ALODIE GIRMANN SELECTED WORKS 2012 - 2019
STUDIO
RIO CHAMA CENTER University of New Mexico | Graduate Fall 2017 | Rio Chama Campground Professor: Ane Gonzalez-Lara
Starting with the textile cone snail as a biological precedent, a cellular response system was developed to reflect changes in the site’s topography and foliage. Randomization studies were done with dice, which slowly transformed into a more pattern-based method of shaping the building’s spaces. Meant to invoke feelings of Romanticism and the sublime as inspired by Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Mont Blanc, the spaces are designed to be cavernous and imposing, despite being nestled in the trees present on the peninsula. Circulation through the site is intentionally winding and somewhat disorienting, with inhabitable metal sculptures serving as a loose form of wayfinding.
CONCEPT DIAGRAMS AND PRELIMINARY MODELS
ISOMETRIC SITE PLAN
EXTERIOR RENDERINGS
NORTHEASTERN SECTION
VEIL
MEDITATE
LIGHT
HEAT
EXTERIOR RENDERINGS
DIAGRAMS
FOUR VEILS University of New Mexico | Graduate Fall 2018 | Latvia Team: Christopher Melton, Eric Santti, Rachel Trapp
This entry for Bee Breeder’s Silent Meditation Forest Cabins competition was centered around a journey from the city to the forest. While traveling to the cabin, individuals are move from the city, through the forest, into the cabin, and then finally into the meditation plinth. The project is named after this transition in transparency and vulnerability. The cabin is surrounded by flowing mosquito netting and features modest accommodations for an individual to spend several days meditating comfortably. There are a series of fireplaces to keep the cabin warm, and the bed folds up to allow for more meditation space.
INTERIOR RENDERINGS
EXPLODED AXON
ELEVATIONS
FLOOR PLAN
SKEW TECTONICS University of Cincinnati | Undergraduate Summer 2014 Professor: Renee Martin
A five week study that centered around the behavior of tectonic systems focusing on folded plate construction, this spread features a variety of unconventional models that would later inform an archery pavilion. Each of the models took a week to design and construct, with each of them being heavily informed by paper folding. The soap cast mold was created with paper and basswood, while the model in the center was knit, suspended in its final shape, and covered in plaster. This exercise also introduced ideas of parametricism, and included the use of Rhino to create models that were to be digitally fabricated. After the completion of this portion of the studio, there was a gallery opening for the studio, featuring student work as selected by professors.
3D PRINT PATTERN
PLASTER DIPPED YARN
SOAP CAST
SOAP CAST
STRING WEAVE
PAPER FOLDING
CONCEPTUAL SKETCHES
CONSUMER REHAB University of New Mexico | Graduate Spring 2018| Albuquerque, NM Professor: Karen King
A conceptual studio about the intersections and collisions in life lead to the development of a consumerism rehabilitation center. In a capitalist society where we are conditioned to accumulate new belongings, often to fill emotional voids that cannot be mended by physical objects, living simply and collectively is an act of radicalism. Heavily inspired by the literary works of Italo Calvino, Marie Kondo, and Ursula le Guin, the program features a museum of emotionally charged, discarded objects, an object crematorium, and living quarters for those seeking to lessen the burden of being owned by their belongings. The focal point of the space is a large mountain of discarded objects in the atrium, which functions as a sort of consignment store. The development of this space was informed by several unconventional models. The first of which was a Cornell Box, which demonstrated the difference between an existence defined by objects and one defined by experiences. I also created a trash tower over the month of February, during which I collected all of the trash I produced that could not be composted or recycled. This served to demonstrate the destructive nature of consumerism on a scale larger than that of the individual. Finally, since so much of the inspiration for this project came from literature, a series of poems were developed throughout the design process as a method of examining how individuals from different backgrounds would experience and feel while inhabiting the rehabilitation center.
TRASH TOWER
FACADE DIAGRAM
AXONOMETRIC MODEL
MASSING MODEL
CORNELL BOX
ENLARGED AXONOMETRIC FLOOR PLANS
M.ARCH PROJECT University of New Mexico | Graduate Fall 2018 - Spring 2019 Professors: Nora Wendl, Aaron Cayer, Diane Tintor
In an increasingly digital world where experiences are created to be reproduced two-dimensionally, what does a space that cannot be digitally recreated look like and what value, if any, does it provide for its inhabitants? The adjacent sketches are excerpts from notes taken during summer and fall of 2018. Observational research focusing on the movement of individuals through art museums gave way to wondering why people move through spaces the way they do and what can be done to change their behavior. Spaces such as the Museum of Ice Cream and the Color Factory are Instagram Museums. Rather than these spaces being experiential and meaningful, they are crafted solely for the purpose of people being seen in them, be it in-person or digitally through social media. In reality, these spaces are often cheap and only provide visitors with little more than nebulous Internet points. This trend is bleeding into art museum spaces, where individuals are more focused on the images they can produce of themselves in the gallery space than the art they’re apparently there to see. A series of spatial interventions targeting the production of visual, digital clutter as encouraged by social media are currently being designed and deployed in the University of New Mexico’s architecture building, George Pearl Hall. The first of these interventions is the Anti-Photo Booth, a pitch-black box designed to mimic a photo booth. This installation is discussed in more detail in later pages. The goal of these spaces is to create an architecture of solitude - one that encourages us to abandon our constant self-surveillance in spaces that fail to be designed with sensory aspects other than vision in mind.
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BREAK ROOM OFFICE
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BASEMENT FLOOR PLAN
LEVEL ONE FLOOR PLAN
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WALL DETAIL AT 1’ = 1/4”
SOUTHERN ELEVATION
SECTION PERSPECTIVE
MOON BREW
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University of New Mexico | Graduate Fall 2018| Albuquerque, NM Professor: Geoff Adams
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Inspired by Central Avenue’s Route 66 history and its former use of neon, a brewery was developed based on the atomic properties of neon and the other noble gases that are used in the production of neon signs. As noble gases usually do not bond with other chemicals, the bar was developed as an inward-facing space. The building is defined by its interior courtyards and tube steel screens, which create layers of transparency and visibility throughout the tap room and courtyards. The functional aspects of the brewery are located on a basement level that aligns with the northwestern corner of the site. This allows for the brew house to be easily accessed by trucks and for the street level to be dedicated to seating.
LEVEL TWO FLOOR PLAN
STRUCTURAL DIAGRAM - PRECAST + SCREEN
NEERCS + TSACERP - MARGAID LARUTCURTS
MODEL
COURTYARD RENDERING
STRUCTURAL DIAGRAM MODEL
DECK RENDERING
PROFESSIONAL
BLUE APRON Austin, TX | Fall 2016 - Spring 2017 Lead Designer: Lauren Field Team: Stephanie Long, Lilly McNeil, Ben Noack,
New York-based Blue Apron is a meal-kit delivery service that has several help lines throughout the Northeast. Looking to expand to Austin, the design team at lauckgroup created an inviting, food-centric office that is full of color and eclecticism. As one of the junior designers for this project, I played a key part in material selection, specification writing, construction documentation, and in maintaining Blue Apron’s corporate vision. This project also introduced me to construction administration. I attended several punches for the office and also curated and installed the gallery wall located in the lobby.
CAPITAL FACTORY Austin, TX | Spring 2017 Lead Designer: Lina Murillo Team: Lilly McNeil, Ben Noack
The goal of this project was to create a large all-hands space for guest lectures that could also be inhabited as a lounge for tenants who prefer to work in more casual settings. An expansion of their office spaces was also included on the ground floor, and test fits are currently in development for floor seven. For this project I designed and documented the ceiling, the finish pallet, and participated in creating the overall design. It was also the first time I was able to assist with furniture selection, specification, and scheduling.
BUILT SPACE
PAVILION NO. 7 University of Cincinnati | Undergraduate Spring 2013 | Cincinnati, OH Professor: Ryan Ball Team: Joshua Anderson, Alex Branscome, Katherine Duton, Nathan Echstenkamper, Maddie George, Richie Hardman, Anna Kerr, Jin Lee, Josh Lee, Matt Lemke, Kevin Miller, Neesha Reddavari, Thomas Savoca, Danielle Schmidtbauer, Rachel Shields
The last assignment before beginning to design buildings as an undergraduate was to develop an 8’ x 8’ space to be installed on the University of Cincinnati’s Herman Schneider Quad. The design process lasted several weeks and was the first time the studio was introduced to topography maps and surveying. It was a collaboration coordinated by professors between all seven first year studios. The final construction was focused heavily on rest, as it was the final pavilion within the sequence. As a result, benches were placed on both the exterior and the interior of the space. View framing was also important, as it complimented the emphasis placed on rest. To encourage visitors to sit in the space, the view to the sky was stepped, suggesting individuals should look towards the sky while resting in the space.
MDF AND LUMBER
ANTI-PHOTO BOOTH University of New Mexico | Graduate Fall 2018| Albuquerque, NM Professor: Nora Wendl Construction Support: Miguel Rivera, Eric Santti, Rachel Trapp
The first in a series of ongoing installations in support of my Master’s Project, the Anti-Photo Booth serves as a place of visual rest in a world where individuals are constantly bombarded by visual clutter and encouraged to produce their own. By developing an architecture of solitude and creating places where one can stop policing their actions due to the watchful gaze of others, individuals shared their experiences in a small notebook and on the walls of the booth itself. Feedback from participants greatly varied. Some who visited the space were deeply uncomfortable, worried that at any moment someone could pull back the curtains and they would be exposed. Others found the space to be restful but tense. This was true for a number of women in the booth, who reported being disappointed they finally felt like they could relax. Others still suggested it would be the perfect place to pray, if only it was larger, as the rest of the building is loud and lacks privacy. The feedback generated from this installation is currently informing the development of additional pieces. While this space focused on sight, or lack-thereof, subsequent installations will be focused on touch, sound, and potentially taste and smell. The touch installation, another small space where one must move thousands of strands of yarn to enter, is currently under construction and will be installed in the studio space of George Pearl Hall in a fashion similar to the Anti-Photo Booth. While writing on the walls will not be possible in this installation, there will be a museum book of sorts outside of the space for inhabitants to record their feelings and observations.
UNIT WALL University of Cincinnati | Undergraduate Spring 2013 | Cincinnati, OH Professor: Ryan Ball Team: Joshua Anderson, Alex Branscome, Katherine Duton, Maddie George, Anna Kerr, Kevin Miller, Thomas Savoca, Danielle Schmidtbauer
The result of nine people each designing separate units that could stack together to create a screen, the unit wall is composed of 28 pieces, all of which are identical with the exception of the seven pieces that have a concrete tip. Constructed from particle board and held together by copious amounts of wood glue and hope, these units can be stacked into numerous arrangements; my personal favorite being a series of cantilevered columns. They are currently enjoying second lives as coffee tables and nightstands throughout the country.
ART
SKETCHES 2018 - Present
Sketching has always been a major part of my design process, even prior to studying architecture as an undergraduate. As a graduate student I have continued to develop this skill set, aided by travel fellowships that have afforded me the ability to focus on sketching between visiting research venues. While I have been sketching for the majority of my life, the sketches shown were all completed within the past year. Much of my studio work is focused on thumbnail sketches, as I find them to be the most effective method of communicating and iterating ideas quickly. Being able to sit and focus on sketches of existing buildings has positively impacted my abilities and has helped me become more thoughtful and deliberate when making early design decisions. Sketches were completed in: Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, London, Oakland, Paris, and San Francisco during the summer of 2018.
T H A NF OKR YYO UO U R TIME ALODIE GIRMANN ALODIEMG@GMAIL.COM