Mount Wilson Residential & Research Facility

About the site:
Mount Wilson Observatory, located in Mount Wilson, CA, is a world renowned observatory that is known for its significant contribution to astronomy and cosmology. For the duration of several decades, Mount Wilson Observatory had possessed the world's largest telescope, which was the Edwin Hubble Telescope, at 100 inch diameter. Additionally, the first time that speed of light was measure also took place on Mount Wilson, by shining a beam of light to Mount Baldy and back.

Conceptual Approach:
As informed in the description of Mount Wilson Observatory, there's a significant emphasis of its astronomical contribution to science. This observatory was so worldly renowned that the proposed design should encapsulate and consolidate all the remarkable achievements and significance of Mount Wilson Observatory in the form of architecture.

Using Mount Wilson as the main reference point, correspondence to the subject such as telescope, stars, science astronomy became one of the many drivers of the project, but these were just the seeds of the "P"rogram. Using these drivers, the main conceptual program of this project expanded and refined into two main components:
- To encourage the interaction between visitors and scientists
- To frame the surrounding views of the site

Today, one of the main function that Mount Wilson serve as a public education setting to educate visitors about science and astronomy, as well as its history. In efforts to optimize and revitalize Mount Wilson Observatory as an iconic worldly-renown tourist attraction, one of the main ambition of this design is to connect experts with layman in the fields to maximize this symbiosis between the two. This idea is translated into the design via a central courtyard scheme where the two gather. The program is divided into work, live, and mechanical, in which mechanical is at the subterranean level, work being in the same elevation as the courtyard, and the living quarter being in the second story. For each of the research/work related program, there's no interconnected pathway connecting from one to another. To get from one program to another, scientists must travel through the courtyard. This way, it increases the frequency of scientists' presence in the gathering area. The courtyard is also opened to the public, to increase the likelihood of interaction between the two.
The second driver is a derivation of the telescope concept. Since telescopes are so prominent and significant to Mount Wilson and its contribution to the world, the second main driver of this design encapsulate as such. In an alternative interpretation, the context of this driver could also be read as looking at different things around the site or facing the project in many direction to direct users' view. The resulting shapes of the building resembles sort of an ocular which corresponds to the "telescope" scheme.

Process:
In terms of design, the first step was to establish a grid. To do so, I first located a center point on the site, them originating from that center point, I drew a linear line to each of the historical landmarks from Mount Wilson based on its map. Through this process, an axial grid was established which served as the core foundation of this design. From there, it's just a process of drawing and allocating geometries in respect to the grid. The resulting massing of this building design was a seemingly fragmented building, with each facet of individual volume facing at specific landmarks within the site.
After designing the geometries in plan, extrusions were operated. The pitch of the roof are all sloped towards the center courtyard to give the courtyard a hierarchy.
This overall aims to be as site specific as possible. "Within the site, not on the site" quoted Frank Lloyd Wright. The certain facets of the volume facing specific landmarks of the site (allowing users to see specific aspects of the site), entrances that specifically cater to surrounding buildings and/or program, concrete foundation design that highlights the connection between earthwork and framework, etc.

Design Development:
With the roof height difference in each of the fragments, clerestory windows are incorporated to provide for natural lighting. The height of each of the fragments aren't additive in height, meaning that the volume heights aren't sequential from lowest to higher. This way, each clerestory windows can get direct natural lighting depending on the time of the day and season of the year.
The enclosure utilizes a seamless steel material as well as a translucent similar to the Nelson-Atkin Museum. The translucency is mainly incorporated on the exterior facets of the buildings mainly so that the dynamic sharpness of its form is most visible during nighttime. This is also a way to celebrate science and mimic a stars' ability to shine in the dark. Anything that people won't see from the outside will be regular, non-translucent seamless steel material (i.e. roof, courtyard walls). This is because if the planes that are facing the courtyard is also glowing, it makes it hard for users to focus on the view that is being framed by the U-shape courtyard, which is the mountain range across and the sky above.