining, and exercising (games). By renovating the building with scaffoldings and swoopy organization, different activity hubs are created and connected, including a garden, a communal kitchen, a dining area for kids and the elders, a rest hub for the elders, a bunch of snack bars and ‘tree houses’ for the kids, and a semi-interior playground for all.
The 2 x 2 x 2ft scaffolding is placed in the interior space under the trusses. The original garage gate is removed and replaced by a curvy glass wall carving into the building, forming a semi-sheltered playground for children and the elders to exercise and play games. A semi-elliptical space is added to the west side creating a green house for planting vegetables. Three circular hubs- the kitchen, the dining area, and the resting area- are carved out of the scaffolding and connected to the green house. The corridor with colored guiding paints to each hub is also carved out with 3-ft height walls along each side of the corridor. Children’s ‘tree houses’ and snack bars are embedded into the scaffoldings, so that they can explore different ways of using the space and observing surroundings. Restrooms for both the children and the elders are at the south end along the back wall.
The plan video shows different hubs and the connections among them. The food items and accessible items placed in different areas are displayed and analyzed. For the green house, the “ three sisters” (corn, bean, and squash) method of growing vegetables is applied. Elevated planting areas are built to fit the scales of the elders.
The parallax video shows how the snack bars and the ‘tree houses’ are implemented into the scafolding system. By using scaffolding to separate each hub, one can see through the scaffolding and watch what local people are doing.
The isometric renders and perspective renders show the full design of my intension to bring the children and the elder together with possible activities about food making and consuming.