Journey Of My Project Development
How I perceived a child's perspective and transformed it into an architectural design.
Every child dreams about what profession they will pursue in the future. But have you ever wondered how they envision the place where they will work?
Within the scope of the competition, a solution is expected to be found architecturally for work ethics and organization that children may describe as "boring."
A child should be able to say, even now, "When I grow up, I want to work here" upon visiting a place.
And it is expected that we reach this architectural solution by working with a child.
When starting the project, I had an initial meeting with the 10-year-old girl I will be collaborating with.
Before delving into her architectural preferences, I inquired about the kind of workflow she might prefer.
The child expressed a desire to work in a place where she is not constantly told what to do, to receive recognition for everything she works on, and to showcase her achievements. Additionally, she mentioned wanting the flexibility to work in the office whenever she pleases.
Reflecting on the conversation with the child, I realized that she belongs to the alpha generation and that, from an architectural perspective, we might be witnessing the preferences of this generation for the first time in a design project.
Based on the child's requests, I decided on the following:
1. An open and flexible office layout that allows working through rentable office units.
2. Giving importance to transparency in my project.
3. Opting for an open-plan workspace.
My project, being designed as an open office concept, can cater to various user profiles as it includes working and rentable office spaces.
The main user profiles for the project are formed by two universities and a hospital located near the plot.
In other words, the space will be designed for academicians from two different universities to come together for meetings, for hospital staff to use as a library, to provide individual or collaborative workspaces for students, and even to serve as a calm cafe where local residents can sit and attend to their daily tasks.
The location of my project, as directed by the competition, is the Crawford-Roberts neighborhood in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
The site, shaped like an irregular quadrilateral, has a slope of 2 meters from north to south and covers an area of four thousand square meters. Due to competition requirements, I can utilize thirty percent of the land, which corresponds to one thousand two hundred square meters.
Situated between three parking lots, this area is characterized by limited public transportation and abundant greenery.
After the initial meeting with the child I was collaborating with, I asked her to visually represent the place where she wants to work, based on our discussion.
Over an extended period, she gradually developed her drawings and showed them to me.
In her drawings, she envisioned a building rising around a tree, swings hanging over a pool, a labyrinth garden, and a library as tall as the building. She wanted to fit all these elements into a rectangular space.
The child's desires should have been the starting point for this project, and the exterior of the building should reflect the creativity of a child.
Therefore, I began by emptying the rectangular form from the center to allow for a tree to pass through. This tree would serve as the core of the building. It wasn't necessary for this core to be an actual tree, so inspired by the child's wish for the building to rise while circling, I designed a ramp from the core to the allowed maximum height of 6 meters. Connected to this ramp, I designed cubic working capsules. These units were growing, akin to a tree, from the lowest level to the highest level.
In the library design, staying true to the child's preferences, I created a bookshelf the height of a floor, and to access this bookshelf, I designed a wall adorned with colorful blocks, reminiscent of Legos. The protrusions on this wall allow activities such as reading or working at an elevated level, as one can sit on them.
I believe that an open and free-spirited office like this will bring a breath of fresh air to the working environment in the short term, whether for students or adults.
Anything that makes work enjoyable instills a sense of empathy towards work within us.
I am of the opinion that a plan like this will contribute to work discipline and productivity.
