Middlebury Lecture: Building Smooth: Conic Tectonics in Cary Downtown Park

Date: 10/20/22 4:30 PM
Website: https://www.middlebury.edu/events/event/cameron-visiting-artist-lecture-emily-ashby-architect-machado-silvetti-boston
Location: Middlebury, VT

Building Smooth: Conic Tectonics in Cary Downtown Park

Lecture by: Emily Ashby, Associate at Machado Silvetti Architects

Curving architectural geometries are alluring for many great reasons – they mimic and blur boundaries with landscapes, they break the expected visual patterns of our everyday built environment, and they represent an inspiring technical wonder. But how do they get built? And more importantly, can they be built efficiently, using standard construction materials, assemblies, and processes?

Downtown Cary Park in Cary, North Carolina brings this thesis to life. Machado Silvetti has designed a series of curving pavilions to support, complement, and weave throughout the OJB-designed parkscape, in a collaboration that creates a public place for the community. This talk will share the nitty gritty process of designing, detailing, and constructing buildings that achieve aspirational forms while minimizing the expected material waste, construction complication, and excessive cost.

Contact: Benjamin G Allred
Email: ballred@ middlebury.edu