Neighborhood Center – Part 1 – Chu – Fall 2009

For this project, we were given the opportunity to add an accessory program to the given program of a neighborhood council center.  I studied both vertical garden precedents and landscape conditions in urban environments in the process of designing a garden to integrate into the community center.

The major concept for the project was the introduction and integration of a garden landscape into the built environment.  I integrated the landscape both as a ground plane which travels through the building as well as a vertical garden façade which wraps around the building.

Neighborhood Center – Part 2 – Chu – Fall 2009

The vertical garden system is hung from a moment frame structure which also supports the photovoltaic super-roof.  The vertical garden is accessed via operable windows and an operable pulley system.  The movement of the windows and the garden trays creates an ever-changing façade.

Neighborhood Center – Part 3 – Chu – Fall 2009

The building can be accessed from the sidewalk, from the parking lot, or from the second floor from the community garden. The single-story space below the community garden houses the neighborhood council office, while the double-story space serves as both a meeting room and a workshop area. The second story allows for overflow from the meeting room as well as vertical greenhouse workshop areas.  This area connects back to the exterior community garden plots. The building takes advantage of its low point at the edge of a largely impervious site by employing detention basins and water filtration tanks to collect and clean runoff water. The photovoltaic grid at the top of the building twists to angle south.

Neighborhood Center – Part 4 – Chu – Fall 2009

Art Center and Urban Tree Farm – St. Louis, MO – Thomson – Spring 2005

Art Center and Urban Tree Farm - St. Louis, MO - Thomson - Spring 2005

Serving as both an art center for underserved children in St. Louis and an urban tree farm, this project reclaims a city block currently populated by abandoned homes. The block is anchored by classrooms on one corner with a pathway to a performance and exhibition center on the diagonal corner. The other two corners provide housing for artists-in-residence and community members. Along the pathway across the site are rows of trees for future planting for the revitalization of downtown St. Louis, as well as seating and play areas, and a community garden.

Model/Renders in Rhino/Flamingo