INTERLOCKING COURTYARDS

Project Type: Hotel/Apartment/Campus Complex

Date: Fall 2021

Organization: SCI-Arc

Tools: Vray, Rhinoceros

Courtyards are partially enclosed spaces between buildings or inside buildings Courtyards are discrete even though they may share air space with the city; let’s not think of them as “threshold spaces” because they are really not part of a continuum or blurred edge. They are edgy and have shape. The project is looking at courtyards to design a mixed-use campus that includes classrooms, dormitories, and a hotel.

01. pre-design kit

The model kit is designed classwide looking at courtyard precedent and programs for an animation school. The program’s prototype and sizes are broken down and modeled to create a model kit. Program adjacency is also shown in the model kit which helps to inform future design decisions.

02. ground to sky

03. courtyards

The project began with a study of a double-notched connection system. Two axes at perpendicular angles are lodged into two notches. A handle-like object at one end implies a mechanical tightening motion. The connection system is utilized to interlock and populate the space between ground and sky. Zooming to smaller components, they can be further broken down into smaller parts that fit together with visible seams and fake seams.

The negative space of the sunken courtyards implies motions of the massing as they rotate and slide, carving the ground. As the courtyards, massing, and ground interweave, pedestrians are forced to slow their pace and meager through the site. On the upper floor plan, you begin to see all the levels of terraces connecting the massings. The terraces become a courtyard when forms surround it on several sides creating a sense of security. The terrace courtyards sometimes serve circulatory purposes and other times hangout spots and outdoor dining.