+LENA
M. P F E I F F E R
+CONTENTS Academic Studios + 2.5 Dimension + Fold + Intersect + Detatch + Folly
Experimental + Train Home + RoboPinch
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2.5DIMENSION
C h i c a g o _ P a v i l i o n Fall 2014 Professor: Thomas Moran Site: United States Postal Office Chicago, Illinois Inspired by the Mies van der Rohe U.S. Post Office in Chicago, IL, this project strives to enhance atmospheric experience through stark contrasts. With playful color, organiclike materials and interconnected negative space, the building experiments with its effect on the inhabitant. This design attempts to achieve the uninterrupted floor plan by placing the rooms below ground level. The atmospheric orbs seem to melt over the edges of the rectilinear, contemporary structure, reacting to the solid geometry. While concave, if one views the orbs from the inside, a 2-dimensional effect is realized, giving the playful colors a marble-like behavior. Final model detail
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Top Left: Site map of the city of Chicago, project site highlighted Bottom Left: Interior photographs of final model, visualizing orbs as a 2-D marble face Right: Final model made with the use of concrete molds, vacuum forming vinyl and marbling with spray-paint
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2.5 Dimension exploded axon of final design
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C o l l e c t i v e _ C o n t i n u i t y Winter 2014 Two Week Project Professor: Karl Daubmann Exploring the art of folding, this project aims to create a pavilion out of a single continuous material. Through the manipulation of one flat surface, a structure is formed, emphasizing movement and flow between the interior, exterior and the constructed landscape. All entrances and apertures are created by the concave or convex wielding of the surface. With surfaces extending at particular angles from the constructed landscape, the pavilions structure allows for participation in the program of a recreation center. The ground to building relationship creates multiple uses including a rock climbing wall and continuous planes for outdoor play. Final model
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Top Left: Final Model Photos Bottom: Section cuts A and B, hand drawn with digital enhancements Top Right: Plan, hand drawn with digital enhancements
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I N T E R S E C T
Unrecognizable_Knowns Winter 2014 2 week project Professor: Karl Daubmann This project focused on the simplicity of recognizable form, and how to alter this nature into something less identifiable. The familiar shape of the cube is transformed into an unnamed mass by intersection and subtraction. A smaller scale cube is inserted, rotated, and removed to realize this form. The program is designed for that of a ski lodge, and placed on the side of the mountain as an accessible escape from the elements. Final model
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Top Left: Final model photos revealing side elevation, and plan view of site Bottom Left: Plan Right: Section collage
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The_Sound_of_Separation Winter 2014 4 Week Project Professor: Karl Daubmann Site: Ann Arbor, Mi Targeting the effect of acoustics on the site, this project aims to create an ideal balance of sound exposure. Found in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the site is located between a major high way, a commuter train, an active university campus and a busy river full of pedestrian activity. The design of this building comes from splitting, detaching, and pivoting the two forms. This yin-yang, puzzle-like transformation is carried through the project with material combinations of lightweight wire form facades mixed with heavy acoustic taming concrete. The recreation center, while acted upon by many surrounding factors, creates a sanctuary for children and their after school activities: a library equipped with quiet space for the sake of being quiet, and rehearsal rooms, quiet for the sake of being loud. The central courtyard constructed as an outcome of the building form, can be viewed from all rooms within, creating an interconnected inclusive space for all forms of recreation. Study model comparing materiality and weight of cast concrete, soldered wire frame, and trace paper
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Top Left: Site map analyzing exterior impacts and potential participation Bottom: Section Top Right: Landscape study of final model topography, built up to shield site from highway disturbances Middle Right: Final Model
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Detatch Final model
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Detatch exterior rendering
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Personality_of_a_Chapel Winter 2015 Professor: Clark Thenhaus Raoul Wallenberg Studio Finalist Site: Abandoned Cold War missile site, Detroit, MI
Folly and monolith maintain a unique roll in the landscape and convey social collective. Through a combination of landscape, architecture, and furniture, a family of chapels is created. Altering scale, orientation, relation to ground and to each other, the objects of the chapel turn into subjects of a transformed landscape. This family of the chapel, both occupiable and uninhabitable, creates a catalog of movement across the whole site for potential reuse, not singular in its determinism. The combination of the interior individual chapel of singular use, plus the monolithic existence of the non-occupiable, allows for both solitude and group gathering space, promoting interaction. The relationships between the folly, monolith and furniture reintroduce the site back into the broader city fabric through the anticipated intent for reuse. Through the medium of photography, a humanistic view is produced at an eyelevel perspective, allowing for participation within the proposed sites. This method emphasizes object taking on the role of subject as the forms occupy and interact with the picturesque landscape. Final model, winter scene
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Left: Landscape study to determine topography and chapel placement guided by manipulating ink and salt on Mylar Bottom Left: Exploded axons of 3 variations of pod structures Right: Site map of scattered chapels around the abandoned military missile site in Detroit, MI
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Top Left: Summer scenes Upper Middle: Winter scenes Lower Middle: Fall scenes Bottom Left: Spring scenes Right: Furniture piece containing 4 final model scenes with dictated viewing points, wood
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T R A I N H O M E
Winter 2015 Course: Construction II Professor: Joel Schmit Team: Ashish Bhandari, Ben Palevsky Site: Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI Responsibilities: Precedent research, preliminary design, Revit model, renderings, presentation
M1-Rail Shed on Woodward
PROJECT ARCHITECTS: Ben Focusing Palevsky on materiality and composition, this project aims to create a high Lena Pfeiffer functioning office and mechanical space. Ashish The office exterior consists of a gridded CLIENT: Detroit Transit Authority_M1-Rail curtain wall for natural lighting and passive LOCATION: Woodward Avenue, Detroit heating techniques. A column system DATE: 04-15-2015 creates flexibility and potential mixed use. 2 GROSS BUILDING SF: 45,528ftThe office plan extends out into the train shed
with a cantilever platform supported by a steel cable device, allowing for a floating illusion. This extension of the office creates an overlap of occupancy and visual stimuli. The train shed is composed of this same curtain wall, with a steel rod shading device overlay. This device creates a secondary layer, managing sunlight exposure and allows for a unique fragmented view of the interior. It covers all apertures on the SE faรงade, creating a stark contrast to the lead panels that make up this faรงade. The roof is equipped with louvers to allow maximal daylight control and effective use of available lighting to increase energy efficiency. Final design linework
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68'-0"
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Third Floor Plan Elevation 24’
PROJECT ARCHITECTS: Ben Palevsky Lena Pfeiffer Ashish CLIENT: Detroit Transit Authority_M1-Rail LOCATION: Woodward Avenue, Detroit DATE: 04-15-2015 GROSS BUILDING SF: 45,528ft2
M1-Rail Shed on Woodward
157’
Top Left: Interior rendering from the entrance of the Train Home with views of the mechanical spaces, cantilevered office, and shading system Bottom Left: Interior rendering from the NE end of the cantilevered office space, overlooking the mechanical space and train entrance below Right: Floor plan of office space and facilities with train shed below
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R O B O P I N C H
Fall 2014 Course: Introduction to Robotics Fabrication Researcher/ Professor: Karl Daubmann Team: Hillary Davlin, Monica Griffin, Michael Paul, Jeffrey Wong Responsibilities: Precedent research, preliminary design, robot manipulation, material handling, photography With new leaps in advanced technology, architecture students are invited to think digitally. This course, centered around the KUKA Robot, allows students to work with programs such as Grasshopper and the KUKA PRC driving device to program the 6-axis robots. Students are encouraged to design with the technology as a tool for reaching out of the bounds of hand made modeling. Constraints such as time, muscle, and accuracy were no longer a challenge faced by the robot. Robo Pinch used the KUKA Robot to create an array of pieces out of concrete cast inside nylons. The KUKA was programmed to make small, precise movements, rotating around a central axis, to “sculpt� extremely unique forms via the simple commands of push and pull. Final sculpture piece
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Left: Process photos of the KUKA robot positioning concrete-filled nylons with various alterations in axis, finished array of concrete sculptures, varying in form, as dictated by the axis positioning of the KUKA robot
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