Todays Topics:
- What Is The Project
- How Did The Pin-up Go?
- Is This My Future?
What Is The Project
This semester we have been doing the Timber in the City competition. We have been tasked with the challenge of designing a mid-rised mix-used building using mass Timber construction. The project is located in the heart of Atlanta at the Marta Station. It is also next to the High Museum of Art and is part of an arts district.
The building must contain short-stay housing units, community use space, and an urban marketplace.
One of the important factors is that many elements of the city converge towards this location as a stopping or starting point.
We were given a small part of the site to work with, but also were given the option to manipulate the existing train station. Add more program to the building. Make a master plan for the site encompassing what the future of this destination could become.
How Did The Pin-up Go?
For me the Pin-up was very beneficial towards my endeavors with this project as I was able to receive a wide variety of feedback. It has allowed me to think about things in a different perspective than I have previously.
With my project I am looking at the intersection of technology and architecture as an investigation into the near future.
This project exists as a technology hub within the setting of an arts district and located at the Marta station. the building creates an intersection between these ideas where each person has their own journey coming to the site.
The ground floor houses the urban marketplace where the center of attraction becomes a spatial event space. The two towers become short stay housing modules that form community spaces and connect to a filled atrium.
The filled atrium is the center of the project containing a research institution that works alongside the idea of community use. In this space there are technology chambers that people use to explore what the next level of innovation in productivity.
If we take a trip to 20 years ago or before Microsoft excel, some tasks would take hours, days, or weeks to complete where today it only takes a few seconds. All of todays technology is contained to a device whether it is a phone, laptop, tv. I am exploring the idea of what happens when we switch from designing spaces for devices, to the device becoming the space itself. These technology chambers contain various forms of mixed reality, robot arms, axial elevators in a way that changes the scale in which we interact with the world.
Is This My Future?
Over the course of this project I have been able to discover how my passions have turned into architecture. This is what gives my projects a personal touch and presence that relates back to me.
I have always been passionate about technology. I grew up at the same time the majority of technology in the world has. In high school I would always be watching technology videos on YouTube. Always looking at the world that we could be living in and what the future might hold.
In todays world, technology is only scratching the surface in how it is utilized in the field of architecture. So I’ve been thinking about the potential to study this in grad school. My goal is to become an innovator. There is so much to learn about architecture, and there is so much to learn about technology. This is very exciting for me and I’m looking forward to what may come from such an endeavor.
Thanks for tuning into this weeks blog post. I hope you enjoyed it and found it insightful. Feel free to leave any comments or questions and I’ll be happy to answer them. As always, Dream Big!
Alonzo Colon 