DESA1002 'Continuous City' <Sarah Yates>

Abstract

This lakeside site offered the opportunity to create a place to escape from the hectic city. Floating ‘bubbles’ give New Yorkers spaces to read a book, meditate, or simply relax for a while on the lake. The building houses a public newspaper-reading room on the lowest floor, with rooms for group classes such as meditation or yoga secluded on the top floor. Lifting the building off the ground gives space for a public marketplace populated by light, mobile stalls beneath, while an administration centre and staff area are housed in the centre floors of the building. Reading bays in the Newspaper Room protrude out through the I-beams holding the cantilevered structure to create the ‘bubbles’ in the facade. These forms then create more social bays in the staff area, a meeting space in the office, and the roof lights exclude distracting views of the city in the ‘escape spaces’, directing gazes to the sky instead. The translucency and subtle pattern of the bubble forms draws your attention to shadow patterns and light, helping you to slow down for a while and be calmed and refreshed.