SKIN/VOLUME
TERM 1_FALL 2006 CRITIC: MARK GAGE
This project called for the design of a volume of 50,000 cubic feet, focusing on the impact of precise decisions about skin, aperture and volume and the dialogue between them. Inspiration for the skin came from that of an armadillo and the qualities of tapering and overlapping densities. In an armadillo, the skin is thicker in both directions on one side and gets proportionately thinner as it overlaps the next ring of armor, keeping an overall consistent thickness. In the project, a consistent volume is maintained within, but the reading of that volume changes as the skin allows more light penetration through both a decrease in thickness and increase in aperture sizes as the volume ascends.
Displaying the consistent interior volume, effects of light passing through, and changing densities. Diagram of changing plate sizes and aperture sizes within and a shadow of the structure showing light qualities.
Existing Layers
Imposed/Peeled Layers
field/multiple
Diagram showing existing layers of electrical infrastructure, passenger platforms, train tracks, and tunnel.
TERM 1_FALL 2006 CRITIC: MARK GAGE
View of elevated undulating paths and pods.
This project investigates the idea of field as a matrix within which several spatial orders, complementary or resistant, are held in suspension. It called for a transportation Landschaft near the New Haven train station. The project uses the existing qualities of different uses on varying sectional levels as a departure point. These uses were are added to and amplified and yet simultaneously blurred. Existing platform surfaces peel up to become a new network of paths that interweave with existing systems. Smaller “inter-path paths� allow for crossing between and form another system. Larger paths delaminate at certain points, creating pods for indoor program.
Site determination diagram using icons for business people, tourists, station employees, cars, taxis, trains, and pedestrians. Lineweight indicates sectional elevation off ground plane.
Use and Directionality
View of proposed park over parking garage, overall site with shadows displaying the undulating nature of the paths, close-up of cafe pod, view from bridge
Rental Counter Bicycle Storage Cafe
Maximum number of shoe profiles nested within a 7’x40’ area. Lines drawn between every two shoes to ensure a stem from the armature will uphold each shoe.
form/informe
TERM 1_FALL 2006 CRITIC: MARK GAGE
This project investigated a continuum between form and informe. It looked at formal/geometrical scaffolding and excessive operations on that scaffold. The project begins with six very common shoe profiles nested to maximum efficiency within a 7’x40’ rectangle through the use of a computer program. The negative space between the shoes then becomes the positive space of the wall and armature to hold the shoes. As shoes are removed the transparency of the wall changes and positive nature of the “negative” space between is revealed. The shape of the shoe dictates the shape of the wall but the wall also takes on a new layer of shape as it responds to other conditions of efficiency, minimalism, and display. This new shape can effectively shed traces of the generating shoe form.
Negative space becomes the positive infill of the armature and excess is removed based on the center-lines of the “columns,” leaving a meandering pattern based on the forms of the shoes, yet also independent of them.
One shoe “column� with nested shoes Wall at maximum capacity showing ability to display the side view of as many shoes as possible and the opaque nature and seeming disappearance of armature when full. Dynamic nature of wall as shoes are removed. Wall with very few shoes, armature emmerges as something in itself. Sections through wall displaying changing positions of armature.
Series of process models exploring an elevated volume and liberated ground plane with different possiblities for light to penetrate. Initial diagram showing a ground lifted up with volumes caught up in a structure. Final model: elevated enclosed pods of program with light shafts and dog run at base.
PLAYS
TERM 1_FALL 2006 CRITIC: MARK GAGE
This project called for the design of an urban club for the training, socializing, accommodation and adoption of animals. Each student was dealt a different set of constraints, opportunities, and precedents. Using the precedents of Le Fresnoy and the De Young museum as a departure point and taking into account the urban nature of the site and desire for light, the project integrated separate programmatic entities under a common roof with possibilities for light to penetrate - both through punctures and skin apertures. All program is elevated off of the ground plane to liberate it for use as an outdoor dog run. Program volumes shift within their structure for other considerations such as surveillance to the dog run below. The punctures taper or expand as they pass through the floor plates to allow light to pass to the ground.
Light, surveillance, and shifting volume focus. Plans displaying division by program: sleep on top for quiet and detachment, work on lower level for greater public access and ability for surveillance, and play on ground plane for a more natural space and juxtaposition with urban context.
Fluid movement and organization
Orthogonal movement and organization
Yoga
Ordinary
Special Interest
Light/Plants of ‘ground’
Vertical area most important
Special Interest
Ordinary
Horizontal area most important
Books function as visual screen and light filter Kitchen Kitchen
Bed Bathroom
Bathroom Plants function as visual screen and light filter.
COHABIT
Study
Opaque and modular ordinary tasks to side
TERM 2_SPRING 2007 CRITIC: ALAN ORGANSCHI
Bibliophile
Chosen characters for the project were an older male bibliophile that requires low-contrast lighting and a middle-aged female yoga instructor focused on a healthy lifestyle. Because of their lifestyles, it was clear that the yogi could and would engage a more strenuous mode of vertical circulation than the bibliophile, but also require a horizontal plane to do her yoga. The bibliophile would need an easy form of vertical circulation, but more of a focus on vertical usable space to store his books. To filter light and create a dynamic shared space, spines that function as aramature for plant growth and books as well as a climbing surface for the vertical circulation of the yogi rise out of the ground and open up onto the roof.
Yogi
This project called for the design of a 16’x16’x16’ elevated cube of space in which two characters would be required to cohabit.
Degrees of interaction between the two
Diagram showing how lifestyle needs were translated formally to accomodate both characters by amplifying their interests and considering their physical conditions, as well as how program placement allows for interactions, both visually and physically. Front view, axon view, and study model. Model displaying the implied continuation when placed with other structures, the program, and the effects of the plant walls that contain herbs and vegetables for the yogi, and filter light for the bibliophile
Typical
SITE CONDITIONS side yard setback
First Floor Plan front yard setback
side yard setback
rear yard setback
Typical New Haven house with back garage.
SITE STRATEGY Family Territories
1
Second Floor Plan
Garage inserted into house, creating shared core.
2
Yard & Sun Optimization
House and stairs stretch to accomodate inserted garage, forming a central landing.
3
monster
TERM 2_SPRING 2007 CRITIC: ALAN ORGANSCHI
In collaboration with Rebecca Beyer, Phillip Drew, Travis Eby, Isaiah King, Eric Krancevic, Janwon Lee, Tal Schori, Julie VonZumbusch, and Emily Wells
This group project (also entitled “Transmogrification�) called for a reconfiguation of a typical house in New Haven using a coupling mechanism from a precedent, in this case the Ginzburg Narkomfin apartment building. This project reexamines programmatic relationships in order to give more equal living spaces for two units within one envelope. To accomplish it the house is split, back portion pulled over to create individual yard zones and equal street frontage. Cladding is ripped apart to correlate with interior rearrangement. Car entrys question the notion of the traditional front-door entry and its availability to only one family.
House splits and shifts, isolating backyard and increasing southern exposure. Garage rotates as geometries change.
Material Layering
4
Original house pieces contract to swallow up garage and further enclose spaces.
Diagram of sequence of initial formal volumetric changes, showing the primary courtyard unit being interfered by the secondary unit by pushing upwards, skewing, and breaking as the first volume comes beneath it and overcomes the courtyard space. A new outdoor space for the primary unit is created on the roof of the secondary unit. Views of an aggregation of the units on the site in different configurations. Section cut displaying the three different levels. Site plan highlighting paths through and public outdoor space for complex. Initial prototype model.
PROTOTYPE
TERM 2_SPRING 2007 CRITIC: ALAN ORGANSCHI
This project called for the design of a housing unit with a dwelling unit for a single inhabitant combined with one for a household of three, positing an architectural mechanism for joining and separating the two. The project was then implemented across a site five times as part of a multi-unit project. The project first took a simple courtyard house form, then interfered with it through a series of operations with another secondary volume. The resultant was a switching of ownership of different outdoor spaces based on subtle formal relationships and bounding conditions. When proliferated on the site the forms and sectional shifts allowed for multiple configurations and interlocks, creating relationships between spaces that doesn’t exist in another configuration. Outdoor space and indoor space for private use always exists above or below grade while paths are created for public circulation through and around the units at grade.
Plans and sections Wall quality showing a gradient towards the courtyards as an indication of their alternate presence. Details of wall Exploded diagram of programmatic qualities and their formal and sectional relationships.
PITCHED ROOF Morphed and angled to create sun scoop.
FRONT PORCH Accomodated on second level, only slightly offset from vertical position of previous stoop.
BAY WINDOW Doubles as a covering for car below.
+1/2 floor family unit
CLAPBOARD
individual BP
Extends to act as a screen and become porch enclosure, giving illusion of fullyextended house.
TERM 2_SPRING 2007 CRITIC: ALAN ORGANSCHI
This project was an individual try at the Building Project program and siting. There was to be consideration for accessibility and the coupling of a family unit and a renter unit. The project explored unconvential uses for convential moments and materials in a typical New Haven home. It utilized formal relationships that arose to create create suitable spaces for new required program. For accessibility purposes the house is “sunken� a half level into the ground and car ramps placed on either side to provide easy access for both renter and owner. Separate outdoor space is alotted for both sets of occupants.
Site Plan
TWO STORY Previous bi-level facade with pitched roof and porch facade maintained from front, less exposed surface area.
Longitudinal Section
-1/2 floor renter unit
West Elevation
North Elevation
building project
TERM 2_SPRING 2007 CRITIC: PETER DE BRETTVILLE, AMY LELYVELD, ALAN ORGANSCHI, JOEB MOORE, HILARY SAMPLE
East Elevation
TEAM B. In collaboration with Leslie Goedken, Isaiah King, Eric Krancevic, Nina Liu, Mieko Okamoto, Karen Rizvi, Matthew Roman, Zakery Snider, and Meghan Spigle
This project called for the design of a house in New Haven for a family of three (portion required to be accessible) and a separate renter. The project turns programmatic restrictions into design opportunities. The efficiency of the plan grows from the need for a clear distinction between owner and tenant spaces, both public and private. The house draws the occupants in from the street onto a shared deck. The owner’s spaces are arranged around a central spine, giving visual and physical access to both front and back while making the outdoor spaces a significant part of the experience inside. The tenant apartment is designed in section, creating a drammatic connection between the living and kitchen space on the ground floor and the bedroom and study on the second level.
Framing Model
South Elevation
Section A
Section B
Section C
First Floor Plan
Second Floor Plan
View through central spine View from Kossuth Street Renter’s living space View of large model from above Front view of model Small model in site Large model without roof
SPATIAL + CONFIGURATION
PERFORMANCE + OPERATION Semi-Private + Administration
Rooms/Galleries
Circulation + Service Interior Voids
Profile of sectional interior space with windows blackened
Volumes + Structure
Public Gallery Space
Upward Expansion
kahn analysis
TERM 3_FALL 2007 CRITIC: MARTIN FINIO
In collaboration with Marianna Mello, Lauren Mishkind, and Shane Neufeld
This project was an analysis of the British Art Center in New Haven by Louis Kahn. The project focused on the ability of the building to provide so many different types of experiences despite (or because of the contrast with) its modularity. The moments when Kahn breaks out of the grid, either in section or in plan, and through means of eliminating physical boundaries or simply changing material, allow for vast changes in the compression and expansion of spaces. The views across and through spaces change drastically from level to level, despite the seemingly similar floor plans. The project highlighted the subtle ways in which spatial recognitions can be made apparent.
Envelope + Daylighting
Freedom of Space
Sectional model showing carved out interior space. Includes panels with views that change drastically with only a few steps, displaying the compression and expansion qualities. Detail model exemplifying the trait of glimpses to other program areas while still maintaining the grid. This entrance column detail allows a slight view to the entry area through the rare integration of a curved surface. Diagrams breaking down spaces and the operation of them to bring out relationships. Sectional diagrams showing carved space. Sight line diagrams showing the changing views and greater recognition of the space as one ascends to the higher levels.
First Floor
Second Floor
Third Floor
Fourth Floor
Site Analyses. Investigates the program and character of surrounding spaces in order to help determine the orientation of the building and adjacencies of program in the approach to the site. The study revealed that Chapel Street functions as a sort of arts corridor at this point, and that re-orientation of the site entrance towards Chapel could be optimal and read as an extension of the fabric of the existing character along the street. Diagram showing the continuation of the path between the Yale Repertory Theater and the Britsh Art Center to become the building, an interest born in the frequent occurances along Chapel street where changes in program occur along a path and recognition of this is accomplished through a sectional shift or various bounding conditions (ex: sunken courtyard at BAC or void space at the opposite corner). Diagram also shows the different qualities of the three levels of galleries. Series of process models displaying progression and changing qualities of interior outdoor space to optimize public’s engagement. Diagram of courtyard conditions and through-block paths around campus, exemplifying the quality of a courtyard to function as both a destination and a path. Red indicates public, blue indicates private or temporal. Final model showing path and angled ground plane.
kuntshalle
TERM 3_FALL 2007 CRITIC: MARTIN FINIO
This project called for the design of a Kunsthalle for the city of New Haven dedicated exclusively to contemporary art. The program also included educational facilities and other multipurpose facilities. The aim of this project was to be both an extension of a path and a destination. The imposed path is first a connection with Chapel Street that extends and then takes with it the idea of viewing different programs along the way with the opportunity to engage in them being sometimes direct, and sometimes only visual. It is then concentrated into a continuous circuit on the site that enters on second level, circulates down to the first, then one below grade, where it exits onto York. The ground raises to meet and become the building and then the building raises back up over the ground in its circuit, then down below it, yet always as a continuation of it as well.
Program diagram Plans, showing compression and expansion of gallery space, divisions of public and private spaces, and sectional relationships to other levels. Sections displaying use of spaces and interrelationships through visual recognition. View looking west
2nd Floor Plan
SECTION A
1st Floor Plan
SECTION B
Exploded plan diagrams showing gallery and viewing spaces in blue, displaying the changing nature of each floor plan. Red arrows indicate visual access outside physical constraints, with other portions of the program being on display and gray arrows indicate gallery space where physical boundaries dictate the end of sight lines. At times the subject is given glimpses of the path to come later on in the circuit, another re-orientation in relation to other spaces. Changes in program are denoted by sectional shifts, harsher angles along the path, and differing bounding conditions, while still leaving the program conversion somewhat ambiguous as the continuation of the path remains intact. Gallery spaces maintain the path, yet allow for variation and differentiation through changes in the ground plane, shape and directionality, and compression and expansion in section and in plan. - 1 Plan, Chapel Elevation View of York Street 2 Floor
1 Floor
Chapel Street Elevation
-1 Floor Plan
-1 Floor
View in lobby looking both out over angled outdoor theater/sculpture area and down into the gallery level below. Daylighting section study examining possibilities for maximizing summer and winter light and achieving optimal angles, as well as getting light down to the space below. Daylighting model photograph displaying effectiveness of light scoop at ceiling. York street elevation showing the angled ground plane rising up to the second floor and the angled second floor portion that rises up over the ground. View of angled ground plane through multipurpose space and across path that spans the three levels. Image screen that changes opacity with changing program behind can be seen on other side of the path, and through that the education center.
York Street Elevation
View down path spanning three-level atrium. View from York Street looking up at angled ground plane, across into gallery space on first floor, and down into gallery space on level below grade. View from lobby area down to first floor gallery and up to outdoor theater/park as well as across atrium area. View from first floor gallery looking across open below grade gallery and out into sunken sculpture area on York Street. Effects of the sloping plane overhead are seen in the ceiling plane. View towards loading dock and across first floor gallery into atrium path space. Aerial veiw of proposal in site.
Programmatic Relationship Rules Spatial Requirements Chart Typologies
Existing Urban Forces
Programmatic Relationships Chart, exploring the physical ways in which elements best relate to eachother and the possibilities for deployment on the site.
urbanism
TERM 4_SPRING 2008 CRITIC: ANDREA KAHN
In collaboration with Marianna Mello
The Gowanus Canal , once a important industrial link in Brooklyn, has evolved into a barrier. The steady decline in its industrial use has opened up possibilities for rethinking its use. The project suggests a gradual phasing of a master plan in which the goal is to physically transform the canal into a usable and activated park space. Pedestrian links are created between neighborhoods and new institutional, commercial, and New Industry (based on science and technology) developments are introduced. The relationships between the different typologies are explored in the ways they relate to each other and to the gradually remediating canal, and much of the program, such as the institution to study and aid in the canal’s remediation, responds to the physical needs of the site. Existing Physical Site Conditions (flood zone and brownfields)
Sectional Studies