As I mentioned our Marian Thompson is

as this year's Portman visiting critic

of the firm of John Portman and
Associates has

generously provided funding for
this this this program

includes the Portman prize competition for
those

few who may not be aware of the students
who are in the rolled this semester or

in the the options two level design studio

are are in a sort of CO requisite course
that they're taking on construction.

Detailing construction technology and
so on are focused very much upon.

The Art of Assembly
the art of the sale and so

on really in an effort to
really hone the kind of

understanding of of our
the architecture is the art of building

and the the Portman firm

in highly sort of indorsing and

one and
two to two to be a part of that effort

in the students' sort of
set of values if they hold.

Very close made this opportunity
available it involves.

That a critic a visiting critic

who would bring to campus three
times the first time tonight.

For a lecture the second time
it midterm thereabouts and

then at the end of the term as
the chair of a competition jury

where there will be
awarded the Portman prize.

And so it's in selecting a con.

Of a visiting critic.

We tried to identify
an individual whose work in fact

in bodies the kind of a quality
of work a care craft attention

to making to detail to the tectonics
an experience of quality of architecture.

And we feel we found just the right
person in Marion Thompson and it.

It also was serendipitous from
our point of view that it turned

out that she had grown up on Sea Island.

Spinning some summer since
spinning summers there and

being within the thrall of
John Portman's house there.

And it's it's so when I asked.

Marianne to be our Portman critic
she immediately responded and

said My goodness.

John Portman is the reason that I
became an architect you wrote that.

And so we we thought it it.

It bode well.

Marion Thompson is a has been honored
as a fellow of the American Institute

of Architects and
she was educated at Princeton and Harvard.

I can't go much further without
putting my glasses on that.

Private job.

There she was and

she's also a member of
the faculty at Harvard currently.

Where she is visiting us from today.

She founded Marian Thompson architects
in two thousand following her tenure

as founding partner of the Thompson and
Rose architectural firm.

She specializes in architecture
that is sustainable.

Regionally driven and which heightens
one sense of sight and landscape.

Her architectural investigations revolve
around ideas like the creation of rich and

thoughtful between inside and

outside the utilization
of a lie as material.

And strategies for

employing natural materials to
exceed accentuate a sense of place.

Thompson carries degrees in both
architecture and landscape architecture

which is of special interest to us and we
think appropriate to this role as Portman

critic she brings to her practice
an interdisciplinary approach.

Where issues aside in landscape
are central to design thinking.

A think that will be happy
to see the wonderfully

thoughtful and
phenomenally rich work of Marian Thompson.

Welcome to Georgia to thank I'm starting
with this slide because I wanted

in this lecture I chose some projects
to talk about the idea of space.

And.

The space that's held between forms.

So you know the idea that in
this image where the image

really lives is in those moments between
the forms and between the canopy and

the rock walk between the leaves
between the rocks because I feel like

it's a topic that isn't really talked
about very much in the press is days.

There's so much.

Kind of attention to skin attention to
issues of science are buildings as site.

And the idea of kind of an early modernist
attitude towards space I think is

something that students really

need to think about instead and
how they develop schemes for me.

Side out civics you know not
just space interior space but

also civics they somehow buildings form.

In their edges spaces between them
that can be really visceral and

really important to how
we move through them.

It is that essentially the basic condition

of architecture is
the occupation of space.

And so I chose some projects to talk about
that as well and it was really interesting

to see the site today because you do
have this huge kind of potential for

a Civic for civic expression which has to
do with the space outside the building.

I want I also wanted to set a context.

Which is hilarious photo of my family.

Just a context for my life because
it's kind of this crazy life where

I have five kids and I teach of the G.S.T.
as one studio year in

a professional practice class
an ethics class and for just.

Women in the audience who
want to know how to do that.

What's been really helpful to me is to
have my practice basically in my house so

I have a carriage house behind my house in
Cambridge and my practice is in there and

I had a photograph of it and
it suddenly became white but.

When I was loading this.

Here's my staff.

The idea that it's kind of a dense urban
experience that I'm living I have you know

I don't ever get my car unless I'm going
on a safe is that because I walk to my

office in my carriage Also I can walk to
the G.S.T. which is just around the corner

and it's allowed me to have
a kind of multiple life.

That where I'm moving around
in all different environments

all day long but
it makes a very rich and very exciting.

I have an amazing group of
people that I work with here.

In my carriage.

And if anyone wants to
talk to me about that.

I'm like a really good person
to talk to how you do.

Practice and a teaching career and
have children.

The first project I want to
show you guys is a school that

we recently completed in Connecticut.

And.

It's a Montessori school so

I don't know any of you guys
about Montessori but basically.

They came to us with
an idea of a one room.

But there was one hundred sixty kids.

Montessori is not divided
into little discrete

rooms it's it's typically one room.

So you know could have been like
a Kmart kind of thing because

one hundred sixty kids we needed
like eighteen thousand square feet.

And.

The first response was just start
to you know look at the program and

I think this is something that.

Is that also a way that you guys can
start to think about your projects where

you know we looked at
the size of the program and

what what what would typically be done and
then started to.

Very gate the edge to create
Noakes inside of a big space.

And then started to think about
a structural system that we could use that

are following these bands to
bring light and to the inside.

So the first response was in which we
did and would models basically and then.

Also in computer model was just take
those to take that big rectangle.

Slide it so that it created a kind of
more of the scale of the child and

also these little nooks on the inside and
then lifted the routes relative term.

Another to bring light in
from below from above.

So basically was a structural response
which I think given the kind of

comprehensive nature of the studio
you guys are doing it would be good.

Also to have a kind of general.

Idea that has to do a structure.

And then.

Researching.

How children learn.

As a kind of generative ideas well and
looking at Piaget's ideas about.

Constructivism which is this category
where you say you know looking basically

he was critical of in a in a in
an object subject relationship

of a passive object with an active subject
which would be like a teacher just sitting

there while the children are just
running around like crazy.

An active object with a passive subject
which is what we have right now

where I'm active.

And you guys are just passively
watching and what he was looking for

in the in there in an educational
setting is an active object and

an active subject like a ball so
ball is the perfect situation for

you know it moves in the child moves and
looking at that and

thinking you know how can you make
a building that has that sense of

dialogue and reciprocity between
the child and the building and.

So it basically in a way
prioritizing the subject so

that as the subject moves
through the building.

It's in a kind of dialogue with the
building and what what we started working

with was a basically a garden principle
of kind of of using a actually Japanese

garden principle of unfolding spatial
sequences hide and reveal which is.

Which is a garden principle a nature where
you're you know you have your lead through

kind of small garden through unfolding
spatial sequences where things

are revealed to you as you move so
in are rather than having axial sequences.

The building is.

Spiraling as you move through it.

And so this is just Iran shows the kind
of pathways that we ended up creating and

the kind of spiraling that
ended up in the building and

the strong shows actually
the lines of support.

Where we have these big beams that
are moving to let light in from above.

And then working from those principles
coming up with this plan which I'm sort of

walk you through quickly and
then we'll go to the photos.

The big issue with schools I don't want
to be your studios is doing the school

is how you arrive by car too which is
really going to be hard on your site.

This is a more of a great field condition
in Connecticut where there's a long

line out drop off the child.

This is actually kind of hilarious.

They don't let the parents
into the school.

So these are you know little
guys ages two through eight.

And they drop off here and
there's a teacher here who gets it.

Who takes the child and leaves and inside.

And that allows for this huge one
big room which is this form here

to not be overly noisy because it is it
a boy's a separation anxiety that happens

a drop off the child has the separation
anxiety here and this crying here.

And by the time they come inside.

It's no it's not as noisy.

So you come in there's a there's
kind of a lobby space that

orients to the landscape here.

This is the player.

There's a little view
through here to cover it.

Outdoor play area and

then the little guys two through five
are on this side which face East.

So it gets the morning sun.

Because they're only there till twelve.

And the older children five through eight
are here and they get the western sun.

As a library right in this
space here on the north side.

That's in the part of the hallway and
then gross motor or gross motor.

Half a terrier room here
in a music room here.

Separated acoustically it's a separate
building because of the problem of

the big one room.

So you can see how you move

into the space in a way that spirals
here moving into these little eddies.

We have on the north side the art art
which is really science art science rooms

here in here and.

One of the most important things that
we did which I think you guys all have

an opportunity to do on your site was
where you along the edge of the building

east west.

And in New England it's so depressing I
can't even tell I mean I know some of

you are from New England but
by this time of year.

Typically it's so depressing you
really need sun in your life so

I always try to east west and
open the building to the south and

this was a huge site we
could've done anything and.

So there's a kind of pact
condition on the north side

where there is you know hallway.

Eight keeper.

Stairs bathrooms.

In the in the to our
rooms on the north side.

And then all the rest of
the space is open to the south.

So we can get a lot of sunlight in.

And it's becomes a passive solar building
because we have a under all of this south

face we have a really thick or
slab it's like twenty five inches or

slab that isn't it has no basement under
it and so it becomes a formal mass.

And then really big
overhangs on the south side.

To allow for
both indoor outdoor kind of play spaces on

the south facing player and
to keep the summer sun out and

buildings not air conditioned and
that's really nice on the inside.

Another thing that's really
nice to do in New England and

you have to think about
the climate you're working in and

what's appropriate there is to
locate outdoor space on the south

side because that extends the seasons
that you can really be in those spaces.

So the kids can happily be outside.

You know from.

Basically like March.

To November because it's south facing.

So here's the quality of the interior
with as you can see the big beam and

opening out to the south the way the light
comes in really deep into the space and

then these sort of unfolding little
knocks this slide seem squished.

But that's OK imagine it
a little bit stretched out or

suddenly it projectors always do this.

The.

Louvers reduce the glare
on the seven person.

And you can see there is ceiling
fans because we don't we're not air

conditioning but
a lot of the windows that are up here in

the in the can in the high in
the clear story actually operate so

we're using the stack
effect the cool the space.

And this is so the for your comprehensive
studio this is another thing I love doing

I love hiding lights and that's something
you can work on for your detail and.

Because you know how lights are so ugly
and ceilings they look like little bowls.

So this is a valence that has
that lights up and down and

we had to hit like lumen requirements for
school and

we were able to do that with a veil and
here's a view from.

Basically our area over
here looking this way and

you can see the kind of depth
that you get in the space with.

The light from above and the and
the deep space that's kind of layered

as you move through layer
by the overhanging beings.

There's one of the beams.

A study that we did just
a quick study of the kind of

wandering space that we're trying
to get this sort of big room but

it's a sense of leading you on in terms of
these unfolding conditions a light from A.

So the spaces that are enclosed are just
the ones in red here we've got.

This is another really hilarious.

This is this is really hilarious.

You can come in here.

There's a gatekeeper here who is
making sure that no terrorists come

into the school and she's
the receptionist headmistress is here.

Instead of the basement.

There's a conference room and then this is
the faculty room and it has one way glass.

So if a parent is like really actually
nervous about their child because they're

not allowed in the school they can come
in here and watch what's going on and

the faculty watch what the kids are doing.

Bathrooms and
then this is just like kind of entry core.

Everything else is completely open
just abided by the structural lines.

Above.

And then using the overhangs
to create a kind of

indoor outdoor space that's ambiguous.

I think it's really fun and you guys have
this potential on your side as well to

what I call exteriors rise the interior
through like a light from a of creating

kind of ambiguity between inside and
outside by create you know allowing for

the feeling that you're still
outside when you're inside.

And if you think about it when you're in
a tree canopy light comes in from above.

So that's one of the reasons that I
always try to bring light from above and

also using overhangs which
extend this in indoor space out.

Allow for and

interiorization of the exteriors so making
exteriors space is a feel like you're in

like you're inside still creates a kind of
ambiguity which makes a sort of richness.

To the project.

So here's the main road.

That's a huge line up the parents
drop the car drop the child.

Parking down here so if if they park and

they walk the children
up through a landscape.

And then along on the east
west axis south facing player.

The old.
It was here.

And they stayed and
watched we had a construction

fence they watched construction while
it went up and then they tore it down.

There's a view from above where you see
that entry road the roof planes playing

against one another a light coming in
through the square clear stories are going

live down here in southeast saying play
arc which has a canopy of deciduous trees.

So it really does work.

You know in the summer.

It's not too.

Sunny.

And we did all the furniture as well.

So the children occupy the floor.

Basically because it's a it's
heated it's a radiance and

then it's also the thermal mass and so
all the front you know there's no chairs

the furniture is part of
the chairs the ground plane.

It's really warm here
they are in the space and

it's quite meditative it's amazing when
you give children a space that's big.

And they can't be noisy they actually are.

It's very very meditative
they're it's very sweet to watch

from the secret faculty room.

Some other kind of fun things
the use of mirrors to extend

the space is really long and
extends in this kind of layered way and

then using mirrors to even promote
that further and I think for

you guys to notice the kind of way
that the structure is handled so

we have the beams and then there's
also a few floating columns that

take some of the structural load
we have these walls of glass.

Disengaging the column from the glass
curtain wall is a really beautiful way for

a child to start to understand
the systems that are supporting them and

it also allows for the curtain wall
to be much thinner and more elegant.

And bringing up all these technical
things because I know you guys

are doing a comprehensive studio.

Valence with the light up and down and.

The floor change is going to resilient
floor in the art science area.

One of the places where they

where they meet is kind of a conversation
pit from like one nine hundred sixty.

But the kids really love it.

It's a little gathering spot so
the floor steps down here and

there's whiteboard wallpaper here.

So the building itself
becomes you know part of

the building itself becomes the teaching
tool rather than having like a separate.

Whiteboard.

Here you can see the because
of the windows wrapping here.

We couldn't.

We didn't have to have no wall to
take the sheer force is so there

is a kilometer structure that has cross
bracing with taking this year forces and

then allowing that to be a layer in front
of the curtain wall with the bookcases

built into it and not coming to the floor
so they float as kind of device.

Layering device between the columns and
then a layer of glass and

then the layer of louvers and louvers have
like three inches between the ribs in

the glass so you get the sense of
construction as a woven art form

which construction really is woven you
know it's like you know I think it's so

beautiful before they close the family.

Before they put the plywood
on the building.

It's like the most beautiful condition so
ways that you can allow for

the skin to read us a layered
system just speaks to the kind

of actual honesty of architecture
is a woven woven art form.

And you can see even here this sort of
wiggly there but it's not in real life.

The edge so that cedar which is coming in
on the sheet rock you read it as a layer.

It's not flush it's kind
of like what office Todd

did in your where I love
the way they've layered the.

The wood on to the existing
condition this.

This was detail to allow you
to see the edge condition.

So you read it as a layer.

This is a little gross motor room.

Tables fold up so they can have dance and
that sort of thing.

Construction better showing
these big games which were

a hybrid system of steel and wood.

This is just a nailer really on the steel.

And then all the all the intermittent
structures all wood some of

the tools that we used to check out that
space was going to feel computer models.

Is a painting I did of
some of the kind of.

Kind of space that sends
you sideways in the scheme.

And it's really nice because the child
exists in a world of light there because

light is coming in from above
in this very diffused way

and you can see here
the children on the ground.

In this furniture we're living in
this world of light which is so

great in terms of a school at least
in that I've done public schools

in Massachusetts which don't allow this
kind of thing and it's the child is right.

Really immersed in what the weather
conditions are when you let

sunlight into their lives
in this kind of way.

So they see when the clouds pass.

There's been a lot of studies
done that children do better on

standardized tests when they have a lot of
daylight around and the reason it works in

this school is they can move if they
overheat or if they're just too much

where they can move into another area
because it's not discreet rooms.

It's a library space in that back hall.

And a close up of the layering of
the bookcases with the columns with.

And even the deciduous trees
become another layer on the glass.

So the sections running this way
of course are really simple and

this building was really
inexpensive to build.

And you can see how on the south side.

We didn't pull the basement all the way
over so that we could get that thing in.

And they can floor slab so the sun
could come in and heat this ground.

But then the transfer section is really
complicated because of all those

shipping route planes which allows for
that kind of interest to be inside.

So it's basically a bunch of sheds
pushed up next to one another.

It's a model we work a lot and

model I really encourage
you guys to work in model.

It's much more honest I think
than a computer models I think

physical models really you can really
see what the project is and so

for this project we probably did thirty or
forty little little models so

we're all variations on
what we ended up with

the South facing play I had in
the entry here in the groups lifting.

A little butterflies.

Coming up where we thought it was
going to be too dark on the inside.

And that the headmistress tells me they
never turn it basically the lights are on

light sensors and they just never go on.

Into outer space is made
by these overhangs.

This is a space between the main
building and the gross motor room.

And the covered outer space here.

So you know the idea that

you can hold that that these
overhangs become spatial devices for

holding space between two planes that
also create shade in the summer.

So using a systems approach shade
you know the desire for shade.

Also as a space as a spatial operation.

You see the layer held here
between the louvers and the skin.

And then just details and this you guys
can look at you know can work at this

scale of detail in this studio which is
such a fantastic studio they are doing now

where you know because we're talking about
space in the project and that kind of

space that's held between forms
between the roof and the floor form

allowing for what you know rather than
having the outdoor play area come all

the way over allowing for a space there
that then it shows up in the floor plane.

And that gives a kind of slot of light.

So it's all about the scheme like if you
think of the idea of the scheme as being

about light from above and.

Little details like the.

That run through the project
that accentuate that same idea.

Give the project a kind of texture that
resonates where the birds thematic

and the kids kind of do stuff
they have to do with light and

air because they you know because they
feel this sort of light presence.

One of the teachers took this photo and
sent it to me.

In the space between these two volumes.

The next project.

I want to talk about is
it's a private house.

Which has similar ideas in it for

different reasons this client on
Martha's Vineyard came to me and

said you know we've had a Dad had
skin cancer and they had bought

a piece of land on Martha's Vineyard and
that they wanted to be in shape.

They wanted to have the Ocean View but
really be in shade which was great for

a summer house it's a summer house so

the idea that we bring in southern
sun was not relevant here.

So and it led to a scheme that has a lot
to do with these big groups that create

almost like a I don't know almost like
a dark shady environment on the inside but

then letting in cracks of light you can
see a little clearer stories between

the roofs from above to just give a kind
of luminous effect to the inside.

So it's not too dark for

the site is a little bit up there this.

Faces north.

Which is actually perfect for a summer
house in my opinion because they didn't

want we didn't use air conditioning in
this project or in or in the last project.

It's on this huge cliff
north facing cliff.

And it is meant to feel
like a kind of continuation

like a building of layering
of the earth of the cliff.

There were two houses next to it.

We were trying to isolate visually
we're going to be just there.

OK this is a long gated this way.

You have to take all these slides and
pull them out to the right.

That's stairs not quite that long.

But you can see how the roofs.

Play against each other to create
this kind of cracks of light be.

Them but also de overhangs and so this is
an idea and I think it's relevant to you

guys in your studio now where there's a
there's a formal idea but it's driven by.

Programatic and

a kind of systems idea where we want
a lot of shade but we don't want and

we don't want our conditioning and but
still we want light in the project.

So it's not depressing.

Some of the models we are working with
can see the layering of the rooms and

then how the ground plane view side starts
to also become another one of the layers.

You know expressed as one of
these layers of view from

the side at the entry of one of
the models we did on the project.

I can't I can't tell you and
I found how great it is to do.

I mean I just really think it's
important to do physical models and

I know you guys are really
get a digital stuff.

But you can't really honestly you
know the digital stuff can be so

tempting and so you know so
beautiful that you think it's

really good with a model which is just
like a crappy messy model you really can

get an honest impression of the spatial
experiences that you're coming up with.

So the floor plan.

You come in this is the drive.

There's a garage is huge stone tongue.

That comes out to greet you and

bring you in there's a door here which
is hard to read Little best feel and

a view through to the ocean and
then it's similar to the children's school

in Connecticut where you unfold into
the living room living rooms here.

This is all one big room and one big room.

Yet all these little nooks so very similar
to the children's book unfold and here.

There's a there's a.

Fireplace here kitchen is here
with this sort of indoor outdoor

there's a kind of trellis that runs
inside and outside here dining room here.

So the kitchen living room
dining room all one room.

And then there is a this was an existing
cabin that was on the site and

we had to use that footprint because
this is actually an addition and

the building inspectors
here point to this cabin.

It's come up a few stairs there's a living
room here that's for these two children

and it has a kind of Nana wall
that opens to the screen porch so

the whole room becomes one
big screen when that's open.

And there's an idea that someday they'll
put a room here in a room here for

grandchildren which fits kind of
perfectly there and then two bathrooms

for the kids over here says master bedroom

master closets master bath down
here there's a separate entry for

kind of a guest house that has a stair up
to a bedroom up here above the garage.

So the scheme is basically a series of
volumes that are kind of you shaped to.

As a site response to the neighbors
here to create privacy.

So when you're here.

You don't really see neighbors
kind of superficial I know but

it's what it's worked well for
the site but

they wanted a second floor here is
the come up and here is the bedroom.

So I love this view of the project
because it's really getting out what

we were trying to create this
really deep overhangs and yet

kind of a glow because of the clear
stories which are really tiny I mean it's

kind of radical to say you're going
to do like a three inch clear story.

But that's what we did.

So that you get the light
on the outside but he.

It's actually no U.V.
because of the skin cancer problem.

This is that trellis that goes from inside
to outside is into the screen porch.

Kitchen has passed
through the screen porch.

And then I it's something I didn't
bring up at the children's school but

this kind of monochromatic palette
that we use there with a white

ceiling the white walls allows for
the space to be really volumetric So

rather than having you know like a collage
effect of lots of different surfaces

where your I would go to the surface.

The idea in the children's school
of the white walls in the white

ceiling was to create something I felt
very volumetric and very spatial so

that you read the space rather
than reading the object.

And that's similar here we
try to create a kind of total

volume with where the walls the floor.

Everything is all the same material.

There's the entry there is a stone
piece that comes through the entry

in the fireplace and then you unfold into
the living room space here kitchens here.

Running Room.

And you can see these clear
stories that bring light and

to create a kind of a kind of glow.

And it does feel very forested
it's interesting you're

right on the beach that it has a kind of
meditative quality because you come in and

it's a light from above like in the tree
can it can it be in a wooded condition.

And then

when we did have the large pieces of
glass using overhangs to shade them.

So

you know I said I didn't like lighting
the idea that you know this client this is

the kind of thing you'll come up against
the client didn't know where to but

the table and they weren't exactly
sure where to put it so we just made

a whole random pattern of lights from the
ceiling so they could move it anywhere.

We did we made all the table
all the furniture.

So it would all go you know monochromatic
Lee with everything with everything.

And then the way that
the roofs work creates a kind

of object out of the landscape or

out of the sky which is something that
you know we really try to do a lot which

is one of the reasons that working
in model kind of really allow

you to do that because you can get your
eye down and see where where those.

Where you're creating a kind of
visceral object out of a void.

You can see where it's really working and
it's similar to.

I mean what we're trying to do is
similar to the space between the stones

in the wall and you can see you're
going to see one that when you see

the outside of this building that it
has it kind of has no presence at all.

It's really about the space not
about not about the object.

It's a clear story here.

This is that room that opens or you can
see the big opening into the screen

porch screen porch.

And.

This is the guest that set that door
that's off the driveway that goes

up to the room above the garage and

just little details like lining up all of
these lines all the way around the room

are so hard to do but it's you have to
call them out of the drawing set or they

don't they don't get done that way and you
have to make sure they're done that way.

The drawers were made by the casework
person to line up with the walls.

Again it gives that kind
of monochromatic feel so

you're reading the volume
rather than services.

I mean that's the hope

this is one of the kids'
bedrooms bath time.

So it's like a big window
that opens up with a pond.

It's a master bedroom with
the doors that slide.

Again this is in this house.

I don't know if you've noticed but
the columns are disengaged from the skin.

And you know all the columns
are basically so

that you can get this really
light skin that can operate.

And then the column is
basically a galvanized

steel column that just stands alone in
this case it's on the outside of the skin.

And I think thinking about thinking
through that is it on the outside of

this going to is it on the inside of
the skin actually makes a big difference

because when it's on
the outside of the skin

my opinion when you open the doors it
feels it feels really like a porch.

You know it starts to feel more
kind of that idea of that of X.

your eyes in the interior
is really strong.

You can see that relationship
between the column and the skin.

So this is what I'm talking about the
outside has a very kind of quiet feeling

like it's part of the landscape and
that's the hope that it just nestles and

all of the material is
going to whether to gray.

It's not it's not painted
it's not stained so

that at some point it will be just a very
light gray like the color of this.

And the roof planes that play
against each other very subtle and

it kind of has that like shock
feeling they knew a lot of me go and

seaside architecture House
where it's a little ramshackle.

Which was intentional.

Is outdoor shower where the wall comes
down so you can get the views while you're

taking a shower a front
elevation with a big

time and

you can see it sitting on a plants
that is almost like an earth and

like an idea that at the project is coming
out of an Earth condition the columns and

then it becomes really light marry up
towards as it moves up and I think

also you guys have that potential on your
site to work with kind of ground condition

that has some sort of geometry that has to
do with architecture in the space you're

trying to create rather than just
setting it straight on the ground.

This is looking out the window of
that room that's above the garage.

OK So the next project.

I want to show you is it is
a little school in Connecticut and

this is the site right here.

And about fifteen years ago.

Thompson rose the school
came to Thompson arose and

said we want to locate a building and
I am bringing this project up because a.

The idea of making space with buildings
making basically civic space even if it's

in a landscape with buildings.

Basically they came to us and

said we want to locate a building
basically a black box theater.

They have a really strong theater program.

And an art music.

That blackbox theater art music
complex in this road right here.

Addressing this street.

And already they had a little series of.

Pavilions that are kind of nestled
into the woods here for for

ages pre-K. through.

Middle school and
they had a Administration Building and

then a middle school building here here
here Middle School here soccer field and

an existing gym here.

And so.

You know as an architect you can go
to a client and say I think your site

is wrong and I think that's something
that architecture you know that students

really need to know you can you can mess
around with the program and the site.

If you have a large enough site and
so we went to them and said you know

this would switch they called the sacred
grove you really shouldn't build ten and

then they wanted to have a kind of
civic relationship to the street but it

was this was beautiful woods they actually
do maple syrup tapping in that woods and

you can see it's kind of
a center of their campus and so

using these very incisive small
scaled moves we turned the project

from being like a big monumental building
into something that is like really small.

So this became the black box theater and
it.

Used the facilities like the.

You know the the locker rooms and
all for the back of house and

it has a kind of back of house
here I'll show you in the plan.

And then this became the arts and
music building.

So.

And then we did an extension
to the gym here.

So rather than tearing down the gym which
was one of the ideas that they wanted us

to do as well because they wanted a bigger
gym just adding a very small piece here.

Which preserve the field which
is another half assed locker.

And then adding there it's music
building here north is this way

so we made a little south facing
court yard here which makes so

much sense in New England because it is
a really pleasant place to be the winter

winds don't get in here they have
a beautiful garden happening here now.

And then the black box here.

Allowed them to save this woods and

they created a little kind of like
a civic like a yard like a college yard.

In what otherwise have been kind of
a leaky landscape right in here.

So it's a really simple project.

It's so nice the way it came out because
it allowed for this sacred grove.

Here's the little pre-K.

through middle school buildings
that we have through this grove.

To be preserved and it was it ended up
being a cycling strategy basically that.

I think you know I thought I thought it
would be a good thing for you guys to see

in terms of how you can create a void that
ends up becoming the heart of the scheme

rather than creating an object that ends
up becoming the heart of the scheme.

And.

I'm going to show you in a minute.

So this project was done
like fifteen years ago and

then they sent out an R.F.P.
for science building.

And ninety six firms applied for
it and because of the recession

and we were interviewed there were
eight interview people interviewed and

they ended up hiring us again because of

how nice really Restasis So
you know I just really want.

You to think in terms of a space
between rather than just the object and

I think that's kind of
the lesson of this project.

You can see how it works.

There's a kind of covered walk here that
links all these little buildings that

are in the Essel into the sacred grove and
then it returns here and

there we end we ended up creating
a little bit of one here for

the entrance to the theatre a little
lobby there's a bench here.

That's part of the lobby for
the kids to hang a big bench for

the kids to hang out in the old gym
with its extension the black box with

the back of house and you guys need to
think about loading the loading dock and

how you're going to get things how
you're going to get deliveries and so

you know this is the loading dock
that comes to garage door here so

they can build stage sets back here and
here.

And then using the locker rooms which
we rebuild that work for the gym.

Also as the back of house was like
a really efficient way of doing it.

Dealing with walkers.

And then the music room stand below and
then on the second floor.

The art rooms that have taller ceilings
and you know have a lot of light.

So really simple playing them but
all about incisive

additions that end up creating
the space beyond them.

So here you see the model.

Black box art music gym extension

sacred grove here and
here is the black box.

That's the old gym and
then the new gym and

the art the arts rooms here with
the tall roofs and the music room.

Creating you know with the view
out to the south facing courtyard.

You can see this.

Yes This project is also I want to
slope like yours like your project and

there's a stair up here which I think
I have a picture of this idea of

kind of contoured plane
became a part of the project.

You can see it here where we
have a second means of the grass

from the art our building
on the earth ramp

the comes down that also becomes like
a seating area to watch the soccer games.

So here is our black box.

Here it is felt the south
facing courtyard.

The overhang that's a continuation
of the overhang of the lower school

again separating
the structure from the skin.

The space between these
two buildings being

being almost like an extra recorder
which is really beautiful.

It's really nice rather than having an
interior corridor to allow the landscape

to be the corridor.

There's that bench I was
showing you in the plan.

Which is like the favorite
hangout space at the school.

This is the lobby to the black box and

then the trophy case with a view
through the trophy case to the gym.

So there's a future.

So you get that sense again
of the kind of layering

of the spaces because you
have the view through.

And then this is up in the art
are building on the second floor.

Windows lining up so again you get this
kind of layered quality to the spatial

condition even though it's just
very discreet little rooms.

Looking through with the reflection into
the art room with the tall ceilings.

And another kind of expression in
the ground plane which I love it but

you guys have this all over this
campus not as rustic as that but

the idea that the ground is
something that isn't just flat but

that you use it as a design expression I.

It could be part of your projects.

Here is that space between you know that

this space leads to black
box which is there.

So when we started our science and

technology building which they they wanted
the science of technology building to add

to the middle school curriculum
analyzing the site and

I think this is another thing that
I would really recommend doing is

doing a really good site analysis
when you start your projects.

So looking at the scale of the spaces
between the scale of the space and

then comparing it to the scale of
this space and how everyone loves

these spaces so much of the school and the
relationship between the natural world and

the architecture they're
looking at this kind

of corridor that ends up stopping here
in these buildings are really floating

the way the overhang of
this overhanging element.

Is so present in the Lower School.

Of course we always find
things that we love to and

these kind of analyses
like light from above.

You guys have light from above in your
corporatist we need to do that a magical

qualities of light from above in this
exteriors corner way that the ground

is really understood as a sloped plane
rather than just building over here

you can see it the stairs coming up to the
old to the project we did a while back and

then looking at the scale of this
void versus the scale of these boy

toys which are much more scaled
to the life of a child and

how really kind of ugly this
building is on that void.

This is the middle school building versus
how these buildings feel so nestled

into a context and how the child's kind
of floats in that soccer field there's.

Not really.
They're not held and

the spaces that are for
occupation like these are the benches for

the upper school where the where the upper
school and middle school kids hang out.

It's just like a corridor.

You know it's terrible.

And here is that those two
middle school buildings and

that space that just is very leaky it's
not it's not a healthy space and so

looking at the site from a critical point
of view what what is the site need.

And then starting to think through working
in this I put a bunch of these and so

you can see how we work in model where
this model is trying to create a kind of

larger more high school middle
school sized area here.

Here's the middle school two middle
school buildings arts and music here.

This one is allowing for the playing
field to be here but creating smaller

scaled spaces between so
basically using these models to work

out what the spaces are that they create
this space this space this space.

I would recommend starting
that way on your site.

Here's one that makes
a bigger courtyard here and

this is one of the stairs up a little
space here between these buildings.

And yet allows for
the playing field to be here similar

kind of strategy where you can see
the shape of the building is coming from

a shape shapes of space that we're
trying to make outside of it.

So the voids become the objects and

then looking at it from
a point of view of a diagram.

This is actually what
we ended up with where

you have here is the art music building.

You have a void here that's occupy will
avoid here that has to do with the stair

and entry condition for the building you
can see and I went in the last night we

started have weird shaped rooms they
really wanted rectangles for their rooms.

So you know some of some of being
an architect is dealing with.

Reality of what clients want.

And here's a site plan that we ended up
with so you can see the stair coming up.

This becomes like a tree
condition which is that.

Exteriors space it's interiorized
because it feels like a room.

Here and here.

And then the building here and
then we had to start you know one

thing that got added was how does a car
have a car get out of the car get in and

reorienting the whole site to being
this being the entry condition.

Allowing for
the soccer field to still be here.

And the way the building works is you
come in at a lower level and then.

So the stairs are here.

Come up the stairs.

There is a plaza here that's made
by the building surrounding it

in this building come up the stairs
a little platform similar to the house.

I just showed you.

And then there is a system of
corridors that also become

like rooms like this is
the eighth grade corridor because

the lockers there's a bench very
similar to that bench I showed you.

At the end at the black box.

This is a quarter that leads out to
the playing to the soccer fields with

an overhang.

Which is going to be a solar
thermal system technology

room with a gate keeper there's like
offices here to watch the door.

This is the biology room because the
biology teacher wanted to bring in snakes

and things in aquarium so
we have an outside door for her great

classrooms rooms this is another office
which is like eyes on the street idea.

The Office.

The teacher who's here can
watch the playing field.

And then a system of terraces
here that are planted at you.

Down from the outdoor classroom which
is a deck system of grass terraces

that's similar to the only terrorist so.

The one that's here on the old building.

And then the physics room.

The ninth grade classroom and

the chemistry room all have really
high ceilings and they allow for

day lighting and light from above stair
up here which has that overlook so

the lobby has a feeling of being an atrium
feeling of being like a sense of arrival.

When you come in this kind of
double space it's really exciting.

And then I prayed lounge here.

So they're kind of like the kings and

queens of the space they can look
out over the atrium in the entry.

So all the formal moves have
to do with programatic ideas.

There's a garage door here that links
physics room to the outer deck.

You can see the slope of the site.

Coming up into the building the double
height space here at the atrium.

Existing building which
addresses the street here and

then as the outer deck
here on the playing field.

And then looking at
the quality of that space.

So the entry condition here overhangs
coming into the atrium space.

And the double height space of the atrium

the ninth grade lounge
overlooking the entry.

And here's the existing ramp and then our
ramp so that children can come up along

the stair and get into the building of the
second level easily from the outside here.

So solar thermal system which is a kind of

overhang that addresses the soccer
field this so North is this way.

So this is all South glass and
this deck is kind of

Northwest facing and
using the stack effect.

This is something that is
I do in all my building so

we really don't need to aircon.

Mission in New England if you use it
because hot you know hot air rises and

if you have operable windows it pulls
cold air and along the ground and

creates a breeze mix with
ceiling fans it really works and

a lighting so that light similar
to the children's school

big overhangs combined with day it can
combine with big windows allows for

day lighting of the space without so you
can really reduce your electrical load.

One thing that you guys are going to
be dealing with is the are below and

creating a construction set and

we've been doing with our sixty roofs in
our thirty walls which are really really

super insulated which we're getting
like a nine year payback on bat.

So it's really really cost
effective to do it in the main

It means we have a ten inch
wall basically insulation.

Another thing to think about is the use of
materials we're using the wood that we're

using the building us from the bowl
which we found at a local supplier.

But it's fun to have like
a story in the materials so.

I call the benches all the all the wood
that's being used in the building is

reclaimed from something that everyone
remembers the benches at the ball and

then the solar thermal system
becoming the overhang so

I think it's nice if you're going to use
an active system in your buildings to not

have it just be kind of a hidden tacked
on system but something that actually has

an architectural quality so the overhang
which which is meant to create a sort of

indoor outdoor space becomes something
that the water is moving through.

Unlike photovoltaic system which you can't
see which I don't think is as good but

it's going to include it.

It's one of the reasons this roof angles
to the south parents under construction.

So you get the sense of what that
overhangs going to be like with the solar

thermal system and
addressing the field idea that.

The basis concrete.

You read the concrete coming up and

it becomes a plinth that the that the
building is is on you can see that here.

Here's the terracing.

Comes up here as solar thermal system.

You said this is the roof of the chemistry
room in the physics room here.

And then from the stair approach where
you see the the butterfly of the roof.

So the building has this kind of
sculptural presence from the stair.

It's the idea that the building
is knitted into it into the site

rather than just an object it has to
do with all the context around it.

It has to do with you know how
you approach it from the stair.

That's where the form comes from
rather than just something that

looks really cool as an object
it gets it gets knitted and

tied back to the site it's it's it's an
attempt to be so specific with the forms.

So another project

that I thought would be interesting
to talk about in terms of light.

It's not technically.

Detailed in a way that I like let's say
the house on Martha's Vineyard that I

showed you this but there's a use of light
in this project that's really fun and

I think you can use
light to create volume.

And to create a sense of empty
space having life in it.

This is an adaptive reuse project

in Brooklyn New York this
is Brooklyn New York.

It's an expressway here.

This is Brooklyn Bridge Park and
Michael involved Amber he

took this whole peer down and made it
into this really beautiful landscape.

These are basically these piers or

four acre Piers inside one of
these piers is a little concrete.

Had house.

Teeny little concrete house like
thirty feet by thirty feet.

Down here on Pier six.

And this was the inside of the pier you
can see the concrete head house here.

And what we did was we just knew that
this whole structure was going to go.

We kept the little concrete box.

So Larry if.

Here it is.

And here it is.

I took some wood that was on the site
that was from a building that was

going to be torn down.

It was some yellow pine yellow pine and

they had like ninety three
miles of it laid end to end and

racked the building with a handicapped
ramp so you can get up to the roof.

That's made out of the yellow pine.

You can see the building is right here
this little concrete box was left over.

I really believe in adaptive reuse by the
way I know a lot of architects say it's

more expensive to renovate than to tear
down but I really don't think that's true.

I think that's architects who
just want to build new buildings.

Because every time I do a Dr use it
ends up being really inexpensive.

And so

we took this little concrete box wrapped
it in wood with a handicap ramp the wraps

around the whole thing to get to the roof
to abuse of lower Manhattan and then.

The interior is you is going
to be used as a restaurant.

It's not quite done yet but

here's the ramp that comes
up gets you to that a roof.

This is a screen for mechanical equipment.

The restaurant is here with
which we put glass and

to get the views out to Lower Manhattan
and there's a kitchen space and storage.

So here it is here is
a concrete building and

the screen outdoor volleyball and
then this beautiful landscape in my.

Doing on the pier one of these that
was really fun to work with was

the existing concrete block
which is a large block and

so wherever we added wherever
there was damage to the block or

where there was a window that we had in
film or used to a smaller scale block.

So you can read in the construction
the building you know where what's old and

what's new and it has this kind of kind
of grungy tapestry effect which is quite

beautiful came out really well.

Here's the screen.

Here's the ramp coming up in
the layers of screen this is

the elevation from the front of
the wood like figuring out how far

apart to space the wood we build
mockups and in the office.

It has a two inch space between the boards
the boards are twelve inches thick.

So they're three inches by twelve
inches and then they're planed down to

kind of a smooth surface because they were
heavy timber with a two expats between so

it really feels perforated but it's

really messed up wood it's got like
a lot of nail holes and stains and

I love the way that it actually has
this kind of quality of being old wood.

And the details like just very simple
things like this detail being super super

important and how they hit the ground
trying to keep that really elegant and

really thin and
we did lighting from behind.

So at night.

It has this kind of perforated
lighting effect and

then trying to allow for the wood screen
to read as a layer on the building so

not bringing it to the corner
little moves like that so

that you understand that this is
a layer on something that was existing.

These are garage doors that
are in the concrete that open

and then there's a point at which they
would screen be turns and becomes a bench.

So folds down and then work sideways
as a bench here you see that here these

members are all slot in to the space
between the vertical members.

Mechanical screen up here.

I love this.

And then we took it down just to kind
of take the concrete block down to

this level here kept the original
ceiling high in the building.

This is a rendering.

And like the other projects I mean
it's much simpler just a kind of

simple wrapping of a concrete building but
it's the same kind of idea.

We have you enter here
this is Atlantic out here.

Enter here and
then you spiral up into the onto the roof.

Rather than having a direct It's
kind of all about unfolding and

that unfolding leads
you to different views.

So you know I see you coming over here and
as here coming down

this really nice here because that has
a view directly of the Brooklyn Bridge.

But as you come in here you're just
getting all these different views

Statue of Liberty this way and

then it's kind of a hide and
reveal situation where you're down.

You start on the other
side here come around and

then you get this kind of moment of
epiphany at the top where it's like wow.

When you get these few the.

You know really distant
views of lower Manhattan.

So the spiral has to do with
kind of orchestrating a kind of

layered sequence layered view
sequence into the project.

And then it's really nestled into this
landscape which is miraculously on top

of a pier lazing So
it's still under construction.

But you can see the way the ramp
folds into a bench here

kind of quality of kind of grungy
quality of that existing concrete.

We haven't put the cap on in this photo

is the bench and this is the kind of thing
you have to reject see how that board

is sticking up and we go to the site and
it's kind of a mass and

then you have to have them redo it.

And that's part of what we do and

see how these boards slot
into the screen system and

like a little detail like the way that
the screen slots down into the floor so

important for these very simple projects.

Harris

the ramp coming up the concrete
building trying to see if

you can see any of the new brick
that's been out in the new block.

It's a little hard to read.

It's a garage door.

The detail here of a very thin piece of
steel that's holding up is a really happy.

They're like heavier than water
actually because they're so dance and

so the steel is slotted into a section
of slotted into the bottom of the beams

you know that when you can kind

of get you get the kind of it's almost
like a handmade sweater kind of variation

in the concrete block the view

from the pier and

then this is the cap the view
of the cap which folds

around the corner and
gets attached from behind.

So it has a very thin line
on the outside that kind

of quality that I was
talking about the wood.

It's really old wood which
gives it a really nice feeling.

As a feel perfect view of the bridge and
this ramp winds up to.

This is where you can see
how the cap is attached and

then there's a piece that
goes over the top of this.

So you don't see all these faults and

then in the there's a fire on the project
where the quality of light in the fire.

It's really nice to view
from this is the concrete

parapet and then the wood coming in here.

It's lower Manhattan Brooklyn Bridge here.

And the other project that we're working
on in Brooklyn Bridge Park is really just

to take this pier to right here and

the idea was to make an indoor
outdoor athletic facility and

what we ended up doing was just taking
this building and actively reusing it for

that facility because our budget was only
five million dollars which which for

a four acre period and something
like twenty dollars a square foot or

something like that.

So this is the existing zigzagging roof.

You can see you're going to see it
from the Brooklyn Bridge and so

that was the idea.

Again this idea that
you can text your lies.

I think that contextualizing the projects
in terms of you and experience the direct

human experience prioritizing the subject
in the project is what this project ended

up being about the idea that you would see
it from the bridge and the interior so

beautiful with the light coming
in from above interior views.

And so what we started doing was just
thinking of ways to keep the frame keep

that existing structure but
excavating pieces of the roof and

adding polycarbonate to areas
creating these little holes so

that it becomes almost like
a solid painting from above and.

This is one of the.

Models is another model
looking at the pattern

of a polycarbonate versus
the metal roofing and

where the excavations are going to
be taking the walls off entirely.

So that you get this kind
of quality on the inside.

So the idea is that it's not an object
it's not like about a formal expression.

It's about this kind of quality of light
and quality of space on the inside

the kind of volume of the space
looking at how it's going to come in.

What were excavating Exactly.

This is one of the patterns that we
are working with with the polycarbonate in

the metal roof this big
excavation here one here and

the plan is to Bochy courts
close to the shoreline.

So that old people old men old Italian
men can come play Bochy this is

a really long walk.

It's forty eight minutes ten am
about courts in mind skating ask

about courts here.

These are all swings the whole idea here
is twenty five swings is that the swings

are going to be on chains and so they'll
make a lot of noise when it because it's

real super windy site so that any sort
of new musical thing happening here and

then the roof the existing
structure excavated how

it sits on that pier with the void that
is made here which is kind of like

the arms embracing lower Manhattan which
is kind of sad lower Manhattan sad

because the Twin Tower towers were there
you know they were right in this view.

So this kind of.

Of space going out to Lower Manhattan.

Looking at that in you know
really rough light models to see

how the pattern of lights going to work as
it moves across the space during the day.

And so here's the peer structure and

what Michael's office did to see some
really amazing land forms that are said

that are meant to block the noise of the
expressway they be Q.E. that's right here.

And looking at their landscape strategy of
these kind of sicker heavier landscapes

and then flatter thinner landscapes on
the pier which you saw in the last in

the warming project and
here you can see their mounds and

this excavated basically excavated
expression of that old pier.

There's an idea about collecting that
we're going to do about collecting water

off the roof and funneling it into
a water reuse area here you can see here.

And so this is the I think you know the
rendering of what it's going to look like

from Brooklyn.

Looking back at this kind
of a memory of a pier.

But it's not it doesn't have
the walls anymore and it has

hopefully will have interesting light
coming in like a magical light qualities.

They've taken off the walls and they

just the frame is just sitting there right
now while they're waiting for funding.

Something that Michael did which I
think is interesting because you guys

are doing this comprehensive Studia this
idea of excavation and just subtraction as

excavation and subtraction as
a as an idea and landscape is

happening right here when he just took
the deck off and left all the piers.

And they actually become habitat
because they're getting light now.

And so I could see a really amazing fish
out at there and it's so beautiful and

it's a simple idea about excavation when
you guys do your grading because I know

you're going to be doing grading in
the studio so much of grading is

just about excavating it's just about
scraping away and then what's left.

Hopefully become something magical So
this is the inside.

Started removing some of the room.

So you can see.

You can kind of see what the like
qualities are going to be late.

Dark and then life.

And the view back from
Manhattan about space

kind of floating space that's
meant to be kind of a family.

We just keep you know testing these
different using life models to test these

different and then the idea
that what human beings touch.

Is wood is that having timber wood.

So that there's a kind of difference
between the human realm and

then this light.

The sky.

So the lecture has been
about you know reading.

I mean I tried to create a lecture that
was about the idea of reading space

between forms and you guys who witnesses.

It takes a long time to get it but I think
that's what you know the idea is that.

I think that you should be trying to read.

The white space

in between your forms I mean I think
that that's like a really good.

Kind of pendulum swing.

We used to as architects
talk a lot about space and

it hasn't been so
much talked about recently and

I think training your mind to
read that white space is sort of

what I'm talking about and it can happen
in a civic realm like in how you may.

Park space how you make the space between
buildings in your site planning strategy

start with the void as well as the object
you have to go back to the object

obviously because you want your
building to be beautiful but and

then it can also happen on the interior
like how you make your spaces

feel like space rather than just leftover.

So you're starting from
the idea of a plastic space.

Avoided space.

OK Thank you.