Description:
"Our studio project this past semester was implementing a gathering space in the courtyard in the center of the Temple University Architecture Building and Tyler School of Art. It was a research studio so our initial concepts were based on research we individually did in order to understand the overall theme and social implications of either the boardwalk, the coffeehouse, the stoop, the arcade, the block schedule, and the open office plan. After relating the type of conversation we wanted to create in the courtyard back to one or more spaces we researched, we had to consider how those spaces achieve that specific condition.
I wanted the courtyard to be a place of leisure and relaxation for students to get away from the fast-paced, timed academic schedule. This related back to the research done on the arcade and specifically the character of ""the flaneur"". The flaneur would walk through the arcade with a turtle that would maintain his walk at a very slow pace. He is a wanderer and an observer who walks around aimlessly with no particular objective or direction.
Building off the idea of wandering aimlessly, I would implement a labyrinth in the courtyard. I began with a simple grid and would use three segments of small, medium, and large length to create the labyrinth design. The labyrinth began at the three entrances to the courtyard and each segment would branch off into the two other segments. This would continue until paths intersected and the paths would never combine to be greater than thirty feet.
I also wanted to use the duality of the boardwalk; being that there is an above portion and a below portion. Ramps would go from the entries to the courtyard up to the top of the labyrinth to create a triangular boardwalk. I then shifted the boardwalk to cover certain gathering spaces and open certain corridors. This provokes certain social activities above the boardwalk and below. "
