This is a 12 week project where we were tasked to individually design Ross Collins Vocational School in Meridian, Mississippi. This project’s purpose was to test current society’s idea of what a school looks like and to create a 100,000 sqft futuristic design that meets code through structure, egress, and more, as well as incorporating futuristic cutting edge materials that will increase functionality and allow us to meet a Platinum LEED Certification. After meeting with the clients and understanding their wants and needs for their program, I began creating a criteria matrix and bubble diagrams in order to group programmatic elements into floors based on access and function. I then began to analyze spatial adjacencies and group programs into “pods” on each floor. For example, there is a Teacher Pod, a Student Pod, a Health and Science Pod, and the list continues. As I move into forming spaces, the diagram has each pod being organized on each floor and in its own building as the floors are offset from each other to create depth. As I move forward in development, I end with a combined version of these building pods into one building, instead of multiple. The idea of the pods and the offset of floors was kept as the concept of a cluster arrangement begins to form. This concept that I refer to as “Jenga” fully grasps the concept of “Form Follows Function”. This site plan was carefully organized with focus to easy circulation and plentiful parking and there is an addition of half of a football field for the team to practice on since this building will be replacing the original practice field area. The first floor contains the labs that require heavy equipment, garage doors, and easy access to roads. Because of the necessity for these types of classrooms to be on the ground floor, I thought it appropriate to have the main entrance to the building to be located on the second floor. This is where the lobby and reception, auditorium, library, admin offices, and nurses office can be found. The second floor stands primarily as a gathering space while the third floor is where the majority of classrooms reside. The classes on the third floor are much less loud than the labs and classrooms on the first floor as they do not require manual work and heavy equipment. Because each floor has a unique shape, this creates lots of depth and access to rooftop spaces. These rooftop spaces allow students to hangout, have outdoor class, or enjoy their lunch. This keeps the students safe from the streets and encourages students to hangout safely inside the building or on the rooftop spaces.
