ANDREW

= **Best Fit** = by Andrew

= INVESTIGATION STAGE =

**General characteristics of the neighborhood** :
The neighborhood of my empty lot is mainly polish dominated. The age group is dominated by either young teens, preteens and the elderly. There are a few people around 20 and 40 but not many. The younger kids are mostly the outdoorsy type. They love to go out side to play manhunt or some sports. The older people are very nice settled people they go out and normally do stuff. The relationship the neighbors have is very strong, they normally invite each other to barbecues or parties at each others house. The businesses in my lot’s Neighborhood are mostly mom and pop shops. There are a few delis, a few bars, and then there are lots of polish bakeries and Italian Pizzerias. There are a few chain places like Dunkin’ Donuts, Dominoes, Panera Bread, and McDonald's. Those are just food places though there are also lots of small businesses like the many plumbing and hardware stores near my house. Then there is also a Home Depot that all the small businesses compete with. Then there is also the Bob’s discount furniture store nearby there, which just opened up. There is also a pep boys, which is a chain too. Another thing big near here are the liquor stores, there are at least five liquor stores near my house. There is also a few banks and phone stores near by. All of them are chains.

Images:

 * [[image:8-3_Piliero_Traffic_Avenue_satillite_view.jpg]] || [[image:8-3_Piliero_Traffic_Avenue_street_view.jpg]] || [[image:8-3_piliero_Traffic_Avenue_tax_map.jpg]] ||

N**eeds assessment** :
**1. A description of what the neighborhood already has.** My lots neighborhood has plenty of parks and play grounds, but no public pools. The neighborhood does have plenty of bakeries, but there all polish. It also has lots of hardware stores, and lots of plumbing supplies stores, so adding either a plumbing supplies or hardware store would be pointless considering how many there are already are. There is a movie theater not too far away from my lot and plenty of churches and commentaries. There is also a mall around the movie theater so there is plenty of clothing stores. There is a mixture of restaurants and take out food places, so places to get food is not an issue. **2. An analysis of what the neighborhood needs.** My lots neighborhood does, as i said, have parks and places for kids to hangout, but those places are many blocks away. I was thinking about including for my lot a Paintball center due to the fact that there is a young community in this area but, the mall and other hangout spots are many blocks away, and the young community in the area is too young to drive, so i figured a paintball center or an arcade would be a good hangout spot for kids in the area with little to no transportation. The neighborhood also could use a store that would appeal to some of the kids in the area who are too small to go out on there own so, say a toy store or an ice cream shop, this will also brighten up the neighborhood which is filled with hardware stores and plumbing stores. Also since the parks are far away i could add a type of transportation like a bike rental, or a moped rental.

**Buildings and architects that provide inspiration**

 * [[image:1.JPG]] || I chose this building since The neighborhood i assessed needed something to brighten it up and make it look better, so i figured something like this building will brighten up the neighborhood. I do have a problem with this building though is that i need to cut it in half, since most of the neighborhood is not this high. Another problem is the materials are too modern so i can't use them. ||
 * [[image:andrew_8-3_really_cool_architectural_building.jpg]] || This building gave me inspiration since, it attracts people to come into the store, or whatever it is, and it also will make the neighborhood look a lot better. It is also fits in with the neighborhood since right next to the lot is a big lumber industry. this will go well with the wooden planks, and the box like structure will fit in very good. ||
 * [[image:2.jpg]] || This building gave me inspiration since my lot is not to wide so i could build it like this which is basically like multiple platforms on top of each other, but i may not be able to build it so wide since it will not fit in with the lot. Another problem is this building will only work for a certain amount of stories high so that it will fit in with the rest of the neighborhood. ||
 * [[image:piliero_cool_building.jpg width="500" height="308"]] || This building gave me inspiration also since it had an interesting shape. I may want to use a circular shape or a similar design on the outside like this building here. The problems with this building are the same as the ones with the problems of depth/frontage, being to big and also the fact that glass doesn't fit in with the other architecture. ||
 * [[image:1017.jpg]] || This building inspired me to make my building resemble what occurs inside the building. So if i sell toys inside the store, make the building a big toy truck or toy teddy bear or something like that. But I will have some major problems with depth and comparison to what i fit inside the building, so i don't know how effective this idea will be. ||

** In what ** ways has this investigation influenced you to design a building for your lot that makes the best fit for the neighborhood?
From my Needs assessment i was able to come up with a few select requirements that would shape my design and the inspirations i chose. First off my building needs to be attractive to the Young community since my building is going to be a hangout spot for kids. It also mustn't be to modern since the neighborhood Isn't very modern itself so that would not work. The size of the building can't be so big that it's like a skyscraper also since the neighborhood is mostly two family homes. Also there can't be too much metallic or glass materials since most of the neighborhood's buildings are brick. The buildings I chose inspired me in different ways. The first building inspired me to make something similar in structure. I couldn't make it with those materials since most of the neighborhood does not have materials like the ones in the picture since the neighborhood is less modern. What it is good for though, is for attracting the younger community, since it is an attractive looking building' which is something my building must do. I thought the second picture was inspiration since the building looked like a piece of art, yet it wasn't to modern looking, which is exactly what i need for my building so part of my design will be based of of this building. My next to pictures were chosen for the same reason. I need something tall enough to fit in a recreation center, so an upward design would be a really good idea as long as i do not go too high. My last building was something more of a thought rather an inspiration since nothing to big sparked when i saw it. I mean i did get ideas, but none to well that they would go well with the neighborhood, this is because of the fact that the design shown is too modern for my neighborhood.

Work cited
1)//Dwellers Without Decorators//. Web. 10 Jan. 2011. <[]>.

2)//TechPin//. Web. 10 Jan. 2011. <[]>.

3)//Google SketchUp 3D Challenge//. Web. 10 Jan. 2011. <[]>.

4) //Free Bangalore Classifieds | Online Classifieds Bangalore | Bangalore Ads | Classified Ads - Click.in//. Web. 10 Jan. 2011. <[]>.

5) //TheCHIVE//. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. <[]>.

= DESIGN Brief =

**Specifications:**
**Function: Recreation**

**Requirements:**

 * The building must have more than one floor (going up or down)
 * The building cannot have windows were a paint ball battle could possibly be going on
 * The building must have enough space for at least four medium paintball arena's
 * The building must have an entry way
 * The building must be able to attract teenagers
 * The building must be handicap accessible
 * The building must be some what safe.
 * The Building must fit into the neighborhood

**Constraints:**

 * Can not be higher than 5 stories.
 * there can be no set back.
 * cannot be larger than 130' by 132.84'
 * Must be drawn in Google sketch up

Description of Three Possible Designs media type="custom" key="8114070" This design is called Bull's eye Paintball. This design is four stories high. Their is also a rectangular shape protruding from the buildings highest point. The shape is about 23' wide, 96' long, and 27' high. This is where the name of the building is shown. The shape also has a large bull's eye on it. The building itself has a frontage of 130' and a depth of 132.84' so it takes up the entire empty lot. The building is also four stories high minus the shape thing, so it has more than enough space for four paintball arena's. The first story would not hold any paintball arena's the second story could hold two. Then on the third and fourth story, half of their floors, depth wise, was split to make room for one out door arena. This consisted of two large barricades marked starting point, one on each side of the field, in between them were lots of boxes that could be used as cover. Everything would have been made out of plywood in the out door arena, except for the ground which is honey locust grass. The building itself is made of concrete blocks, that are darkened. The building has only two windows in the front that have purple tint. The front also has, the name of the place, the buildings would-be logo, and two paint splatters, and little targets, this is to attract people to the place. The front door is a metal door that has not only a miniature roof, but also two walls around, like a mini house around the door. ** Design #2 ** This design is called splatter paintball. In this design i tried did the opposite of what i did in my first design, in stead of building up i had my building go three stories under ground. This allowed me to do more decorating and add more windows, since all the paintball arena's will be under ground and no windows go their, so on the only ground level floor i put more windows, but did less work on the door. I also still added a roof arena, but this one was much more oddly shaped, it is a free-for-all arena, with a shallow pool of 3' in the center. The arena is bright and colorful, and is very oddly shaped. It is similar to that of a volcano. The entire building is made of brick. The windows are all tinted to look like targets, except for the two long windows in the front which were tinted one color, red. They also have little metal troughs underneath them which were made to hold plants and flowers, inside is merely grass at the moment. There is also a large sign that says the name of the building in blue letters. Also right above the two windows in the front are multiple popped out splatters of paint to symbolize the name of the building. media type="custom" key="8146770"
 * Design #1 **

** Design #3 ** This design was called Egyptian paintball. This was referring to the fact that the building was shaped like a pyramid. The shape was used to try and attract customers. There is a dent in the middle of the front of the pyramid, this was were the name of the building was put. The dent was necessary so that the name could be read while standing in front of the building. The door has an awning, that is although no comparison to the one in the first design, it is pretty good. The windows have a similar dent feature as the name of the building, except these are dented for the people on the inside to see the outside. media type="custom" key="8146710"

** Identify the Best Design: ** The best design is the design with the building that goes three stories under ground.

** Justify Your Choice: ** I thought this design was Best since it would fit in best, Although the building s in the neighborhood of my lot are around 3 0r 4 stories high the ones that are on both sides of my lot are only one story high. Also the materials of all the buildings across the street are all brick just like my design. Another thing is my design has the most attractive details on it unlike my other designs. It also follows most of the requirements best, for example its out door arena is the safest one compared to the other outdoor arena, it also has very bright colors on the front to catch the eye of passing teenagers, it fits in best, and it has more than enough room for the paintball arena's and has more than one floor. This is why I think that design is best.