Masters Architecture Portfolio

PROFILE

I am Meghan Reynolds, a Master of Architecture Candidate at Virginia Tech, expected to graduate in May 2023.

My passion is architecture, but I am also a lover of many other forms of physical and graphic design. I am a quick learner and constantly pursuing new opportunities to broaden my skills as a designer, from a twenty foot lighting design-build project, to leading a design team for a student organized gallery exhibition, or trying new mediums in my personal art endeavors. As a master’s student at Virginia Tech, I seized the opportunity to attend all three architecture campuses offered to me.

I am always eager for new challenges and opportunities. I am a quick learner, a hard worker, and eager to expand my knowledge in the professional field. I have professional experience working as an intern for two summers at a residential + commercial Baltimore firm. My goal is to obtain a position working on civic and environmentally focused projects, where I can apply my education to help solve contemporary design challenges and create a beautiful, functional, and resilient environment.

MEGHAN REYNOLDS

EDUCATION

MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE / VIRGINIA TECH school of architecture + design

AUGUST 2021 - MAY 2023 GPA 3.72

In final year of M.ARCH.2 program at Virginia Tech. Expected graduation in May 2023. Graduate Teaching Assistant. Spring 2022 semester abroad in Riva San Vitale, Ticino, Switzerland.

B.S. ARCHITECTURE / UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND school of architecture, planning & preservation

AUGUST 2017 - MAY 2021 GPA 3.76

Graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture + Minor in Sustainibility Studies. Spring 2020 semester abroad in Florence, Italy.

WORK EXPERIENCE

CARBALLO ARCHITECTURE / Architectural Intern

SUMMER 2021 + SUMMER 2022

Worked on residential and commercial renovations, additions, and new construction projects. Gained experience self-managing projects and balancing multiple projects simultaneously. Designed in Autocad, moving projects from inception through design development, construction documentation, and permit application.

Assisted in the preparation of variance applications + construction permit applications. Directly communicated with clients and contractors. Developed proficiency in creating construction document sets in AutoCAD.

“THE END / 2020” EXHIBIT / Head Designer

SEPTEMBER 2020 - FEBURARY 2021

OPENED MARCH 2021

Worked in a small group of students to curate an art exhibition in the UMD Architecture Building’s Linear Gallery. The exhibit encompassed student artist’s experiences of the year 2020. Exhibit opened in March 2021.

Head Designer for “The End / 2020.” Led a design team of fellow architecture students to curate submitted artwork and compose the physical gallery space. Used knowledge gained in architecture classes to design gallery layout, lighting, and thresholds. Designed and built exhibit structures.

ST. JOSEPH MEDICAL CENTER / Facilities

2019 + DECEMBER 2019

MAY

and Construction

Intern

Intern for the Facilities and Construction Department. Designed creative and code compliant solutions to hospital layout issues. Modeled proposed construction designs in Revit and created renderings in Lumion. Presented project proposals to the hospital's board of directors. Gained real world experience of active construction sites and projects.

Retained after the internship ended as a freelance consultant based on technical skills displayed during the summer internship. Created digital renderings in Revit, Lumion, and Photoshop of proposed alterations to the hospital’s chapel. Final renderings were featured in official design proposal prints and presentations.

TECHNICAL SKILLS HONORS

BIM / 3D GRAPHICS / RENDERING

Revit

SketchUp Pro

Rhinoceros 3D

OTHER /

Creative Problem Solving

Lighting Design

Model Building

3D Printing

Photoshop Illustrator InDesign

AutoCAD Lumion

Hand Drafting + Sketching

Construction Detailing

Painting + Sculpting

Wood + Metal Shop Experience

GRADUATED CUM LAUDE

SPRING 2021

DEANS LIST RECIPIENT

SPRING 2018 - SPRING 2021

ARCH403 COMPETITION FINALIST

FALL 2020

Senior Design Studio Super Jury Finalist

ACTIVITIES

FALL 2022 - SPRING 2023

Mentor in Virginia Tech’s Architecture Creation Club. Mentored high school student’s interested in architecture and design. Helped students develop design process problem-solving skills through design challenges, workshops, and guest lectures.

TOWSON, MD

CONTENTS

ARCHITECTURE

MA 1ST 4TH 3RD

GROWING + MAKING

VIRGINIA TECH ARTS + INNOVATION CAMPUS

BETWEEN LAKE AND MOUNTAIN

FERRY TERMINAL IN RIVA SAN VITALE

THE BRIDGE

CENTER FOR URBAN ECOLOGY IN GEORGETOWN

COMMUNITY NETWORK

RESILIENCE HUB IN COLLEGE PARK

TEATRO DEL POPOLO

THEATER AND DIRECTORS RESIDENCE IN FLORENCE

DUPONT LIBRARY

LIBRARY IN DUPONT CIRCLE

TRAVEL RELATED

SWITZERLAND + EUROPE

TRAVEL SKETCHES + DOCUMENTATION

BALANCING ACT

LIGHTING DESIGN + BUILD

RENDERINGS - ZUG ISLAND PAVILLION

BIOREMEDIATION AND ADAPTIVE REUSE IN DETROIT

THE END / 2020

GRASSROOTS GALLERY DESIGN + BUILD

ACRYLIC / CANVAS

PERSONAL WORKS

GROWING + MAKING

VIRGINIA TECH’S CREATIVE ARTS AND INNOVATION CAMPUS

WITH: RACHANA SHENOY + DILEK TANRIKULU

TYPE: GRADUATE STUDIO FALL 2021 10 WEEKS

LOCATION: BLACKSBURG, VA

PROFESSORS: ARRON BETSKY + ENRIC RUIZ-GELI

This project involved the design of Virginia Tech’s Creativity and Innovation District for the University’s 2050 Master Plan, housing the School of Architecture and Schools of Visual and Performing Arts. This group project explored the intertwining of new and existing and the relationship between architecture and time, with the goal of creating a cohesive, distinctive Creativity and Innovation District within Virginia Tech, across past decades, and into 2050.

Our design employed adaptive reuse coupled with a 20’ x 20’ modular steel exoskeleton that wraps the existing buildings to create a series of new spaces rather than new buildings, and provides a framework for the site residents, creatives with the vision to develop campus themselves rather than to inhabit readymade buildings, to create a completely unique “creative community” and distinctive arts campus. The skeleton structure can expand and contract over time to accomodate changing needs. The greenhouse typology and added agricultural programming evoke the rural landscape. The campus was designed as a group, then was divided into individual zones. My work includes the “Art Town,” renderings, and axon drawings. Group work is labeled.

EDGE OF CAMPUS AND DOWNTOWN BLACKSBURG

CONNECTING PAST + FUTURE

SKELETON WRAPS OLD BUILDINGS

“LIFE SUPPORT”

MODULAR, 20’ x 20’ STEEL GRID

CREATING AN ARTS CAMPUS

ADAPTIVE REUSE + A MODULAR EXOSKELETON

“IN BETWEEN” MOMENTS

CREATE NEW SPACES NOT NEW BUILDINGS

EARLY SKETCHES

DESIGNING FOR A FLEXIBLE AND UNKNOWN FUTURE

A 20’ x 20’ modular bolted steel I beam skeletal system defines and connects the district. The skeleton is wrapped in a simple glass envelope with exterior shading, highlighting the skeleton and existing buildings. Adjustable interior partition panels create flexible spaces for changing programatic needs. Bolted connections make it easy to assemble/disassemble and sensitive to future changes and expansion.

On site workshops and studios can produce materials to repair existing buildings over time or to “finish” the steel structural elements creating a “self-healing” campus that becomes a mosaic of past, present and future, in which art and architecture students can make their physical mark on campus and create a completely unique “creative community” and distinctive “arts campus.”

DISTRICT PROGRAM

SA+D METAL + WOODSHOPS

PERFORMANCE CORNER

CID FACTORY BIOMATERIALS LABS MAKERSPACES

ART TOWN

STUDIOS + CERAMICS + TEXTILES

ART GALLERY

CAMPUS VIEW FROM HENDERSON HALL STARTUP ZONE

3 CLUSTERS:

AFTER FINISHING THE OVERALL CAMPUS DESIGN, THE PROJECT WAS BROKEN INTO 3 CLUSTERS, EACH DESIGNED BY A TEAM MEMBER.

THE SKELETON

GREENHOUSE STRUCTURE DETAIL 20’ X 20’ MODULE I BEAM SYSTEM

STEEL

GLASS

PERFORMANCE CORNER

SOPA + START UP ZONE + RESIDENTIAL

GALVANIZED STEEL

GALVANIZED

BOLTED CONNECTIONS FOR EASY ASSEMBLY / DISASSEMBLY

CID FACTORY

MAKERSPACE + BIOLAB + FOODLAB

SOVA + GALLERY + ARTIST APARTMENTS

ART TOWN

Art Town, made up of the existing Architecture Annex, Media Annex, and a new building, along with a steel and glass greenhouse structure that connects and surrounds the three buildings. Art Town is a creative neighborhood, housing individual studios and residential spaces for 12 resident artists visiting campus, specialized studios and SOVA studio spaces and classrooms, and a gallery with an associated sculpture garden, cafe, restaurant, and greenhouse. Gallery, theater, and event programing on the edge of town, creating a permeable edge between town and campus.

EARLY SKETCHES

ART TOWN COMPONENTS

NORTHEAST ELEVATION

SOUTHEAST ELEVATION

ARTIST APTS + PERSONAL STUDIOS GALLERY GALLERY + CLASSROOMS + INTERDICIPLINARY SPACE

CAFE + RESTURANT + GREENHOUSE

SCULPTURE GARDEN

SOVA OFFICES + PROFESSIONAL KITCHEN + SPECIALIZED STUDIOS

CAFE + RESTURANT + GREENHOUSE GARDEN

ARTIST APTS + PERSONAL STUDIOS + SPECIALIZED STUDIOS

GANTRY CRANE + BRIDGE TO CAMPUS

VIEW OF ART TOWN CLUSTER + CID FACTORY CLUSTER

BETWEEN LAKE AND MOUNTAIN

FERRY TERMINAL AND GATHERING PLACE ON THE SHORES OF LAKE LUGANO

SWITZERLAND SEMESTER RESIDENCY

TYPE: GRADUATE ABROAD STUDIO SPRING 2022 5 WEEKS

LOCATION: RIVA SAN VITALE, SWITZERLAND

PROFESSOR: HEINRICH SCHNOEDT

This project focused on activating a small town’s public waterfront through a new ferry terminal connection to Lugano including a cafe/bar, exploring an architecture of waiting in the context of Swiss-Italian culture and a lakeside location in a scenographic alpine valley.

Seven wave-like roof segments parallel the curve of the lakefront and meet the ground to the west. Their dynamic metallic surfaces offer public seating and areas above and below for play, without compromising the lake views of the surrounding structures. Perpendicular to the roof segments, six north-south oriented concrete planes organize the site below and house the cafe, kitchen, and ticket office. Outdoor seating and playground are located atop the curving roof on the west and an outdoor stage for community events to the north.

RIVA SAN VITALE

RISE TO MEET THE MOUNTAINS

UNDER THE WAVES

SKELETAL STRUCTURE

SAIL

ADMIRE

N.P.S. Center for Urban Ecology 4598 MACARTHUR BLVD. NW, WASHINGTON, DC

THE BRIDGE

A JOURNEY IN DISCOVERING URBAN ECOLOGY

FALL 2020 SUPERJURY FINALIST - UMD SENIOR STUDIO COMPETITION

TYPE: STUDIO IV FALL 2020 6 WEEKS

LOCATION: WASHINGTON, DC

PROFESSOR: MARCUS CROSS

TOPOGRAPHY / HYDROLOGY / EDGE

This six week project explored building within a landscape, with a focus on sustainability and the relationship between landscape and urban edge, resolving the sites location within Georgetown D.C. and bordering the Georgetown Reservoir.

The new Center for Urban Ecology includes educational, research, and administrative spaces and utilizes its location, bordering the Georgetown Reservoir and Potomac River Valley, to reconnect D.C. residents with the water. The elevated boardwalk and cantilevered building act as a procession from street edge to panoramic views, previously inaccessible due to site topography. Floor to ceiling windows maximize views of the surroundings for employees and visitors. A steel supertruss structural system on the second and third floor accommodate the open conference space and central atrium. Large overhangs on each floor block direct sunlight and provide a pathway for stormwater and greywater to flow from the building, to a constructed wetland at the site’s low point. Sustainable features on the roof include photovoltaic panels on the building and pavilion roofs and an intensive green roof.

SUSTAINABLE SITE

Outdoor Exhibit

1” = 150’ SITE

Pedestrian Vehicle Constructed Wetland Tall Grasses block Reservoir Access SITE SECTIONS

RISE UP / FLOW DOWN

An exposed superstruss structural system allows The Bridge to rise off of the site and provide panoramic views from the cantilevered second and third floors.

Overhangs surrounding the building allow greywater and stormwater to flow down the southern side and main facade of the building

CORE ATRIUM

The core atrium continues the journey to the water, moving beneath the center’s wet labs, large windows display the research occurring within. The journey concludes at the Potomac River Overlook.

SOUTH ELEVATION

1/16” = 1’

COMMUNITY NETWORK

COLLEGE PARK RESILIENCE HUB

TYPE: STUDIO IV FALL 2020 4 WEEKS

LOCATION: COLLEGE PARK, MD

PROFESSOR: MARCUS CROSS

7400 BALTIMORE AVE, COLLEGE PARK, MD

SITE RELATIONSHIPS

1/16” = 1’

This 6 week project involved designing community resource architecture for education, disaster relief, and equity centered climate resilience within downtown College Park. The Community Network’s design is informed by a parti of “Community,” a series of interlocking nodes and circles with College Park’s New City Hall as the center. Arc’s radiating from the City Hall define the massing and interior of the resilience hub. Exterior pillars on the southern facade follow the path of the curve outward. Mullions acting as shaders are shaped by the curve superimposed onto the side of the building.

The flexible programming of the first and mezzanine levels offer everyday, crisis, and relief services including meeting spaces, a warming kitchen, and a reference library. The third floor contains employee offices and public outdoor space.

CONTRAST BETWEEN LEVELS

TERRACE GATHERING SPACE GARDEN PLANTERS

SPACE CREATED ON BUSY CORNER

MASSING STRATEGY

DESIGNING ALONG THE CURVE

BUILDING CURVE SUPERIMPOSED ONTO SOUTHERN LOUVERS

SOUTH ELEVATION 1/16” = 1’

WARMING KITCHEN

FLOOR 2 1/16” = 1’

CURVE ACCENTUATED BY LOUVER AND MULLION SPACING

KNOX RD

EAST ELEVATION

1/16” = 1’

ELEMENTS

PILLARS

3” x 6” PARALELL STRAND LUMBER COLUMNS

LOUVERS

2” x 2” VERTICAL BAMBOO LOUVERS, 2” OFF FACADE

SHADING SYSTEM

WINDOW SIZING, COLUMNS + MULLIONS ON SOUTHERN FACADE LIMIT DIRECT SUNLIGHT

LOUVERS

FLOATING, ATTACHED 2” OFF OF FACADE

FACADE CONCRETE AND BAMBOO FACADE FLUSH ON EXTERIOR

FIRST FLOOR

POLISHED CONCRETE WALL

SECOND FLOOR

WINDOWS SET BACK 6” MULLIONS SPACED EVERY 5’ IN LINE WITH PILLARS

PILLARS FLUSH WITH FACADE

FACADE SECTION

TIMBER STRUCTURE BAMBOO PANELING + EXTERIOR CLADDING

ILL TEATRO DEL POPOLO

A DIRECTORS RESIDENCY IN FLORENCE

TYPE: UNDERGRADUATE ABROAD STUDIO

SPRING 2020 9 WEEKS

LOCATION: FLORENCE, ITALY

PROFESSOR: FRANCO PISANI + STEFANO CORAZZINI

WITH: KEVIN HERNANDEZ

FUNCTIONS

This 9 week project explored the relationship between residential, performance, and public spaces in the Oltrarno district of Florence, Italy. Site was required to contain a performance space and apartment meant to house a director for a 2 to 6 month artistic residency.

Il Teatro del Popolo is founded in three core ideas of Adaptability, Community, and three Volumes / Functions. The Design responds to site shape by forming 3 volumes, a double height concrete theater, a 3 story stucco apartment puncturing the theater to connect the spaces, and a loggia activating the abandoned alleyway. The volumes form a small piazza adjacent to the larger Piazza Tasso and reclaim the site, once used by residents as a gathering space before being shuttered. The black box theater layout and series of pivoting doors maximize artistic experimentation and adaptability of space, allowing the theater and piazza to become one cohesive form.

DUPONT LIBRARY

TYPE: STUDIO II FALL 2019 6 WEEKS

LOCATION: WASHINGTON, DC

PROFESSOR: DOUGLAS CRAWFORD

WARMING KITCHEN

This six week project explored designing within the urban context of Washington D.C. ‘s Dupont Circle neighborhood and examining the changing programmatic needs of public resource architecture. The building is a four story glass prism concealed by a perforated concrete shell floating above. The exterior shell’s pattern features an abstraction of D.C.’s street network, cut by traffic circles and transverse streets. The punctures in the shell create a gradation in opacity, paralleling the noise and privacy levels of the interior programing. The glass box peaks through the shell on the first floor and mezzanine levels, matching the openness of the main library and public gathering spaces located there. The third floor reading rooms and special collections are shielded from Connecticut ave. but receive ambient reading light through three large breaks in the shell’s northern facade. The green roof provides visitors additional green space in the urban environment.

PROGRAM

SERVICE / MECHANICAL

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

EMPLOYEE OFFICES

SERVICE / MECHANICAL

CLASSROOMS / GATHERING

SHIELD

Concrete Shield From Connecticut Ave.

North Light

Softening Opacity

CORE

Glass / Concrete Prism

LIBRARY / ROOF CONNECTION

ROOFTOP GATHERING

EXTENSIVE GREEN ROOF

PRIVATE STUDY ROOMS

MAIN READING ROOM

READING MEZZANINE

CHILDRENS LIBRARY

LOBBY / CHECKOUT

MAIN LIBRARY

EUROPE TRAVEL

TRAVEL SKETCHES + DOCUMENTATION

SWITZERLAND SEMESTER RESIDENCY

TYPE: GRADUATE ABROAD STUDIO SPRING 2022

LOCATION: FRANCE + ITALY + SPAIN + SWITZERLAND

PROFESSOR: HEINRICH SCHNOEDT

SPRING 2022

SPRING 2020

INDEPENDANT TRAVEL / OTHER

Holy Redeemer Church / Menis Arquitectos / Tenerife, SP

Sainte-Geneviève Library / Paris, FR

RIVA SAN VITALE, SW

FLORENCE, IT

Brion Tomb / Carlo Scarpa / San Vito d’Altivole, IT

Elementary School / Luigi Snozzi / Monte Carasso, SW

Church of San Giovanni Battista / Mario Botta / Mogno, SW

FROM INDUSTRIAL ISLAND TO WATERFRONT VENUE

Graduate seminar project prompt to design a sustainable pavilion. We explored sustainability through social and environmental lenses, creating a waterfront concert venue, park and follies through adaptive reuse and soil bioremediation on a former industrial steel mill island. Zug Island, dubbed the “Dirtiest Square Mile in Michigan” receives the same fate as Seattle’s Gas Works Park. A concert pavilion is created from existing materials on site and nestles between two former steel mills. Lumion renderings imagine the setting. No partner work included in this portfolio.

ZUG ISLAND REMEDIATION RENDERS

BIOREMEDIATION

AND ADAPTIVE REUSE ON FORMER INDUSTRIAL ISLAND

TYPE: SEMINAR PROJECT FALL 2021

LOCATION: DE TROIT, MI

PROFESSOR: STEFAN AL

WITH: IREM SEZER

THRESHOLD / SEPARATION OF THEMES

“THE END / 2020” is a student created exhibition that will thematically guide viewers through events of 2020 through art and information. Three motifs of Compress, Suppress, and Express divide the gallery and student artwork.

Divisions are created through the use of lighting and 8’ monoliths acting as thresholds between each section. Motifs created by Exhibit Director. Monolith designs shown are original work. All group work is labeled. “THE END / 2020” opened in Feburary 2021 in the Linear Gallery of the Architecture Building.

Work surrounding emotions evoked by the Covid-19 pandemic and immediate shrinking of our personal worlds.

Work surrounding emotions evoked in response to police brutality during summer 2020 and broader political tensions throughout the year.

Small silver linings throughout the year. This motif celebrates creative expression and exploration unlocked in 2020.

THE END / 2020

STUDENT LED GALLERY DESIGN

TYPE: STUDENT LED GALLERY DESIGN

FALL 2020 - SPRING 2021

LOCATION: LINEAR GALLERY -

UMD ARCHITECTURE BUILDING

DIRECTOR: AUGUSTO IGLESIAS

MONOLITH DESIGN

DIMENSIONS

Restricted to 3’ x 1’4” x 8’4”

MATERIALS

2” x 2” Dimensional Lumber 8’ lengths

EXPRESS

3’ x 1’4” x 8’4” WOOD / COLORED PLEXI GLASS COMPRESS

3’ x 1’4” x 8’4” WOOD / ACRYLIC PAINT

KITS OF PARTS

PLEXI GLASS CATCHES LIGHT first time color is involved in monolith to reinforce idea of lightness within dark and a thematic break from previous motifs

INCREASING HEAVINESS darkness sets tone for COMPRESS and exhibit as a whole

SUNBELT

Fall 2017 / 4 months / 36” x 48” / Acrylic on Canvas

ACRYLIC / CANVAS

PERSONAL

Inspired by Contemporary Indigenous Australian Art, an acrylic painting movement that began in the early 1970’s, characterized by circles, dots, and organic lines that create complex designs. Paintings often include iconography and symbols representative of place, movement, and people.

I was drawn to the intricate details within the paintings while visiting Adelaide and Sydney, Australia in 2017. The works are from a series of paintings I have completed focusing on abstracted landscapes.

“Sunbelt” published in UMD student art & poetry publication “Stylus” 2018 Issue.

SUNBELT DETAIL

Personal / Fall 2017 / 4 months

36” x 48” Acrylic on Canvas

RIVER VALLEY

Personal / Summer 2018 / 2 months

24” x 36” Acrylic on Canvas

GEODE HILL

Personal / Spring 2020 / 4 months

30” x 40” Acrylic on Canvas

SPACED

Personal / Spring 2018 / 2 weeks

12” x 12” Acrylic on Canvas