Throughout this past fall semester and J-term, the architecture thesis studio students each created a design for a "Political Action Center" (PAC), a community gathering space and activist hub for Addison County, located... [ view full abstract ]
Throughout this past fall semester and J-term, the architecture thesis studio students each created a design for a "Political Action Center" (PAC), a community gathering space and activist hub for Addison County, located in downtown Middlebury.
This proposal for a PAC sprang from an idea that revolved around Middlebury's central traffic circle, which functions as a key point of intersection and convergence in Addison's shire town. From Route 7, 125, and 30, from Weybridge, Cornwall, and Ripton, from Middlebury Campus, Frog Hollow, and the Congregational Church, all points lead to the rotary. On entering the traffic circle, locals and visitors alike find themselves journeying from one route to another, mixing together and coming out the other side facing a new direction.
Drawing on the physical and metaphorical language of Middlebury's traffic circle, which is located adjacent to the proposed project site, it was this concept that attracted me to the central node as a starting place for my own project: “Convene.”
This PAC forms a circular complex at the center of site, situated between the academic world of Middlebury Campus, the residential area of South Main and South Street, the commercial district of College Street, and the municipal downtown that extends eastward. Oriented so that its east entryway aligns directly with the center of the traffic circle, the PAC is divided into 90° sections by three openings in the envelope. The complex culminates around a sunken amphitheater, which forms a central outdoor gathering space for political action to take shape.
