6'x9' Layout


Bryan/Pearl St.

As some of you may know from my previous blogs, I chose not to model anything in 3D for this project. This image was composed entirely in Photoshop and took about 9 hours to create.

SubLevel

The sublevel of the building houses numerous quick meal food vendors. In the top part of the plan you'll see the receiving/main mechanical area. There is an atrium in the center that opens to all floors above. Each floor has a bridge that crosses through the atrium. The Two left most stairs serve as the fire stairs. In order to meet code requirements these existing stairs were chosen because all other stairs have entries into the building on the first level. A wine bar is located in what was the boiler room bellow the main entry to the original school.

FirstLevel

The first level is the main level of the grocery facility. The Fresh Meat and Fish counter is in the upper left. The wing on the right is the Dairy section and the lower portion of the plan is Frozen Foods and Beer and Wine. The Kiosk/Bar in the right center of the plan is a sushi bar. I wanted to mix both dining and grocery shopping on each level to bring back the mixed use feel of a traditional market.

SecondLevel

The second floor of the grocery facility is located on the second level. This level contains produce sections, a small pharmacy, and dry goods. I've located a "Baja Fresh" restaurant on this level to tie in with the fresh produce.

ThirdLevel

Employee lounge/training space is located on the Third level in the left center of the plan. Administration offices overlook the atrium. In the lower portion of the plan there is a small display area commemorating the Original High School To the right of it is a restored classroom that will be used as a meeting space for the Alumni organization of the school. In the lower right corner is a cooking classroom that will hold cooking classes for the general public throughout the day. The upper portion of the plan is a more formal restaurant with both private and conference dining rooms. The large kitchen in the upper left of the plan services the dining on the third level as well as rooftop dining.

RoofLevel

The roof level was treated as a fifth facade due to the fact that numerous office towers surround the site and look down to it. This level has ample seating on the left side and a rooftop garden on the right side. In addition there is a pedestrian bridge that makes its way over the atrium.

Interior Section Through Atrium

You may have noticed that there are no main checkout stations to guard the entries and exits. I wanted to get rid of the rigid circulation that is found in the shopping centers of today. I'm making full use of current and future RFID technology in this project. When a product passes by a sensor located at the entry/exit points of each floor the users personal account will be debited. You can read more about RFID technology and its use in Grocery Stores at the The Future Store.

Site Plan

The ends of the intervention that runs through the structure are anchored by access bridges. The bridge in the upper section of the plan serves vehicular access to the top level of the parking facility. The parking facility relates to the city/highway scale and brings vehicles up to the Second level of the facility. It continues as a pedestrian bridge to the third level to the main entrance of the third level restaurant. The head of the intervention is a pedestrian bridge that rises from street level (at the bryan/pearl intersection) to the first level (12' above grade) and acts as the main entrance to the first grocery level.

I've only touched on a few highlights of this project. I simply don't have the time to explain it in complete detail. During my review the main criticism that I received from my professors was that I had not included all of my work from this semester in my final presentation. They stressed that the countless diagrams and sketch studies I had done prove why I made certain design decisions and should have been present in my final review. The only other criticism I received was that my jet black background hid most of the details in my plans. Both of these issues stemmed from my rush to finish my final layout. I finished my drawings about a day before my review and had to whip together this presentation. I simply ran out of time and chose to go with a "graphically sexy" presentation rather than including all of my schematic diagrams.


This is it, the culmination of my collegiate architectural education. As a Senior at Pampa High School I would have never guessed that I'd be spending the next 5.5 years of my life in the Architecture building at Texas Tech. Nor would I have imaged that I'd be graduating with 2 masters degrees and a little international travel under my belt. I don't have a cute little story about how I grew up always knowing that someday I'd be an Architect. I enrolled in the College of Architecture out of default, after I decided that there was no way I was going to hack it in Engineering. Architecture simply seemed like a good place to begin my search for a career. After my first semester I knew I'd found more than a career, I had found a lifestyle. I've been eating and breathing architecture ever sense. The endless possibilities that sit before me are both exciting and nerve racking. The Texas Panhandle has been good to me, but its time to spread my wings and venture out into the world.