The first design step was to make careful and intentional transformations to a volume in order to create something with very public conditions, diagramming each step with its intentions. The final volumes were to have no inherent orientation but were to serve as abstract representations of their embodied conditions.
The same process was then applied to another volume with the intention of creating private conditions.
The site, which was located on the Youghiogheny River in Southwestern Pennsylvania, containins the public and private forms which were turned into pavilions. The site is accessed in the Northern corner, bringing the user around the sequestered private pavilion in the Eastern corner of the site and directly to the public pavilion which is in the Western corner of the site. To the South there is a boat dock which also features a public gathering space and a swimming hole.
Along with the sections of the site and the floor plans of the pavilions themselves, diagrams describing the layout of the site are depicted here. By placing the public and private pavilions on opposite corners of the site, I sought to give them the least possible connection. I used the placement of trees to reinforce the public path through the site and dissuade the user from entering the private part of the site. The path was used to control the users focus away from the private pavilion, and the access to the private part of the site required crossing of a stream in order to create a threshold between public and private space.
Pictured here is the site model, showing the Public Pavilion on the left and the Private Pavilion on the right.
A close up of the swimming area with the private pavilion in the background.
The site with the private pavilion in the foreground and the public pavilion in the back
Another angle showing the site as a whole