Architectural Education Portfolio - Rachel Browne

rachel evvia browne a portfolio of work

rachiebrowne@gmail.com 503.705.9536 5905 NE Failing st, Portland OR 97213

design .01 Oldtown community cultural center .02 east Portland sro .03 industrial retrofit

.04 weathering station .05 the networked apartment project

making personal

.01 oldtown community Cultural Center 2010 The Oldtown Community Cultural Center is an opportunity to carve into the dense fabric of the most diverse and dense neighborhood in Portland and provide a space of celebration gathering to the deteriorating neighborhood. It attempts to celebrate the significance of the area, its natural character and rich history.

Manipulating the landscape, visitors are invited to pause and take in the city which they are surrounded by from this central location. The structure emulates the natural form of the basalt it is built upon and its open walkways inspire exploration of this new, semi-public city block.

The interior use of the structure as a community cultral center allows children have the opportunity to spend time in an overwhelmingly adult section of the city, learn its history, and develop a deeper connection to where they live and an appreciation of the beauty and solid foundation that attracted the first Portlanders to this part of the Northwest.

oregon basalt formations

GREATER ACTIVITY LOWER ACTIVITY

nw wIND

URBAN ACTIVITY imediately around site

N/s Section

OLD TOWN SITE PLAN

E/W Section

East entrance

View from 6th ave

Big Pink view from upper deck

south lawn and stepping stones over bioswale

Performance area

Storytelling place below occulus

view from SE Corner

NW Entrance

East entrance

.02 East Portland sro 2011 Formerly homeless due to drug addiction or mental illness, the residents of 615 SE Washington now have a buffer between themselves and the elements.

Their illness calls for an environment to facilitate healing and reconnection by holding and protecting these individuals while they make the progression from dependence to independence.

Balancing community and privacy in this healing environment requires particular sensitivity due to the site’s urban surroundings.

The location and environmental conditions of the immediate surroundings — transient population, urban noise, light pollution from Sandy blvd. – suggests the need to design a secure, quiet, heavy and internally focused building. The seating of the structure into the slope at its north end and the thick, heavy wrapping of the steel façade progressing towards a brighter and more open, exposed south end mirrors the progression of the residents through their need for dependence and protection to a more independent lifestyle. Breaks in the building draw more daylighting into the apartments and into the main lobby through a large skylight. That skylight lets the residents view the lobby from above from their hallways. Materials and interior finishes provide comfort through tactile experience at the individual level.

neighborhood resources

aerial site map

early sketch

views from site

topography

Hand

“Modern architecture does not mean the use of immature new materials; the main thing is to refine materials in a more human direction.”

—Alvar Aalto

Digital

Physical

mid-design sketch

1. SRO Unit 2. Light Well 3. Laundry Room 4. Garbage Chutes

entrance

1. Counceling Offices 2. Unisex Restroom 3. Group Meeting Room 4. Counceling Reception 5. Resident Lounge 6. Balcony 7. Storage 8. Mechanical 9. Doctors Offices 10. Garbage Chutes

lobby stair

1. MainLobby 2. Restroom 3. Computer Stations 4. Community Meeting Room 5. Public Restrooms 6. Retail Space 7. Cafe 8. Cafe Prep & Storage 9. Cafe Restroom 10. Staff Parking

Digital NW view

.03 industrial retrofit 2013 How do we step away from our hard-infrastructure approach to flood control and create a new architectural language for accommodating the anticipated flooding resulting from climate change on an industrial scale? Where do we look to understand another approach that will work better for us? This proposal starts with the assumption that it is necessary to the health of the city to accommodate the industry that relies on the river for it’s operation.

This proposal intends to transform an industrial site by breaking down the hard, inflexible edge that we have created to protect our city’s industry from rising waters and gently welcoming the river into the site. This is an approach that has been successful in other prominent port cities, but has yet to be attempted in Portland.

Swan Island would be the first step in ending our battle with the surplus of water we have been granted and allow us to experience and appreciate it without hindering, even celebrating our port industry. This could be an experiment in manipulating the rivers edge to create new space that will work for us by using the natural condition of the rivers edge as a model for its design. multimedia map of swan Island

1880

map of portland floodplain 1880

site model

configurations

early sketches

proposal 1

proposal 2

proposal 3

proposal 1

proposal 2

proposal 3

.04 weathering station 2014 Effect on Materials and Human Experience Sunlight brings life to earth by transferring energy from the sun to the surfaces.

Living things adapt to convert the sun’s energy into their own energy, but nonliving things simply degrade in varying degrees under the radiation of the sun with no adaptation or defense. The constant bombardment of the sun as well as other weather elements wear materials down over time, aging them. If this aging can be tested and documented, the results can be anticipated and materials used in the building of human environments can be intentional.

As Juhaini Pallasmaa wrote in his book, “The Eyes of the Skin,” observing the varying aging of materials connects people to the phenomenon of time and bring more meaning to the passing of time, connecting them to something greater than their individual lives.

9.3 Formal Ordering Systems Buildings can be made of materials for which the aging process is understood 9.3 Formal Ordering Systems solar laboratory and the materials are put together in a thoughtful way, highlighting the different solar laboratory

degrees of degradation, heightening the human connection.

Grid

Program Mass

Grid

Program Mass

The grid is 15’x15’.

The grid is 15’x15’.

The total square footage.

The total square footage.

Higher Ceilings

ceilings heightened to bring in more light.

Higher Ceilings ceilings heightened to bring in more light.

Slope Drop

Outdoor Lab Space

east side of the ground floor is dropped.

access, so the second floor exterior is recessed.

To respond to the slope of the topography, Slope Drop the east side of to the ground To respond the slope floor dropped. the of theistopography,

The facade surface on the laboratory needed outdoor Outdoorlevel Lab Space access, so the second The facade surface on floor the exterior is recessed. laboratory level needed outdoor

Light Corridoors

To bring light into the core of the building, a Light Corridoors light welllight cuts into through To bring the the andbuilding, the second coreroof, of the a floor. light well cuts through the roof, and the second floor.

Solar Laboratory

study models

RF q . r 50 ‘ R5a.s

BASEBALL DIAMOND

120 ‘

OS g DOWNTOWN PORTLAND VIEWS

OS gs

R5a

BASEBALL DIAMOND

LEGEND

N

Legand

Legend

OPEN SPACE (OSg) ZONING R5a.s

PARK GARBAGE

WILAMETTE RIVER VIEWS

ESTABLISHED WALKING ConiferousPATH Trees DECIDIOUS TREES Deciduous Trees CONIFEROUS TREES

EVENT COTTAGE

Extracted Trees BUILDABLE AREA Pedestrian Path SETBACKS

TENNIS COURT

Park Utility Path Rail Tracks

R5a

SLOPES >25%

Main Access Road Roadway Power Lines

RAILROAD

Loading Zone

TENNIS COURT BASKETBALL COURT

SELLWOOD BRIDGE VIEWS

TENNIS COURTS

Sq.r

120

SELLWOOD POOL OS gs

0

80

70

50

R1d PARKING FOR LOWER PARK

60

PK

Fire Lane

R5a.s

Site Boundary

Site Setbacks SCALE : 1/64” = 1’

ROOF PLAN

CONCRETE COLUMN & SLAB STRUCTURE

LIFE SAFETY & EGRESS

EAST- WEST SECTION

FLOOR 3 PLAN NORTH-SOUTH SECTION

NORTH-SOUTH SECTION

NORTH-SOUTH SECTION

FLOORS 1&2 PLAN

SCALE: 1/32” = 1’

site section with proposed building

solar laboratory

9.8 Vertical Movement solar laboratory

vertical egress egress path

circulation ARCH 582 | Conceptual Design| NAAB B6

Rachel Browne

69

9.11 Sun Studies

FEBURARY FEBURARY10AM 10AM

solar laboratory

structure CONCRETE COLUMN & SLAB STRUCTURE

FEBURARY 10AM

Light study - Feb 10am

ARCH 582 | Conceptual Design| NAAB B6 LIFE SAFETY & EGRESS

FEBURARY FEBURARY3PM 3PM

Light study - Feb 3pm EAST- WEST SECTION

LIFE SAFETY & EGRESS

FEBUR

Apartment Project .05 the networked apartment project 2014

The Problem: Contemporary apartment designs can isolate tenants from each other Surrounded by businesses

This book provides a how-to guide for renters that want to address this problem in their apartments.It includes concepts such as creating social spaces, personalizing apartment space, and throwing events. In this it addresses common challenges and The goal of the book is to provide tenants with the resources they need to create a community project that will foster an engaged culture at their apartment complex.

No community space

Faces a busy street

No nodes for socializing

The Networked Apartment Project The Problem: Contemporary apartment designs can isolate tenants from each other Surrounded by businesses

No community space

Faces a busy street

No nodes for socializing

Create a cycle of community building

• Ma • Ma hav • Ma wh • Als to h hom spa oth

The Book : How to Build a Connected Community Within Your Apartment Space Apartments often lack opportunities for tenants to socialize. This createsconnections a situation where many tenants Establish between people live close together without awareness of one another. A connected community helps to promote participation in neighborhood decisions, encourages good mental health, and supports safer spaces.

Create a cycle of community building

This want It inc pers even

The reso that apar

• Many have No community space • Many sites are cut off from other housing by having only businesses in the surrounding area.

• Many face a busy street, which creates a situation where the community is isolated.

• Also many lack usable space outside the entryway to home that could serve as an extension of the home. This creates a lack personalized exterior space that could serve to connect tentants to each other.

The Book : How to Build a Connected Community Within Your Apartment Space Establish connections between tenants

Apar to so peop anot parti good

This book provides a how-to guide for renters that want to address this problem in their apartments.

It includes concepts such as creating social spaces, personalizing apartment space, and throwing events. In this it addresses common challenges and The goal of the book is to provide tenants with the resources they need to create a community project that will foster an engaged culture at their apartment complex.

Community Projects

TENANT CONNECTION HANDBOOK Improving community in urban market rate apartment complexes How To

The Networked Apartment Project Resources

Neighborhood Association Involvement The project team met with the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association board to present the video and guidebook and gain feedback from them about the goal and the content.

Introductions were made and then the video was shown, the background of the project presented, and the guidebook content discussed in the group.

Many members of the board had recognized this as a problem that they themselves had experienced as a tenant or that they recognized as an issue in their –or other– neighborhoods. The inability to engage the majority of apartment tenants has been a problem for neighborhood associations across the city.

The project group was invited back to an April meeting to present to the rest of the neighborhood association and see if the project was something that could be incorporated into their engagement strategy.

Design

making .01 Carving and burning .02 Box of Weather .03 collage and repetition

personal

.08 Carving and burning 2014 Molding, carving, stitching and slicing has always appealed to me. Creating an object with weight and texture can be a way of processing a thought leading to design or it can be the product of the design itself.

laser cut perspective

vase designed in rhino

Conceptual artifact - soapstone

.09 Box of Weather 2014 The Sunlight Weathering Puzzle was an study on the aesthetic effects of solar radiation on a material sample placed at a controlled angle and level of light relative to neighboring samples. It gives the user an interactive opportunity to gain awareness of the effects of sunlight on materials.

3.0 Box of Weather Solar degredation

The Sunlight Weathering Puzzle was an study on the aesthetic effects of solar radiation on a material sample placed at a controlled angle and level of light relative to neighboring samples.

It gives the user an interactive opportunity to gain awareness of the effects of sunlight on materials.

“Start copying what you love. Copy copy copy. And at the end of the copy, you will find yourself.”

—Yohji Yamamoto

collage

indian ink

Design Making

Personal .01 Browne House .02Painting

.06 browne house 2009 - present For the last few years I have been working on designing and building a house with my father in the NE Portland Cully neighborhood. This experience has given me firsthand experience with the challenges of design and construction.

Being both architect and building assistant, I gained valuable insight into the process on a personal and residential scale. Through this process we have learned to balance the various design elements with budgets constraints and make tough decisions that were cost effective, met our scheduling and design needs with passion and love of the experience.

“Art resides in the quality of doing; process is not magic.� —Charles Eames

digging out the basement

pouring the foundation

basement wall forms

Concrete poured

framing

sheathing

siding

painting

exterior complete

.09 painting

ongoing

When I am on vacation or have time to spend as I please, I like to paint. It feels like meditation and I lose track of the hours. Using India Ink, collage, water colors, and acrylics I have painted from life, from photographs, from imagination and imitation.

thank you