DESA1002 'Continuous City' Henry Szmelcer

Abstract

My project is an architectural college situated in Venice. My idea was inspired by the cities connection with historical and evolving architecture. I expressed this tradition through my own project by taking advantage of the cities surrounding architectural masterpieces, where better to study architecture? The college is extremely selective consisting of a single class, single studio room where students will partake in most of their private and tutored studies. A computer room which provides printing and scanning capabilities, a single lecture room, interior cafe, 3 courtyards, and an exhibition room which displays the work of students. The college is located between 3 main roads, I took advantage of this by directly linking the main roads to the college where you can enter though 2 main entrances and a single side entrance. I integrated the site to highlight these entrances. The entrances to the building are very inviting; I used the geometric shape and large doors to highlight this. The two main entrances also have courtyards with landscaping before you enter, after you enter through the larger courtyard there’s a double heighted ceiling allowing you to see the roof of the first floor level from the ground floor lobby. The appearance of my project intends to bring together the historic and modern architecture of Venice, I achieved this by creating a modern form which I’ve designed to appear as if it’s growing out of the site itself, and I’ve used the material of the surrounding buildings as clad, these materials are Stone, concrete, copper. The interior of my project was designed to be an open space whilst maintaining the separation of spaces. To achieve this I used glass partitions inside the building, an elevator and spiral staircase at the centre of the building, a double heighted ceiling and an interior balcony, a geometric layout of areas to provide a flow throughout the building and a connection between all 3 levels.