rachael
kulish
select works
Other: Light g Chambers
Other: Creative Works
Professional: American Academy y
Academic: Stevens College g Chapel p
Academic: Buffalo Ridge Residence
Academic: Student Success Center
Academic: Delmar Homeless Shelter
Academic: Museum Archive Addition
Courtyard Dichotomy Archives, when analyzed further, are not as they initially appear. Much of what they contain and do is hidden from view, purposefully obscuring their procedural operations of research, restoration and storing of artifacts. The dichotomy of how archives function versus what is experienced by users is realized through a new addition that reflects this tension by placing a new addition in the heart of the museum courtyard.
PennMuseumArchive Addition Academic
Design Fall 2018
Defining Space without Enclosure Volume is captured through a series of shape-finding manifestations that derive transparent and patterned form with found and contextual objects. This in turn creates a spatial arrangement that both obscures and reveals the new archive addition's many functions.
Duality The systematic action of aggregating layers from site patterns in a manner that reveals hidden functions, adding transparency, yet defines specific spaces to retain workability represents the duality of archival functions through expressive, yet restrictive form.
Hidden Depths Conventional archival design creates off-limits zones for guests and visitors, preventing holistic understanding of the role and function archives serve. Exposing this disconnect and rendering a new typology that instead bridges this gap is critical for archives to implement if the archive is to retain public support.
A New Journey Touring the new archive addition requires a reflection on the sequence of spaces that is experienced by users: rather than a single, linear path, the addition seeks to engage visitors with a circuitous, levelchanging path of exploration.
Inside-Out Use of the site-derived patterns and exercising precise manipulations of space, perforations are made throughout the archive addition to connect spaces, effectively adding transparency to archival operations without removing functionality.
Bridging Old and New New spatial relationships are developed through the archive's addition, enabling hidden functions to be expressed and understood through a transparent, space defining annex. This in turn links the past to the present, bringing greater appreciation and interest to the museum's archives.
Conscientious Design Homeless shelter design typically imposes three challenges designers must address: 1. Ensuring all required services are accessible to users in the local area and transportation is readily available. 2. Designing a shelter so that it is serviceable and functional, yet still aesthetically appealing. 3. Creating a holistic design that meets the needs for the different categories of homelessness.
Delmar LoopHomeless Shelter University of Missouri
Research+Design+Programming Spring 2016
Site Selection The shelter's location was specifically chosen to be placed between two very unique and different neighborhoods: the affluent, resource-rich Delmar Loop, and the economically depressed, atrisk neighborhood of the West End. This location was also chosen due its adjacency to two modes of public transportation: three CitiBus Routes have bus stops on the edge of the site and the St. Louis MetroLink maintains an active train station within minutes of the property.
Strategic Programming The internal programming of a shelter must provide needed services that are unavailable within the local area. After analyzing recommendations put forth by researchers, twelve different programs were determined to be necessary for the shelter’s success.
Conceptual Development Meeting Program Requirements The Delmar Boulevard Community Responsibility Project required twelve separate programs to be housed within the shelter.
Spaces were allocated based on user needs, local availability, and the idea that certain spaces would be shared between the adjacent neighborhood residents and the homeless. These shared spaces were created in order to foster an atmosphere of inclusion and to subsidize the operation of the shelter making it more economically feasible.
Creating Distinct Privacy Zones Programs are organized laterally with public spaces arranged along the street, progressing towards more private spaces further away from the street. Greater privacy and security for residents is also achieved by elevating sleeping quarters above the main level to prevent unwanted access.
Connecting with Nature Spaces are arranged around private and semi-public courtyards in order to create much-needed green spaces for shelter users and residents. These spaces also allow all to enjoy the benefits of reconnecting with nature in an urban environment
Building a Canyon A “canyon� is inserted along the long axis of the building in order to facilitate a continuum of living quarters and allow a transition from the streets to full shelter for the chronically homeless. Sight lines are considered in order to balance privacy and security.
Using Appealing Design to Minimize Resistance and Promote Use Shelters and their occupants are typically shunned by local neighborhoods. However, by creating an appealing structure, positive territoriality and pride of place develop, alleviating resistance to the shelter. This technique can also draw in the homeless, giving them an opportunity to receive care and services.
Adaptive Living Arrangements: Chronically Homeless
Apartment Style Living Quarters: Families 1.
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1. Curtain Wall 2. Expansion Joint 3. Open Web Joist System 4. Vertical Planter 5. Stone Veneer 6. Gypsum 7. Horizontal Planter 8. Metal Decking 9. Foundation Wall
Alternative Living Pod:
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Wood Slat Faรงade
Courtyard Wall Section Detail
Stone & Greenery Faรงade
Chronically Homeless
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Dormitory Style Living Quarters:
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1. Parapet Cap 2. Roofing Membrane 3. Concrete Lintel 4. CMU Wall 5. Brick Veneer 6. Weep hole 7. Tie Backs 8. Flashing 9. Insulation
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Single Men & Women
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Exterior Wall Faรงade
Exterior Wall Section Detail
Addressing the Spectrum of Homelessness Rather than design a shelter for a single demographic, the West End House aims to provide space for the four main groups of homeless: families, single men, single women, and the chronically homeless. The chronically homeless face distinct challenges and resistance to shelters, thus two forms of housing were designed: spaces for personal shelter set-up and alternative living pods. These spaces created a way for the chronically homeless to gradually become accustomed to living inside. These housing types are located within the canyon, a green space below the sight-lines of the neighborhood. The disruption of sightlines provides much needed privacy and restores dignity to the homeless by minimizing negative observation.
Programming Challenges Designers were challenged to envision a new student center for the University of Missouri that would meet the growing needs of students, faculty, & other diverse groups that utilize the building. The project was complex, requiring the resolution of 10 distinctive programming requirements with unique functions into one shared space, while delivering a striking architectural icon on one of the campus's most well-known spaces.
Student Success Center University of Missouri
Design+Programming Spring 2015
Conceptual Development Facilitating Encounters
Programming Analysis
Forming Iconic Design
The design focuses on creating individualized yet interconnected spaces to house each program’s unique needs. This drove much of the design, as each space’s required functionality was individually resolved then unified into a cohesive building. This ensured each program could effectively share or collaborate within less used spaces, such as conference rooms or presentation venues, yet enjoy discrete spaces for individual needs.
Private Spaces
Connection to Nature
Pedestrian Path
Create Place-Making
Communication Stairs
Connecting Atrium
Final Design The final design incorporates a pedestrian path through the center of the building to improve site circulation, courtyards that promote a connection with nature, and multiple rooftop patios to provide sweeping views of the university campus, offering a stimulating academic environment for both students and faculty.
Controlling Light and Views Light is both stimulating and distracting to students intent upon studying or receiving academic assistance. The design strives to connect students with nature in order to have them receive its mental and physical benefits, yet prevent it from becoming distracting during academic studies. This is accomplished through the use of light wells and a central skylight. Projecting down into the lower level of the Student Success Center, light allows students to feel connected to the outdoors without overly saturating the space with the attendant distraction that uninterrupted views would create. Spaces dedicated to less focused studying have more visual connection to the campus, whereas quieter, more heads-down studying or counseling session spaces take place in minimally distracting zones within the center.
Way-finding through Connection Staircase The atrium contains a staircase that vertically connects each distinct function and facilitates encounters amongst the building’s users through direct line-of-sight-views. This connection staircase can also be used as a directional compass, improving way-finding since its unique architecture creates an icon from which to navigate.
Sustainability through Passive Design Strategies Using passive techniques when designing a single family home is an effective way to minimize energy consumption before mechanical systems are even considered. This design carefully considered and optimized its interaction with the local climate.
Buffalo Ridge Residence University of Missouri
Design + Sustainability Analysis Spring 2015
Courtyard Design Homes are often designed to circulate around a central courtyard. This strategy allows natural daylight to penetrate into most rooms of the home, connecting the residents with their site and minimizing the need for lighting during the day. The Buffalo Ridge Residence implements this technique to facilitate a close relationship with the environment.
Sustainable Materials + Passive Solar Heating & Cooling The Buffalo Ridge Residence uses local materials in its construction, adhering to a maximum material sourcing radius of 100 miles using brick made from nearby quarries and local Missouri short-leaf pine timber. This was a unique challenge to overcome in order to design a home that was aesthetically appealing and did not appear exceptionally different from its contextual neighborhood.
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The extended roof overhangs shade the interior of the home during hot summer months, but allows daylight to penetrate during the cool winter months, reducing the need for HVAC.
The interior of the home uses materials with high thermal mass in order to mitigate the large temperature swings in Missouri’s winter and summer months.
The home incorporates a skylight that can be opened using louvers. This allows breezes at higher elevations to draw out warm air in the hot Missouri summers.
Skylight with Operable Louvers
Summer Sun
Winter Sun Thermal Mass
Conceptual Chapel Students were asked to conceptualize a small chapel that explored form and light while drawing inspiration from established designers. The project's intent was to challenge students to envision a spiritual space by creating an experience contained within a strong volumetric form.
Stevens College Chapel University of Missouri
Design Fall 2014
Rothko Chapel: Houston, TX Mark Rothko + Philip Johnson
Joe: St. Louis, Missouri Richard Serra
Meditation Space: Paris, France Tadao Ando
A Spiritual Journey Basic geometric forms illuminated by natural light informed the chapel’s shape. Inspiration was taken from art and spaces that created a strong user experience in order to render a design that took users on a spiritual journey of contemplation. Visitors descend into a subterranean space before walking around a curved hallway that hides the entrance to the sanctuary.
Meeting Client Needs The American Academy of Pediatrics envisioned moving into a playful, yet professional workplace that would meet their growing professional needs. Grant Thornton wanted a space imbibed with the local office’s culture, capturing the laid-back, west-coast attitudes of their Orange County office.
Professional Works American Academy of Pediatrics
Interior Design + Construction Documentation + Construction Administration Spring 2017 Awarded
Chicago Commercial Real Estate Best Build-to-Suit of 2018
Grant Thornton
Interior Design + Interior Renderings Summer 2017
American Academy of Pediatrics Meeting Client Needs Designing a workplace that felt as though children could run and play throughout the space was central to the client’s vision for their new corporate headquarters. The design team softened the interior architecture with elegant curves, used playful colors to create a warm, inviting atmosphere, and establishing connections to the site with expansive views outside in order to create a new home for the Academy.
Bridge/Atrium
Specified and detailed railing
Member’s Lounge
Selected architectural finishes
Conference Centers
Designed event space configurations
Cafe’s
Designed break-out space
Grant Thornton Orange County Offices Inspiring Spaces 1. Cafe: The user’s required a flexible, casual space for office events. Our team devised a color palette that captured the local vibe by using relaxing, sea-inspired colors and textures. 2. Offices: Multiple space types were required by the client in order to provide working environments that fit all user needs. Public, semi-public, and private working spaces were delineated by color-coding space types and thoughtful adjacency placements. 3. Break room: The client desired a break-out space that could be utilized by both employees and clients to relax or hold informal meetings. Here, our team again incorporated the office’s local environment with soothing materials that evoked sensations of rolling sand dunes and boardwalks over beaches.
Creative Expression
Jesse Hall Sketch
Epitaph Competition
This free-hand sketch captures a quiet corner within the iconic administrative hall at the University of Missouri. Image composition and perspective accuracy were the drawing focus.
Reuniting Thomas Jefferson’s epitaph with a symbolic obelisk headstone, akin to the design Jefferson himself created, echoes the piece’s historic roots. The design was selected as the winner of the competition and was rededicated to the school in 2015.
Figure Sketch
Solid-Void Exercise
Using a cast collection, students studied how the human form can be defined by light and shadow. This enabled students to attain a greater understanding of the human body and its proportions.
Used as a traditional studio exercise, this assignment challenged students to visualize both positive and negative spaces through the composition of planes, blocks, and pattern-making.
Filtered Lenses Using light, shadows, and projection, this conceptual project strove to create a new lens in which to misdirect the understanding of artifacts contained within the chamber, highlighting the distortions that change how one views certain common, every-day objects.
Light Chambers University of Pennsylvania Team: Peik Shelton, Chanju Yang & Tao Luo
Design Fall 2018
Changing Perceptions Four ancient vessels, that historically served common uses are purposefully hidden from sight, intentionally antithetical to museum displays. Misinterpreting the everyday, elevating it to a status beyond its original intent in order to change perceptions of it, reveal new insights to how objects are used, displayed, and understood.
Thank You While architecture and design are one of my life’s greatest passions, my interests extend beyond this focus. In my free time outside of the studio, I travel as much as possible in an effort to see and experience more of this world. This desire to explore places seldom seen or touched by others introduced me to the sport of mountain climbing. Though I am still at the novice level, I find the challenge of making a summit a great mental exercise as well as a significant physical one. My cover art is a celebration of what this sport has brought me: the desire to seek out wild places, the awareness of how teamwork and collaboration elevates the experience, and the mental fortitude to push through challenging situations in order to see beauty on the other side of the obstacle. Thank you for taking the time to get to know me through my work! Closing Image: Lake Louise, Alberta CA