Community Justice
ARCH 401 - Fall 2021
Instructors: Daniel Spilman
This studio began with several precedents of Supreme courts and row-style buildings, which informed the program and structural elements chosen. The early focus of the project is to first study and diagram aspects of the site located at 4th and Alameda in Los Angeles. I utilized a combination of Grasshopper and Rhino to generate wind, sun, and temperature models for the specific site. The project evolved with the concept of an adapting generator in the midst of the city; generating gathering spaces, electricity, food, and most importantly crime remediation.
CM-4J.
The Cybergenetic Machine for Justice, or CM-4J, is a court building that focuses on giving back to the community. It generates public space by lifting the program and creating an opportunity for communal gardens, reflecting pools, and cultural bazaars. Its long narrow site location and machinery framework inspire a simple primary steel structure. Energy management is practiced through both passive and active techniques. A heat chimney, a living roof's thermal mass, and a cooling pond passively remove hot air. The stainless steel facade reacts to the time of day to redirect sunlight and wind to cool in summer and warm in winter. These structural mechanisms and multipurpose spaces allow the building to adapt to the needs of the local neighborhoods, while its social programs remediate generational injustice.
