Student Work
1∕4
Title
Jim Vlock First Year Building Project: Team E 2017
Project Description
This project proposed a scheme that addresses the requirements of the brief with an eye for comforst, modesty, and lasting utility to the client. Rather than subdividing interior space with walls, this project composes the plans with prefabricated components known as “chunks.” Chunks are packs of equipment that support daily living. Each chunk provides amenities like storage, work space, beds, fixtures, and appliances, and commands a zone of influence—the minimum area required to use equipment. These zones of influence, charted in a catalog accompanying the system, define and separate the spaces within the home. The chunk system is deployable on any site that Columbus House, the studio’s client, may aquire or inherit. The system is flexible enough to accommodate changes in topography, lot conditions, and spatial needs. The resulting spaces are wrapped in a simple, panelized rain screen, which is easily built offsite in the warehouse and assembled onsite. Windows correspond to specific chunks and provide views, light, or ventilation. The section cut of the house features a sheared floor plate between the bottom unit and the top, which creates a low and loft-like space on each level. Wedged between a flat floor slab and flat roof, the sheared floor plate produces a sense of intimacy and openness in each unit.