Caitlin McCabe Architectural Portfolio
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Bachelor of Architecture 2014
CAITLIN MCCABE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER
ARCHITECTURAL PORTFOLIO DESIGN WORK
CAITLIN MCCABE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER
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EXPERIENCE
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SRA ARCHITECTURE + ENGINEERING, JUNIOR ARCHITECT (SEPTEMBER 2014 - PRESENT) Designer/ junior project manager contributing to zoning analysis, design and development of a variety of projects. HABITAT FOR HUMANITY (2013) Helped with construction of multiple story houses in Troy, NY.
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PUBLICATIONS
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ArchPLUS, Volume 1 No. 3, AIA WESTCHESTER AND HUDSON VALLEY (SUMMER 2014) Undergraduate Thesis Project Featured, Adaptive Resiliency- A Response to Urban Decay in Blighted Cities, pg. 25-26 INTERWEAVE, URBAN INTERWORKING AT SHANGHAI’S SOUTH BUND (2014) Undergraduate Studio Project Featured, Fluid Waves- The Redevelopment Of Shanghai’s Waterfront , pg. 264 - 273 MATERIAL MANIFESTATIONS, SECOND EDITION, RENSSELAER SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE PUBLICATIONS (2011) Undergraduate Studio Project Featured
CONTACT
caitlinpmccabe.com mccabe.caitlinp@gamil.com 845.249.8983
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EDUCATION
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RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE (2009 - 2014) 5 Year Professional Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture with a Minor in Psychology Cumulative GPA: 3.21 TONGJI UNIVERITY ( SPRING 2012) International acedemic workshop focusing on parametric infrastructural design proposals. CENTER FOR ARCHITECTURE, SCIENCE AND ECOLOGY ( FALL 2011) Research assistant in sustainable materials and built ecologies.
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AWARDS
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AIA WESTCHESTER + HUDSON VALLEY CHAPTER THESIS SCHOLARSHIP (2013) Scholarship winner for Thesis Proposal- Redevelopment of Downtown Poughkeepsie, New York.
CAITLIN MCCABE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACADEMIC NUK II PLEIN AIR TOWER CENTER OF EXCELLENCE SOUTH BUND REDEVELOPMENT ADAPTIVE RESILINCY
01 02 03 04 05
PROFESSIONAL BROOKLYN APARTMENT COMPLEX BROWNSTONE RENOVATION HARLEM BROWNSTONE INTERIOR LOBBY BROOKLYN COMMERCIAL BUILDING
01 02 03 04 05
CAITLIN MCCABE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER
ACADEMIC
01 NUK II
LUJBJANA, SLOVENIA UNDERGRAD, SPRING 2013 Collaborators: Micheal Mancuso The National and University Library is an iconic symbol that acts as an urban extension in the city fabric of Ljubljana, Slovenia. On the site of NUK II are excavated Roman Ruins that are meant to be preserved and on display to show the history of the city. The main concept of the building was to extend the horizontal plane by lifting it and wrapping it vertically to hover over and preserve the ruins. The form of this building not only brings light and air into its deep floor plates and the ruins below through the interal courtyard but also provides different degrees of permeability by winding upwards and partly overlapping each other. The roof acts as a public space creating a unique way to view the Ljubljana’s history from an elevated view, while also giving the people a 360 degree view of the old city’s centre and towards Ljubljana Castle. In this way, the library is not only a building containing books but becomes an active part of Lubljana’s cityscape. improved pedestrain flow through site and ruins
continuous longitudinal form comprises three distinct, rotated bars
optimum (time-saving) public circulation avoids contact with site and ruins
unrolled longitudinal form is primarily flat and consistent
improved pedestrian traffic engaged with site and ruins
unrolled longitudinal form is dynamic, expanding, and iconic
PROJECT NUK II
ROLE DESIGN TEAM MEMBER
FOCUS DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
ACADEMIC
01 NUK II building forms a continuous spiral
LUJBJANA, SLOVENIA UNDERGRAD, SPRING 2013
sectional visual connectivity across courtyard
public garden circulation
building circulation is orthogonal through slabs and cores
micro/macro spiral circulation utiliizing ramping and slabs
sectional visual discontinuity within building interior
integrated interior physical connectivity and exterior visual connectivity
public urban circulation
garden as urban extension
PROJECT NUK II
ROLE DESIGN TEAM MEMBER
FOCUS DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
ACADEMIC
02 PLEIN AIR TOWER NEW YORK, NEW YORK UNDERGRAD, FALL 2011
PROJECT PLEIN AIR TOWER
ROLE DESIGN TEAM MEMBER
ACADEMIC
FOCUS SUSTAINABLE TOWER
COMPUTATIONAL PROCESS 345°
14 m/ s
1 5°
330°
NORTHERN WINTER WINDS 30°
11 m/ s 31 5°
45°
FIXED CONNECTION 8 m/ s 300°
60°
5 m/ s
285°
75°
3 m/ s
INTAKE (CLOSED)
255°
1 05°
240°
1 20°
225°
1 35°
21 0°
SOUTHERN SUMMER WINDS
-AIR TOWER towers twist to access panoramic views, accounting for differences in floor height & size
1 50°
1 95°
1 65°
INTAKE (OPEN)
etfe envelope shrinks to cover program, leaving air gap for updraft air circulation
full system accomodates mixed program while creating a variety of environments tailored to the type of user
etfe mullions mapped to skin. they become more dense at residential areas to simulate glazing
Collaborators: Jessica Bristo, Elizabeth Walsh, and Josh Gerber. This design solution looks to optimize the enviornmental oppertunities of its surroundings. The main focus in designing a tower for 8 Spruce Street, was to capture the wind and solar energies offered by the site’s relative exposure, in an effort to reduce the need for mechanical systems. Specifically, focusing on accelerating the already prevalent N-W winter winds into the building envelope to generate power, using the building’s overall torqueing geometry, coupled with a textured façade which will aid in creating surface turbulence during the summer.
400’
250’ 130’
district exposure
regional exposure
local exposure
Additionally, the site occupies a busy pedestrian zone – comingling students, commerce, and residents, as well as relative proximity to City Hall. The site will serve as a confluence of program, with the objective of providing a variety of meeting spaces and means of access between the site and neighboring streets.
02 PLEIN AIR TOWER NEW YORK, NEW YORK UNDERGRAD, FALL 2011
PLAN
CLOSED CONDITION
SECTION
PLAN
OPEN CONDITION
SECTION
PROJECT PLEIN AIR TOWER
15’
10’
15’
10’ 12’
6’
12’
6’
20’
typical residential floor plan
ACADEMIC
10’
6’
3’
FOCUS SUSTAINABLE TOWER
15’
12’
20’
3’
ROLE DESIGN TEAM MEMBER
20’
3’
typical hotel floor plan
typical school floor plan
03 CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE TROY, NEW YORK UNDERGRAD, FALL 2013
PROJECT CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE
ROLE LEAD DESIGNER
FOCUS PARAMETRIC FACADE
ACADEMIC
Facade Iterations
Facade Iterations
Unrolled Facade Elevations
The design for Center of Excellence for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was influenced by it’s location on campus, overlooking the City of Troy. The massing of the building was generated by a single curve that visually linked RPI campus to downtown Troy, while also relying on the natural slope of it’s site. The interior of the building mimics this idea of visually linking the city to the campus by alternating the buidlings program from the North side of the building to the South side of the building allowing for maximum viewing of both the RPI campus and the City. The facade pattern responds directly to the program with in the building. The more public the space was, the more open the facade; the more private the spaces, the more closed the facade. This was generated by an analytical software to allow for a variety of opacity and transparency which was both athetically pleasing as well as ensuring appropriate amounts of sunlight accessing the interior.
Facade
04 SOUTH BUND REDEVELOPMENT SHANGHAI, CHINA UNDERGRAD, SPRING 2012 Collaborators: Xie Jie The redevelopment of the South Bund’s main focus is to create a more public accesible uraban strategy along the Huangpu RiverFront in Shanghai, China. The concept for this project was creating an urban stratagey that allowed people from all different backrounds to come and interact with each other.
Urban Circulation Diagram
Large Scale vs Small Scale Diagram
Ferry terminal
nodeE
Hotel Indigo
nodeF
nodeD
JiuShi Tower(Office) Golden Bund(Resicents) Riveerview Hotel Tourists Bus Parking
nodeA：Prologue
Riverview Apartments
nodeB：LINKING
nodeC：CONFLICT
nodeD：CROSSING
nodeC
Tourists Bus Parking Tunnel Museum Shanghai Old Street
nodeB
Low-income Residents Area Old Town Art World
parki
ng plo
t
nodeA
Yuyuan Shopping Mall Yu Garden(HuXin Pavilion) City Temple
Yuyuan small theater PUBLIC -----------more open to the citizens and tourists
Shopping Square
PRIVATE----------less easy to get into Culture Event
1from old town
2from cross road
3from main road
nodeE：WEAVING
nodeE：Epilog
PROJECT SOUTH BUND REDEVELOPMENT
4from plaza
ROLE DESIGN TEAM MEMBER
5from waterfront park
FOCUS INFASTRUCTURAL REDEVELOPMENT
6from ferry
ACADEMIC
04 SOUTH BUND REDEVELOPMENT SHANGHAI, CHINA UNDERGRAD, SPRING 2012
TERMINALL FOR TOURISTS
An intereseting aspect that influenced the design was the changing of small to large scale program along Old Shanghai Street, from Yu Yuan leading towards the site. This urban stratagey took on the task of interconnecting these two types of spaces tosee them as one instead of as drastically different entities. From this idea, emerged a wave-like project: a mix of landscape and architecture, where you can be on the ground floor of one building and walk a few steps and be ont the top of another, blurring of what is exterior and what is interior.
large scale landscapes] + programs under the ground
small scale of shops +programs above the ground
WATERFRONT PARK
FERRY TERMINAL
x s s x 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
waterfront park
ferry terminal
plaza2 tourist ship terminal
tower3
plaza3 tower1
tower2
tower4
23
PROJECT SOUTH BUND REDEVELOPMENT
ROLE DESIGN TEAM MEMBER
FOCUS INFASTRUCTURAL REDEVELOPMENT
ACADEMIC
05 ADAPTIVE RESILIENCY POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK UNDERGRAD THESIS, SPRING 2014
A lot of buildings are designed with one intention. These buildings often become abandoned because they served out their purpose and are no longer relevant to the community. A huge part of the reason their service is no longer needed is because of the advances in technology; the more advanced we, as a civilization become, the more large industries become irrelevant to the city and therefore become abandoned. These abandoned sites start to put a strain on the city; they become holes in the city fabric. These blighted sites lower the economy of the city and have the potential to make surrounding buildings become abandoned as well leading to a decline of a once thriving city. Designing for the future means designing a reactive and adapting building form. Is there a way to design something that reacts to it’s environment, so that it doesn’t matter if we are no longer here and some other life form comes into existence, the design will be able to react and adapt to become relevant to them.
PROJECT ADAPTIVE RESILIENCY
ROLE LEAD DESIGNER
FOCUS URBAN DECAY REDEVELOPMENT
ACADEMIC
My proposal will be able to assess the changing environment and networks of people in the surrounding city and be able to adapt and change the buildings use and morphology without having it be abandoned. How can we revitalize and redesign the already abandoned sites to allow them to adapt and keep adapting with the changing networks surrounding it? The cause of this abandonment is because of the failing networks that aren’t resilient enough to withstand when one node fails. We need to design resilient networks so that places won’t fail, but will adapt and reorganize itself to the changing environment. Poughkeepsie was a major hub for industry and commerce which helped it connect with other blossoming cities. During the Industrial Revolution, this site was an iron yard. It was a very important part of the growth of the city. It’s location within the city and it’s large size allows for a greater potential of community interaction, which is a key factor in a thriving city. I chose this site because the site itself isn’t only a hole, but the surrounding but the surrounding roads are very seldomly traveled. This leads to abandonment of surrounding because there is no traffic flow. Since it is an industrial site, there is certain levels of pollution on the site. This leads to complications when trying to the reuse of the site usually, but for my proposal it creates an opportunity for site adaptation.
05 ADAPTIVE RESILIENCY POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK UNDERGRAD THESIS, SPRING 2014 SITE TIMELINE
NO GROWTH
The slow forming accretion works and reacts with the sites inhabitants. In the diagram of circulation over time, there are lines that show pure circulation and then larger dark spots, the larger and darker the spot, the more people stop there. This map then informs the accretor to start forming accretion in those spots because there
SOME GROWTH (SEATING)
MORE GROWTH (WALLS)
needs to be seating and walls for people to sit on when they stop. This newly formed accretion brings even more people to these specific spots and over time allows the accretion to form into completely inhabitable, semi-enclosed spaces for other possible programs to take over.
CONTINUAL GROWTH (ENCLOSURES)
As time goes on, and the feedback loop continues, body 2 can start to excavate more soil and more structure based on the maps and projections from body 1. It can also begin to extract parts of what body 3 constructs if it becomes irrelevant again.
PROJECT ADAPTIVE RESILIENCY
Because I am looking at specifically old abandoned industrial sites, these sites contain different levels of toxins through out the site. The scaffolding is placed on the site in two steps. Step one is scaffolding that gets imbedded in the ground. The more polluted the area, the more metal scaffolding gets placed on top of that area. The next step, the scaffolding is placed and lifted up, 18 feet where the pollution is the worst and 9 feet where the pollution is less. The raised scaffolding allows the accretion in phase 3 to grow in between and create functioning walls and structure. Depending on how much the accretion grows, people would be able to inhabit or walk on the scaffolding and accretion. There are two existing buildings. One of them is programed to be a cultural lab and the other one is programmed to be an innovation lab. These programs will help the city become connected to a larger scale of networks through the innovation in technology it is producing but also is able to strengthen its cultural networks on a local scale.
ROLE LEAD DESIGNER
ACADEMIC
FOCUS URBAN DECAY REDEVELOPMENT
PROGRAM PROJECTIONS SITE USERS DIFFERENT PROGRAMS ON SITE
PARK AREA
LIVING LAB
CAFES
CULTURE LAB EVENT SPACES
SITE PROGRAM
USE OF SPACE THROUGHOUT THE DAY
COLLEGE STUDENTS TOURISTS DAY VISITORS RESIDENTS WORKERS
7AM
9AM
11AM
1PM
3PM
5PM
7PM
9PM
11PM
1AM
05 ADAPTIVE RESILIENCY POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK UNDERGRAD THESIS, SPRING 2014 CONSTRUCTION
SECOND LAYER OF SCAFFOLDING CONSTRUCTED
PROJECT ADAPTIVE RESILIENCY
ROLE LEAD DESIGNER
FOCUS URBAN DECAY REDEVELOPMENT
ACADEMIC
SCAFFOLDING IS RAISED UP HIGHER IN THE POLLUTED SPOTS FOR A GREATER POSSIBILITY OF FULL ENCLOSURES
ACCRETION
ACCRETION ACCRETION IS FORMED BY USING THE POLLUTANTS IN THE SOIL ALONG WITH THE HELP OF A 3D PRINTER BOT TO accretion is formed by using pollutants in the sol along with the help of a 3d printer bot toCRYSTAL create crystal structuresTHAT that are able to grow in response to the inhabitants interactions. INTERACTIONS. CREATE STRUCTURES ARE ABLE TO GROW IN RESPONSE TO THE INHABITANTS
ACCRETION IS FORMED BY USING THE POLLUTANTS IN THE SOIL ALONG WITH THE HELP OF A 3D PRINTER BOT TO CREATE CRYSTAL STRUCTURES THAT ARE ABLE TO GROW IN RESPONSE TO THE INHABITANTS INTERACTIONS.
05 ADAPTIVE RESILIENCY POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK UNDERGRAD THESIS, SPRING 2014
PROJECT ADAPTIVE RESILIENCY
ROLE LEAD DESIGNER
FOCUS URBAN DECAY REDEVELOPMENT
ACADEMIC
CAITLIN MCCABE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER
PROFESSIONAL
01 BROOKLYN APARTMENT COMPLEX BROOKLYN, NEW YORK OFFICE: SRAA+E
Located in downtown Brooklyn, on the corner of a quit residental street and a main commercial thurofare, this unique site allows for this new emerging apartment to be a prevelant symbol for this area. The main concept for this mixed-use building, with commercial first floor and an 11 story residential apartment complex on top, was taking the classic brick warehouse style building with a modern glass addition. The brick base of the building helps blend in with the surrounding commercail buildings, while the glass addition helps to inturrup the brick, giving the building a more modern look. The terracing the the rear of the building not only create unique outdoor space for tenants but also create a fragmented glass casscade when viewed from the residential side streets.
PROJECT BROOKLYN APARTMENT COMPLEX
9th floor
2nd floor
ROLE FOCUS LEAD DESIGNER PROGRAM AND DESIGN CONCEPTS
PROFESSIONAL
11th floor
5th floor
01 BROOKLYN APARTMENT COMPLEX BROOKLYN, NEW YORK OFFICE: SRAA+E
PROJECT BROOKLYN APARTMENT COMPLEX
ROLE FOCUS LEAD DESIGNER PROGRAM AND DESIGN CONCEPTS
PROFESSIONAL
02 BROWNSTONE RENOVATION HARLEM, NEW YORK OFFICE: SRAA+E
This renovation and addition to an existing brownstone building in Harlem, New York adds 16 residential apartments to this area. Keeping the existing facade allowed for an interesting merging of the classical and the modern brownstone facades.
PROJECT BROWNSTONE RENOVATION
ROLE LEAD DESIGNER
FOCUS DESIGN CONCEPT AND DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
PROFESSIONAL
02 BROWNSTONE RENOVATION HARLEM, NEW YORK OFFICE: SRAA+E
PROJECT BROWNSTONE RENOVATION
ROLE LEAD DESIGNER
PROFESSIONAL
FOCUS DESIGN CONCEPT AND DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
02 BROWNSTONE RENOVATION HARLEM, NEW YORK OFFICE: SRAA+E
PROJECT BROWNSTONE RENOVATION
ROLE LEAD DESIGNER
PROFESSIONAL
FOCUS DESIGN CONCEPT AND DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
03 HARLEM BROWNSTONE HARLEM, NEW YORK OFFICE: SRAA+E
This new 6 story brownstone with a penthouse duplex allowed for some slight modern updates in the facade while still maintaining the fabric of the area.
PROJECT HARLEM BROWNSTONE
ROLE LEAD DESIGNER
FOCUS DESIGN CONCEPT AND DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
PROFESSIONAL
03 HARLEM BROWNSTONE HARLEM, NEW YORK OFFICE: SRAA+E
PROJECT HARLEM BROWNSTONE
ROLE LEAD DESIGNER
PROFESSIONAL
FOCUS DESIGN CONCEPT AND DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
6 5
7
4
8
9 3 1
11 13
12
2
10 14
03 HARLEM BROWNSTONE HARLEM, NEW YORK OFFICE: SRAA+E
PROJECT HARLEM BROWNSTONE
ROLE LEAD DESIGNER
PROFESSIONAL
FOCUS DESIGN CONCEPT AND DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
03 HARLEM BROWNSTONE HARLEM, NEW YORK OFFICE: SRAA+E
PROJECT HARLEM BROWNSTONE
ROLE LEAD DESIGNER
FOCUS DESIGN CONCEPT AND DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
PROFESSIONAL
04 INTERIOR LOBBY NEW YORK, NEW YORK OFFICE: SRAA+E
This commercial lobby, located in Mindtown Manhattan, is in an existing building. The long and narrow space is to be clad with concrete panels varying in sizes illuminated by stips of light embedded inbetween the panels.
interior render (SRAA+E visulaization)
PROJECT INTERIOR LOBBY
ROLE LEAD DESIGNER
FOCUS INTERIOR CONCEPT DESIGN
PROFESSIONAL
conceptual floor plan
interior render (SRAA+E visulaization)
05 COMMERCIAL BUILDING BROOKLYN, NEW YORK OFFICE: SRAA+E
exterior render (SRAA+E visulaization)
curtain wall section
PROJECT COMMERCAILBUILDING
ROLE TECHNICAL TEAM MEMBER
FOCUS FACADE DETAILING
PROFESSIONAL
curtain wall details