OPTIMAL | HABITABLE | NATURAL
Spring 2014 | Design Studio IV | Professor Franca Trubiano | In collaboration with Erik Leach
This project engages the concept of “layering” to achieve performance responsiveness.
Variable depth and volume of a double skin system responds to the solar orientation of the building on site, maximizing solar heat gain in the winter and solar shading in the summer. A second level of control is a kinetic solar shading device.
The system of layering distinguishes between different programmatic and environmental areas; the Optimal, the Habitable, and the Natural. The Optimal consists of conditioned work space. The Habitable acts as a semi-conditioned buffer zone between the Optimal and the outside Natural zone.
The Habitable zone offers a flexible and leasable community space while reducing the mechanical heating and cooling load for the Optimal space, transforming the notion of the normative office environment.
