I found this multilevel vacation villa and I thought it could be somewhat useful to our project. Although it is residential it does give some good cues for placement of entries and balconies. All the balconies and decks in this villa are pointed towards the bottom of the mountain and gain great light from the sun. The two entrances are on the mountain side of the villa; The primary entrance on the bottom level with access to a multi-car garage, and the secondary entrance on the top floor that leads directly onto the mountain, this entrance includes a storage and prep area for skiing.
Programming precedents
While researching observation areas I found it hard to find any plans within buildings. I expanded my research and decided to begin looking at cruise ships. The Concordia by Costa Cruises became my focus as it presented many decks with both Bow and Stearn observation decks, as well as the obligatory observation points along both sides of the ship.
The Francia deck is perhaps the best example of observation on a cruise ship. This deck contains the top level of the bridge (which acts as today’s crows nest), as well as a bloated Stearn which provides panoramic views to a restaurant and pool.
The Irlanda deck is two decks below the Francia. This deck is primarily taken up by suites and has fully open sides, Bow, and Stearn. The programming of this deck is quite simple with two long exterior walkways that lead visitors to their rooms, it also has two interior hallways that service the ship as well as house the ship’s crew.
The Belgio deck is one of the few decks placed inside the hull of the ship, however the Stearn of the deck has large panorama windows the provides views for one of the ships primary dinning halls.
I decided to research parts of the project individually and while researching the observation portion of the program the Space Needle was the first building I looked up. The Needle has two primary observation locations both are on the same level however one is enclosed and one is outdoors (but covered with a protective mesh to prevent falls or jumps). Both plans are completely open and are the outer most ring of the needle to allow for uninterrupted views.
I found a competition for an Operations Center for Ski Patrol funded by a traveling fellowship by the name of Cavin Family Traveling Fellowship. The project is not real but the requirements were as real as it gets and included snow loads and wind loads. The project is now over and the winning design as well as four honorable mentions were posted on the CFTF website.
This projects program is organized into a split level “H” form. Programmatic function follows an L pattern on the primary level and a linear pattern on the lower level. vertical circulation is done with a stairwell at the core of the design. Aside from the outreached Garages on the primary level circulation is quite easy through this plan using only three hallways of relatively short length. The Elements seem to be grouped with like functions which further eases the need for a lot of circulation.
I found a competition for an Operations Center for Ski Patrol funded by a traveling fellowship by the name of Cavin Family Traveling Fellowship. The project is not real but the requirements were as real as it gets and included snow loads and wind loads. The project is now over and the winning design as well as four honorable mentions were posted on the CFTF website.
This design uses a horseshoe style layout to provide easy access to all programmatic elements. Entrances are located on the ends of the horseshoe to provide covered access very close to the garage and helipad. The program works to reduce the foot print of the site but access will most likely be long and tedious to get from one end to the other.
I found a competition for an Operations Center for Ski Patrol funded by a traveling fellowship by the name of Cavin Family Traveling Fellowship. The project is not real but the requirements were as real as it gets and included snow loads and wind loads. The project is now over and the winning design as well as four honorable mentions were posted on the CFTF website.
This project here which was a runner-up stacks the program vertically in a long rectangular plan. Vertical circulation happens via stairwells at the east and west ends of the building, while horizontal circulation is along the south facing wall. All the programming elements are pushed to the north to look up the mountain and gain indirect light.
I found a competition for an Operations Center for Ski Patrol funded by a traveling fellowship by the name of Cavin Family Traveling Fellowship. The project is not real but the requirements were as real as it gets and included snow loads and wind loads. The project is now over and the winning design as well as four honorable mentions were posted on the CFTF website.
The winning entry took many things into consideration and developed the project wonderfully. The programmatic concept was to group program functions together and use massing to separate each different function into its own form. This enabled a linear circulation route through the spaces and opened up an opportunity to have major insulating features in the final form. The downside to this form is the linear circulation breaks down and gets very hectic with the walls within each of the program spaces.
IIT ARCHITECTURE 