Cultural Center

This was a semester-long project in which we were given a building in downtown Boston and tasked with turning it into a trade or cultural center. We created diagrams, sketched out plans, built 3D models, created the model in SketchUp, and rendered it with materials using photoshop. We were allowed to choose the country we wanted to represent and I chose Trinidad and Tobago. The building is three stories along with a basement and two balconies on the second and third floors. I was initially drawn to Trinidad and Tobago because of the Magnificent Seven, which are seven colonial-style buildings in the country's capital: The Port of Spain, where you can also find the very modern Performing Arts Center. The Performing Arts Center is almost completely made of glass, this combination of contemporary and traditional inspired my design when it came to materiality. I wanted to highlight Trinidad and Tobago's traditions with performance and celebration by constructing a large, two-story performance space. The space is found in the basement but the performances can still be seen from the ground floor thanks to the glass walls enclosing the performance space. I wanted guests to be pulled through the space when entering on the first floor, which is why the main staircase and elevator are in the rear of the building. The rear of the building in the original plan had a bit of an issue as there is little natural light on the first floor and basement. I decided to tackle this issue by creating holes in the floor to allow natural light to pass through from the windows and skylight on the upper levels. Another integral piece I wanted to add was a two-story bamboo garden on the balcony of the second floor, spanning to the third. This was a reference I wanted to make to Trinidad and Tobago's beautiful Bamboo Cathedral as well as all of the beautiful nature on the islands.