Junior Short Portfolio

NICOLE BRIDGES

SOPHOMORE ARCHITECTURE

2020-2022

THE MEDIUM

NICOLE BRIDGES + SHAINA LOFTON + CULLEN WHELLEN + AMELIA QUEK CRITIC: JULIE KIM

The Medium is an all-inclusive art and food park located in English Avenue, a historically robust and currently underserved community in Atlanta. Using the arts of painting, sculpture, cooking, music, and graffiti, The Medium will help to revitalize the community’s art scene and provide a sanctuary for artists to flourish. The visitors will enter the site through the alley along the historic St. Mark’s Church. The graphic elements of the alley include floor murals and hanging art which act as a threshold to transport visitors to the main central courtyards. On site, there are 5 shipping containers which serve as incubator kitchens for 5 vendors in the community looking to grow their businesses from their back porch to a storefront. These containers face inwards on the site to create a courtyard complete with raised mounds equipped with benches which are lit from underneath to provide seating for those visiting the vendors. Continuing to follow the alley, the path opens to a larger green space which is sloped, allowing for people to gather, create, and connect. From this view, one is able to see the double height interior art galley adjacent to the vibrant open-air gallery. On the back side of the gallery lies the graffiti tunnel, where anyone visiting the Medium can showcase their art on the walls. This tunnel leads to a secondary arts courtyard which acts as an extension of the art galley and directs you into the main arts courtyard, also equipped with a seating mound. The shapes of the paths and mounds are all drawn from graffiti and street art while the shipping containers act as anchors for the landscape.

gallery|breezeway tunnel|interior

vendor with wooden counter and wooden

turf mound concrete retaining wooden fence

mound-mounted with tables

bar-style seating additional

seating with stools

gallery|breezeway to tunnel|interior flex space

wooden bar

wooden roof fence with concrete border retaining wall with fence and vines

additional seating

mound-mounted benches tables for seating

wooden gate with metal overhang

-angled paths

-curvatures

-crossing paths

-triangles

-anchored containers

-orthogonal lines

-bubbles (openings in landscape)

-angled paths

moment one: play mound moment two: vendor moment three:

three: St. Marks

moment four: bar

moment five: entrance

BOTANICAL LIBRARY

NICOLE BRIDGES CRITIC: MEGAN MCDONOUGH

This project sits south of the New Manchester Mill ruins in Sweetwater Creek State Park. The focus of the building is circulation, a concept that has been incredibly important to the site in its past and present. Prior to being a state park filled with beautiful hiking trails, this land was home to a series of cotton and sawmills who used the strong river rapids as a source of power. The workers would then use the trails and bridges that are currently being hiked today to transport their product to Atlanta where it would be shipped through railroad, using only the trail and the stars to guide them, then returning to the mills to produce more products, creating a cycle. This cycle helps to inform the project’s shape and circulation. Instead of bending the trails to fit the building, the building is instead curved to allow for the white hiking trail to remain on its original course, then this curve is mirrored onto the other side creating a visual representation of the cycle. The curved circulation is continued on the inside where the visitors are guided by an oculus filled with a fixture which acts as a light tube that aids the light in its progression to the bottom floor, orienting them just as the north star did during the times of the mill operation. Continuing to the bottom floor are a series of light tubes which act as secondary stars or constellations which guide visitors around the otherwise dark underground space. Transitioning to the building’s exterior, the visitor moves from the double height first floor containing the oculus to a much more intimate space guarded by a screen consisting of a pattern of stacked logs. This screen provides a sense of enclosure which eases the visitor into the exterior by allowing small pockets of light which encourages them to continue down the hallway where they are met by the garden kitchen and garden terrace, and oriented towards the river and the mill in which the circulation is drawn from.

VIEW A: PRIMARY EXHIBITION SPACE

VIEW D: SHARED LOUNGE

VIEW C: HALLWAY TO GARDEN KITCHEN

Light Tube Technology Transfers Natural Light To The Lower Floor Of The Building

VIEW B: SECONDARY EXHIBITION SPACE

DEEP DECORATION

NICOLE BRIDGES + RAHUL SUBRAMANIAN CRITIC: JAMES PARK SOPHOMORE STUDIO

The art of Indian Kolam has been around for thousands of years. Passed down from generation to generation, hours are spent crafting one piece, just for it to be erased from the ground and replaced by another the design the next day. This art teaches detachment from material things, things that we have crafted for hours, I believe that we as architects could learn something from this.

This project was completed in 8 phases: Figuring, Configuring, Thickening, Multiplying, Siting and Programming, Fitting/Misfitting, Switching to Production, and Final Production.

After studying this art for weeks, we created our own 2:1 sheets using pieces that we drew from our kolam, which we then thickened with offsets and laser cutting. It was here that we began creating compositions, combining multiple 2:1 sheets with various actions, giving birth to complex relationships between the sheets. From here, we chose one of out four compositions to serve as a precedent to our final building, while also studying site and program. We were tasked with creating a multilevel design and research academy on near the bay in San Francisco. For our academy focus, we chose XR or extended reality, a technology that has recently been making grounds in various areas of research, so that we may foster and nurture that research further. In our final stages, we finished with creating beautiful renderings, floor plans, and sections.

FLOOR PLANS

SECTIONS

F2

F3

F4

F5

F6

F7

F8

F9

view of 3rd and 4th floors

view of 6th floor vr space

structural exploded axon

CABBAGETOWN COTTAGES

NICOLE BRIDGES CRITIC: YOUSEF BUSHEHRI FRESHMAN STUDIO

This small community of Cabbagetown is filled with the charm of American vernacular cottages and shotgun homes. After spending time studying the Atlanta community, the student created a proposal for an empty lot consisting of two homes for two different craftspeople; a lithographer and a quilter. Each of these crafts require different materials and workspaces to be done successful, so the student not only studied the site but the needs and wants of the future residents. Keeping the vernacular style of Cabbagetown, as well as the makers’ needs, in mind the student proposed two cottages to fill the lot, one in the traditional square form for the quilter, and the other L-shape for the lithographer, each home consisting of a studio space for their respected resident.

MAKERS:

Maker #1: Kim Jameson

Age: 53

Occupation: Quilter

As a Quilter, Kim is in need of 3 different spaces:

1. Cutting Station – Sharp Edge Action

2. Sewing Station – where fabrics are combined

3. Pressing Station – Where wrinkles are eliminated, and fabrics are tamed

Enough room to make all stations permanent (working triangle):

- Close enough to each other so that Kim can easily move between stations

- Far enough away from each other to allow total use of space

Maker #2: Phil Chen

Age: 47

Occupation: Lithographer

Phil requires four stations within his studio:

1. Print maker (printing table)

2. Storage for chemicals and Ink rolling

3. Drying racks

4. Drawing area

- House limestone slabs and oily drawing materials

- Must have sturdy desk to hold limestone slabs

- Safe space to store blades and knives

- Room to sit

SITE ANALYSIS:

Section C

Section B

Section A

second floor interior

EXPLORING INTERIORS

NICOLE BRIDGES

CRITIC: YOUSEF BUSHEHRI

FRESHMAN STUDIO

Using subtractive processes in order to carve out spaces within a box for people to inhabit and interact with. The model is constructed in four pieces which allows it to be taken apart for easier viewing access of the interior spaces.

light exploration

SECTIONS

SECTIONS