Studio Final: Concept Statement

My intent is centered around the Internet Cafe located on the second floor where people can stay and play. The Internet Cafe offers a variety of beverages and snacks for customers to enjoy. People can order a coffee and bagel and chat with a friend on the patio overlooking Copley Square. The furniture provides a comfortable atmosphere for people to relax and watch television or sit and socialize. Wireless access is available for personal use.

Customers can play and test display models on the first and third floors. The fourth floor is provided for training opportunities for customers and staff.

Studio Final: Site Analysis

The front patio allows spectacular views (red) to and from Copley Square as well as The Boston Public Library. The patio is going to attract people to come up and see the views of the city. The smaller west side patio provides views of the New Old South Church.
Blue represents pedestrian flow. The sidewalks help direct flow in the major locations of the city.
The dark green represents the grassy park area of Copley Square. People of all ages currently come here for many different activities like walk their dog, toss a frisbee, or just sit and relax. People in the park would be able to look up and see others looking at them from the patio which entices them to go up themselves.
The light green represents the traffic flow. Both Dartmouth St. and Boylston St. are one way streets this also helps direct people towards the site.

Studio Final: Research and Exploration

My research involved reflecting similarities from the surrounding arcitecture in my site. The long front patio reflects the length of The Boston Public Library and I brought a similar shape of the windows from the library to my site by having the window arches. The New Old South Church inspired my second west patio. I wanted to provide an extra view of this historic building. I chose the have a square patio to relate to the large square window in the church.

This perspective shows how my building horizontally relates to The Boston Public Library.

This is a sketch to show the many different materials used to build this structure.

This oulines the horizontal front facade of The Boston Public Library in order to relate it to the mass of my building.

Studio Final: Site and Roof Plan

This picture shows how my site relates to the surrounding buildings. The site is located on the corner of Boylston St. and Dartmouth St. next to historical buildings such as The Boston Public Library, the New Old South Church, and Trinity Church. Also Copley Square is across the street from my site.

Studio Final: Plans

First Floor Plan: This floor is primarily a retail floor for customers to veiw, test, and play with merchandise. All merchandise purchased in the building will be controlled by the customer service department located on the north side. Merchandise is also on display on tables throughout the store to continually draw people further in. The large store front windows provide pedestrians to view the merchandise as they go by in hopes that they will come in to play.

Second Floor Plan: This is the Internet Cafe floor where furniture, televisions, and the cafe are provided for people to relax or work inside. Wireless access is also available for use. The outside patio provides the opportunity to veiw some of Boston's historical sites. Pedestrians will notice activity on the patio and will want to come in and experience the spaces and views. People will come and stay to talk with friends in a comfortable environment. There is a preview opportunity of the third floor from the NorthWest corner of the second floor.

West Patio Floor: The west patio provides a view of The New Old South Church. There is no roof over this patio so the sun light is not obstructed. There are also four windows, two on each side, to help provide natural light to the second level. This allows people a preview of the west patio. This intermediate patio connects the second and third floor for people to experience The New Old South Church views.

Third Floor Plan: This floor is also for testing, viewing, and playing with the merchandise. There is a interior balcony over looking the second level and provides people with an open veiw of the Internet Cafe.

Fourth Floor Plan: This level provides classrooms for customer and staff training. It also has the faculty lounge.

Studio Final: Sections

The sections give a better understanding of how the floors relate to each other. Having the Internet Cafe on the second floor and in between the two retail floors gives it easy access to the merchandise. This section shows the inside balcony on the third floor. People can look down onto the second floor and see people either playing with merchandise or buying coffee. You can also see here the elevation of the west patio and how it relates to the second and third floors.

This is the same longitudinal section as the one above just looking in the opposite direction.

Studio Final: Elevations

The south elevation has a recessed horizontal patio in the middle of the building. This patio represents the horizontalness feeling of the Boston Public Library. The windows have an arch at the heads of the windows as do the Public Library and the New Old South Church. There is ban of stone near the windows to break up the materials. I used stone for the ban between the windows to help defend the horizontal feeling. People can go out on the patio with not feeling pressured that it is a merchandise store and relax and enjoy the views.

The West elevation also has an outside patio but this has views towards the New Old South Church. The ban comes across from the South Elevation and continues onto the West Elevation. A mixture of concrete and stone are the materials used for both facades like many other buildings in Copley Square. The two store front windows allows pedestrians to see the merchandise and activity as well as the customers inside can see activity outside. A perspective of the South Elevation in context with the Public Library.

A perspective of the West Elevation in context. The New Old South Church is in the lower left corner and the Boston Public Library is in the lower right corner.

A closer view of the West Elevation.

Studio Final: Model and Perspectives

The perspective views give a better idea of how the building sits on the site and how it relates to the other buildings. The exterior materials I have chosen are concrete with a stone accent. The stone accent is used for the New Old South Church to the left and also for the Public Library.