Burlington, a quaint city in northwestern Vermont located on Lake Champlain known for its progressive approach to politics, green energy technology development and implementation, and breathtaking landscapes, is consistently attracting new citizens and visitors. City administrators currently occupy a building in the heart of Burlington located at the cross of Church Street and Main Street however, additional space is needed. The current city hall is surrounded by a pedestrian street filled with shops and restaurants, City Hall Park, and to its North a re-purposed fire-house which the Burlington City Arts uses and maintains. As such, the city would like to propose the necessary expansion of the city hall be in the same area.
The proposed annex reflects the rise of Burlington as a progressive city introducing an experiential conversation of sustainability and environment while maintaining aesthetic and organizational nods to the historic Beaux Arts style city hall. The new City Hall Annex is to be located beside the Burlington City Arts at the corner of College Street and Main Street. This building will house the city departments and various community spaces while the current city hall will remain administrative offices.
1. High above the city, with a view over looking the park, or the pedestrian street. Outside, with clean air. Everything looks so small from this high. Her hair is flowing in a way I haven’t noticed before. He cares deeply for the garden he tends to. The view from up here, it puts everything into a perspective.
2. My heart races every time is snows, the world turns into a pure blanket of white where every step is a new possibility. My desk is in the middle of the floor, but I think I will move to the open work space. Joining two co-workers, we find ourselves watching the snow flakes land on the wood outside the window creating tiny cornices I will later watch melt.
3. I go for my morning run and like clockwork I see him walking to work. Through the big glass doors lit up from the lights amidst a cloudy morning. Skipping steps, up he goes and slips behind a wall of red and green. I wonder what is so worth skipping steps for? Perhaps he keeps the leaves green for all to enjoy or maybe he is changing the world.
4. The new art exhibit opened in the City Hall Annex today. Its a show not to miss. The art progressed as walked through two buildings and spaces opened and closed. A story was told, a circle where you could never stop walking, each lap the same art, but the experience different. The light from the windows, the people moving outside, the thermal differences, changed the art inside.
ELEMENT WALL
Environment is something every individual experiences in terms of the ‘We’ and the ‘I’. Our identity aligns with the collective and the self dependent upon instances. The ‘We’ experiences coldness but the ‘I’ is cold. These relationships form because there is a dialect through mutual contrast. Within the new city hall annex, environment is at the center both literally and figuratively. Nature involved situations within the city hall serve as a reminder that person is affected differently by the same situation, a relevant and necessary political understanding.
The Element Well within the City Hall Annex is the core of this concept and the building. The wall extends from the ground floor through the roof creating a well for the outside climate to dive into the building. When looking to this piece, the ‘I’ can see what the ‘We’ is experiencing whether it be snow, rain, or sunshine which could explain how the ‘I’ feels. The wall also highlights the ‘We’ beyond only people; several instances of a green walls, oxidizing metals, and stone are present to illustrate how ‘We’ in an even broader definition is effected by the outside environment.