T Square
Project overview
This project focus on working at urban and building scales to better understand the measurements, proportions, and scale of the past and present site. The site is the former Franklin Steele Saw-Mill site in St. Anthony, located on Hennepin Island (historical marker is located on southeast Main Street just east of SE 3 road Avenue along the riverfront trail across from the Pillsbury A Mill). The former Saw Mill was replaced by the current Hennepin Island Hydroelectric Plant in 1908.
Details
My contributions have been instrumental in shaping the overall vision and design of the project. I oversaw every aspect of architecture, construction administration, through furnishing and styling.
Specifications
Area of site | 1800 ft2 |
Date | 2024 |
Status of the project | Completed |
Tools used | Revit, AutoCAD |
Research
As logging railroad was a major transportation during the 1800s to 1900s, it was crucial to research methods of transportation. There was a huge timber population in Northern Minnesota during the 1800s. Because of that, most logging railroads were constructed, however, due to water level and wetland from Lake Superior and topography, the construction of logging railroads were limited in some way. After the 1900s, timber forest in MN was exhausted, so, MN began importing wood products from Canada. Similar to the past, they still use railroad to transport wood products by using specific boxcars.
Site
Using the benefit of an isolated location, having an archive library and workshop was quite beneficial to researchers or anyone who visits the site. The way that the main gathering space meets Stone-Arch Bridge also captures a nice overview of it. It might be a bit difficult to bring people to this site since it is a bit quiet, but that is the connection where the past happened, but a contemporary site that brings the future. o accommodate the images needed.
Water-Level Map
As you can see from the water-level map, there are more of wetland are toward North which means it has connection of conducting railroads.
Railroad and Forest (U.S. & Canada)
It clearly shows the methods of importing lumber to the site by using major railroad company. It conveys that Canada where had huge forest coverage is the place where we get the sources from.
Physical Model
T Square
Programs in T square are mainly archive library, workshop, and gathering spaces. Having an archive library and workshop might limit visitors, but having gathering space for anyone brings more people to this site. Furthermore, the threshold from archive library and worship to gathering space is an impactive transition. The threshold changes the people’s sights, noises, and sensation through dense wood construction frames as people walk by.