Our office decided to host an internal design competition between all the offices. The goal was to pick two people to enter into the “Urban Confluence” Design Competition. https://www.urbanconfluencesiliconvalley.org/

The competition wasn’t really promoted in the Billings office, and I only found out about it a day or two before it was due. My solution to having almost no time to develop and idea and presentation materials was to recycle something old. Since this was supposed to be an iconic structure within a park in San Jose, I figured I could start with my original “Hill” project as a base. The first “The Hill” was designed to be a landmark for Billings in North Park (http://www.collectivesparks.com/2017/04/baa-design-competition-2017/) The San Jose project had to be of a slightly larger scale, and had a few different goals. Those goals included showcasing sustainability, and technology. The Design relied heavily on grasshopper voronoi scrips and turning the tower into a water vapor condensing system. San Jose is a hub for lots of tech companies google, Facebook, etcetera.

“The Hill” creates an iconic space in San Jose. It does this By taking advantage of the geography and weather of the area, utilizing socially engaging programing , and a formal design language driven by technology.
Formal Design Language Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) has the potential to change the way the world looks and operates. The pioneers on the forefront of this technology are in Silicon Valley. It is proposed that the design language of “The Hill should be driven by an A.I. Machine Learning Process known as generative design. Generative design is a design exploration process. Designers & engineers input design goals into the generative design software, along with parameters such as performance or spatial equirements, materials, manufacturing methods, and cost constraints. The software explores all the possible permutations of a solution, quickly generating design alternatives. It tests and learns from each iteration what works and what doesn’t.
Generative design lets you create optimized complex shapes and internal lattices. Some of these forms are impossible to make with traditional manufacturing methods. Instead, they’re built using new additive manufacturing methods (3D printing).
Cultural Hub
The Vegetated side of “The Hill” will act as an amphitheater, helping to bring live music, performance, and film to a public venue in downtown
San Jose.
The underside of the Hill will serve as a Farmers Market. San Jose is within close proximity to one of the worlds great agricultural regions. By creating a covered central market “The Hill” helps draw attention to and celebrate local produce and the unique culture of the surrounding area. Throughout history food and markets have been great places for the exchange of culture and new ideas. The market component of “The Hill” will ensure it is a hub of activity and alive with the sounds a smells of many cultures.
Weather and Geography
The bay area is famous for its fog known as the marine layer. The Tower portion of the project would utilize fog water harvesting mesh to collect water for nourishment of a garden of native plants, creating an OASIS in the middle of San Outdoor movie Roof park Collection tower Site