mary an a thesis

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Thesis project by Maryana TyupkinaLearning in Architecture

Thesis submitted to the Faculty ofVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityin partial fulfillment of the requirements for thedegree of

Master of Architecture

September 17, 1999

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State UniversityBlacksburg, VA

William Galloway

Michael OBrien

Heiner Schnoedt

William Brown, Chairman

Milka T.Bliznakov

Keywords: The meeting point, Intersection of Main Street and the MallCopyright 1999. Maryana Tyupkina


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Learning in Architecture


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abstract

Two entities, town and university, each playing different functional roles, different in scale andstructure, come together at one point. The architecture of that point is a transitional condition. Eachelement has integrity on its own, and at the same time is a part of the system.

The primary requirement for the architecture of this place is to be elegant and thoughtful. This ideais addressed in five scales within the project : the axis, the street, the paths, the wall, and the room.


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the axis

the street

the paths

the wall

the room


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the axis


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6Town of Blacksburg. Original sixteen

squares and the oval Drill Field.


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The originalsixteen squares createthe north/south axis ofthe town. The universityDrill Field creates theeast/west axis of theuniversity and the town.Main Street passesthrough the grid andtouches entrances to thecampus: the Mall, which

is a formal entrance, andCollege Avenue, mainlyused by pedestrians. It isMain Street that visitorsfirst experience.

Along its sevenmiles, Main Streetpresents almost everycondition by which atown can beexperienced, walking ordriving. The downtown,with its buildings and

activities, makes the mostdense area of MainStreet. The Mall begins onMain Street and leadsdirectly to the Drill Field,giving a clear definitionto the boundary of theuniversity.

Main Street isthe primary street andentry road of Blacksburg,

leading visitors into thetown and the university.

The townsidentity is understoodthrough buildings alongMain Street. The campusidentity is understoodthrough entrances onMain Street.

A strong campusentrance on Main Streetwould complement boththe town and theuniversity.

View looking north/west along

Main Street.


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8

Blacksburg iscomposed of twodistinct parts : the townand the university. Alarge university in a smalltown and a small townwith a large universityare situations withspecific differences. Thedifferences arerecognized as valuable

attributes. The universitycampus is structuredaround the Drill Field. Thetown is primarily anetwork of roads, drives,streets and a fewavenues.

The difference inpattern gives anunderstanding of theimportance of the pointwhere two patternstouch. Within this areathe town and theuniversity share theirlarge pedestriannetworks, designating thisplace as the walking

center of Blacksburg.There are two

campus entrances fromMain Street. The Mallwhich is the formalentrance for visitors, andCollege Avenue which iused by students andresidents.

The downtownwith its buildings, has

most of the basic thingsthat bring life into acommunity: theater, pooffice, bank, etc. It is themix and density ofcommercial and servicefunctions which plays asocial role that makes thdowntown a meetingplace.

People arealready there. The goal to bring pedestrians onthe site to make a usedentrance out of a formaone, to make a space fothem to inhabit.

Two parts of the town: the town

itself and the university. Location on

a map of VTech (dark grey) and

other buildings (light grey).


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View of the intersection of Main

Street and the Mall with primary

elements of the project.

Pedestrians paths are shown with

dotted lines.


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10

There are severalprimary elements inthe project:

the small scale elements

the Main Street renovation

the bridge

the landmark - tall elemen

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the Big Room structure

the wall

Preliminary study models of the site situation and designvariations on the site.


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The wall crossesthe Mall creating a gatecondition. The bridge issuspended by the walland takes visitors to thetop of the tall building.The wall is a loadbearingelement which carriesloads of the tall building.

Some smallscale downtownelements groupedunderneath of the BigRoom Structure. ( Shownin scheme on right. )


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12

Study site model. Earlier version. View looking

from the Drill Field toward Main Street with

the Mall in the center.


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Immediate right:The wall carries

the bridge which crossesthe Mall creating a gatecondition. The bridgetakes visitors to the top ofthe tall building. The wallis a loadbearing elementwhich carries loads of thetall building.

Some smallscale downtownelements grouped alongthe wall. The structure ofthose elements arerelated to the wallstructure.



the bridge

the landmark - tall element

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the wall


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14

Site model. Final version. View of the intersection of

Main Street and the Mall looking from the Drill Field to

Main Street.


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Immediate right:

The wall isperpendicular to MainStreet and carries thebridge which crossesMain Street creating agate condition. Thebridge takes pedestriansfrom the parking lot tothe ramp level. The wallis a loadbearing elementwhich carries loads of theBig Room Structure. Somesmall scale downtownelements are groupedunderneath thestructure.

There is a roomon the top of the wall.Stairs and an elevatortake visitors there.



the bridge

the landmark - tall element

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

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the wall


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16

Section of the site through the wall along the Mall Axis.


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the street


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20

Main Street elevatio

shaded with grey.


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Brick isthe original mathe downtownbuildings.

Humanatural colors atextures, and ppatterns bring Main Street fac

Anothmaterial, hokiereflects the scaorder of the unwhich is more umuch bigger.


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22

View looking down Main Street

(south) of the intersection of Main

Street and the Mall with the model

on the site.


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View looking up Main Street (north)

of the intersection of Main Street

and the Mall with the model on the

site.


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the paths


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Plan view of the intersection of

Main Street and the Mall with the

model of the project on the site.


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The Big Roomis an urban space madeto unite a series ofbuildings. Every buildinghas its own function andrelative independence,but all of them togethercreate a kind of plaza.

The plaza playsa role at the intersectionof a pedestrians path. Incomparison to a regular

intersection, this one hasa room to stop, meet afriend, or have a cup ofcoffee outside.

Actually it isboth an outside andinside condition. The

trusses carry asemitransparent roof toprotect pedestrians fromprecipitation. It also castsshadows and reflects thesunlight.

The buildingsunderneath the trusseshave inhabited roofs.This gives an opportunityto almost touch the BigRoof structure.

The series ofbuildings offers typicaldowntown activities:entertainment, food,and shopping.


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The Big Roomidea came from the lighstudies of the small scaleelements in thedowntown.

The studyprovided somevariations in the roofsuspended by the Waland of the dialogbetween the roof andthe exterior walls.

Earlier light studies of the small

scale elements. A series of rooms is

grouped along the wall. The wall is

a loadbearing element. The roof

structure variations create different

light conditions inside a room.


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View looking west from the back of

the project toward Main Street. Two

scales, the scale of the town and

the scale of the university together

create a transitional condition on

the site.


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The verticaldimension is a veryimportant part of theproject. There are twoprimary directions theproject takes visitors upand through. The ViewRoom on the top is one the primary elements. It necessary to provide asafe and elegant way tget there.

The stairs andan elevator take visitorsfrom the ramp level tothe View Room at theend of the wall, whichtouches Main Street.Other stairs and anelevator going to theramp level on the otherend of the wall, whichtouches the walkway inthe back. There is also astair from ground level oMain Street to the ramp


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Levels of the proposed buildings

with vertical communication

elements: elevators and stairs.

Pedestrians level Shops level. Inhabited roofs level.


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Integration of the wall, the stair, the

elevator, the bridge, and the Top

View Room in the project.


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A stair and anelevator take visitors tothe top of the wall wherethe entrance to theView Room is located.

The entranceinto the room is the pointwhere three primaryelements meet : elevator,stair, and the room itself.


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Contrast between light metal stair

and heavy masonry wall.


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The stapenetrates the spiraling upwardit, starting from tlevel, to the leveTop View Room

The ligstair contrasts wheavy masonry which it is held.


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the wall


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38

Study model of the integration of

the wall and tall element. The tall

building is suspended by the

structural elements. Those elements

are supported by independent feet

on one end and supported by the

wall on the other end.


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The original ideaof the structure of a tallelement or landmark isbase for furtherdevelopment of theinteraction of the walland the roof structure inthe project.

The trusses of theroof structure aresupported byindependent feet on oneside and are suspended

by the wall on the otherside.

The two wallsare held together withstiffeners. This makes thewall a strong and stableloadbearing element.


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40

The loadbearingreinforced wall isconstructed of8x 8x16 concreteblocks. The thickness ofthe wall is 16, the widthof 2 blocks.

Four concretepanels, differing in size,are corbelled to make aspecific angle at theedge of the wall. The

wall is pernedicular toMain Street, and pointstoward to the university.

The angle at theedge is very important. Itvisually touches both theuniversity and the town.


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Study drawing of the wall as a

loadbearing condition with trusses

and stiffeners. Stiffeners hold two

walls together creating a strong

loadbearing element.


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42

Legend:

1. bridge

2. top view room

3. plaza

4. inhabited roofs

5. f oo d/ en te rt ai nm en t/ se rv ic es

1 2

3 3

5

5

5555

5

555 4

4

444


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The bridgeabove Main Streetcrosses the street andtakes pedestrians fromramp level to the groundlevel parking lot on theother side of Main Street.This bridge touches aramp inside the wall andsteps down, leadingpedestrians to theground level.

The lowest point

of the bridge is 15 feetabove the roadway, socar traffic can easily passunderneath and people

can safely cross thestreet.

The ramp is atthe same level as thesecond floor. There is anentrance to theadjacent retail buildingthrough the wall from theramp.

The sectionalong the wall throughthe ramp shows theconcrete block pattern.

The pattern reflects brickbuildings in thedowntown. It also relatesto the university scale.


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the room


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The west facinwall of the room is madeof semitransparent glassblocks. Inserted in thiswall is a band of clearglass at the approximatlevel of the human eye

The openingsinvite visitors to step ouon the balcony.


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View looking inside the room from

the balcony.

Composition of translucent and

transparent glass panels.


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50


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Interior view of the room.


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Plan view of the room.


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The entranceinto the room is the pointwhere three primaryelements meet : elevator,stair, and the room itself.

A stair and anelevator take visitors tothe top of the wall wherethe entrance to theView Room is located.


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conclusion


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56

Pedestrians traffic on the Drill Field

during a weekday. Friday. 3pm.

Empty street condition. Picture of

the site. Friday. 3pm.


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The goal of theproject is to bring peopleon the very importantpoint where the

university and the towncome together.Actually, people

are already there, butthere is no place whichallows them to becomeaware of this meetingpoint. The goal is to makea space for them toinhabit.

Another goal isto transform the formalentrance to theuniversity into a placewhich is used by people.( A literal sign is notneeded to recognize twodifferent conditions of thetown. )

So several

primary questions areraised :

How to makethe building become agate?

How to makean architectural element(the wall) become anelement which separatesand connects at the

Learning in Architecture

same time?How to make

the scale of the universityand the scale of the

town work together,shoulder by shoulder?

While I wastrying to find answers toall those questions, someinteresting discoveriesoccurred :

It is more usefuland exciting to jumpfrom one scale toanother in the process ofdeveloping a project, toskip some steps andcome back later when itis necessarily.

It is veryimportant to recognizethe presence of thematerials at the

beginning, becausemateriality is one of theprimary elements of ANarchitecture.

The site is given,but it is up to anarchitect to choosewhich part to payattention to on the site,so THAT part will acquirea greater presence.

The architectureof the project.

Two different

scales are penetratingeach other in the project.The scale of the townand the scale of theuniversity meet at a pointwithin the project andmake a transitioncondition without loosingtheir own individuality.

The Big Roomstructure collects smallerdowntown orientedelements and organizesthem into a kind of plaza.

The wall is one ofthe primary and mostinteresting elements. Itconnects two parts of thetown on one hand andseparates them on the

other. The bridge and theramp that this wallcontains make the gateinto the university andemphasize thedifferences between theuniversity and the townat the same moment.

This project

was fun to work with

and is a good lesson.The rest, time will show.


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Notes / Credits

Unless otherwise noted, images arereproductions of original drawings, renderings, andphotographs by the author.


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Selected Bibliogra

Brawne, Michael

University of Virginia. The Lawn. Thomas Je

Phaindon Press Ltd, 1989

Dunay, DonnaTown Architecture : Town of Blacksburg

Blacksburg, VA : Town of Blacksburg, the Col

Architecture and Urban Studies and the Ex

Division, VPI & SU, 1994

Hertzberger, Herman

Lessons for Students in Architecture

Rotterdam : Uitgeveij 010 Publishers, 1993

Lynch, Kevin

The Image of the City

Cambridge Technology Press, 1960

Norberg-Schultz, Christian

Existence, Space and Architecture

New York : Praeger, 1971

Piano, Renzo

LogbookThe Monacelli Press, 1991

Robinette, Gary

Energy Efficient Site Design

New York : Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1995

Rossi, Aldo

The Architecture of the City

The Institute for Architecture and Urban Stu

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology,

Rudofsky, Bernard

Streets for People : A Primer for Americans

New York : Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1982


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Acknowledgment

Special thanks

to my teachers :Heiner Schnoedt, Bill Brown, MichaelOBrien, Bill Galloway, Milka Bliznakov,Rengin Holt, Fairuza Ibatullina...for your knowledge, support, andunderstanding

to my familyfor being with me in their thoughts

to those who shared their generosity that brought mehere and helped me fight :

Boyd Bishop, Shamil Tukhvatulin, KatieKowalsky, Luke Kluchko, Galla Matekova,Ruslan Biyashev, Natalie Mumzhiu...

to all of my friends and colleagues:Dana Biekenova, Denis Pivovarov, ToygarTargutay, Eugenio-Michel Ramirez, NassarAbulhassan, Andrea Shwappah, HidekiSakimoto, Tim Castine...for their inspiration, assistance, and sense ofhumor

It would never be as good as it is without wonderfulpeople around me.


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Vita

Maryana Tyupkina

Bachelor of ArchitectureKazak State Academy of Architecture andConstructionsAlmaty, KazakhstanJuly 1997

Master of ArchitectureVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State UnBlacksburg, VA, USAOctober 1999

mary an a thesis

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