Final Review Sheets

For the final review I wanted to illustrate my design process from the initial library study through the design process into my final design. I have selected what I feel are my strongest images for the left column of the A0 sheet, showing my interpretation of Jorge Luis Borges's short story describing 'The Library of Babel'. Underneath this is a diagram showing my fundamental ideas behind the design - the control and hierarchy of knowledge. 

This is taken forward into the design process, the next column, showing the context, the site behind the library of Cambridge, why the new maps department is required (lack of space in the old) and precedents including the National Library of France and Accordia (see previous blog entry). I spent a long time designing the basement floor plan, the maze/labyrinth (technically it is neither... more of a warren - luckily nobody has picked up on this yet) so have included several images of the labyrinth development.

Next follows the development, from my early wooden models, the parti idea and the ventilation tower reasoning. (All of this can be found in previous blog entries, I wont keep repeating myself). The second half of the first sheet shows my final building design, a large 1:500 site plan showing how it fits into its context, a 1:200 ground floor plan showing the landscaping and a couple of renders showing the main public spaces. The exhibition space will be the most inhabited space inside the building so the view inside was important, as was the view looking up at it from the landscaped space below. 

The layout is split into 3 columns, which are similarly proportioned to my design of the light/ventilation towers. Because of the dark/moody colour scheme in the section below, I have limited my colour palette to shades of black, white, grey, green and any brick or wooden material in photographs. I hope this will make my presentation sheets read as the same project. I thought having a variety of drawings was also important - hand drawn, CAD drawings, photographs, models and virtual models... all photo-shopped in a similar way. The two images below will more or less fill a pin-up board, with space for models below.