Dillon Tripamer - Boys and Girls Club

Exterior render along Missouri Street

Boys and Girl's club of Alma, Kansas

This site of this project was in the middle of a small town in Kansas named Alma. Alma has a population of about 800 people and this structure was meant to be a place for the children and teens of Alma.

When I visited the site, it was situated along the main road in the middle of downtown. Keeping a stone façade along the main road would be crucial. Anything else, would seem foreign and out of place. This gave way to a heavy stone façade that meets the historical datum along Missouri Street, and a more visually appealing second floor sun screen that is set back from the first floor.

With the front façade resolved, I needed concept to organize the spaces within the Boys and Girls Club. Drawing off a circular walkway in a park adjacent to the site, I based the spatial relationships and light apertures based off the solar system. Large oculi bring light into the building. The individual program spaces revolve around the a glass cylindrical elevator, much like planets orbiting the sun. To re-enforce this idea, the largest domed skylight is placed above this three story vertical circulation space.

Interior gym space which is the "heart" of the "universe" concept

Exterior play space above the gym

Visual Concept

At the beginning of the project, we met with the site director of the Manhattan Boys and Girls Club. She told us that Boys and Girls club gives children a safe place where they can build a solid foundation based on education, community, and athletics. This allows children to grow up and be successful adults in the world. I let this directly influence how the boys and girls club would look. The first floor has a strong ad solid foundation while the second floor seems to extend into infinity. To relate this to the concept, I made the first floor out of stone and pushed it up to the storefront datum along Missouri Street. Then I recessed this second floor to create an exterior space and so that the light members does not sit above the stone wall. Finally, I added a concrete lintel across the the top of the floor that lines up with the height of the building adjacent and made it tall enough to act as the guardrail for the balcony. In addition, this concrete lintel anchors the first floor to the ground and further extenuates the juxtaposition between the two levels.

A solid mass on the first floor conveys strength and the second floor extends on infinitely representing the successful nature of those who go on from the Boys and girls club

Diagram Storyboard

Site

Excavation

Vertical Circulation

Stacked Entry

Play Area and Stage

Kids Area and Offices Stacked

Gym

Teen Spaces make up Second Floor

Roof of Gym Becomes an Outdoor Play Area

Floorplans

First Floor Plan ( 4' 2" above Missouri Street)

Basement ( 11' 2" below Missouri Street )

Second Floor

Elevations

West Elevation

East Elevation

Sections

Section A-A

This section cuts through the gym space and focuses on the relation to the other spaces.

Section B-B

Perhaps the most important section, B-B cuts through the "sun" of the project. This shows the vertical circulation and the large domed skylight atop the atrium. Looking at the basement, you can see light entering from the this light well. In addition, this section shows the second atrium that brings light through the children spaces and into the basement.

Structural

Detailed wall section cutting through cantilevered second floor and basement level entry

Rendered construction detail

Rendered exploded construction detail

Boys and Girls Club