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    During third year, students were asked to design a dormitory for UMA.  We were given the entire campus to

pick a site from. 

Here, I took an AutoCad drawing and used color pencil over it.

The first step was to pick a site. UMA had four potential sites. I quickly sketched each site and Listed their pros and cons.

I quickly narrowed it down to two sites, but after looking again at all four, the first site I discarded turned out to be the

better than all the others.

Intention

After determining the best site, I needed to know how the building will be set in the hill.

While sketching ways for the building to sit on the site, I discovered my intention.

I scribbled down some thoughts that I eventually formed into an intention: College is like climbing a hill. From the bottom of the hill, it seems too steep to climb. If that slope is divided into steps, or flights of stairs, it appears easier. A bachelors degree is divided into four years. Each year is divided into two semesters. When counting the fours years as eight semesters, rather than adding up all the days, the distance seems shorter.

Climbing the hill offered three options for locating grade levels. I could put all freshmen at the lowest level, or in their own tower. I decided to put freshmen at the bottom of each tower to allow different grades to interact.

Now, I knew where the dorm would be and what it will look like in section, but I still need to know what the site plan will look like. I sketched the site, with different site plans until I came up with the best one.

My presentation included several freehand sketches to better describe my verbal tour through the design.  I also built a model and explained how the dormitory is a repeating series of the model.