Project
FLUX
Year: 2023
Category: Refurbishment
Skills: d5 render, Rhino, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign
Designed by Yuselbio Novas, Elyssa Yonta, Ethan Sedano, and Megan Ung. Located in Albany, New York RISSE is an organization that helps people of various backgrounds and stories in all different stages of transition. We designed for the continuously changing nature that RISSE has to respond to. This fluctuation required a design that exhibited the same adaptability and versatility of RISSE. Our site intervention organizes flux spaces and unifies the project by connecting disjointed spaces and creating dynamic circulation. We utilized the now-available sanctuary space to accommodate RISSE’s program needs and further their capabilities. Our flux spaces look to support RISSE in its mission to offer refugees and immigrants a a smooth transition that fosters independence and equips them with the foundational skills necessary to thrive. Risse currently rents the church from a congregation but since the congregation is dissipating, Risse wants to buy the property and make it into a space their clients can call home. The property currently has many issues. The architectural front door of the church is no longer used because the parking lot is on yates street. The site lacks privacy from West Lawrence and yates street and the current site also lacks any type of geometry. A specific type of space our client asked for us to create is a prayer space. Somewhere for people to be alone and pray.
PROPOSED SITE PLAN
The biggest move our team made within this site plan is to raise the landscape to ground level. We made this move to create entrance points from both the parsonage to the church and points ADA access to the church from either entrance. We added green open spaces for children to play and water to improve drainage and guide circulation. On both Yates and Lawrence, we also added trees and planters to improve the site's privacy.
ARCHITECTURAL FRONT
This is the architectural front on Lawrence Street, here we added planters to improve the site privacy. The planters not only serve as screening but together with the newly added canopy also connect the parsonage to the church.
SECTION
This section shows how we infilled the landscape to connect the newly added entrances from the parsonage to the church. The figural connection between the canopy makes with the two buildings provides a shading device and drains water into the green spaces, and how the newly added mezzanine connects the prayer space to the exterior of the new entry.
PRAYER SPACE
From this view, we opened the roof of the tower to bring light into the space. And channeled the light down into the floors below, by using steel grated stairs that the sun can easily penetrate. The prayer space gives people a place to be alone and pray and reflect. The prayer space also connects to the mezzanine’s singular circulation line that connects the church and the parsonage.
KIDS AND ADULTS OUTSIDE
Here we see how the two new entrances connect underneath the canopy. The canopy functions as a gathering space, while the landscape becomes this fluctuating space where kids place on the left side and adults gather on the right. The center becomes circulation and action space.
Yuselbio Novas
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