jj SELECTED WORK
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ARCHITECTURE / ENVIRONMENTS KITCHEN LIGHTBOX 04 MODERN OFFICE 08 RECYCLING BUS-STOP 10 REDEFINING THE ENVELOPE
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CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER 16 WOVEN HABITAT 18
CONTENTS DESIGN CASE STUDY REVISING HISTORY THROUGH CEREMONY
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MATERIAL TRAJECTORY 22
SOCIO/ANTHRO RESEARCH THE COMMODIFICATION OF MEMORY
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ABU GHRAIB, PLACE, SPACE, + POWER
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photo: “Evening Commute” taken from 7 train platfrom, credit j.jeffrey
JENNIFER
J E F F R E Y. email: jjeffreydesign@gmail.com. www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreyjennifer
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ARCHITECTURE / ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
KITCHEN LIGHT BOX DOMESTIC DOMAIN OVERVIEW
The client was a pack rat in need of a new outlook on life. At heart she craved a light filled modern home for entertaining friends, but in reality her surroundings were dim, cluttered, and inefficient. Set in a prewar apartment that hadn’t been renovated since the Nixon era, the home was long overdue for an update. location: Madison Avenue, New York, New York program: Private Residence - kitchen, study, + bathroom renovation
OBJECTIVES
Key goals of this interior renovation were: 1) to create more open space, 2) to allow for more natural light, 3) to create an overall floor plan focused upon the living room as the epicenter of cheerful gatherings. Fundamentally, while updating the necessary MEP elements, the intent was to use design as the foundation for a higher quality of life.
VISUAL STRATEGY
Aspiring to a loftier feeling, we knocked down the main kitchen wall and replaced it with a partially enclosed counter space/ food prep area. Gone were the drywall partitions and in place were resin panels embedded with linen. The resin panel enclosure was designed specifically according to the client’s measurements to highlight her presence as she prepped food in her kitchen. Adding to the drama of this effect, is the soft diffused light box glow produced by the resin panel. This light box effect with strategic cut outs, allows for a continual visual dialogue between client and her guests while she’s prepping in the kitchen. We continued this notion of visibility and light throughout the apartment by way of frosted sliding glass doors, resin panels, and a custom made resin panel light box.
3-Form Resin panels used throughout the apartment
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resin panel replaces partition to allow for natural light client height
: 5’3”
enclosed resin panel custom made to
Former
patio now sunroom
client’s bodily dimensions
custom resin panel lightbox in former patio window
SCHEMATICS Further enhancing the airy feel, I custom designed a “floating” walnut desk for the enclosed patio area. Remnants from the kitchen resin panel box were used to cover the window blocking the unsightly patio rail guards below the desk, and also in the fabrication of an electric light box on the windowsill to the right. At night both the kitchen light box and the windowsill (with fluorescent lighting on the inside) produce a soft light fusing the adjacent spaces with a warm glow.
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sunroom before
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CLIENT APARTMENT
ARCHITECTURE / ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
MODERN OFFICE EMPTY NEST DESIGN OVERVIEW
During my first visit, what struck me the most about this client’s apartment was the placement of the furniture throughout the home. Chairs, a desk, tables, you name it, were placed in direct pathways of the main door to each room. The client was an aging baby boomer, empty nester, and lived alone. It soon dawned on me that she enjoyed having a view of the entire apartment if possible, from whichever room she was in at the time, even if it meant the occasional bumping into awkwardly positioned furniture. The task here was the conversion of a child’s bedroom into a spare guest room / home office. After interviewing 4 other designers, the client chose my proposal due to the fact that I respected her need to have a desk by the door, even if it did block an existing closet. In order to do so, I had to employ both strategic engineering and custom designed furniture.
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DESIGN SOLUTION
By replacing the existing bedroom closet door with a sliding panel door, we could place a smaller mobile disk in front of it. This allowed for direct view of the doorway, while the sliding door also doubled as a much-needed pin up board. Custom sliding panel cabinetry was designed to hold file cabinets, technology, and the original heating unit. The overall look was minimal in material, but heavy in thought. 9
ARCHITECTURE / ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
RECYCLING BUS-STOP TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE CAMPUS OPPORTUNITY Can people be motivated to develop better recycling habits through convenience, and novelty? The competition consisted of designing a new bus shelter to replace the existing one on CCNY Campus, located in West Harlem, NYC, but the bus shelter also had to function as a drop off recycling center as well. It was left to us to determine the recyclables based upon the waste patterns of the campus users. An agenda focused upon the hollistic nature of recycling motivation/behavior was a huge determinant in the design of the shelter. In essence, how could the structure actually encourage pedestrians, bus users, and the local community to recycle? Novelty, cost efficiency, and innovation were the driving factors in our choice of industrial sized PVC tubing interlaced with phosflorecent threads as the primary structure. team:Jennifer Jeffrey + Jonathan Salvaterria
RESEARCH 1 HOUR OBSERVATION
WEEKEND
WEEKDAY
5 MINUTE OBSERVAION
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TRAFFIC ANALYSIS of PROPOSED SITE
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9:30 am 2:30 pm 6:30 pm
pedestrians vehicles
quad
138th street entrance
140th street entrance
ccny campus pedestrian routes lineweight + thickness indicate quantity of people
shepard hall
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9:30 am 2:30 am 6:30 am
color indicates time of day observation was taken
cans
amsterdam ave
STRATEGY
AWNINGS WITH PHOTOVOLTAIC PANELS FOR SOLAR POWERED PNUEMATIC PUMP SYSTEM
mass ass trans tra an it ans ansit loop
SOLAR POWERED
glass
plastic
BASE OF LIGHTING IS A CONTAINER FOR RECYCLABLES
BACK WALL - POLE MOUNTED LCD PANELS WITH INTERNET ACCESS
6” AND 10” PVC TUBING WITH OPENINGS AT BOTH ENDS FOR DEPOSIT OF GLASS, CANS, + PLASTIC BOTTLES PNEUMATIC PUMP PUSHES RECYCLABLES THROUGH PIPING TO THE OTHER END OF THE WALL INTO A COLLECTIVE CONTAINER
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ARCHITECTURE / ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
LONG ISLAND CITY CINEMA REDEFINING THE ENVELOPE
OVERVIEW
How can large-scale commercial developments successfully integrate within an existing, but growing community? Spanning along the waterfront of West Queens New York, Long Island City is a developer driven former industrial neighbourhood. Once home to a chemical manufacturing company as well as the Standard Oil factory, over the past 20 years it has slowly evolved into a sprawling cluster of upscale high-rise residential buildings. The project expansion was managed by the Queens West Development Corporation, a subsidiary of the Empire State Agency, a New York State organization, and currently belongs to the state of New York; therefore local zoning laws are not applicable. Some 15 – 20 years ago the QWDC came up with a general project plan regarding the overall shaping of this LIC zone. The GPP, general project plan, determined what could be built as well as by whom. Participating developers to date have been Rockrose Development Corp, TF Cornerstone, and Avalon Bay Communities. Developers funded decontamination of the terrain as well as infrastructural additions such as sewage, plumbing, and utilities have made the once toxic area now inhabitable. To recoup this initial investment, upscale amenity heavy high-rises were erected to maximize square footage costs. Due to this extreme commercial development there’s a visually notable friction between the old and new aspects of the neighbourhood, making additional commercial development a delicate task.
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APPROACH Instead of burying the proposed program completely inside the base of the commercial building, the idea here is to have half inside, half outside. The exterior program portions consist of street level retail shops with an elevated public plaza directly above it as a continuation of the existing boardwalk. This move provides for greater spatial flexibility, spatial experiences, and public access between the indoor and outdoor areas. With the popularity of the High-Line Project, as well as the recently added outdoor spaces in Union and Herald Square, these quality of life additions are proving to be both popular and appreciated by the general public. Overall, a spatial gesture like this serves to connect the community while providing financial incentives through public and private land use.
This page clockwise top to bottom: renderings of interior spaces, rendering of boardwalk shops with NYC backdrop
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concept diagram
existing neighborhood
recently developed
proposed program to be inserted at the base of existing building • • • • • • • •
lobby bar lounge restaurant film + book store auditorium (10) theaters additional retail space
Opposite Page: Top, perspective illustration of proposed public area/retail boardwalk, bottom, section detail of theater, restaurant, and shops
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ARCHITECTURE / ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER PUBLIC PEACE The overall scheme here, at its heart, is a light-filled sanctuary lit from the sunlight above. Invoking spirituality on many levels, the church roof doubles as the public plaza- open and inviting to the surrounding neighborhood. Situated at the main axis of a busy neighborhood corner, it physically represents the crossroads of community, education, and sustainiblitiy. A mixed use property, the challenge here was to provide space with a great standard of living while adhereing to a strict budget in addtion to ongoing notions of sustainibillity. location: program: team:
Brooklyn, New York community Church, administrative support for church, school, affordable housing, + public plaza, Studio Tekka; jennifer jeffrey, Vanessa Keith, Cheol Yong Kim Dongsuk Lee, + Ana Sucena
From top to bottom: concept model of church ceiling which doubles as plaza space, rendering of underground church Opposite page from left counter clock-wise: north-south section detailing light filled church space, contextual arial rendering of exterior, plaza space / church roof, floor plans
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cellar plan
cellar plan mezzanine plan
street level plan
typical apartment level plan 17
ARCHITECTURE / ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
WOVEN HABITAT CASE STUDY A VISUAL DIALOGUE OF THE EVERYDAY Can architecture create a community out of generations of people so that they cohabit and intermingle comfortably? Considering economics as well as existing social patterns, the program of this complex was woven in response to a number of factors: zoning, the sloping topography of the site, and ultimately the desire to create a dynamic visual dialogue between its users and the breathtaking landscape. The organization of the site uses the terrain to create both public and private areas for the buildings. At the upper portion of the hill /street level, are the offices, commercial spaces, a satellite senior center, and smaller residential apartments. Away from the main street, farther down hill, are the private multi-level town homes. In between these two components is an artificial valley that serves as a private garden or yard area for the residences of the lower portion of the hill. It is an idea of community connected through the ongoing visual dialogue of the everyday; a mother in her home located at the bottom of the hill can look out her window and catch a glimpse of her own mother dancing in the senior center at top of the hill. It was the idea of these possible moments defined the end design. location: program:
Ashburton Avenue, Yonkers, New York commercial, residential housing, a satellite senior center, + senior living facillities
Grandpare nt s
C o m m un ity
ASHBURTON AVENUE
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artific
cial valley
commercial institutional - assisted living residential - single units residential - duplexes
F a milies
residential 19
DESIGN STRATEGY
THE FISH WEIR PROJECT REVISING HISTORY THROUGH CEREMONY ANNUAL EVENT, BROCHURE, + WEBSITE
HOW DO WE REMEMBER WHAT WE DON’T KNOW? During the 1913 subway tunnel excavation of the Boston Boylston street line, a large number of wooden stakes or ancient fish weirs were discovered. The magnitude of this find establishes that inhabitants occupied America roughly around the same period as ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. In other words, North American history began long before the arrival of the pilgrims. INTERVENTION While researching the weirs I found public plans to install a permanent commemorative bronze sculpture of the weir near the Boston Common. While thoughtful in its intent, I questioned the contemporary translation of this structure- the permanence of its materiality conflicted with the temporal nature of the weirs. I strongly felt that that the use of wood stakes reconstructed at a yearly ceremony based loosely upon MoMa / PS1’s Young Architects Program as well as artists Christos and Jeanne Claude’s massive 2005 installation in New York’s Central Park, The Gates, would be a better use of temporal outdoor installations to facilitate cultural events. OPPORTUNITY: HISTORICALLY DESIGNED CULTURE The Fish Weir Project is an idea for an annual design competition that merges both the present and past by offering emerging creative talent the opportunity to design and build innovative projects. Centered on the development of temporary, outdoor installations at Boston’s Charles River Esplanade, while noting the essence of The Native American Traditions, the designers must also address environmental issues, including sustainability and recycling. Most importantly, the overall schematics must be an original interpretation of the Native American tradition of the Fish Weir and its craft. OUTCOME By incorporating local visual arts and music events into the overall schema of the weir installation project, nearby vendors could participate and benefit financially by having remote service stations at the project installation site. As with any chosen narrative, a decision is made as to which version is privileged. Given that so much of Boston’s historical tourism and national identity is about “American” History, the Fishweir Project is more than Native American History, it IS AMERICAN HISTORY.
the Fish Weir Project ABOUT
HISTORY
HISTORICALLY DESIGNED CULTURE
VISIT
SUPPORT
SPONSORS
EVENTS
PAST WINNERS
STOLEN STIX by STUDIO CRA CRA is this year’s fish weir project winner!
stolen stix
by
STUDIO CRA CRA
The Fish Weir Program is an annual collaboration between the Museum of Fine Arts Boston + The New England Native American Cultural Council, that sponsors new design talent through their fresh interpretive strategies in exploring and exhibiting the ancient practice of the fish weir.
A FRESH SPIN ON AN ANCIENT CRAFT.
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DESIGN STRATEGY
RUBBER CRUMB SURFACE MATERIAL TRAJECTORY BOOK, RESEARCH, + INFOGRAPHICS
Can design facilitate discussions about economics, politics, and sustainability? The Rubber Crumb lifecycle book creates a visual narrative around the material beneath our feet. By exploring Rubber Crumb’s physical geography the book uses info graphics to illustrate the political as well as environmental implications of natural resources within our everyday material applications. While tracing both paths and networks in which everyday materials travel, the intent was to expose linkages between sites of production and consumption, as well as the network of social, ecological, and economic relations involved.
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RESEARCH
GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL DIAGRAMING THE URBAN COLLECTIVE: THE COMMODIFICATION OF MEMORY MASTER’S THESIS
In its over 100years of existence Grand Central Terminal has had a profound impact upon the urban morphology of the island of Manhattan. To generate capital for the creation of this building, which was a privately funded public endeavor, large plots of undeveloped land above the now sunken tracks were leased or sold off as “air rights”. Upon completion, the construction of Grand Central increased property values, produced 18 skyscrapers directly over its tracks, and eventually led to the creation of 30 blocks of new buildings in total. In essence, the formation of this underground city on the horizontal plane predetermined the development on vertical plane of midtown today. For me, Architecture is an event or reciprocal condition that is user created, relentlessly redefined and constantly coming into being. In order to understand Grand Central better we have to view it as a social intervention, an event, or an ongoing process that provides us with a better understanding of our changing world. The crux of my argument is centered on a reciprocal relationship between end user and architecture, implying an active state versus that of a partisan static state. More so, Architecture or the production of space is ongoing, mediated through policy, adaptive re-use, and cultural ideology. Therefore, space or architecture is never finite, but dynamic, not autonomous, but interdependent. A manifestation of this condition is the programmatic paradox seen in the image on the far right. Here we see the Grand Concourse as the backdrop for multiple programs ranging from the anticipated passenger use to the unforeseen commercialization of the staircase by Apple. This deviation from original intent presents questions regarding typological evolution from the pre-industrial analog world to the post-industrial digital ream, or more importantly, civic space is now commercial space. For the same manner in which the external logic of the structure determined the city form of a specific area, the internal logic of Grand Central and its space allocation suggests multiple levels of relationships worth examining. More importantly, it highlights the forces of economics as an ideal lens of analysis. Grand Central is an event, and in its final status as a diagram it’s more than a building organizing the urban morphology, it organizes the mind through the urban imaginary. For what starts in the mind materializes, then returns to the mind as culture, where it then alters our perception of existing phenomena. The same manner, in which GCT is constructively layered, so is the memory it generates. Memory here behaves like an urban palimpsest seeping to the surface influencing our reading of the place. This altered perception extends beyond the life of the building itself composing the urban image, which in turn is captured in the fine arts, the media, literature, history, and ultimately released back into the collective dialogue of society.
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From top to bottom: diagram of symbiotic nature of architecture/ space, images of environmental paradoxes, and commodification of memory via social media
END USER
SOCIETY SPACE
ARCHITECTURE AS OBJECT
ARCHITECTURE
ARCHITECTURE AS PROCESS
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RESEARCH
THE VISUAL DIALECTICS OF EVIL: ABU GHRAIB, PLACE, SPACE, AND POWER
PAPER PRESENTED AT CONFERENCE ON WAR / ART / PEACE UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS, ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA 19TH-20TH SEPTEMBER 2014
This paper sought to understand how the built environment influences human behavior, and subsequently reinforces this behavior through the visual medium of space. By examining this appropriation of place, it exposes the social underpinnings of society in direct correlation to its values and hidden political agendas. Focusing on a specific case of extreme circumstances, Abu Ghraib, and the abuse of its detainees during the Iraq War (2003-2004), the research contextualizes the impact of human activity driven by distorted perceptions of place, space, and the “optical unconscious”. This idea states existence of interchangeable relationships between form, function, and place. In other words, space informs or supports the activity and the activity in turn activates the space and informs the environment. For the purpose of this argument I substituted a visual logic for a political one to construct a framework of analysis. By expanding upon the work of Social anthropologist Dr. Steve Caton , specifically his comparison of of Abu Ghraib’s general conditions and “organizational logic” to that of French Philosopher Michel Foucault’s “security apparatus”, the intent of this research was to highlight and inform the impact of environmental conditions on negative behavior, particularly under the duress of conflict and war. To demonstrate the connection between the place of Abu Ghraib, as well as the manner in which the space itself was utilized in the abuse and torture of the prisoners, I converted some of the publicly circulated images to diagrams using AutoCAD. As seen upon initial glance of the attached diagrams and as well as in Fig.1-2, the central circulation space of the prison seems to have been used as a “stage” for the organized violence and photographic sessions. Likened to a selective performative space, it was a place in which power paradigms were on display in prominent view of all the detainees. It is this performance aspect that I believe to have been the apparatus of security. Furthermore, this act of imagery / photo documentation occupying the central space essentially created a centrifugal power. When comparing the elevation diagram in Fig.2 to a typical plan of a thrust stage theater, the similarities in set-up are more apparent. An environmental representation through the medium of photography or mental association can be analyzed by way of identity, structure, and meaning. To elaborate, distinction of object is identity, a spatial pattern, or “connection of object to the observer and to other objects” is the structure. Finally, the image must consist of some meaning for the viewer; some code whether it be universal or personal. In particular, this device of “meaning” is consequential to the employment of photography as torture (Fig.3). Through illicit photographs the prison stage extended beyond the physical realm to that of cyberspace. And it was here within the interface of the digital screens that we as a society served and continue to serve as enablers to violent acts of war. From the comfort of our homes, with the mere click of a mouse we are accomplices to the visual dialogues of terror.
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From top left: Fig. 1 diagram of photo A.G. prison interior, Fig. 2 diagram of A.G. interior compared to thrust stage, Fig. 3 image / word association
level 1 cells
level 1 cells level 1 cells center
center
Fig.1
level 2 cells
level 2 cells
center
level 1 cells
Fig.2 level 1 cells level 1 cells center
ABUcenter GHRAIB
ABU GHRAIB
ABU GHRAIB
Fig.3
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PHOTOGRAPHY
DESIGNEAR APP THE DIGITAL CITY In addition to standard design practice, I had an opportunity to work as an architectural photographer. This entailed me traversing NYC from dawn till dusk, capturing images of some of the cities most noteworthy landmarks. While observing the impact that our built environment has upon our daily lives, it also provided glimpses into the vibrant and diverse communities occupying the neighborhoods surrounding the subjects of my photos. I enjoy being behind the lens. There’s so much freedom to observe the richness of life, as well opportunity in constructing creative narratives. The photograph is a great story waiting to be told.
From top to bottom clockwise: the app, what used to be the Folk Art Museum, Grand Central Terminal interior, Citicorp Building, + the Flatiron Building
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MERCI!
JENNIFER JEFFREY email: jjeffreydesign@gmail.com www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreyjennifer instagram: RUN_JJ 32
J. JEFFREY