Insight Center | Spiritual/Community Center | 2024.........................................................4 Community Corridor | Mixed Use Housing | 2023.......................................................................16 Illuminated Icebreaker | Experimental Research Vessel | 2023.............................................26
Big Bend | Mixed-Use Skyscraper | 2024..............................................................................50
The Insight Center
Spiritual/Community Center | Spring 2024
Owen Felty | Kat Kusz | Marcus Liriano
This group project sought to connect the community with the natural world through physical and spiritual methods. The Insight Center spans the Wissahickon Creek to create a publicly accessible land bridge. Its natural form is derivative of the landscape its embedded into. Housed within the Insight Center are public and private meditative spaces for community use, each catered to a different perception of meditation. The relationship these spaces have to the natural world is the core concept of The Insight Center.
Southern Axonometric
Community Corridor
Mixed Use Housing | Spring 2023
Owen Felty | Annie Squire Southworth
For this group project, we were tasked with creating a mixed use residence on a site adjacent to Clark Park in West Philadelphia. This intervention focuses on a pedestrian pathway that connects both corridors that border the site. This combines with sustainable tactics in design create a space for the community.
View from Baltimore Avenue
Springfield Avenue Elevation
Detailed section incorporating the masonry of the facade.
Model photography of initial massing iteration.
Final model from southern facade.
Illuminated Icebreaker
Experimental Research Vessel| Spring 2023
For this collaboration with an interior design studio, our group of five proposed a floating research vessel located in the Antarctic. Our site, Deception Island, is home to volcanic activity in the form of underwater hydrothermal vents. Our vessel seeks to research experimental energy capabilities of these vents while promoting well-being for its researchers.
A series of fresh water bays are located across the island.
research station will study several vents within the caldera.
Gabriel-de-Castilla Research Base
South Shetland islands close to the Antarctic Peninsula.
A large depression formed when a volcano erupts and collapses.
1. Double Skin Facade
To keep warm in the Antarctic, a double skin facade is used to trap sunlight and warm the corridor in-between.
2. Physical Health
Each room is designed to maximize physical well-being for each occupant.
3. Dry Dock System
Utilizing a complex lock system, our research station is capable of receiving and launching watercraft from a drain-able dry dock.
4. Laboratory
Hydrothermal research is experimental and required specialized equipment and working conditions. Our lab accounts for this complex use by flexible, modular design.
5. Circulation
Our research vessel facilities circulation via a circular service elevator and a spiral staircase. This “core” allows inter-level navigation.
6. Engine Room
The lower levels are comprised of the ships mechanical systems including the powerful water jets that propel the buoyant station.
Each living quarters is designed so that every bed is able to see the water. Shared closets and lounges encourage socialization.
We designed a hydroponic highway that encircles the upper levels of the vessel. This grows food for the crew, and provides to an otherwise lacking biophilic element.
The laboratory was designed with custom counters to that teamwork and collaborative can be fostered. There is also ample open space for equipment.
Final form showing material, glazing, and water line. Model was wall mounted for presentation.
The roof assembly consists of a series of trusses supported by steel joists.
The lower decks, are constructed with open web steel joists that increase in depth as weight increases.
The double glazed facade allows for the sequestering of heat which aids in plant growth, user comfort, and energy efficiency.
Perforations exist in the floor to allow cohesion between the second and ground floors. They also promote plant growth between them.
Running through the ceiling of the laboratory are electrical, water, and ventilation systems. Easy access needs to be made of these systems due to different conditions in the lab space.
S.O.U.P
Sustainably Oriented Urban Pavilion | Fall 2023
This team project aims to tackle the effects of climate change via a reconfigurable, prototypical, tactical intervention. This project was designed to be built at full scale on a site in Philadelphia after the application to the Eileen Martinson Student Grant.
Owen Felty | Corey Wenzel
Configuration 1
Tiling SOUP can convert a dilapidated plot of land to a vibrant, cool, urban space. Tiling the individual unit means SOUP can span larger distances, this can be conducive to social gatherings, or community space. A unique micro-urban fabric can be formed from the relation of many elements.
Configuration 2
Breaking apart the individual unit, we can tile SOUP on a smaller scale, and cater for smaller places. This configuration, can be used more tactically on smaller urban sites. It provides minimal shade at this scale, but it still mitigating, if only minimally, heat. SOUP has more flexibility in this configuration when tiled because of its smaller scale.
The most important element. Shade allows SOUP to mitigate the effects of climate change most effectively. Utilizing a sustainable sourced, UV resistant fabric, SOUP shields users from the sun.
VEGETATION
Integrating biophilic elements, such as hanging plants, allows for passive cooling via evaporation. It also enhances the usability of the space giving communities the option to grow food.
MATERIAL
SOUP’s tetrahedral structure, is composed of sustainable structural members. Along with the white color of the fabric, SOUP’s light colors and low-embodied carbon materials enhance its sustainable design.
Here we see SOUP in its ideal condition, a paved schoolyard in West Philly. We can see its shading system, vegetation, and fabric system.
3 full scale prototypes of the typical joint for SOUP. This joint was CNC milled out of 3/4 inch plywood.
Looking closer, we can see the assembly of the typical joint. Each connection is a hinge held together with a nut and bolt.
An 8 inch threaded rod bores a hole through the entire joint to stabilize and to hold two eye bolts. The one on top to hold a cable for fabric suspension. The one on bottom to tension the truss with steel cables once assembled.
The top and bottom plates are screwed into their positions with six wood screws.
To make a successful hinge, each plate is indented so a circular knob can fit in and rotate.
Photograph showcasing the front of the canopy structure and planter.
Photograph showcasing the back of the canopy structure and bench.
Detail photography showing steel tensioning cables through structure.
Close up photograph showing cable connection to joint and fabric connection.
The Big Bend
Mixed-Use Skyscraper | Fall 2024
The Big Bend seeks to create an equitable and sustainable mixed use housing complex in London. The design takes from several existing motifs found in the City of London. It also takes design ideas from the natural world and implements them based on a human vs. natural space basis. Its prefabricated design allows 50% of its housing units to be affordable and have access to green spaces, transit, and recreation.
