Fall 2015 - Graduate Topical Studio

 

Located in South Charlotte along two active streets and the Greenway, our site shares a direct adjacency to the Carolina’s Medical Center with easy pedestrian and vehicular access.

 

The intent of this project is to bring together Neuroscientists, Psychiatrists, and Computer Scientists to collaborate and develop new technologies for understanding and treating mental disorders. 

 

Neuroscientists, psychiatrists, and computer scientists will engage with one another and patients to develop better treatment methods through technology. Their lab spaces are critical to this concept and are one of the two key elements within the project. The other key element is the Library, a space of withdrawal and contemplation for the researchers. The Library is a place for collection and reflection and is separated from the Labs, a place for production and action, by offices and interstitial spaces, which act as the processing points between the collection and production of the two key spaces. 

 

The natures of these key spaces are further emphasized by their locations on the site and their relationships to the surrounding contexts. The Library reaches out over a reflecting pool and its all-glass facade protrudes from a copse of trees like a jewel. In contrast the double-skin of the Lab spaces and their direct adjacency to the active intersection, along with their views back to Uptown, relate to the busy and industrial nature of the space. 

 

A perforated canopy element wends between both of these key spaces and relates them back to the more public bar to the south. The canopy also activates the key thresholds into the site, its folded form drawing visitors into the site.