Perez, Yrral Jaime C.

Oct 11 2016
DESIGN 951/SEC 13 AR. CHARLIE BELLO

Foreign Case Study

Case Study 1: Professional Cooking School in Ancient Slaughterhouse
Significance of the Case Study:
With the aim of the study to create a common ground for contemporary and historic
character in the proposed development, the case study shall provide an insight on a
responsible adaptive reuse that is responsive with its environment while achieving a subtle
but solid contemporary character to the building.
Objectives:
To understand the idea of a responsible adaptive reuse.
To establish a picture of a cohesive mixture of the old and new architecture.
Background:
Mediz is known as a historic town in Cadiz, Spain. The site in itself is composed of
primitive tightly connected houses with occasional courtyards at random intervals. The
general architectural envelope of the houses is confined in whitewashed walls and ceramic
roofing. This established character in the immediate surroundings has made contextualizing
and practically 'fitting in' a main priority of the project.
The project defined its geometry with brick masonry for the consolidated roof. This
definition merely attached to the rest of the building which is reminiscent to the whitewashed
walls and the ceramic roofing. Courtyards were also inserted to serve as ventilation shafts for
the students of the cooking school.
The original ancient floors were replaced with slabs whose wooden formwork that
recognized the traditional building forms. Lime mortars were used for the walls to replicate
the industrial past of the building. In addition to that, Phoenician columns displaced from a
lost Temple of Hercules have been consolidated to the building.
Critique:
The Professional Cooking in School in an Ancient Slaughter House exhibits
excellence in becoming an architectural piece that is entirely contextual with its surroundings.
Being set in a highly sensitive and historic city, the building is able blend-in while at the
same time, it architecturally and aesthetically establishes its own contemporary identity in a
rather quiet, transitional manner.
Although it is practically contemporary, the project is strongly reminiscent with its
history. The new use for building established a strong connection with its original use from
being a slaughterhouse to becoming a cooking school. It also adapted indigenous techniques
in the use of the courtyards as ventilation shafts for the cooking space making practically
green. Although it creates a slight distortion on the authenticity of the building, the salvaging
of the ancient columns was a good addition in a general sense of heritage conservation.
Furthermore, it was able to become a coherent part of the buildings aesthetics.
Perez, Yrral Jaime C. Oct 11 2016
DESIGN 951/SEC 13 AR. CHARLIE BELLO

Source: "Professional Cooking School in Ancient Slaughterhouse / Sol89" 08 May

2013. ArchDaily. Accessed 11 Oct 2016. http://www.archdaily.com/369809/professional-
cooking-school-in-ancient-slaughterhouse-sol89/
Perez, Yrral Jaime C. Oct 11 2016
DESIGN 951/SEC 13 AR. CHARLIE BELLO

Case Study 2: Dance School Aurlie-Dupont

Significance of the Case Study:
The proposed development is an educational development in enclosed with existing
buildings. This case study takes on a building in the similar scenario and shall provide an
insight on possible strategies to address the issues within the site and its immediate
environment.
Objective of the Case Study:
To identify the potential constraints of a site with limited space and an already-built-
up surroundings
To create a picture of impact of contemporary development to an already built up
environment.
Implanted in the district of lower Joinville on the avenue of General Gallieni, the
municipal School of dance in Joinville-le-Pont is a response to the cultural approach of the
town.
The Avenue du General Gallieni as a future Metropolitan Avenue is a busy main road;
its traffic is intense, noisy, but the vibrant living environment brings a growing centrality on
this thoroughfare. The dance school is implanted in a heterogeneous streetscape, ranging
from more or less recent apartment blocks and well preserved pavilions. Set back from the
boundary of the land plot, the project breaks the street frontage built along the avenue to
extend the public space and to reach a courtyard. This justifies the access to the amenities,
marking a break in the continuous chain of shops at ground floor. The structure consists of
lateral concrete walls placed on the parcel boundaries which carry wide open floorplates,
naturally lit and with an uninterrupted view over the horizon.
By strictly dividing the program between circulation on the avenue side, and the
functional spaces and the garden areas on the interior, the school on the one hand optimizes
the flow and circulation and on the other hand the solar orientations.
Therefore, dance studios benefit from an optimal natural lighting from the north while
the vertical circulations overlooking the avenue Gallieni, receive southern light that projects
long shadows. The Dance School is significant by its difference with its mineral context and
suburban buildings. It is inserted as an unusual object, capable of arousing perplexity and
curiosity of the passersby. Its design is closer to urban design, so that its simple form looks
like a monumental minimalist sculpture. The identity of the building brings curiosity
Minimalist interiors and raw materials such as varnished concrete, metal, contrasts
with the precision of the outer shell of the building. Consisting of a perforated metal veil
forming a regular diamond pattern, the envelope is designed as delicate lace. The narrow and
deep site is wedged between a 4-storey apartment building in the east and a small
supermarket in the west. This geometry influences the insertion of a simple volume,
necessarily detached, the aim of which was to free as much space as possible to accommodate
large and generous dance studios.
Perez, Yrral Jaime C. Oct 11 2016
DESIGN 951/SEC 13 AR. CHARLIE BELLO

Critique:
Contrary to how the dance school is described to be an break of monotony in the
continuous faade of suburban buildings, the building creates a contrast that is too strong and
noncontextual at a level. However in the context of its design, it managed to use the
constraints of the site to its advantage. The building has managed catch a sufficient level of
natural lighting in the work areas located in the north.
Perez, Yrral Jaime C. Oct 11 2016
DESIGN 951/SEC 13 AR. CHARLIE BELLO

Local Case Study

Case Study 3: De La Salle College of St. Benilde: School of Design and Arts
Significance of the Case Study:
The College of St. Benildes School of Design and Arts is one of the most prominent
specialized school of arts in the Metro Manila. It is equipped with a complete set of facilities
designed to be eccentric and innovative to inspire the creativity of the prospect Filipino
artists. This study shall create an insight on the approach on the facilities required for the art
school an
Objectives:
To understand the functional requirements of an art school.
To identify the potential constraints and impacts of a project in an overly-populated
urban setting
Background:
De La Salle College of St. Benilde School of Design Arts is one of the prominent
educational institutions specialized in art in the city of Manila. The campus is located within
Taft Avenue along with other campuses of La Salle. SDA is an institution delivering higher
educational programs and short courses in fields such as architecture, dance, and other related
creative disciplines.
The architecture of SDA Campus aims to inspire students in to exploration and this has led
them to deliver an architectural design never been used before. The architecture is clearly
modern including a sophisticated facade done, aluminum cladding, full glass curtain walls
and innovative multi-faceted details.
As opposed to the uniformity of the facade, the architecture of the interior is an
agglomeration of different styles. The first four floors were provided for the parking
requirements of the users. The remaining 10 is used to deliver workspaces for the students.
The facilities include a catacomb inspired chapel in its mezzanine level, individually unique
designs of classrooms and studio, innovative recording studios. So much attention has also
been given in social and recreational spaces in the building including the "Black Box"--a
small auditorium used for intimate and smaller performances--the Amphitheater and a 105-
seater cinema. In addition to that, a large cafeteria and an organization lounges for them.
Another feature of the building is the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD)
where the school encourages the connection among all the art disciplines and showcase their
works.
Critique:
With a more than 55,000 square meters of floor area, College of St. Benilde School of
Design is able to fit a holistic abode for the art education in the middle of the rather cramped
urbanity of Manila. The CSB-SDA is arguably one of the most prominent school of arts in
the country and it is able to exhibit that in a rather ambitious and eccentric architecture.
The setting of the already populated Taft Manila posed as the major constraint of the campus.
This has been addressed by the incorporated facilities and has become the strength of the
Perez, Yrral Jaime C. Oct 11 2016
DESIGN 951/SEC 13 AR. CHARLIE BELLO

design. The lack of open spaces for student recreation has been addressed with the
Amphitheater, and the generous cafeteria space and organization lounges. The intent of
providing a nontypical design for the studios is also a good feature. This provides variety and
a more dynamic impact to the campus as it is an individual building only. The design of the
facilities in general are intended to be less conventional to hone a more creative and artistic
environment for the campus.
On the other hand, the weakness of building relies on the impact of the campus to its
surroundings. Like for instance, the campus houses a four-storey parking space and the
volume of the vehicles going in and out of the building may cause congestion in the area of
Taft Avenue. Furthermore, the buildings form tend to overpower the overall urban design of
the street. The building incorporated an eccentric and nonconventional form. In its aim to
become innovative and different, the design has leaned to a rather monumentalist direction
which made the design noncontextual and out of place.
Source: http://www.benilde.edu.ph/content/docs/pdf/SDA%20Facilities%20Brochure.pdf