The site was the YMCA in Cambridge, MA, right across from City Hall in Central Square. There were two phases to the project: the first was designing a green roof/roof garden for the YMCA and the second phase was to design an urban park behind the YMCA in the existing parking lot. Necessary programmatic elements
for the roof project included roof access (both from the building, to the theater in the building and to the yet-to-be-designed urban park), and spaces for 1, 2 and 20 people.
This was the first studio in which we were challenged to come up with a thesis for our design. Understanding that the YMCA is a center for enlightenment as well as having the capacity for adventure, the thesis for the roof design was: Comfort created by moments of pause, yet having enough energy for a sense of adventure around the corner. The latter part of that statement, “adventures around the corner” would become a design cornerstone for the rest of the semester.
The concept was to create a roof garden of enlightenment; made possible through “adventures around the corner.” This is indicative of the maze-like nature of the plan.
One would enter through the existing building that is the YMCA and weave through the “Forest of Resonance” (a steel walkway amongst plastic tubes that would bounce, sway, and glow at night) and have the option of either going down to the lower roof to the urban park or go towards the theater and the upper roof. The “Forest of Resonance” path is sinuous both for grade change and conditioning the mind before getting to the enlightenment garden. That space has similar properties to the Resonance path in terms of its material multiplicity and has a giant fiber optic white oak in the middle to serve as an object of reflection.
Continuing the “adventures around the corner” concept, the urban park required both active and passive recreation (team sports, areas for relaxation), a YMCA Community Center, a cafe, and a performance area. This iteration of the concept was heavily reworked due to certain dead spaces and limits to circulation. Raising most of the park 15 feet into the air (to create a sound barrier) was also not the wisest of choices. Underground parking for the YMCA, adjoining Senior Center and Post Office Postal Truck Parking were requirements as well.
This park was lowered in this final 1/16” model to give more access points, both pedestrian and vehicular. The east end of the park (top) now has gaming pavilions, the performance area moved to the YMCA facade, the children’s playscape now expanded and has more passive recreation areas. Some of the program components were divided up as to draw people and retain them as long as possible. This is accomplished with a newstand in the alley between the Senior Center and Post Office, a cafe along the axis to the Community Center (the translucent tower), performance area and the rest of the program.
Constructed Landscapes, Fall 2008
The site was the YMCA in Cambridge, MA, right across from City Hall in Central Square. There were two phases to the project: the first was designing a green roof/roof garden for the YMCA and the second phase was to design an urban park behind the YMCA in the existing parking lot. Necessary programmatic elements
for the roof project included roof access (both from the building, to the theater in the building and to the yet-to-be-designed urban park), and spaces for 1, 2 and 20 people.
This was the first studio in which we were challenged to come up with a thesis for our design. Understanding that the YMCA is a center for enlightenment as well as having the capacity for adventure, the thesis for the roof design was: Comfort created by moments of pause, yet having enough energy for a sense of adventure around the corner. The latter part of that statement, “adventures around the corner” would become a design cornerstone for the rest of the semester.
The concept was to create a roof garden of enlightenment; made possible through “adventures around the corner.” This is indicative of the maze-like nature of the plan.
One would enter through the existing building that is the YMCA and weave through the “Forest of Resonance” (a steel walkway amongst plastic tubes that would bounce, sway, and glow at night) and have the option of either going down to the lower roof to the urban park or go towards the theater and the upper roof. The “Forest of Resonance” path is sinuous both for grade change and conditioning the mind before getting to the enlightenment garden. That space has similar properties to the Resonance path in terms of its material multiplicity and has a giant fiber optic white oak in the middle to serve as an object of reflection.
Continuing the “adventures around the corner” concept, the urban park required both active and passive recreation (team sports, areas for relaxation), a YMCA Community Center, a cafe, and a performance area. This iteration of the concept was heavily reworked due to certain dead spaces and limits to circulation. Raising most of the park 15 feet into the air (to create a sound barrier) was also not the wisest of choices. Underground parking for the YMCA, adjoining Senior Center and Post Office Postal Truck Parking were requirements as well.
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