Columbia GSAPP 2nd year M.Arch Work Sample by Lena Pfeiffer

+ LENA PFEIFFER Columbia GSAPP M.Arch Work Sample

508 W 136th St #21 New York City, NY 10031

202 316 2809

lena.pfeiffer@columbia.edu issuu.com/lenapfeiffer/docs

L E N A M. P F E I F F E R EDUCATION

Expected Graduation 2020

Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation Master of Architecture - 2nd Year

Graduated 2015

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Taubman College of Architecture Bachelors of Science in Architecture Raoul Wallenberg Studio Finalist

EXPERIENCE Summer 2018

Woods Bagot, Architecture

Fall 2018 Spring 2019

Columbia GSAPP, Architectural Teaching Assistant

Summer 2013 2014 2015 20162018 Washington, DC

Kuo Studio, Architecture

Spring 2018

Columbia GSAPP Fabrication Lab

Aug 2015- July 2016 Madrid, Spain

Colegio Público Teresa Berganza

Spring 2014 Chicago, IL

Vinci Hamp Architecture

EXTRA CURRICULAR

Alpha Rho Chi Professional Architecture Fraternity: Iktinos Chapter Active member since fall 2012 Michigan Women’s Varsity Rowing 2010-2013 Starboard rower, Big Ten Champions May 2012

SKILLS

Proficiency in Rhinoceros, Adobe InDesign, AutoCAD, Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketch Up, rendering hand drafting, model making, sketching, architectural photography, laser cutting, 3d printing, wood shop Experience with Revit, 3ds Max, Premiere, After Effects, Grasshopper

Architectural Design Intern Constrcuted digital and physical models for international competitions Completed drawings for client presentations Contributed to design charrettes between New York, London, and Dubai offices Set up files for accurate high quality 3d printing and laser cutting Taught other interns with no previous digital drawing experience or model building Drawing and Representation Teaching Assistant Assisted with students semester-long projects in drawing, physical modeling and computer animation Organized studio reviews, jurors, and assignments to ensure productive critiques Conducted lectures and seminars to further students technical skills Residential Architectural Designer Met with clients to discuss scope of work Measured, documented and drafted existing floor plans and site conditions Prepared schematic designs, construction documents, and permit sets Researched District of Columbia building permit and zoning requirements for projects Regularly visited job sites before, during, and after construction Visited suppliers to help secure material selections Fab Lab shop monitor Taught students how to safely use the wood shop machines Helped set up files to be properly 3d printed or laser cut Assisted students in building models and exploring new material options Set up materials on CNC and ensured safety of machine use Auxiliar de Inglés, English Language Assistant, bilingual primary school Taught English to grades 3-6 in Social Studies, Science, Language, Physical Education, Arts & Crafts, and Music Worked with professional Spanish teachers to ensure maximum language growth for students Extended private classes to specific individuals in need of additional practice Ran standardized test preparation for admission to bilingual high school Intern, spring break externship Measured and documented preliminary floor plans and site conditions Digitally drafted floor plans for residential projects Digitally constructed 3-D gallery layouts for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago

+ Brooklyn Seed Library

+ Subway: Traverse

+ East River Aquatic Garden

+ Above: Radial Matrix

+ Up: 2:4 Kite

+ The Blur Building

+ Young-Old-Home

+ BROOKLYN SEED LIBRARY Columbia GSAPP Core II Professor: Benjamin Cadena

This project proposes a library for seed collection and distribution. With one in five species of plants currently in danger of extinction around the world, a seed vault looks towards the future to protect biodiversity. With the aim of sheltering and conserving New Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s native species in a highly controlled archive, this library combines a collection of biodiversity with opportunities to educate the public about issues of plant extinction. The library provides a sharing system where people can borrow seeds to grow their own plants and food while replenishing the collection the following season. Programs are provided for teaching locals and visitors how to grow and maintain their own garden in a city of concrete. By inviting the Brooklyn youth from not just the immediate site, but surrounding minority high schools, this library introduces a diverse range of children to the possibilities of growing their own food, protecting the existing flora and fauna, and reclaiming unused space in their own neighborhoods to start community gardens. Three volumes stack to support each other and create tunnel-like structures with unique lighting conditions throughout. Floating floor plates allow for visual connections from the ends of each tunnel, allocating space without the use of walls. The seeds are stored within these tunnels on specific floors, giving the public visual connections to the seed archives but limited access without a librarian. Reading rooms and social spaces are placed at the edges of each volume to allow for use of natural light, while keeping the archives interior to protect from harsh conditions.

+ SUBWAY: TRAVERSE Columbia GSAPP Core I Professor: IĂąaqui Caricero 2 week project

This project transforms the standard spiral staircase into a cascading subway station of multiple pathways, vantage points, and uses. The station gives passengers an array of options for exit and entry based on traffic, speed, and purpose. Providing three paths of least resistance around the axis of each stair, the structure also allows for seating areas, a canopy, and waiting areas for trains. This project works to blur the line between stacking circulation and horizontal plates by means of a topographic flowing stair. The three staircases overlap in an interstitial space meant for sitting, waiting, subway vendors, and viewpoints towards the tracks. The layout allows for maximum airflow, and light to penetrate into the subway station, while still providing protection from the elements. With multiple choices of entry presented to the passengers, the act of tunneling people in single file in and out of the station is no longer a major problem. Structural wires provide visual queues, dense around the stair axis, sparse in the interstitial areas between the three axes providing better views of the subway underground. Narrow stairs are available for quick access, wider stairs can be used for overflow traffic during rush hour, and deeper cascades can be comfortable waiting areas for passengers. An outdoor canopy rises out of the ground providing shade, a viewpoint, and an area for bikes racks.

+ EAST RIVER

AQUATIC GARDEN Columbia GSAPP Core I Professor: IĂąaqui Carnicero 4 week project

Building off of the existing sports fields and playgrounds of the East River Park, the Aquatic Gardens aims to bring additional after school education and recreation spaces for children. Driven by the existing paths of the constructed wetland and composting site, the Aquatic Gardens extend out on to the water, inviting pedestrians to experience the constructed topography. Tucked into the South East corner of the East River Park, the Aquatic Gardens fit seamlessly into the existing infrastructure, allowing for a clean connection and extension of the park. The landscape combines circulation and building into one continuous surface, blurring the lines between roof and entry. The roof landscape forms both dunes for circulation and pools for aquatic life to grow. The interior program consists of a library, an auditorium, classrooms, and a performing arts studio. The interior spaces connect below the undulating landscape above, creating unique views through the dunes to the neighboring ponds. With the intention of drawing in pedestrians and students, the Aquatic Gardens are both a place of leisure and a place of learning, aiming to bring awareness of the East River water quality, native species restoration, and East River ecology.

+ ABOVE: RADIAL MATRIX Columbia GSAPP Core I Professor: IĂąaqui Carnicero 2 week project

Taking on the corner of 14th street and 2nd avenue, the project modifies an existing hospital facade and interior with the application of the radial matrix module. By multiplying and distributing these modules, the building takes on dynamic potential. This module has multiple functions, as rotating partition walls, circulation, auditorium seating, canopy, balcony, and facade. The kinetic character of the modules rotating around an axial grid provide endless combinations of aperture, furniture, and circulation from floor to floor. These temporary layouts can be modified for different spatial experiences while increasing light, airflow, and fluidity of space. The structural columns feeding through the building act as the axis for the modules to rotate around and form a logical grid throughout the building. Through the process of expanding the modules, an existing 2nd floor roof is converted into a roof garden, This garden is activated by the different layouts dictated by the expansion and contraction of the radial modules, blurring the boundaries between interior and exterior.

PARTITION WALL

CIRCULATION

AMPHITHEATER

CANOPY

+ UP: 2:4 KITE

Columbia GSAPP Core I Professor: IĂąaqui Carnicero 2 week project Drawing from Alexander Graham Bellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tetrahedral flying mechanisms, this project focuses on the geometry of one specific polyhedron. The 2:4 Kite is composed of numerous units of four triangular faces, six straight members and four vertex joints. The tetrahedral mechanism aims to create a transformable structure for flight while utilizing gravity and airflow. Through a repetition of joints, using hollow plastic and threaded elastic, the structure becomes malleable and kinetic in its form. The elastic joints allow for both expansion and compression, with the natural state of the model returning to an expanded position. With the addition of nylon fabric sewn to two of the four sides of each tetrahedron, the model gains its kite-like features and floating abilities. Expanding in both a vertical and horizontal axis, the model maximizes flying abilities while it expands in the air. Capable of folding to be one quarter its size, the 2:4 Kite can expand up to 48 inches horizontally and 22 inches vertically when folded in each direction. At the point of takeoff, the 2:4 Kite can be launched in a closed or open position, both resulting in a successful, graceful float to the ground.

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+ THE BLUR BUILDING Columbia GSAPP ADRI Professor: Farzin Lotfi-Jam

This project investigates the existing Blur Building by DS + R, built for the 2002 Swiss Expo. The project analyzes the design through drawing and representation techniques from multiple influential precedents. Studying the work of DS + Râ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s technical drawings, in combination with the negative space in Dogma drawings, the atmospheric qualities of Emilio Ambasz, and the hatching of Paul Rudolph, a new language is formed. Taking these techniques and applying them to the Blur Building allows for a completely unique reading and a new understanding of how representation can transform a project. The model follows the theme of experimenting with new modes of representation, modeling fog out of glycerin, a solid, to create a physical from for something ethereal. The animation attempted to represent the clouds with an even less likely substitution, popcorn.

+ YOUNG-OLD-HOME Columbia GSAPP Core III Professor: Daisy Aimes Partner: Julia Gielen Location: Bronx, New York City

This housing project re-imagines multi-generational living spaces by facilitating mutually beneficial relationships for both young families and the increasing elderly population. An interconnected network is woven throughout the site, linking the units to each other as well as the amenities on site. This network functions not only as a corridor, but as a social space encouraging inhabitants of all ages to interact and establish a sense of ownership and community. Through the use of the pivot doors, the network can expand to the private yards and the public gardens, inviting flexible reconfigurations of space. Units are designed with a focus on mobility and the potential for aging in place. The House typology consists of an ADA accessible first floor with unhindered access to both the street and the interior network of the site. The levels above allow for flexible ownership depending on family size or shared room mate apartments. The Tower typology lines the busy corner of the site and includes both a health clinic, grocery store, and library at the ground level. Apartment units provide comfortable space for persons of limited mobility, while also offering the potential for live-in help. An interior corridor allows for connections to the units in addition to the outdoor spaces that have been carved out of the towers. These subtractions within the tower facades allows for both visual and physical connection on site. This strategy of subtraction repeats across the site in both the House typology staircases, and the interior courtyards of the network.

Unit A Ground Option 1 Scale: 1’-0”=1/8”

Unit B/C Level 3-5 Option 2

UNIT A : GROUND ELDERLY UNIT SCALE: 1/4” = 1’ 0”

Unit B Level 2 Option 3

UNIT C : ROOMMATES SCALE: 1/4” = 1’ 0”

Unit B Level 2 Option 1

Unit B Level 1 Option 1

Unit B/C Level 3-5 Option 1

Unit A Ground Option 2

UNIT B : SECOND FLOOR MAIN LIVING SPACE SCALE: 1/4” = 1’ 0”

Unit B/C Level 3-5 Option 1

Unit A Ground Option 1 Scale: 1’-0”=1/8”

Unit B/C Level 3-5 Option 3

UNIT B : BEDROOMS B SCALE: 1/4” =Unit 1’ 0” Level 1 Option 1

Unit B Level 2 Option 1

Unit B Level 1 Option 1

DN UP

Unit B/C Unit UNIT C :B/C 3 BEDROOM/LARGE KITCHEN LevelLevel 3-5 3-5 Option 1 1 Unit B Option Level 1 Option 2

UnitUnit B/C B/C Unit B UNIT B : MASTER SUITE OPTION Level 3-5 3-5Level 2 UnitLevel A Option 3 3Option 2 Option Ground Option 1 Scale: 1’-0”=1/8”

Unit B/C 3-5OPTION UNIT A : LIVE INLevel HELP Unit A 1/8” = Option SCALE: 1’ 0” 2 Unit B Ground Level21 Option Option 1

Unit UnitBB Level Level22 Option 31 Option Unit B Level 1 Option 2

DN DN