selected works

Ellen Harris

portfolio selected works completed during my time pursuing an M.Arch at the Princeton University School of Architecture

contents

1/9 within and without the one-room schoolhouse spring 2023

2/9

K-12 in trenton, nj spring 2021

3/9

the meadowlands, a state climate park january 2023

4/9

black architecture 101: a house for … fall 2022

5/9

3-flat + commercial along chicago ave. spring 2022

6/9 object no. 24 summer 2021

7/9

a community center for a community fall 2020

8/9

a house for at least two people fall 2020

9/9

a room fall 2020

Fig. 1

1/2” = 1’ physical model of my graduate thesis project installation at the North Gallery of the Princeton School of Architecture

In the early twentieth century, an argument that the one-room schoolhouse was a hermetic and inefficient model of rural education was supported by the circulation of images that emphasized a sense of its physical solitude. The construction of these images benefited the interests of progressive educational reformers who argued for the consolidation of rural school districts, one goal within a larger national program to modernize America’s education in response to its increasingly industrializing economy. This argument depended in part on the conflation of two forms of isolation, that of the psychic isolation of the rural child and of the physical isolation of the rural schoolhouse.

This thesis proposes the utilization of archival documents to locate schoolhouses that still exist in order to mobilize them and bring them together — in a sense, to consolidate them. However, if school consolidation historically depends on the construction of a single large building that replaces several much smaller ones, necessitating the implementation of an entirely new model, this form of consolidation is interested in maintaining the discrete nature of what is being brought together,

schoolhouse, original location farm house, with children

farm house, no children

allowing for new forms of adjacency instead of

In Taking Care of the Youth and Generations we really understand that in 1920 there was no phonograph, in 1830 no photographs or daily newspapers? of conceiving the extraordinary uniqueness of future?” Similarly, can we really understand room schoolhouses in the United States? If we future of public education that makes our own to return to?

The ubiquity of the American schoolhouse building program. Most were not drawn before construction. There is no national archive of presence is scattered among photo essays in LIFE by the Rural Electrification Administration, bulletins

schoolhouse, abandoned central school

starting of wagon routes

direction of wagon routes note

Fig. 1 before the construction of the gustavus consolidated school in 1901, nine one-room schoolhouses

Fig. 2 after the construction of the gustavus consolidated also, the routes that wagons followed to transport children

of homogenization.

Generations , Bernard Stiegler wonders: “Can no radio, in 1895 no cinema, in 1870 no newspapers? And above all, are we capable of our age - and, perhaps, of imagining a that in 1920 there were almost 200,000 onewe could, would it be possible to imagine a own period seem just as strange and impossible

schoolhouse was not the result of a federal they were built or photographed upon their of the American schoolhouse. Instead, its LIFE magazine spreads, posters commissioned bulletins published by the Department of

Education, photographs taken for the Farm Security Administration, etc. Any one of these archives paints an incomplete picture of what the one-room schoolhouse was, both as a physical structure and a pedagogical model. This is partly because most of the efforts to document the schoolhouse were completed in the first half of the twentieth century, on the eve of its obsolescence. As such, the archival presence of the schoolhouse is seemingly most interested in its decline.

This thesis argues that the reconsideration of the one-room schoolhouse, both as a physical artifact and an archival one, has productive potential for the way we view the rural American school.

It chooses as its primary case study the archive of a project that sought to document country school buildings and preserve the oral histories of those who taught in country schools. Country School Legacy: Humanities on the Frontier was a Mountain Plains Library Association and National Endowment for the Humanities-funded project conducted in 1980, and its archive is currently held by the University of Nebraska at Kearney. As

schoolhouse, relocated

Fig. 3 proposal for alternative version of events, where school existing school buildings were relocated to form a different kind of ‘consolidated’ school

in 1901, one consolidated school children to and from the school

historical events, are specific to the consolidation of gustavus county schools at the turn of the century

part of this project, detailed information was collected on one-room schoolhouses across eight states in the American west, including Nebraska.

This information was documented in site forms that asked surveyors to detail the location of the schoolhouse, the name of the building, the date it was built, the years it was in use, the nature of its construction, names of former teachers, names of former students, the size of the building, the number of windows, of doors, of classrooms, whether or not it had a bell tower, a cupola, an outhouse, a playground, a teacherage, a flagpole, the materials used, the type of roof, the color of the building, the color of the trim, etc. Photos of the schoolhouses were also included, if they were taken. These records allowed me to locate and model seven one-room schoolhouses, all of which are currently still standing in various locations across Nebraska.

The consolidated school represents the increasingly powerful logics of efficiency and standardization that would come to define many aspects of life in the postwar period of the United States. This period — one in which the one-room schoolhouse had all but

disappeared from the nation’s educational landscape desires for the subject-formation of the American a form of education that was bureaucratized and the relative anonymity of the individual child. logics to the way the daily life of the American consolidated school fundamentally changed the

In contradistinction to the one-room physical form to postwar attitudes about standardization schoolhouse resembles a home, the consolidated

Because these consolidated schools were has been increasingly challenged by rural population consolidated schools were constructed to replace twentieth century. As populations have since children to justify the continued presence of

landscape — saw the emergence of new national American child. The consolidated model promoted and standardized, alongside an acceptance of child. By facilitating the application of these American child was structured and organized, the the rural child’s relationship to scale.

schoolhouse, the consolidated school gave standardization in education. If the one-room consolidated school is something more like a factory. were so large, their enduring usefulness population decline. In Sheridan County, NE replace one-room schoolhouses throughout the declined, there are no longer enough of the schools. Today, the neighboring towns

of Rushville and Gordon share a middle and high school, both located in Gordon. While each town maintains their own elementary school, future changes could render either of those buildings similarly obsolete. But while the buildings themselves might become obsolete with population changes, this does not diminish the community’s need for a school.

The model of education proposed by this thesis is less fixed, designed to allow both towns to keep their elementary schools regardless of the number of children who live there. While this school is composed of seven relocated schoolhouses, each building rests on structures that allow for their eventual movement if they are no longer needed.

Consolidation fundamentally changed the way we think about education in America, both physically and ideologically, but its continued presence is no more guaranteed than was the continued presence of the schoolhouse before it. This thesis considers the brilliant simplicity that allowed the one-room schoolhouse to repeatedly permutate and transform, and proposes a model of rural education that holds the same ambitions.

Fig. 5 ground floor plan concrete plinths and steel beams which act as the

above

Fig. 4 [previous page]

1/2” = 1’ physical model installation at the North Gallery of the Princeton School of Architecture

Fig.

Fig. 7 spreadsheet, catalogues the presence of the one room schoolhouse in the archives of the Library of

Fig.

Who

Does it look like it came from a plan book or was it designed by the community?

Designed by community - later, when moved, it was rebuilt from salvaged materials

Size

Historic

Date

Years

Who

Fig. 9 1/2” = 1’ physical model st. deroin school being used as a library in the proposed elementary school

Fig. 10 1/2” = 1’ physical model linden school being used as a classroom in the proposed elementary school

School Legacy: Humanities on the Frontier’ archive

This school in Trenton, NJ follows an educational model in which students are enrolled in throughout the entirety of their primary and secondary education—instead of one in which the transition to middle or from middle to high school happens alongside the physical movement from one school proposal, the lower school (grades k-5) is housed in one wing, or bar, of the campus and the upper is housed in another. These wings are perpendicular to each other and intersect at a corner where up in section to hover above the lower school.

I began the project with research on the experimental school movement of the 1970s, using outside of Copenhagen, Denmark as a primary case study. The school’s administration was interested engages with questions of the organization of bodies, sound, furniture, and teaching aids” and its as a modified open-plan school, with clusters of open classrooms lining large shared spaces.

To create similarly introverted collective spaces in the spatial arrangement of the kindergarten schools on this site, which requires a more tightly packed arrangement than that of the suburban modular unit of six classrooms organized around a hexagonal shared space. The groups are arranged in section, with the shared space of one grade looking over that of the one directly below it. This

Fig. 1 key plan, cut line through section aa

Fig. 2 southwest elevation, long side of upper school ‘bar’ with short side of lower school ‘bar’ at upper left

Fig. 4 section aa, transverse section through upper school at left [1] and through lower school at right [2] [3] auditorium

lower school [k-5]

upper school [6-12]

in the same school transition from elementary to another. In this upper school (grades 6-12) where the lower school steps

using the Peder Lykke School interested in how “spatial work its building was designed kindergarten and elementary precedent, I designed a arranged as a chain, cascading This arrangement allows

for a visual and spatial connection between grades, de-emphasizing the sense of hierarchy between them and allowing students to imagine themselves progressing through the curriculum.

For the middle and high schools, instead of a connected chain of introverted, inward-facing shared spaces, surrounded by classrooms on all sides, the shared spaces are outward-facing and reflect the more autonomous nature of the older students. By inverting the scheme of the lower school—pushing shared spaces to the exterior and creating a more linear network of classrooms that spans two levels in plan—the students have opportunities for socializing and holding meetings with a greater sense of privacy and independence.

The classroom levels of both schools act as a sort of hat that rests above the administrative offices, cafeteria, library, auditorium, and other more public programs below. In the lower school, the cascade in section creates space for large meeting rooms that can be used by local organizations outside of school hours. In the upper school, the more sectionally compact arrangement of classrooms across two levels allows for a more even distribution of public programs, including the library and cafeteria, below the school. By lifting the classrooms themselves off of the ground, the spaces on the ground floor can be accessed both by the students and by the community depending on the time of day.

Fig. 3 digital rendering children approaching the upper school, highest floor of lower school hovering above at corner

Fig. 5

key plan, outline of lower school plan

Fig. 6 digital rendering, view of hexagonal shared space surrounded by classrooms

Fig. 7

sectional concept diagram, cascading arrangement of classrooms in lower school

classroom

Fig.

Fig. 10

rendering, view of shared space with lockers and staircase open to upper floor Fig.

Fig. 13

plan, cut line through section bb Fig. 15

elevation, auditorium and long side of lower school ‘bar’ with short side of upper school ‘bar’ at right Fig. 16

bb, longitudinal section of auditorium and lower school, transverse section of upper school

lower school [k-5]

Fig. 14

digital rendering, lower and upper schools rendered without roof to reveal classroom arrangements

Fig. 17 site plan/ roof plan

the campus is surrounded by residential neighborhoods to the north, east, and south and by a commercial area to the west the lower school is positioned along a quiet residential street [1] while the upper school runs along a slightly busier and more

Fig. 20 lower school plan [‘waterfall’ plan cut through all classroom levels with the bathroom of level three revealed as

Fig. 22 section cc, transverse section through lower school

[1] administrative offices, space for all-school gatherings, [3] art classroom and other specialty classrooms for three, [6] home classroom for lower school grade four

Fig. 18 key plan, outline of lower school plan

completed January 2023

client Research Proposal—The

This competition entry was completed Meredith TenHoor, Zachary Lamb, and Robert Freudenberg study which assesses the possibility of designating State Climate Park. As stated in the project’s state to designate the Meadowlands a State Climate managed natural landscapes can help mitigate Park designation would also help preserve and protect nearby communities, and make it a recreational

In my proposed design for one in a network programming, a set of pavilions allows for various scale of the community to that of the individual. collection of floating lean-to shelters, perform orientation and shape.

Fig. 3 isometric drawing of of all three variations of the

Fig. 1 collage rendering of a pavilion being approached by a canoe

Fig. 2

site plan

Kearny, NJ at left, Keegan Landfill at bottom left, Meadowlands at right

upon the invitation of Mario Gandelsonas, Freudenberg on behalf of an environmental designating the New Jersey Meadowlands as a project’s research proposal, they “advise the Climate Park to demonstrate how properly the impacts of climate change. A Climate and restore the Meadowlands’ natural habitats, recreational resource for the entire region.”

network of water taxi stations and other various forms of transportation from the individual. The pavilions, arranged like a perform different functions based on their

type invited competition, individual work duration one week

The largest and most blocky, a water taxi station, connects residents of nearby Kearny, NJ with a broader network of transportation across the Meadowlands. A slightly smaller structure with a butterfly roof allows residents to rent small boats and reserve private pavilions to explore the landscape at the slower pace of human movement. The dispersed pavilions, which are accessible by kayaks or other small human-powered watercrafts, can be rented by local residents to use for picnics or as a place to rest and read.

As the water level inevitably changes over time, residents who frequent the sites will bear witness to the changing landscape that surrounds them.

welcome center, boat rentals

water taxi station

lean-to pavilion

lean-to pavilion

lean-to pavilion

pavilion in a proposal for one of many possible arrangements

This is a house for Kati Horna.

[b. 19 May 1912, Budapest, Hungary; d. 19 October 2000, Mexico City, Mexico]

The design for her house explores the conceptual ability of poché to indicate not only what is solid but what is unknown or not yet known, understood not only as a representational technique but as a physical, architectural one

My interest in Horna and her work developed alongside an interest in the overlapping artistic communities of European photographers and surrealist artists working in the interwar period. Many of whom, including Horna, moved from Europe to Mexico City as refugees in the late 30s.

After Horna moved to the city in 1939, at the age of 27, her house at 198, Tabasco, Roma Norte, Ciudad de Mexico became a social and artistic hub for other artists who landed nearby, notably Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo, both of whom maintained close

[1]

[2]

friendships with Horna throughout their lives. studio for Horna and her eclectic social circle, its environs.

Because Horna took photographs in several rooms partial knowledge of its organization. The rooms located in the front of the house, rendering unknown back part, conceptualized in this project house, is where the proposed intervention is

This splitting of the house mimics the splitting to a new place, creates a work of art, photographs or has a child, some of which the three women the back of the house, which can be viewed as more conventional home, is constructed of two

Fig. 2 first floor plan [1, 2] darkrooms [3] rafters

Fig. 1 ground floor plan, base condition

the back of the house, reflecting its lack of historical records, rendered in poché

the front of the house, drawn from known measurements and details found in Horna’s photographs

Fig. 3 second floor plan [1] roof of darkroom [2] rafters

lives. Horna’s home became a gathering place and circle, with Horna photographing her friends in rooms of the house, I was able to assume a rooms that appear in these photographs are the back of the house unknowable. This project as occupying exactly one half of the located.

splitting of the self that happens when one moves photographs another, chooses a romantic partner, women experienced together. The intervention in as a single object behind the object of the two identical forms that [when viewed as a

single object] appear like something previously whole but currently broken. Its broken or fractured nature accommodates a chamber that appears like it is made of three things, and it is in this chamber that several darkrooms are located.

The darkrooms are experienced as a kind of inhabitable poché, a private space unknowable to anyone other than Horna, split from the rest of the house.

It is there that she is able to work.

Fig. 4 isometric drawing, chamber inserted into the back half of the house at 198, Tabasco, Roma Norte, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico

Fig. 6 section diagram of proposed intervention to the back half of the house, shrouded by wall separating front and back halves with rafters

Fig. 9 section ff,transverse section through front half of the house

Fig. 5 section diagram of proposed intervention to the back half of the house, darkrooms rendered in black without rafters

Fig. 8

elevation diagram of proposed intervention to the back half of the house without darkrooms or rafters

Fig. 7 section diagram of house, darkrooms with rafters

Fig. 10 section bb, transverse

intervention to the back half of the rendered

Fig. 11 concept model, wood constructed to represent the formal concept of doubling—or splitting—that was later explored in the design of the house two identical ‘halves’ create an illusion that the bottom half has begun to tilt, lifting off of the ground on one side and pushing up into the top half

Because of its set footprint, bounded by the dimensions of a standard 25’ x 125’ Chicago lot, variations of the Chicago three-flat [a typology historically defined by the stacking of three residential flats with or without a commercial level on the ground floor] are often quite predictable. The organization of many typical developer three-flats reinforce strict boundaries between corridors and rooms by directing linear movement to one side of the building and arranging rooms in a row on the other side. This project is interested in questioning these spatial organizations by proposing ways to reinterpret them while maintaining a commitment to the restraints of the building type.

This project proposes the introduction of six equally spaced linear tracks that run along the length of the building and accommodate the two required fire stairs along the party walls. Because of the restricted access to light along the building’s longest sides, placing the stairwells along these walls allows for a large central courtyard in lieu of small light wells wedged between party walls [a common element of threeflats constructed in the early twentieth century]. The 6 x 1 grid, which emphasizes the linearity of the building, is read primarily through a system of headers, the arrangement of which varies among the levels. The differences are a reflection of the varied programs below them, as the headers exist only when there are interior walls for them to rest on.

These walls both divide space and provide storage, as well as emphasize the thresholds between public and private space within the flats. They also stop short of the ceiling to leave room for the headers, allowing light from the hallway, courtyard, or open spaces to flow into smaller rooms. The organizational strategies are consistent both in the commercial ground floor and the residential floors, but the shifting position of the landings and variations in program necessitate some differences between floors.

On the ground floor, the central courtyard and event space along W. Chicago and a more private publishing house that occupies the commercial

On the second and third floors, the courtyard, bridge between the front and back halves of the bedrooms and a bathroom in the front of the unit room, and office in the back. There is a sense bedrooms that suggest the familial. The exaggerated the living spaces provides a sense of privacy the apartment.

On the fourth floor, the courtyard occupies public areas, while two bedrooms, each with their far ends. This organization, which establishes bedrooms, may be more suited for roommates or family member.

In each configuration, the relative size the 6 x 1 grid in a way that allows for both within a home throughout any given day. Making can access more light and provide personal space, areas allows for gathering and flexibility.

Fig. 1 West Chicago Ave. elevation

Fig. 2 1/2” = 1’ physical model view from the front bedroom of apartment with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, looking into the living room

Fig. 1/2” view

Fig. 3 1/2” = 1’ physical model collage rendering, external view as seen from Chicago Ave.

courtyard creates a buffer between a bookstore private office for the small community commercial floor.

courtyard, which allows for an interior the residential units, separates three unit from a kitchen, dining room, living of intimacy and proximity between the exaggerated distance between the bedrooms and privacy from the more publicly accessible parts of occupies a central place in the unit’s more their own bathroom, are located at the establishes significantly more privacy between the or someone living with an aging parent or

size and dimensions of each space react to the interaction and solitude that occur Making bathrooms small allows for bedrooms that space, while limiting walls in the living

Fig. 4 1/2” = 1’ physical model view of the living room of apartment with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, courtyard at left, entrance to front bedroom at right

Fig. 5 1/2” = 1’ physical model, photographed in plan ground floor, commercial small community publishing house, bookstore

Fig. 6 1/2” = 1’ physical model, photographed in plan second floor, residential apartment with three bedrooms and one bathroom

Fig. 7 1/2” = 1’ physical model, photographed in plan third floor, residential apartment with three bedrooms and one bathroom

Fig. 8 1/2” = 1’ physical model, photographed in plan fourth floor, residential apartment with two bedrooms and two bathrooms

Fig. 9 ground floor plan, commercial small community publishing house, bookstore

Fig. 10 second floor plan, residential apartment with three bedrooms and one bathroom

Fig. 11 third floor plan, residential apartment with three bedrooms and one bathroom

Fig. 12 fourth floor plan, residential apartment with two bedrooms and two bathrooms

for a

designed MOS Architects, employs a similar method of construction previously designed by the office. The baskets, Shaker furniture, are constructed of powder-coated and held in place by metal bolts which punctuate metal overlap.

Depending on their orientation, the insist on a certain degree of ambivalence, providing embracing the identity of a chair. By contrast, stands firmly in its identity as a chair, despite store objects in the basket-like cage below its

This object was included in (662) MOS

School of Architecture which ran from February

Fig. 2 collection of early study models, constructed with strips

Fig. 1

one-to-one mock-up of chair, aluminum and metal bolts as shown in the early stages of the (662) MOS ARCH exhibition installation at the Princeton School of Architecture

This prototype

chair,

during a summer work-study position at construction to that of a series of baskets baskets, inspired by the utility and simplicity of powder-coated aluminum and steel, bent into shape punctuate the surface where multiple strips of

baskets can be used as stools. However, they providing a place to sit without necessarily contrast, the mock-up for this basket-like chair despite its woven construction and ability to its seat.

MOS ARCH, an exhibition at the Princeton February 22 to April 22 of 2022.

As written in its curatorial statement, “this exhibition [presented] the remains of an architectural office: a collection of objects – prototypes, books, sketches, models, notes, drawings, experiments, material swatches, paper with a concentration on smallness and smaller-scale work. The organization of the exhibition mirrors our little office, with a large table where things accumulate. Nothing is separated into categories or organized by project or theme.”

strips of bristol paper, staples, and paperclips

Fig. 3 one-to-one mock-up of chair, aluminum with metal bolts

Fig. 1 rendered elevation, service street (northwest)

Fig. 3 site plan

Fig. 2 rendered elevation, western corner

Fig. 4 digital rendering, daycare and cafe at ground level,

More than one in five college students—or 22 percent of all undergraduates—are parents. These 3.8 million students, 1.7 million of whom are single mothers, often face unique impediments to completing their undergraduate education in four years. Ensuring student parents have access to affordable, quality childcare—which one study found more than tripled their likelihood of on-time graduation—in addition to resources like affordable family housing, emergency financial aid, mentoring, peer support, and healthcare is critical to their well-being.

This project proposes a community center both for undergraduate parents who attend Princeton University and for their children, with a daycare center on the ground floor and housing on the upper floors. The massing of the building is divided into two parts by a large open platform on the second level. Above it are three volumes: a large bar containing two-bedroom apartments, a tall, narrow volume of apartments with one bedroom and a small nursery room, and a small volume containing communal spaces. Under the platform are four ‘feet’ that align with the upper volumes and contain a daycare, communal meeting rooms, and a small cafe.

The daycare, which spans two small volumes tucked alongside the most private and enclosed corner of the site, provides free childcare for the children who reside in the building. The cafe on the most public corner welcomes members of the university community to the site while allowing parents to both meet with friends and stay close to home.

The second floor platform connects the three upper volumes and allows the children who live in the building the freedom to play outside while also ensuring privacy and protection. This platform is an open courtyard surrounded by the three upper volumes, where parents could cook in the communal kitchen or take yoga classes while being able to see their children playing in the adjacent courtyard.

Fig.

Fig.

Fig.

Fig. 7 key plan, typical module of two interlocking residential units

Fig. 10 third floor plan

The design of this duplex is informed the slightly misaligned relationship between create kinks in an otherwise orderly system. the two units of the shared house, as well as and disconnections that take place when two households

The units are arranged around a shared private courtyards on the second. The former respite from the relatively busy street outside, otherwise private residential units. The courtyards privacy, in which members of both households external observation.

The porous nature of the building, particularly natural light to flood the interior spaces. Because this uninterrupted light, the public areas of

Fig. 3 ground floor plan

Fig. 1 isometric view of the duplex and its neighboring buildings

Fig. 2 Witherspoon Street elevation facade constructed of charred wood and glass block

informed by two overlapping grids—derived from the street and the site’s lot lines—which These kinks allow for differences between as create visual reminders of the connections households share a single home.

shared courtyard on the ground floor and two acts as a space of transition, one of outside, but also one of community for the courtyards offer a unique sense of shared can access the outdoors without a sense of

particularly on the second floor, allows Because the second floor has more access to of each home are located on this level.

Conversely, the bedrooms are located on the ground floor, with fewer windows to maintain a comfortable level of light along with a sense of protection from the street.

Fig.

Fig. 5 diagram of second floor

Fig. 6 section aa, longitudinal section of ground floor courtyard

Fig. 7 section bb, longitudinal section of ground and upper

Fig. 1

digital rendering, collage view of the project as seen from across Witherspoon Street

Fig. 2

Witherspoon Street elevation

1. public rooftop terrace

2, 4. private terrace

3, 5. private terrace

6. public stair, access to rooftop

This small project on Witherspoon Street—which runs between Princeton University’s campus to the south and a historic residential neighborhood to the north—utilizes approximately $12,000 of standard scaffolding as a low cost strategy for adding private outdoor spaces to existing buildings in Princeton, NJ. In this case study, the site is a mixed-use building with a commercial space on the ground floor and several apartment units on the upper floors.

The project was designed in response to diminished access to public outdoor spaces during the height of the pandemic. Although it suggests the hope of impermanence—as public parks become safer again, the scaffolding could be taken down—it also argues for the value of investing in temporary infrastructure that responds to unforeseen crises.

Fig. 3 site plan

Fig. 4 service street elevation the staircase bypasses private terraces, providing public access to the roof while ensuring privacy for the building’s residents