Progress Review

The progress review taught me more about my process as a designer than it did about my project. I learned that sometimes it is necessary to let go of an idea if it is not working, or if it can no longer continue to inform a design. I also realized that I don't often stop renovating or changing existing models to build a complete intermediate version. I feel that just by preparing these drawings and model for the progress review, i was able to look at my complete concept as it stood in its current development. It is hard to stop and do this because I fear I will forget the moves I have in my head. But I think it would better serve me to have more complete intermediate representations because they allow for better perspective on ideas. I think that I have missed out on seeing clean representations along the way, and that seeing them in the future will help my eye become more critical of my own work. Also, I am beginning to understand the value of other graphic representations. Unlike basic sketches and drafted plans, collages and other such graphic tools can explain more about a design than a scale model. I hope that adding more of these componets to my design process will strengthen my designs.

The review didn't leave me without any specific thoughts about this project, though. I have a few new thoughts on my building form that I can't wait to get out. I think they will be much more successful than what I have so far!

Site Idea

This collage describes my idea for siting my project on the top floor of the Lasalle Parking Garage. To make a connection with nature, I chose to continue the landscaping that is adjacent to the garage, ontop of the garage.

Models of the Site

Models do not have to be direct scaled representations of a particular location or structure. That was suprising to learn.

This site concept was about the garage as "sea level." I built the site down into the base of the model so that the top floor of the garage became the ground floor of the site.

This interpretation attempts to minimize the garage without minimizing the top floor (the site). By angling the sides of the garage, the emphasis is placed on the top floor plate, enhancing the perspective from the viewer on the top floor. The planes around the buildings are so close to the garage to emphasize how the taller surrounding structures impose themselves on the site. The fourth side is left blank as a reference to the Mississippi River.

Lasalle Parking Garage Project: Site

The White Board

At the beginning of this part of the project, I was not really sure how helpful it would be. But this compilation of my efforts to study the garage, its surroundings and its place(less)ness turned out to be more influential and helpful than I thought it would. For me, it was less about the "final" product of the white board, but more about the process of collecting different images, representations, and other information about the site. That process sparked the desire for more information which ultimately provided a more solid foundation for my ideas than a single site survey could have.