Midterm Review

I almost forgot to document this important event since the independent study trip happened right after it. My midterm week was packed with history presentation, structure course exam and studio review. For the first half of the capstone project I focused a lot on the concept since it's one of the goals I wish to achieve for this year (see second blog post for reference). I took my time to develop the concept instead of the facade and materials like many of my classmates did.

For my project I wish to create a dialogue between the boutique hotel and the district of Eixample by activating the neighborhood and improving Cerda's original city planning. I have three different strategies from small to big scales:

1. Small scale: parallel space to mimic the space of the street
One of the original intends of Cerda's city planning is that when people walking in the neighborhood, the facades of the blocks should serve as the walls of the city, but since the site is fragmented with broken blocks, people cannot experience what Cerda intended to do. My first strategy is to place a street in my hotel to mimic that missing space; thus the project is called "Hotel Callecita" (small alley). 

2. Medium scale: connection between the parks 
​Once the relationship between the hotel and the block has been established, I shifted the scale and tried to connect the adjacent parks, which now the scope involves two blocks in the perimeter. This is the rather weaker part of the project since I only used the green wall to connect the parks visually. One of the critiques I received during the midterm review was to improve that connection and the hotel entrance. 

3. Large scale: bridge landmark that engages the inner courtyard and nearby zone
This is more or less a borderline proposal for the midterm review since it involves all the zoning codes and city planning regulations. After the second strategy I aimed to push the project further by trying to engage with the entire district. I designed this sky bridge that circulates above the entire block in order to gain view points to the courtyard and the whole neighborhood. The idea is to create an unique landmark for Eixample and only Eixample can have it. The juries of the midterm review did approve my idea, but they advised me to focus on the hotel itself more. 

It's not related to the design of the hotel, but for this project I completely changed the style of the renderings into retro collage. It was my intend to experiment on how different graphic representations can help expressing different projects. In this case since Cerda's plan happened in the 1860s I used retro color palette and oil painting textures on the collages. 

Here is a list of things I want to improve for the final review:
1. A more dynamic circulation
2. Better use of the street in the hotel
3. Creative guest room plans
4. Better entrance
5. A more creative use of roof-top garden
​