Making a place: an infill proposal at VPI&SU, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

Abstract

A pathway to go from the profane to a village of higher aspirations.

A House of Visual Arts and an existing school of architecture flank the pathway as the realm of the mundane is received into the world of the sublime.

Rows of trees define streams of space flowing into a reservoir of space, gateways marking the points of transition. From the reservoir, these gateways frame the distant mountains giving the urban room a location. The room itself is essentially empty, for it is hardly a statement but, rather, the preparation for one. The room is for the life of the academic village.

Giving order where disorder reigned, providing clarity where ambiguity prevailed, bringing unity where discord was the norm, furnishing hierarchy, meaning, moments of movement and pause, MAKING A PLACE.