Page 80 - ArchDC_Winter2017

ArchDC Winter 2017.qxp_Fall 2017 11/17/17 5:58 PM Page 78
Close-up of the Wood Cloud installation. Photos © Anice Hoachlander/Hoachlander Davis Photography

Wood Cloud
Wood Cloud

Temporary Partition Reflects Wood Cloud viewed from above.

DeafSpace Principles

by Steven K. Dickens, AIA, LEED AP

Citation for Temporary Installation/Presidential exception: MSSD’s students, as adolescents, require gender separation,
Citation for Universal Design whereas Ballard North House has a unifying full-height atrium
space. (Ballard was designed in 1960, when atria were starting to
Wood Cloud appear in institutional buildings. In this case, however, the visual
Washington, DC connections provided by the atrium were considered an aid to
deaf residents—an early example of a design approach that has
Studio Twenty Seven come to be codified as “DeafSpace.”) For MSSD’s temporary use,
Architecture visual connections between the boys and girls had to be eliminated.
The solution was to provide a mostly horizontal barrier in the
Structural Engineers: Robert Silman Associates
middle of the atrium space, creating, in effect, two stacked atria.
MEP Engineers: Interface Engineering
Boys would occupy the first and second floors and lower atrium,
Project Managers: Savills Studley
while girls would have the upper floors and atrium. The division
General Contractor: James G. Davis Construction Corporation
was necessarily incomplete—the building has only one elevator,
for example, and an open stair runs through the atrium—but for
Gallaudet University is famous as the premier institution of higher
interim use, sufficient.
learning for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Less known is that
“This could have been a real throwaway,” commented juror
within its campus is a high school, the Model Secondary School for
Coren Sharples, AIA. “It didn’t have to be something nice.” Indeed,
the Deaf (MSSD), which occupies a dedicated sub-campus to the
for purely functional purposes, a simple plywood, acoustic tile, or
northeast of the principal university buildings. Drawing students
even fabric barrier could have sufficed. But MSSD and Gallaudet,
from across the US and American territories, MSSD is primarily a
given their unique missions, view good design not just as a nicety,
boarding school, and accordingly, residence halls are a necessity.
but as a necessity. They needed and wanted a solution that would
In 2014, MSSD administrators decided to replace an aging
go beyond mere functionality.
dormitory. Ballard North House, a four-story Gallaudet University
Studio Twenty Seven Architecture conceived the project in
dorm, was available for interim use during the construction of the
art-world terms, as a “commissioned temporary installation.” The
new facility. It largely fit the requirements, but with one glaring
78 WOOD CLOUD