ELISE CHELAK DESIGN PORTFOLIO
ELISE CHELAK Syracuse University School of Architecture Bachelor of Architecture, Cum Laude 2019 Real Estate Minor erchelak@syr.edu 201.446.5143
CONTENTS urban design
01
Revitalizing Brewerytown / Philadelphia, PA
architecture
02
Keuka Lake Seaplane Center / Hammondsport, NY
city planning
03
Reconnect / Syracuse, NY
public space
04
Acqua Alta / Venice, IT
corporate landscape
05
Google Campus / Sunnyvale, CA
transportation infrastructure
06
PATH Station / Harrison, NJ
historical preservation
07
Palazzo Nuovo / Florence, IT
regional planning
08
JFK Express / Brooklyn & Queens, NY
cartography
09
City of Brotherly Love / Philadelphia, PA
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
Revitalizing Brewerytown
In the late 1800s, the once industrial Brewerytown neighborhood contained hundreds of breweries and held the title of ‘America’s Beer Capital’. Once Prohibition was introduced in 1920, almost all the breweries left for the Midwest. Since then, the area has seen crime and blight in the 1990s, and now in the 21st century, a wave of gentrification. As a result, the Brewerytown district today has scant allusion to its incredible past, and a lack of its former identity, cultural essence and sense of place. The neighborhood’s previous brewing industry landscape and structures are almost completely eradicated, save for a few. The intention of this project is to return Brewerytown’s spirit of place to the community. Outcomes of the design process will inform considerate interventions to spur community revitalization, specifically taking shape through public space. The instances of placemaking will act as urban acupuncture, which are small-scale interventions to transform the larger urban context.
Course: ARC 508 / Thesis Advisor: Julia Czerniak
Features: Interactive Water Fountain / Refrigerated Slab Outdoor Rink Beer Garden Farmers Market Stalls Outdoor Theater Green Corridor Infrastructure Custom Outdoor Furniture Revitalizing Brewerytown | Philadelphia, PA
Revitalizing Brewerytown | Philadelphia, PA
Revitalizing Brewerytown | Philadelphia, PA
HAMMONDSPORT, NEW YORK
KEUKA LAKE SEAPLANE CENTER
Operating as a satellite location to the nearby Glenn Curtiss Aviation Museum, this new facility aims to further educate the public on Hammondsport’s history as the birthplace of the aviation industry. The existing land contains a dilapidated motel with opportune access to the water and breathtaking views of Keuka Lake. The new seaplane center will serve as a placemaking asset to the Hammondsport community and economy by attracting tourists, students, and aviation enthusiasts from all over. The green roof courtyard is accessible to all and is a public space for people to gather and indulge in the spectacle of flight. In collaboration with Rutuja Ganoo.
Course: ARC 409 / Comprehensive Studio Instructor: Elizabeth Kamell Features: Green Roof Courtyard Waterfront Amphitheater Seaplane Hangar Underground Restoration Workshops Raised Skylights Flight School Classrooms Aviation Exhibition; Library; Cafe
Keuka Lake Seaplane Center | Hammondsport, NY
* *
*
*
Keuka Lake Seaplane Center | Hammondsport, NY
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13
1. Glulam Columns 2. Steel Metal Wire to Wood Pin Connection 3. Aluminum Facade Mullion Structure 4. Metal Shutter Gate 5. Electrically Operated Windows 6. Cross Laminated Timber Beams, 10� 7. Steel V-Shape King Trusses 8. Steel Mullion Connection to Concrete Foundation Wall 9. King V Plate 10. King V Cable 11. Reinforcing Mesh 12. Radiant Floor Heating Tubing 13. Shear Walls
Keuka Lake Seaplane Center | Hammondsport, NY
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK
Reconnect: Downtown Syracuse Connective Corridor
This proposal reevaluates the existing Connective Corridor project in Syracuse, established in 2005, with the intended purpose of connecting the city’s downtown to the University Hill area. Although the Connective Corridor created a physical connection to these areas, (via bike lane and bus routes), the city has found it is being underutilized. After walking and surveying the corridor, it became evident that there was a lack of presence of Syracuse University in the downtown area. Because of that finding, this project inserts academic program along the Connective Corridor into abandoned buildings or vacant lots, so that students will be motivated to make use of the Connective Corridor in traveling to their everyday classes. In collaboration with Rutuja Ganoo.
Course: ARC 307 Instructor: Daekwon Park Features: Pocket Park Hardscape Plaza Outdoor Movie Theater Classrooms Library; Cafe Auditorium Wayfinding
Reconnect: Downtown Syracuse Connective Corridor | Syracuse, NY
Reconnect: Downtown Syracuse Connective Corridor | Syracuse, NY
VENICE, ITALY
Acqua Alta: Piazza San Marco
In large part due to the increasing rise in sea level brought on by climate change, Venice has been and is still experiencing what the Italians call Acqua Alta, or exceptional tide peaks. The Acqua Alta season brings disastrous flooding to the island, and forces the city to employ temporary passerelles, or footbridges, for people to walk on. This design solution revisits and reimagines the existing wooden passerelles in Piazza San Marco. The new causeways are extruded along the original piazza’s white stone pattern axes, and also differ in elevation to create varying experiences based on the tide heights. The new passerelles do not move when Acqua Alta concludes, unlike the existing, but instead offer a use for the public to sit on when there is no flooding present. In collaboration with Virginia Paulk.
Course: ARC 500-4 / Public Space Instructor: Matilde Cassani Features: Custom Outdoor Furniture Permanent Footbridges Flood Mitigation
Acqua Alta: Piazza San Marco | Venice, IT
*
Acqua Alta: Piazza San Marco | Venice, IT
Acqua Alta: Piazza San Marco | Venice, IT
SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA
Google Campus
The Google Campus project is a masterplanning effort to develop the nearby surrounding community of Sunnyvale, and design an environment that encourages a healthy work-life balance for Google employees and the public. The proposal integrates a designated bike and pedestrian loop that is parallel to bioswale and green corridor infrastructure. Additionally, the loop circulates around the enclosed courtyard for visitors and Google employees. The courtyard will contain a variety of programs for people to take part in. Plan, sections, and rendering produced in collaboration with design team for West 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture.
Firm: West 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture
Features: Bike Lane Pedestrian Lane Bioswales Green Corridor Infrastructure Enclosed Courtyard Custom Fence
Google Campus | Sunnyvale, CA
Google Campus | Sunnyvale, CA
HARRISON, NEW JERSEY
PATH STATION
The Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) is a rapid transit system connecting New Jersey to Manhattan. In 2012, the Harrison Station Replacement Project began with an agenda of updating the dilapidated station’s four head houses. As of summer 2017, the Northeast and Southeast head houses were being constructed, while the Northwest and Southwest head house designs were being revisited. The following work documents the schematic design development of the West Side head houses; in particular, conceptual sketches and models aim to reflect a consistent architecture to the East Side. Model produced in collaboration with design team for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.
Firm: Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
Features: Ticket Stations Automated Fare Collection ADA Compliant: Elevators Access to Tracks Mechanical Room Storage
PATH Station | Harrison, NJ
PATH Station | Harrison, NJ
FLORENCE, ITALY
Palazzo Nuovo
Radical Architecture aggressively engages historical images by inserting fantastical images into the landscape, operating strictly in provocative imagery. This project reimagines Radical Architecture’s experiential qualities as a new way of thinking about preservation. By flipping the Palazzo Vecchio form on top of the original, the building’s spatial experience is further exaggerated. The facade reflects a postmodernism translation of idiosyncratic elements; similarly to the way Radical Architecture rejects tradition, postmodernism is a rejection of what came before it. In collaboration with Rex Hughes.
Course: ARC 407 Instructor: Kyle Miller Features: Museum / Exhibition Space Experiential Elevator through Inverted Clock Tower Additional Rooms for Florence City Government Rooftop Lookout with Glass Floor
Palazzo Nuovo | Florence, IT
Palazzo Nuovo | Florence, IT
BROOKLYN & QUEENS, NEW YORK
JFK EXPRESS
This masterplan integrates a high-speed rail system into green corridor infrastructure (park system), allowing people to travel from the Brooklyn Army Terminal to JFK Airport in only fifteen minutes. JFK Express is inspired by existing rapid transit airport rail links like the Heathrow Express in the U.K., traveling between the London Heathrow Airport to Paddington in only fifteen minutes. People from New York and New Jersey can easily access the Brooklyn Army Terminal by ferry or subway. The green corridor along the rail line has intersecting green boulevards that connect Brooklyn’s parks to the Jamaica Bay coastline. These boulevards allow inland inhabitants to easily access prime New York waterfront through designated bike and pedestrian lanes.
Course: ARC 408 / Visiting Critic Instructor: Daniel Vasini Features: High-Speed Rail Green Corridor Infrastructure Park System Tree-Lined Boulevards Designated Bike + Pedestrian Lanes Waterfront Parks
JFK Express | Brooklyn & Queens, NY
JFK Express | Brooklyn & Queens, NY
0'
1000'
PHILADELPHIA, PA
City of Brotherly Love
Featured in Syracuse University’s New York Fisher Center exhibition celebrating the “art of cartography”. The set of drawings illustrate the urban and park system cartography of the city of Philadelphia at various scales. The maps were manually drafted in AutoCAD and were inspired by figure-ground representation.
Course: ARC 408 / Visiting Critic Instructor: Daniel Vasini
City of Brotherly Love | Philadelphia, PA
City of Brotherly Love | Philadelphia, PA
City of Brotherly Love | Philadelphia, PA