RACHEL CLOYD SELECTED WORKS 2012 - 2018
RACHEL CLOYD
SELECTED WORKS 2012 - 2018
I am a Student of Architecture and Designer interested in issues of assembly, constructability, materialtiy, and context. I enjoy the physical process of creation of all types, with a professional background in architecture, construction, digital fabrication, and baking. Beauty can be found in honest materials (which ground a project and reference its location), expressive assembly (which reveals structure and delights with detail), and innovative systems (which problem-solve and improve functionality).
BUCKSHOT BOX
01 - 04
BETWEEN GROUND AND SKY
05 - 08
TRANSFORMATIVE FILTER
09 - 12
VERTICAL DATUM
13 - 14
TREASURE ISLAND FERRY TERMINAL
15 - 18
SANSOME STAIR & WALL
19 - 20
PRICE GATES
21 - 22
PROFESSIONAL
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2014 - 2017
UNDERGRADUATE
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2012 - 2014
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE GROVE
35 - 44
THE STAND
45 - 46
FACADE PROTOTYPE
47 - 56
SCREE
57 - 60
FIDGIT BLOCK
61 - 68
TRANSFORM
2017 - 2018
27 - 34
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WEIGHT | COUNTERWEIGHT
GRADUATE
23 - 26
BUCKSHOT BOX Design 8 . 5 Weeks . Prof Alfonso Perez. 2014 tube language
structure
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aperture
armature
Program: Pavilion This project explores the making and assembly of a small, siteless pavilion. The Buckshot Box began as an exploration of a particular material (aluminum tubing), and what its structural and architectural applications might include. Held on one side of the pavilion by a steel truss, and on the other by a poured concrete cavity wall, the aluminum tubing acts as a connective beam to span the two. Smaller lengths of the aluminum tubing embedded within the concrete wall act as an aperture for occupants to see out of. A semi-opaque ribbon system wraps the connective beam on the top and two sides to provide enclosure. The final wall is comprised of a frosted plate of glass which hangs from small steel pins inserted into the truss-held end of the aluminum tubing. The glass is spotted with a pattern of unfrosted circles mimicking the adjacent apertures. cloyd | 2
sections pins frosted glass
truss
translucent panels
floor plate
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section model
aluminum tubes
tube cutter tool
pre-cast panels structural frame pre-cast panels
aluminum tubing apertures
assembly cloyd | 4
BETWEEN GROUND AND SKY Design 5 . 15 Weeks . Prof Mick Richmond . 2012
Program: Arts and Science Research Center This project investigates the relationship between landscape and building--how the construct touches and brings together elements of the ground and sky. The site is a natural preserve off the shore of Newnan’s Lake in Gainesville, Florida. The project was designed in two stages--first, an arts and sciences research center including housing for 60 visitors, was designed with sufficient separation of public and private in mind. The visitors rooms are situated on the upper two levels, with the lush oak canopy providing ample privacy. Visitors pass underneath the living-quarters to reach the library to the east of the site. Classroom and studio facilities are organized in a more prominent lakefacing wing on the first and second floors. All accomodations are designed with the form of traditional Floridian cracker houses in mind--allowing for cross-ventilation for natural cooling. A stepped lawn provides the platform for a natural amphitheater/lecture space. A smaller theater space adjoins the pier extending over the lake’s edge.
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Palm Point Park site plan Program: Special Collections Library The next building, a small special collections library, was in part generated through diagramming the spatial anomalies of each of the three typical species of trees on the lake shore: sabal palm, bald cypress, and live oak. The library is approached via raised boardwalk which follows the rhythem of the palms lifts the visitor into the canopy, allowing for minimal footprint on the land. The library reaches out over the lake’s surface, providing ample natural light and a scenic view through an exterior screen that mimics the spanish moss growing on adjacent cypress trees.
section a : library
tree typology : form
sabal palm : linear, punctuating, rhythmic
bald cypress : field, propogating, clustered
live oak : canopy, reaching, cantilevered
section b : research center
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TRANSFORMATIVE FILTER Design 8 . 5 Weeks . Prof Alfonso Perez . 2014
This siteless and programless project is an exploration in issues of making and light modulation in the context of the wall. Digital fabrication was employed to produce a metamorphic module connected by a simple continuous hinge. The structural units are interlaced with translucent panels which allow light to pass through, but act as a filter for visual information. When the wall is in its open orientation, passers-by have some visibility between panels to the opposite side. In its closed orientation, the wall becomes entirely opaque, scrambling and calming busy or disruptive exterior scenes. It can be adjusted to any combination of open and closed in each row of modules. Among others, this project has applications in urban settings, in which natural light is sought-after, but exterior conditions can be visually obnoxious.
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open
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1 2 3 4
assembly The wall module is composed of six interlocking wood members intersected by a continuous rod to form a snug but operable joint. Spacers in single and double lengths alternate to form a random pattern. Flexible, semi-opaque panels wrap any number of spacers to provide more or less privacy. Additional modules can be connected or removed to adjust height as needed.
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open orientation closed orientation
elevation
gestures
Program: Dance Studio and Performance Space Vertical datum involves the conception of a tower from a series of linear sketches and diagrams. The tower holds three nodules--the lower two acting as dance studios, and the top nodule serving as a performance space. The layered facade system emulates the human skin in the way it is informed by and hints at the structure underneath.
performance space diagram
physical model
TREASURE ISLAND FERRY TERMINAL Dilworth Eliot Studio . Amy Eliot | Melissa Kroskey | Sha Li | Rachel Cloyd as Designer . 2014 - 2015
Program: Transportation Hub Dilworth Eliot Studio has been responsible for the programming, design, entitlements, and documentation for a new 9,000 sf ferry shelter and terminal area on the city-facing side of Treasure Island. The shelter will serve the roughly 19,000 future residents of the island, as well as visitors utilizing the ferry, MUNI, and AC Transit bus services. DE+ is also designing new bus and shuttle shelters and waterfront plaza facilities which, together with the ferry shelter, create an inter-modal hub at the gateway to Treasure Island. One major challenge surmounted has been designing a structure which is visually light enough to allow views from the adjacent Building 1 Plaza through to the water and city skyline, as well as views to historic Building 1 for arriving ferry passengers, yet substantial enough to protect waiting passengers from rain, wind, and surf spray.
*renderings by Sha Li
covert cover As the spectacular views from the center of San Francisco Bay are the main attraction of this island site, our team’s approach was to create a form which allows passengers sight through the structure when approaching, waiting and leaving. The ferry terminal roof has required rigerous iterations in form making, structural engineering, and detailing to acheive minimum depth while remaining seismically sound. A grid of tapered beams terminate in a formed edge piece, giving the notion of paper-thin assembly that seemingly floats atop round tube columns. Since this is the roof’s only connection to the ground, all conduit for lighting is run through the columns. A ten foot, frameless glass windscreen cantilevers off the perimiter seating to achieve a truly invisible barrier from the elements.
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roof section detail
building section
site sections
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SANSOME STAIR + PARTITION WALLS DeFauw Design & Fabrication . Henry DeFauw | Rachel Cloyd as Lead Draftsperson . 2016 This tectonic stair and partition wall, conceived by Lundberg Design, was detailed, fabricated and installed by DeFauw Design & Fabrication. DDF was responsible for the blackened hot roll steel and hardware components of several douglas fir slat walls and the main feature stair for this office retrofit. Interjecting in an existing timber frame and steel buttressed building in San Francisco’s Embarcadero District, the fir slats and exposed hardware speak to the building’s original construction Some of the challenges of this project included templating and conforming perfectly with the nuances of a 100 year old building, developing a beam saddle detail to allow for shop-welded column mounting, and developing a kit of parts to communicate and pass-off to the wood fabricator.
stair elevation
handrail & threaded rod detail
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Slat walls composed of 6 x 6 fir posts provide a screen between the main interior circulation path and the exterior workstations. A simple throughbolt connection at wall end/column locations passes through a steel angle which functions as an armature for wood post stacking. At the stair, threaded rods hanging from steel channel and angle comprise the necessary guardrail infill.
column saddle header and baseplate detail
PRICE GATES DeFauw Design & Fabrication. Jennifer Bloch | Henry DeFauw | Rachel Cloyd as Detail Designer . 2016 Program: Residential Entry Gates
assembly diagram
This double-leaf exterior entry gate was realized by DeFauw Design & Fabrication from the landscape architect’s concept drawings. Acting as detail designer and lead draftsperson, I detailed the assembly into several parts: a hidden interior tube frame which cradles two pieces of etched glass between a double-sided stainless steel flat bar grille frame. An ipe board accent mounts to the flat bar frame from inside, and the entire assembly is surrounded by two lasercut and formed stainless steel sheet pans. Custom stainless steel door pulls, cane bolt, and astragals are carefully integrated into the overall design. An electrified deadlatch provides ease of access and security, while the conduit and electric power transfer are thoughfully and carefully integrated with the whole (alignment of off-the-shelf and custom parts required 1/16” tolerance). The 316 alloy stainless steel provides strength and minimal thickness (3” gate depth), as well as weatherability in the residence’s marine location. Etched glass panels allow light passthough while keeping the interior yard private.
registration with fence fenestration
cane bolt detail
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WEIGHT | COUNTERWEIGHT Graduate Studio 1 . 3 Weeks . Prof Katherine Wright . 2017 Program: Pedestrian Bridge
This project is a proposal for a new pedestrian bridge crossing North Avenue on Atlanta’s BeltLine. Conceived as a split upper path for faster cyclist and commuter through-traffic and lower path for slower foot traffic and Ponce City Market visitors, the bridge provides utility and spectacle at a highly visible location within the city’s infrastructure. The lower portion of the bridge rotates on oversized casters to offer a unique experience for pedestrians to experience a moment of pause along their route and to allow cyclist access to an off-ramp to North Ave below. A rolled steel rail rides on oversized casters to complete this motion, while the fixed bridge overhead provides shade.
steel rail on oversized casters
rotation sequence
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THE GROVE
Graduate Studio 1 . 3 Weeks . Prof Katherine Wright . 2017
Program: Educational Support + Counceling
In a small rental space nestled in the treetops off Atlanta's I-85, the Pride School is planning to expand their LGBTQ-affirming K-12 program. The Grove approaches this given space in terms of maximizing natural daylight from the four existing windows and organizing student occupation around these apertures. Reflective surfaces surrounding the windows serve a double purpose to project light further into the space and tie in to the wall of storage built in around the perimeter of the space. Work and lounge furniture is integrated at the exterior wall to pull students towards the sweeping treetop views. A delicate framework of columns support the multi-layered ceiling system which further blurs the boundary between tree canopy and classroom. As the ceiling and lighting begin to code learning versus administrative spaces, the linear elements act as an armature for transparent partitions where acoustic separation is needed. The main presentation and gathering space is located at the heart of the school, where flexible furniture allows for a variety of possible activities and discussions. Strategic location of educator spaces ensures visibility of all activities. Safe space is characterized by inclusion, respect, and transparency. The need for safe space is particularly tangible in education, where children and young adults are owed an equal platform on which to learn and build their identities. Where the traditional school typology enforces conformity and exercises control via compartmentalization and opacity, safe space validates diverse interests and experiences by erasing the boundaries, allowing for exchange of ideas, interdisciplinary work flow, individual accountability, and empowerment of the student to realize their own path.
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04 massing model assembly sequence
plan diagram
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floor plan at 1/32” = 1’-0” 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
eating / meeting educator 1 / director educator 3-4 / touchdown demonstration library presentation focus educator 2 / counseling
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THE STAND Graduate Studio 1 . 5 Weeks . Prof Katherine Wright . 2017
Program : K-12 School Campus + Student Residences
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Located in close proximity to public transportation, educational and cultural resources, and the Philip Rush Center, a main center for LGBTQ resources in Atlanta, stands the Candler Park Golf Course. This proposal suggests that we reclaim this valuable public land from its highly underutilized and exclusive current state for use by the Pride School campus and several shared community spaces. Proximity to several major LGBTQ resources would allow for student involvement and creation of a support network outside of the school itself. Shared public resources are located on the street-facing side of campus, allowing ease of access for the community. Diagonal and perpendicular lines of travel create privacy for the school-specific learning spaces more interior to the park. The Stand is composed of varying column grids which intersect to organize and divide spaces without the use of opaque barriers. This layered field system provides moments of visibility, community, engagement, and reflection. Similar to the flex space, the clustering of these nodes creates grove-like spaces for gathering. Rather than keeping to the rigid lines created by the column grids, circulation and entryways are rotated at a skewed angle to create a more staggered, natural appearance rather than a strict linear organization. Utilizing a cluster of repetitive auxiliary modules creates easily-expanded learning and living spaces which can be thoughtfully placed anywhere within the park.
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aclu of georgia
georgia tech lgbtqia resource center
lambda legal defense fund
lgbt institute
southerners on new ground
pflag atlanta
lost-n-found youth thrift store
philip rush center charis bî€ ks and more
lgbt resource library cultural resource public park golf course retail / food marta station pedestrian access highway marta line
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lgbt resource library cultural resource retail | food golf course public park
pride school marta station pedestrian path highway marta line beltline
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second floor plans 1 2 3 4
parking wet laboratory library creation / exploration
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ground floor plan 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
lobby artist-in-residence workshop gathering cooking / eating growing laboratory library administration creation / exploration
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third floor plans 1 2 3 4 5 6
parking theater ampitheater dry laboratory library creation / exploration
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FACADE PROTOTYPE Materials & Fabrication . 12 Weeks . Prof Jake Thompkins . 2017
Facade System This course involved digital design and fabrication of three individal tile systems of differing scales and materials. Investigating a scalable system, 12� x 12� tiles were fabricated from concrete, wood, and MDF board for plastic thermoforming, Knowledge of CNC routing, formmaking, casting, and thermoforming were implemented to create the final material installation, hung on waterjet-cut, formed, and welded brackets.
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cast concrete
CNC routed wood CNC routed MDF for plastic thermoforming
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SCREE Graduate Studio 2 . 12 Weeks . Prof Sonit Bafna. 2018
Program: Land Use Interpretation Center This project was completed in team effort with peers Areej Ali and Lynn Belhumeur. SCREE presents a reformulated adaptive reuse construction logic whereby the architect’s agency is expanded to take control of all building materials pre- and post- construction. We explored construction techniques using rammed earth and tamped blocks in which the materials used for construction could take many forms during their lifespan. From the earliest design stage, the design team carefully integrated raw material extraction and manufacturing strategies with a clear motive to respect the ecology and the visual character not just of building site but also the extraction site. This resulted in a system of construction with a relaxed, open visual language, and an assembly of discrete systems for walls, floors, and roofs. The center of interpretation built using this technique is organized around a distributed program tactic that inhabits the entire valley. This allows visitors to experience the valley by discovering a variety of paths, whilst capturing the treasured experience as of a hike along the Appalachian Trail.
*renderings by Areej Ali cloyd | 47
fall equinox
winter solstice
spring equinox
summer solstice
visitor’s center
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lecture
exhibition
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The largest issue we identified was that the architect’s agency to control building material use stops after construction. This leads to waste and a dead-end in the life of materials. Our challenge was to design building systems in which current use does not dictate re-use of materials. All materials used WWWin construction were considered as potential resources for the life of the building as well as for future reuse. Uitlizing materials exclusively from a nearby plot of land, we selected wood, stone, and rammed earth as our main building materials. Earthworks construction requires fairly extensive wooden formwork which is typically removed from the site after construction. SCREE proposes that this wooden formwork is designed to remain on site as the building roof, column, and floor system which compliments the more massive rammed earth wall system.
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CHESTNUT OAK ave diameter 30” ave height 60’-0” - 70’-0” qty (20) 2x8 quartersawn boards
LOBLOLLY PINE ave diameter 36” ave height 100’-0” - 110’-0” qty (112) 2x6 quartersawn boards
ORIGINAL STATE OF ZONE 1
STAGE 4 REMOVING THE WHOLE NEEDED AREA
STAGE 1/ EXTRACTING
STAGE 5 RESTORING TOP SOIL
clay extraction site cloyd | 55
STAGE 3
bat house recovery
STAGE 6/ FUTURE
ORIGINAL STATE OF ZONE 2
STAGE 1/ CHESTNUT OAK EXTRACTION
STAGE 4 CLEARING NEEDED AREA
TOP SOIL AND SAND EXTRAXTION
STAGE 5 STONE EXCAVATION
As part of our team’s interpretation of the architect’s expanded agency, we propose two differing strategies for our main materials extraction sites. The clay extraction process requires shallow (up to 6’-0” deep) excavation to recover materials. In this instance, we reccomend the temporary introduction of fauna habitat into the extraction site in hopes of rehabilitating the disturbed soil conditions. Introducing movable bat houses allows for the generation of nutrient-rich fertilizer to recover the original soil layer and allow flora and fauna to regrow in these disturbed areas. The stone quarrying process, however, creates much more significant landscape disturbance. This site will be strategically located to cut into the side of a slope, creating recreational landscape for rock climbers and hikers. The trees necessarily removed from these areas will be accounted for and utilized for building formwork and framing. This center for land use interpretation is an attempt to bridge construction and material proccesing as well as ecology and process-conscious design. These systems are only a few proposals which arose out of our reimagination of the roles of construction, ecology, and the architect. stone extraction site recreation area cloyd | 56
FIDGIT BLOCK Materials Diversions Seminar . 12 Weeks . Prof Debora Mesa . 2018
Reconfigurable Building Module This reconfigurable building module exploration departs from the typology of the “fidgit block”, a children’s toy connected with an elastic through-joint. This geometry leverages aspect ratio and gravitational linking to understand the limits of the module. The scale of the module can be imagined as brick, worksurface-height module, or room unit. Design restrictions include packing and transportation dimensions particular to standard a standard freight truck bed, as well as sizing to optimize a 4’ x 8’ material sheet. Inefficiencies of a solid block module led to further exploration of this unit as a planar assembly of CNC routed plywood pieces. The initial tensile joint was resolved into a box-joint to facilitate ease of assembly and capitalize on stackability. Modifications were made to module size and material to dial in block weight and ease of lifting.
steel rail on oversized casters
block assembly variations
scan for video
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steel rail on oversized casters
flat-pack assembly variations cloyd | 60
TRANSFORM Graduate Studio 3 . 12 Weeks . Prof Debora Mesa . 2018
Program : Depolyable Public Amenities Temporary spaces make cities exciting—the ice cream truck, the circus, the market—these are all spaces which have made our urban centers more spectacular. This project proposes the dual use of the BeltLine light rail infrastructure to deploy a mobile fleet of public amenities across the city. In the same way public transportation has provided efficiencies of affordability and sustainability for the movement of people, this transportation system can also be utilized for architecture, urban spaces and activities. This could provide a sustainable way to create architecture which can be used by many people in many neighborhoods. A deployable architecture can provide flexibility of program and scale depending on configuration. The benefit of this temporary architecture is that it can exist in places that are not necessarily buildable. These interventions provide activation to otherwise vacant spaces along the linear path and promote nodes of activity. market @ lindbergh 85 overpass
scan for video
patio @ peachtree creek
library @ grant park
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old fourth ward | inman park
grant park | ormewood park
pittsburgh | capitol view manor
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berkeley park
scan for video
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01 . market
02 . gallery
03 . performance
04 . cinema
01 . market
02 . gallery
03 . performance
04 . cinema
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scan for video
Since a particular program may not be needed in all neighborhoods every day, the architecture can leverage a rotating schedule to appear and disappear as needed. The sharing economy reoriented towards public architecture provides the ability to address more needs on a tight budget. This mobile architecture can also act as a framework to monitor and assess what programs are more highly-demanded in which neighborhoods, allowing for the possibility of a permanent intervention in the future. We tend to think very statically about architecture, when in reality we can find more inventive ways for all to profit from design.
ROTATING SCHEDULE 01 . LIBRARY . grant park | ormewood park 02 . PATIO . peoplestown | chosewood park 03 . MAKERSPACE . pittsburgh | capitol view manor 04 . MARKET . west end 05 . PLAYGROUND . hunter hills | washington park 06 . GALLERY . bankhead 07 . CINEMA . berkeley park 08 . MARKET . colonial homes 09 . PERFORMANCE . peachtree hills 10 . PATIO . lindbergh 11 . MARKET . piedmont park | morningside 12 . CLINIC . old fourth ward | inman park
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RACHEL CLOYD
SELECTED WORKS 2012 - 2018
“Inventiveness, spontaneity, acuteness of perception, compassion, and competence in one’s art are today the only possible critical features of life and work.” - Lebbeus Woods, ‘Radical Reconstruction’
thank you for your consideration. cloydrd@gmail.com 863.510.1205