NICHOLAS

=**Best Fit** = by NICHOLAS ANASTASIO

=INVESTIGATION STAGE =

**General characteristics of the neighborhood** :
The neighborhood that I am doing work on is Forest Hills. In Forest Hills, there are many stores and restaurants that are very popular. The restuarants in the area are very diverse, as the types of food changes from latin to chinese, and I believe that all stores and restaurants work well when it comes to the location of the places. Most of the stores and restaurants are on the same street, Austin Street. Austin Street is a long wide street that I believe to be the heart of Forest Hills. I don't think that anyone who lives in the neighborhood does not know what or where Forest hills is. As well as restaurants there are parks, schools, and other stores/places that can and are used for recreation purposes.

Size of lot:
The size of my lot is an irregular shape. The front of my lot is a straightl line that is 60 feet long. Then the lot continues on an anle to make it look like a oddly shaped pentagon. There are 7 directions that the lot goes in once it passes the fron part of the lot. Those seven directions create a total of 130 feet in the lot.


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**Needs assessment** :
**1. A description of what the neighborhood already has.** I think that all of the places and stores that are located in my neighborhood are used quite frequently. Most of the stores, with the exception of a few schools and parks are all located on the same street. This street is called Austin Street. All of the restaraunts are close or next to one another. One thing I love about the restaurants in my neighborhood is that the types of restaurants and the food that they serve is very different. There could be a japanease place, and then right next to a japanease restaurant could be a cajun restaurant. This allows people to enjoy food that come from all around the world, as I believe the menus of the restaurant are authentic to the nation they represent. All of the schools are close to one another, and the schools are either a elementary school or a juniour High School. Because all of the schools are so close to one another, all of the kids know each other and interact with one another after school. The parks as well are close to one another. Each park is set up differently, and the activities you can do also vary. In some parks you can take your dog to the dog run, in other parks you have miles of nothing but running or jogging room, and in other parks you can raide a horse and observe all thetrees and flowers. I think that these schools and parks are placed well across the neighborhood, mainly because no matter where you live, you can easily access these excellent recreation centers. In my neighborhood, there are two main forms of public transportation. My neighborhood has both buses and the subway. The buses run along bus stops that are positioned across the bourough, and only that bourough. The main bus in my neighborhood is the Q 23, the Q representing Queens. The train of course runs across all over the city. I believe that the train is the greatest invention of all time, as it gets me to school, it gets me home, and anywhere that I or anyone needs to get to. In my neighborhhod, there is a mix of apartment buildings, attached homes, and detacched homes. All across the neighborhood you see these three types of homes, each type of home is mainly on the same streets. For example, you don't see a attached home and a apartment building on the same street. However, a very common thing that you see in y neighborhodd is garages. There arte garages on all streets, and they are apart of apartment buildings, attached and detacched homes. **2. An analysis of what the neighborhood needs.** I believe that one thing that this neighborhood needs is a doggy day care. This is a place where owners of dogs can come and drop there pet off and many people who work there will take care of them until the owner returns to pick them up. In this day care there could also be a grooming service, as well as sell dog products like food, treats, and other items/products that dogs need. There are several locations in my neighborhood where you can go to get your dog a grooming, but those places are not easy to access and the buildings themselves are not well built. People who get there dogs groomed what the building to look nice and clean, because if it doesn't people do not won't to send there pets in there to be groomed. When i walk my dog in the neighborhood, i see tens of dogs every time I walk him, and most of the dogs I see have owners that work full time and leave there dogs in their home all day until they return. I have read that on average, more than half of the homes in the United States have a dog living in one of them. If more than 50% of homes in America have dogs in them, there is guaranteed to be pet owners that feel bad for there animals that they are by themselves and the owners would like them to spend time with other dogs and people who are trained to take care of them. My neighborhood has dog parks and dog runs, but not a place where dogs can have fun and interact with other animals while pet owners are out working. I think that my lot is more than large enough to be able to have a building to take care of these animals, and I really think that it would be a successful business and it would help pet owners out a lot.

**Buildings and architects that provide inspiration**



This building gave me a lot of ideas when it came to how the building i am creating could look. What I really like about this building is how all the parts of the buildings go in different directions and different sizes, yet the building is able to stand. I am not sure whether the base of the building is a square, or an irregular shape. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm4.static.flickr.com//

//What intrigued me about this building was the roof ofd the building.// //All of these curves and points that come together// //to make one roof really inspitres me to make a complex roof for my building. All buildings in New York City// //have the same type of structure, so to create a roof that is as wild yet elegant as this one should be a lot of fun.// //[]//

//I am stunned at how the architect of this building was able to create this buiding. No// //part of that bnuilding looks like it is stable, and I am amazed at how it can stand on its own. The// //building looks like it is a cartoon in a way, however I verty much want to incorparate this type of design into my// //own building.// //[]// //I do not know how this building has been able to stand on that angle for all// //of these years without falling over. I would like to create a building like that in my// //lot space, however I have several concers. I am not sure how wide or long a building must be for the// //building to be able to stand like that. I also don't know what is needed in order to create a building like that.// //I do not know the materials that I can or can not do it with, and other issues that would concern an// //architect.// //[]//

//I am not sure what this building is used for, however I believe that it is used as a church. One factor that// //I love about this building is the sides of the building. I am not sure how that looks, however it appears to look// //like stairs going up the building. It appears to be made of some sort of metal, and I think that I would like to use a similar// //front entrance in my building.// //[]//

//IN WHAT WAYS HAS THIS INVESTIGATION INFLUENCED YOU TO DESIGN A BUILDING FOR YOUR LOT THAT MAKES THE BEST FIT FOR THE NEIGHBORHOOD?//
//I think this investigation has helped influence me to design a building for my lot in my neighborhood in many ways. Because I have seen so many coo and intresting buildings from all around the world, I want to incorparate all of the different aspects of each building into one building. I think that if i incorparate all of these different aspects of all bildings into one, my building will really be the center of attraction and people will only think about my buiding when they think of the city. As well as the outside looking of the building, I want the outside to look just as intesting. The Empire State Building is one of the most known bildings in New York State, and when you see the outside of it whether it is from a picture or in person, you know that that is the Empire State building. My building is going to be one of those buildings that will stand out around the world.//

=DESIGN BRIEF =

**Design Brief:**
==**Problem to be solved: The problem to be solved is the neighborhood needs a place where animals and pet owners can come and bond and become closer.** ==

**Requirements:**

 * There will be a total of eight doors attached for my building. There will be two doors in the front of the building, both of which will be revolving doors. The revolving doors will be made of glass. One door will be for entering, and the other one will be for exiting. This will be true for all the doors on the three remaining sides of the building.
 * There will be many windows that are a part of my building, depending on how many floors my building has. My windows will be glass, so that pet owners can observe their animals and see how they bare responding to the people who work their.
 * The material of my building will either be made of glass that is see through, or it will be made of a sturdy modern day metal. I am more into modern buildings like the Empire State Building, as opposed to a 18th century colonial home.

**Constraints:**

 * The building that I create can not excede the space that my lot has
 * The building I create can not be taller than 4 stories
 * The minimum amount of space between the side walk and my building is at least 5 feet.

Description of Three Possible Designs (** EMBED GOOGLE SKETCH UP CODE) ** media type="custom" key="8114066" This building design has two layers to the building. The bottom layer of the building is where people would come with their pets and give them to the workers to take care of them. The second layer is where products and pet related itens are sold. There are many windows that are a part of my building, and I think that the more windows there are the better. The windows will allow lots of light to come into the building, to make it seem like a bright and friendly place. ** Design #2 ** ** ( ** EMBED GOOGLE SKETCH UP CODE)
 * Design #1 **

media type="custom" key="8114288" This builing is made of glass, and just glass. There is a main part of the building, and then there are other other seperate sections that are smaller. I believe that because this building is made of only glass, the building is a head turner and many people would be fasinated on how the way it looks. One thing that I like about this building is all of the different components that take up the space of my lot. The way that it looks interests me, as I have never seen a building that looks like that. ** Design #3 ** (** EMBED GOOGLE SKETCH UP CODE) ** media type="custom" key="8150664"
 * (Write description below. **)

** Identify the Best Design: **
I believe that my first design is the best design for the building that i am creating. Although the other two designs were well created and I would like to see them in my neighborhood, I feel like design one is the best design.

** Justify Your Choice: **
** The reason I feel that the first design is the best design of the three is because I feel like this structure will be able to best make the purpose of my building successful. I have only seen one Dog Day Care, and that was located in Long Island. Although the products in the store were nice, I was not a fan of how the building was layed out. I believe that layout is very important, as you can not have a store with products that are similar, yet they are all over the store. My other two designs were well done and had many intresting features and would have attracted many people's attention when they passed. Although those two buildings would have done a fine job serving the purpose as a Pet Day Care, I am not sure they were right for the neighborhood. I feel like people who would work there and the customers who would trust those people to take care of their dog while there away would feel like the building is safe, and well designed. One problem that I had with my other two designs was that there were too many aspects and layers to the buildings. People like fancy and elegant buildings, but at some point enough is enough and my buildings just had too much stuff going on in them. **