HEATHER CRABTREE Undergraduate Portfolio
CONTENTS CONVERSATION City Mills Hostel + Recreation Location: Columbus, GA Duration: 15 weeks, Fall 2013
Bibb City Public Library
Location: Bibb City, GA Duration: 15 weeks, Spring 2013
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TRANSFORMATION Independent + Assisted Living Location: Birmingham, AL Duration: 15 weeks, Fall 2014
Trajan’s Market Rare Book Library
Location: Rome, Italy Duration: 6 weeks, Spring 2014
Co-working Office
Location: Birmingham, AL Duration: 8 weeks, Spring 2015
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SMALL PROJECTS Columbus House
Location: Columbus, GA Duration: 7 weeks, Fall 2012
Artist’s Studio
Duration: 2 weeks, Summer 2012
Interior Light Render
Duration: 2 days, Summer 2012
Figure Drawing Study
Duration: 1 week, Spring 2014
Travel Sketches
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CONVERSATION The following projects explore the ways in which architecture can foster dialogue between ideas, people, histories, and activities. Each are designed around two or more seemingly different elements which speak to one another through spacial, visual, or material relations.
HOSTEL + RECREATION Columbus, GA 15 weeks | Fall 2013
Housed in the abandoned City Mills textile mill, built in 1828, this program serves the purpose of recreation center, cafe, and hostel. The recreation center is primarily focused around a kayak shop and providing access to the Chattahoochee River. The hostel provides the city of Columbus with affordable accommodations that speak to the vibrancy and activity of the city that has developed after the construction of the river walk. These three programs work together to create an active zone just north of downtown. As a means of creating an interaction between programmatic elements, this design creates a meeting of volumes, materials, and people through interlocking elements and spaces. Areas of low activity observe areas of high activity, which in turn observe areas of low activity, eliminating the strict divide between public and private. The varied transparency between spaces directs the viewer’s attention to a particular area or programmatic use and directs the movement and interaction of people in and around those spaces. Furniture for the library and cafe is designed with the intent of reclaiming any materials from the site and building that would be removed in the alterations. Wood from the removed area of floor creates chairs, tables, and the cafe bar. Fencing is used as support for a screening green wall that filters southern light on the first floor. Each element seeks to bring the history of the building into the current function.
Recreation
Cafe
Hostel
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Conversation
Basement
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1st Floor
2nd Floor
Hostel + Recreation
3rd Floor
4th Floor
Heather Crabtree
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PUBLIC LIBRARY Bibb City, GA 15 weeks | Spring 2013
In the exploration and analysis of the site, particular attention was paid to the nearby water resources—the Bibb City water tower and the Chattahoochee River. In the arrangement of spaces in the library, the application of a diagrammatic representation of the characteristics of each of these important water sources seemed appropriate. The water tower is static and intended for use by the individual. The river is dynamic and used by the collective. These ideals are applied in the design proposal in order to create various spaces for collaboration or individual study, which overlap in areas of circulation.
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Conversation
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Heather Crabtree
Public Library
Heather Crabtree
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TRANSFORMATION The following projects explore the idea and scope of transformation on the micro and macro scales within the built environment. In regards to concept, form, and function, there is an emphasis on engaging the histories of the sites with intent of further development.
ASSISTED LIVING Birmingham, AL 15 weeks | Fall 2014
This project began with the development of an urban plan for the region of downtown Birmingham south of Railroad Park. The intent was to bring density back to the area by transforming the vacant industrial region into a walkable, vibrant area of the city for housing, business, and commercial interest. The assisted living housing project was designed within the context of this new urban plan. With this housing proposal, a standard residential building model was transformed into something new. A typical double courtyard scheme was pushed, pulled, carved out, and manipulated in order to maximize light, provide communal outdoor spaces on multiple levels, and address the context of the city. For example, where the building is pulled back or carved out a new material is exposed, adding lightness to these spaces. Though predominately composed of assisted living, this building also houses market rate apartments, a gym, shops, and restaurants. These programs work within the urban plan to further develop this area as an active zone of the city.
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Transformation
Typical Upper Floor Plan
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Heather Crabtree
Assisted Living
Heather Crabtree
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Transformation
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Heather Crabtree
Assisted Living
Heather Crabtree
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RARE BOOK LIBRARY Trajan’s Market, Rome, Italy 6 weeks | Spring 2014
Located over the ruins of domus and apartments at Trajan’s Market in Rome, this design proposal for a rare book library seeks to preserve the ruins while transforming them into a library through schematic organization. Influenced by the palimpsest of the site, this design layers a functional program onto an overlooked piece of Roman history. Parti lines drawn from the medieval ruins form light wells and book storage rooms that imitate the courtyards of typical Roman buildings. A suspended catwalk system engages the circulation with the ruins, and an open study area on the top floor connects visually and physically with the market and Trajan’s Forum beyond. A heavy stone wall acts as both entry and facade, relating back to the ancient Roman fire wall that runs along the street. This wall serves to protect the books and ruins much like the fire wall protected the city. Engaging both the people and the history of the city, the library connects to the street on the lowest level and to the Trajan’s Market Museum on the upper level. Heavy concrete and corten steel grating connect the building materials of the past and present and create a dichotomy of closed and open.
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CO-WORKING OFFICE Birmingham, AL 8 weeks | Spring 2015
This co-working office transforms a mid-century vacant structure— previously a bank—into a vibrant place for freelancers and small companies to work. The exterior and the structural system from the original program are maintained while the interior is revitalized. The working spaces overlap and bleed into each other, while creating a pattern of loud and quiet spaces coexisting within the shell of the building. The double height space on the ground floor serves multiple purposes and can be used for every day work, lectures, or large scale events and galas. There is furniture to accommodate each of these needs, including original designs of movable study carrels that create enclosure within the large volume. The screen, made of hexagonal perforated woelbstruktur, divides spaces physically while still allowing for visual connection and relation. As the screens reach between floors, they satisfy different needs; their function transforms from benches to spatial dividers to work surfaces.
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Transformation
First Floor Option A
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Co-working Office
First Floor Option B
First Floor Option C
Second Floor
Heather Crabtree
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SMALL PROJECTS
COLUMBUS HOUSE Columbus, GA 7 weeks | Fall 2012
The design of this residence allows multiple opportunities for the inhabitants to interact with the outdoors. These opportunities come in the form of terraces, patios, and openings that visually connect with the Chattahoochee River. As an early study, this scheme focuses on these site relations and variable spaces as well as the relationship between public and private zones. With an open floor plan and operable windows, the house takes advantage of natural ventilation, particularly in the summer months, which flows easily through the upper bar. In the lower bar, the floor plan shifts in relation to the site, allowing the master bedroom to open to the outside and communicate with the river and the pedestrian bridge to the north.
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ARTIST’S STUDIO Auburn, AL 2 weeks | Summer 2012
Situated on the water and nestled into a hill, the studio space layout takes advantage of the views and grade change as the inhabitant moves from street to waterfront. Upon entering the building, there is a straight view through the upper level to the water beyond through two layers of windows and a courtyard space. Moving down the stairs into the studio, the view becomes obstructed and light filters down from above. When moving into the den, the view opens again and the space becomes a place of relaxation for the artist.
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INTERIOR LIGHT RENDER graphite on Arches hot press 2 days | Summer 2012
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FIGURE DRAWING STUDY charcoal on newsprint 1 week | Spring 2014
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TRAVEL SKETCHES graphite, charcoal, conte, watercolor
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PROJECT INDEX Artist’s Studio
Location: Auburn, AL Duration: 2 weeks, Summer 2012
Museum Annex
Columbus House
Location: Columbus, GA Duration: 7 weeks, Fall 2012
Public Library
Location: Auburn, AL Duration: 3 weeks, Summer 2012
Location: Bibb City, GA Duration: 15 weeks, Spring 2013
Kayak Store
Hostel + Recreation
Location: Columbus, GA Duration: 4 weeks, Fall 2012
Location: Columbus, GA Duration: 15 weeks, Fall 2013
Nolli Map Analysis
Location: Rome, Italy Duration: 3 weeks, Spring 2014
Trajan’s Forum Museum
Assisted Living
Location: Birmingham, AL Duration: 15 weeks, Fall 2014
Coworking Office
Location: Rome, Italy Duration: 4 weeks, Spring 2014
Location: Birmingham, AL Duration: 8 weeks, Spring 2015
Rare Book Library
Undergraduate Thesis
Location: Rome, Italy Duration: 6 weeks, Spring 2014
Location: Montgomery, AL Duration: ongoing
HEATHER CRABTREE EDUCATION
Auburn University — Auburn, AL College of Architecture, Design, and Construction Bachelor of Architecture expected Spring 2016 University of Arkansas Rome Center — Rome, Italy Semester abroad studying architecture through drawing
2011 – present
01.2014 – 05.2014
AWARDS AND AFFILIATIONS
National Merit Scholarship Recipient Marcia L. and Timothy R. Boosinger Endowed Scholarship Recipient American Institute of Architecture Students — Auburn University Chapter Freshmen Education Chair Freshmen Mentor Teaching Assistant for Careers in Architecture, Design, and Construction Freedom By Design Member Dog Days Event Chair Pumpkin Carve Committee Member
2011 – 2016 2015 – 2016 2011 – present 2014 – 2016 2013 – 2016 2013 – 2016 2015 – 2016 2012 – 2013 2012
hcrabtree104@gmail.com 843.318.0398
1110 Jake Eargle Rd Little Mountain, SC 29075
EXPERIENCE
08.2014 – present
01.2015 – 05.2015
05.2013 – 08.2013
Library of Architecture, Design, and Construction — Auburn, AL As a Materials Lab Research Technician, I am responsible for researching, cataloging, labeling, and photographing all items that are a part of the materials lab at the Library of Architecture, Design, and Construction. Additionally, as a circulation desk attendant, I have learned much about research methods, organizational skills, and attending to the needs of patrons. Nest (Research) — Auburn, AL As a student researcher for Nest, an organization that partners with artisans to build sustainable businesses, I became experienced in pre-design architectural research, with particular emphasis on the ethnographic study of people, culture, society, and the environment. This research will inform the architectural design process for a sampling workshop and small pottery museum scheduled for construction in Oaxaca, Mexico. BES Engineering, LLC — Pawleys Island, SC As an intern for BES Engineering, I created and edited mechanical, electrical, and plumbing plans using AutoCAD. I maintained and organized the office space regularly and as needed, in addition to working on site to document existing building conditions for future projects. SKILLS
Software Proficient in SketchUp, Microsoft Office Suite, Photoshop, InDesign, AutoCAD; Experienced in Illustrator; Working knowledge of Revit, Maxwell Rendering Hand Skills Physical modeling, hand drafting, rendering
HEATHER CRABTREE