A Framed Story

Year: 2024 Design & Honor Awards | Category: Student Project

“A Framed Story” serves as a community hub and tells the story of Marietta Square through the use of historical materials. This project looks towards the future of its residents and encourages them to interact with their built environment by creating the gesture of lifting the project’s program above the ground level to foster public space and create social engagement. The project also creates new stories that represent the future of Marietta through sustainability in our water, solar, wind, and material stories. Overall, the project becomes a celebration and the heart of the people of Marietta, Georgia.

Design Challenge

The challenge of this project was to create a community center that responds to the surrounding context culturally while also being sustainable. This challenge is addressed with the swooping gesture of the canopy that lifts most of the program. By moving the typical program off of the ground floor, it creates a social haven for community activities and celebrates the open public space created on the street level. This space is designed for the community and ensures that it can be adapted to any change the community might need as it evolves. With the multiple configurations the Perform space provides, the community can transform the space to fit their needs. We also aimed to design a net positive operational energy project that would promote community resiliency. This happens in multiple ways throughout the building such as the vertical axis wind turbines and the passive airfoil shape of the canopy that increases its efficiency. The canopy also houses transparent photovoltaics and solar hot water preheat panels, which reduces the operational cost of the building. Lastly, the water story is shown through the collection of rainwater that is processed through biofilters which offsets potable water usage for toilet flushing. With the challenge of creating a sustainable and impactful community center, our Framed Story adds a centerpiece for a community’s present needs while also providing for their future.

Student(s)
Sean Spencer
Michael Rixom

School
Kennesaw State University

Project Location
Marietta, Georgia

Completion Date
12/8/2023

Professor
Robin Puttock