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9 3 0 1 H o g E y e R o a d A u s t i n, T e x a s
Community First Village
BELL TOWER
“A bell’s not a bell ‘til you ring it. A song’s not a song ‘til you sing it. Love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay. Love isn’t love ‘til you give it away!”
Oscar Hammerstein II
Mock-Up
The Tower: The Poetics of Materials and Assembly
Construction
Design Elements
Design Intentions Design Principles
On Bells and CommunitiesIntroduction
Community First Village and the Bell TowerAdditional Elements
ContentsCommunity First Village Bell Tower Austin, Texas
On Bells and Communities
The Story of the Bell and the Community First Village Community
Community First Village is a 27-acre development located east of Austin that provides housing for a portion of the homeless population in Central Texas. Due to the scale of the property and the number of structures spread throughout the development - individual homes, common restrooms, laundry rooms, a kitchen, hospital, chapel and more - there is a need for some means of calling together the community of residents and workers that is in the spirit of the place and its cause.
The bell tower is being proposed to serve this purpose. The sound of a bell is synonymous with the marking of time and the declaration of a special ocassion. The peal of bells from a church tower resonates with our understanding of faith in something much larger than ourselves. The sound lifts our hearts and reminds us to be diligent in making the world a better place, not just for ourselves, but for everyone.
IntroductionCommunity First Village Bell Tower
Austin, Texas
“Everytime you hear a bell ring, it means that some angel’s just got their wings.”
Frances Goodrich, It’s a Wonderful Life
Design PrinciplesCommunity First Village Bell Tower
Austin, Texas
Design PrinciplesCommunity First Village Bell Tower Austin, Texas
The Bell Tower
10 2 5
Tower Elevations
Design Development Sequence
East North West South
Design PrinciplesCommunity First Village Bell Tower
Austin, Texas
Throughout the design process, we prevailed upon a sequence of events that would eventually lead to the ringing of the bell - approach, discovery, arrival, ritual and departure. Each part of this procession, whether attached to a typical Sunday service, an announcement of meal time, or a special event, would embody a shared but unique part of the complete ‘memory’ of the act of ringing the bell.
Steel ‘spines’ span the entire form of the tower and anchor it to three precast concrete ‘cradles’ which also form the structural components for the three steps. Seven prefabricated four-sided steel boxes help to laterally strengthen the steel structure. Recycled, hand-cast glass panels fill each box, illuminated for evening functions. Wood ‘fins’ provide additional stiffness and serve to soften the feel of the tower. They also provide a much more inviting surface to walk upon and touch.
The ‘spine/fin’ assembly satisfies many concerns. It allows for easier fabri-cation, shipping and installation. Since the entire tower is essentially a kit-of-parts, the repetitive nature of the the design meant parts could be easily and cost-effectively produced. Relying on mechanical fasteners provides a simple means of constructing the assembly, and, should it become necessary, removing or relocating the tower in the future. Material difference is an occa-sion for celebration, either through the means by which it is joined to another material, the way the material is treated, or the proximity of certain materials to one another. The form of the tower evolved from the need to both shelter and reveal, celebrate and reflect, function and adorn. We believe it serves all of these necessities.
Design ElementsCommunity First Village Bell Tower Austin, Texas
To access the rope handle and engage the ringing of the bell, one must leave the grounded world behind and embrace the fellowship of community.
The act of stepping further focuses one’s attention on our haptic senses, on balance, on surfaces and textures, shadows and light.
Within the life of the Village the platform equally serves several functions: pulpit, stage, offertory.
The Steps: Ascent/Discovery
Material Palette: Precast Concrete Steps, Hand-Planed Ironwood Treads, Steel Grating.
The seven structural steel boxes which serve to laterally brace the tower spines are also a metaphor for the seven days of Creation from Genesis 1.
Design ElementsCommunity First Village Bell Tower
Austin, Texas
Seven Boxes, Seven Days of Creation
Material Palette: Weathered Steel Structural Spines, Cypress Fins, Steel Light Boxes with Cast Glass Inserts.
Each of the seven steel boxes contains an illuminated panel of cast glass recycled from razed local building stock. The multilayered patterns in the glass invoke the character of each respective phase in the Seven Days of Creation.
The lower boxes provide locations where offer-ings, flowers or sacred objects may be placed.
Light Boxes
Design ElementsCommunity First Village Bell Tower Austin, Texas
Material Palette: Cypress Fins, Weathered Steel Box Frames, Cast Glass Inserts.
1” cast glass sample
The cold-rolled steel angle armature con-trasts the smooth polished cast brass of the bell with the roughness of the cast iron bell wheel. Braided sisal rope provides connection to the cast bronze handle and facilitates a continuum of touch, material, motion and sound.
Ringing the Bell
Design ElementsCommunity First Village Bell Tower
Austin, Texas
Material Palette: Cast Bronze, Cast Iron, Steel, Sisal Rope, Cast Bronze Pull.
“He was a rationalist, but he had to confess he liked the ringing of church bells.”
Anton Chekhov
ConstructionCommunity First Village Bell Tower
Austin, Texas
Bell Tower Materials Community First Village Bell Tower Austin, Texas
Bell Tower Materials Materials for the construction of the tower were chosen to clearly articulate their function in the tower assembly as well as highlight the rolet he tower plays in the Village.
Each material was thoughtfully selected for its intrinsic qualities of surface, color, and texture. The juxtaposition of materials has been carefully considered to provide a sense of harmony.
Special attention was paid to how each material will age through time and use. The material palette was not only selected to minimize maintenance, but to also weather appropriately and develop the beauty of a patina through the touch of the human hand.
* Weathered Steel Spines* Texas Cypress Fins* Recycled Cast Glass* Ironwood Treads* Polished Integrally Colored Precast Concrete Stairs* Board-formed Site Cast Concrete Base* Cast Bronze Bell Pull Handle* Galvanized Steel Floor Grating
Bell Tower MaterialsCommunity First Village Bell Tower
Austin, Texas
Bell Tower Assembly SequenceCommunity First Village Bell Tower Austin, Texas
Concrete Base + Precast Steps
+ Lower Steel Spines + Wood Tread Overlays
+ Steel Angle Deck Support
+ Steel Deck Grating
+ Upper Steel Spines + Steel Boxes + Wood Fins + Bell
10-Step Tower Assembly Sequence
Concrete Base + Precast Steps
+ Lower Steel Spines + Wood Tread Overlays
+ Steel Angle Deck Support
+ Steel Deck Grating
+ Upper Steel Spines + Steel Boxes + Wood Fins + Bell
Precast Concrete, Ironwood, Steel Grate
The steps are our first pysical contact with the Tower. Tread width is generously proportioned to measure a relaxed and ceremonial pace. The hand-planed surfaces of three wooden treads compliment the smooth aggregate texture of precast concrete and tightly spaced machined-precision of the steel grating. Solid ground gives way to the transparency of the platform where light and shadow are a buoy to the act of ringing the bell. Evidence of the wooden treads continuing below is thinly veiled.
The Ground, Base. Steps and Platform
The Ground, Base, Steps and Treads Community First Village Bell Tower
Austin, Texas
Structural Steel Spines Community First Village Bell Tower Austin, Texas
Structural Steel Spines
Concrete Base + Precast Steps
+ Lower Steel Spines + Wood Tread Overlays
+ Steel Angle Deck Support
+ Steel Deck Grating
+ Upper Steel Spines + Steel Boxes + Wood Fins + Bell
Concrete Base + Precast Steps
+ Lower Steel Spines + Wood Tread Overlays
+ Steel Angle Deck Support
+ Steel Deck Grating
+ Upper Steel Spines + Steel Boxes + Wood Fins + Bell
Structural Steel Spines Community First Village Bell Tower
Austin, Texas
Structural Steel Spines
1/1 Splice Plate Mock-up Steel Spine Splice Connection
Concrete Base + Precast Steps
+ Lower Steel Spines + Wood Tread Overlays
+ Steel Angle Deck Support
+ Steel Deck Grating
+ Upper Steel Spines + Steel Boxes + Wood Fins + Bell
Wood Fins
Wood Fins Community First Village Bell Tower Austin, Texas
Vertical fins of Texas Cypress are inset between the steel spines and reinforce the vertical lines of the tower. The spacing of the fins open thin lines of sight through the tower connecting views to other moments within the Village
These wood fins recall the canopy provided by the carefully preserved trees on the Community First site and root the Tower within the tactile material language of the larger Texas land-scape.
The Bell & ArmatureA ‘double plate and spacer’ vocabulary for the steel spines provides a receptacle for the coped angle legs of the bell armature as well as the flat bar retainers that support and brace the horizontal wood fins of the canopy.
Bell Armature Community First Village Bell Tower Austin, Texas
“All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language;
and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to
come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...any
man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and there-fore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
John Donne
Mock-upCommunity First Village Bell Tower
Austin, Texas
To better understand the fabrication and erection process, we thought it would be fun and educa-tional to build a 1/6 scale replica of the Tower.
16 gage mild steel plate was waterjet cut to form the steel spines, light box-es and steel spacer plates. The bell armature, yoke, bellwheel and wood fin knife plates were fabricat-ed of ABS plastic using a 3-D printer. These compo-nents were then painted to replicate the cast iron and mild steel materials of these items.
1/6 Scale Replica
Mock-upCommunity First Village Bell Tower Austin, Texas
The second-hand ship’s bell closely approximates the same size to weight ra-tio as the tower bell.
Wood fins were made from 1/4” Mahogany and treat-ed with Tung oil. All wood fin connections use hex-head machine screws, nuts and flat washers.
With only a few excep-tions, every process, mate-rial and erection sequence mimics that of the full scale tower.
1/6 Scale Replica
Mock-upCommunity First Village Bell Tower
Austin, Texas
“Most knocking is done by folks who don’t know how to ring the bell.”
Bob Dylan
Project Cost ProjectionsCommunity First Village Bell Tower
Austin, Texas
This proposal was prepared by
SmithKennedyarchitectsAustin, Texas + Ann Arbor, Michigan512.567.9811 734.353.9021
