CONNECTING GROUND AND SKY

This project is a proposal for an addition to the Mott Haven Library located in the Bronx, New York.

The main intent of my model was to depict the visual connections I created throughout my project, particularly the void that ran through my entire building as well as the partially cut away sidewalk, allowing for a glance into the sub-terrain. The latter would creating the illusion that the building was “floating” while also establishing a visual connection between pedestrians and below ground occupants, since the roof of my theater is an occupiable public seating space, before the building is even entered.

My precedent was the Bocconi University in Milan by the Grafton Architects, which used the umbrella typology. Similarly, in my work, I wanted to feature that dense carved underground space, with a much lighter structural system above it that would help to filter light down to said sub-terrain while also creating visual connections between floors. My theater space, as well as the entire building, is organizing along a diagonal grid in order to optimize the amount of light the building could get from the south.