Reimagining Silver's Five and Dime: Mid-Semester Presentation: Phase III

Reimagining Silver's Five and Dime: 5 on 4 - A Journey of the Senses Through the Spaces

1. A pedestrian walking past the Silver's Building on South Elm Street.

Kelly is young professional, who works downtown, on her lunch break walking across Washington Street on South Elm. While she is waiting at the light to cross over Washington she notices the brick building on the opposite corner. It is obvious the building is quite old with large glass panel windows wrapping around the corner of the building. She also notices the much newer glass and steel over hang that extends out over the sidewalk above each different store front. After crossing Washington she catches the sweet scents wafting from the ice cream parlor's open counter window and hears the laughter of children at the counter inside, slightly muffled by the sound of the employee at the window taking the order of a woman and child ordering from the sidewalk window. Upon passing the corner she is drawn closer to the large glass covered storefront by an interesting gift display in the window of the neighboring store when she realizes that it is also a drug store so she decides to go in and pick up a few things she had originally planned to pick up after work.

2. A customer inside the sports shop.

Thomas, young man from out of town, is in Greensboro visiting family and he wants to keep his athletic routine. His parents neighbor suggested he check out the sports store close by on Washington street. He claims they have everything a sports lover could need, including bike rentals. Thomas enters the store and immediately sees all of the industrial looking metal shelves displaying a wide variety of sports equipment and smells all of the new materials within the space. His eyes are gradually drawn to the dramatic accent lights that are emphasizing the wall mounted bicycle displays and he heads in that direction. After choosing the model he wants and pays the rental fee and is given a key and rental slip and led to the storage area to collect his bike. Once he has located the bike corresponding to the number on his key he unlocks the bike removes it from its display hook and exits the building through the convenient alley exit. 

3. A customer entering the pharmacy.

Carolin is a young professional living downtown. She is stopping in at her local pharmacy to get her prescription filled on her way home. She enters the drug store and her eyes are immediately drawn to the lowered ceiling surrounding the pharmacy counter. However, as she makes her way though the shelves to the counter she remembers some other things she needs to pick up while she is here. After collecting all of her purchases she continues back to the pharmacy to fill her prescription. Once she has checked out the attendant tells her that it will be just a few minutes to fill her prescription. She decides to go over to the ice cream parlor to grab something sweet while she waits because the sweet sugary scents in the air have become too much to resist. Carolin orders her ice cream and sits at one of the cool glass tables to enjoy her icy treat and then picks up her prescription and heads for home. 

4. A resident entering his/her upstairs apartment.

David is a young professional who moved downtown earlier this year to be closer to work. He is currently renting a studio apartment on the upper floor of the old Silver's building. Today was a rough day at work and he is heading home for the day. As soon as he enters the alleyway at the back of the building the noises of the city start to fade away. He enters the stairwell and heads up to his apartment. After entering his apartment he decides the weather outside is perfect for a relaxing evening on the terrace. He collects a good book, a glass of wine and heads up the stairs and out into the cool evening air while the rest of the city continues to bustle by on the streets below. 

Reimagining Silver's Five and Dime: Interior Perspectives

Reimagining Silver's Five and Dime: Exterior Perspectives

Reimagining Silver's Five and Dime: Business Signage

Reimagining Silver's Five and Dime: Revised Floor Plans

Reimagining Silver's Five and Dime: Technical Floor Plans

Reimagining Silver's Five and Dime: Phase II Review Feedback

Reviewer Feedback:

Lee Mortensen: Interim Director of Downtown Greensboro

• Do the residential tenants have any storage anywhere else inside the building other than in their apartment?
• Enjoyed the reincorporation of the historical/original elements of the building.
• Felt the 3Form dividers and the lowered ceiling at the pharmacy counter was a good idea to help with privacy. 
• Enjoyed the copper tiled wall and the cork flooring in the ice cream parlor and how they give the space a bit of a historical vibe but do it with more recent elements.
• Believes roof access/terrace apartment will be the space with the most draw.
• Agreed that using the basement for storage was a good idea due to the lack of natural lighting. 

Lauren Postlmayr: Grad Student in Interior Architecture 

• Consider connecting ice cream parlor to both retail spaces.
• Create an opening that connects the ice cream parlor more to the street.
• Make entrance to the elevator glass doors or open to the space for safety. 
• Laundry room with a lounge space or game room.

Hugh Sutphin: local architect familiar with the building

• Focus more of pedestrian interaction with the building.
• Lack of parking and lifestyle will determine who will want to live in this space. 
• Connect it more with the community and the context on both first and second floor.
• Make it a  building downtown.

Sydney Gray and Wife: building owners

• Felt central laundry facility was a good idea.

Jerry Leimenstoll: local architect familiar with the building

• How does your Pecha Kucha presentation relate to your project? 
• How will your Haiku dictate where things should go within your space?

Jo Leimenstoll: Professor

• Consider shrinking stair width.
• Have separate laundry for each apartment rather than a central facility.
• Really liked the branding/panorama image for the project.
• Apartment spaces are too big so consider adding more apartments.

Kelsey Walker: Classmate/Peer

• Consider planning out the storage in the basement more so that if it is all storage it is divided out rather than just open storage. 

Kristy: Classmate/Peer

• Would it work better to swap the bike storage and the break room?
• Enjoyed the rendered sketches of the exterior.

Sarah Mabry: Classmate/Peer

• Enjoyed the roof terrace concept.
• Felt the copper tile wall was an interesting idea. 

Personal Reflection:

I think it would be beneficial for the residential tenants to have some type of storage outside of there apartment space where they can store things that they do not use very often. A good place for the storage would be to section off some space in the basement storage for the second floor tenants. I think the ice cream parlor would make a good place to connect the two separate businesses and then also have an extra window or counter that opens the ice cream shop to the street. I had originally been thinking of working out a way to have a window on the Washington Street side of the building but I think central Elm Street would make a more logical place for an extra counter. I think all of the doors except for the fire doors on the main floor should be class to help with safety and egress to not only give the people in the space a way to differentiate what is and is not an exit but also to allow more connection and flow through the less public areas. The addition of more apartments on the second floor will help to cut down on large apartment sizes. Taking away the public laundry room space will give more space back to apartment usage. I think the next step after revising some of the layout is to focus on connecting the building to downtown through the  exterior of the building. 

Reimagining Silver's Five and Dime: Phase II

Reimagining Silver's Five and Dime: Haiku: Phase I

Reimagining Silver's Five and Dime: Building Plans

Basement

Ground Floor

Second Floor

Longitudinal Section

Reimagining Silver's Five and Dime: Site Walk Through: Phase I

Reimagining Silver's Five and Dime: Three Strategies to Remodeling: Intervention, Insertion, and Installation: Phase I

Intervention-

·         Intervention is defined as a procedure that activates the potential or repressed meaning of a specific place.  In this strategy direct cues are taken from the architecture that is surrounding the building that is being analyzed. The creation of the building is directed solely from the architect’s moves. Layers are stripped away to create a simpler building that is controlled and ordered in detail.

o   Hagia Sofia located in Istanbul, Turkey originally an Orthodox Christian Church converted into an Islamic Mosque in the 1400’s. The Christian imagery was removed and replaced with Islamic imagery. Minarets were placed on the exterior to signal the conversion to Islamic mosque. These changes occurred during the conversion of the city from Christianity to Islam. 

Insertion-

·       Insertion is defined as taking the existing building and repurposing it for a different usage. Even though the building has been repurposed to a different usage it still stands on its own as an independent entity. The building itself and the new usage of the building are elements that stand apart from each other in creating a whole.

o   Many of the old mills in the Greensboro area and the surrounding area are great examples of insertion. The original façade still exists but the usage of the interior of the building has been completely changed. Examples of this are Wafco Mills and Revolution Mills.

Installation-

·       Installation is defined as taking an existing building and placing elements that effect the contextual statement that is made by the architect. The elements used in the installation are created as an independent element separate from the building itself.  In some cases this is an interactive space for people to experience as an exhibition or an addition to an existing building that stands as its own statement.

o   The umbrella installation of Melbourne Mall is great example of installation. For this example umbrellas are added in the space to create an exhibition that stands alone from the building itself. It is completely removable and allows the space to be returned to its original appearance.


Slide Show

Reimagining Silver's Five and Dime: Spartan Trader