PORTFOLIO
ALICIA ALFORD | ARCHITECTURE | UNDERGRADUATE
CV EDUCATION
AWARDS + ACTIVITIES
Illinois Institute of Technology | Chicago, IL | August 2010 - May 2015 College of Architecture; Pursuing a professional bachelor’s degree in architecture with a specialization in architectural history and theory.
IIT Heald Scholarship | August 2010 - May 2015
University College Dublin | Dublin, Ireland | Fall 2013 IIT College of Architecture study abroad partner program for architecture.
IIT College of Architecture Spring Awards | April 2013
Illinois Art Institute | Schaumburg, IL | Summer 2009 Pre-college Interior Design Program South Elgin High School | South Elgin, IL | August 2006 - June 2010
Dean’s List Award for Academic Achievement | Fall 2014 + Spring 2015 American Institute of Architecture Students Member | August 2010 May 2015
EXPERIENCE
Projects featured in IIT College of Architecture Annual Open House | May 2010 - 2015
Sunny Delight Beverage Co. | Marketing Intern | Summer 2012 + 2013
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Charming Charlie | Sales Associate | June 2013 - September 2013
Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, hand drafting, sketching, graphics, model making, AutoCAD, Revit, SketchUp, QGIS, Microsoft Suite, Proficient in both Mac and PC platforms
Game Stop | Sales Associate | November 2007 - January 2013
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Sherwin E. Small Endowed Scholarship | May 2013
CONTENT Leisure City
Park Field House
Courtyard House
Bath House
Engine Company 99
Drawings
Thorncrown Chapel P02
LEISURE CITY
SOM CLOUD STUDIO | CHICAGO WINTER-ACTIVE | PROFESSOR ANDREW SHACHMAN
Chicago’s Park District is a heterotopia that is distributed throughout the city that expands and contracts through climate change, provides a change of pace, creates a different sense of time, and provides an array of activities.
and the city is the physical space in which one stands. Parks, the “mirror”, provide an image of oneself within the city, the “physical surrounding”. Parks provide a space that allows people to disconnect themselves from the city without physically leaving the city and Michel Foucault describes heterotopia either reflect, connect with others, or through the experience of looking ignore life in the city. The parks are a through a mirror; “it makes this place system that is organized in the city that I occupy at the moment when I system and changes the way people look at myself in the glass at once move and creates voids. absolutely real, connected with all the space that surrounds it, and absolute- Having created its own system, the ly unreal, since in order to be perceived park district is a heterotopia, verses a it has to pass through this virtual point utopia. The system that makes it a which is over there”. In comparison to heterotopia is established by its own the Park District, parks are the mirror set of rules based on the need to
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create space that allows people to remove themselves from everyday life. The park district recognizes that the city is based on a grid system in order to strategically divide land and create a way of moving throughout the city; Parks use this system but do not rely on it. Cataloging the parks show that a park may fit into a city block, cut into a city block, or grab hold of many city blocks and destroy the grid system where need be, along with studies of various park attributes. Another way parks remove people from the city is through the change in pace. The city grid is composed of linear paths that allow people to move
LEISURE CITY
SOM CLOUD STUDIO | CHICAGO WINTER-ACTIVE | PROFESSOR ANDREW SHACHMAN
quickly from place to place, where the parks are composed of more organic, meandering paths that slow down the pace of the city dweller. A map of park circulation accompanied with the city grid would show how the fast paced mobility of the city grid is decelerated by the park maneuverability. The goal through studying this change of pace is to understand how parks break from the hustle created by the city movement and create a pace that is geared towards leisure. Through the relationship of the Chicago Park District system and the city grid system, as well as the change of mobility, the parks become voids or
solids within the city. They are voids that are open to exterior conditions but also in some instances provide conditions as well, that allow for indoor activities and community functions; or solids that are park spaces that become their own worlds, devoid of city presence. A model of parks would show how parks are walled by the city surroundings and are similar to rooms or compartments within a mansion (or city), that provide spaces for the community and historical significance, recreation, sporting/physical activities, gathering and relaxation.
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LEISURE CITY
SOM CLOUD STUDIO | CHICAGO WINTER-ACTIVE | PROFESSOR ANDREW SHACHMAN
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LEISURE CITY
SOM CLOUD STUDIO | CHICAGO WINTER-ACTIVE | PROFESSOR ANDREW SHACHMAN
CLASSES OF PARKS Time Machine: a specific program or structure that offers an experience from a past time period. Chamber: contained space that houses specific program activity. Corridor: an organized path that connects seperated parks or circulates through the park. Copy + Paste: a specific program or structure that resembles an environment or experience from a forgien place. Field: open space that defines rules and regulations for activity. Showcase: a specific program or structure that is meant to be an exhibit for viewing.
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LEISURE CITY
SOM CLOUD STUDIO | CHICAGO WINTER-ACTIVE | PROFESSOR ANDREW SHACHMAN
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PARK FIELD HOUSE
SOM CLOUD STUDIO | CHICAGO WINTER-ACTIVE | PROFESSOR ANDREW SHACHMAN
How can architecture extend the activity of a park to year-round?
one envelope. The main design approach is to examine actions that recognize and The city calls for a project that can reconfigure the exisiting world; Experiextend park activity; the modern park menting with transformation on parks is not used the way it used to be or through ‘strategic collapse’ (folding, what it was originally intended for slicing, twisting, etc.). For these the city is becoming denser, but not actions, rules needed to be estabthe park. lished to generate several iterations; Building upon last semester’s fold or condense the park to generate research, how can we activate the park several iterations on how a park can across all climate conditions? Last be collapsed into an envelope; through semester we conducted operations on these experiments, it can be examined research derived classifications, and how park program can be condensed produced possible project proposals. and how the spaces can be reconfigBy combining all the classes and ured with consideration to temperaoperations into one entity, the best ture. After these ‘strategic collapse’ solution found was park folded into operations were applied, it was crucial
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that the design be tied back to the research by adding Michel Foucault‘s ‘Heterotopic Principles’ as the driving concept for the new field house. This is done by concentrating on transitions between spaces and the exergy that each space gives off to benefit aspects around it. The architecture serves as a machine that coordinates and amplifies the benefits of difference - adding a third nature with different worlds and climates. The project’s program aims to consist of developed classifications and operations from the parks, and then apply to the content of the project as an attempt to rethink a new park.
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PARK FIELD HOUSE
SOM CLOUD STUDIO | CHICAGO WINTER-ACTIVE | PROFESSOR ANDREW SHACHMAN
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PARK FIELD HOUSE
SOM CLOUD STUDIO | CHICAGO WINTER-ACTIVE | PROFESSOR ANDREW SHACHMAN
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PARK FIELD HOUSE
SOM CLOUD STUDIO | CHICAGO WINTER-ACTIVE | PROFESSOR ANDREW SHACHMAN
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COURTYARD HOUSE
4th YEAR STUDIO | THE SPACE PROBLEM | PROFESSOR ARTHUR TAKEUCHI
The Space Problem, a course initiated by Mies van der Rohe in the late 1930’s, consists of studying spacial relationships between objects and learning how to create spacially pleasing environments. To practice these methods, I was asked to design a courtyard house for a professional couple who has a collection of art and enjoys entertaining.
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COURTYARD HOUSE
4th YEAR STUDIO | THE SPACE PROBLEM | PROFESSOR ARTHUR TAKEUCHI
The final result includes one master bedroom, one guest bathroom, studio space with study, kitchen, laundry closet, dining, and living area. The space also consists of two courtyard areas, the larger one being the front yard / formal entrance.
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NORTH POND BATH HOUSE
3rd YEAR STUDIO | CONCRETE STUDIES | PROFESSOR ANDREW TINUCCI
The bath house serves as a feature to the residents of Lincoln Park and the city of Chicago. In order to best enable the use of the bath and to allow for the park to remain undisturbed by the new programming of the bath house, the building is situated on an already underutilized space in the park. The site chosen within the park is very narrow, shrinking to just a sliver at the location where the two roads connect, making it a significant place to merge circulation into the park and into the bath in this geometry that the existing condition provided. As the building slides apart to provide the circulation across the path, creating the opprotunity to make the transition into and through the bath a linear, long transition. Programs to the north are semi-public consisting of a cafe, courtyard, and rooftop garden, but further exploration draws one further down and into the baths.
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NORTH POND BATH HOUSE
3rd YEAR STUDIO | CONCRETE STUDIES | PROFESSOR ANDREW TINUCCI
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NORTH POND BATH HOUSE
3rd YEAR STUDIO | CONCRETE STUDIES | PROFESSOR ANDREW TINUCCI
PATIO
ENTRANCE
CAFE
LOBBY
CHANGING ROOMS
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NORTH POND BATH HOUSE
3rd YEAR STUDIO | CONCRETE STUDIES | PROFESSOR ANDREW TINUCCI
LOUNGE
SALT ROOM
COLD BATH
SAUNA
HOT BATH
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NORTH POND BATH HOUSE
3rd YEAR STUDIO | CONCRETE STUDIES | PROFESSOR ANDREW TINUCCI
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NORTH POND BATH HOUSE
3rd YEAR STUDIO | CONCRETE STUDIES | PROFESSOR ANDREW TINUCCI
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ENGINE COMPANY 99
3rd YEAR STUDIO | FIRE STATION | PROFESSOR RICHARD BLENDER
an existing building. This provides easier entry and egress for the fire trucks since it is further away from the busy traffic intersections. This decision also enables the fire station to be more seclusive to the neighborhood, creating a pocket of nature inside of the dense concrete city of Chicago. For the green approach and building structure, I took on the concept of a tree. The green space starts on the The concept for this project is to ground floor and flourishes up towards create inviting green space throughout the top of the building. This is a move the fire station. By executing this idea, that will give back to the community it makes the building unique and and provide better public access and stand apart from current fire stations. interaction to a more inviting fire I decided to place the fire station on station. The green spaces will serve the southern edge of the site, next to the occupants of the building as
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additives to the buillding program such as patios, vegetable and flower gardens, and fresh air as well as promote relaxation. In colder weather, some of the green spaces can be closed off so that they can be used all year round. The structure of the building starts at ground level with the apparatus and other main fire station components and grows upward, increasing with cantilevered program and green space. The building will also incorporate glass and exposed structural steel beams where necessary, increasing the transparency of the structure and tying the community and green space back to the heart of the station.
ENGINE COMPANY 99
3rd YEAR STUDIO | FIRE STATION | PROFESSOR RICHARD BLENDER
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DRAWINGS
DRAWING SAMPLES | ARCHITECTURAL FREEHAND RENDERING
[Descriptions from left to right] Bronzeville/IIT green line CTA tracks: freehand rendering done on site in ink/micron pen on Strathmore drawing paper 11”x17” Antioch, Turkey Bath House in 2000B.C. illuminated floor plan in mosaic style showing temperature ranges done in Prisma colored pencils on Arches 90lb hot press watercolor paper 22”x30” John J. Glessner House Musuem: freehand rendering done on site in ink/micron pen on Strathmore drawing paper 11”x17”
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THORNCROWN CHAPEL
2nd YEAR STUDIO | CASE STUDY MODEL | PROFESSOR TIMOTHY BROWN
Model of Throwncrown Chapel by E. Fay Jones located in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. This project demonstrates some of my model-making abilities. Constructed out of poplar wood, sheet medal detailing, and plywood base. Scale: 1.5” = 1’
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CONTACT Alicia Alford Chicago, IL. USA (T) 630.780.0841 (E) aliciaalford1@gmail.com
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PORTFOLIO
ALICIA ALFORD | ARCHITECTURE | UNDERGRADUATE