“Society is filled with violent desire for something which it may obtain or may not. Everything lies in everything depends on the effort made and the attention paid to these alarming symptoms. Architecture or Revolution. Revolution can be avoided.”- Le CorbusierAlyssa Halloran
I am a creator with experience in architectural design, architectural research, set design and graphic design. My goal is to create intentional spaces, changing the way we connect and empathize with the built environment and the world around us. My focus narrows in on explorations in connection with architecture and humanity; backed by research and investigation of complex architectural concepts.
Through my education, I have found a love for architectural research. We as designers have the ability to pull from other professions, infusing our designs with ideas of philosophy, psychology, or other creative focuses. The result is a collage of information that ends up crafting an intentional piece of architecture. As a profession that creates such a large contribution to the world and to everyday life, designing with thoughtful intention is important. Combining research with creativity I have seen a shift in my designs. It leads to both innovation processes as well as innovation of design thinking.
https://issuu.com/alyssahalloran/docs/pages
Music is an art form that transcends beyond a physical being. It is a direct reflection of the thoughts and inspirations of the people and the time, shaping both the individual and society. The consequential effect of music formulates a perception of emotional response. The intrinsic nature of tying emotions to art, especially music, reflects the desire of connectivity both with the art and the mutual emotions tied to societal influences. If music is emotion, what is architecture? On the whole, the development of modernism in the field has moved architecture to become a simple vessel of programmatic use rather than an inspiring emotionally influential design. This thesis will discover the collaboration between meaning-making in music and architectural intention through an allegorical lens. The contextual interpretation of music into design deciphers its perception based quality and moral meaning into an understanding of emotional connection. The argument will be made that architecture can be curated to translate the story, emotional response, and narrator’s perspective encompassed in an album. By challenging the intentionality of architecture to be parallel to the impact of music, the outcome will distinguish design as a means of storytelling and emotional manipulation.
The conception of this thesis will interpret the work of Kendrick Lamar on his album DAMN. The album will be dissected to evaluate lyrics, rhythm, and meaning. DAMN. provides an intricate portrayal of consciousness and storytelling, touching on internal battles with religion, racism, and society as a whole.
To decipher the perception of music, a biblical allegorical framework assumes a contextual piece relies on three main senses: literal, intellectual, and moral. The evaluation of the album in this context will be utilized in conjunction with the understanding of music’s effect on the brain to illustrate the meaning-making and emotional response conjured by the work. This structure of analysis is driven by findings in The Allegory of the Church by Calvin B. Kendall and Ralph Lieberman alongside a collection of journals in The Handbook of Music and Emotion edited by Patrik N. Juslin and John A. Sloboda.
The outcome of allegorical architecture as an interpretation of music is to integrate emotion into design through means of intellectual allegory, defining the context with the design itself. The perception of the album will transform the impermanence of the emotional effect of music into the permanence of reality, allowing the story to be told through means of visual and emotional connection.
Project Brief: Placed in downtown Atlanta and attached to a MARTA transportation station, design a mixed-use building to operate as a city hub with residential contributions. Interpret, invent, and deploy numerous methods of building systems, with a focus on innovations in wood design.
Site Location: Atlanta, GA
When viewed from the outside, the city becomes an endless network of traffic, pollution, tourist traps, and capitalism. The city is crowded with the need to evolve into something better. Pulling back the surface, Atlanta’s history is exposed. The reality becomes an intricate system of artistic expression, a city shaped by movement, and a melting pot of cultures woven together.
The design plays with the interchangeability of invisibility. Seen from downtown and surrounding neighborhoods (north + south), the monolithic structure stands alike the rest of the urban fabric. Approaching the site brings you into the reality. An intense ecosystem promotes the natural environment, and a gallery of life is revealed through the facade and enhanced as the night approaches. The building dances as time moves and people gather, create, and live.
High Museum of Art
Establishing an urban ecosystem on the site provides a connection with what came before. The site provides a glimpse into the natural landscape of Atlanta’s history. The site features four main points of landscape: flower gardens, noise barriers, edible gardens, and sponge parks. Flower gardens provide a unique site walk through while promoting an ecosystem of insects and birds. The noise barriers feature intense vegetation on the edges of the site to create a physical and mental separation from the city. An opportunity for a sustainable food source comes from edible gardens, represented in the market as well as personal plots.
The pathways carving through the site are inspired by the Native American trails. While main pathways are designated, natural manmade pathways are accepted to create alternative routes and allow the user to become the way finder. The pathways become connections to each building, the Marta station, and the city surrounding them.
The site ecosystem utilizes a working landscape. A combination of sponge park and ponds establish a water collection / flooding mitigation system. The sponge parks feature a biofiltration system to assist in the creation + life in the ecosystem. The parks holds, re-directs, and treats storm water runoff. A collection of plants is chosen due to high absorption quality as well as the ability to extract heavy metals and biological toxins out of the rain water. This design promotes a diverse thriving ecosystem and uses a modular plant system to promote a healthier future.
The building design utilizes several forms of passive heating and cooling. The use of a double skin facade, a curtain wall and polycarbonate allows hot air to flow out of the building and cool air to enter. The use of large windows provides air flow throughout the building. Atrium spaces extending through the building provide a chimney effect, moving air efficiently through the space.
wall section model
The main axis of the site is drawn from connections to the downtown area, Standing Peach Tree, the High Museum, and the Marta station. The central point of connection acts as the core circulation to one of the buildings and extends outwards to shape the placement of the other building. Movement flows east to west to reinforce the center point between Marta and the High. physical model
building 01
Floor 01-02: Community Use Floor 03-15: Neighborhood Floor 16: Art Studio
16 stories 298’
18’ ft floor to floor
building 03
Floor 01-07: Local Market + Community Use
13 stories 224’
18’ ft floor to floor
Floor 08-12: Neighborhood Floor 13: Art Studio 3 stories
ft floor to floor
The building program is divided into five main categories. The community spaces are focused on artistic expression with gallery spaces and art studios on the top floor. The residences continue the idea of artistic expression with barrier walls behind the larger glass doors. The barrier walls are used as a communication piece of art throughout the building.
building 02 Floor 01-03: Local Market Food + Retail longitudinal section
The main structural system of the building is a glulam waffle slab. The waffle formation is repeated on every floor to provide continuity through the building and allow columns to be only be needed on the outer edges. Alternating beam sizes are used to reduce the materials needed in construction as well as contribute to the aesthetic of the space. Using the exposed wood structure emphasizes communication by allowing the user to remain in touch with the building itself and the construction techniques used.
calculated with wooodworks.org Carbon Calculator
12,405 metric tons of CO2 stored in the wood
5,100 metric tons of CO2 in avoided greenhouse gas emmissions equivalent to 3,701 cars off the road for a year equivalent to energy to operate 1,848 homes for a year
waffle slab systemurban farming terrace
night interior
The innovative concept for the building structure occurs at the intersection of the alternating walls and CLT floor plates. The walls act as a system of shear walls, creating a column load transferred through the building. Utilizing this system allows for unique experience on each floor.
alternating shear walls
The connection between the CLT walls and floors uses a dovetail joint to allow for both flexibility in position and rigidity in structure.
dovetail joint axonometric
physical model joint study
A double skin facade is used to enhance the perception vs. reality of the design. The glass facade is revealed to be a looking glass into the building while the polycarbonate provides a monolithic appearance to the design. A spider joint is used to attach the polycarbonate to the CLT floor to allow the facade to stand as a seamless structure.
STUDY OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS SPRING 2019
FOLDABLE COMPOSITE STRUCTURES
CLEMSON UNIVERSITY
PROFESSOR
JOSEPH CHOMA
Research completed with a goal to create sustainable and affordable schools in Jordan, a country in Western Asia. I developed research on cobb and how it interacts with rattan structures. Cobb is a mixture of clay, sand, and rock that when combined with water can be molded and casted to form structural walls. This mixture proves to be energy efficient, affordable, fire-proof, and acoustically sound which qualifies it to be used in a school environment.
Combining cobb with woven rattan, we worked with both a rattan column and a rattan curve. The cobb was placed within the column and on top of the curve to allow it to adhere to the rattan and form one being with several structural factors contributing. These experiments both proved to be successful once the mixture dried, creating pieces that can be implemented in school design.
The importance of the research proved its success with the finding of a locally obtained material that can be used for temporary or permanent structures. The qualities explored resulted in the approval of them as viable options for the establishment of shelter. In areas with low prosperity and access to architecture, this material can be collected and the technique executed easily on site.
WORLD EXPO PAVILION
FALL 2022
GRADUATE STUDIO IV
SCAD
PROFESSOR
MIKE HILL
AIA Georgia Elevate Design Award 2023
Project Brief: Design a Pavilion for New Zealand to be featured at the 2025 World Expo. Designs must follow the theme of “Designing Future Society for Our Lives.”
Site Location: Osaka, Japan
The design of the pavilion aims to incorporate traditional New Zealand materiality and design styles. The separation of spaces establishes a sense of isolation while a pathway provides a connection, responding to the isolation of the country but its invitation towards visitors.
PURITY + VARIATION The form of the spheres is derived from the innate purity of NZ’s landscape. The variation of heights, sizes and placement is a replica of the mountains vs. caves. The sunken mountains feed into the ground, reflected in the spheres blending into the reflection pond and supporting the concept of isolation (island) and integration into the landscape.
EDEMICITY ECOSYSTEM The central focus is a greenhouse at the center of the site. Due to the isolation of the country from any immediate surroundings, the vegetative and animal population of NZ is unique to them. The main focus of the site gives us a glimpse into this, using a greenhouse to replicate the ecosystem and environment of NZ. The ecosystem dome works to showcase NZ’s isolated and unvarnished ecosystem, void of any alien species taking over.
The form of the building is driven by the natural landscape of New Zealand, including the Moeraki Boulders, the Milford Sound, and the Franz Josef Glacier.
The program bubbles sit upon a reflection pond, representing the isolation of the country as an island and the sunken mountains, allowing the land to merge with the water.
The interior of the museum references the carving of the traditional Māori Long Houses used to represent family history. The walls of the museum feature the carved elements, allowing the museum to become the art itself.
reflection pond pathway
Māori Long House Reference Image
New Zealand Landscape Reference Images
Māori Museum
invitation pathway
inflatable form polyurethane foam steel rebar structure
cobb casting final form
The materiality aims to reinterpret traditional New Zealand architecture. In an ode to the foundational construction of the settlers on NZ, cobb is utilized in an innovate fashion. A prefabricated form is inflated to dictate the shape of the dome. A hardening foam is sprayed on the inflatable, steel rebar is placed, and cobb is cast over. After the deflation of the initial form, the dome stands as a monolithic structure.
The use of natural materials is extended with the incorporating of wood in the framing of the greenhouse. The weaving design of the structure is driven by traditional Māori weaving techniques.
One membrane that helps retain warmth through its double membrane. An adjustable double layer facade system allows for the building to be increasingly insulated in colder weather to protect the plants.
Adjustable panel to allow for natural ventilation. The program of the interior only requires cooling at the lower levels. Openings allow for the hot air to escape through the roof while bringing in a natural air cycle.
Transparent solar panels that harvest the energy from the wavelengths of light that the plants do not use for photosynthesis.
longitudinal section
Self-sustaining ecosystem showcasing and preserving native New Zealand fauna. Working to conserve and revive specific endangered wildlife by giving it a place to flourish. Ecosystem survives on a cycle between plants and algae, micro-organisms, and wildlife.
kōwhai
silver fern short-tailed bat harakeke dactylanthus leiopelma hamiltoni
Biomass System: Green Waste-to-Energy takes non-hazardous waste – otherwise destined for landfill – and combusts it, generating steam for electricity production.
Sponge Parks: The collection of plants hold, re-direct and treat the water to be distributed into the reflection pond and irrigation for the ecosystem dome.
digital sound to form
A LOOKING GLASS INTO A HIDDEN WORLD
STUDY OF SOUND
SPRING 2022
DIGITAL FABRICATION SCAD
PROFESSOR
MIKE HILL
study models
Cymatics, or the process of visualizing sound, is based on the physics principle that when sound encounters a membrane, such as the surface of water or the membranes that surround our cells, a pattern of energy is automatically imprinted on the membrane. Uncovering this pattern reveals the intricate geometry of the natural world.
The design of the structure establishes a platform for sound to be visualized as well as felt. Allowing the vibrations to flow through the body moves the water in us similar to the one in the vessel. The project is centered on the concept that the vibration of the water within us creates a natural alignment - establishing a healthy body.
“There’s no organ system in the body that’s not affected by sound and music and vibration.”
Mitchell Gaynor, M.D.
Project Brief: Create a community space with a series of exhibition, office, and polyvalent spaces to be used by the people in Cuitadella Park and the Born Neighborhood.
Site Location: Cuitadella Park, Barcelona, Spain
To accommodate the dense urban structure of Barcelona, our building, The Den, is a community building that has been sunken underground in order to give public plaza space back to the surrounding community. The Den’s unique organic form originates from the particular placement of program bubbles around a central light well inside the buildable limits. Whenever unique intersections happen between certain program bubbles, skylights have been placed in order to filter natural light and air down into the area below. Where skylights jut from the ground, users can catch a small glimpse into what lies beneath the surface. Above ground, the landscape reflects what lies beneath.
area plan
THE DEN BARCELONA COMMUNITY BUILDING
COMMUNITY SPACE DESIGN SPRING 2020 FLUID STUDIO BARCELONA ARCHITECTURE CENTER PROFESSOR MIGUEL ROLDAN
WORK DONE IN EQUAL COLLABORATION WITH ALEXIS PAGANO
transverse section
Overlapping circles establish specific program + their connections.
longitudinal section
central atrium
conference room
The overlapping geometry is represented on the ceiling of the spaces as well as creating enclosure and gallery walls.
At ground level, the program remains open space available for the public to pass through or gather. It becomes a center point for circulation between Cuitadella Park and the Born Neighborhood. The underground program features gallery spaces, event space, offices, a library, and a workshop area.
gallery space
floor plan
site plan
Assisted with set design for Clemson University’s student production of the tempest. Tasks completed included putting siding on the boat to create creases and a wood like pattern, shadowing and highlighting the interior and exterior of the boat, and using paper on a steel frame to create trees to be hung from the grid. Through this process I experimented with the use of recycled materials to create the set, using this tactic both for the boat and the trees. I developed efforts on painting realistic patterns to be used in sets and how the influence of light will manipulate the set pieces.
WORK DONE THROUGH CLEMSON UNIVERSITY PERFORMING ARTS DEPARTMENT AS A PART OF A CREATIVE INQUIRY UNDER SHANNON ROBERTS
Worked as a student set designer on Clemson University’s student production of Five Mile Lake.
Tasked with using recycled pieces from past shows to create the desired scene. Worked on technical drawings, creating the set pieces, and assembling it on stage.
The set features three scenes, the bakery, the dock, and the bathtub. Using only black pieces allowed the important elements to stand out. The contrast brought out the food in the bakery, put emphasis on the lake created by the lighting on the dock, and highlighted the interior of the bathtub.
Five Mile Lake
ahalloran47@gmail.com
ahallo21@student.scad.edu
(732) 789 0444
www.linkedin.com/in/alyssa-halloran-8241901a3
Originally: New Jersey
Previously: Clemson, SC
Currently: Savannah, GA
