Blueprinting with Aaeesha

The Pine Bluff Main Library is located in Arkansas and was designed by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects in 2020. The decision to build the library was due to the decrease in population and reputation of the city of Pine Bluff. The city leaders and citizens wanted to revive the area so they built a main library where buildings had burnt or collapsed to symbolize the rebirth of Pine Bluff (ArchDaily, 2022) Pine Bluff Main Library, Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects, 2020 Residents wanted a space that would serve as "the living room of the community" with a strong emphasis on children and the youth to encourage a love for learning (ArchDaily, 2022). Based on that, the new library became a place not just for books, but also a community hub offering a performance space, recording studios, teaching kitchen, a teen loft and a cafe. The library is a striking example of modern architectural design. The exterior has a sophisticated look with its blend of glass and metal, the vast use of gla...

  This post will detail the material and technique choices I have made for my design     Red clay bricks The first building material the library will be made out of is red clay bricks. I chose this material because of the historical reference it had. It was a prominent material in Connecticut during the 17th and 18th century. Bricks were used for construction in England during these times but importing them from England was difficult as it was a slow process. The Connecticut brick industry started through the discovery of red clay in Windsor, Connecticut in 1675 'Windsor’s rich clay deposits, when mixed with water and sand, produced high-quality bricks that supported the local industry for over 100 years.' (Connecticuthistory.org, 2014).  Brick architecture remained popular throughout the earlier 20th century and can be seen in buildings in Connecticut such as Connecticut's Old state House , the famous Mark Twain House and several buildings in Yale University. Asid...

This post will detail the process to creating my elevation drawings. I decided on doing the front and side elevation and did them digitally, using Adobe Illustrator. I first started by drawing the ground line. This represents the floor in which my design will be built on top of.     Using the 'line' tool, I drew the first two floors of my building in a rectangle shape   As my building curves at the edge, I used the 'direct selection' tool to create a curve at the lower left corner of the second floor. I didn't do the same to the first floor as it is directly on the ground line I proceeded to use the 'line' tool again to create my roof. I made sure to include the overhang it has     I then added the details to the building, such as the door, the lines to represent the wood panels and glass panels     For the side elevation I used a similar process. I started with drawing the ground line I then drew the two floors using the 'line' tool. Since this is t...

I practiced using Sketchup when developing my design. I wanted to visualize my drawings in 3D, this post will show the process of creating the basic design on Sketchup. I started by setting it to 'plan view' so I can see it from the top. I then used the 'rectangle' tool to draw a rectangle I then used the 'arc' tool to draw an arc at the corner and used the 'eraser' tool to cut the excess part of the rectangle out   After that I used the 'push/pull' tool to pull the drawing out to a 3D form, doing that gave me the first floor of my building Next, I used the line tool to draw where my second floor will end. I then used the 'offset' tool to trace the shape and finally the 'push/pull' tool to bring it to 3D. I then used the 'line' tool to draw a triangle which would be how the front of my roof would look. My roof slants down at the left so I made sure to include that angle I then cleaned up my lines left while drawing To crea...

Cromwell is a relatively small town housing about 14,250 people in it. The majority of people living in Cromwell are between the ages of 35 and 54 (29.6%) which is made up of both millennials and Gen X. This is followed by people aged over 65 years (baby boomers) and in third will be Gen Z and Gen Alpha (www.neighborhoodscout.com, n.d.).   Age distribution in the town of Cromwell In addition, millennials in America are far more likely to use a public library. According to an analysis by Pew Research Centre, 53% of millennials say they frequently use the library and 45% of Gen Xers as well (Geiger, 2017) Families with children are a key demographic for libraries especially when it offers children areas and community areas such as mine. Cromwell has approximately 5,920 households with 63% of them being family households and 28% of those households having children (profiles.ctdata.org, 2024). 28% of households having children indicates a need for spaces for young readers, serving as ...