Integrative design studio: Within the wall

This semester, the Integrative Studio thrust us into the Design of an “Integrated” Arts Facility. The project team consisted of two Architecture students and one Architectural Engineering student. The three of us collaborated to decipher the critical points of the brief and the clients and users to understand how our design agenda could fit within those constraints. This process revealed an interest in the Arts as an inherently rebellious entity that achieves success by questioning the status quo. The project evolved the title “Within the Wall,” illustrating the importance of materiality to the identity of OSU and continuing to evolve behind that materiality to meet future needs. We evaluated Sustainable Design buzzwords such as Solar Optimization, Passive Cooling, High-Performance envelopes, On-Site Power Generation, Permeable Paving, and Xeriscaping for their potential to lower the total building Energy Use Index (EUI). This analysis revealed that Solar Power was ideal for generating energy on the site given the climatic conditions, permeable paving techniques could fit into the campus aesthetic, and Xeriscaping is a solution to limit reliance on excess water resources. High-performance building design contrasted a post-modern, deconstructivist approach to the authenticity of OSU brick. Brick has historically been a structural material of necessity. In the modern era, brick is a finish material that harkens back to a specific architectural age. The project sought to expose the lack of utility of a brick wall by delaminating the brick from the rest of the building envelope. The result was an iconic exoskeleton of Oklahoma State architecture that housed a performance-driven design complete with roof pitches optimized for solar, daylighting design emphasis, and simplified site development.