maria gabriela carucci
portfolio
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Rhode Island School of Design Bachelor of Architecture 2013 - 2018
M A R I A GABRIELA CARUCCI
2 College Street Providence, RI 02903 786 448 7697 mcarucci@risd.edu
SKILLS
OBJECTIVE
Digital
Seeking a summer internship in an architecture firm or studio that will allow me to use my creative and technical skills in both the digital and the traditional realms to find innovative design solutions.
Rhino3D Illustrator Photoshop InDesign AutoCAD SketchUp Grasshopper DIVA Ladybug HTML & CSS: (JS, Node, JQuery, Paper.js, WebSocket) ArchSim Premiere Pro After Effects Dragon Frame Photography
EDUCATION Rhode Island School of Design, RISD | Providence, RI Bachelor of Architecture | 2013-2018 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Architecture | 2013-2017
RISD in Rome, CE Program | Summer 2014 Columbia University | New York, NY Introduction to Architectural Design and Theory, Summer Program | 2012
INTERNSHIPS GENSLER | Boston, US - 2016
Participated in their yearly Summer Intern Program.
Ana Cristina Vargas | Caracas, Venezuela - 2015
Helped her apply her project, Tracing Public Spaces, which was initially developed as her thesis for her Master’s degree in MIT. It’s purpose is to give children the opportunity to learn about their own public spaces, as well as how to identify areas that could be modified, teaching them about material properties and building techniques.
WORK EXPERIENCE Analog Hand drawing Oil, acrylic, watercolors Woodworking Hand modeling Ceramics Sculpture Bookbinding
Languages Spanish | native English | fluent Italian | conversational
Architecture Department, RISD | Providence, RI 2016 Teacher assistant, Architectural Projections.
Admissions Office, RISD | Providence, RI 2015-2016 Architecture Department, RISD | Providence, RI 2014-2016
BEB Laser Cutter Lab Monitor - Provide technical assistance and supervise students.
Super International Orientation Leader, RISD | 2014-2015
Trained the orientation leaders, planned and organized the international orientation, and later received new incoming international students and guided them through their first four days at RISD.
EXHIBITIONS RISD Biennial Faculty Exhibition, RISD Museum Providence, RI 2015
European Honors Program Show, Woods Gerry Gallery Providence, RI 2014
Foundation Studies Exhibition, Waterman Gallery Providence, RI 2013 & 2014
Maria Gabriela Carucci
The Cliffhouses Advanced Studio
Childrens’ Habitat Urban Design Principles
Making Flippy Floppy Advanced Studio
Frustum Theater Making of Design Principles
St. John’s Abbey Architectural Analysis
Anamorphic Reflections Architectural Projections
Fine Arts Oil Paintings & Ceramic Work
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The Cliffhouses
[Re-Thinking the Future of Housing]
Advanced Studio | Prof. Friedrich St. Florian
Maria Gabriela Carucci
How do you design for a non-sedentary generation, that is looking to defy the very meaning of “settling down”? After selecting two iconic works of architecture in the realm of the human habitat, there was a search for the underlying roots that attest to the permanence of architectural principles. These two examples, a contemporary Japanese house -House H, Sou Fujimotoand an ancient complex of cliff excavations in Cappadocia, Turkey, looked deceptively unsimilar at first glance. After being analyzed, measured and documented, a series of fundamental principles began to arise from both structures. Besides space distribution being fairly similar in terms of privacy and access, there is a deeper concept that I carried through to my own design later on. Both spaces rely on the idea of creation by removal. There’s a literal and a conceptual approach to this idea of carving space. Cappadocia does this in a very literal manner, and this also dictates the level of privacy that the rooms inside the rock have. In House H, Fujimoto started with a very rigid geometry which he began to punch holes through, and with the help of a system of stairs he managed to create an incredibly well connected space despite its verticality and narrowness. Going from this, I began to look at this idea of “connection” and how spaces could bleed or overlap on one another to create a new species of spaces, which you could call the “space squared” moments in the system. I developed this idea both in plan and sectionally simultaneously, and in the end I realized that to create this very specific spaces I needed to restrict the shifting of the system to one axis in order to be able to grow vertically and explore the overlapping of the spaces breaking free of the plan.
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Exploded axonometric portraying the layout of the overall complex and the stacking of units.
Maria Gabriela Carucci
Cross section of complex.
Elevation of complex from parking lot entrance.
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Closeup of living area and shared unit garden.
Maria Gabriela Carucci
Longitudinal section of complex.
Elevation of complex from main pedestrian entrance and lobby.
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Maria Gabriela Carucci
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Maria Gabriela Carucci
First floor plan of unit.
Second floor plan of unit.
The idea of connected spaces was ultimately expressed in the form of a repetitive interlocked 4 unit housing assembly that could be reiterated and then attached and stacked to one another to form the complete complex.
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Maria Gabriela Carucci
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Childrens’ Habitat
Urban Design Principles | Prof. Dongwoo Yim
Maria Gabriela Carucci
Understanding cities as a complex web of interrelated systems that affect the way human beings navigate the social and public realms -while considering the private as well- is essential to confront the problem of designing for them. Through a series of situational analysis, which started from looking at the bigger picture around the assigned site, and later focusing on the specific area, a systematic design process was created, which was modified to be applied to different scales and had the ability of being able to be reiterated endlessly to follow the concept and circulation of the program. This was decided to be centered around children, specifically a Children’s Museum and family centered residences, with the addition of schools and a women’s center. The main idea was that children don’t have the same sense of order as adults do, and for them, the world is a constant learning experience. This led me to question the idea of what is considered practical circulation -both horizontally and vertically within each building-, experimenting with what could potentially be done to merge learning and play with urban design.
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PROCESS DIAGRAMS
Maria Gabriela Carucci
SITE PLAN
GREEN ROOFS AND OPEN SPACES
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GROUND PLAN
Maria Gabriela Carucci
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Perspective view from inside the courtyard of the main building.
The two main open spaces in the site, the topographic park and the courtyard surrounded by the building, double as environmental learning spaces.
Maria Gabriela Carucci
Axonometric drawing of the main building, it’s courtyard, and the topography of the main park of the site.
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Final close-up model of three of the smaller buildings that overlook the main park.
Maria Gabriela Carucci
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Maria Gabriela Carucci
Final massing model with sourrounding site and master plan.
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Making Flippy Floppy [Reinstating Nature on NYC’s Port Authority]
Advanced Studio | Prof. Yasmin Bovis
Maria Gabriela Carucci
Port Authority has always been for me that one area of New York that has always been a little darker in the map of my mind’s eye. Throughout the years I’ve returned several times, but the one thing that captivates me about this building is the way it plays with my perception of space. Every time I step inside of it seems as if the floors themselves have shifted and rearranged themselves in new patterns, the hectic movement of the people rushing to catch their rides delineating and giving life to the architecture’s confusing but dynamic circulation. This building, and the area it is located, feel completely disconnected from nature, and to an extent, life and organic elements. This is further enhanced, in an almost ironic manner, by the calculated movements of the crowds in the space. The only signs of living creatures in the space besides rats and pigeons, the almost robotic pace of New Yorkers and other travelers suggest that this is not a space to linger, but rather a mere threshold amid the possibility of other permanent places. This feeling of being completely surrounded, almost swallowed, by the mega-structure and the people trying to navigate its perplexing corridors evaporates once you step out to the roof. A basically deserted area, it possesses the eerie calm and empty nature of vast parking lots. The surrounding buildings make the area somehow protected, and as you walk through the site the few unbuilt spaces facing its corners provide opportunities for views of the city and the river beyond. The one constant that remains is the lack of greenery and nature, and this is something that I want to address in my proposal.
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Maria Gabriela Carucci
Shadow studies that determined the position of the theaters according to sun outreach in summer and winter.
A contemporary People’s Palace should be inherently tied to nature. It should also encourage human socialization and a potential for self-expression, in the way that theater and performance areas do. The placement of the four performance spaces in my proposal acknowledge the seasons and the changing sun to provide the space with different structures that have the potential of showcasing various types of entertainment.
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Material and structure explorations for the final meshes.
Maria Gabriela Carucci
Exploded axonometric illustrating the program and the two different levels of fabric and steel pavilions.
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Detail section of the various uses of the mesh pavilions.
Cross-section through the open amphiteather, arboretum and cafe.
Maria Gabriela Carucci
Longitudinal section through Port Authority.
Scale 1 : 125 31
Maria Gabriela Carucci
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Frustum Theater
Making of Design Principles | Prof. Jonathan Scelsa
Maria Gabriela Carucci
Compilation of my work during the semester, including the first conceptual process projects which finally led up to the final: the design of a theater. Throughout the class, I explored different themes and ideas; for my first project, in which we had to suspend a cube in the inside of a wire mesh cage using black string, I explored the different ways lines could describe triangular planes, and how these in turn could hold the cube in place by its edges while later helping define its volume.
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Maria Gabriela Carucci
For my second project, I explored the relationship between human beings and their interaction with thresholds, in this case, windows. After completing several view and movement analysis via long exposure photograps, I translated that information into a tridimensional model. This helped me define the basic geometry of my final building proposal; frustums, or truncated pyramids.
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The final building consisted on a theater in which the space of each element in the program consisted of a frustum, and were set out in such a way that the public had to move through them in a specific manner, so that the particular views framed by the truncated pyramids allowed the viewer to perceive specific moments of the landscape outside. This led to the main space in the theater; the seating and the performance area, which overlooked a panorama of the city behind them.
Maria Gabriela Carucci
Side view of the theater.
Composed views of the city from all the frustum openings inside the theater.
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Final plan.
Final section.
Exploded axon of the final building and main circulation paths.
Maria Gabriela Carucci
Front view of the theater, showing the stage and seating area.
Back view of the theater, showing the main entrance.
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Inside exploded view of the theater.
Maria Gabriela Carucci
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St. John’s Abbey
Architectural Analysis | Prof. Ian Baldwin
50" x 50" Hand drafted axonometric drawing of the church and monastery.
Maria Gabriela Carucci
The objective of the class was to critically analyze and understand already existing pieces of architecture through formal, geometric, tectonic and spatial processes. In this case, the study was based on Marcel Breuer’s St. John’s Abbey, located in Collegeville, Minnesota.
Initial concept model for the representation of the main face of the Church, composed of hexagonal stained-glass windows.
Perspectival study, in which the perspective is not forced, like in the actual Church, but rather created by the repetition of equivalent frames.
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Maria Gabriela Carucci
Initial understanding and simplified representation of the effect the tilted geometry of the outer walls of the Church. This produces a forced perspective that draws the eye to the most crucial element in the space: the altar.
Exploded wormside view of the Abbey. Done with Rhinoceros and edited in Illustrator.
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FINAL MODEL
Final model. Analysis and interpretation of the elements inside the Church, and how despite their inapparent relationship, the architect strategically placed them to visually convey the idea of enhanced space, and thus giving the entire structure its own particular language. Every frame is a representation of these elements, and they are arranged in the model in a hierarchy that mimics the relevance they have inside the actual Abbey.
Top view of final model. individual pieces are noticeable and separated in space. Correct view of the final model. Individual pieces merge within each other to create the overall final product.
Maria Gabriela Carucci
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Anamorphic Reflections
Architectural Projections | Prof. Carl Lostritto
Maria Gabriela Carucci
a n 路 a 路 m o r 路 p h o 路 s i s A distorted projection or drawing that appears normal when viewed from a particular point or with a suitable mirror or lens.
Anamorphic, site-specific installation created by reflecting the distorted image of a previously done anamorphic drawing, which could only be seen "corrected" by staring into the smallest mirror of the set in a specific angle.
This last anamorphic drawing was the product of the continuation of the semester's first two proyects, in which, taking a set of specific obejcts, two still lives of said objects were drawn, and later projected again onto themselves. The second still life, though, was projected onto the objects in an anamorphic way and both over the paper and the objects, so that the drawing could be only seen from the exact position from which it was drawn.
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Afterwards, another still life of this was produced, which was finally anamorphically projected on a piece of paper and a constructed object that was the product of yet another previous proyect, which represented the negative space the physical objects occupied when a rectangular solid was placed over them.
Maria Gabriela Carucci
Some examples of computer generated work that I also produced during this class. There was a big relationship in how both digital and traditional mediums informed each other, and how this finally led to a deeper understanding of the final product.
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FINAL INSTALLATION
Maria Gabriela Carucci
Three mirrors where strategically placed so that the first one reflected the distorted drawing from its ideal viewpoint, and the second and third reflected the previous one respectively. This made it able for the viewer to simply look at the smallest of the mirrors, the third one, which was placed facing upwards, to see the drawing from its correct angle.
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Fine Arts
Oil Paintings & Ceramic Work
Caggiano. Oil on canvas, 2015
Maria Gabriela Carucci
Atmospheric Perception 1 Oil on canvas, 2015
Atmospheric Perception 3 Oil on canvas, 2015
Atmospheric Perception 2 Oil on canvas, 2015
Atmospheric Perception 4 Oil on canvas, 2015
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Both of these installations play with the idea of incorporating digital techniques into the process of hand-made ceramic pieces. With this tile installation I was experimenting with merging geometrical computer generated surfaces and organic forms, and how the superposition of these could create forms within one another. The glaze is alluding to the idea of topographical changes on a map.
Maria Gabriela Carucci
Moving further, with this final installation I was interested in how a digital model could translate into a non-conventional, hand made version of itself. The ceramic stairs and pods where not connected to one another, instead, they where precariously held up by readjustable plexiglass stands. This, and the way the wooden base was constructed, made it possible for the installation to assume different configurations. It was supposed to reference to the way informal settlements, specifically slums, grow unpredictably, usually over mountains and hills, and how their lack of planning contributes their fragile nature.
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CONTACT mcarucci@risd.edu 786 448 7697 2 College Street Providence, RI 02903
Maria Gabriela Carucci
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