Monday and Thursday are studio days. On these days in particular, the third floor undergraduate studio is filled with a frenetic energy of design, research and exploration. Students can usually be found talking excitedly with design professors and classmates in a habitat saturated with trace sketches, study models and empty coffee cups. Every Monday we’ll share a completed project, churned out from this energetic studio environment.
Arch 493 / Andrew Levitt studio coordinator
Comprehensive Design Studio
Project by Andrew Isaac Ng / 4B
Design Statement
It’s not an easy task to learn a new mode of mobility, but those required to acquaint themselves with life in a wheelchair have potentially the greatest challenge. Current architectural standards of accessible design, while the bare minimum of what might be comfortable for an experienced wheelchair user, proves to be an immensely cruel challenge for those not yet initiated to the greatest inherent barriers: traversing changes in elevation and materiality. It is here that the investigation for the Conditioning Circuit begins, and also serves as the basis and first principles of the project.
The project tests the idea of the building as a training facility; not only does the program facilitate the training component of the building, the form and plan organization follow suit. The mathematic and qualitative (comfort) qualities of this are explored first, from the perspective of an individual who has recently been in a wheelchair. The formal qualities of surfaces as ramps and training surfaces are then explored, and limitations are discovered. All of this investigation is converted into an architectural solution, one which strives to assist those new to wheelchairs on their journey to recover their previous lifestyles
