CoSM Parking Structure #6 is a public parking structure in downtown Santa Monica serving several major local and tourist destinations.At Second Street, the public realm is a dynamic overlap of retail, pedestrians, bikers, motorists, landscaping, and opportunities to sit and rest. This structure will be unique, however, in that the public realm does not stop at the ground floor, but continues up along the entire building face. The dynamic circulation zone at the façade invites all parking patrons to make their way to Second Street. This reduces way-finding confusion which plagues most parking garages.
Patrons cascade up and down an exterior diagonal stair which weaves in and out of the plane of the façade. The façade is pulled away at the diagonal stair, bringing the movement of people to the fore. This serves a twofold purpose: first, to ensure safety invisibility, and second, offering unique ocean views.The façade functions as a light-enhancement screen which is carefully crafted to bring light deep into the building structure, while eliminating harsh glare at the edge. This screen is composed of metal panels which are folded outwards to catch and redirect high angle sunlight into the depths of the structure.The portion which remains unfolded is perforated to allow for the passage of low angle light directly into the garage and to provide a high degree of visual transparency. This combination allows for a greater amount of light to enter the garage over a longer period.
From the street, the highly transparent façade appears busy with the passage of people, and the constant ever-changing backdrop of cars. The façade not only provides a functional lighting aspect for the parking structure, it also creates a strong identity, enlivening the streetscape.Project Info Architects:Behnisch Architekten, Studio Jantzen Location:California, United States Design Architect: Christof Jantzen Area: 2250.0 sqm Manufacturers: Cookson, Otis Parking Consultant: International Parking Design Structural Engineer: Culp & Tanner Shoring Engineer: Burnett & Young MEP Engineer: Levine Seegel Civil Engineer: Incledon Consulting Group Façade Consultants: DVV Associates, Odian Engineering LEED: Brightworks, Gaia Development Artist: Mike Ross Owner: City of Santa Monica Year: 2013 Type: Car Parking Photographs: David Matthiessen, Stefan Behnisch, C. Matthiessen
https://www.arch2o.com/city-santa-monica-parking-structure-6-behnisch-architekten-studio-jantzen/ May 31, 2020 at 06:08PM https://www.arch2o.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/car-park-700x437.jpg
This project has the ambition of becoming a new model for media libraries. The program calls the functions of a media library into question, lending it the content of a ‘third place’ – a place where members of the public become actors in their own condition, a place for creation as well as a reception. In association with the basic program, the building includes areas for displays, creation, music studios, and a café-restaurant. The various activities in the program blend into each other, creating a dynamic arrangement.
Courtesy of Dominique Coulon & associés – Photography: Eugeni Pons
The building comes up close to the crown of plane trees – this is the first thickness to act as a filter from the street, apparently playing with this first colonnade of plant-life. The facade serves as an unfurling ribbon that serves as a backdrop to the different universes contained in the program.
Courtesy of Dominique Coulon & associés – Photography: Eugeni Pons
At its closest to the street, the ribbon dips, the better to contain it, rising again where it stands further back. In the hollows, the border between the interior space and the urban space is less clear and makes it possible to come closer, to embrace the building visually.
Courtesy of Dominique Coulon & associés – Photography: Eugeni Pons
The hollow and solid sections produce an ambiguity between inside and outside, questioning the borders of the public space. Space becomes uncertain: it ceases to have clear outlines and calls itself into question in practical terms. Light spreads out along the ribbon, and the ribbon distributes the light to the area right in the heart of the building.
Courtesy of Dominique Coulon & associés
A garden ramp offers another escape route to the outside, leading upwards to a summer bar, the culminating point of the architectural promenade. The garden extends the indoor walkway, getting closer to the line of the horizon; the town disappears, leaving just the crown of plane trees to dialogue with the sky. New uses become possible: people can take a nap, picnic, read outside, or gather in a group.
Courtesy of Dominique Coulon & associés – Photography: Eugeni Pons
The building rests on a principle of independent, irregular systems. Stacking these simple systems, each with their own logic creates tension in the space and in how it is read. In this way, the optical perceptive space eludes the Euclidean space and its preference for straight lines. The bubbles contain very specific elements of the program, such as a storytelling area, language laboratories, places for playing video games, a plastic arts room, etc.
HyperFocal: 0
They are defined as cocoons where people are cut off from the other universes, escaping from the collective area. The bubbles are the last refuge, the most intimate part of the building. They do not respond to Cartesian logic either. The distance between them depends on their area of influence and on their scale.
The color and the materials of the principal space bring out variations of light and coloring that contrast with the material nature of the bubbles. The space is fluid, and the multiple routes offer constantly renewed viewpoints.
Courtesy of Dominique Coulon & associés – Photography: Eugeni Pons
The promenade turns into a process of revealing the various universes. The unfolding of the outer envelope accentuates this impression of infinite space. In this “ineffable” space, the notion of gravity seems to disappear – the roof and walls appear to float.
Courtesy of Dominique Coulon & associés – Photography: David Romero-Uzeda
This sophistication generates a “plastic acoustic” that lends this new place an atmosphere which transports and re-examines the relationship with the body and fluidity. There is no unequivocal reading of the space; the perception one has of it reveals a complexity and an unexpected richness. It is a place of freedom.
Floor Plan – Courtesy of Dominique Coulon & associés
Project Info Architects:Dominique Coulon & associés Location: Terville, France Year: 2016 Client: Ville de Thionville Architects assistants: Gautier Duthoit Construction site supervision: Steve Letho Duclos Structural Engineer: Batiserf Ingénierie Electrical Engineer: BET G.Jost Mechanical Plumbing Engineer: Solares Bauen Cost Estimator: E3 économie Acoustics: Euro sound project Landscape: Bruno Kubler Cost: 11, 000, 000 € Area: 4590 sqm Type:Library Photographs:Eugeni Pons, David Romero-Uzeda
https://www.arch2o.com/media-library-third-place-thionville-dominique-coulon-associes/ May 31, 2020 at 04:08PM https://www.arch2o.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ARCH2O-Media-Library-Third-Place-in-Thionville-Dominique-Coulon-associ%C3%A9s-34-700x484.jpg
At Second Street, the public realm is a dynamic overlap of retail, pedestrians, bikers, motorists, landscaping, and opportunities to sit and rest. This structure will be unique, however, in that the public realm does not stop at the ground floor, but continues up along the entire building face. The dynamic circulation zone at the façade invites all parking patrons to make their way to Second Street. This reduces way-finding confusion which plagues most parking garages.
The façade functions as a light-enhancement screen which is carefully crafted to bring light deep into the building structure, while eliminating harsh glare at the edge. This screen is composed of metal panels which are folded outwards to catch and redirect high angle sunlight into the depths of the structure.
The portion which remains unfolded is perforated to allow for the passage of low angle light directly into the garage and to provide a high degree of visual transparency. This combination allows for a greater amount of light to enter the garage over a longer period.
Project Info
