The Downtown Mall Greenhouse
Public Greenhouse Forum in Charlottesville, VirginiaThe first architectural studio course proposed a new public center located on the downtown mall in Charlottesville, Virginia. This center needed to be a place to research, utilize, and educate the community on local plants and vegetation in Albemarle County. My hypothesis revolves around incorporating the natural systems of our planet as a tectonic driver for the architecture. The site fits into the water cycle by collecting run off water through its roof and recycling it through water drip and fall infrastructure in a greenhouse labyrinth of terraces built up with local vegetation. Education then shifts to being exploration, allowing this building to be a haven for play and joy. We can then follow the water through the extension of green space along the downtown mall, where then eventually it makes its way back into the atmosphere for the cycle to begin again. This mystical maze becomes a public space of refuge and restoration both for its human guests as well as its natural ones.
