carolyn thoenen architecture portfolio
carolyn f lora thoenen 2552 north hickory lane arlington heights IL 60004 cari4231@vt.edu 847.987.1387
education
skills
Virginia Tech | Blacksburg, Virginia Bachelor of Architecture expected 2016, GPA 3.91 Minor in Psychology
Proficient in Architectural Drawings, AutoCAD, Illustrator, InDesign, Microsoft Office, Model Making, Photoshop, Revit, Rhino, Sketch-Up, 3dsMax Rendering
Steger Center for International Scholarship | Riva San Vitale, Switzerland Studied Abroad Fall Semester 2014 Buffalo Grove High School | Buffalo Grove, Illinois Graduated 2011 with Highest Honors
experience Little Diversified Architectural Consulting | Costa Mesa, California | Summer 2014 Architectural Intern - Worked on Construction Documents in Revit and AutoCAD - Assisted with site visits - Researched accessibility codes and regulations for Schematic Design - Created ADA grading plans - Accumulated a base library of Revit families Schuler Shook | Chicago, Illinois | Summer 2013 Theatre Planning Intern - Worked directly on design projects in all phases - AutoCAD documentation and design of stage lighting, rigging, seating, platforms - Researched University Music Facilities for programming solutions - Assisted with site visits during Construction Observation - Created and designed resource sheets for future marketing use Lenscrafters | Arlington Heights, Illinois | 2012-2013 EyeCare Advisor - Consulted with customer to identify needs in purchasing the right eyewear - Provided an outstanding patient experience on pre-test eye exams Kumon | Buffalo Grove, Illinois | 2008-2011 Math Instructor - Tutored students ages 5-16, worked with clients to create an appropriate lesson plan Applied Design | Mount Prospect, Illinois | Summer 2009 Architecture Student Intern - Assisted on local design projects using CAD 02
activities & affiliations Enrolled in the NCARB Intern Development Program actively working toward becoming licensed Member of AIAS Virginia Tech Chapter active member since 2013 Virginia Tech University Honors Student on track to graduate with honors diploma Concert Band at Virginia Tech member of the clarinet section since 2012
academic competitions -CEFPI Student Design Competition | First Place | 2013 -RCI, Inc. Student Design Competition | 2013 -CAUS Third-Year Design Competition | 2013 -CAUS Second-Year Design Competition | 2013 -Naef Toy Design Competition | 2012 -CAUS First-Year Design Competition | 2012
earthbound vineyard ning from casa bianchi s a c r e dl e acr o m m u n[ 9i wt eye k s : f a l l 2 0 1 4 ]
luther memorial lutheran church [15 weeks : spring 2014]
fourth year
earthbound vineyard 04 sacred community 10
third year
dynamic learning 16 cefpi competition winner organic plaza 22
second year
cultural olympic park 28 urban amphitheatre 34
“Millions of men have lived to fight, build palaces and boundaries, shape destinies and societies; but the compelling force of all times has been the force of originality and creation profoundly affecting the roots of human spirit.” -Ansel Adams
In the consumerist society we inhabit today, it is difficult to retreat from the barrage of media focus on wealth. This production takes people from all walks of life into one of their most beloved iconic theatres - Hamer Hall. They enter through the gold and velvet interior to take their seats for what is expected to be a typical production of Sleeping Beauty. While they are brought on a journey of joy paused, fought for, and found through love - the space they entered through is being drastically altered. It is the end of the show, and instead of the lights coming up, a single spotlight shines from a “hole” in the roof. The theatre appears to be in shambles. The audience looks around, confused but still reeling from the show. They exit into hallways that have physically crumbled around them, vines and stones littering the ground. They stumble through the destruction, and as they pour back into the outside world they are greeted by a lone man with a digeridoo. A child approaches him and he starts to play. A crowd gathers and a few aborigines join in the music. As the people are faced with the roots of their culture, they are truly face to face with themselves.
theatre studies
tangled life 40 roots of creation 42
extras
woodworking 44 travel sketches 46 photography 50
Melbourne: a city defined by the rise and fall of the Australian gold rush. Hamer Hall: a space carved from the earth - then reclaimed and doused in gaudy glamour.
2500 people 50+ technicians 20 performers 10 aboriginal performers 1-2 hours
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earthbound vineyard
learning from casa bianchi [9 weeks : fall 2014]
How does one value that which is there? Engaging a famous piece of architecture within your own work is a challenge that this project addresses. As well as taking into account the cultural and architectural traditions of the Ticino region in Switzerland, this project was sited directly on the plot of Casa Bianchi: Mario Botta’s design for a single family home in the 1970’s. The winery enters into a diaglogue with Bianchi - continuing the ideas Botta had about the Ticino region and its landscape. Visitors enter the site through the old family house, catching a glimpse of the sunken winery through the infamous Bianchi bridge. Continuing down through the house, they are greeted with openings to the landscape around every turn. Leaving Bianchi, they step up onto a bridge that takes them down into earth and through the retaining wall - the juxtaposition of rough concrete and smooth floors leading to the creation of a man-made earth protected from the rest of the land. The project directs the visitor to explore this new and seperate world, allowing them to interact with the earth in ways they normally wouldn’t. Sequential spaces and the path entwining them became the author of most design decisions, the winemaking process tucking itself into the mountain as a result. Experiencing the earth in a variety of ways allows the visitor (and workers) to leave with a new appreciation of the Ticino region.
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sacred community
luther memorial lutheran church [15 weeks : spring 2014]
The goal of this project is to explore what creates a sacred space within the context of a community. In the past, the Lutheran Church was defined as a mighty fortress, now they seek to open their arms to the community around them and create a space where anyone would feel welcome. A strong curve geometry divides the program into sacred and “everday,� while punctures through this divide create holes for light to transverse through. This passage of light brings in the reminder of an outside world and the connection everyone inside has to it. Alternatively, people passing by the church are allowed to see the circulation and congregation as shadowed dynamic forms interacting with the spaces created. This visual reminder fuctions to intrigue the outsiders while giving the church community a reminder that they are not alone inside a mighty fortress any longer. The interaction of a constantly changing pattern with the circulation of constantly changing lives is one that was studied throughout this project. Light can shape a space or dictate how one moves through it, but it also reacts to the ones that inhabit and live within those spaces. This is what the project truly came to be about. Connections between spaces via these punctured patterns allow for glimpses into the complicated and sacred bonds between the humans inhabiting and bringing life to the church itself. The spaces are sacred because the lives that flow through them are sacred to their community. This project was designed with an attention to environmental building systems, and how to meld an architectural idea with practical needs. Creating a space that strengthened the community was the top priority, but thought processes were challenged and improved by addressing heating, cooling, and lighting with passive and active systems.
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Site circulation was critical in discovering how the church would be interacted with. Experiencing the architecture in a certain order allows the spaces to open a dialogue with each other. The exterior of the building speaks to the interior circulation, with punctures created where an important path is threaded through the programmed space. The major divider of spaces -the curved stone wall - roots the building to the earth. The sanctuary is encased within the surrounding program and defined by the convex intrusion of a multipurpose gathering hall. Connections between crucial spaces dictate the remaining circulation. The facade facing the street is open to the Fellowship Hall and the procession space before it. This transparency is important to create a visible sense of community.
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Classrooms. Playgrounds. Fields. The concept of a school struggles to break away from this typical organization. Subsequently, the students of today have grown to see the enclosure of a classroom as their only learning space. This project seeks to break that stigma. The building enclosure of the school entwines itself around and through the site, creating ample opportunities for learning within and outside of its walls. Teachers can at any point break from the typical classroom lecture, walk across a hallway, and take the kids outside to study the plant life or water flow. Students get real-world interactions with life around them, and come to realize that learning can take place anywhere, not just within the confines of a school. Using the parti of DNA, this school promotes constant, dynamic learning through interconnected spaces of activity, exploration, community, and creativity.
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ART AND MEDIA FOCUS COMMUNITY INTERACTIONS SITE RELATIONSHIP HEALTH AND EXERCISE DISCOVERY AND PLAY SCIENCE AND EARTH FOCUS
The spread of learning is not just vertical - break out spaces connect different grades with each other as well as with the community spaces, allowing for continuous breaching of the usual age gap. Unique creations allow for the students to engage in more than one thing at a time, all the time.
CIRCULATION INTER-FLOOR LEARNING CENTRAL STAIRWELLS
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playgrounds
library/media center gymnasium
cafeteria
art wing
science wing
soccer and baseball fields
community space study plazas
vehicular circulation
community plaza
biofiltration basin art/health gardens
l e a r n i n g
administration
d y n a m i c
bus circulation
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An exploration of the waste cycle on a human scale. The plaza focuses on bringing a normally invisible process - waste management - to the forefront of design. Drawing from the site topography and nearby waterfall, grids defining the bathrooms and water flow interact with changing elevations to create public and private areas. Located near the front of campus, the organic plaza welcomes visitors with a functional and enticing design that speaks to Virginia Tech's focus on sustainability. With lighting powered by the nearby stream and a solar hot water panel that runs heated pipes through the buildings year-round, the plaza's adoption of a hydroponic waste filtering system is only one of the many education opportunities provided. Thresholds play an important role in seperating the gathering space from the individual bathrooms. Steps carry you from the unrelenting outside world to a private space of comfort and mysticism. Light refracts and catches through a faceted skylight, and the wetlands that encroached upon your head as you descended are now resting on a more inherent level. The juxtaposition of these dynamic relationships creates a haven for the passerby. +collaboration with Shannon Standish
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Living Machine: a hydroponic system 1. blackwater from toilets and rainwater runoff collect and are processed in an an-aerobic tank
3. bacteria, plants, and overflow wetlands filter and clean waste water
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4. filtered water can then be reintroduced into the local landscape
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2. the water is then piped through aerobic tanks in a solar greenhouse for nitrification
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Olympic parks have a tendency to define the atmosphere of the games. However, when the Games are over, cities struggle to hold onto the legacy that once was. This plaza and amphitheatre space are designed not only to be a lively interaction point for the public during the Games, but after as well. Located on the banks of the IJ along the North Sea Canal, the amphitheatre serves as a viewing platform for both the stage area and recurring water events, such as SAIL Amsterdam. The structure is monolithic and cradled in the earth, declaring its permanence. The plaza functions as a tram, pedestrian, and bicycle crossing point, as well as being a setting for recreation, relaxation, and public art. Shops line the walkway and a fountain is central within the main open space, announcing its presence to the city. The risers above the plaza and seating within create a miniature theatre experience, as people can stop to sit and observe the happenings of their fellow inhabitants. During the games, the plaza is to be full of shops and Olympic exhibits, which can be extended to enhance public interaction on the site.
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The landscaping of this project was determined through careful considerations of slope and viewing angles. Creating secluded areas to juxtapose open space led to paths that carved themselves into the earth. This separation of spaces in such a distinct manner will allow for many future uses of the space. Allowing the pathways to take the user on a journey created a unique viewing experience as one travels adjacent to the waters of the IJ. Choosing to walk up and overlook the main plaza, travelers can pause and watch the fountain or continue to the amphitheatre. Approaching this monolithic structure from any angle isa bit daunting, but purposefully so. As one walks into the structure, they are compressed and released into an open space with a beautiful view down the Canal, reminding them of the central aspects of their city and culture.
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Cities are on the rise. But the suburban atmosphere is still something most people yearn for, especially when raising a family or connecting as a community. In the setting of a city, this sense of community can be hard to come by. Tasked with the way to bring that feeling into a typical high rise tower in the middle of Manhattan, the response was simple : give them a place to come together. To laugh, to sing, to perform, to respond, to relax. Designed to amplify mic-less performances, this small theatre space mimics the casual feel of a small public park or amphitheatre, yet aligns with the standards of high-class city living.
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Much more than just a place to watch performances, the amphitheatre space creates a focal community gathering place. It defines and enhances the neighborhood feel that is very often lacking in the city. Locals can meet friends, sit to rest and eat lunch, or come together to watch the sun set over the Hudson River. Groups can put on impromptu shows or stage events to bring their community ideals into the growing city lifestyle.
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Intertwined, we all influence each other in ways unseen. This piece attempts to document the interactions surrounding one human's life. The thin lines are made visible and the web that surrounds the single person becomes tangled and untangled and pushed around and cherished and suffocated by the golden ribbons meant to enlighten and breathe life. Projections jut from the ground mental and physical barriers created to hide and reshape the one life. Climbing and tumbling across and around obstacles that may have been self-inflicted, the person struggles to climb to freedom. Trapped and overpowered they break and snap and throw themselves from the ledge to escape and they dangle by one golden strand spinning and twirling, suspended, the singular life pushed over the edge by tens of thousands of needs and taunts and unfulfilled promises; is slowly and surely pulled back up. one person stands at the other end of that golden thread, holding on for dear life. saved. it only takes one.
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SCALE: 1/64” = 1’-0”
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In the consumerist society we inhabit today, it is difficult to retreat from the barrage of media focus on wealth. This production takes people from all walks of life into one of their most beloved iconic theatres - Hamer Hall. They enter through the gold and velvet interior to take their seats for what is expected to be a typical production of Sleeping Beauty. While they are brought on a journey of joy paused, fought for, and found through love - the space they entered through is being drastically altered. It is the end of the show, and instead of the lights coming up, a single spotlight shines from a "hole" in the roof. The theatre appears to be in shambles. The audience looks around, confused but still reeling from the show. They exit into hallways that have physically crumbled around them, vines and stones littering the ground. They stumble through the destruction, and as they pour back into the outside world they are greeted by a lone man with a digeridoo. A child approaches him and he starts to play. A crowd gathers and a few aborigines join in the music. As the people are faced with the roots of their culture, they are truly face to face with themselves.
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"Millions of men have lived to fight, build palaces and boundaries, shape destinies and societies; but the compelling force of all times has been the force of originality and creation profoundly affecting the roots of human spirit." -Ansel Adams
Melbourne: a city defined by the rise and fall of the Australian gold rush. Hamer Hall: a space carved from the earth - then reclaimed and doused in gaudy glamour.
2500 people 50+ technicians 20 performers 10 aboriginal performers 1-2 hours
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cari4231@vt.edu 847.987.1387