Casey Gaipa email caseyg30@vt.edu
cg Education
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Architecture, Class of 2020
Achievements & Honors Dean’s List, Fall 2015-Fall 2018
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 Architectural Intern, New Haven, Connecticut Town of Southbury, Connecticut Parks Department, Summer 2017 Park maintenance Newbury Place, 2013 Present, 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.
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funerary chapel, riva san vitale CH
proto-house, floyd va
virginia tech review rooms, blacksburg va
virtual reality videos made for svigals + partners, new haven, ct
01
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
north elevation perforated corten panels allow more light to enter the cemetery
east elevation thick concrete wall creates a sound barrier from the busy street, draws from the concepts of local archaic architecture in the area with deep inset windows
south elevation trees part to frame the chapel and offer a shaded area for outdoor ceremonies
west elevation massive concrete wall offers space for bathrooms, storage, etc. to allow for interior of steel chapel to be pure
cross section a
cross section b
cross section c
PROTO-HOUSE In this project we were asked to craft an architectural proposition in the form of prototype housing that would be situated in Floyd, Virgina for Habitat for Humanity of the New River Valley. In a group of three, I worked with my peers Sydney Garwood and Yara Abu Kater to design a prototype that used inspiration from the vernacular architecture of rural Virginia and incorporated modern moves to make it more fresh. Our building addressed a selection and integration of a structural system, using a wood frame structure and incorporated a corrugated metal roof. Natural light is abundant from the large windows that double as sliding doors to gain access to the porch. We used a grid system to organize the house, and ensured that if the family wanted to expand their house and add an addition to it in the future, the house was framed in a way were it can easily adapt to additions in a cost effective way. Designing a house that could grow with the family was crucial for us to achieve.
floor plans for a grouping of 4 proto-houses, creating a sense of community with a neighborhood
left: side elevations, section right: exterior view of section model above, and interior view of section model below. simple wood framing and open porches anticipate future additions to the home, encouraging growth for the family.
side elevations, cross section
roof plan
floor plan
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 for cafe, and how the inner wooden box interacts with the outer glass box
structural axonometric charcoal drawing, conveying the “bones� of the building
left: sketch exploring curtain wall system right: detailed wall section
model light studies during daylight, exploring natural light qualities. the wooden interior box houses the art gallery, controlling the amount of light that enters.
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.
full scale study models, sketches exploring how different materials meet together
04
BERGAMI CENTER FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND INNOVATION NEW HAVEN, CT SVIGALS + PARTNERS
While working for Svigals + Partners in New Haven, Connecticut, I used Revit and Enscape softwares to create renderings for their University of New Haven project. Through Revit, I rendered the project in addition with the Enscape plugin, which allowed me to create fly-through videos that the firm could use for marketing purposes. This project is an interdisciplinary classroom building that serves as a central hub for all departments on the campus, where students and faculty can collaborate together. The goal for these renderings were to clearly and easily express to the client the intentions of the proposed design. The Enscape software also allowed for real time changes, which in turn sped up the initial design process by quickly rendering several iterations much faster than ever before.
Bergami Center for Science, Technology, and Innovation New Haven, CT Svigals+Partners
Architecture is art, but art vastly contaminated by many other things. Contaminated in the best sense of the word – fed, fertilized by many things. -Renzo Piano