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Public Condenser


The Public Condenser is an architecture that draws in and expels out. Programmed as a public recreational center, the project creates new flows of activity on the previously barren site, addressing problems with the space and setting up a potential typology which could play out in sites like it. The patch of land under the James White Parkway overpass, demarcating the end of the Old City in Knoxville, is a scaleless buffer zone between the realm of the pedestrian and that of the semi truck. This undercroft, previously used for parking, gets transformed into a multipurpose space comprised of a commons, market, multiuse office space, basketball court, café, auditorium, art studio, and gallery. The architecture uses carefully placed bold moves to catch the attention of the blustering scale of the car and semi truck in order to draw it into a conversation with the scale of the pedestrian. A site that repelled and divided now attracts and blends.
Axon Axon



The main commons space rests under the Parkway and gradually slopes downward, with increasingly wide flat portions in between ramps dictated by a grid that responds to the overpass. Seating, in turn, responds to the increase in space, turning from single seats to benches to 20-foot-long tables. The space is interlocked with the art basin, where art instruction occurs along with a section of the commons ramp cut out for public viewing of art in production. The commons space receives light through a massive light tunnel protruding through the gap in the overpass. At the entrance of the commons, this same geometric form is used to produce a “billboard” which simultaneously works with the light tunnel to envelop the highway it sits under, dwarfing the passing cars, while also swooping down to the scale of the pedestrian creating an inviting way in to the space. The commons adapts and enters into conversation with the scaleless space previously dictated by the car.
Main commons with moving market above and art basin below Multiuse building: lobby, meeting spaces, offices, classrooms, theater, changing rooms, patios, basketball court


Plan



The art studios and gallery work in conjunction to address the nature of the site and art production itself. The studio has two ramps: one leading down to the art basin/instructional area, and the other leading to the gallery, drawing a direct pipeline from production to display. The gallery comprises of four rooms that are each opened with loading dock doors by the visitors. A long ramp leading up to the gallery doors addresses the scalar disparity between the pedestrian side of the overpass and the warehouse/industrial side. The back wall of each gallery rolls out to de/reinstall exhibitions. The gallery also features an actual loading dock, inviting these two zones to enter into conversation with each other.
Commons, art basin, and transition zone between art studios and gallery Multiuse building: lobby, meeting spaces, offices, classrooms, theater, changing rooms, patios, basketball court
Longitudinal Section



Transverse Section



The space labeled as an auditorium functions as a stage, seating area, and pathway to the market.
The market space rolls out over Jackson Avenue when in use, shifting a rigidly pedestrian activity above the rigidly motorized activity that usually plays out on Jackson. The rollout market inverts the hierarchy of the two scalar zones present on the site.