Thoughts on an early morning Charette

Monday’s charette allowed for the challenges of fast thinking and even more importantly, as quick swing back into studio pace after a relaxing spring break. In order to produce the deliverables allotted for our 8 story proposals in merely an hour, both sets of groups had to bind together quickly and efficiently to compose a conceptual framework tying our two projects into a unified whole. The first decision made in Team Evolution’s charette it our meeting with both Caravaggio and Interlinking was the fusing of the building’s external face. I find this interesting on looking back at the experience because I suppose if one were to squint their eyes at the result enough, that very well be the most important decision in unifying two different structures. Nonetheless there were many considerations to discuss and decide on in little time. During our first charette with team Caravaggio we spoke of adapting materials to create a flowing transition within the two existing designs. As both teams constructed four story models for the Jenga 4.0 project, it was easy to find connections within the two different forms in real life 3D. The concept of dematerialization through floating effects was an immediate connection in the two structures. As Team Caravaggio did not include forth-level patio to achieve lightness in space on their highest-level public space, we found that we could maintain this essence when stacking our forth level glass patio on top. From here we found that our projects would not be simply stacked four stories at a time, but instead merge to an even greater degree by coming together in alternating layers. There was a lively group spirit as we discussed how the fundamental nature essential to each project could me preserved while continuing the conversation on changes and new adaptations. This process cam together almost instinctively though as concepts related to one another when discovering existing similarities and. The second charette focused in quickly once again, but our designs did not flow together as naturally. We picked out prominent features essential to both our designs s like their built-ins and our columns to write a proposed framework through diagrams, sketches, and a cohesive project statement, but reflecting back on the two different charettes, Team Evolution did not interlink with Interlinking in as integrated a language as we did with Caravaggio. Part of this exercise was learning how to speak the same design language in a timely manner. However, the eight-story translation in our first meeting blended more successfully in the short time we had to produce our ideations.