ALEXA THORNTON
Por tfolio
I am a passionate learner, strong listener, and think through a pen on paper. I am fascinated by the built and natural environment and how they can collide in a more meaningful and balanced way. I believe in architecture as advocacy. I believe climate change exacerbates the landscape of disparity and offers opportunity to rethink norms and risks. My goal is to have a lifelong career in empowering communities through compassionate design.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Architecture Landscape Architecture Minor University of Oregon June 2019
CONTACT
Alexa.L.Thornton@gmail.com 503 - 913 - 7784
ALEXA THORNTON
Por tfolio
1
ROCKWOOD SUNRISE
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PUERTO RICO PLANNING
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MALHEUR FIELD STATION
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5
DEXTER BOATHOUSE
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MILLRACE REIMAGINED
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4
PORTLAND CRYSTAL CLUSTER
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ILLUSTRATIONS
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PERSONAL WORK
The Sunrise embraces the Rockwood community through form, flows, and a strong sense of identity. It provides a much needed social, educational, and psychological resource to a neglected neighborhood.
Fostering a variety of social connections
A center for celebration, shelter, and community
ROCKWOOD
SUNRISE 1
Sharing tools for personal discovery and development
The heart of the building Revit, Photoshop, Illustrator
Public spaces are increasingly vital for communities’ prosperity, especially in the suburban Rockwood neighborhood where development is lacking and the built environment puts an already vulnerable population at a disadvantage. The Sunrise provides relief from the harsh landscape by responding to the context and drawing from a kit of parts to create a warm space and sense of community. The building uses curving forms to “capture” and “bounce” a user towards the heart of the building, encouraging exploration, playful interaction, and stimulating informal social connections. Establishing social infrastructure is essential for community support and self empowerment. This project began as a library but
SITE :
Rockwood, Gresham, Oregon TYPE:
Community center and library SCOPE:
80,000 sq. ft.
evolved through understanding how modern libraries are used and needed today. The ground floor is the most public and informal zone, with most of the area acting as an interior plaza for gathering, working, and socializing. Public services are lined along the south by Burnside for public accessibility and visibility. A kitchen and cafeteria along the SE wing provide food and job security and the children’s wing is directly across the green space and courtyard. Lofted above the ground floor are private meeting rooms, classrooms, and more open social spaces. The third floor contains books, computers, a makerspace and teen area. The floor plates open up in spots to allow visibility throughout and natural light to flow down.
Who is Rockwood? Rockwood is Portland’s youngest and most diverse suburb. Many families are immigrants living in multigenerational households. Simply looking at the numbers and listening to the people gives a clear idea that Rockwood needs access to support and opportunities for empowerment. A democratic and empathetic space can change lives.
70
spoken languages at home
25 % of families live in poverty 13 % unemployment rate 50 % of students do not graduate on time 90 % of children receive free/reduced lunch Gresham Site Highway 2 mile radius
Gen Z 25%
Major roads
Millennial
1 mile radius
31%
Park
Gen X 26%
MAX Station
School
Boomer 18%
Multifamily housing Commercial
What are they saying? “[Rockwood needs] a real civic space. A space for everyone, that belongs to everyone, and is reserved for no one.” Community feedback Oct. 15th, 2016
“[...] a place is needed where people could meet with each other face to face.” Dina Dinucci, Rockwood Stories excerpt
Portland
What’s missing?
A place to explore
A place to grow
A place to gather
A place to relax
A place to connect
A place to belong
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Gresham: mapping nodes and movement
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Rockwood: mapping nodes and movement
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Neighborhood: movement around site, high traffic area, important junction
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Site: response to contextual forces, pushing and pulling to create a hub, addressing and welcoming every side
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Major massing moves and breaking into smaller zones to create interior and exterior flows
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Aligning curves to a structural grid and identifying major curves to stimulate exploration or embrace
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Identifying public and private zones
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Pieces placed for an exploratory experience
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Providing a dynamic space with a variety of openness
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An embrace.
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A curve bounces, captures, stimulates movement, forces one to meet in the middle. This project plays off a grid, responds to forces, and embraces new forms and shapes in order to create a dynamic and fresh environment. Psychologically, curves in our environment activate the “comfort� part in the brain. Studies show curves make people feel safe, balanced, and peaceful.
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A resource, a center, a refuge, a comfort, a community.
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1
Detached single family housing
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Surrounding apartment complex
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Vehicle and pedestrian book drop and deliveries
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Skylights for natural daylighting and ventilation
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Community green space, building opens up for Mt. Hood views
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Service zone for kitchen and events
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Public services sweeping in and green strip provides refuge from the street
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Main entrance, responding from point of heaviest traffic
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MAX stop, heavily used
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Burnside Street
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Rockwood Rising, contains market, small businesses, and apartments
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Commercial buildings
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Everyone is a part of the whole. Individuality and creativity is celebrated at the Rockwood Sunrise through color and art. 6”x6” ceramic tiles are cheap and easy to install over time and adorn the shelves, benches, and half walls throughout the building. These interlocking modules provides countless arrangements for any event. They can create personal, quiet moments or a gathering space for friends and strangers to meet.
5’
2.5’
View of green space and courtyard Revit, Photoshop
View along Burnside
Revit, Photoshop
10’
Ground floor
Revit, Photoshop, Illustrator
Mezzanine floor
Revit, Photoshop, Illustrator
View of booths and mezzanine seating Revit, Photoshop, Illustrator
“From a psychological perspective, this project captures what Rockwood needs - a nurturing environment for all.�
Library floor
Revit, Photoshop, Illustrator
View of mezzanine seating pods Revit, Photoshop, Illustrator
View of welcome desk
Revit, Photoshop, Illustrator
Josh Fuhrer, Executive Director of the Gresham Redevelopment Commission
PUERTO RICO PLANNING
2
Embracing inevitable natural forces exacerbated by climate change is key to resilient design. To design a flexible and adaptable neighborhood in Puerto Rico, the built environment must engage the natural environment with a “soft edge”.
SITE:
In the city of San Juan, an informal settlement grew along a mangrove marsh by the Martin Peña Channel. The channel connects two lagoons that empty into the surrounding coral reefs. As the settlement grew into a neighborhood, the channel shrunk in size as people built homes and debris slowly filled the waterway. Mangroves started to disappear and the area soon became a health hazard as it would flood 2’ - 3’ seasonally and water stagnated. In the next 100 years the site will be under 6’ of water. Addressing these concerns, I propose a modular system of units stacked on a block around a courtyard that becomes increasingly porous towards the channel.
The ground floor is open aired with spaces for temporary shops and businesses when not flooded. Above, housing units are stacked with front porches facing the interior courtyard. Public life is lifted off the street by providing platforms, squares, and stairs that accommodate different flooding conditions. A series of walls and half walls are incorporated in the ground plane to encourage and protect mangrove regrowth. The Martin Peña Channel is widened and given a buffer of mangroves to protect the urban fabric from storm surges and erosion. Creating a interweaving gradient of systems allows for a rich community and experience that is unique to the site.
San Juan, Puerto Rico TYPE:
Master planning SCOPE:
37 acres
Site
Site
Site
San Juan
Flood zones
Flood levels
Estuary system water movement
Water intake
Water current (varies)
The site sits on the edge of the Martin PeĂąa Channel, a critical part of the greater San Juan Estuary System.
The design process starts with dividing the landscape into zones between the urban fabric and natural system.
Originally a mangrove marsh, the site floods often, eroding the land due to the loss of vegetation for human inhabitation.
Site gradient Absorptive edge Stage 3 block dissolve Stage 2 block dissolve Stage 1 block , urban edge
Unit modules 1 - 4 bedroom Party walls
Site flooding Martin Peùa Channel Street / canal Mangrove buffer 3’ flood extent
Block sequences
MALHEUR FIELD STATION
Concept sketch
3
Stage 3 block
Rhino, Photoshop
Block sequence section Rhino, Photoshop, Illustrator
12’ Category 5 storm 6’ 100 Year sea level rise 3’ Annual flooding
Concept collage Revit, Photoshop
After spending time at the current Malheur Refuge Field Station and with park management, the driving concept for the new development was to limit the building footprint and respect the delicate, unique, and beautiful geography of the site.
SITE:
Presently the field station is a radial cluster of dorms, used by the small groups of researchers, the individual bird watchers and artists, and the large groups of visiting children. In keeping minimal damage to the immediate habitat, the new station arranges the living quarters in the same pattern. Living spaces include dorms, one, two, and four bedroom cabins. Additional facilities are layered within the
ring of cabins, with the heart of the site being the dining hall. The dining hall plan is kept open and flexible, with sunrise and sunset viewing decks on either side. The design of the field station is inspired by the local vernacular architecture; long barn-like structures with large overhangs to protect during the harsh summers and winters.
Malheur National Refuge, Oregon TYPE:
Master planning Architecture SCOPE:
Housing Dining hall
Masterplan
Revit, Photoshop
Dining hall
Revit, Photoshop
On-site sketches
Rethink housing...
Predicting the future is impossible. The world is in the process of great change environmentally, socially, and politically. It is not the job of a designer to predict the future - it is the responsibility of a designer to dream it.
SITE:
People are regularly disempowered by our built environment. Quality of life depends on access to opportunities, and those opportunities are made possible through architecture. The design of this conceptual complex achieves attainable equality through a community and social interaction focus, green spaces for reconnection with nature, and the use of color for the reconnection of self expression and equality for all colors. The goal of this project was to create a colorful place where people are happy
and healthy in it, with easy access to services that fulfill their biological and social needs. This project was born from a place of frustration, and in two studio peers having the same idealistic goals. Scarlet and I joined forces in the middle of the term and combined our ideas for a bold, nature based, micro-community design. In our early morning charrettes, we discovered the awesome power of working with a like-minded, passionate team.
Portland Southwest Waterfront, Oregon PARTNER:
Scarlet Weaver TYPE:
Mixed use, high rise
rethink program... create vertical neighborhoods provide green space accessible healthcare nearby employment enourage commerce
PORTLAND CRYSTAL CLUSTER 4
reinforce education support food security
Preliminary concept diagram Illustrator
Concrete core for shear bracing
CLT floor plate for support and sustainability
Steel columns support
Double skin to allow for natural ventilation
Site section
Rhino, Illustrator
Residential plans with alternating atrium
Rhino, Illustrator
Dexter lake is well known for the beautiful surrounding landscape and nearby forests. A new community center and boathouse celebrates the local beauty by keeping a simple form, using local materials, and giving expansive views to every user.
DEXTER BOATHOUSE 5
The facility is simple in design, with a level open to the community and a level underneath exclusively for the teams and storage. Openings in the main public floor allows people to view the elegant form of the shells. Additionally, glazed walls and a large deck allow visitors to view the lake and frequent races. The building is situated into the sloping landscape and elongated east-west to take advantage of daylighting. The placement of the facility not only offers views of the entire lake, but also replaces existing derelict structures without intruding into a nearby meadow and woods.
SITE:
Lowell State Park, Oregon PROFESSOR:
James Givens TYPE:
Recreational Architecture
Recreational Parking Forested
Pedestrian traffic Car traffic
Views out Views in
The facility absorbs users, acting as the heart of the site.
The building rests between zones.
The main floor offers a full view of the lake and landscape.
Site topography
The building sits into the land, taking advantage of the slope by reinforcing and stepping down with it.
708’
706’
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B A 9 9
A
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10 1
704’ 1
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5
B
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704’
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2
702’
MILLRACE REIMAGINED
700’
700’
4
3
702’
4
3
698’
698’
2
+/- 695’ - 696’ APPROXIMATE LAKE LEVEL B
B
+/- 695’ - 696’ APPROXIMATE LAKE LEVEL
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4
9
A
A
6 1
STORAGE ACCESS
1 LOBBY
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2 OPEN TO SHELL STORAGE
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SHELL STORAGE
3 CLUB ROOM
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TEAM STORAGE
4 VIEWING DECK
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LOCKER ROOMS
MAINTENANCE BAY
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ACCESS TO CLUB ROOM
6 KITCHEN
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LAUNDRY ROOM
7 MEETING ROOM
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EXTERIOR SHELL AND TRAILER STORAGE
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FLOATING DOCK
5 PUBLIC BATHROOMS
8 ACCESS TO SHELL STORAGE 9 TEAM OFFICES 10 ERG AND EXERCISE ROOM 11 CLASSROOM
Site study | Concept art
Hand painting, India ink on vellum
In envisioning a new Millrace and University of Oregon campus expansion, special attention is paid to the journey water takes to the Willamette river. Restoring natural systems and integrating them with the architecture creates special moments for those who look.
SITE:
It started with creating a visual vocabulary and translating that to what exists and what could exist. The waterway that runs through the site, the Millrace, is currently in unpleasant conditions and receives little to no interaction with the public despite its rich history. This concept proposes a variety of native landscaping, human movement, and water management to activate and restore the land. The Millrace is kept natural in places were healthy habitat is found and
aided where it is not. Planting native plants helps manage water health as well as reintroducing wetland and marsh. The new Millrace’s aim is to return clean, filtered water back into the Willamette River. The waterway is celebrated nearby the University campus, with viewing decks, steps into the water, and boardwalks. Creating and interweaving public places with rainwater management strategies serves both the human and natural world. Every space on site serves a purpose.
Riverfront Research Park, Oregon TYPE:
Landscape, master planning SCOPE:
44 acres
Churning
Sitting
Channeling
Flowing
Site study | Water vocabulary
India ink on vellum
Running
Dripping
Ebbing
Meandering
Trickling
Draining
Rippling
Seeping
Swelling
Stirring
Filtering
Streaming
Master plan
Rhino, Photoshop, Illustrator
Moments at millrace
Native oak savanna and path
Seasonal wetland
Steps to millrace
Millrace walking path
Bike parking
tio
Water movement
n tio
Rhino, Photoshop, Illustrator
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1
Millrace section perspective
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ra
Heat accumulates Conduction
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Water movement
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d te
3
d
ra t n e
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i Inc
n o i t ia
c fle Re
Convection
Emitted radiation
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Emitted radiation
Heat accumulates
ra Re fle c
ion iat
ted
rad
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nt
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dia
ide
Rhino, Photoshop, Illustrator
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Inc
Willamette River section perspective
Convection
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ILLUSTRATIONS 7
PERSONAL WORK 8