Erin Biediger Architecture Portfolio
Erin Biediger
Contents contemporary arts museum houston autonomous topography 4
nexus: barcelona urban node 16
zilker park pavilion repetitive modules 24
west chelsea public library activated faรงade 28
promenade
architectural emotion 40
negative pavilion formal subtraction 42
piranesian object
imperceivable spaces 48
Erin Biediger
contemporary arts museum houston Fourth year studio. Fall 2017. Professor Craig Babe. In collaboration with Logan Whitley.
The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is currently located in a small building that does not suit the needs of a growing art movement. This project proposes a new museum building down the street from the current museum. Without urban qualities surrounding the site, the project takes on an autonomous condition. The land rises up from the site to create a clear, compact, and unified solution. Therefore, the link between building and place comes not from the surrounding neighborhood, but from references to the geography of Houston, culture of the Montrose area, and art from the contemporary movement. This design strives to not only invigorate the Montrose area, but also become a new center for art, community, and culture for all of Houston.
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Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
Richmond Ave.
Montrose Ave.
Erin Biediger
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watershed
nearby parks
nearby museums Museum of Fine Arts Cullen Sculpture Garden Museum of Natural Science Holocaust Museum Health Museum Children’s Museum
Parking and leasable space are housed under a raised topographical element on which the museum lightly sits. The entrances to the building occur at depressions in the topography, where a gentle slope leads visitors to the museum structure. The building is a minimal contrast to the flowing topography, comprising of two overlapping horizontal masses, which create a negative space that becomes the public interior space. It is within the public curtain that the building punctures the topography, creating an entrance for those who choose to drive to the museum. The leasable space and topography on the exterior of the building aim to create an urban hub for Montrose and Houston area residents. The theoretical concept of the design is to create a contemporary space that challenges the state of museum design without redefining the territory.
vehicular circulation
figure/ground
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Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
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vehicular entrances
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pedestrian entrances
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leasable space
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fragile
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Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
west-east section
Erin Biediger
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Richmond Ave.
Montrose Ave.
garage level -10’0” Richmond Ave.
Montrose Ave.
service level -30’0”
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Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
Richmond Ave.
Montrose Ave.
gallery level +30’0”
Richmond Ave.
Montrose Ave.
lobby level +5’0”
Erin Biediger
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CMAH
lobby view
north-south section 12
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
gallery view 38° December
50°
60°
70°
80° June
daylighting Erin Biediger
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daylighting detail
parapet detail
soffit detail
gallery wall section 14
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
bridge connection detail
physical structural model
Erin Biediger
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nexus: barcelona Third year studio, abroad. Fall 2016. Professor Miquel Rodriguez. In collaboration with Kendall Slaughter.
Situated among Barcelona’s historic city center, the renowned Eixample district and Parc de la Ciutadella, the site for Nexus serves to connect, both visually and physically, different parts of a unique city. The word “nexus” is defined as a connected series or group, and as the core of a situation. Like a nexus, the site contains two volumes — one, residential, and the other, laboratory -connected visually and physically through the architecture. Horizontality ties the two volumes of Nexus together, while creating semi-private outdoor spaces for movement, transition, meeting and recreation.
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Nexus: Barcelona
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shadow study
circulation study
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Nexus: Barcelona
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level 00
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Nexus: Barcelona
level 01
level 02
level 03
level 04
level 05
n-s section Erin Biediger
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laboratory section and elevation
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Nexus: Barcelona
residential section and elevation
residential circulation
Erin Biediger
typical apartment
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zilker park pavilion First year studio. Summer 2015. Professor Negar Kalantar. Individual project.
For many years, pavilion design at the World’s Fair has influenced architecture. This project called for designing a pavilion for Zilker Park, a central activity hub in Austin, Texas. The pavilion submissions are only allowed to use 4x4 timber structure.This design acts as a landmark and destination for Austin residents and visitors alike. It provides a unique shaded area, as well as a reflective pond to cool the patrons and the area around it. This pavilion literally and figuratively reflects the unique richness of this capital city.
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Zilker Park Pavilion
Erin Biediger
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Zilker Park Pavilion
module creation
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west chelsea public library Fourth year studio. Summer 2017. Professors Koichiro Aitani and Christopher Hunter. In collaboration with Logan Whitley.
The West Chelsea Public Library is designed for a booming area in New York City that lacks a necessary resource. With tight zoning restrictions on the site, and the goal to maximize square footage for the public, the formal design became very simple. To articulate the simple form, a repeated tile element covers the facade. These tiles create aperatures through which important views around New York are framed. The tiles also provide shading for the interior of the building because the site will never be shaded by surrounding buildings with the tight zoning restrictions around the High Line.
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West Chelsea Public Library
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parti
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West Chelsea Public Library
viewpoints
schools
greenery
circulation
figure/ground
site location Erin Biediger
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OPEN TO BELOW
level 00
level 01
level 02
south elevation 32
West Chelsea Public Library
level 03
level 04
level 05
roof plan
west elevation Erin Biediger
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void
core
facade
structure
highline
library
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West Chelsea Public Library
library view
cafe view Erin Biediger
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West Chelsea Public Library
n-s section
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West Chelsea Public Library
physical model
wall section
Erin Biediger
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promenade Third year studio. Spring 2017. Professor Craig Babe. Individual project.
This project explores the movement through spaces with unique lighting conditions and scales, and examines the different emotions evoked by each space. Promenade is a sequence of spaces and images that unfold as a person moves through the architectural object, and hierarchy of the architectural events. Le Corbusier incorporated “promenade architecturale� as a key element in his designs. The study of promenade gives a greater understanding of the experience of architecture.
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Promenade
Erin Biediger
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negative pavilion Third year studio. Spring 2017. Professor Craig Babe. Individual project.
With a growing population of students, Texas A&M University’s campus requires additional multi-use spaces. This pavilion aims to serve the students and faculty of the campus as a relaxation spot, a place to eat, and a place to study. The pavilion provides a structure at which food trucks already on campus can sell their food. Designed using a theory of volumes and organized plan geometry, the pavilion is derived by subtracting spheres from a rectangular prism. The resulting form maintains a rhythm and order that allows the pavilion to connect with the buildings that share its axis.
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Negative Pavilion
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Negative Pavilion
campus axis & site location
plan Erin Biediger
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section
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Negative Pavilion
1%
dome daylighting detail
1%
artificial lighting detail
Erin Biediger
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piranesian object Second year studio. Spring 2016. Professors Gabriel Esquivel and Adam Fure. In collaboration with Matt West, Sophia Kountakis, Reuben Posada, and Brooks Van Essen.
This project utilizes plan elements from historic baroque cathedrals, such as Il Redentore, Santa Maria in Campitelli, and San Giorgio Maggiore, to create a new plan object. This object is then used as a positive and negative stamp onto another object. The process of stamping the plan object allows the formation of a complex, labyrinthine interior. Yve-Alain Bois writes that “The elevation cannot provide the plan [and vice versa], for as one walks around it, one finds no element that has maintained a relation of identity with the others.� This isolation of the object affirms its Architecture and its Autonomy while denying the metaphysics of presence.
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Piranesian Object
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Piranesian Object
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Piranesian Object
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Piranesian Object
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