TARO

= **Best Fit** = by Taro

= INVESTIGATION STAGE =

**General characteristics of the neighborhood** :
This neighborhood is called Forest Hills and is near the Gardens. It has a lot of houses but are not too tightly packed together, like in Manhattan. Many of the buildings here are low-rise building with few high-rise buildings.There are not many big shops in the neighborhood except the supermarket on Yellowstone Blvd. The rest of the shops are mostly delis, hardware stores, and other stores. There are no restaurants, but there is a tennis club and an intramural soccer association named F.H.Y.A.A. Also, there are no factories in the neighborhood. The only school in the neighborhood is Russell Sage, and a place of worship is the Young Israel of Forest Hills.

Block and Lot Number:
Block number 3219 and lot number 1

Size of lot:
737.99' x 132.76' x 132.76' x 565.64' x 519.54' x 272.02' x 107.97' x 218.53'

**Needs assessment** :
**1. A description of what the neighborhood already has.** The neighborhood already has some small shops and delis. It has a middle school, a soccer association and a tennis club. It is made up of mostly low-rise buildings.There is a big supermarket and very little apartments. **2. An analysis of what the neighborhood needs.** The neighborhood does not a very big buildings so the neighborhood should have a low-rise building that has a big area. Also, since it does not have a hotel nearby, maybe it should be a hotel or apartment because of the very few apartments. The building should not exceed 6 stories.

**Buildings and architects that provide inspiration**
=Buildings that inspire me in the neighborhood= = = =Architecture in the world that inspire me=
 * Building/Architect Picture || Explanation of the building ||
 * [[image:Screen_shot_2011-01-09_at_3.37.30_PM.png width="320" height="182"]] || This is the picture of the Long Island Railroad. This part of the neighborhood is based on the garden city movement, with a lot of greenery. In this picture, there are many trees and plants that are surrounding the station. The building to be created should have a lot of greenery in it as well. ||
 * [[image:Screen_shot_2011-01-09_at_4.13.19_PM.png width="320" height="182"]] || This is a picture of one of the gates that were surrounding the gardens in the past. The gates are made with bricks, as are the other buildings in the neighborhood. To fit into this neighborhood, it should be made with bricks as well. ||
 * [[image:Screen_shot_2011-01-09_at_4.15.35_PM.png width="320" height="181"]] || This is a picture of a former hotel, which is now a restaurant. There is also a pathway leading into the former hotel from the right. This was a way to increase efficiency in transportation. The pathway is connected to the station so that people did not have to go outside to go into the hotel, and made it so that pedestrians and cars could pass through. This building is also low-rise, and other buildings are low rise as well. If the building was a high-rise building, it would not fit in. Also, it gives an idea about making it into separate buildings that are connected to each other. ||
 * [[image:Screen_shot_2011-01-09_at_4.19.26_PM.png width="242" height="249"]] || This house is in the Georgian/Tudor style. Most of the houses and apartments are Tudor/Georgian styled, so in order to not stand out, it should be tudor style as well. ||
 * [[image:Screen_shot_2011-01-09_at_4.20.46_PM.png]] || This architect is Fredrick Law Olmsted Jr. He liked parks and plants and made it so that the greenery would be in balance with the industry and stores in the neighborhood. To have more greenery, instead of having a lot of plants inside the building, maybe they should be on the roofs and entrances as well. ||

** IN WHAT WAYS HAS THIS INVESTIGATION INFLUENCED YOU TO DESIGN A BUILDING FOR YOUR LOT THAT MAKES THE BEST FIT FOR THE NEIGHBORHOOD **
 * Building/Architect Picture || Explanation of how the building/architect was inspiring ||
 * [[image:bill_cotter_collection_53.jpg width="403" height="267"]] || This is the building "Habitat 67" in Montreal, Canada, and this is very inspiring because this has a lot of squares, combined in random places to make a very unique building. Even though this is very unique, it would be weird in a tudor style based neighborhood. What should I do to make a building that is unique, but also the "best fit"? ||
 * [[image:sba-49.jpg width="368" height="296"]] || This inspires me because, in this building and many other buildings, it changes the simple up, down, left, and right and changes it backwards, upside down, to create a very unique and modern building. ||
 * [[image:http://ministryoftype.co.uk/images/files/library-books-cardiff.jpg width="382" height="190" caption=" "]] || This inspires me because this is an example of a building showing it with a theme. Since this is a library, the building is made out of huge books. If I were to make a theme, what would it be? ||
 * ======[[image:http://www.good-thing.net/story/weird-building-designs/weird-building-design-7.jpg width="314" height="268"]] ====== || This is a building that is on the moon and has tunnels. This can be inspiring because the lot I chose is a big space of land and it might be weird to have a huge building when all of the other buildings are small. Would it make sense if the building was made with separate buildings and bridges/tunnels? ||

This investigation helped me with creating new ideas about the design of the house. Since it is a big space, it should have separate buildings that connect to each other either by bridge or by tunnels. Even though I want the building to be unique and modern, I also want it to fit in with the rest of the neighborhood. Since it cannot be both at the same time, I will have to choose either the modern style or the traditional style. If it is modern, I will try to make it unique by changing which way is up, down, left and right. t could be an upside down building, or a right side up building. To make a theme, it would have been modern tudor style, but since that is not possible, I have to pick a different one.

=Works Cited= "10 Very Cool Buildings - Songs | News | Movies | TV | Radio and More.... | Songs | News | Movies | TV | Radio and More...." //Breaking News | Business, Sports,Technology and Entertainment//. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. .

Designers, Professional. "80 Strange and Fantastic Buildings Architecture | Inspiration | InstantShift." //InstantShift | Web Designers and Developers Daily Resource.// Web. 11 Jan. 2011. .

"Environmental Design." //The Ministry of Type//. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. .

"Expo 67 - Habitat - Page 1." //Expo 67 - Main Index to Pavilions, Themes, Etc//. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. .

< //Google Maps//. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. .

"Lkeruj's Reviews - StumbleUpon." //StumbleUpon.com: Personalized Recommendations to Help You Discover the Best of the Web//. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. .

=DESIGN BRIEF=

Problem to be solved:
The neighborhood does not have a place for people that do not live in the neighborhood.

Requirements:
>
 * The building should be wheelchair accessible
 * The building should have a place for parking
 * The building should be modernistic
 * The building should have somewhere to eat
 * The building should have a place for entertainment
 * The building should have a place for sleep/relaxation

Constraints:
>
 * The footprint of the building should not exceed 737.99' x 132.76' x 132.76' x 565.64' x 519.54' x 272.02' x 107.97' x 218.53'
 * The building height should not exceed 10 stories.

Description of Three Possible Designs

media type="custom" key="8118038" This building looks as if it came right out of a science fiction movie. The building is made out of concrete bricks, with glass towers on the top of the building.The building's ceiling is made out of water, making it a outdoor pool. It has 3 doors on one side of the building and the building itself looks twisted up. It exceeds the constraint of 10 stories
 * Design #1 **

media type="custom" key="8118062" The building is a set of 5 buildings that look like a circular pyramid and are connected by bridges on the 2nd floor. The door is on the middle building. The hole surrounding the middle building represents water with floating bridges.It also exceeds 10 stories.
 * Design #2 **

media type="custom" key="8147254" This building is a very artistic building, and when looked from the birds eye view, it looks as if the building is a circle, but when it is looked at from the side, it is does not look circular, in stead, it looks like a curved rectangle. The building has one door and it is all made of glass and has more than 20 stories.
 * Design #3 **

Identify the Best Design:
The best design has a very artistic design and is made out of glass. It has one door and has more than 20 stories. The door is gray while the building color is a gray-white that is transparent.

** Justify Your Choice: **
This design is the best design because even though it over-exceeds 10 stories, like all the other buildings, it is wheel-chair accessible, has a space for parking (ground-floor). This building looks most modernistic out of the three. Many people will be able to live here, but can be a little inefficient because of the very few doors.