BUILDING ANALYSIS

REVISED PLANS

On my previous first floor plan, the entrance to the swimming pool building was as if you were walking into a hallway. To make it more spacious, the staff and office rooms were moved to the left. I also added another entrance leading directly to the elevators.

Since the shop and arcade was blocking the lobby's and waiting area's view down to the restaurant, they were broken apart. The lobby and waiting area was brought down and now you can look straight down into the restaurant and bar.

I notice there was a lot of valuable space wasted in between the rooms so three more rooms were added. The rest of the floors were left alone.

FINAL PRESENTATION

Site Collage

Edge Collage

Program Collage

Since most of my study models were all planes, I brought my final hybrid into rhino to add volume. I decided to use the "paperclips" as circulation. I overlay the paperclips on the site and broke it apart. The rooms were placed on each side to create positive and negative spaces. The same concept was used for the restaurant and lounge interior layout. 

I started closing up spaces to create a massing but is was taking away the design of the study model. I decided to take that away but I like the fact that it created a fractal facade. The fractal facade was going to be use to separate the public with private programs. When the facade was included on the first two levels, it turned out to be too overwhelming. To solve the problem, I flipped the facade to the top and the bottom would be glass to create the illusion of floating "pods".

These were the first bubble diagrams starting the project. Again, the first two levels is for public use and the upper levels are for the rooms.

Some of the geometries you see on the plans are taken from the rhino study model.

I separated the gym with the restaurant but leaving the street that crosses through the site and use it as open green space. There are three different entrances to the building. One of the entrances, is on the lower left corner that leads straight to the restaurant. The second on the top left corner of the bottom section of the building that faces the elevators to go straight up to the hotel lobby. The third entrance is next to the offices that leads to the lockers and swimming pool.

Once you are on the second floor, you can check in or hang out in the waiting area, cafe, shop, and arcade. You also have access to the spa and gym. From the shop and arcade, you can look down into the restaurant and from the lobby, you can look down into the lounge.There is also a terrace next to cafe.

Here you can now see how the "paperclips" circulation play out with the room layouts.

The business center and conference room is also on the second floor. The next two floors are for the rest of the rooms.

The mechanical and laundry room is brought down to the cellar. The big room next to the mechanical room is for the swimming pool pumps and equipment.

Site Plan With The Hotel On Site

Final Renderings

RENDERINGS & PLANS

I've decided to have a fractal facade for the "pods" only and the rest will be curtain walls. The first two floors will also be curtain walls to give off a floating affect to the upper levels. Since the second level needs some structural support, I will add a smaller scale of the "fan" structure where the restaurant is suppose to be. The "fans" will also look as if it is holding up the pods as well.

The mechanical and laundry room will be in the cellar so there will be more space for the pool on the first floor. The pool will have double ceiling height and you will be able to see the structural design of the "fan". The office and staff rooms will be close to the lockers and swimming pool. On the second floor is where you will be able to check in for your room and go to the shop, arcade, cafe, gym, and spa. The last three levels are where all the rooms are. Some of the open spaces next to the rooms will become terraces. There is still more work to go, but little by little the futuristic hotel will be complete.

UPDATED FLOOR PLANS

The first two floors will be for public access only to attract people to the hotel. I decided to keep the open space in the middle in the first floor to separate the restaurant with the gym and will also be used as green space. The image to the right is a quick diagram that represents the paperclips in my final study model and I will be using it as circulation. I first overlapped  the "paperclips" to see the different spaces it created. I used it to come up with the rooms, restaurant, and lounge layout.

The last three floors are where the "pods" are going to be. Since pod hotels are not popular in New York, I used the pod concept and modified the rooms to be more spacious. Again, I used the "paperclips" as circulation and started places the rooms on the sides to created negative spaces.

BUBBLE DIAGRAMS

Pod hotels are not popular in New York City. Some people do not like the fact that the rooms are too small and think it is not worth the stay. In order to attract people to the hotel, the ground floor will be open to the public. Everyone will be able to go to the restaurant, bar, lounge, gym and arcade whenever they want. The second, third and forth floor only for those who are staying the night in the hotel. On the second floor, you will be able to check in, go to the cafe, swimming pool, spa, business center and meeting room. The third and forth floor is where all the pods are with a roof terrace.

I noticed the scale was a little off and did not have the right dimensions for the site. I did a quick bubble diagram again with the right dimensions and made some changes. Having the gym next to the lounge did not look too good for me. Therefore, I will leave the existing street going across the site to separate the lounge and gym area. On the second floor I created a sort of floating triangular slab. My intentions is to have the middle façade glass so you can see the slab as if it was floating. On the second floor, you can check in, go to the café, shop, swimming pool, spa, business center and meeting room.  You can also see the restaurant and lounge below from the lobby.  Where the café is, the floor would be glass so you can look straight down into the gym. I am still debating if the pool will be outdoor or indoor. The pod rooms will be on the third and forth floor with a terrace. All the geometries on the plan and section are taken from the final hybrid model.

STUDY MODELS

For the final scaled model, I broke apart the first two hybrid models and combined them. I decided to use the paperclips as circulation and the different geometries to determine program. I would also like to use the geometry the paper forms as a possible facade.

FURNITURE LAYOUT

Based on our program matrix and case studies, we had to determine the square footage of spaces, furniture and furnishings of critical spaces, and room layouts and dimensions.

COLLAGE

Our assignment was to create three 11×17 collage boards to be used as our design concept.  The first collage is our impression of the site we selected.  The second is our interpretation of the word "edge". The last collage is based on the program of our project.

Walking to the Manhattan site on Peck Slip, I was expecting to see the typical congested city streets with lots of commercial buildings. I was wrong, all I saw was construction work and a big empty lot. While standing in front of the site, I started seeing many possibilities it offered and it motivated me to be creative. I tried using pictures that can represent possibilities. For example, the picture with the arrows and the silhouette of the head with the arrows coming out is a way of showing possibilities come in from many directions. The two upper left pictures looking into a space shows that even though the site is dull and empty, it has potential and you can look at the site and think of many ideas. The picture of the iceberg and the flower coming out of concrete is also a way of showing potential and the possibility of something great being created. The last two pictures of the girl with the book and the hand holding earth is a way to express imagination and creativity.

The second collage of my interpretation of the word "edge" is very straight forward. The edge of a mountain, a cliff, shapes, the outline of a petal's edge and the sharp edges of a cactus.

This is my first attempt on the program collage. My intentions were to show how hotels are now a fast growing business and each day they are getting more high tech. The two middle pictures represent business and technology. I also tried to show hospitality and a vacation get away with your family because that is what comes to mind when you think of a hotel. After it was finished, I noticed I was contradicting myself a little because I was combining both business with a family oriented hotel. It does not work well together so I decided to make a fourth collage.

For the final program collage, I decided to stick with a business hotel. The two middle images represents the connection of technology and business. My intentions is to use the pod hotel concept, modify it and use some of the typical hotel programs to attract people. On the top right corner is an image of the pods in the Nine Hours Hotel in Japan. Below that image are materials that I am considering to use. I removed the family oriented programs and added a business center, and a gym. To get a better understanding that I am designing a hotel I added some of the items you would find in a hotel such as, the towels, soups, and shampoos.