Alexandra Cole Portfolio by Alexandra Cole

2018 / 2021

Architecture Portfolio

Master of Architecture / University of Cincinnati Bachelor of Science in Building Science / Appalachian State University

Selected Works

ALEXANDRA COLE

Alexandra Cole Architecture Portfolio

issuu.com/colealexandra alexandra.austin.cole@gmail.com 252.814.3996

ALEXANDRA COLE W. issuu.com/colealexandra T. 252.814.3996 E. alexandra.austin.cole@gmail.com

E D U C AT I O N

University of Cincinnati / Cincinnati, OH Master of Architecture, 2021 Appalachian State University / Boone, NC Bachelor of Science in Building Science, 2017

EXPERIENCE

Porter Building Company / Greenville, NC Architectural Intern, May - August 2020 Apprenticed to a finish carpenter on custom residential homes, ranging 2,700 - 3,200 square feet each. Assumed responsibility for installing crown molding, wainscoting, baseboard, window and door trim, stairways, and closets. ZGF Architects / Seattle, WA Architectural Intern, August - December 2019 Detailed below grade conditions within the design development phase of the Microsoft headquarters campus in Redmond, Washington. ZGF designed five of the proposed seventeen buildings, ranging 180,000 - 220,000 square feet each. Costa Brown Architecture / San Francisco, CA Architectural Intern, January - May 2019 Digitally modeled existing and proposed conditions for the 8,300 square-foot fit-out for San Francisco’s Rent the Runway flagship store. Assisted with producing the permit and construction document set. Costa Brown Architecture served as the Architect of Record. Interior Architecture and Design, IDeA / Raleigh, NC Architectural Intern, May - August 2016 Assisted with the design process and specification of furniture systems and finish materials for a 40,000 square-foot workplace in Research Triangle, NC. IDeA has since merged with EwingCole.

APTITUDES

Autodesk Revit, Rhinoceros 3D, Autodesk AutoCAD, Adobe InDesign, Revu BlueBeam, Adobe Illustrator, 3D Modeling, Adobe Photoshop, Laser Cutting, Finish Carpentry, V-Ray, Google SketchUp, Grasshopper 3D, OSHA 30 Certified

HONORS

Outstanding Thesis Project / University of Cincinnati, 2021 Graduate Scholarship / University of Cincinnati, 2018 Magna Cum Laude / Appalachian State University, 2017 Design Excellence Award / Appalachian State University, 2017 Outstanding Student in Building Science Award / Appalachian State University, 2017

Index

Academic

page 1

The UnConventional Center

page 23

Columbus Athenaeum

3 Fulton Place

page 29

4 Hillside Micro(s)

page 37

Kings Road Hou

page 43

use

page 47

AI’s Midwest Reality

page 53

AI’s Midwest Domesticity

Professional

page 63

Corporate Reinvention

page 67

Rent The Runway

10 Microsoft HQ

page 73

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1 / 10

MArch Thesis / Ed Mitchell 2021 Outstanding Thesis Project Award Spring 2021 Seattle, WA

The unconventional center The modern city was once totalizing and functionally determined but is now divided by a mix of artificial environments. Conventional in its banality, yet unconventional in its representations, the UnConventional Center seeks to propose an architecture of a self-contained internalized world. This project proposes an architecture which is collectively an abstraction, exaggeration, and accurate portrayal of the realities of the city. Sited in the fragmented city of Seattle, Washington, this project tests the role of architecture in a city which functions off a collection of independent entities. This proposal creates an architecture to foster the inexorable blending of fragments, an architecture that functions as the city Seattle never quite is.

The UnConventional Center intensifies and concentrates urban effects in its program and representation as it emphasizes consumption just as much as production. Indulging in a series of interior sections, this project renders artificial spaces as both encapsulating and nonbelonging, collected and independent. Through the marriage of the magical and the banal, this proposal re-conceptualizes the preconceived notions of a convention center and the modern city. The modern city is a collection of enclaves, but these conditions are everywhere.

p. 2

_1: City _2: Industry _3: Housing _4: Suburbs

p. 3

The city of Seattle is governed by corporations. The effects of corporate control is now the most significant infrastructure for affecting change within this city. p. 4

p. 5

Whole Foods Grocery

Street Signage

c Public Bus Stop

p. 6

p. 7

The modern city is a homogeneous soup. The differences in building qualities have become so minute, there might as well be no differences at all. The UnConventional Center is an attempt to undermine such conditions. Background site plan (left) w/o building design sourced by Kevin Pazik in ‘Wrong Transfers’

p. 10

Plan_1: Sprawl of Fragments 10%

Plan_3: Sprawl of Fragments 70%

Plan_2: Sprawl of Fragments 90%

Plan_4: Sprawl of Fragments 30%

Characterized by a plan filled with fragments of architectural plans, the architectural field of the UnConventional Center is complex, and always shifting.

It has been observed how we often build incredible amounts of infrastructure all to support the most banal of common ideals.

Characterized by systems which match the consumers demands, we are placed in an environment entangled with connections allowing constant deconstruction and reconstruction.

At first these systems appear to operate through their own boundaries, but they are all part of the same speculative system.

The modern city is a collection of enclaves,

but these conditions are everywhere. p. 21

The UnConven

ntional Center

p. 22

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Architecture Portfolio

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2 / 10

MArch Studio / William Williams Bay Model Study Fall 2018 Columbus, IN

COLUMBUS ATHENAEUM For this design brief students were expected to produce a detailed bay model which would illustrate strategies for construction, volume, site, and structure for a proposed site in Columbus, Indiana. This project was first approached based on utilizing a double-skin facade system. This system manifested across the facade of the structure to respond to different programmatic spaces and their space defining elements. In the fabrication of the bay model, a demonstration of material and assembly strategies through the construction of several spaces and the movement between these programmed spaces was explored.

The conventional facade system is regarded as a barrier between interior and exterior environments. Physical explorations of a bay model were intended to respond to a program which ranged in its degree of privacy and move to a facade serving as a dynamic space itself, allowing occupants to move within and occupy as a space of its own. Representative of a civic architecture, the design of the many facades of the Columbus Athenaeum celebrate the small transactions between the users of the space and the vitality of the city.

p. 24

p. 25

Visually Accessible

Passing Thru

Circulating Within

d Occupying

A gradient of the mullion system was utilized on the facade of the ground floor to signify a change in the program’s level of privacy. On the second level, mullions are used to provide a moderate degree of privacy within the circulation space.

p. 28

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MArch Studio / Andrew Tetrault Urban Design Partner: Lauren Meister Summer 2019 Cincinnati, OH

FULTON PLACE An urban design proposal embodies a position about, and has consequences for, urban life and urban form. This studio examined how one represents, analyzes, constructs and projects the future design of an urban site. The mixed-use planning of Fulton place aims to add a vibrant community to the city of Cincinnati through an urban walkable environment of well curated spaces. This project follows the urban design concept of placing points of interest, ranging from 800-1,000 feet, across the site as a guideline for creating dynamic destinations as visitors navigate the riverfront district. Points of interest can range from sculptural pieces, landscape manipulations, and signature buildings. This project sets the ambitious goal to create a site which seamlessly integrates into Cincinnati’s context whilst simultaneously defining a new face for the city.

Through an exploration of positive and negative spaces; this scheme is characterized by a centrally located transportation and commercial hub and highly irregular shaped residential buildings along the riverfront edge which frame different spaces of activity. Exploring a series of conditions along the water’s edge allowed the site to reveal public moments to the riverfront balanced by private courtyards enclosed by the unique building footprint. In the intermediate zone between a series of residential buildings and a strip of commercial property most accessible to the public, individuals experience a space that seamlessly integrates these different sectors. This internal path promotes the lifestyle of visitors and residents offering mixed use services that activate the site for longer hours of the day.

p. 30

p. 31

Welcome Center

Existing Sculpture

Transportation Hub

Water Feature

Existing Outfitted Structure

This scheme is characterized by a centrally located transportation and commercial hub and residential buildings along the riverfront edge with an unconventional footprint.

p. 35

Transportation Hub

Existing Sculpture

Structure Layout

Fill Voids

Fill/Surround Voids

Surround Voids

Float Structures

Stack

Maintain Views

p. 36

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4 / 10

MArch Studio / Michael McInturf Zier Place Study Summer 2018 Cincinnati, OH

HILLSIDE MICRO(s) The site of the Hillside Micro Housing project is in the intermediate hillside zone between the Over-the-Rhine (OTR) district of Cincinnati and the University of Cincinnati (UC) district. OTR is comprised of Cincinnati’s oldest and most historic neighborhoods and through transformations over the last decade is now regarded as Cincinnati’s premier entertainment district. The UC area caters to students; providing ample housing, entertainment, and dining all within walking distance of the campus. The Hillside Micro Housing project explored who the target clientele would be for this site, supported through site and demographic analysis of the adjacent districts. Explorations involved occupying the site with several units between one and six and found that smaller microunits would attract a younger clientele from the University area, but would also allow flexibility for a family to occupy both levels of the stacked block design.

The design of the Hillside Micro Housing project was heavily shaped by hillside zoning allowances and existing plot lines on the site. Exploring how to give each unit its own identity was generated from the dimensions of each unit. Each unit was given the same footprint, 500 square feet, and the existing width of the plot dictated the depth of the unit in order to achieve the square footage. Nestled on the hillside overlooking OTR are six stacked units that appear to float over the city. The perception of six floating structures is supported through bridges, which serve as the only point of access for each stacked unit. Entrance stairs are on the carport level for access into either the top or bottom unit. The act of driving onto the roof, as the intermediate zone between lower and upper residences, appears as a spectacle from the bottom of the hillside.

p. 38

The design of the units places the carport level between the lower and upper residences.

p. 41

Site Boundary

Plot Lines

Maintaining Setbacks

Equal SF

Hillside Profile

Bridge Access

Floating Structures

Stacked

1 vs 2 Owner

p. 42

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Integrated Technology / Terry Boling Construction / Detail Partner: Morgan Heald Summer 2019

KINGS ROAD HOUSE The objective of this assignment was to understand the generative role of materials, construction methods, and assembly in defining an architect’s design intent. Through the construction of a physical and composite analytical section model of the Kings Road House in West Hollywood, California, my partner and I articulated an understanding of the operative strategies employed within this existing architectural precedent. Through the fabrication and craft of the final model, we gained an understanding for the spatial, formal, environmental, and material implications of the strategies employed by Rudolph Schindler in this project.

Completed in 1922, the Kings Road House can often be regarded as the first house built in the Modern style. Much of this reputation can be attributed to the spatial qualities of the house, which included no conventional bedrooms or dining rooms, and placed an equal emphasis on exterior conditions as was placed on interior rooms. The residence was conceived as a communal dwelling for two couples, the Schindler and the Chace family. The pin-wheel floor plan included two family wings, a shared kitchen, and a wing with a guest apartment and garage. Two sleeping porches were built on the roof for each couple.

p. 44

The walls of the Kings Road House are made of unfinished concrete, built using a tilt-up concrete construction technique. The process of tilt-slab construction was highly expressive in the interior conditions of the space.

p. 46

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MArch Studio / Heather Bizon Speculative Futures Found / Manipulated Imagery Fall 2020

AI’S MIDWEST REALITY In the Midwest the effects of technological advances are now the most significant infrastructure for affecting change within a society. Society and artificial intelligence are now coexisting and we rely on observations and analysis to see how different sectors of these societies are being remade. AI is putting pressures on nearly all aspects of an individual’s life, and the greatest pressure is data collection. As data collection becomes a common occurrence for these citizens, the land around them is becoming less and less private. The typical Midwest town is starting to see extreme manipulation on existing vernacular as society is now living among AI and reacting to its effect on the landscape. From scenes of the town’s rural surroundings, urban streetscapes, and residential districts, the technological changes are leading to new built forms and generating new forms of subculture.

The familiar form of the Midwest barn is one of the first structures to begin to camouflage itself in an attempt to avoid surveillance. As pressures from AI are ever increasing on the citizens, tensions rise and we begin to see scenes of AI and society at odds. Taking a critical eye to what we are observing around us, we begin to catalog and make sense of why people and forms are behaving and reconstructing themselves the way they are. As more citizens decide they want a life free of data collection, we study their efforts in camouflaging their structures. This studio aimed to understand the pressures of representation in the aesthetics of a future reality, which can be articulated to a point where the familiar becomes strangely other. Experiments with found and manipulated imagery aided in exploring aesthetic and communicative potentials.

p. 48

p. 49

AI Residential Detection

AI Communal Infiltration

AI Rural Infiltration

d AI Residential Infiltration

p. 52

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MArch Studio / Heather Bizon Speculative Futures Found / Manipulated Imagery Fall 2020

AI’S MIDWEST Domesticity One critical area of the individual’s life which has begun to change exponentially, as it feels the pressures of AI, is the home. In an effort to avoid data collection we analyze how this structure is beginning to camouflage itself from detection. AI has drastically changed how the home functions within but also the recognizable form of the home from an exterior view. As we peek inside this new home structure, we observe that an individual no longer owns their own piece of private property, but now shares a piece of the greater volume of the home, and that volume is continuing to evolve. As we zoom in on particular segments of the greater volume of the collective home, we begin to analyze how the programmatic spaces and hierarchy of those spaces are reforming themselves as a result of the camouflaging technique.

This town is now living among artificial intelligence, and as a result recognizable forms such as the neighborhood and home are continuing to change and generate new forms of subculture, which in this case are those wanting a life free of data collection. The privacy of the individual home is being tested as technological advances are making it easier for surveillance to occur behind closed doors. We must adapt ourselves and our spaces to avoid such detection. This studio aimed to understand the pressures of representation in the aesthetics of a future reality, which can be articulated to a point where the familiar becomes strangely other. Experiments with found and manipulated imagery aided in exploring aesthetic and communicative potentials.

p. 54

The privacy of the individual home is being tested. We must adapt ourselves and our spaces to avoid such detection.

p. 57

Facial Detection

Exterior Home Detection

Neighborhood Detection

d Neighborhood Avoidance

p. 59

1 Home

3 Homes

4 Homes

5 Homes

6 Homes

Living Room

Bedroom

Bathroom

Kitchen

Corridor

p. 60

An individual no longer owns their own piece of private property, but now shares a piece of the greater volume of the home.

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p. 63

8 / 10

IDeA Client Confidential Technology Client Completed Fall 2016 Research Triangle, NC IDeA has since merged with EwingCole

CORPORATE REINVENTION The drive for the modern physical workplace to foster creativity and collaboration is engendering a greater variety of work settings to support a greater diversity of needs. The greatest contribution one can make towards an individual and their success is to understand the conditions that help them perform at their highest level. As designers, we have the power to facilitate progress and interpret change by transforming the traditional workplace into a cavernous office that optimizes space for flexible interaction. Interior Architecture and Design (IDeA) uses evidence-based design practices to design through human experiences rather than mere abstraction.

Collaborating on a large-scale commercial project, IDeA was involved in the 40,000 square-foot interior fit-out of a technology client’s corporate campus. Housing over 400 employees, the workplace renovation sought to create innovative work and social spaces through an eclectic mix of furniture styles and materials. The scope of work as an intern for IDeA during this project involved selecting finish materials, generating finish floor plans, and creating finish schedules.

p. 64

The furniture systems and finish materials are meant to enhance the environment of the collaborative spaces. Photos by IDeA

p. 66

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9 / 10

Costa Brown Architecture Design Architect Alda Ly Architecture Architect of Record Costa Brown Architecture Client Rent the Runway Completed May 2019 San Francisco, CA

RENT THE RUNWAY Costa Brown Architecture coordinated the interior design renovation, as Architect of Record, for San Francisco’s Rent the Runway flagship store. Collaborators on this project included Alda Ly Architecture as the Design Architect. Rent the Runway originated as an online e-commerce website that allows customers to rent designer apparel and accessories. San Francisco’s flagship store is the fifth and largest location of Rent the Runway’s physical locations. Located at 228 Grant Avenue, the store is situated in Union Square, San Francisco’s major cosmopolitan district.

The scope of work as a co-op for Costa Brown Architecture during this project involved producing both the permit and construction document set for the 8,300 square-foot interior fit-out. Inside the store, one can expect to find over a dozen fitting rooms, a designated beauty bar area, and communal desk space for co-working. The two-story interiors cater to a member’s option to return or pick up an order, or to browse and try on.

p. 68

Rent the Runway is situated in San Francisco’s Union Square, the city’s largest and most iconic cosmopolitan districts.

Photos by Kassie Borreson kassieborreson.com @haufraufotografie

p. 71

0’0’--551/2” 1/2”

0’0’--00 3/4” 3/4”

0’ -- 11 1/2” 1/2” 0’

0’ -- 4” 4” 0’

Plan Accessory Wall

Plan Self Check-In 1’1’--10” 10”

1’1’--221/2” 1/2” 0’0’--551/2” 1/2”

7’7’--0” 0” 1’1’--10” 10”

1’1’--221/2” 1/2”

0’0’--00 3/4” 3/4”

0’ 0’ -- 3” 3”

Section Self Check-In 0’ -- 3” 3” 0’

2’2’--6” 6”

2’2’--11” 11”

2’2’--10” 10”

2’ 2’ -- 10” 10”

0’0’--1” 1”

6’6’--9” 9”

8’8’--0” 0”

0’ 0’ -- 00 3/4” 3/4”

8’ 8’ -- 0” 0”

0’0’--003/4” 3/4”

0’ 0’ -- 00 3/4” 3/4” 0’ -- 4” 4” 0’

4’4’--3” 3”

0’ -- 4” 4” 0’

4’4’--111/2” 1/2”

1’1’--5” 5”

Section Accessory Wall

0’0’--00 3/4” 3/4”

3’3’--441/2” 1/2”

3’3’--6” 6”

0’ 0’ -- 5” 5”

0’ -- 11 1/2” 1/2” 0’

2’ -- 4” 4” 2’

Section Drop-Off Kiosk 2’ -- 4” 4” 2’ 1’ 1’ -- 10” 10”

0’ -- 3” 3” 0’

0’ -- 5” 5” 0’

0’ -- 11 1/2” 1/2” 0’

0’ -- 9” 9” 0’

0’ -- 10 10 1/2” 1/2” 0’

Plan Drop-Off Kiosk

p. 72

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Architecture Portfolio

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ZGF Architects Client Microsoft In Development Redmond, WA

MICROSOFT HQ The new Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington is aiming to modernize the workplace through the design of a community which will transform the way we work, create and innovate. Recognizing that the workplace environment has evolved from closed offices to an open plan, ZGF Architects has participated in the research and exploration of space strategies that address how work styles have evolved, how the multi-generational workforce is functioning, and overall Microsoft business performance goals. The campus has made plans for 17 new buildings, ranging from 180,000-220,000 square feet each. As one of four design firms working on the project, ZGF Architects is in charge of designing five buildings which collectively create the ‘Washington Village.’

The scope of work as a co-op for ZGF Architects during this project involved working on below grade conditions. Both typical and unique conditions were cataloged between all five buildings. Focus was first placed on developing sections for all conditions, while later advancing areas of these sections into enlarged details. The emphasis on the enlarged details was the design of various waterproofing elements. Although in the design development phase of the project, the waterproofing details were expected to reflect a level of detail more closely aligned to those found in a construction document set.

p. 74

5 13’ - 7 3/4”

7 36’ - 5”

9 40’ - 11”

9’ - 11”

7’ - 0”

8’-2”

BUILDING EXTENT AT LEVEL 2 B.1

36’-1”

28’-11”

30’-0”

’-

0”

TUNNEL CONNECTION TO PARKING GARAGE (NOT IN CONTRACT)

42’-0”

30’-0”

12’-10”

G.1

Basement Floor Plan

p. 75

XPS GEOFOAM DRAINAGE COMPOSITE AND PROTECTION HOT RUBBER AT TUNNEL LID W/ A SEAL COAT AT LID PERIMETER, PER

CONSTRUCTION JOINT AT SLAB AND WALL INTERSECTION METAL DECKING AND SUPPORTS PER STRUCTURAL FIREPROOFING AT SUPPORTS, STEEL BEAMS BEYOND, NOT REQ’D AT DECKING

Section/Detail- Connector Tunnel North South

T.O. SLAB

CONSTRUCTION JOINT AT SLAB AND WALL INTERSECTION

REINFORCED PMMA FLASHING MEMBRANE BY HOT RUBBERIZED ASPHALT MEMBRANE

HOT RUBBER AT REINFORCING

TERMINATION BAR

XPS GEOFOAM

ROOT BLOCK DRAINAGE MAT PROTECTION BOARD HOT RUBBER WATERPROOFING T.O. TUNNEL LID

CONCRETE ON METAL DECK

Section/Detail - Connector Tunnel East West

CONCRETE CURB

T.O. SLAB CONCRETE SLAB XPS GEOFOAM

HOT RUBBER WATERPROOFING

PROTECTION BOARD T.O. TUNNEL LID TERMINATION BAR

BENTONITE PANEL WATERPROOFING CONSTRUCTION JOINT AT SLAB AND WALL

LAP BENTONITE PANEL WATERPROOFING

Section/Detail - Slab Depression

SEAMTAPE ON ALL EXPOSED OVERLAP SEAMS

BENTONITE PANEL WATERPROOFING

issuu.com/colealexandra alexandra.austin.cole@gmail.com 252.814.3996

Architecture Portfolio

Selected Works

Alexandra Cole