CURRENT CITY
ARCHITECTURE UX
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The Current City project located on Harrison and Wells strives to be a model for the development of a continuous front on the Chicago River. The project creates a city within a city where inhabitants can live, work, and play all in one. It crafts a continuous pattern of the river front usage by minimizing the footprint that the buildings takes up on the site. The curvaceous buildings and its' winding elevated paths create a unique flow throughout the site.
TYPE
Conceptual Building
PROJECT DURATION
4 month semester
MY ROLE
Designer
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Researched Precedent River City Study
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Explored Form and Function
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Drafted plan, elevations, and 3D modeled the building
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Built physical model
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Created digitals for presentation
This project was completed with a teammate .
LOCATION
Chicago
TOOLS
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Rhinoceros (2D plans, elevations, & 3D model)
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Adobe InDesign
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Adobe Illustrator
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Adobe Photoshop
Current City is composed of two-linked building elements – the first being derived from the adjacent River City into an undulating dynamic great curved linear form containing diverse functions; the other a low/high green over walkable roofed element. The larger of the two creates an iconic figure on the river site, while the lower mass creates a great urban open space between the river front building and its neighbors to the east, as well as opens up the project to the city center off to the north. The masses are built out to accommodate for maximum density of the site and are designed to be continually used and re- used over time.
The project has an overall important balance of form and function, where a large bay size (approximating 40’x40’) is used within a fluid building shell that incorpo- rates several sustainable aspects.
BREAKDOWN
THE PRECEDENT STUDY
RIVER CITY
River City was the precedent study for this project. We were fascinated by the curvature of the building and began exploring how to make a homogeneous building next door.
THE FORM
EXPLORATION A
We first began exploring if we wanted a tall building, short building, wide building, or to have two parallel buildings side by side.
TALL
WIDE AND SHORT
WIDE, SHORT,
AND PARALLEL
EXPLORATION B
After deciding a short building would be the best direction to go, we then studied how the building could compliment the curvature of River City while still having its' own unique shape. The images below show the different shapes we explored and how the form was manipulated by stretching in different directions.
ORIGINAL CURVE
MIRRORED
ELONGATED CURVE
PARALLEL AND
UNZIPPERED CURVE
EXPLORATION C
Two parallel buildings was the form that we decided on. The building was also extruded to be three times the height of River City. To merge the two building, five connection points were created to allow users to flow through.
PARALLEL AND
VERTICALLY EXTRUDED
CURVE
PARALLEL,
VERTICALLY EXTRUDED, AND CONNECTED CURVE
THE BUILDING DESIGN
PROGRAM
The goal of Current City was to create a city within a city. This would give occupants the ability to accomplish all their daily tasks and activities in one location. The building was split into private and public areas as well to allow the general public to have an opportunity to interact with the amenities.
PUBLIC VS. PRIVATE
PROGRAM BREAKDOWN
KEY
STRUCTURE
The structure of the building was designed throughout the joined buildings as well as the landscape and parking garage
PROGRAM PLANS
To dive into more detail with each program, section cuts were created to explore how occupants would move through the building at different levels.
PARKING
ENTRY
COMMERICAL SPACE
HOTEL
RESIDENTIAL
FACADE
The facade was directly dictated by the program of the building. Window sizes changed depending on how much light and privacy was needed for each program. For example, the sports court has floor to ceiling windows to allow the maximum amount of light in.
Due to the curvature of the building and the materials used, the facade also has its' own program. Some parts of it was used for solar panels and others were used for vertical gardening.
VERTICAL
GARDENING
SOLAR
PANELS
LANDSCAPE DESIGN AND BIKE PATH
While the curved building was a large focus of this project, we also explored how we can have a connection between the building, the land, and the water. A second building with a landscaped facade and a large bike path was created to accomplish this.
RENDERED SITE PLAN
THE PHYSICAL MODEL
The physical model gave us the opportunity to bring our designs to life. We were able to understand the flow of River City better and see the relationship of the surrounding buildings.
