SAVANNAH

= = **Best Fit** by Savannah

= INVESTIGATION STAGE =

**General characteristics of the neighborhood** :
The neighborhood that the lot I am fixing is in very good shape already. There are many business like KFC, Staples, Rite Aid, pizza shops, hairdressers, delis, and its own community center. There is also schools near by and a very large cemetery. There are a couple of buildings and many small two to four story houses. Most of the neighborhood is made up of these houses. In this neighborhood there is a major street which is constantly busy and said to be deadly. Its called Queens Boulevard but is also called the "Boulevard of Death" due to the many fatal accidents that occur there.

Block and Lot Number:
Block: 02314 Lot:0001

Size of lot:
348'x525'

Images:




**Needs assessment** :
**1. A description of what the neighborhood already has.** This neighborhood already has shops and businesses. There are multiple delis but they are very tiny and aren't very comfortable that have their signs torn down and bad lighting. There are a few religious worshiping places like iglesia ministerial de jesucristo internacional which is a spanish christian church. There is a park 1 or 2 blocks away where kids play at after school time. There is also community center where children love to spend their time after school and a huge staples that has tons of stuff that is needed by adults and teens/children. Across the street from the staples there is a Rite-Aid which has stuff ranging from milk to make-up and gadgets. Near by, there is a Key Food (supermarket), a KFC, and pizzerias and Chinese restaurants. There are no major store or shopping centers but just a few stores a bit clustered here and there. There are many low rise apartments and a few townhouses in the neighborhood. The people that live in this neighborhood (Woodside) are not only one ethnicity. There are many people from different cultures and nationalities and don't mind living in the same neighborhood together.

**2. An analysis of what the neighborhood needs.** I think that the neighborhood needs a dinner that sells breakfast, lunch and dinner. I think that this place should be colorful but comfortable and give real and good meals. The neighborhood seems a bit empty and boring at times and as if there is nothing to really do there. In the neighborhood there are not really any places that you can walk to to get a good meal. There are just fast food places and take outs. Having a dinner would get more people to come into the neighborhood and let adults have a place to hang out to have coffee after work or before work. I also think that a garden is very needed. A community garden would be a perfect idea because people can just come and sit on a bench next to beautiful flowers and clean and green grass and relax from a hectic and tiring day.

**Buildings and architects that provide inspiration**
[| Lee, Evelyn. "NEW GREEN TOWER IN MIAMI – The COR Building | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World." //Green Design Will save the World | Inhabitat//. 11 Dec. 2006. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. .] || This building is truly inspiring because it is nothing that you would see everyday. It amazes me how every story of this building moves independently. This architect is very creative and imaginative and they even included solar panels and wind turbines. I think this building (the Dynamic Tower) in Dubai is very inspiring. [|Dolce, Natalie. "Proposed - Dynamic Tower - New Rotating Skyscraper for New York - by David Fisher." //Wired New York//. 24 June 2008. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. .] || [|Sava, Loredana. "Piano House in China." //Home Decorating Trends- Interior Design & Home Design//. 4 Jan. 2011. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. .] ||
 * [[image:tech8:cormiami2.jpg width="328" height="242" caption="cormiami2.jpg"]] ||
 * This building is inspiring to me because it is built very uniquely. This shows me how the person who built this doesn't care about how buildings usually look and just used their imagination.
 * [[image:http://mildesigner.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/12-33-worlds-top-strangest-buildings-rotating-tower-dubai1.jpg width="700" height="467"]]
 * [[image:http://img.homedit.com/2011/01/110.jpg width="640" height="438" align="center"]] ||
 * The architect building is inspiring because they took a theme or category and expressed into a beautiful building. Also this building is inspiring because it is in the shape that i have never seen buildings in.
 * [[image:http://www.crazyjunkyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/alsop-ocad.jpg]][[image:http://www.arcspace.com/architects/alsop/sharp_center/3ocad.jpg height="253" caption="image"]] ||

[| "Alsop Architects - Sharp Centre for Design :: Arcspace.com." //Architecture Online - Arcspace Is an Architecture and Design Magazine That Features Today's Most Creative Projects as Well as the Most Influential of the Past.// Ed. Kristen Kiser. 6 Feb. 2006. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. .] || [| Juanes. "Random Shots Around Town." //Picasa Web Album//. 21 Oct. 2007. Web. 10 Jan. 2011. .] ||
 * This building is inspiring because it is so very unique and something that i have never seen before. It is new and colorful. It stands out from everything else. It gives off an artsy side and still stays beautiful even in such a busy place.
 * [[image:http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DWqWHo4Iis4/RxuoOEoIzAI/AAAAAAAAAs8/NgV4cNfY1tA/s640/colorful%20bldg3.jpg width="640" height="480"]] ||
 * These buildings are inspiring because of its use of color and its environment. It seems to me that the architect really took into account how little people there were to make a building to draw attention.

** In what ways has this investigation influenced you to design a building for your lot that makes the best fit for the neighborhood? **
I have to admit that when I thought about making my own building I thought I was just going to make a brick building, have it one color and that would be it. But after looking at these very inspiring buildings I am thinking very different. These pictures are influencing me to make a building that moves and has a shape that you wouldn't see a building in the shape of. There is not very much color in the neighborhood and one of the pictures made me think of that as a way to bring in attention in a good way. These pictures made me think of ways to be unique with color, shape, and relativity to their surroundings. I have an idea to have the top floor of my building rotate and it to be very colorful with pictures to attract people. It made me think of how I can change the neighborhood for the better just by placing the building there. I now want my building to have a uniqueness like the Green Tower does, dynamics like the Dynamic Tower has, theme like the piano house, creativity like the building for the Ontario College of Art & Design, and color like the building in San Jose. Above all, I want my building to be inspirational.

= DESIGN Brief =

**Problem to be solved:**
 The neighborhood has a lack of good food business that has good meals and a clean and cozy environment for sit down meals. The neighborhood also has a lack of hang out places for teens.

**Requirements:**

 * Top floor must rotate slowly clockwise.
 * Slightly tinted windows.
 * One of top floors as no walls only a fence around it.
 * Building is welcoming.

**Constraints:**

 * Building can only be built in the empty lot.
 * Minimum setback.
 * Has at least two floors.
 * Building has to represent a restaurant.

**Function:**
This building that is to be created by me is to be a restaurant and it will have a spot inside for teenagers to hang out.

Description of Three Possible Designs media type="custom" key="8114216"
 * Design #1 **
 *  **

I sort of like this building but I'm not crazy about it. I was attempting to make a Chinese takeout box when I started making this building. But the dimensions were all getting mixed up and things were slanting in ways they were not supposed to be slanting so I put a base under the building.The wire like thing on top of the building was supposed to be the handle. I tried to make something unique but I don't really like this one because of how awkward it looks. The building is nothing special just weird architecture.

** Design #2 **

 media type="custom" key="8147842"

I tried to make this building look different in architecture from the first building i made. This building has a rectangular layout. The faces of the building look like rectangles with semi-circles on top. The front side of the building has a passage way to get inside. There are 4 circles on the front side of the building on top of the semi-circle. this building is 3 floors the color of the entire building is gray. This I don't like about my building because of the color. It doesn't seem welcoming at all and I don't think that is good for a restaurant.

** Design #3 **  media type="custom" key="8147876"

I tried to make this building different from my first two designs. I also tried to put what I learned what not to do with the building I am trying to create to make this design. I think it came out good. Instead of it being three floors high I made it 10 floors high. This gave me more to work with so I could have a more unique architecture. This building is unique and welcomes. It also attracts attention and the color is not too colorful or too dark/boring. The architecture is interesting and doesn't use only one material. It uses glass and it has a fence on the roof so no accidents happen.

** Identify the Best Design: **

 * The design that I think that the best design to represent my restaurant in Woodside is the third design.**

** Justify Your Choice: **
I chose the third design because it looked better then the other designs. It was also unique and different from what is seen everyday and is something very different from what is seen in the part of Woodside that it would be in. I also like the architecture of this building. it doesn't look too awkward but looks unique enough to tell that is different from a basic building. The colors on this building are more welcoming. They don't make a feeling of wanting to get away from the building but to go in it. I especially like the arc in the building. I've been through buildings with arcs in the center to have a walk through and i find it nice and relaxing which is why i included it in my building. This building has the fence on the roof which i really like because it would not let accident happen. I also like that one of the floors is surrounded by a glass wall. I thought this would be nice because it would give people inside a view.