MICAH MARTIN Selected Works 2014

SECOND YEAR COMPETITION

The program asked the students to design a bird watching pavilion on the Appalachian Trail. Requirements included indoor and out-door space, covered and uncovered outdoor sitting/viewing areas, and a 2:1 site slope.

DESIGN

Constrained by the landscape itself, this building compliments the slope of the forest by reflecting it over the horizon line to create the slope of approach, and the roof.

PLAN A PLAN B PLAN C

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1

3

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2

2

SECTION 1

SECTION 2

SECTION 3

A

B

C

This study of color was designed to observe the way certain colors interact with eachother. After desaturating the colors we were asked to decide the main cause of the interactions. The third square demonstrates that I believed the change in light was due to intersection. Therefore, I demon-strated that with lines to recreate the desaturated piece.piece. The last drawing attempted to chang inter-secting qualities into differing widths and shades.

The drawing above was developed into a model that use the line weights to filter light. After con-structing study models we made one last model that incorporated the same characteristic of light. The model took on it’s first inhabitable form.

3000 Books, 3 Floors

This building was designed to house 3000 books, and to give the readers three different floors to read and relax on. The building consists of a one story entrance progression, that leads to a three story tall read-inging hall. The space surround-ing the building includes a courtyard and waterfall.

AA

SECTION A-A

During the early stages of constructing the model I went outside to capture the different shadows the building’s features can make. The many columns throughout the building’s design made the most no-table shadow formations, some of which included elements of struc-ture that could not be seen once the model was complete.

This top floor provides the ulti-mate privacy for reading inside the building. The reason the top floor was designed as the small-est was the fact that being the highest in the building would induce a sense of desired seclusion for the reader’s privacy. The reading area only allows light to enter along the axial entry line that is established by the floor below, keeping the axis present.

A-A B-B

B

BA

A

One of the most important aspects of this building’s design is the axial progres-sion upon entry. The book-shelf plays a key part in this as the line is interrupted by it. This causes the reader to diverge from the center and swirl around the central line. The bookshelf does not brake the progression by di-verging the reader but estab-lishes it. It does this by keeping the person moving in relation to the center, therefore it establishes the center axis of the front hall.

LINEAR PROGRESSION

DESIGN PROCESS

The elevation views to the left reveal different ideas of how to design the building’s approach. The bottom of the three designs proved the most reasonable, and the drawingsdrawings below display the other side walkways that I added later on.

The roof of the building is slanted at the same angle as the concrete leading to the ground floor. This relation-ship houses the sloped stairs which repeat throughout the structure causing a unity of angled components.

A

A

SECTION A-A

The building’s footprint and angled approach are designed to respect the surrounding area by not being intrusive to the site and the immedi-ate environment. Thus, the remaining piece of the site is open for use.