Cross correlated structure

There are two fictional patents for the project that support each other. The first is an idea about ‘The Programmatic Field”, which conceptualizes program as a sort of three-dimensional field in which there are no rigid boundaries dividing use areas but rather programs are constantly blurring together as a kind of gradient. The way this is rationalized as a mass timber structure is outlined in the second patent “Cross correlated structure”, in which the variability in dimensions available with CLT panels is used to create a gradient of crossed vertical elements ranging between an enfilade arrangement and a column grid. The distinction between panel and frame system becomes contested and the flow between these structure types responds to program.

The project embraces a standard grid that is based on two(2) 11 foot lab modules necessary for life sciences research. This rigid grid becomes a base fabric upon which structural variation and gradients are established, the primary mechanism by which program is organized. These spatial, structural, and programmatic modulations not only generate social relationships in plan, but the way in which these panels stack on top of each other also afford opportunities to create larger sectional spaces. Where the panels of the structural enfilade become so large that they begin to overlap from floor to floor, the structure has the capacity to transfer loads from one column line to the next as a means of omitting columns in specific areas of the structure. This load transfer strategy allows for the creation of larger, column free spaces ideal for assembly and social functions. The density generated by this structural stacking creates an opposite, more enclosed and focused space. In this way, both structure and program become dependent on the same system which sets up a vocabulary of subjective relationships. Relative density, both material and social, becomes a common lens by which we think about structure and program. Neither of which manifest as distinctly formal elements but rather as an incremental variation on a standard module.