North Star Commuter Rail (Bearing Wall Project): Studio_3 Fall_2007 Professor_Bob Ganser

In this studio, we developed projects inspired from material properties and construction techniques. Our site was located at the terminus of the North Star Commuter Rail, Minneapolis Light Rail, and adjacent to the new Minnesota Twins baseball stadium. The layered nature of the site required negotiating two different elevations that of the overpass level where the light rail connects with the baseball stadium and that of the commuter rail at ground level. The derelict site existed in a carved out void where primary circulation corridors passed over the ground level without connecting to it. It was our primary project goal to compose a building to connect all the layers of the site based on our material choice.

Due to the caved out nature of this site, my preliminary material choice was a local Minnesota dolomite limestone. Traditional bearing wall construction has reflected the stereotomic nature of the earth for centuries. A load-bearing wall tells a story of how it was constructed. To begin my design process I developed a series of program massing models and sketches. These drawings and models helped me refine the relationships of the site and provided fertile ground for the design, which followed. I wanted the material properties of the stone to reflect the existing site characteristics and create an environment that could change over time.