Possibilities in Design for People and Place

2022- 2023 POSSIBILITIES IN DESIGN FOR PEOPLE AND PLACE Undergraduate Portfolio

EMILY SALVI

PLACES I’VE LIVED

ABOUT ME My name is Emily Salvi and I am a Fourth Year Architecture Student at Roger Williams University with a core concentration in Urban Studies and a Minor in Sustainability. I believe architectural design is representative of the society it is built for, meaning compositions should be inclusive, multi-faceted, and community-based. I’m highly motivated in projects that address housing and environmental concerns, with strengths in architectural representation and graphic design.

0-5 yrs 5-18 yrs 18-21yrs

Bachelor of Science in Architecture FIT Summer Live Course in Fine Arts

WORK EXPERIENCE AIAS STUDIO MENTOR FARMER’S MARKET HAND

ROGER WILLAIMS UNIVERSITY 2022-2023 FIELDSTONE KOMBUCHA MOUNT HOPE FARMERS MARKETS 2023-

MARKET ASSISTANT

PROVIDENCE FLEA FARM FRESH RI MARKETS 2024-

AWARDS

Expected May 2024

INTERESTS

HOBBIES

Plants Self-Care Secondhand Apparel + Jewelry Animals Philosophy + Theory Sustainability Arts + Crafts Food Culture Wildlife Conservation Spirituality

Hiking Gardening Cooking Meditation Drawing

TOOLKIT

PEOPLE WOULD DESCRIBE BE AS...

Technical Drawing & Drafting Autocad Creative Rendering & Illustration Revit Academic & Creative Writing Sketch Up Observation & Research Photoshop Graphic Design Illustrator

Intuitive Resourceful Creative Resilient Humble

Nature-Watching Handicraft Farmers Markets + Flea Foraging Reading

Highly Social Crafty Detail-Oriented Multi-Faceted Adventurous

CONTACT

STUDENT ACADEMIC SHOWCASE NOMINATION FOR CONCEPT + DESIGN, MODELMAKING STILL HERE: PROVIDENCE CHILDREN’S THEATER

2022

AWARD FOR FINAL RESEARCH PAPER

ALHAMBRA PALACE AND GEOMETRIC THINKING

2023 +1 (914) 606 2143

01

18-21yrs

Completed July 2019

esalvi715@g.rwu.edu

@SalviTheArchitect

Emily Salvi

CONTENTS

EMILY SALVI

POSSIBILITIES IN DESIGN FOR PEOPLE AND PLACE This portfolio takes you through my commitment to understanding how architecture connects people sharing a space, how it connects people to their local community, to the heritage of their land, and how we can even connect people back to a forgotten or decaying built environment.

PROJECTS 03 08 13 19 26

HOUSE OF A TAILOR AND PSYCHOLOGIST 25 DORRANCE ST, PROVIDENCE RI Spring 2022

THE GREEN ASH BUILDING 625 W HOBBIE ST, CHICAGO IL Spring 2022

STILL HERE: Providence Children’s Theater 81 DYER ST, PROVIDENCE RI Fall 2023

TAL’ DOREI HOUSING COMMUNITY 7 JACKSON WALKWAY, PROVIDENCE RI Spring 2023

AN INTERVENTION ON HERZL ST 10 HERZL ST, BROWNSVILLE BROOKYLN Fall 2023

Wall Section from Green Ash Building

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PROJECT ONE HOUSE OF A TAILOR AND PSYCHOLOGIST 25 DORRANCE ST, PROVIDENCE RI ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO IV SOPHOMORE YEAR | SPRING 2022

SECLUSION

SHARING

SERVICE

PROJECT ONE

Psychologist’s Unit

HOUSE OF A TAILOR AND PSYCHOLOGIST 25 DORRANCE ST, PROVIDENCE RI Second Floor Shared Space

This project focuses on the combined representation of two assigned clients: a Tailor and a Psychologist.

Floor 2 Tailor’s Studio

The Psychologist is represented through the organization and interior of the building, where all of the rooms remain separate, governed by the idea of Compartmentalization, a concept in psychology that defines the separation of thoughts from feelings in the body.

Floor 1 Tailor’s Unit

First Floor Shared Space

Psychologist Office

The Tailor is represented through the outer shell and materiality of the house. Wood, which is cut perfectly like a suit for the exterior wraps around the glass to cover spaces with privacy, much like how fabric is cut to cover the human body.

Early Conceptual Sketch Depicting Compartmentalization of Spaces in Exploded Axon

Inner Materiality Swatch from Second Floor detailing use of Wood as Privacy Screen

04

EXPERIENCE Before each individual accesses their separate private spaces, there are two opportunities to rest in shared community spaces. One on the first floor and one on the second, acting as a buffer between their heavy work days servicing clients and complete and total solitude.

Psychologist

Psychologist Office

Tailor

West Elevation

Second Floor Shared Space

First Floor Shared Space

Section A

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FIRST FLOOR: TAILOR

SECOND FLOOR: PSYCHOLOGIST

The First floor begins with the separate street front workspaces for both clients, the Tailor’s being cut into the main building, and the Psychologist’s being a separate compartment.

The second floor starts at the upper floor’s Shared Space.

Open to the street front of the building, this glass room allows access to the Southern balcony unfolding to the light of the day.

Both inhabitants enter into the double-height Shared Living Space, where the Tailor has a separate hallway to their private kitchen, bath, and bedroom compartments as well as access to a back patio.

The Psychologist has their own path out of the second-floor shared space to a private kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and access to a private North-facing balcony.

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WORKSPACES From the first stage of the design process, the workspaces were treated with importance.

Both the Tailor and the Psychologist practice knowing personal details about their clients; the Psychologist knows a person’s inner mental process, and the Tailor understands a person’s outer body proportions.

Embracing that idea, the Psychologist’s office remains completely encased in wood, except for a Southern-facing glass door that lets light in and only allows for the Psychologist to see the people walking by.

The Tailor’s storefront, has an open glass front, with colored stucco walls providing an expressive material change from glass to a wood wall that acts as a physical barrier between the workspace and the shared space.

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THE GREEN ASH BUILDING 625 W HOBBIE ST, CHICAGO IL ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO IV SOPHOMORE YEAR | SPRING 2022

PROJECT TWO

PROJECT TWO

THE GREEN ASH BUILDING

CHICAGO SITE FEATURES

Chicago PD Local Police Department

625 W Hobbie St

ComEd Electrical Electrical Substation

Public Parking Hobbie St Parking

Project Education Plus

625 W HOBBIE ST, CHICAGO IL

This project’s focus was the representation of Chicago’s character as a city and landscape while creating a sense of partnership between the residents themselves and the community of Chicago as a whole. My design achieved this through the focus on the Green Ash Tree. In history, the Ash Tree became a significant figure in the treescape of cities across America after its precursor, the American Elm fell to disease. However, the Ash Tree is facing a similar threat, and this building partners with its residents to give saplings back to Chicago’s landscape and give a beloved tree a second chance at life.

Youth Center

Chicago Strength SITE

Green House and Seedbank

Gym

Shared Kitchen + Pantry for Harvest Overhaul

Park Community Chuch Local Christian Church

Ash Tree Grove + Garden

Greyhound Bus Company

Storefront Market and Cafe

Lola and the Boys Kids Clothing Store

PROGRAM Green Space

Green Space

Green Space

Units

Units

Units

Laundy + Mail + Storage

Fitness Center

Fitness Center Walkway

Market/Cafe

Second Floor Lounge

Third Floor Lounge

Vertical Circulation

Daycare

Activity Classroom

Parking

Vertical Circulation

Vertical Circulation

FIRST FLOOR

09

SECOND FLOOR

THIRD FLOOR

NARRATIVE A grove of Ash Trees sits on the Western Front of the Building, providing shading as well as a community space with the neighborhood. The greenhouse at the top prioritizes the growth and preservation of Ash Tree seeds and saplings to be given back to Chicago’s cityscape. In addition to Ash Trees, space in the greenhouse can be used to grow produce by which a street-front market facilitates the sale of locally grown produce back to the neighborhood, providing funding for the Ash Tree’s preservation project.

Section A SECTION A

To keep the connection between the residents and the Ash Tree special, each unit has a green balcony as well as shared upper-floor, outdoor spaces that provide a view of the tree grove and the North Branch Canal. There is also a shared kitchen on the Fifth Floor to allow residents their own experience with the produce provided by the building’s greenhouse year-round.

West Elevation

PROGRAM Green Space

Green Space

Green Space

Units

Units

Sixth Floor Lounge

Shared Kitchen

Greenhouse

Vertical Circulation

Fourth Floor Lounge

Seed Bank

Vertical Circulation

Fifth Floor Lounge Vertical Circulation

FOURTH FLOOR

FIFTH FLOOR

SIXTH FLOOR

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Ground Floor Plan

11

10 am, December 21st, Fifth Floor Greenhouse Year-round activities in the Greenhouse are centered around Education, Care, and Upkeep. Preparation for spring includes the clearing out of garden beds, educational tours, and re-unifying goals between investors, residents, and preservation specialists to ensure longevity and continuity.

5 pm, August 20st, Ground Floor Market Peak season concurs with the harvests from the Greenhouse. Produce grown alongside Ash Trees is sold back to the extended community of Chicago and offered to residents at a discounted rate. In the off-season, the market functions more as a corner store, carrying essentials such as cleaning supplies, toiletries, and other non-perishable goods to continuously serve the building residents and the local community

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PROJECT THREE STILL HERE: Remembering Heritage in the Place of Providence Children’s Theater 81 DYER ST, PROVIDENCE RI ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO V (ADVANCED)

LEGACY

PROTECTION

PERFORMANCE

13

FALL 2023

STILL HERE: PROVIDENCE CHILDREN’S THEATER

Site Nimpuc

81 DYER ST, PROVIDENCE RI Pokanoet + Wampanoag

Mohegan Pequot Narragansett

Trade Route Map

Land Division by Tribe

“Still Here” Mural on Site

“Still Here” is a mural designed in partnership with the Tomaquag Museum to establish Narragansett tribe representation on a site that was important to their lifestyle and heritage. The Mural depicts Lynsea Montanari, Tomaquag Museum educator and Narragansett Tribe Member holding a photo of Princess Redwing, a Narragansett activist and educator who founded the Tomaquag Museum in 1958. The Painting is located on the other side of Weybosset Street, the meeting spot of three different trade routes.

Aerial Site Model

Model investegating Native American Basket-weaving techniques as Theater Enclosure

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Section through Theater

South Elevation

15

East Elevation

PROGRAM

5 4 3 2 1

SEMI- PUBLIC Outdoor Classroom Black Box Black Box Pre Fuction

PUBLIC Balcony Entrance Balcony Pre Function

PRIVATE Director’s Office Open Office Mechanical Room Electrical Room

Roof + Aerial Site Plan PRIVATE

Main Entrance Pre Function

Costume Shop Laundry Classroom A Practice Room A

PUBLIC

PRIVATE

PUBLIC

- Theater - Lobby - Box Office - Public BR

Side Entrance Security Office Scene Shop Dressing Rooms

SEMI- PUBLIC Main Theater Entrance Mural Viewing Space Princess Redwing Courtyard

PRIVATE - Dressing BR - Make Up Room - Green Room

SEMI- PUBLIC - Photo Studio

Final Model

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72’ Top of Mural

50’ Roof Level 36’ Outdoor Classroom

12’ Courtyard Level

Early Conceptual Section Through Building

Section Model depicting Final Programing + parts of Mural Accessible for Viewing

EXPERIENCE Backstage + Classroom programming registers to the heights of specific images in the mural. Practice Room A, for example, frames a view of the Pink Lady Slipper Flower. A courtyard resides on the second floor to allow indoor spaces to interact with the photo of Princess Redwing, The outdoor classroom located on the fifth floor sits under the Red Wing Blackbird and looks over the historic Customs House

Fifth Floor Walkway to Outdoor Classroom+ Interaction with Princess Redwing

17

Render of Main Theater showing weaving of basket-style acoustic panels + ceiling detail

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PROJECT FOUR TAL’ DOREI HOUSING COMMUNITY 81 DYER ST, PROVIDENCE RI ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO V (ADVANCED) SENIOR STUDIO (Junior Year) | SPRING 2023

BUILT ENVIRONEMENT

LOCALITY SUB-CULTURE

19

PROJECT FOUR New L HI LL

DOWNTOWN

Con

stru

ctio

n

ERA

TAL’ DOREI HOUSING COMMUNITY The Tal’Dorei Housing Community adaptively re-uses the Gilbane Headquarters Building, located at 7 Jackson Walkway, Providence RI. I turned an office building into a mixed-use housing, with 295ft of commercial frontage, as well as a private office and studio spaces arranged around a sprawling courtyard.

CATHEDRAL SQUARE

UPPER SOUTH PROV

ES

AL

W N& SO ITY N S H JO IVER UN

The original brick structure’s 21,000 sqft footprint was expanded and hollowed out to 44,888 sqft to accommodate a need for a multi-faceted beacon of character in a neighborhood devoid of civic opportunity.

Old Building Footprint

FED

7 Jackson Walkway Providence, RI

ETHNOGRAPHY This project began with an Ethnographic Research Process that addressed how institutional pressures and the dominance of the I-95 highway suffocated the commercial spaces that would have lined Cathedral Square’s beautiful cobbled streets and brickwork. Cathedral Square was once a bustling civic square with markets and festivals, now it struggles to maintain its artist co-operative, and its outdoor squares are neglected by private theater companies that could activate the space.

Tal’ Dorei was designed to enable local artists and theater patrons, to add commercial spaces to its walkable streets, and keep housing costs low by enabling a Limited Equity Co-Operative model as a buffer against a perceived threat of gentrification.

Tree-Lined Walkways in Cathedral Square

Link to Ethnographic Research Paper including Demographics + Analysis

Original Building Facade

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Greene St

Cafe at Greene St

COMMERCIAL FRONTAGE

Maker Space (Above Art Store)

STUDIOS FOR RENT

Level 0’

Tutor (Upper Floor)

1000 SQFT

Programming for Tal’ Dorei’s Commercial Space came through observation of neighborhood services lacking from the ethnography. The Florist and Cafe respond well to traffic coming from the Cathedral, whereas the Tutor Center and Daycare come from a lack of childcare services. Finally, the Dance Studio and Art Store are set up to employ local art centers such as AAS 220 + Providence Theater Company with more resources

Daycare (Upper Floor)

CONFERENCE HALL MEETING PLACE FORCOMMUNITY DECISION MAKING|

UPPER FLOORS

UNITS

Pre-Function

TYPE B 9001200 SQFT

Exhibition Hall

Dance Studio Courtyard

UNITS TYPE A 1200 SQFT

Florist

DAYCARE Enter at Greene St

TUTOR Enter at Greene St

EXHIBITION HALL

05

04

03

02

01

Entrace through Lobby at Jackson Walkway

Lobby

ART DEPOT Enter at Greene St

CAFE ON GREENE Enter at Greene St+ Westminster Ave

DANCE STUDIO Enter at Westminster Ave

FLORIST

Enter at Westminster Ave

GROUND FLOOR

Jackson Walkway

Elevated 9.5’ above Greene St

TOWNHOUSES Private Entrances along Jackson Walkway

New Building Facade, South Elevation depicting Lobby Entrance + Terrain Slope to Parking Garage.

22

Ground Floor Plan, Level Jackson Walkway

New Building Facade, East Elevation depicting Townhouse Units at 7 Jackson Walkway.

Section Perspective, looking West U-09

U-10

Conference Hall

U-13

U-11

U-12

S-13

Built-In Studio

S-24

U-08

U-07

S-22

U-06

S-21

05

408

S-23

04

Floors 2-4

03

02

01

407

406

505

504

503

502

501

Fifth Floor Plan

23

View of Exhibition Hall depicting Light Quality through Reclaimed Brick Screen Walls. View looking East.

24

Fourth Floor View depicting Courtyard Terracing, Reclaimed Brick Screen Wall use and Unit Types

25

PROJECT FIVE AN INTERVENTION ON HERZL ST HERZL ST, BROWNSVILLE BROOKLYN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE: THEORY AND PRACTICE SENIOR YEAR ELECTIVE THEORY| FALL 2023

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PEOPLE

PLACE

POSSIBILITY

PROJECT FIVE AN INTERVENTION ON HERZL ST HERZL ST, BROWNSVILLE NY

For this elective theory class, we were asked to create detailed dossier of considerations that an Architect would need to be aware of before coming to a site and establishing a plan. The assignment was to find the best approach to achieve a successful park, based on the people and place of the depressed neighborhood we had chosen.

From CityNeighborhoods.NYC

BUILT ENVIRONMENT Brownsville’s built environment is filled with several failures that were taken by broad sweeps from people on the outside looking in.

Because of its reputation, picturesque parks once established in Brooklyn get reconstructed for safety concerns, housing blocks come with mazes of fences and walls that nullify street life, and possible sight locations are plights of wilderness upheavel and abandoned infrastructure.

Betsy Head Park (above) with several variation + layers of screened fencing as protective boundary for children.

Fences, walls and existing interventions on street life (below) Fenced-In opening of an art gallery (left)

Images of Brownsville’s dense housing blocks established by NYCHA in the 1950’s after an intense period of blighting + demollition that created a dense Afro-Latino population.

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DEMOGRAPHICS Households Non- Family Household Family Household

Nationality Non-Native Born Native Born

Race Latino White African American Asian Some Other Race

Age Under 18 18-35 36-55 56-75 75- Above

CHARACTER + CONTINUITY: PITKIN AVE Brownsville’s strongest feature is the commercial-lined Pitkin Ave, its lined with unique, ornamental, and independent old buildings. The original businesses in Brownsville were built in style, but now it is so common for buildings to change hands due to enterprise failure that owners wont even replace signs and would just paint over letters they needed to change. The area is so infertile economically that enterprises that might grow and move out of Brownsville never make enough money in this place to do so.

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Government assistance, the NAACP, Urban League, and the police department are reported to have not been concerned with the problems of the lower-income black + latino families in the past decade, despite the fact that they are a major community of Brownsville.

TALE OF TWO MURALS Walking towards my site up Herzl street you will pass two murals.

The first one was put in as a new facade for a reclamation project on in 2018.

The building was refurbished for housing and the mural was installed by the Pitkin Ave BID, however the mural has been defaced after only 4 years.

The text below the mural that’s been covered over by graffiti is meant to read alquote from Theodore Herzl, “It’s not a dream if you will it” it is a commemoration of the resilience of Brownsville’s community despite socio-economic struggle caused by institutions around and inside Brooklyn.

taken from google maps (2022)

The second mural, located at the entrance of the intervention, appears to be drawn by a preschooler.

It has faded out to pastels and includes a paragraph inscription stating the mural was completed in 2009. This mural has not been touched in 14 years.

The location doesn’t like Brownsville, and mural makes generalized depictions of people (a mixed family, a mother and daughter) but the people are clearly there on the street for commerce, seen by the appearance of a “store”.

The second mural looks a child-like dream of Brownsville, which is confusing as the words “it’s not a dream” are the exact words defaced on the mural.

The perpetrator is telling us that the dreams of institutions don’t matter here, it’s the dreams of the children and their families that do.

This speaks volumes about the people of Brownsville and what they value: having the mural perceived as being drawn by a child conjures more respect for the artist than knowledge of artistic techniques or local history.

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SITE SELECTION + STRENGTHS + STRATEGY LAND USE

BROWNSVILLE PARKS + GARDENS

STRENGTHS - large number of subway and bus lines - ongoing improvements are being made to the transportation infrastructure, including bike and safety improvements - Pitkin ave acts a strong economic asset - there is a high percentage of community organizations dedicated to improving Brownsville - Pop-Up and seasonal markets are on the rise - large number of successful community gardens From NYCHA (2016)

A primary consideration for the implementation of a new park is safety.

Abutting an intervention with commercial space ensures not only that there will be consistent surveilleance and street traffic throughout the space. Placing it parallel to Pitkin Ave offers multiple exits back out to commerical business, where people visiting the park may be entranced to participate in shopping as well.

I suggest several small parks in a link or chain, increasing the commercial space the park has access to, and connecting it to private gardens + plazas it may run into.

Finally, deep corners created by tall builings must be broken up into separate spaces to avoid people getting lost.

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- ample street space for vendors + outdoor dining - private gardens are successful and valued by the community - the city has an active climate goal to expand tree cover (currently its achieved 17%) - several old buildings that will cater to opening small business

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CONSIDERATIONS FOR LANDSCAPE PLANTINGS Range of Flroa and Fauna Native to New York

Plantings for the interventions must include a variety of climbers, who will capitalize on the space allowed by large tree trunks and walls.

Implementing ground cover in alcoves will keep people closer to the street and make the intervention safer for all Increase tree-cover to comply with City of Brownsville’s Climate Control Plan

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Diagram Depicting 7% of Brownsville’s tree-cover goal

SUMMARY

Aversion to the Inudstrial/Artistic Pathway Necessary use of the Business/Community Pathway

“handful of simple design proposals to create temporary and permanent niches of urban agriculture, biodiversity, and recreation in the city center — through collaborative activities between property owners, businesses, employees, and residents in the marginal spaces of the city center.” -Andrew Karvonen

NOT A PARK Market Square w Garden Network to pro-

Brownsville is a conversation of several failures that were taken at broad sweeps It does not need open space that will take away from the limited commercial real estate, but a series of attractors to bring people back to Pitkin Ave.

duce an “ecological street life”

- Parallel to Pitkin Ave to provide multiple exit points back to commercial street -Several different intentional gardens (produce/herbs/medicinal/wildflower show flower) -Gradual increase of treecover in accordance with city goals -Miyawaki forests to take advantage of dense compact space Move Away from Landscape as “Problem” Shift to Landscape as “Place”

Brownsville is only defined from the outside “Sense of place” is important to wellbeing Need to collaborate with business on Pitkin Ave to allievate safety and fiscal concerns

“What is being valued in Brownsville” - Private Gardens - Childcare - Public Transportation

- Small, easy to maintain - Eyes on the street - Aid to Pitkin Avenue

“What will be successful in Brownsville?”

-Pop up Markets -Child-Centered Spaces -Visibility

-Small Business collaborations -Aid to Street Life

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LOCALITY

SERVICE

SUB-CULTURE

PERFORMANCE GROWTH

PROTECTION

YOUTH

BUILT ENVIRONEMENT

EMILY SALVI SHARING

+1 (914) 606 2143

esalvi715@g.rwu.edu

@SalviTheArchitect

Emily Salvi

LEGACY

POSSIBILITIES IN DESIGN FOR PEOPLE AND PLACE UNDERGRADUATE PORTFOLIO 2022-2023

SECLUSION

PEOPLE

PRESERVATION

PLACE

POSSIBILITY