ARCH 544 Graduate Design Studio: Institutional/Long Span - Spring 2022

Project Title: Aviary and Conservation Center, Lincoln Park Zoo

Location: Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois

Design Team: Gabi Zemaitis, Aakash Gupta, Ore Olayinka

Principal Studio Profs.: David Brininstool and Andrew Metter

SYNCHRONICITY

Our aviary design strategy is characterized as syncopation. Syncopation is defined as “the displacement of regular accents associated with given metrical patterns, resulting in a disruption of the Users expectations”. The first level holds the bottom portions of the free flight areas, interior bird cages, a cafe, seating, educational spaces, various aviary necessities, and more. The upper roof level has the continued free flight masses that punch through the roof plane.

While the flat roofed enclosure doesn’t offer a complex shape, it allows for the roof structure to become the focal point of the design. The roof has three masses punching through, encapsulating the aviary free flight areas.

We have three total free flight areas. One is fully enclosed in ETFE film and is considered an indoor free flight area, another is fully open to the outside and only has a glass on the first floor, and the last one is enclosed on the bottom half, capped with a glass roof and is open on the top half. Our hope is to create an area that feels seamless to the inside and outside for both the birds as well as the visitors of the aviary.

To accomplish our strategy, we focused on additional concepts: Temporal and Harmony. The spaces and elements in the aviary are arranged in such a way that it is meant to create an experience at every point for its user. The user is meant to be disrupted on their journey through the space, with access to free flight areas and immersive paths through the bird cages. Each area of the building is designed in a way that connects it to the next even though it may have a separate role or program.