4th year Critic: Vance Chavis Long Life Learning Library.

It was really interesting to attend the 4th year critic and see where all of the things that we have been focusing on come together in what we will be doing in the future.  The 16 students of this 4th year studio were all working together in designing a new library in place of the the old Vance Chance Library on Lee St.  They were designing the building from top to bottom to build a better library for the computer that can continue to grow and prosper.  The idea of growth helped them to decided that they wanted to knock down the original building because with a new bigger building they could start anew and grow from there.  The chose to incorporate some of the brick and a huge civil rights quilt that hung in the old building in the entrance of the atrium.  One thing I really liked about their presentation is how well they were prepared and had thought about every detail within the building.  This is one of the many thing that I have learned about design this semester; every detail counts and comes together to make a whole.  The fully addressed every question easily and without hesitant and I really enjoyed being able to see this level of understand about design.  I took many notes but two specific things that caught my attention was the e cloud throughout the atrium and whole of building and the folding wall in the multipurpose room. 

The e cloud consists of 10 ft long squares hanging from the ceiling fading out throughout the whole library.  They were to be blue and green at the atrium and then blue in the stacks area and green in the multipurpose room and theater.  The whole purpose for these were to bring the rooms together making the whole building flow.  This was an issue I have been dealing with all semester with making my projects come together as one and it was nice to see them do this.  Some of the issues that arose with this was questions of copying the art work of the e cloud in the San Jose airport and the cost for the installation of the pieces.  The students fix for this was to design the e cloud out of recyclable bottles which would change the copyright issues too because in doing that they are designing a different type of piece.  They also suggested installing the pieces throughout time to cut cost however I like the previous solution better.

This was the folding walls that came from the ceiling that came down to help better separate the multipurpose room.  With this piece and also the movable walls installed in this room, the room can be used for various things such as theater, studying, group presentations, and storage of furniture within the walls.  With the library being located near A&T, Bennett, UNCG, and Greensboro College this room can be of great serves to college students in need of areas to practice for anything or get together as a group and study.

I really enjoyed 4th years critic because it helped to put a lot that we have learned this semester into perspective.  I felt myself relating issues that I was having with my project to many of the issues and solutions that they came up with for the design of their library.  The critic also helped me to take knowledge from what they do and hopefully use it in my future designs.