Hillside Brewery
Link Between Abstract and Reality
Brewery’s are a staple to the German heritage of Cincinnati and with the return of urban interest in the downtown and Over-the-Rhine areas, empty lots create opportunities for new developments to reflect that history. This site is heavily sloped with an existing retaining wall to the northwest side of the site. In response, the building is condensed under a single roof within which terraced platforms supply the floor space for programming.
Most of the site is left for public interaction and a year round beer garden connected to the building via bridge. The sloped site is situated on a hill overlooking the city which gives opportunity for view from the beer garden and building. Administration slices transversely through the site splitting public from private.
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The roof structure is made from eight radial steel trusses connected at the center. Skylights line the trusses accentuating structure and providing a controlled amount of natural light. Steel cables span between skylights from which fabric is woven. Spray applied concrete is added to the fabric to seal the structure from the elements. The system meets the ground through custom formed concrete columns.
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This semester was used as a preliminary design development period from which comprehensive systems are revised and expanded upon the following academic semester. Hand drafted drawings were used in the iterative process as well as final design intent pieces to reflect material, assembly, programming and detail.
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Design Studio
Fall 2016
Instructor Terry Boling
1/16" = 1'-0" Scale Model
Cut and fill is modeled digitally based on hand drafted concepts. Contours are reflected in one-ply chipboard from which hand cut chipboard, basswood, plastics, and dried vegetation are attached to provide walls, tectonics and lived world context.
1/16" = 1'-0" Hand Drafts
Hand drafting allows for more freedom in the development of conceptual design. Software can stall creative output in the preliminary stage as it requires the user to understand exactly what a line, plane or volume's parameters are. Drawing by hand is freeing in the allowance of human error to shape and provide feedback to a design. Within the development of these drawings, a general direction of tectonics and material was considered prior to drafting but allowed to refine itself naturally as the drawings manifested. These drawings are intentionally left unedited to showcase the strengths of drafting by hand and the beauty of transparent process.
