Kill Devil Hills – Weather Center Design

3rd year Architecture school (pre-sketchup)

This design was to be submitted for a design competition but I never sent off my boards.

Program:
to design a weather center that will house full-time and part-time workers. There would also be space provided for a weather museum/display area, a theatre, and classrooms for visiting students to use during the week. Housing for the full-time employees would need to be provided. At some location on or around the building a high place needed to be designed for the employees to record weather data.

The program also asked for design solutions using innovated ways of using wood (this competition was sponsored by the National something Wood Association of something or other) that explores or expresses the design intent or concept.

Site:
The site is located in North Carolina along the northern portion of the Outer Banks at the site now a national park for the Wright Brothers and the “first flight” location in Kill Devil Hills. The exact placement of the weather center was left up to each designer but the chosen location had to be explained.

My choice of the weather center location was to place the building not on the main portion of the park site, but to use a portion of the site the was across the street towards the beach and sat within the residential streets of Kill Devil Hills.

Basic Concepts:
There was many ideas to draw from on this project. After doing a site visit (LINK (http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2135) here for some context & images of the site) and understanding the area and the history behind the Wright Brothers, and how weather played a part in their attempts of flying, I began to study what makes weather what it is.

When I broke it all down the earth’s weather is a direct result of the relationship earth has to it’s Sun and how the sun heats the earth. From this relationship weather patterns emerge from the earths rotation, its shape, and its physical feature of land and water. All of the earth’s weather is derived from the sun… so naturally my design centered around sun.

Other things considered:
Some important things I considered in this design were the context and venacular of the area, the beach community and culture, and the history behind the site and its significance to history (though I didn’t want to play it up too much, after all a large monument stood above everything as a reminder of the places significance)

This First image is of the park site with my "first impression" study model placed on the location I chose for the weather center to be placed.

sketches of the sun and its angles related to this site.

more studies of the sun...

close up of "first impression" study model... I built this after realising that my concepts was going to be about the sun... But being such a braod thing I struggled to find a way for it to influence my design... What I realised was that the weather center would become a place of sun study in its relationship to form and how it fit on the site and its orientation to the sun.

Also, I began to look at other "forces" that could influence my design... like, wind (derived from the sun's heating of the earth), the residential context and the grid pattern that it was organized in, and the relationship to the wright brother's monument and site.

This model was my first progression to thinking about the form and how it would need to orient to the sun and also how programmable space would work with such form. Also, and most importantly really, The idea of the building becoming organized and apart of a sundial became an idea that would drive the overall organization of the building from the exterior to the interior.

This is some sketches of some of the ideas from a plan study to some elevations

This model reflects my mid-term point of design. You can see how the idea of a sundial is helping to give form to the building and set up a large plaza space that is defined by the building.

The pieces that seem to be seperating from the main body of the building were apart of an idea of expressing the weather center integrating back into the neighborhood. It was a nice thought but, as I began to see, was a forced idea that was hurting my progress and not helping...

after mid-terms I began to re-evaluate my design and realised I was forceing several things... I mentioned the forms seperating out from the main form toward the neighborhood, but also I decided to place a large "tower element" at the point of where the design was originating from (I was placing this tower at the end of the suns path before)... the place where the shadow would be cast to allow to sundial to be read... This was a break-through and really jump started many ideas of how the organization of the sun, from the sundial, could inform everything in my building.

here is another view of the same model...

I guess also this would be a good time to explain the "ribs" the define the outer edge of the sundial plaza. I looked at several pieces of architecture from the past that had astrological and solar influences. this of course led me to Stonehenge. what I took from Stonehenge was its presence and how it gave a sense of place. Also its order and how the pieces were strategically lined up for different reasons, like the solstices and so forth. So, I created a series of these pieces that become sculptural markers of the hours in a day.

here is an image of the "ribs" or sculptural pieces placed on my base for my final model... though they are not too similar to the stones of Stonehenge I liked how they helped to define exterior space and mark the hours of the day. then as they did this they created a dialogue with my building that helped to tie everything together. and, like Stonehenge, they helped to give a similar essence of place.

The one thing I did stuggle with at this point was what form would take shape for the "tower" piece... eventually I came to use a simple cylinder that I would carve to make hollow in the center. I also, began to see this cylinder as the origin of my design and so it became, if you will, the temple or place of worship to the sun. I used layers of space around it to create give a sense of something sacred as you got closer to the center, or the hollow space of the cylinder.

The model shown is the study of this idea

another image of the tower study...

finally some images of the final model...

another image of the model

another...

and a final model image...

final boards... board 1

board 2

board 3

and board 4...

reminds me of Zvi Hecker

Nice hand drawings... were is the SU model???? ;)

Nice hand drawings... were is the SU model???? ;)

well :eek: ... this project was pre-sketchup... I posted it because JP had mentioned he had done a design project out in the same area after I posted some images in the "world photo browser" section about the Outer Banks... anyhow, This was my project out there and so I figured... "what the hell"... hopefully I am not drilled to badly on that... I do believe I have seen othe work posted that wasn't skethcup-related... I really would have loved to of done this one in sketchup though...

And JP, did you find those images of your work?

I love the model shots in 13 and 14 Wizum. Has a nice post-apocalyptic feeling like some of the structures in "Bartertown" in Mad Max, especially the tower.

Probably not what you were after, but I like it. So will it actually function as a sun dial?

I love the model shots in 13 and 14 Wizum. Has a nice post-apocalyptic feeling like some of the structures in "Bartertown" in Mad Max, especially the tower.

Probably not what you were after, but I like it. So will it actually function as a sun dial?

LOL... yeah, not quite what I was after... but Mad Max was pretty cool so I will take that as a compliment :) seriously though I guess that is a result of my model making at the level... but then again it seemed when I would get close up to my models for taking pictures all the glue, and little imperfections would really stand out...

The "tower" piece would actually have a sail-like piece that would become the apex of the shadow on the plaza ground surface for reading the sundial... I had to reserch how sundials worked and layout the design to correspond to the sun for the lattitude and so forth for this site... it was an interesting process... I also used the sun to interact with the building at certain times of the year that corresponded to times of the year and day of the Wright Brothers first flights... like Will Bruders Library, I think, in Pheoenix Arizona... Burder's Library has columns placed below skylights that direct the sun to light-up the columns on equinox at 12 noon... from what I have heard it becomes a community event to see the columns light up every equinox... that was the idea I was attempting with my project...

....mmm very interesting, both the subject as your presentation skills...

It is a good reminder that the good old pencil and brush were great tools and forgotten by most 'digital' architects nowadays.
How many of you guys still do 'hand made' drawings? I even forgot how to hold a pencil....

i like the scale models you make a lott.

reminds me of Zvi Hecker

thanks for the name and comment... Zvi Hecker's work looks very interesting... I hadn't heard of him before... but will be checking him out...

and kwistenbiebel... of course I still hand draw... though not as much as I like but I think that will be changing in the near future... Just my opinion, but I feel that being able to draw is essential to being a solid designer/architect... its that connection between hand and mind...

You can tell I would use whatever I could get my hands on to build models... the cash was low and if it would glue it would work :)

It is a good reminder that the good old pencil and brush were great tools and forgotten by most 'digital' architects nowadays.
How many of you guys still do 'hand made' drawings? I even forgot how to hold a pencil....

i like the scale models you make a lott.

never drew well and nothing encourages me to do it. I'm all digital.

But this presentation really looks great. I like a lot how you laid out the panels.
Apart from that the project looks very interesting.

well :eek: ... this project was pre-sketchup... I posted it because JP had mentioned he had done a design project out in the same area after I posted some images in the "world photo browser" section about the Outer Banks... anyhow, This was my project out there and so I figured... "what the hell"... hopefully I am not drilled to badly on that... I do believe I have seen othe work posted that wasn't skethcup-related... I really would have loved to of done this one in sketchup though...

And JP, did you find those images of your work?


all I can find is this so far...

In using the existing geometry of the runway, an axis was established to create a linear organized structure that links the visitor center and the monument. This move integrated the perpendicular line of the structure with the line of the prevailing winds. Any project where natures elements are considered, there must be some form of delicacy involved. I carved the earth in order to layer the building into the existing fabric and to shelter it. The road was depressed in order to give the visitors and employees uninterrupted views. This also prevented disruption of the existing views from the visitor center. Sectionally, the building is about rising up into the structure, which leads to a framed view of the monument. The repetition of the continuos structure creates movement in itself, guiding the visitors, and forming views. One can stand in the doorway from the auditorium and see other visitors descending down the exterior ramp towards the monument, and at the same time see other visitors rising up to the monument internally. Like the existing Wright Brothers National Park, the new meteorological center is about exploration and learning. A visitor is constantly viewing and learning as they circulate through out the building.

so JP no pics? :(

so you were involved in the same design competition? did you submit your work? And did you hear about the winning design? it was interesting to say the least... not what you would think... Have you seen the Sprinklers they have in big fields for watering crops or grass? his concept was based off of this kinda... supposedly, and I never saw the design but just heard about it, the building was built on a pivot and the whole structure would rotate with the winds or something like that... would liked to of seen it... sounded a bit weak to me but who knows...

as u can see I am not bluffing...once I move back into my office I will dig thru the crates!

as u can see I am not bluffing...once I move back into my office I will dig thru the crates!

I guess not... so you did have the nut flush.. :) a little poker humor for those not "in the know"...

I never suspected that you were JP :)

looking forward to seeing the project... your description sounds interesting... by the way when did you work on the design? were you in school or out of school? I can't remember if it was just for an acedemic competition or not...

our 2nd year we had to enter a competition from a list provided by professors.

I sure wish i had ur skills with a pencil, great drawings.

Project does look very interesting too.

:cheers: