Announcement

**iru69** · January 8, 2011, 04:16 AM

Welcome to RFO! Great to see you here Max!

Nice save on the building... I'd say you did really well considering the extreme limitations. If I were a kid, I'd think it was pretty neat as well.

So, how are you planning on "constructing" the letters?

**Alfredo Medina** · January 8, 2011, 04:28 PM

This reminds me of the book "Learning from Las Vegas" by Robert Venturi, where the author sees the positive side of buildings having some kind of expression relative of their function.

In this particular case, I would suggest to do something on the other two sides of the building, since apparently, they are still almost as in the first "existing" image. Also, the scale of the sign-portico will be more suited for a multy-story building. It looks a little exaggerated for this small building. However, I do congratulate you for your intention of improving that design, and make it more meaningful and fun for the kids. That original design reminds me of some the old school facilites of New Jersey or Pensilvania.

I am sure that the existing design complies will all the codes and regulations, has all the required details, etc, but something is missing, right? It makes me think of a famous quote by Le Corbusier, from which I want to extract just a phrase: "...My house is practical. I thank you as I might thank Railway engineers, or the Telephone service. You have not touched my heart. ..." If anybody is interested in reading the full quote, it can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?not...35964643084748

**Max Lloyd** · January 8, 2011, 10:38 PM

Originally posted by iru69 View Post

Welcome to RFO! Great to see you here Max!

Nice save on the building... I'd say you did really well considering the extreme limitations. If I were a kid, I'd think it was pretty neat as well.

So, how are you planning on "constructing" the letters?

Hi there. Thanks. The letters will be steel box sections and are actually structural as the curtain wall has no posts in it. I have attached a few structural drawings as well as a 3d image a furniture specialist has prepared for us (using 3d studio max I believe). I have also attached a couple of quick revit images I rendered. You will notice the letters are spaced slightly differently as in the latest design, and in reality I think they will be painted rather than polished, but this was just me messing around and I haven't actually used these renders in any presentations. I have toyed with the idea of leaving the letters unfinished as I figure it could look quite cool as they age. Would quite like to have exposed brick internally as well but I fear the rules on hygiene will not allow it! Anyway, all of that detail will be getting sorted in the next few weeks!

Max

**Max Lloyd** · January 8, 2011, 10:49 PM

Originally posted by Alfredo Medina View Post

This reminds me of the book "Learning from Las Vegas" by Robert Venturi, where the author sees the positive side of buildings having some kind of expression relative of their function.

In this particular case, I would suggest to do something on the other two sides of the building, since apparently, they are still almost as in the first "existing" image. Also, the scale of the sign-portico will be more suited for a multy-story building. It looks a little exaggerated for this small building. However, I do congratulate you for your intention of improving that design, and make it more meaningful and fun for the kids. That original design reminds me of some the old school facilites of New Jersey or Pensilvania.

I am sure that the existing design complies will all the codes and regulations, has all the required details, etc, but something is missing, right? It makes me think of a famous quote by Le Corbusier, from which I want to extract just a phrase: "...My house is practical. I thank you as I might thank Railway engineers, or the Telephone service. You have not touched my heart. ..." If anybody is interested in reading the full quote, it can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?not...35964643084748

Hi there, great response thanks. You clearly know your architectural history far better than me! The letters just came to me as I was driving along as a way of dressing up and hiding the building. I would love to have been able to get the words 'food tech' on the one side as this abbreviates better, but the size and shape of the building doesn't really allow for it.

The 2 sides that have letters face onto playing fields and the rest of the school so are quite prominant. The other 2 sides simply flank a boundary and car park, so less prevalant so I figured less emphasis need be paid to those as budget is also obviously a factor. I'm pretty happy with the scale relative to the building. I know they dominate it completley, but i guess that was the intention really. I actually think they would be diminished slightly on a larger, taller building. Bigger is best and all that!!

Certainly should be fun for the kids. A couple of things worry me slightly....one is that when they climb in and out of the letters someone will bash their heads...the other is that they will use the letters to climb on the roof (although at least they will have any easy way of getting back down again after....)

Nice quotes and thanks for the response.

Max

**trombe** · January 9, 2011, 09:11 PM

Hi Max,

great to see you over here !
good work on the save
cheers
trombe

**jbushkey** · May 1, 2011, 05:29 PM

I started reading not realizing that this thread was several months old. Did you break ground? My comments may be too late, but did you take into account siting the curtain wall to minimize heat gain or is the overhang sufficient? Does the new design significantly increase heating/cooling costs? I like how there is a space between words to indicate the entry. That was going to be one of my comments about the first design.

**Max Lloyd** · May 3, 2011, 05:32 PM

Hi There.

Yep, actually out of the ground already so that's great. The overhang certainly does help with solar gain as the main glass wall does face south and the overhang is about 1.8m wide. With that we don't beleive that the heating and cooling will be affected. We are going to use a heat exchanger on the building to get it all nice and efficient with the heating and ventialation all working off the same ducting.

The later renders that I posted in this thread are actually out of date. The current version is as posted here as the spacing simply works better for the structure.

Regards,

Max

**Max Lloyd** · June 14, 2011, 12:15 AM

Photos of progress being made (and rendering for easy comparison). Exciting stuff and I'm really pleased with the way it's turning out! Well done everyone involved

Attached Files