Noble Jonathon

8/3/2019 Noble Jonathon

1/8

138

ROOFTOP ARCHITECTUREDESIGNING FOR URBAN WASTED SPACEJONATHON NOBLE

Studio Instructors: Harry Eggink; AE Sonne Palmer; Walter Grondzik

Project Advisor: Michael Gibson

Designing for our urban roofscapes demands a shift in current patterns of

development in order to redene the physical and social structure of our built

environments. Cities continue to sprawl out onto undeveloped land, wasting

valuable resources on infrastructure necessary to support an automobile-

centric lifestyle dependant on cheap oil and plentiful greenelds. Rooftop

architecture creates a new system of design and way of fabricating unique

buildings that sustain and enhance the social and physical elements of a

complex urban fabric.

circulation, structure and social perception.

What is most commonly considered live/work is

an artists loft with a mezzanine for a bedroom

and a ground oor dedicated to working.

However, in a more commercial setting with

multiple employees this method is not relevant.

Instead, a system described as live/near, where

the living functions happen in a dierent part of

the structure and the working function happens

in a location that can have access to multiple

employees and clients. Circulation within a live/

work complex is important to design in order to

keep the inhabitants from feeling isolated from

the larger community. Designing an exterior

gathering space gives the people who live in

the structure the opportunity to meet thosewho work but do not live in the structure. This

project has 6 living units and a working space

for up to 20 employees. In order to keep the

structure from being secluded it was important

to design for a larger working capacity so that

people could still live o site and walk or ride

transit to work, activating the structure from the

street level.

Urban Design

Rooftop architecture can have a powerful impact

at the urban scale, injecting new functions and

ways of living into an environment that has

previously been used for mechanical systemsand the occasional roof terraces. As rooftop

architecture penetrates the language of the

roofscape, it will act as a catalyst describing a

new norm for development. Neighborhoods

trying to revitalize their community can use

rooftop architecture as a way to bring new

interest and new programs to the area. As

rooftop architecture appears those with

neighboring empty rooftops will recognize the

new found potential in activating that wasted

space and create a new street level that thrives

within the existing grid of the city

THE PROJECT Cities suering the

consequences of sprawling development

contain roofscapes that oer opportunitiesfor thriving environments which can support

new ways of living and working. Rooftop

architecture creates a system of design and

construction that addresses a very specic and

unique site. The site is a new street level elevated

above the existing grid of the city, engaging the

surrounding community through new functions

and new lifestyles. What was once wasted

as rain, sun, and wind hit the existing rooftop

is now a valuable resource that is harnessed

as rooftop architecture collects, absorbs, and

reacts to the natural systems available. As

cities are forced to densify because of increased

oil prices and diminishing resources rooftoparchitecture will create a culture of sustainable

living and development, that will contribute to

a thriving urban rooftop culture.

THE IDEA

By 2050 there will be 392 million people in the

United States. Population growth continues

to be a concern for many cities around the

world While places like India and China face

more immediate concerns, America will soon

reach levels of growth that it can no longer

sustain unless current patterns of urbanization

and sprawl are recongured. Between 1960

and 1990 the total population increased from

95 million to 140 million (47 percent), whileurbanized land increased from 25,000 square

miles to 51,000 square miles (107 percent)

(Berger 2006, 19). Horizontal growth is not

a solution to the population growth that

will happen in the coming decades. Land is

being developed at an alarming rate; between

1982 and 1992 the annual conversion rate of

undeveloped land to developed land was 1.4

million acres per year (Berger 2007, 18).

Sprawl is a product of low transportation costs,

large amounts of open space and the relocation

of industry and manufacturing out of the city

core and to the peripheries. The ability of

people to travel cheaply and privately to work,play, shop etc, has encouraged continued

growth in the current pattern of horizontal

landscapes and surfaces with a lack of medium

or high density buildings. When we are unable

to sustain this method of urbanization we will

look to are developed land and re-use and re-

purpose existing surfaces for denser multi-use

functions.

Live/Work

Structures that incorporate live/work theory

have inherent problems pertaining to


2/8

139Jon a t h on N ob l e

CHICAGo, ILLINoIS

Work

Adaptive work environment with raised

loor system. Capacity or 20 employees.

Two story spaces with partial second level

or recreation and dining. Access to smaller

courtyard on south side rom irst level and

access to large entrance courtyard rom

second level.

LIVE

Two story Preabricated living unit with

access at second level rom main gathering

courtyard. First and second level patios

provide valuable open space and can be

opened or closed with retracting shading

devices or winter and summer conditions.

Courtyard

FIrST LEVEL


3/8

140 Jon a t h on N ob l e

Courtyard

SECoND LEVEL

Structure

The existing building on the site was built in

1926 o masonry and timber construction and

could not bear the load o a two story structure

sitting directly on top o it. Part o the system

o design and abrication is developing a way

to share the load o the new structure with the

old.

This project utilizes a space rame that is a

teen oot modular square rame that aligns

with the teen oot column bays o the existing

structure. The two existing stairwells would be

reinorced with steel and serve as two points

that carry the load to the ground while two new

columns, one on the ront and one on the back,

would carry the remainder o the load. The

space rame then acts as a series o beams that

cantilevers the living and working components

over the edge o the existing building.

The 76 module separating the existing roo

rom the bottom o the new structure carries

the mechanical systems and plumbing systems

that eed the rootop structure while also

providing a visual distinction between the old

and the new.

South facing glazing is shaded by overhanging

balconies. The work space is wrapped with glass

louvre system that allows personalized ventilation.

Slits cut into the rigid insulated panels reflect thehorizontality of the louvers

Work


4/8


Fabrication

As a way o designing and abricating, rootop

architecture creates a system that applies a

design methodology o structural relationship

between units that can be plugged into the

structure, and pieces that are applied to the

structure. This gives the designer the control

to internalize or externalize structure and

mechanical unctions o the building.

The living units are preabricated primarily out

o lightweight steel structure, insulated rigid

paneling and a thin concrete foor system or

thermal heat gain. The unit is then lited into

place ater construction o the space rame and

plugged into mechanical equipment that is

suspended within the space rame. The unitizing

o the living spaces allows the structure and the

mechanical systems to be externalized or ease

o abrication and installation.

The wenvironment internalizes the structure

by applying the skin o glass, louvers and rigid

insulated wood and metal panels as a series o

components that are also preabricated and

placed on the space rame.

The fifteen foot lightweight steel space frame

floats over the existing roof and is anchored at f our

points. Circulation, mechanical, plumbing and

electrical systems are enclosed within the spaceframe to allow freedom in live/work units

LIVE

WorkLIVE


5/8


LIVE Living Units

The living units are two levels with foor to foor

heights o 13 eet. Living spaces including

dining, kitchen, living room, and storage spaces

are located on the rst level and allows access

to a small balcony overlooking the city to the

south.

The second level is a lot layout with the bedroom

and bathroom. The entry is also at the second

level off o the courtyard and is separated rom

the bedroom by a sliding partition. The second

level has access to a larger patio that gets shade

rom louvers in the summer. The roo structure

o the living units are angled to harvest rain

water and direct it back towards the central

courtyard where a water tower stores it or later

use.

A thin extensive green roo that helps to insulate

the units. Photovoltaic panels are incorporated

into the rooscape as well. Clerestory lights

on the south allow limited direct light into the

space in the summer but allows winter light to

penetrate deeper into the unit. The kitchen and

bathroom are located to the back o the unit on

the north side and are placed within the teen

oot space rame structure that houses the

mechanical and plumbing xtures.

Limited interior lighting is needed because o

the narrow space and large foor cuts that allow

a single light to penetrate rom the rst to the

second level, reducing energy demands.

LIVE

LIVE

SECTIoN N-S


6/8


Work

Work

Working Unit

The working environment is an open area with

raised foor system allowing easy adaptability

or young developing businesses. Facing east,

the work space has views to a new two acre

park and back toward downtown Chicago.

The orm that slides out and hangs over the edge

o the existing building gives the experience o

being on a rootop and is suspended, creating

an illusion o a foating structure rom the

ground level. The orm also rames the view

back toward the city rom the central work

area. The entrance to the work space is rom

the second level courtyard. The stairs are in

line with the orm leading you directly into the

space that gives the rootop experience.

The enestration on the east acade is glass

louvers that allow individual control over the air

circulation by the employees. The horizontality

o the louvers is picked up in the punched

openings o the rigid insulated structural panels

with a bamboo interior nish and a corrugated

steel exterior nish. The horizontal openings

are crated rom a 76 grid and properly shade

the southern light. The roo o the work space is

an intensive green roo and is accessed through

the central stair tower that has the vertical axis

wind turbine at its peak.


7/8


Refections/Conclusions

Rootop architecture is a complex system o understanding the urban

environment and applying a knowledge o spatial relationships and the

interaction o structure and orm. This design encompasses a technical

answer to a demand or densiying a community and creates a new culture

o rootop dwelling that can extend onto the rooscape and act as a spark or

a neighborhood that is in the process o revitalization.

Works Cited

Berger, A. Drosscape: Wasting Land in Urban

America. New York: Princeton

Architectural Press, 2006.


8/8

Jon a t h on N ob l e 145

Noble Jonathon

Documents

Transcript of Noble Jonathon