In the Summer of 2010, a coalition of community groups in Charleston, SC organized a design competition for the central hub of a new light rail system. Public meeting/banquet space, storefronts for local merchants, and badly needed affordable office space were all popular popular programmatic requirements. The entire ground floor is devoted to transit and retail space, allowing the office and meeting spaces to occupy the upper floors. The programmatic blocks were then split into two volumetric entities. The long expanse of wall on both sizes of the second volume was squeezed in to diminish its imposing nature while maintaining the buildup of the urban edge condition at both ends of theblock. Glare-free, indirect daylighting for the offices and meeting spaces was provided by bifurcating the first volume and lining it with glass.
MATTHEW MARANO 