NICHOLASLRATCLIFF
University of Virginia
2013
bachelor of science 路 architecture bachelor of Architectural history
Fall 2010 - SPRING 2013
perspectival watercolors suspended function spring 2011
T I ME L I NE
BOWTIEKNOT WELLNESSCENTER
9 10
MAP PRACTICEPERFORM
4 6
STRANDBEESTENPORTAL
14
GREENGREY
12
SCULPTURALLIGHTING ARCHITECTUREATOP SENSORYTHERAPYCENTER
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DESIGNTHESIS
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2010
2011
2012
2013
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The element of place is examined through a variety of contexts, perspectives, and scales. The mapping sculpture focuses on the city of Richmond, Virginia. Three-dimensionally placed pieces represent topography, manmade intervention and density. Voids gain the same level of significance as solids in this piece, as city blocks are subtracted, to expose the underlying grid of the urban condition. 2011
PERFORM OPERABLE PIANO capsule
A4
A piano is one of the most versatile and widely played instruments, compositionally. It is included in a variety of musical contexts and genres. However, the grand piano’s mass and volume allows it less versatility in terms of venue space.
440.000 Hz
E5
659.255 Hz
2 MS
Concert pianists must depend on venues to provide adequate instruments. But what if a modular enclosure allowed a pianists to travel with his or her instrument?
2 MS
2 MS B4
493.883 Hz
A preliminary mechanical mapping performs a visual analysis of the kinetics behind the tapping of a piano key, along with the operation of pedals and strings in relation to the keys.
KINETICS
perform In performance mode, the unit’s operable arms are open to allow full reverberation in any setting. The form of the module both conforms to and denies the contours of the original piano cabinet, which is left unaltered. Peformance mode allows for one or multiple accompanying instruments to surround the unit. The architecture of the module inherently allows for spectators and accompanists to position themselves in order to gain or deny full auditory and visual stimuli.
6
practice The piano capsule encloses the player, both visually and auditorily. Practice sessions are enclosed from the elements, while still allowing natural ventilation. The arm can be set slightly ajar to allow for minimal sound travel while rehearsing, to give spectators hints and glimpses as to what is taking place inside the capsule.
2011
The bowtie knot is intricate, layered, and suspended. The basic exercise dilated these intricacies, and displays them at a scale of explosion to further describe the tying process.This project encompassed a wide variety of media in order to provide familiarity with materials and methods. Starting with bent wire, the spatial framework is established with orthogonal direction changes. This phase of the project discovers the actual path that the tying material takes to form the finished knot.
knot FORMAL VISUALIZATION 3D-modelling adds thickness and width to the components, as color and opacity variation brings visual hierarchy to the phases of the knot.
DIGITAL VISUALIZATION
The bowtie knot reaches its final representations in the forms of a wooden massing model, a chipboard surface model, and a hybrid model composed of both materials and composition. 2010
wooden massing model composed of a Spanish Cedar core supplemented by ribbons of plywood
center fa:l:l 2010
2010
10
The ideal of interconnection among components and paths translated from the Bowtie Knot project into the design for a wellness center located in the downtown of Charlottesville, Virginia.
The site invervention is composed of ribbons of a set of rudimentary materials. Mass meets surface to form environments conducive to therapy and wellness.
MATERIAL STUDY Wall placement, filtering light, and elevation variation enhance the user’s experience of a spatial condition. Moments within this experience are emphasized in early renderings as displayed.
PLAN MOMENTS Paths of built objects form ribbons, taking from the original knot project. A stair’s landing may form the same surface by which the reception desk operates. Another metal ribbon of metal bends and encapsulates a person during his or her routine, in full view to the surrounding context.
PERSPECTIVE MOMENTS
RESIDENTIAL STRATEGY housing centered around public outdoor greenloops single family REDEFINING THE PRIVATE YARD by using compact, adaptable private housing whose precedential foundations were designed specifically to create natural outdoor public and private spaces by positioning housing closer to the street front, minimizing unused front yard space and allowing for more outdoor interaction in the forms of rear and side gardens clustering FACILITATING SHARED OUTDOOR SPACE by using single family dwellings that can share common outdoor space, including driveways, lawns, patios, and swimming pools by positioning this housing so that both private and public outdoor spaces are naturally created multi-family ADAPTABLE DENSITY by using precedential foundations that are highly adaptable, in that storeys can be added/deleted, first levels can be utilized for commercial space, and invididual units can be stacked or placed adjacent to one another compact and concise one level plans make either of the precedents perfect for senior housing models
RESIDENTIAL TYPOLOGIES precedential study PLAN
statistics
adaptation
SECTION
SINGLE FAMILY VERSATILE SPACE
square footage 1800 sq. ft. lot size 1/4 acre total # of units 788
1/4 acre. compact
VERSATILE SPACE
architects killingsworth, brady and smith
architects killingsworth, brady and smith
INDOOR/OUTDOOR TRANSITION SPACE
PRIVATE LIVING
PUBLIC LIVING
frank house. killingsworth brady & associates 1/2 acre. expansive private
PUBLIC
PRIVATE
square footage 2600 sq. ft. lot size 1/4 or 1/2 acre total # of units 495
SERVICE
CLUSTER
1/2 acre. cluster
HOUSE A
GREENBAND PATHWAYS
stuart bailey house. richard neutra
square footage 1200 sq. ft. / unit lot size 1/4 or 1/2 acre total # of units 463 couplets (houses a & b)
HOUSE B
alpha. richard neutra
multifamily. main band frontage
MULTI-FAMILY
square footage 1200 sq. ft. / unit total ground acreage 11.4 acres total # of units 870
SEPARATE UNITS
multifamily. integrated residential
via vigano. cino zucchi architetti
square footage 800 sq. ft. / unit total acreage 9.62 total # of units 1048
SAMPLE UNIT
PRIVATE
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PARKING
PRIVATE
yerba buena loft. stanley saitowitz
2012
GREY RESIDENTIAL MASTERPLANNING
A flat and barren site in Forney, a small suburb of Dallas, TX, attempts to break the mold of large-scale contemporary residential development with green belts which infiltrate into single-family and residential clusters. A system of residential typologies are established from inspiration of mid-century precedents designed by such architects as Richard Neutra. The table describes the typologies through the lenses of plan, section, and perspectival analysis. These diagrams result in adaptation to the Forney site and ultimate masterplan with lot images supplimented by acreages and unit quantities.
RESIDENTIAL TYPOLOGIES
Theo Jansen designed and invented the infamous “Strandbeesten,� which are wooden contraptions composed of moving pieces which counterbalance one another. The Strandbeesten Portal adapts the creatures to the streets of Manhattan, with the portal located along the Highline Park. The portal complex is composed of four programmatic towers which latch onto the highline, and are interconnected at strategic points. Towers are specifically designated for phases of Strandbeesten development, from the actions of building, repair, and refueling, to exhibition and living spaces for the specialists who make their presence possible.
TOWER FUNCTION With an emphasis on formal qualities, the towers look inward, with translucent exterior cladding and transparent imbedded atriums. This facilitates various levels of exposure and consealment.
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FORM
2011
portal PuBLIC INFORMATION GATHERING
WALL dynamic module LIVING EXHIBITION
2011
LIGHTING an independent design scheme
A study of shape, light and material culminates in this independently-developed design project. Digital modelling and rendering were predominant media in this exercise. Intense vertical light radiates at slightly various heights, creating a electric topographical condition of material within a framework system of smoky glass tubes. The tubes are cut on either ends at a sharp angle, and positioned in an array of rotations at a variety of heights and lengths, but still existing within a strict grid. This lighting design could inform a series based on the formal themes set forth.
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LIGHTING DESIGN SCHEME
Emphasis on user experience comes to the forefront in a preamble to the Sensory Therapy Center proeject. Constructed upon a rooftop of pre-existing offices and shopping venues, this design intervention serves as a therapeudic architectural environment which forces inhabitants to choose paths, meditate, and take in framed views from this secluded, floating system of masses and surfaces.
The space is intentionally designed for visitors to use before and after medical appointments. A layered system of decks allows for a diversified and controlled user experience, with a covered pavilion existing as the pinnacle of the journey.
DECK SYSTEM
2012
prelude to medical care
ATOP
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Mapping analysis indicates the proposed site for a sensory therapy center as a satellite extension for the University of Virginia Hospital, to be located on the outskirts of Charlottesville, Virginia. The site is a tract of land of land directly outside the major points of building density consisting of UVa and the surrounding Charlottesville context. The topographically hilly site, which would contains a pre-existing manor along with barns and stables, enjoys therapeudic views to teh west with direct access to vital locations within the city. 50 ft
The sensory therapy center reveals an architectural account of the visitor’s experience of the site, and its intervention. Upon approach, one meanders across rolling topography to enter the vertical, transparent reception and patient intake facility set on a large plinth. Patients descend into the therapy corridors to experience variant sensory conditions within the array of baths and chambers. 105 ft
HYDROTHERAPY
18
THERAPYCENTER Fall 2012
2012
LONGITUDINAL SECTION
PERSPECTIVE
PLANS sensory therapy center
The sensory therapy center site intervention is centered around the contrast between actions of horizontality, in conformation to the rolling land, and the vertical denial of topography . Therapy chambers within the sunken corridor allow the visitor various visual, auditory, and tactile experiences while using the baths and pools. The pools are arranged adjacent to observation spaces that accommodate medical research on the use of hydrotherapy.
UP
2
1
4
UP
UP DWN
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THREE 1 2 3 4
ascending stair enclosed garden exam rooms terraced lab roofs
MODELNUMBER TRADENAME PRODUCT MATERIAL
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2 UP
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DWN UP
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3 UP
E
TWO 1 2 3 4
sensory therapy center
1
entrance platform descending stairwell laboratory corridor hydrotherapy laboratory
ONE 1 2 3 4 5
DWN
DWN
UP
1
2
E
OPEN TO BELOW
UP DOWN
level one lobby information office observation lounge group therapy room b observational classroom
3
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PERSPECTIVE
CROSS SECTION PERSPECTIVE 5
4 3
GRND
E
MODELNUMBER TRADENAME PRODUCT MATERIAL MODELNUMBER TRADENAME PRODUCT MATERIAL
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PRODUCT TRADENAME MODELNUMBER MATERIAL
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2
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UP
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REB EMLU TAN A CIL RE U E DD TO O A AM R P T
REB EMLU TAN A CIL RE U E DD TO O A AM R P T
REB EMLU TAN A CIL RE U E DD TO O A AM R P T
REB EMLU A E DD A R T TAN CIL RE U TO O AM P
MATERIAL MODELNUMBER TRADENAME PRODUCT
8 MODELNUMBER TRADENAME PRODUCT MATERIAL
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ground level vestibule group therapy room a medical records mainframe/mechanical sunken courtyard massage supply room group massage room private hydrotherapy corridor
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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CROSS SECTION PERSPECTIVE 1:32
Thesis custom, compact, and operable living LIFESTYLE TRANSLATION
24-hour time notation
19:23
Prefabricated residential architecture of the 1920’s displays an unrivaled level of convenience, complexity, and innovation within a compact programmatic and circulational framework. This design thesis adapts these aspects to an urban residential model of the present. Dwellings accomodate individualized modes of living by means of techtonic modules. Architecture of the user interface activates in both phases of apartment conception and interaction within the indidualized spaces.
08:58
End-users may input information based on daily routine and lifestyle preferences, which are then organized into programmatic categories. These categories form different combinations which result in operable modules for living.
18:30
The chaos of user input gains order by categorization and design implementation into molules.
USER INTERFACE
23:07
Units are composed of combinations of programmatic and functional modules based on the original user preferences which compose individual routines and lifestyles. Coded images correspond to end-user profiles shown on the user interface to the right.
LIFESTYLE TRANSLATION
20 2013
rudimentary program
formal constraint
rectangular units
41’ x 15’ x 14’
water module
water module SMART GLASS
functional interfaces technological interace
storage
surface
appliance
human interaction
infrastructural framework options infrastructural codependency
infrastructural spine
LIFEofCONVENIENCE translation of user preferences into dwelling
INDIVIDUAL
PRIORITY CRITERIA PROFILE
PROGRAMMATIC YIELD
routine 31 years old single mechanical engineer
45 years old partnered banking consultant 38 years old partnered freelance artist
73 years old widowed retired
22 years old single graduate student part time job 23 years old single graduate student part time job
30 years old committed film historian 32 years old committed veterinarian
52 years old divorced violinist
sleeps 6-8 hours high darkness preference morning showers extended time preference prepares and eats breakfast alone eats out for lunch exercises directly after work cardio and yoga often prepares dinner while entertaining 2-5 guests afternoon shower steam preference prepares dinner advanced cook sleeps 6-8 hours morning showers eats breakfast works until noon in unit leaves for office evening shower steam preference both inhabitants goes out for dinner unless entertaining for dinner 3-6 guests reads before resting near book storage rests early minimal light preference prepares breakfast for two advance cook extended surface area works on surface and technological interface in unit horizontal lounge mode reading or visual entertainment rests early sleeps 8-10 hours white noise preference morning showers prepares and eats breakfast outdoor eating preference eats out for lunch stays out of unit until dinnertime prepares dinner advanced cook sleeps 5-7 hours morning showers eats breakfast on the way to class in class until afternoon returns early evening exercises after strenuous metroride cardio and strength evening showers steam preference prepares dinner joined by roommate on weekends relaxes in horizontal lounge mode reading or visual entertainment sleeps 5-7 hours works in horizontal lounge mode prepares brunch eats alone in unit departs for work eats out of unit returns late exercises alternating days cardio and strength evening shower steam preference relaxes in sitting mode prepares for night activities goes out for entertainment some nights returns for rest late low sound travel preference caffeinates before preparing breakfast learning new recipes eats breakfast prepared for both leaves for work jogging early evening shower steam preference entertains often 2-7 people film screening lounges rests late sleep 5-7 hours combined sleeping environment morning shower extended time preference steam preference eats breakfast leaves for work returns late evening prepares food often entertaining 2-7 people sleeps 6-8 hours caffeinates prepares and eats breakfast eats with 1-2 guests often rehearses 2-3 hours outdoor preference often eats out for lunch stays out of unit until dinnertime prepares dinner advanced cook late evening bath extended time preference rests late
MODULE TRANSLATION A
SLEEPING
RESIDENTIAL UNIT
E
G
H
J
B
E
G
H
C
E
G
D
G
K
A
F
C
F
spatial collapse track operability storage
B
enclosed work surface visual technology shelving display
C
I
J
BATHING storage steam
D
shower bath spacious visual technology shelving storage
E EATING enclosed storage shelving storage collapsible
F
expandable visual technology
G FOOD PREP surface storage collapsible expandable specialized preparation devices
H
visual technology
I WORKING surface shelving storage collaborative visual technology
J
J
CLOTHING shelving storage enclosed storage
K
hanging storage visual technology cleaning/steaming
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phase 1
phase 2
phase 3
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Operable modules utilize SmartGlass surfaces to accomplish tasks and display information to end-users. SmartGlass allows modules to serve the entire spectrum of programmatic needs, from operating a water faucet to looking up recipes.
SMARTGLASS
Dwellings are composed of various combinations of operable modules which conform to individual needs and lifestyles. The images on the opposite page display a series of programmatic modes that the operable modules can adapt to. SmartGlass implementation modules move along tracks which can screen off spaces, allow or deny circulation, and create interactive entertainment spaces when juxtaposed with other modules. Techtonics come into play as separate modules can spatially combine to facilitate actions of entertainment, eating, working or excercise.
MODULE TECHTONICS
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08:43
food prep
shower
entertainment
A dwelling is shown at two separate times of day. The entertainment module is positioned to facilitate individualized morning routine for the partnered inhabitants. SmartGlass modules allow for such activities as food prep and showering during this mode. By night, the food prep module reverts to standby mode as the entertainment module slides in juxtaposition with the sleeping module, which independently accomodates beverage storage overhead. This interactive arrangement of multiple modules allows for larger guest capacity for entertaining, as inhabitants can now enjoy visual entertainment in conjunction with simulataneous use of the bath and closing off of the clothing storage modules.
contact N I C H O L A S L R ATC L I F F 1 9 6 4 4 S e r e nit y L an e Bristol , Vir g inia 2 4 2 0 2 1 . 276 . 59 1 .92 61 n i c h o l a s ra tc l if f @m e . co m
acrylic on canvas untitled fall 2011