By Austin Dunn

The Residence on Tenth, also known as William Hall, is a residence hall on The Ohio State University’s campus. It’s part of a much larger movement by the University to encourage on campus living. This project was very successful as it houses 539 students in modern, apartment style suites. Its contemporary design gives it a clean, modern feel while its community spaces encourage student interaction. The project was completed in 2012 by Acock Associates Architects. This architecture firm is located in Columbus and has completed notable projects including the Thompson Library renovation at The Ohio State University.

The hall was placed on an empty plot of land with development surrounding it. It’s located on the corner of 10^th Street and Neil Avenue on Ohio State’s South Campus. Just north of it is the Eleventh Avenue garage, a parking garage with five levels. Very close to the northeast is the vault shaped Jesse Owen’s South Recreation Center with a parking lot south of it, east of Residence on Tenth. On the west side of the building, there is a building with multiple shops in it while there is more student housing to the south. A look at the site as a whole shows how William Hall adds to the urban feel of Ohio State’s campus. The short distance between it and its surrounding buildings, especially the parking garage, makes it feel at times that it was squeezed in. However, the designers still managed to incorporate some grass, trees, and plants throughout the site.

In plan, William Hall looks like a rigid letter “U” with edges, but the west “arm” is not perpendicular to the south one as the east one is. This allows the building to mimic the motion of the streets. The west façade runs to parallel to Neil Avenue while the south and east facades run parallel to their respective streets, 10^th Ave and Worthington St. Neil Avenue is a large, prominent diagonal axis that breaks up the grid feeling of the neighborhoods south of campus; William Hall puts in an effort to emphasize this. The building is made up primarily of brick, glass, and steel. Glass is the most abundant material on the exterior as most of the facades are made almost entirely of it, with the exception of both west facades which are primarily brick.

North of the hall is a courtyard that is contained by the arms of the “U” shape. The reason for this shape is to separate the building as much as possible from the parking garage. The green space allows for residents to have something else to look at other than the concrete garage. Additionally, it adds to the community objective of the site by providing residents with a gathering place outside, as well as giving them some open space relief from the packed urban environment.

Inside the building, there are mostly six-person suite style rooms. The university made it clear to Acock Associates that there is a need for resident interaction within the residence hall. Acock accomplished this goal by incorporating lounges and various sitting/gathering places on each floor to encourage interaction. Additional amenities include indoor bicycle storage, a laundry room, and kitchen facilities.

Works Cited

“Featured Projects.” Acock Associates Architects. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.

“Knowlton School Digital Library.” Knowlton School Digital Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.

“University Housing.” The Residence on Tenth : Residence Halls : University Housing. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.

by Zach Slonsky

Precedence of Manhattan Flatiron, first New York City skyscraper

Columbus Flatiron as it is today

When people hear the “Flatiron” most people think of the famous building located in the borough of Manhattan, New York City. Many people would perhaps not think that Columbus, Ohio has its own version of this building on the corner of Locust and Lazelle street, facing North Fourth Street. (perhaps talk about how many cities have a replication of this building, such as Pittsburg, Atlanta, or Boulder) This building has an extensive history starting in 1914. It was built by Herbert Aloysius whose name is still inscribed in a rock on the top of the building. Originally, this place offered a small saloon and grocery store, as well as a few apartments on the upper two floors. It was a very popular destination for the railroad builders that worked on the Columbus-Toledo rail line just north of the building.

Its uses varied somewhat over time. For a time the saloon on the first floor of the building became a restaurant,  as a result of prohibition legislation. They later reverted this restaurant back into a bar. The top two floors are currently being renovated into updated apartments.

This building is noted for its very thin construction. Due to the thin plot of land it was built on, this building wedges down to an astonishing 8 feet on its smallest side. This is peculiar considering it is a full four stories tall at any given point. Also, as a result of this plot, this building is organized in a very linear fashion. It relates to a central axis originating from the crux of E Nationwide St. and Lazelle St.

Figure/Ground map of the site near the Flatiron

Despite being four stories tall, the facade is split into three layers. This split is shown by the grid of windows and makes it clear in showing a tripartite organization. Another thing to notice about the materials of the exterior is there is a noticeable change in brick tone. This is the result of a recent renovation that saved the building from the same fate many other historic buildings in Columbus have shared, demolition.

This facade is further organized by a datum of windows and implied windows adorning the century old brick. Implied windows being where the space defined by the datum is marked by stones, but not glass, resulting in reinforcement of this pattern despite a window not being in every space.

Other details in this space are the use of pointed arches on top of the first floor windows and doors. These show Gothic influence on the design of the project. This is a fairly typical thing to see for buildings built in this time period. Early 19 century US buildings typically fell into a style of architecture known as Gothic revival. The premise of this style was to Other notable buildings such as the Ohio Statehouse also fall into this category.

Citations:

“Google Maps.” Google Maps. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.

“Building History.” Flatiron Bar and Diner. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.

“Gothic Revival.” Architectural Styles of America and Europe. N.p., 03 Nov. 2011. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.

  by Taylor Brill         

           The View on High was built in the cusp of the new trend of development in Columbus. The idea of mixed use buildings combining parking, retail and apartment has been at the for front of recent designing in Columbus. The mixed use building trend allows developers to capitalize on higher land values in the urban environment and transform them into something multifunctional. The effort to combine these elements maximizes the real estate in Columbus, while also making places for people to live downtown. Slove Real Estate and Celmark Development are two local developers in Columbus that teamed up on The View on High project. The building stands five stories tall with the first floor being dedicated to the tenants and the upper four stories being apartments. The apartment complex of the building is comprised of 62 units most of which are two bedrooms. At the time of designing the idea was to build on an existing Wendy’s Restaurant site. The freestanding restaurant was torn down and was incorporated into the complex. The Wendy’s is now accompanied in the ground floor of the complex by a GNC and FedEx. The firm responsible for building and design the project is BBCO. They are a local firm in the city and they focus mostly on smaller apparent projects. The firm was able to maximize on the existing 4000 square foot space and create an additional 3000 square feet of retail, 132 space parking garage as well as, the student housing space. 

Street view of the building. The ground floor is lit up where the businesses are.

            The building is located on the intersection of High Street and Woodruff Avenue on the North area of campus. The View on High was built during the same time as the north campus renovation that created more student housing. Its location provide access to many amenities on High Street and is within close range of the north campus academic halls. The view out the large glass windows overlooks high street and give a vantage on north east side of campus.

            The façade of the building is unique in that it blends together two stacked buildings. The uses of the various sizes and shapes of the windows. The storefront windows on the retail stores don’t clash with the smaller windows at the top in the apartments. This is because the middle of the buildings alternates the sizes of the glass so, the fade from large glass windows to walls isn’t as abrupt. The façade also starts to reveal the courtyard in the center of the complex. The middle strip of the building is the lowest part of the building. When looking at the building from High Street, the apartments in the middle are recessed from the other part of the building. The windows also line this void space with also gives hints at the courtyard.

The courtyard

            The floor plan of the building is also interesting. The apartments are not sectioned by the size of the room, making each floor plan unique from the others. This adds character to the building and takes away the bland uniformity the older apartments possess. The varying floor plans also is similar to the way the designers varied the windows sizes. This creates a connection and allows for a flow within the design.

A view of the building from W. Woodruff Avenue

Bibliography:

“The View on High.” BBCO. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.

“The View on High.” The View on High. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.

Warren, Brent. “Mixed-use Development Proposed at Site of Campus Wendy’s.” ColumbusUnderground. ColumbusUnderground, 28 Feb. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.

Picture:

Courtyard. Columbus. The View on High. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.

  by Taylor Brill       

         The Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and the Richard J. Solove Research Institute was opened in 1990 and was the first Midwest freestanding cancer research hospital. The project was designed by HOK, a global architecture, engineering and planning firm. The firm specializes in large scale projects. The James, today, is the nation’s premier institution for prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer. They strive to integrate scientific research and patient center care together to produce an approach that leads to better prevention, detection and treatment of cancer. Ohio State is one of only 46 National Cancer Institutes designated comprehensive career center. The James is one of only a select few centers funded by the NCI to conduct Phase I and Phase II clinical trials on anticancer drugs. The 21^st century hospital is 1.1 million square feet and stands 21 stories tall. The James is on the cutting edge of cancer research and employs some of the nation’s best oncologists. There are over 200 staffed oncologists that specialized in only one type of cancer.

South Facade

            The James’ 21 story design allows each floor to have its own specialty. The floors on the top of the building are sectioned by cancer type. The mechanicals and administrative offices are located midway up in the building. This is interesting because administrative is usually located on the bottom floor. The bottom section includes the lobby, radiology and surgery departments. What is interesting about the floor plans is that there is no third or thirteenth floor. There is no third floor so that the numbering system is consistent with adjoining building, Rhodes Hall. The thirteenth is absent because of the unluckiness associated with the number 13.

       One very interesting facet of the James Cancer Hospital is that the building itself focuses on sustainability. The hospital received a LEED gold certification because of its many sustainable elements. The building has garden terraces on the North and South sides of the building. The James also collects rain water in the rainwater-runoff basins and recycles the rain water. The building also employs materials like bamboo in the interior. The hospital also has extensive glasswork on all the facades. The glass not only lets in large volumes of natural lighting, but also is thermal efficient which helps keep heating and cooling costs down. The hospital makes a connection to nature and the landscape by providing an outdoor café and direct views to the garden terraces from the 14^th floor where they grow vegetables with cancer-preventing agents.

Interior view showcasing the large windows.

            The OSUCCC-James is also located right on Ohio States medical campus on 10^th Avenue. It is within proximity to High Street, a major north/south axis for Columbus, and from 315, the major highway that runs through campus. The James is surrounded by other medical buildings and has a skywalk connecting it to the Hearth Hospital. There is a voided park that lies directly in front of the main entrance. This is the major green space on Medical Campus and it works to help separate the complex network of buildings. It also provides a recreational space among the sea of medical buildings.

A view of the front of the building showing the small rainwater swells that line the building.