This project was based in the Appalachia mountains on an abandoned coal mine.
As the semester began and we did research about our specific site in West Virginia, the idea of a labyrinth began to take shape. This was meant to provoke users thoughts about the landscape around them and move them from bottom to top as they traveled the labyrinth. Moving farther through the semester the labyrinth became simplified into the layout seen at the right.
This studio project was our first time using Revit as the sole BIM software to create construction documents and renders in.
As the project progressed and we used Revit more and more, the design began to take shape and resemble the Valley of the Kings from our precedent studies. As you move through the space more natural light gets let in through skylights which increase in size the closer to ground level the users get. One room at ground level has a wall of picture frame windows, floor to ceiling, to give the users a view of the entire space and the retention pond. As the users move through they write on the walls their thoughts and feeling and anything else they wish for future users to see and add to, or for themselves to revisit.