McKenna Cole MLA Portfolio 2012 - 2013

MCKENNACOLE

PORTFOLIO

MCKENNACOLE e: mckenna.amelia@gmail.com c: 818.602.8914

2013

STUDENT EDITOR (+ graphic design) - GSD Platform 6 A year of research through studio work, theses, lectures, exhibitions, and events at the GSD THESIS - Department of Landscape Architecture, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University ‘The Model: Simulating the Unknown’ TEACHING ASSISTANT - 4th Semester Core Studio|Flux City Instructors: Chris Reed, David Mah, Zaneta Hong, Leyre Asensio Villoria, Silvia Benedito

2012

PENNY WHITE TRAVEL FUND ‘Hydrologic Impact of Maritime Industry: Ingalls Shipyard Pascagoula, MS’ INTERN - Peter Walker and Partners TEACHING ASSISTANT - Infrastructural Ecologies: A Projective Urbanism Instructor: Chris Reed

2011

B.A. IN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE - 2011 College of Environmental Design UC Berkeley

GERALDINE KNIGHT SCOTT TRAVEL FELLOWSHIP ‘A Formal and Historical Survey of German War Memorials’ HONORS THESIS, Department of Landscape Architecture, UC Berkeley ‘The Spatialization of Tragedy: Official and Vernacular Responses to 9/11’ ASLA - UC Berkeley Student Chapter Information Officer/Web Master

2010

+

INTERN - Shimoda Design Group INTERN - Chris Ward Architects ASLA - UC Berkeley Student Chapter Information Officer/Web Master

2009

MASTER OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE - 2013 Graduate School of Design Harvard University

INTERN - Chris Ward Architects

2008

+

INTERN - Shimoda Design Group

TABLE OF CONTENTS +

DESIGN Graduate Thesis: “North to the Future” Landscape Core IV: Flux City Retreat To Nature Competition Entry Landscape Core III: Deployable Ecologies

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RESEARCH Infrastructural Ecologies: Owens Lake Penny White Travel Fund Research: Pascagoula, MS Bloemveiling Aalsmeer Case Study

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MISCELLANEOUS Ecologies, Techniques, Technologies Plants in Design - planting scheme GSD Platform6 - graphic design Manual Representation

construction details

Design

North to the Future: Signifying Limits in Alaska Advisor: Chris Reed Design Thesis: Spring 2013 Location: Bristol Bay, Alaska

Alaska now is what the American West once was.

With a richness of natural resources, mineral deposits, and an abundance of land, mining, and oil, corporations are beginning to turn their attention towards this frontier. As these corporations grow in size and capital, the mining technology technology and operations are similarly becoming more advanced and powerful. Both locally and regionally, project proposals such as the Pebble Mine Project in Bristol Bay call into question the long-term stability of the region socially, economically, and environmentally.

The thesis will focus on the development of a proposed 90 mile road connecting Cook Inlet with the mine site. Adjacent to the road lies valuable salmon fisheries, small local villages, and the Lake Clark National Park and Reserve which is currently only accessible through air transport.

Interventions focusing on coast and road erosion control, avalanche control, and phytoremediation accumulate to provide Bristol Bay with an ecological infrastructure that will long outlast the operations of the mine itself.

McKenna Cole

EKWOK

NUSHAGAK

IGIU

LEVELOCK DILLINGHAM

NAKNEK KING SALMON

Design

K

AR

KE

CL

LA

LAKE CLARK NATIONAL PARK + RESERVE

NONDALTON PEBBLE MINE

PEDRO BAY ILIAMNA NEWHALEN ILIAMNA BAY

ILIAMNA LAKE KOKHANOK

UGIG COOK INLET

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Design

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Nearby Mining Claims

Planned Pebble Mine Footprints + Roads Iliamna

Pro

Iliamna Lake

Kamis Dis

Nushagak District

Naknek-Kvichak District

Ugashik District

Mai

Design

Proposed Mines Conservation Land [NFS, USFS, UFWS]

Anchorage Northern Cook Inlet District

Oil Refinery Gas-Fired Generator

Central Cook Inlet District

Submarine Cable

oposed Port Location

Southern Cook Inlet District

shak Bay strict Outer Cook Inlet District

Barren Islands District

inland Kodiak District Kodiak Island District

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Design

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Design

Design

FLUX CITY

Instructors: Chris Reed with Miho Mazereeuw, Gary Hilderbrand, David Mah Core Studio: Spring 2012 Location: Willets Points, Queens, New York This studio focused on the development of urban form as driven by productive ecologies and their development. Urban fabric was adapted to a pattern that takes into consideration the surface hydrology in order to streamline the remediation and infiltration of surface water. A productive ecology utilizing algae biotechnology was used in the process of water cleansing and energy production.

McKenna Cole

COLLEGE POINT

LAGUARDIA AIRPORT

FLUSHING BAY

WILLETS POINT

CITI FIELD

HYDROLOGICAL FLOWS

FLUSHING RIVER

0

80

200

400

Design

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Research

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Research

Design

‘RETREAT TO NATURE’ COMPETITION ENTRY

Advisors: Mark Mulligan + Kiel Moe Group Members: Kate Brown M.Arch ‘14, Carmine D’Alessandro M.Arch ‘14, David Theisz M.Arch ‘14 Location: Taiki-cho, Japan This house aspires to facilitate a reciprocal and enriching relationship between people and nature by creating spaces in which the thresholds between interior and exterior are multiplied, extended and obscured. As the lines between inside and out are blurred, nature is simultaneously observed and occupied. The house occupies a broader scenic context, while new landscapes are created as simulacra.

The site design and landscape architecture embrace the interaction of man with nature and land with architecture by utilizing a blend of artificial intelligence and natural instinct. Terrain cut during the construction of the foundation is sculpted around the exterior of the house to provide shelter from northern winter winds, while sliding doors form a diaphanous membrane that opens the south and west facades to summer breezes.

The interaction between the sculpted terrain, the wrapper, and the isolated interior volumes generates a multiplicity of interior environments which reinforce the layered and ambiguous threshold between interior and exterior.

‘Retreat in Nature’ Competition Entry

Design

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Summer

West

Winter

South

North

Entry Kitchen Garden Semi-Private Private Fireplace Bath WC Mechanical

‘Retreat in Nature’ Competition Entry

Design

‘Retreat in Nature’ Competition Entry

Design

Design

Deployable Ecologies

Instructors: Pierre Belanger, Kelly Shannon, Julia Watson, Niall Kirkwood Core Studio: Fall 2011 Group Members: Michael Easler, Andrew Leonard, Chris Meyers Location: MA Military Reservation, Cape Cod Can the Nation’s long term security be tied to its ecological diversity? In an era of unprecedented landscape degradation, when changing climates outstrip the natural migrations of plant species, when extreme weather conditions have led to 89 federal disaster declarations for the Federal Emergency Management Administration, and when urban sprawl has converted large tracts of natural habitat to urban areas, can one still attempt to conserve land in a static state? Instead, could the Massachusetts Military Reserve act as gateway, a threshold to the research and assisted migration of plant species and communities? Can the Department of the Interior, Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Reserve, Air Force, and Coast Guard work with public and private research institutions to study the effects of introduced non-local biodiversity to degraded habitats?

McKenna Cole

COMPOSITE

SLOPE

ELEVATION

ASPECT

ATLANTIC COASTAL PINE BARRENS

ACADIAN HILLS + PLAINS

WORCESTER PLATEAU

NORTHEASTERN HIGHLANDS

Design

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Design

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Design

Research

INFRASTRUCTURAL ECOLOGIES: Owens Lake Instructor: Chris Reed Location: Owens Lake, CA

Starting in 1913 the City of Los Angeles began diverting water from the rivers and streams that served as the primary source for the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Owens Lake is now the largest source of dust pollution in the country and the once thriving agriculture industry is no longer viable. This project utilizes the network of wind and temperature sensors currently in place on the lakebed to inform a network of water misters. When the wind velocity and temperature increases to a certain level, the water devices are automatically turned on. Rather than using the current system of constant shallow flooding, the new network of water misters allows vegetation to re-establish as a means to control the dust pollution.

McKenna Cole

Research

Research

ECOLOGICAL IMPACT OF MARITIME INDUSTRY Advisors: Pierre Belanger + Chris Reed Penny White Travel Fund Award, Spring 2012 Research Partner: Ellen Garrett Location: Pascagoula, MS

The Ingalls Shipbuilding shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi is sited at the base of the Pascagoula River along the Gulf Coast. Home to a wide variety of ecological habitats as well as threatened and endangered species, the hydrological health of the area is crucial to maintaining a biodiverse environment. The onsite contamination developed as a result of heavy maritime industry, sewage treatment, oil refining, and former naval occupation. Through studying the history of the shipyard as well as the existing measures being taken to stabilize the ecology, we gained a clearer understanding of both the ecological and industrial systems of the Ingalls Shipbuilding shipyard and the greater Port Pascagoula.

McKenna Cole

BIG LAKE

MARSH LAKE

CITY OF PASCAGOULA

PASCAGOULA BAY

THE GULF OF MEXICO

BIG LAKE

MARSH LAKE

SIGNAL INTERNATIONAL

PASCAGOULA BAY

HUNTINGTON INGALLS

CITY OF PASCAGOULA BAKER HUGHES

FIRST CHEMICAL MISSISSIPPI PHOSPHATES

NAVAL STATION CHEVRON REFINERY

THE GULF OF MEXICO

Research

THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES

EFFECTS OF THE 2010 BP OILSPILL

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WATERSHED + INDUSTRY

Research

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Research

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Research

Research

BLOEMVEILING AALSMEER FLOWER AUCTION

Instructor: Pierre Belanger Research Partners: Ellen Garrett, Andreas Thuy Location: Aalsmeer, Netherlands ‘Landscape as Infrastructure’ - Fall 2011 A study of the FloraHolland Auction Building and Distribution Center and the flows of its input and outputs. Domestic production is no longer able to provide for the demands of the markets, resulting in the need for the importation of cut flowers and potted plants from Ethiopia, Kenya, Israel, and Ecuador, among others, while exports are still primarily directed towards European countries.

McKenna Cole

Research

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Research

Professional Work

MISCELLANEOUS

Ecologies, Techniques, Technologies Plants in Design Platform6 Manual Representation

McKenna Cole

Spring 2012 Ecologies, Techniques, Technologies Instructors: Niall Kirkwood + Pierre Belanger

DECOMPOSED GRANITE PATH

1

5M 0.1

4%

0.75 M

4%

4% CL

0.1 5M

0.8 M

0.8 M

LEAF COLLECTION NET SYSTEM

0.75 M

GRIDDED PLANTING OF TREES 2

GRIDDED TREE PLANTINGS

CIRCULATION SYSTEM

2” CALIPER TREE KEEP MULCH 1” TO 2” BACK FROM TRUNK

TERRAIN

2 - 4” MULCH SET BALL ON FIRMLY PACKED SOIL.

HYDROLOGICAL FLOWS 24”

24”

24”

LEAF LITTER COLLECTION SYSTEM

2

HIGH DENSITY TREE PLANTING

400 M

100 M

1

2

LOW DENSITY TREE PLANTING

DECOMPOSED GRANITE PATH NETWORK

McKenna Cole

Fall 2010 (UC Berkeley) Plants in Design Instructor: Judith Stilgenbauer

LIGHT POST

SECTION A 1/12” = 1’

FP

AC

SECTION B 1/12” = 1’

PLANT SPECIES J F M A M J J A S O N D

ACER CIRCINATUM ASARUM CAUDATUM GINKGO BILOBA TIARELLA TRIFOLIATA VACCINIUM PARVIFOLIUM

PLANTING PLAN 1/12” = 1’ GINKGO BILOBA MAIDENHAIR TREE -- 3” BOX

DRYOPTERIS EXPANSA SPINY WOOD FERN --1 GAL 3’ O.C.

ACER CIRCINATUM VINE MAPLE -- 5 GAL

VACCINIUM PARVIFOLIUM RED HUCKLEBERRY --2 GAL 4’ O.C.

PHOTINIA X FRASERI FLAME BUSH EXISTING TREES TO REMAIN

ASARUM CAUDATUM WILD GINGER -- 1 GAL TO FILL AREA

SEQUOIA SEMPERVIRENS COAST REDWOOD EXISTING TREES TO REMAIN

TIARELLA TRIFOLIATA FOAMFLOWER -- 1 GAL TO FILL AREA

A

A

B

B

ILLUSTRATIVE PLAN

1” = 30’ N

CROSS SECTION

1” = 30’

McKenna Cole

Platform6 (due out Fall 2013) Graphic Design Editors: Rosetta Elkin + Mohsen Mostafavi Student Editors: McKenna Cole (graphics lead), William DiBernardo, Simon Battisti, Carolyn Deuschle, Lauren Elachi, Martin Pavlinic

W H YCA N T W E JUSTDA NCE?? HUM A NEOR IGINSIN NOCEN TOBSESSIONSA NDCHE A PSHOES

WHYCANTWEJUST DA C E ??

N

W H YCA N T W E JUSTDA NCE?? HUM A NEOR IGINSIN NOCEN TOBSESSIONSA NDCHE A PSHOES

The project is suspended in the uncanny space between reality and dream. The personal obsession of dream interpretation is a daily source in the production of reality, one that is constantly producing images relying on symbols, signs and relations; narrating the past, wondering in the present and predicting the future;

Mack Scogin OPTION STUDIO SPRING 2013

an obsession that moves one through an alternative time frame.

What is architecture’s role today in defining a society of the humane?

Can the architecture discipline continue to sustain its unique ability

This unreal reality

to sponsor uncompromised difference in

has manifested itself

a world where the exceptional is redefined almost daily and the relationship between the singular and the collective is blurred of distinction in service to the integrative?

“Arum commoluptat facerias eosam es dolor re aliquo experupta cus aut apicipsunt la culparibus, quid quatia dolupta tquodicitas etur?

Inctemp erchiciminim ipienturit eatem estion nis escium que cone consequatios nossi oditas voloresti di iment iurit porem.”

within the space of a doll factory, through the intertwined production of dolls, dreams and the body, the spaces they all

DRA How can we discover when so much is so easily uncoverable? Can we now find comfort

in simply reading between the lines? Can

The project is suspended in the uncanny space between reality and

inhabit and the dual

G. Robb

G. Robb

dream. The personal obsession of dream interpretation is a daily

relations between the

source in the production of reality, one that is constantly producing

real and the unreal, becomes the architectural

we relish in never actually finding that word

Thomas Heatherwick, 04.05.2013

images relying on symbols, signs and relations; narrating the past,

mode of their existence.

that’s on the tip of our tongue? Can we dare

wondering in the present and predicting the future; an obsession

to suspend our trust in science long enough to refine a belief in the

that moves one through an alternative time frame. This unreal

power of personal intuition? Can we trust lateral interpretations to

reality has manifested itself within the space of a doll factory,

- G. Robb

produce the strange but familiar that move us beyond the rational?

through the intertwined production of dolls, dreams and the body, the spaces they all inhabit and the dual relations between the real

The studio is like a gaggle of cavemen and cavewomen decorating

and the unreal, becomes the architectural mode of their existence.

themselves out of the cave.

- S. Tavakoli

G. Robb

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F U N PA L AC E I I

F U N PA L AC E I I

FU N PALACE II

This building is an egosphere for the

The project works to interpret the maze-like ururban fabric of the city into an abandoned build build--

individual to be outward focused. The

ing in Bangkok. The project tries to address the

project tries to tap into the surreal quality

question of ‘architecture as a field initiating

architecture could produce, in which the

individual is at once

human activity and interinter-

“It was really exciting to realize everyone’s bored. If you just project assumes the whole do something that captures city as a laboratory of fun, their interest, it’s easier to do with unexpected encounencoun- something difficult.” action,’ derived from Ced Ced--

ric Price’s Fun Palace. The

Thomas Leeser OPTION STUDIO FALL 2012

Students investigate the concept of fun and leisure in contemporary

gerating the structure and

explores ways of using this

particular social condition of aloneness to produce

density of the urban exists

eliminating the distinction

group or individually, and design a project on one, two, or all three sites given. Projects will be located in Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, and

enmeshed in the density

Thomas Heatherwick, perspective. In the middle 04.05.2013 of the frenetic, stimulating

sures on the street. By exag exag--

own “Fun Palace II.” Students develop design strategies and goals based on their Fun Theory, develop a program/function/reason as a

of the city. This building

an extra-ordinary urban

ters and voyeuristic pleaplea-

society and develop a “Fun Theory” as a basis for the design of their

between inside and outside, an existing buildbuild-

surreal immersions of quiet, emptiness, and

ing is transformed into a vertical labyrinth.

softness.

Moscow, and students define their own locations within these cities.

- M. Park

- H. Wuertz

The educational goal is based on the understanding that students should be exposed to taking responsibility

for the complex task of the decision-making processes in the development of architectural

design, starting from taking an architectural (cultural) position, to siting, to programming

and design. The reexamining and questioning of the status quo of all those decisions

and their “conventional” applications is a fundamental principal of this studio. The cultural understanding of leisure, fun and entertainment will be examined as a starting

“We work together and hunt down what seems the right thing to do through quite a lengthy process…

The thing that’s common to us is exactly the same as that process and that method of analyzing a design problem and gradually… like a computer game goes through different levels, working through those levels to try to find what you believe to be the right answer.”

point for a critique of our preconceived notions

M. Park

Thomas Heatherwick, 04.05.2013

of social interaction as well as assumptions

M. Park

about one of the most important and possibly

most misunderstood human needs, emotions and experiences.

M. Park

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LIFE OF THE SCHOOL

PURSUING FIGURATION: QUESTIONS OF PROCESS, STRUCTURE, SCALE AND ENCLOSURE

FIGU R AT PURSUING I O N

- Given the rising concern of the origins of food and produce, a new attitude

towards consuming locally raised prod prod-ucts has become a new means towards

achieving full disclosure of the products that are ingested by one’s body. Since

a great majority of the population no longer resides within a rural context

that caters to cultivating a natural food source, many have been forced to seek

Lawrence Scarpa, Brian Healy OPTION STUDIO FALL 2012

alternative methods that economize on their available space so as to. To help

lead this effort in thinking of different

In a story, the narrative is captured in the telling; it is the selective

venues of cultivation, the Urban FarmFarm-

details and descriptive moments that evoke a tone or mood. The

ing Practices Center aims to not only

plot is what actually happens, and a good plot can produce countless

provide a series of living exhibitions

stories. We are interested in an architecture that suggests an equivalent multiplicity of tellings, and in plots

that examine the potential methods

Structure, Infrastructure, and Ornament

of farming within an urban scale, but

Antoine Picon

that suggest narratives that are complex and

layered. We look for the stories within stories.

to also serve as an icon that can raise awareness of food and its origins.

With the rise of digital culture, ornament is

Architecture is made not of intentions but of

- A. Pimentel

back. Its return has been accompanied with

works. There is no such thing as a good idea, only

recurring interrogations regarding the need

good expression. In its very essence, it involves a

to redefine tectonics, and more generally to

renunciation of words and an engagement with

revisit critically the link between architecture

and structure. Once thought essential, this link

the physical. As architecture students, you are

appears weaker today. Paradoxically, while the

developing ideas about architecture and how

fundamental role that modernism had attributed

architects can create environments that promote

to structure is being challenged, the relation

occupation. This studio focuses on the translation

between architecture and infrastructure has

of your ideas into legible architectural form that

intensified. Many contemporary projects play on

engages plot and narration.

the blurring of the frontier between architecture and infrastructure.

A. Pimentel

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External View

S T R U CSTRUCTURE, TURE, INF INFRASTRUCTURE, R A S T R U C T U R EAND , AN ORNAMENT D OR NA MEN T

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PURSUING FIGURATION: QUESTIONS OF PROCESS, STRUCTURE, SCALE AND ENCLOSURE

CORE II LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

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A

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The Productive Thinness of the Line - R. Idris

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- Given the rising concern of the origins of

Through academic writings and manifesta-

Case C: With the Modern movement, a rever-

The way that ornament has been articulated

With so much emphasis on the subjectivity

food and produce, a new attitude towards

tions of architecture, I propose that orna-

sal of line attributes occurred within frame

through time has no doubt changed. Despite

of architecture and the freedom allowed by

consuming locally raised products has be-

ment is read through the line in three ways:

construction. In some buildings, the struc-

its demise in the Modern period and loath-

digital mediums it remains important that

come a new means towards achieving full

in profile, in depth, and in formal. The

ture became a curvilinear plastic mass while

ing attacks against it by Loos, ornament is

ornament relates to the human body, as it

disclosure of the products that are ingested

analysis of the line that allows for these three

the ornament remained a linear, carved, or

largely present today. Oleg Grabar explains

did traditionally through Vitruvian prin-

by one’s body. Since a

interpretations is largely linked to means

extruded imprint within the mass.

that architecture is a true ornament […]

ciples, Orders, physiognomy, and character.

great majority of the

of structural realization through time from pre-frame to frame construction and further to a proposed ‘beyond the frame’ reading.

Furthermore, I propose six specific readings of the ornamental line, named here Cases A–F. Additionally, each case has general attributes of whether the line is articulated as linear or non-linear. These cases do not aim to be all encompassing but they do cover the precedents studied in this paper. A further description of each case is as follows.

Case A: Structure and the exterior wall formed one thick entity before the advent of frame construction. Ornament was applied as elements on the facade many times obscuring the structure. On some occasions, the ornament was also structural, as in the case of ornamented columns. Structure was linear and ornament was an articulated profile line.

Case B: With frame construction, structure is separated from the exterior ‘free’ facade.

However, there were cases that applied ornament in the traditional manner as a supplement on the wall. Structure and the outer wall were linear, while the ornament was non-linear.

Case D: During the twentieth century, structure and skin were mostly linear. The facade hung like a curtain or became an envelope, taking the form of one continuous volume.

The facade became the ornament either through its texture or its form as a whole.

Case E: Contemporary architecture and digital technology express a collapse of structure and skin. Thin surfaces are articulated as linear or non-linear forms that usually twist or fold, their topology becomes ornament.

Case F: Other cases of contemporary architecture (but not limited to the contemporary) express structure in an almost sublime way.

The forces around the form and its tension create a field or space that imbues itself as ornamental.

without it, life loses its quality. Architecture

This does not necessarily imply an imita-

population no longer

makes life complete, but it is neither life

tion of those methods but as Marco Frascari

resides within a rural

nor art.’ For Grabar, good architecture is

cultivating a natural food source, many

not require emotions to surround whatever

phic in architecture not only keep a literal

have been forced to seek

one does in a building. To acknowledge the

sense of measure but further act to keep a

alternative methods

profound truth of architecture as always at

system of rules in check. These ‘rules’ may

that economize on their

the service of man with no greater task than

relate to the human body, experiential and

available space so as to.

to adorn his activities, one must under-

spatial effects, performance, and social and

To help lead this effort

stand ornamental architecture as a charged

political agendas – all of which can ensure

in thinking of different

intermediary between user/viewer on the one

that the ornamental line is a productive

venues of cultivation,

hand and some action on the other.

one. Picon explains that ornament also has

the Urban Farming

herein is the line; the line that is primarily exterior, assuming multiple meanings and transformations through time. It is line of profile that articulates essential ornament; a line of surface; a line of topology; a line of

Cases A and B are what I call ornament ‘in

trajectory; a line of texture; a line of force; a

profile’ based on the articulation of the line

line of space. The boundaries between each

of ornament applied to the frame or face.

of the line definitions, as they articulate

Cases C–E I call ornament ‘in depth’ based

ornament in architecture, are not fixed. The

on the idea that although the advent of

boundaries are permeable, indefinite and

frame construction allowed for the realiza-

highly subject to the license of the designer

tion of thin superficial surfaces, the line

and reception of the viewer/user.

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context that caters to

an indispensable requisite in contemporary architecture. Relations to the anthropomor-

caught in tension between the interior and

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suggests the presence of the human figure is

an invitation to behave in certain ways; it adorns life and with some exceptions does

The charged intermediary I have presented

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another imperative in architectural in-

Practices Center aims

novation; it ‘must make sense.’ He remarks,

to not only provide a

‘Until now, digital designers have shown a

series of living exhibi-

tendency to discard the question of meaning

tions that examine the

as if absolutely irrelevant to an architecMeaning, or rather the desire to address, in one way or another, the realm of significa-

farming within an urban scale but to also

tion and knowledge, is probably among

7 4

5

6

serve as an icon that can raise awareness of

tion should not only be ethical; it must make

politics, economics, and time, all have an effect on the urban

taut, calculated, and invested with meaning

Gary Hilderbrand from Instigations: GSD 075

(as visible traces, precedent, history, ecology),

assumption that design is at the center of a landscape architectural education. The hands-on experience of the design studio is the synthetic act that brings together theory and technique in

urban side

guises of symbolism.

arrive at this articulation, for lots of reason.

Within this context, I have come to see the ground as a living, breathing integument – the city’s epidermis, the protective and permeable tissue that joins interactions between the reciprocals of the spatial world above and the mechanical, hydrological, and biological world below.

deeply for its effect beyond the surface. Case P. Hao

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substrate and medium of urban regeneration.

It took the design disciplines a long time to

the making of landscapes. It is in the studio that you will apply the skills acquired through other courses to the design of landscapes.

between interior and exterior has to be read

It is commonplace now to speak of the landscape surface of the city as the organizing

Inherent in the GSD curriculum is the

canopy clump

“The Surface is Alive”

basic assumption of the studio is that design is not a tabula rasa, but a negotiation between past present, and future projections of the site.

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ground

on either side to avoid breaking into the

programmatic, and topographical—that are embedded within, and contribute to, the present condition of the space. In addition, the

landscape, causing it to continuously evolve. A

A

canopy

sense.’ The line may be thin but it must be

collection of traces of their previous histories—geological, material,

various contexts that surround the site have also been transformed.

2

- H. Kim

sky background

of complex urban sites that have been designed and built many times over a long span of history. As a result, these sites bear a

Street patterns, codes and regulations, demographic change,

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food and its origins.

horizon

these returning issues. Architectural innova-

This studio introduces students to the challenges and opportunities 9

8

potential methods of

External Views from Adjacent Highrise

tural décor supposed to induce only affects.

Anita Berrizbeitia, Luis Callejas, Jill Desimini, & Rosetta Elkin CORE STUDIO SPRING 2013

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The view from the adjacent highrise reveals the visual rela onship between the urban environment and the park. The view from the 8-12 stories high rise would change primarily according to the following varia ons: the distance of highrise from edge, the distance of canopy clumps from edge and the distance between canopy clumps. The change is primarily about the ra o of Franklin Park, especially the country park division, which can be seen on the ver cal view from those windows. That ra o is crucial because it determines the visibility and the understandability of the park.

40.00m above ground

Sky Background: 59.59% - 62.40%

Ground: 0 - 3.63% Canopy: 36.32% - 16.57%

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A

22 21

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CORE II L A NDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

CORE II L A NDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

CORE II L A NDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

18 17 O1

Metaphors can be limiting – but in this case, skin is not merely a figure of speech. It’s

What changed? Many things look different, fifty years later. The surface is worn and

a working model, a mechanism that orders many of the spatial components and the

broken; it leaks and doesn’t breathe. Its trees are nearly gone. Commercial enterprise

performance characteristics of the city’s ground. It’s alive, and it has memory.

O2

16

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around the plaza edges has diminished, mostly moved on to other sites. Our interaction

15

with government has largely succumbed to electronic means. With several generations of

As we are beginning the latest effort to reimagine Boston’s much loved (by me, at least)

active disregard for the City Hall, we’ve seen compromises in its stewardship – in many

and reviled City Hall Plaza, it’s helpful to construct this frame carefully. How can we

14

corners, it looks worn and dysfunctional.

repair the surface? Recover from degenerative ailments? Return to a healthy state and renew what George Baird calls the space of appearance?

I, Schoolmaster Hill, 92o SE View Distance Range 1141’ 2409’

12

mechanically and organically. Access to the subway platforms is being radically

- Compared with Central Park, Franklin

opened up. Recovery of the surface drainage function is being reimagined through the

continuous field, carpeting the newly conceived district and connecting significant

the possibility to gain visual access of

to universal accessibility are being eliminated. Soil moisture and biological resources are

judiciary and other state functions, and the state capital’s new modernist City Hall. The

10

forming the basis of new zones for almost 100 new trees that will refine the spatial scale

surface was key to a new Boston. On the plaza and the street, in a mode borrowed from

character. The project seeks to open views of the park to create a feeling of

9

surface of the plaza is a live and resilient skin that responds favorably to appropriate

life: citizens paid taxes and fees, made court appearances, attended parades and

memory part: these transformations will happen without diminishing the ambitious

offices. Through and beneath the surface, access to subway lines and convenient, out-ofthis 1960s culture, and the plaza became an active place, widely admired. The City Hall received grand accolades, its monumentality and bold conceptualization roundly praised.

V, 58o SW View Distance Range 193’

VI, 360o View Distance Range 407’

1972’

2130’

property value of the adjacent commu-

8

monumentality of the original project’s conception. The continuous surface – the connective carpet-will evolve without losing its essential, recognizable characteristics.

This is tantamount to aging well, with the help of well-considered interventions.

Through proper restorative treatments and a bit of surgical reconstruction, the epidermis 6 5 will be cured, the body returned to good health. The 4 memory of place, revived.

the-way parking animated a newly complex urban archeology. Public decorum thrived in

IV, Scarboro Hill, 164o E View Distance Range 1222’ 2067’

ownership, while increasing the overall

levels of input and performs, actively and legibly, for contemporary life. Ant the

memorial gatherings, and if needed, saw their congressional representatives at their local

2530’

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its scale, size, influence, history, and

of the plaza’s edges. In all this, our conceptual frame remains clear – the continuous

European cities, the scheme promoted many of the participatory functions of democratic

III, 265o NW View Distance Range 512’

2121’

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Park does not offer the neighborhood

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expression of urban runoff as functional resource and a source of delight. Impediments

parts of the government for the walking proletariat – federal offices, the Massachusetts

II, 360o View Distance Range 674’

13

But the plaza surface will recover as we learn to exploit its best characteristics,

24 was envisioned by its designers as a The Government Center’s vast brick surface

nity. Accordingly, adjacent buildings are proposed to be raised in height and scattered so as to obtain optimal visual

7

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connectivity with the park. Lookouts inO8

side the park, as visual responses to the

O9

adjacent community, are proposed. They are emphasized by shrubs, evergreens,

3

VII, 213o E View Distance Range 195’ 1756’

and canopy clumps. Seasonal bulbs are

VIII, 208o NW View Distance Range 515’

2222’

IX, 60o NE View Distance Range 334’

1820’

proposed to reveal the Olmstedian landform and provide flashing impressions.

2

Viewsheds From Proposed Lookout

- P. Hao

1

A

P. Hao

M. Franco

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CORE II L A NDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

CORE II L A NDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

Terrace: Sunken stadium and amphitheater

Nothing, Specifically

Terrace: Playfields and meadows

Thesis by Kevin Lamyuktseung, MArch I This building begins from Venturi’s provocation of 1966. It is an experiment in

- Though Franklin Park is no longer

- This project contemporizes Frederick Law Olmsted’s primary design prin-

considered a vital public space, it can be

ciples, namely the setting up of chang-

understood as a highly functioning and

conflation of those contradictions. The sites

Terrace: Paved plaza

of these conflations are the fundamentally,

dynamic interplay between spontaneous

elementarily architectural: wall, room,

vegetation and Olmsted’s precisely designed

circulation, and tree spacing. The inten-

sequence, entry, shape, etc.

parameters, the park’s

tional barrier between

“How can we repair the surface?

Recover from degenerative ailments? Return to a healthy connected urban plazas state and renew what George is introduced to activate Baird calls the space of appearance?” the edge.

many lovely moments

the city and park is dis-

are held tightly within,

solved and a series of

distant from the city.

-L. Mehling

contradictions, but absent of style; instead of a singular or pre-emptive reading, it seeks a

valuable urban wilderness. Despite the

ing views and the curation of movement through an interplay of topography,

The project seeks a method that does not begin and end with a critique and does not presume an end through its initiation. Instead it

Through regrading at

attempts a suspension between legibility and

axes of potential visual

affect, through a quantity of disciplinary

access, new horizons of

techniques and quotations (Mies, Schinkel,

color and texture are

Gary Hilderbrand created by a terraced in Instigations ground--visible from a

Stirling, etc.). Through this quantity, it seeks

Terrace: Public pool and deck

to privilege the architectural problem of wall, of room, etc., over the identities attached to

and piquing theand the park. The view from the 8-12 stories high rise would change primarily according to the following varia ons: the distance of highrise from edge, The view from the adjacent highrise reveals the visual rela onship between thedistance urban environment public’s curiosity.

At times the change earthworks the distance of canopy clumps from edge and the distance between canopy clumps.

The is primarily about the ra o of Franklin Park, especially the country park division, which can be seen on the ver cal view from those windows. That ra o is are dramatic, the existing crucial because it determines the visibility and the understandability of the intensifying park. topography and revealing significant

each individual move.

This is a sincere project that assumes

Terrace: Small court games and plaza

geologic moments. Still, the terraces

responsibility, believing that in certain programs born of contemporary complexities,

remain open for myriad public activities,

singular architectural responses are both

functioning variously as plazas, sports fields,

40.00m above ground

courts, and amphitheaters.

naive and culturally irresponsible, e.g. the commercial mixed use, diplomatic mission, etc. The site for this project is the American

- M. Franco

embassy, which one could say is a mixeduse building, with too much program (the

9.59% - 62.40%

program of an entire self-supporting country) and too much identity, both too much in conflict with one another. Through the

L. Mehling

inherent complexities of this program, the

ound: 0 - 3.63%

project seeks an architecture of conflation.

6.32% - 16.57%

3.87% - 22.77%

nfolded Sec on Sample Number

M. Franco

M. Franco

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1

2

3

4

5

- 000 36.00m above ground

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6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

-

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Unfolded Sec on A-A, Views from Picture Windows 36m above Ground Level CORE II ARCHITECTURE

CORE II L A NDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

Distance of Canopy Clumps from Edge

Distance Between Canopy Clumps

0

9 8 7 6 5

9 8 7 6 5

0 30m

0 30m

1500m

CORE II ARCHITECTURE

5.0’ walk

9 8 7 6 5

1500m

The two parts to the system, the dart and the kite, are derived from the Girih Tiles found in Islamic tiling. By combining these tiles in plan with vaulted sections, the modules aggregate to create distorted typologies. The spaces born from this module system begin to inhabit

0 30m

416m

This project responds to the studio prompt through the creation and deployment of a modular system.

the middle ground between figure-ground, tile-vault, and the hierarchical relationships that the modules both

2.5’ walk

5.0’ walk

1.0’ walk

highlight and obfuscate. They also question the inherent applicability of Islamic patterns and geometries as a part

9 8 7 6 5

of architecture that is accessible but culturally difficult to

9 8 7 6 5

engage from the position of an “outsider.”

0 70m

1500m

208m

0 30m

1500m

5.0’ walk

83.2m 0 30m

416m

5.0’ walk

Cameron Wu, Katy Barkan, Jeffry Burchard, John Hong, Mariana Ibañez, Elizabeth Whittaker CORE STUDIO SPRING 2013

2.0’ walk

The 9 8 7 6 5

0

110m

1500m

416m

0 30m

9 8 7 6 5

1500m

7.5’ walk

166.4m

416m

overarching

pedagogical

agenda

for

second

- A. Karimi

semester

architecture core is to expand upon the methodology of technique from the first semester core, such that students should develop an

0 30m

understanding of the complex interwoven relationship between

5.0’ walk

form, space, structure, and materiality. Core Architecture II is

2.7’ walk

about embodying and motivating the logical techniques from first semester with the problems of materiality, mass, proportion,

9 8 7 6 5

0

150m

1500m

624m

0 30m

9 8 7 6 5

1500m

222.9m

416m

tactility, and structure.

0 30m

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Proin ullamcorper, felis et tempus adipiscing,

10.0’ walk

5.0’ walk

3.0’ walk

lorem purus varius magna, non lacinia leo erat a orci. Nulla scelerisque euismod diam, a

9 8 7 6 5

0

190m

1500m

832m

0 30m

9 8 7 6 5

1500m

416m

249.6m

0 30m

Martin Bechtold Life-Cycle Design presents the broader issues of lifecycle design, with a special interest in performative components and assemblies for

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L. Mehling

Life-Cycle Design

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the building envelope. The course introduces the fundamentals of product development and prototyping, manufacturing processes, market

amet. Donec rutrum laoreet nulla, ac viverra

research, and economic analysis. These aspects

nibh accumsan vitae. Sed semper at nisl eget

and other issues are discussed under the umbrella

auctor. Curabitur vel libero sed urna tincidunt

of lifecycle performance. Various methods for

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analyzing material flows and processes are used to

ornare erat. Cras ante velit, condimentum id turpis ac, auctor vulputate lectus. Aenean

guide the evaluation of existing components as well as enable the creative development of new ideas for products that create value from waste materials.

A. Karimi

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Pillow Clad is a cladding system that provides insulation and air-tightness.

It consists of recycled PET bag-like cladding that attaches to existing buildings and structures. The product is developed principally for temporary buildings, which are often used for longer than initially intended, that lack good insulation systems. During their lifespan, energy consumed in order to provide comfort involves heavy investment, which is neither environmentally friendly nor economical. Pillow Clad presents the flexibility of an easily mountable and demountable system to help ease these problems.

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McKenna Cole

Manual Representation

McKenna Cole