Portfolio Alexa Jankowsky
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Spring 2022 Course: Architectural Design VI Instructor: Ann Pendleton-Julian
Fall 2022 Course: Advanced Architectural Design I Instructors: Sandhya Kochar and Erik Herrman
Fall 2021 Course: Architectural Honors Design Instructor: Ashley Bigham
Market Park
The Retreat
Chamblee Commons
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Tower: Coalescence Spring 2021 Course: Architectural Design IV Instructor: Bart Overly
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Market Hall
Knowlton School of Architecture, Spring 2022
Food is not only essential for staying alive but also connecting people. This projects houses the full experience of food, from seedlings to meals. The program housed a seed bank, food growing spaces, food distribution, preparation, dining and an institute for learning about the food process in one building in Chicago. The site is located adjacent to the train tracks. For my project I aimed to maximize the sites potential as a public amenity, easily accessible through both pedestrian and train access. Through the program I envisioned the ability for the building to serve as both a public gathering space, through the food sharing spaces, and as a park, in the food growing spaces. The structure of the building is the truss “bridge” which covers two sides and the top of the building. Within this structure is the growing spaces/park. The interior floor plates are hung from the truss creating a completely open first floor. The absence of structure in the first floor provides maximum flexibility for community events, food trucks, etc. to be brought into the building. The bottom three floor plates are reduced in size and pushed to the back of the building to provide additional flexibility and size to the space as well as create a resemblance to traditional train stations.
To the right is a render from past the train tracks and a diagram of the building concept, illustrating the thickening of 3 faces of the building into the communal garden green space and structure. Above are plans for floors 2, 3, and 5.
Left is a section through the building, illustrating the open market/public space on the first floor. Above is a diagram of the structure. The trusses provide the space where the park/food growing program is housed. The cables holding up the floor plates allow the marketplace in the bottom floor to be completely open and flexible.
The truss and cable system allows for an open first floor. This flexibility allows the market can change formats and be utilized by a variety of vendors, including food trucks.
1. Open lot: all public space
2. Typical building structure: public space reduced to sidewalk
3. Project proposal: Space opens, allowing for reclaiming of public space
The surfaces of two sides and the top of the building are expanded to hold the structure of the building (the trusses) as well as the growing space, which doubles as a public park. Since the green space is not only horizontal but also vertical, the square footage for this amenity is far greater than only using the horizontal plane. This project features the growing space as a park to create a green space within the city for people to enjoy and allow the public to see and learn about urban farming firsthand. This provides the learning space for people to consider the full journey from seed to meal.
02 The Retreat
Knowlton School of Architecture, Fall 2022 Collaborators: Blythe Atzbach, Christopher Wall
Hotels and mental health institutions have a lot in common spatially. Endless hallways with rooms evenly placed on each side. For this project, our group focused on subverting this norm and creating new spaces and places of connection in a hotel. We created four “facades”, two exterior and two interior, on either side of the hallway. We then utilized windows for the exterior facades and bathrooms for the interior facades and misaligned them with the rooms to create new spatial and social experiences. The exterior facades allow for movement between rooms like an interior hallway through the windows and exterior stairs. For this project, we worked in clusters, and developed this cluster as a prototype for a building rather than the full building. Our group met daily for nine weeks to discuss and work on project development. I predominately worked on diagrams, the physical models, digital modeling for the building and site and the drawing to the right.
To the far left is a physical model of our cluster prototype. The model consists of foam core and 3d modeled pieces for the thin facade components. Above are 3 hotel floor cluster plans. At the bottom of the page is a diagram illustrating different window conditions created through misalignment of window and room.
Bathroom Placement
To the top left is a diagram illustrating the different spatial conditions made through misalignment of the bathroom and hotel room. The diagram at the bottom illustrated the transformation from traditional hotel to our project through the changes to the exterior and interior hallway. Above is a section with a rendering underneath of our cluster.
The photos show the physical cluster model. The model was constructed mostly out of foam core with 3d printed parts for the facade, columns and bathrooms. The model shows the interior hallway, contrasting a traditional hotel hallway as well as the occupiable facade through the windows and exterior stairs on the outside of the building. The photos are layed out in a pattern corresponding with the windows on the exterior of the project.
The site model shows a projection of a whole building using the prototype cluster in a current parking lot site in Chicago. The model is constructed from foam core and bristol for the base, 3d prints for the context buildings and project shell and wire and flocking trees.
03 Chamblee Commons Knowlton School of Architecture, Fall 2021 Collaborator: Gracie Kane Suburbs are commonly thought of as a place with plenty of resources and amenities. However, this assumption does not take into account lower-income suburbs that do not have the same funds for community resources and that many amenities in suburbs are privatized. The result is a lack of affordable third spaces in suburbs. Chamblee and Doraville Georgia, our site, have significantly lower household incomes as well as fewer amenities than their richer neighbors. My partner and I proposed the creation of a third space in underutilized backyard spaces and extended the system we developed to other sites as a network of amenities. We adjusted the perimeter to account for existing gardens, playground, etc. of residents and then added sports fields, benches and multi-purpose buildings. The project is intended to serve as a third space and account for the needs of the community such as daycares, voting stations, galleries, etc. The project is paid for using entrance fees from people from outside the community. People in the direct community who are giving up space for the project would use the resource for free to keep the project affordable for the immediate community. My partner and I met daily to discuss the development of our project at all stages.
Backyard Commons Concept
System Components
System Components red-lined
Typical suburban neighborhood set up. All amenities are seperate and there is no community space. In many spaces such as our site the land is underutilized.
Underutilized space is given up to create a communal space.
communities Communal space is customized to account for people’s private gardens and amenities.outside investment
Community amenities shared space, creatin o and resources for the in neighborhood.
other communities
red-lined communities
o in
outside investment other communities
s are put on the ng a walkable space e
Above are renders of the projects model. From left to right the renders of the buildings and tennis court, soccer field, and walkways between the buildings and a field. The top row of diagrams illustrate the transition from original site to the proposal. A strip of backyards is utilized for the site, it is shifted to account for the existing amenities in peoples yards and then this area is filled in with amenities to create a walkable, community third space. The bottom three diagrams explain the system used to place components on the site. A grid extends across the Chamblee and Doraville area to connect all sites and allow ease for placing the buildings, fields and other components. We also utilized a bright red color and striped super graphic. The stripes occur when original property lines and some grid lines intersect with the building. The bright color and super graphic are intended to make the project visible and attract people to the amenities with the knowledge it is an affordable third space. Another recognizable feature for the buildings is the sawtooth roof. We added this feature so that plenty of natural light went into the space while providing a blank slate on the walls to be customized by the community. The sawtooth form can also be used as a shading system.
To the left is a site plan including site context, the grid we utilized for our project, as well as original and new property lines. Below are three different close up scenes from the full site axon used on the project introductory page to illustrate the project in use.
To the top left is a section axon created by my partner Gracie Kane. The drawing illustrate the structure inside the one of the buildings outfitted to a different use within each set of columns. Top right is a photograph of the inside of our models building. At the bottom are all the buildings on our backyard commons site and the shading system (far left). We decided to create buildings at a variety of sizes to account for different uses. For example, a polling or vaccination station may need a large venue while a womens health clinic would need smaller, more intimate spaces.
In addition to our backyard commons site, we proposed an extension of our system. Above is a site map of the larger Chamblee/Doraville area featuring the three sites we presented in red. The smallest red site is our backyard commons site. The middle red site is an abandoned KMART and parking lot which we redesigned, as seen in the middle axon. The largest red site is a private country club. We utilized our grid, bright red color and super graphic to designate the site as a public space.
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Tower: Coalescence
Knowlton School of Architecture, Spring 2021
Coalescence is the word I chose to describe my project as my aim was coalescence in two ways. The form of the tower is two separate towers that come together to merge in the center of the tower. The tower is also intended to merge the building with the park next to the site. The form, due to the towers being separate at the bottom, allows a pathway through the center of the building site. One side of the first floor of the tower opens up to an atrium with trees and plants indoors and a view to the park across the street. The floor plates are extended on each side of the building to optimize sunlight in the winter while minimizing sun in the summer, resulting in inhabitable balconies on two sides of the towers. The towers program was co-working spaces, a hotel, and amenities including a gym, daycare and extension of the art gallery next to the site. I designated the program by having the hotel on top with the best views and splitting amenities between public amenities on the bottom floors, co-working amenities in the center and hotel amenities at the top. The rest of the floors are dedicated to co-working spaces. Most of the co-working spaces are one floor and feature an open floor plan to allow customization based on company and worker needs. Floors at the center of the tower, where the towers merge are multi-floor spaces.
Ameni�es Hotel
Office Space
Ameni�es
Office Space
Ameni�es
program
massing
oor
stru
landscape helps retain water on site and brings nature back on site
summer sun
winter sun
west facade creates largest balcony and only allows in winter sun summer sun
plates
ucture
mullions
winter sun
exoskeleton
south facade blocks summer sun
north eastern summer wind cools sky park WEST CHERRY STREET
SOUTH LUDLOW STREET
2ND STREET
western winter wind blocked
WEST MAIN STREET
southern winter wind blocked
environment
To the left are three renderings that feature nature merging with the tower. To the top is the atrium at the bottom of the tower. The middle rendering is of the paths that provide passage from one side of the tower to the other when the towers come apart at the top and bottom of the structure. The bottom rendering is the rooftop garden. To the right are diagrams for the project showing the program, structure behind the building, evolution of the massing and environmental considerations of the building.
floor 4 daycare
floor 3 park extension, arts extension, daycare
floor 2 park extension, arts extension
floor 1 park extension, arts extension
floor 43 cafe, hotel lobby
floor 46 hotel
floor 24, 25 coworking space
floor 43 cafe, hotel lobby
floor 4 daycare
To the left is a section featuring the underground parking. The rest of the drawings are25 exploded axons floor 24, coworking space of the tower amenities, coworking spaces and hotel room setup. floor 3 park extension, arts extension, daycare