project.place.2

After the site visit last week, my new project is taking shape.

I spent a few hours on a bitter cold October morning taking it all in.

I looked, I photographed, and I sat in a warm coffee shop trying to see, and ultimately trying to understand.

I knew right away that this was not "Every-town", USA. The character of the buildings is quintessential New England Mill Town (seen in images above). It was all so familiar and I was instantly in love with the fabric of the architecture of this place; The repetition of punched openings in expanses of brick walls, the sea of pattern and texture.

I grew up in a New England mill town similar to this one with it's beautiful shimmering brick blocks by a body of water in reflected light. I recognized how the scale changes between opening and wall, solid to void from building to building. The affect is a subtly play on light that caries the eye across the surface turning solid brick masses into undulating waves.

I felt an instant connection and understanding.

The emotional aspects aside, I tackled analysis of the physical characteristics.

My intention for these diagrams is to create a lens by which the place is understood and eventually decisions are made about the new building I will design.

I chose two buildings that vary in scale and texture and broke them down in to fundamental componets. (click on images for a closer look)

Of course this analysis is only one aspect of the problem. The physical is easy, the emotional is the tough part.

I guess I'm already a little bit ahead on that front.

(this project is being done as Project Architect with Fennick McCredie Architecture, ltd.)