The use of a cruciform organization never gets old. I think its a simple, functional and a clear way to organize a plan. This project shows that this form of organization can be quite interesting. Gimnasio Campestre uses this organization in order to maintain the courtyard as the main space. Students are forced to cross the courtyard in order to circulate through the school. This allows to maintain a close connection between nature and architecture.
structure:this is helpful; the enclosed function spaces versus open public spaces are decernable here
ReplyDeletecirculation:pretty straightforward; it looks as whough there is a north south path in each wing that you haven;t indicated.
hierarchy:this cannot be diagrammed the same as symmetry and ballance; the delineation of hierarchy needs to be much more sophisticated here. as you've said the crusiform is a time-tested parti; historic precedents can help guide your analysis. Refer to the Ospidala degli Innocenti, on pages 62 and 63 in the book. Note the courtyard's prominence; it's hierarchly important because its in the middle and because its a big space. the void in your model is similar - central and sizable. note also the delieation of the flanking spaces in clark and pause's description of Bruneleschi's design; when delieated separately, the closed volumes in your model are each smallert than the couryard. this proportiional differnce and the location in plan will determine the experience of the users, which would feel, I suspect, as though the central space is hierarchically superior to the flanking spaces.
balance & symmetry : ok
daylight:looks right
massing:certainly the two volumes define the major compositional moves here, but it's probably worth delineating the lower element in between; it helps define the central space.