Shifting Scale

Shifting Scale proposes a new K-12 school in Trenton, New Jersey. The pentagon-shaped site is situated at the intersection where two different types of program converge. It serves as a spatial hinge that binds together the smaller-scaled residential units on the upper right and the larger-scaled retail strip on the lower left.

Given the diverse set of programs, which manifest both homogenous repetition (classrooms) and heterogenous variation (library, art studio, music room, auditorium, etc.), the design seeks ways to produce unconventional relationships between repetitive elements and to architecturally unify singular and idiosyncratic program elements.

The building adopts a bay system as the organizational strategy. The linear projections spans in parallel to the longest oblique edge of the site, which form bays of equal width to regulate the arrangement of forms and establish relationships to the diverse set of programs. The system also helps to define the structural logic of the building: the diagonal projection of the bay system is being materialized as a series of structural concrete walls and the programs are being imagined as “rooms” that are tucked into the structural slices. These “rooms” gradually aggregate and transform to suit unique programmatic needs. On a global scale, the design suggests a unified whole through a consistent formal language and coherent material approach. Yet on a local scale, the flexibility and versatility of the bay system comes into play, dividing the entire complex into three distinct parts internally for each education stage and breaking down the massing in echo with its context and integrate with the urban fabric, balancing both internally-motivated constraints and extrinsic urban factors.

The importance of materiality in this project lies not only in its ability to formulate the physical experience of space, but also in its ability to convey and visualize the underlaying order and formal logic to its audience. The building’s concrete walls are expressive and monumental, which is contrasted by the warm wooden accent of the “rooms”. The joint lines are not to be interpreted as ornaments, but are celebrated deliberately as elements for the comprehension of space and function underneath its skin.