design portfolio casey gaipa
table of contents
01
King Street Ferry Terminal Alexandria, VA Spring 2019
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Funerary Chapel Riva San Vitale, CH Fall 2018
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VaTech Review Rooms Blacksburg, VA Spring 2018
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The Booty Holder Spring 2019
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Svigals + Partners VR Renderings New Haven, CT Summer 2018
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caseygaipa.org Spring 2020
01
KING STREET FERRY TERMINAL Walking down King Street in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia is like reading a book from start to finish. What marks the introduction is the George Washington Masonic Memorial, offering historical background that sets the reader up with the context for the rest of the story. Witnessing the plot twist and turn as the buildings transition in style, the author carefully leads you down this lively, commercial strip filled with trendy restaurants, contemporary boutiques, established antique shops and local watering holes, bringing together tourists and natives alike. This carefully curated procession to the waterfront, however, was missing its conclusion. With this intervention, the site was asking for a simple and classic design, with a steel frame supporting the clean glass box, and a warm wooden screen that wraps around the exterior, peeling away towards the water front to allow for views up and down the Potomac, where you can watch your ferry boat pull up to the dock, or the planes landing and taking off at Reagan airport. A concrete plight holding the building above the FEMA flood level of 13 feet, it activates the end of king street by offering a public plaza for visitors and locals alike to gather.
02
FUNERARY CHAPEL While studying abroad in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland in the fall of 2018, my studio’s project worked on the site of a cemetery in the small town. Situated directly off the main road, the cemetery is nestled in a valley of two mountain ranges, Monte San Giorgio and Monte Generoso. The project was separated into two phases, the first being an enclosure around the entire cemetery to replace the current deteriorating wall, and the second phase a funerary chapel. I began thinking about the enclosure of the cemetery in terms of its materiality and explored which materials would speak to concept of a lifetime, a material that would visibly show its aging process, while maintaining a sense of belongingness to the area that it was in. Corten steel panels stagger around the site boundary, angeled so light can still fill the inside of the cemetery and concave indentations to allow for seating and moments of rest. The gap between each panel of corten reveals a tree, creating a second tier of the enclosure. As the light filters through the leaves, it frames the mountains eclipsing over the very tops of the branches. In terms of the funerary chapel, the large gesture of a thick, archaic concrete wall creates a sound barrier to the busy road to ensure a quiet atmosphere inside the chapel. Deep inset windows puncture through the concrete wall, and at certain times of the day illuminate the interior of the more delicate chapel, a simple geometric form made of the same corten steel used for the enclosure.
site plan
site section explores the three tiers demonstrated in the project. first the corten wall, second the trees, third the mountains
floor plan
section a
section b
section c
north elevation
south elevation
03
VIRGINIA TECH CAUS REVIEW ROOMS What is the sacred space in a school of architecture?...you have so many rooms. The rooms can have rough walls; it doesn’t matter. You can pin things up any place you want to. You can throw paint on the floor. The classroom can be a Jackson Pollock, but when you come to the jury room – no. There should be something wonderful about it. It should be a place where you can have tea...and it should always be a friendly room. It’s always a sanctuary, you see. It is not a room where you sit around as if you are on trial. It is just a great room. It is the sacred space in the school of architecture. Louis Kahn Conversations with Students, p. 64-66 In the spirit of Louis Kahn, I crafted an Architectural Proposition in the form of a freestanding building that can provide appropriate spaces for a cafe, gallery, and three review rooms to be used by the Virginia Tech College of Architecture and Urban Studies. This began with a wooden box inside a glass box. Here, I began to explore how different qualities of light began to inform the use of different spaces, and began qualifying how different material palettes can encourage/ discourage different learning atmospheres.
elevations above and cross sections below, demonstrating open air spaces for outdoor seating and cafe, also how the inner wooden box interacts with the outer glass box
structural axonometric charcoal drawing, conveying the “bones� of the building
(left) model light studies during daylight, exploring natural light qualities. the wooden interior box houses the art gallery, controlling the amount of light that enters. (right) model light studies, at night with artificial lighting. the idea of a glass box allows for other students in different disciplines at the campus to see what architecture students do on a typical day.
(left) sketches exploring curtain wall system, concrete studies testing color and angle tolerances (right) detailed wall section
THE BOOTY HOLDER The concept behind this chair was to create a flat-pack design that could be quickly manufactured, easily put together/taken apart, and situated in many different settings. After moving my own furniture several times over the past 4 years, not only was I frustrated with how complicated the packing process was with all my belongings, but more importantly--my dad was frustrated (he was doing the most of the heavy lifting of my bulky belongings) I designed this chair with my dad in mind, it’s easy assembly eliminated our annual fight over putting together Ikea furniture.
STUDY MODELS Study models were crucial to the design process for this specific project, they allowed me to test my ideas quickly and inexpensively. Using AutoCAD and the laser cutter, i would test out different forms and proportions, limiting myself to the scale size of a piece of 4x8 plywood. It took several iterations before I was finally happy with a style for the chair, taking inspiration from Bauhaus designers and modern furniture design. The forms become playful adaptations of these modern ideals, and the chair is assembled by sliding the pieces together with no glue or hardware necessary to keep it together.
Yara and Kiersten enjoying a cup of tea on a pair of Booty Holders.
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SVIGALS + PARTNERS RENDERINGS, NEW HAVEN, CT. In the summer of 2018 during my internship at Svigals + Partners in New Haven, CT I was given the opportunity to create virtual reality renderings and walk through videos of their project for the Bergami Center for Science, Technology & Innovation at the University of New Haven. Using Revit and Enscape, I created these videos which the firm used in conferences on education, meetings with their clients, and marketing purposes. Scan the QR code below with your phone camera to see the full video on Vimeo.
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CASEYGAIPA.ORG To see even more designs, blog posts, and other things I am interested in, check out my website which goes into more detail. My love for simple and clean design is a culmination of all of these experiences, and it is something that I hope is prominent in my work! Scan the QR code below with your phone camera to see the full website.
Studio culture has been crucial to my education as an architect since the beginning. It is where my colleagues and I discuss our work, collaborate and share ideas, explore new methods, and feed our curiosities. The cover photos that scroll on the main page are film photos I took in studio, partially for me to look back on and remember why I love this field so much, and partially to show to others how important an open studio is. Overflowing with resources; not just material, but the ability to bump into a professor on the elevator and have a more meaningful conversation in two minutes than some might get in an hour-long lecture. The spontaneity of the space offers something that traditional work spaces will never achieve.
cg Casey Gaipa
email caseyg30@vt.edu phone 203-915-8152
Education Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, B.Arch 2020
Achievements & Honors Dean’s List, Fall 2015-Spring 2019
Skills AutoDesk Revit 2018 Enscape 2018 Sketchup 2018 Sefaira InDesign CC 2017 Photoshop CC 2017 Microsoft Office AutoDesk AutoCad
Job Experience Svigals + Partners, Summer 2018 Summer 2019 Architectural Intern, New Haven, Connecticut Anthropologie, Sales Associate, February-May 2019, Old Town Alexandria, Virginia Town of Southbury, Connecticut Parks Department, Summer 2017 Park maintenance Newbury Place, 20132017, Sales Associate
Leadership & Community Service AIAS Member, Volunteer Fall 2017-Present
I volunteer with The American Institute of Architecture Students when needed and am part of a close knit community that offers workshops and learning experiences to help advance professional architecture skills.
Step Up Community Service Leader Spring 2016-Spring 2017
I have been involved with STEP UP (Students Together Engaging in & Practicing Ut Prosim) since my freshman year in college, working closely with my peers, VT Engage, and community partners to coordinate service trips based on community-identified need. I am trained to develop engaging, learning-centered reflections for each trip. I share a passion for service with my co leaders.
Serve Living Learning Community Mentor Fall 2015-Present
I participated in a living learning community in my dorm freshman year that was centered around a shared passion for community service and community engagement. Now as an upperclassman I serve as a mentor for the underclassmen and participate in service and working with community partners.
Habitat for Humanity Fall 2015
I volunteered at a new-build house in Roanoke, Virginia during a weekend trip in Fall, 2015. I assisted with framing walls and raising them, shoveling gravel into basement foundation.
Appalachian Service Project Fall 2016
I led a student trip to Rainelle, West Virginia immediately after the floods occurred that year, where we worked with Appalachian Service Project non-profit organization and helped renovate houses that were damaged by the floods. I installed insulation and new drywall to the affected areas of the homes. As a group of ten we worked on about four homes over a three day period.
Common Ground Relief Wetlands, LLC, New Orleans Spring 2016
I volunteered for a service trip to New Orleans and worked with Common Ground Relief which is a non-profit organization headquartered in the Lower Ninth Ward. Throughout the week we worked on wetland restoration and rehab of homes throughout the Lower Ninth Ward. I learned about community advocacy, new home construction, wetland restoration, and other environmental issues that are still occurring in their community post-Katrina.