ANDREW BELLATTI GREEN

Studio: in Transition

Instructor: Matt Fajkus

Semester: Fall 2011

The recent emergence of a new industry, space tourism, demands an architecture for which we have no precedent.  Considering the potential for architecture both to inspire the future and connect to the present, this project is meant to imagine the consequences of the industry and define a new iconography which responds to those consequences. 

upLIFTING

     1: to lift up: elevate; especially, to cause to rise above adjacent areas

     2: to improve the spiritual, social, or intellectual condition of 

In space travel, the physical transition from familiar to unfamiliar, and vice versa, is characterized by an immediacy that enhances the inherent contrast between our world and universe.  As civilian space travel becomes more common, philosophical and theological evaluation of our perceived significance will captivate society.  This two-part project encourages and uplifts space travelers before and after their adventure.

URBAN

The Urban Training Facility focuses on the physical and perceptual aspect of uplifting.  The building sits on a 25-foot by 125-foot site in downtown Austin.  Here, travelers will prepare for the physical and mental demands they will soon encounter. 

Progression through the building is a metaphor for space travel.  From the street, a massive block levitates thirty feet in the air, visually supported by nothing but a glass facade.  A long, narrow entry portal funnels visitors from the open street to a tight, individual threshold at the other end.  Inside, a vast atrium expands vertically in the positive and negative directions.  Cut from the floor, a seemingly endless abyss falls forever into the darkness.  Directly above, a deceptive light feature refuses to define an upper limit to the space. The entire building circulates through this atrium, and every level is connected to its infinite vertical extensions.

REMOTE

The Remote Recovery Center focuses on the philosophical, spiritual, and intellectual aspects of uplifting.  A shared dining facility and collection of individual living pods radiate from the site’s southeast corner near Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert. 

These facilities house returned travelers as they transition from the infinite to the finite and reconcile a new understanding of our place in the universe.  Each pod provides the necessities of functional life on the ground floor, while the mezzanine is reserved for writing, meditation, and observation.