Gretchen Warner
description
The final stair design is the result of exploration of geomorphology of desert environments and related crack patterns through a series of models. As group leader of a 5 person team, I was responsible for translating our 12” x 12” x 12” model into a 4’ x 4’ x 4’ stair that influenced the 8 surrounding stair modules. We constructed a total of eight 6” tall layers, painted according to a gradient color palette, fit together via a peg system. Each team member cutout the MDF, mitered the edges, glued, sanded, drilled and painted-and I organized & implemented a project schedule.
course studio_model-construction year winter 2007
description
Using an 8’ x 8’ x 8’ wood-frame structure as the base, I chose to situate my ‘light box’ in Burnet Woods (a wooded park), and I selected biomaterials like rice-paper, pumice stone, sand, moss & cork. Mirroring the rice-paper screens that filter in natural light, the hexagonal stepping-stones were set at varying heights to encourage slower, meditative movement through the space and to double as soft sitting platforms.
course studio_form-color-light year spring 2007
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course studio_residential year summer 2008
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Guest Room Patio Master Bedroom Study Covered Patio Family Room Kitchen/Dining Foyer
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description
The inspiration for the family home: barn typology and the 2.12 acre wooded site in SW Ohio. Extensive use of green roofs controls stormwater run-off and supports local wildlife.
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A Pattern Language led to the layout: house for a couple, courtyards which live, connection to the earth, veg garden, intimacy gradient, common areas at the heart, zen view and communal eating.
Backyard [west side]
Indoor-Outdoor Living Spaces
Urban Site as Forest
The High Line Wood chip paths encourage soil to retain nutrients that help both feed & protect the root systems of deciduous trees. Paths connect neighbors to shared space through protected routes. Interaction occurs with both nature & people via these paths.
Native Tree Species
Precedents
Rethink current urban landscape. Green softens the hard line of surrounding, orthognal building typology & engages the senses. Return the site to its original natural habitat.
description
Manhattan, NY MTA & private developers
Sheridan Street Housing Interface Studio & AIA Philadelphia Community Design Collaborative
Farmdelphia Philadelphia, PA Front Studio
2305 W. Adams Street Chicago, Inner City 2004-05
Willow Oak
Shingle Oak
American Linden Northern Red Oak
Quercus phellos
Quercus imbricaria
Tilia americana
Good for park and largearea use. Transplants more successfully than most oaks.
Attractive leaves; tol- Reasonably adaptable erates city conditions; to urban conditions. transplants more easily than other oaks.
Zoka Zola Architects
The mixed-use development proposed for the vacant site in Avondale, a neighborhood in Cincinnati, OH, will provide both 2 and 3 bedroom housing units. Commercial space (i.e. a corner grocery store, local shops and restaurants, a covered farmer’s market) will be located on street level, beneath the 2 bedroom units, to redefine the neighborhood from “food desert” to “economically viable community”. A community garden with individual plots will transform the greenspace on the hill from vacant lot to central meeting space. The site will also undergo reforestation to encourage the return of native wildlife and provide a cooling effect on the surrounding neighborhood. Individual residential units will be connected by nature trails leading from backyards up to the community garden.
course studio_mixed-use year winter 2008
Quercus rubra Tolerates urban conditions; perhaps the fastest-growing oak for landscapes; transplants easily.
description
Powered by Algae: Using the CO2 eating powers of algae to create cleaner community air. The site will serve as a base for a clean-fuel pilot program and as an education center for responsible industry. The Cincinnati site’s three commercial/warehouse buildings will form a USGBC regional headquarters for SW Ohio. Site features: garbage/recycling pick-up, storm water catchment troughs, bioswale strips, multi-purpose permeable patio, glazed pedestrian pass-through, storm-water algae pond, viewing deck, the “beach”, cafe dining/event patio, algae green house, environmental steward RV, edible garden, multi-use terracing, rain garden. Bioremediation will be utilized to detoxify the industrial site and provide for a safe, clean environment.
course studio_USGBC year winter 2009
41
Critical Detailing of Corner: Construction Analysis
Program Areas: 1. Lobby 2. Administration Office 3. Green Tenant Office Spaces 4. Conference Rooms 5. Mail/Copy Area 6. Break Room 7. Reception
Corner Condition: The corner detailing shows the connection of the white painted steel columns. In terms of aestheics, the exposure of the structure at the corners reinforce the visual connection to the building’s structural grid and sense of spatial ordering. It is a decidedly minimalist approach in having the wide flange beam and colum corners sit flush with the cypress cladding. Visually, the corner condition references the steel structure construction; the columns do not overlap one another at the corner, leaving a space at their intersection.
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4 Corner: Exposed Structure
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Wide flange columns sit flush with cypress cladding
3 Gray cypress siding Wide-flange steel column Wide-flange steel beam Exposed concrete founda-
Aesthetic look that references steel beam and column construction
course (varies) construction details, drafting and modeling year 2007 - 2010
BUILDING 2 PLANS STUDIO 301
9
dialogue
Gina Lorubbio
Gretchen Warner
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dialogue
Gina Lorubbio
Gretchen Warner
description
Our studio project, to design a mobile artist gallery, required us to examine and experience public spaces in Sydney as a means to assess how our design might interact with both the physical features of the site and influence broader perceptions of the space. The designs were to transcend a ‘one-time use’ novelty and promote & sustain engagement by the citizens; thus, open a new dialogue within the community. My studio partner and I initially developed and detailed a system of parts to create a pop-up table that could wind through large public squares and serve as an extended table for community meals. However, we concluded that our mission as architects is to design beyond physical space and form—we examined community organizing around food and meals. We considered sites where the client/artist could share their work within the context of a communal meal and then how a record of the event might disseminate.
course studio_Australia year summer 2009
description The first phase of conceptual design for a wellness center, sited on the Cranbrook Campus. An exploration of light, space and texture, with particular focus on layers and indirect light.
description
As a founding member of CALX, a student run design journal, I helped organize and implement a gallery opening presenting the first edition of our journal. Rather than print the first issue in a singular format for individual review, we devised to print in a large-scale format as a means to engage a collective of students in conversation & idea cross-pollination.
course (varies) explorations of space, light & texture year 2007 - 2010
description
The second phase of conceptual design for a wellness center, sited on the Cranbrook Campus. An exploration of forms and the experience of the journey through space. My ideas sought to mimic biology and natural formations. I used models to study soft forms. The overall concept for site development came to me through these explorations. The wellness center would nestle into the existing topography as it stepped down toward the water-- a place for self reflection. "Felt feels like something that exists in nature. Although it is manufactured both by hand and by machine, felt has the gravitas of a raw material, such as wood or stone‌ Felt is disorderly, entropic, full of trapped energy." -- Susan Brown, Curator, Fashioning Felt
course studio_Cranbrook Wellness Center year winter 2010
pro construction details, drafting and renderings year 2008 - 2009 pakula residence studio [spring 2007]
" ! team (Fred Scharmen & Dan Carter). The next step was to bring the revised plans into REVIT and create demolition plans and new construc-
description Diane Simeone & Ted Welling
New Jersey Tea Shrub June-July
Landscape Design: 8/20/13 Scale: 3/16” = 1’-0” Designers: Traven Pelletier & Gretchen Warner
‘Big Ears’ Lamb’s Ear June-July
‘Cotton Candy’ Stachy’s & ‘Millennium’ Allium June-Aug & July-Sept
‘Immergrunchen’ Sedum June & Sept (evergreen)
I collaborated on conceptual landscape design for this single family residence pursuing LEED Platinum and the Living Building Challenge. The undisturbed, native site would have been an Oak Savanna. It was later developed as farmland. Our team determined the site to qualify as transect L2. Rural Agriculture Zone. We explored permaculture design and native restoration as the main means to reach the site-development goals.
Screened Porch LA
TP CA HPL PA
Irregular Bluestone Patio
LA
LA Built-in Grill & Counter
CO
HP
Existing Deck
‘Ruby Glow’ Creeping Thyme May-Sept (evergreen)
CG JA Steppingstone Path
IS TP
JA
CG
SP + AM SO
Irregular Bluestone Stepping Path to Firepit
TP
SO
MS Kousa Dogwood May-June
CK SP + AM SH
‘Snow Cone’ Iberis April-May
Plant Index AM: Allium ‘Millennium’
Ornamental Onion
CA: Ceanothus americanus New Jersey Tea
CO: Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Nana Gracilis’ False Cypress
CG: Coreopsis g. ‘Heliot’ Coreopsis
CK: Cornus kousa Dogwood
HP: Hydrangea p. ‘Limelight’
‘Little Kitten’ Japanese Silver Grass Sept-Oct
‘Helliot’ Coreopsis June-Aug
‘Viridescens’ Fountain Grass Sept
‘Blue Dunes’ Wild Rye Grass July-Aug
‘Limelight’ Hydrangea June-Aug
Hydrangea
HPL: Hydrangea p. ‘Little Lime’ Dwarf Hydrangea
IS: Iberis s. ‘Snow Cone’ Candytuft
JA: Juniperus ‘Andorra’
Creeping Juniper
LA: Leymus arenarius ‘Blue Dunes Wild Rye
MS: Miscanthus ‘Little Kitten’ Japanese Silver Grass
PA: Pennisetum a. ‘Viridescens’
Black Flowered Fountain Grass
SH: Sedum hybridum ‘Immergrunchen’ Evergreen Sedum
SO:Stachy’s o. ‘Big Ears’ Lamb’s Ear
SP: Stachy’s o. ‘PInk Cotton Candy’ Betony
TP: Thymus praecox ‘Ruby Glow’
‘Andorra’ Juniper n/a (evergreen)
Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Nana Gracilis’ n/a (evergreen)
Early Blooming Thyme
description
Create a family-friendly & dog-friendly landscape that is both informal and textural. I chose grasses and sculptural perennials to add a sense of play to the angularity of the architecture. Low growing juniper and a mix of groundcovers will ensure that even in winter, there will be a carpet of green to soften the stonework.
pro landscape design
year spring/summer 2012/13
Introducing BLOOM! Garden Center
Elemental Design, LLC will create a new home at BLOOM! Garden Center in the old Dexter Gardens.
The garden shop at BLOOM ! will offer an eclectic collection of garden art & accessories, salvage & vintage finds, and fine jewelry & art, while the nursery will serve as an inspiration & source for annuals & contain-
Elemental Design Left: Front porch entry w/ cedar columns & natural stone facing. Above: Irregular bluestone patio w/ natural edge.
Elemental Design Clockwise from right: Japanesestyle tea house & bluestone steppers; cascading waterfall of a multi-tiered water feature; fire pit & flagstone patio w/ built-in bench.
ers, natives & perennials and essential supplies. In addition, we will offer bimonthly workshops and container-gardening design consultations. We are happy to welcome Stacey Rayer as our new Garden Center manager,as well as Atsal Gormley as our new Garden Shop manager! Stacey has worked for many years in the Ann Arbor, Scio Township, and Dexter area in the Green Industry and is a horticultural expert. Atsal has a passion for gardens and a unique and creative eye for display and gifts! Please visit our website for more information and a full overview of our services and team! www.bloom-gardens.com
We can’t wait to open the new place; from landscape design, construction
So Many Great Things Under One Roof!
Elemental Design Clockwise from top: Water plants; irregular bluestone patio w/ built-in bench; square-cut bluestone patio.
Farm Cart • Garden Center • Landscape Design-Build
The farm cart at BLOOM! Weekdays 4 pm - 6 pm Saturdays 9:30 am - noon
Garden Shop garden Art; vintage finds & salvage; fine art & jewelry; water Gardening; workshops; gardening supplies
Maintenance certified professionals
and maintenance to the nursery and garden shop, we hope to serve as the “go to” place for all things GARDEN ! • home, garden & lifestyle
We look forward to SPRING and seeing brag show March 15th - 17th you soon! The folks at BLOOM ! • garden shop opening weekend April 6th and 7th (w/ “Yard Sale” ). • garden center opening May 4th and 5th (VIP party May 3rd).
1885 Baker Rd, Dexter, Mi (734) 426 6600
Garden Design
Elemental Design Clockwise from top-right: Curved deck stepping down to flagstone patio; cedar fence & arbor entry; multi-level deck w/ cast iron banister.
native; drought, shade & deer tolerant; butterfly & wildlife friendly
Custom Potting annual displays; holiday & special occasion, seasonal container plantings
www.WhiteLotusFarms.com
www.bloom-gardens.com
AUG 9 thru OCT 6
We are very excited to announce that with the blessings and help of Mike and Janet Sloan we are moving in and will open a new nursery, BLOOM ! Garden Center, this April. New owner, Traven Pelletier and his award-winning team of Landscape Professionals will continue to offer design-build landscape services through Elemental Design, LLC.
Maintenance Services Sign-up now for next season!
Fall Specials
Contact: Doris Hill doris@bloom-gardens.com (734) 426 6600 x 203
(150 bulbs minimum)
$1/bulb installed $70/yard installed (d-s hardwood mulch)
Bulb Planting Invasive Species Removals Leaf Clean-up Perennial Cutbacks Weeding, Pruning, Shearing & Shaping Wilt-proof Applications
BLOOM! Gallery Opening Reception
8/9
pro graphic design & marketing year spring/summer 2013
www.bloom-gardens.com
M80
6-9pm
Betsy Emrich
independent photography year summer 2012/13