Studio Sample
Haley M. Robinson
Birmingham Cultural Furnace
year: spring 2009 studied under: interim professor krumdieck program: modern art museum restaurant media library urban studio student housing
In the proposed scheme, the ground is raised to create a second level plaza which enters an old steam plant from the second  oor. The steam plant, gutted, pierced, and manipulated to merely a shell, has been adapted to include a modern art museum and restaurant. Across from the steam plant is a new building meant to blend into the surroundings and house Auburn’s Urban Studio. The park’s main purpose is to celebrate the railroad. This site provides the opportunity for the park to reach through the existing steam
plant and connect directly with the railroad at its raised elevation. Allowing the park to continue through the site from East to West connecting the string of green space paralleling the railroad is also crucial.
Birmingham Cultural Furnace
An element that digs into the ground and punctures through the existing steam plant. Concrete steppingstones on the exterior of the building transform into steel lily pad-like platforms on the interior. These structures act mainly as circulation moving through the building vertically as well as horizontally toward the railroad at the back of the building. The pieces are meant to be viral and spread throughout the grided city of Birmingham, notifying visitors.
This interior perspective shows the delicate nature of the platforms as they enter the shell of the old steam plant and step down creating both the horizontal and vertical circulation through the building.
West Anniston Town Plan
year: spring 2008 studied under: professor orgen program: mixed use commercial residential
At the Urban Studio, I and 14 other students assessed and developed a new community plan for the area of West Anniston, Alabama. While researching and diagramming West Anniston, we looked at assets of the community, established zones, and made decisions regarding areas of improvement. Although small in size and population, West Anniston had a number of assets which could be recycled and reworked to create a more efďŹ cient community. Because of West Anniston’s small size, a majority of its landmarks are
within walking distance of each other. West Anniston also has a strong sense of community apparent in the maintained porch gardens of the neighborhoods. The community is well-established, there is land available for growth, parks, and green spaces, and the community is located at the future end of a prominent bike trail.
West Anniston Town Plan
Istanbul Row House
year: spring 2008 studied under: professor orgen program: mixed use commercial residential
An elegant little cafe floating on a bed of light. This was the concept behind the quaint program involving a small high end restaurant paired with an extravagant residential suite above. Light cascades across the walls of the residential suite and jumps from fl oor to fl oor. The floor and ceiling coverings are pulled away from the walls allowing light to shine from the open joists above illuminating the walls below. Behind each “island” in the image above is a shallow illuminated pool. The floors are
pulled slightly away from the surrounding walls with recessed lighting to create an overall feel of floating ground planes. Only the structural beams span the distance between the main two load bearing walls.
Istanbul Row House
Boston Housing Development
year: fall 2007 studied under: professor cook program: mixed use commercial residential
The design strategy was to create housing and retail for a vacant lot between two disconnected areas in downtown Boston. The building plans are characteristic of the visible figure ground of the north end. One half of the building is organized into rigid non-regular shaped cells, representing the north end neighborhoods, while the main circulation is organized into a radial movement mimicking the nearby highways. Aside from having retail, the ground fl oor acts as an exterior hub joining the tight residential cells of the
north end neighborhoods to the downtown plazas and north end parks. A boardwalk parallels one of the highway tunnels contributing to the pedestrian accessibility of the ground floor retail. The radial stacked layers create a visual connection up from the E. Boston expressway, part of the city’s underground highway system, toward Boston’s downtown.
Boston Housing Development
Opelika Library
year: spring 2007 studied under: professor faust program: library
Capping the library are a series of concrete forms. These forms sink inward and terrace down to form a waterfall like effect for shedding water. The water collected decends down another vertical form and is used to irrigate the terracing public gardens located on the back side of the library. The design is open and cavernous. The library consists of many types of unique openings but only above head height. These openings allow natural light to enter the building while maintaining an inward focas to the building.
Opelika Library
terracing gardens
Rural Studio
year: fall 2005 location: Greensboro, Alabama program: design and construction of a small scale residential
Michelle Connor and her four children had lost their home to a fire. As a single mom, Michelle was forced to work long shifts at a local restaurant even before the fire. Auburn’s Rural Studio chose Michelle’s family as the recipient of a new home designed and co structed by students. Nestled in rows of tall pine trees, the design is meant to refl ect two contrasting, yet penetrating solids. An astoishing sixteen foot light wall opens up to the back of the property onto the forest of pines. In this tall area is the living room
and kitchen, meant to allow natural ventilation during Alabama’s warm summer months. The squat solid arm of the building houses the children’s bedrooms allowing them to bE closed off from the tall living room during the cold months and for privacy.
Rural Studio
Sketches
year: spring 2008 pieces: dolmabah癟e saray覺 efes venice
Sketches
Drafting
pieces: corinthian column ca d’oro
Watercolor
Furniture
pieces: lightbulb pendant welded frame
Furniture