THE CHARLES RIVER BOAT FACTORY
Class: 4.023 - Architecture Studio I
Materials: museum board, chipboard, plexiglass, bass wood, spray paint, model trees, plaster, fabric, card stock paper, paint
THE SITE
The site that was given is a small park along the shore of the Charles River, right on the corner of the Boston University bridge. It is around 700 ft by 400 ft, and is divided in half by a set of train tracks that run diagonally through the site. There is a sidewalk that lines half of the perimeter of the site.
THE PROGRAM
The task that was given was to design a program involving a domestic space, a production space, and a public space that would occupy the specified site. My design draws inspiration from the boats that are commonly seen floating along the Charles River. I decided to create a boat-making facility for the production on the site. It features a domestic apartment space for the factory workers, a dock to view and rent the finished boats, and a pavilion that is open to the public for music festivals and performances.
THE INSPIRATION
Each structure on the site is influenced by the shape of boats’ sails. The project centers on the design challenge of taking the form of a sail and transferring it to the exterior of a building in a way that conveys the shape of sails while also packing the necessary building program into this irregular form. The structure of the buildings started out as concept designs, modeled by folding paper. This idea then developed into an exploration of catenary curves through the usage of hanging fabric dipped in plaster. These shapes ultimately influenced the final shape of the structures on the site.
A few prototypes out of the fabric and plaster catenary curve exploration were chosen to influence the structures that would be constructed on the site. These prototypes were 3D scanned and used to create models of the site and the buildings.
THE STRUCTURE
The main building is the centerpiece of the site, created out of two overlapping shells to resemble the appearance of a sail. This intersecting structure takes on the challenge of fitting two different spaces within them: a boat factory and a residence. In these plans of the main building, the downward facing triangle represents the shell containing the factory, which is 3 storeys high. The left facing triangle represents the shell containing the domestic space, which is 5 storeys high.
The floors of the domestic space and production space are purposely offset to provide less awareness of the other program that coexists in the space. To further explore this concept, the only connection between the two spaces is the freight elevator. The boat factory is designed with a specific circulation: raw materials arrive through the double doors and are moved to the third floor using the ramp or the freight elevator. Finished parts are sent down the ramp from the machine shop on the third floor to the assembly space on the second floor. The finished boats exit through glass garage doors and enter the river via conveyor belts to be displayed on the dock.
The domestic space—which is the taller shell—is designed to highlight the unique shape and structure of the building. The floors of each storey are pulled away from the shell into a balcony, where residents can observe the roof stretching from the floor to the top. Lining the glass walls of the building are blinds, to preserve privacy in the residence and highlight moments of conflict: the main staircase of the boat factory contrasting with the scissor staircase of the residence. The two spaces are designed so that each of the units of the residence are not visible from the production space.
3D printed and laser cut main building model
The public community spaces on the site include a pavilion and stage for performances and a cafe by the river. They are built from the same catenary curve to highlight their shared purpose of serving the public.
The circulation on the site is designed as a loop between the main building, the pavilion, and the dock, with entrances from either end of the site.
The circulation on the site is designed as a loop between the main building, the pavilion, and the dock, with entrances from either end of the site.
On the other half of the site, the existing nature is preserved as a park with a curving pedestrian path that weaves through the trees and extends into the water. The purpose of this park is to provide a space for peace and quiet, contrasted to the other half of the site where the community gathers and production takes place.