ARCH 436

Phoenix Central Library, Context, Construction, Economy, Function, Environment

 

 

In combination with another elective’s project, I have chosen to analyze the Phoenix Central Library by Will Bruder by building a Grasshopper script and animation mode. The five descriptive words that summarize this project are as follows.

 

Context (time & place)-not just because of its hot, arid climate design, but because of all the limitations affecting its design, all while having the desire to have an iconic-type of building. Construction-the importance that all the influence of its design going into how its built. Economy-minimize cost, maximize design effectiveness. Function-a public building of big-city scale. Environment-Arizona sun and climate effects.

 

Through the lens of this particular analysis, I have hoped to study how and why the structure and facade have been put together as they have. Some of the segments of this storyline include: the concrete structural core, the “saddlebags”, which filter the exterior climate, & service the building utilities and circulation, the north and south facade louvre systems, and the tensegrity structural system on the fifth floor reading room.

 

Utilizing Grasshopper allowed for a quicker and more accurate digital modeling process, because its an existing building, and since is mostly symmetrical and has a lot of gridded systems and components (i.e. facade panels or structural members).

 

As a method for environmental analysis Grasshopper and its available plugins is very useful. Since blocking the solar heat is a very important factor for this building, I tried to use Diva to simulate its solar gains at different points in the day. Also, its notable the thoughtfulness in this design given to limiting solar heat gain but pulling in indirect sun through glass wherever possible (i.e. roof skylights).

Lastly, I thought creating a model in this program would be useful in developing an axon animation of the building’s core parts, because of Grasshopper’s ability to visually group components and export to different programs. I tried to simulate an exploded axon animation by exporting (via each’s piece’s slider) into Adobe Premiere. Also, I tried using Centipede to export and manipulate a video in Cinema 4d.