O B S E R V I N G M U R M U R AT I O N S The layers of our lungs make it possible for pressures inside our body to even out with pressure outside of our body. Similarly, can observation tower function as intentionally as anatomy of our lungs?
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Murmurations provide our realm with a unique science. They monitor seven fellow birds during flight, allowing them to safely navigate, resulting in ephemeral patterns above us. This study merges the phenomenon murmurations live by and the science of structural load path of an observation tower. Rhode Island School of Design Professor Kyna Leski Fall 2015
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G S glass facade skylight screen facade
The idea of a bathhouse in America is quite different from other countries. There is a stigma to it that shames the culture. This bathhouse proposal negates this stigma by allowing visitors to make their own experience within the building. Through the design and variety of programs, individuals have the ability to chose areas based on their own comfort levels. The design consists of fifty-three walls, ten of which are actually touching the ground. The forty-three remaining “walls� are panels suspended from the ceiling. They are made of metal chain-link mesh or of translucent fabrics, suspending from heights ranging between fourteen to ten feet. The walls touching the ground are thick steel framed extrusions, wrapped in a marble cladding. Lockers, showers, toilets, sinks, and storage closets are embedded within the walls. The steel and marble cladding spans eighteen feet high, joining to bar joists. In the center of the building, above the cafe, lobby, and tea room is a thirty by eighty foot cut out in the ceiling, allowing direct light to flood into the darker spaces. Wrapping the length of the building is a curtain wall, spanning eighteen feet high, along with a slatted screen system acting as a shading mechanism and as panels that open the space for more public occasions. Two of the steel framed walls that actually touch the ground span the width of the building. Rhode Island School of Design Professor Laura Briggs & Stewart Blazer Winter 2016
screen panel opaque panel structural wall tub room lockers sauna cafe main pool mid pool tea garden yoga room
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The experiment studies thermal, environmental, and performative characteristics of the wall, while simultaneously adjusting to cater to programmatic functions. Thus challenging and merging two conventional systems: a wall & a confessional. The interior finish invites the user to a warm, insulated, dark nook hidden in plain sight. The seat encourages a separation from external influences, allowing the user to confide in the sincerity of the space. The exterior finish challenges conventional construction methods, using lathe as a material to weave, creating a facade that can easily bend to the geometry of the wall, forming a seat. The exterior seat, meant for the listener, challenges the norm of a religious figure listening to sins. Exposing reactions to a much larger audience, while maintaining the discretion of the individual confessing.
Rhode Island School of Design Professor Jonathan Knowles & Brett Schneider Fall 2016
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D E F Y I N G H OR I Z ON TA L S Inversion addresses a deep investigation within intention. Using The Barcelona Pavilion as precedent, the proposal questions the aesthetic and tectonic qualities designed by Mies. Following these established rules and creating a palimpsest proposal, inversion begins. The horizontality and mass of The Barcelona Pavilion transform to thin towering members, opening views to the city, rather than confining them within. University at Buffalo Professor Dennis Maher & Nerea Feliz Summer 2014
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This wall study challenges repetitive light frame construction. Our goal was to develop a system that can be assembled by two people, consisting of four prefabricated light weight pieces. The structure of the wall functions in tension and compression, creating an even distribution of load. This provides flexibility to the module, allowing it to be stackable, continuous and freestanding. Using prefabricated material, we have been able to reduce wood usage in traditional light frame construction by 29%. 8’ - 0”
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Rhode Island School of Design Professor Jonathan Knowles & Brett Schneider Collaboration with Amelia Millan & Xichen Que Fall 2015
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Avanto: Finnish origin, a hole within the ice The sauna experience requires a frequent change in temperature. High temperatures within the sauna to icy cold water outside. The cyclic experience within a sauna gives reason for the program layout along with the means of access. A user transitions from land to water to sauna. Inside, the user transitions from sauna to shower, then stalls to outdoors. Returning alas from sauna to water to land.
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As users dive into the sauna experience they begin to rely on the changing sky and sun in order to tell time. Wood, tile and stones create a grounded atmosphere within the space. Water reminds the user that the sauna is floating. The juxtaposition creates an elusive atmosphere, allowing users a safe environment to reflect.
Rhode Island School of Design Professor Peter Tagiuri Spring 2016
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Located in Allentown Buffalo, the facility augments the thriving arts community. This urban art colony includes apartments for residential fellowships of 1-3 months, together with studio spaces for both fellows and local artists. The south-facing living units, together with a rooftop bar and terrace for the artists who live and work in the building, are situated along Allen Street, while open plan flexible studio floors face the north.
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A triple-height entrance lobby on Allen Street leads to a ground level public cafe and a sky-lit atrium at the heart of the building, where a monumental stair leading to public galleries on the second floor also serves as an informal auditorium for performances and events. The atrium, dividing the living and studio zones, links the public spaces on the lower levels with private realm on upper floors. Open stairs crisscross the void, so that artists pass back and forth through the atrium as they move between their dwellings and workspaces. The site cast concrete building, like a daylight factory, has a robust industrial character. Panels of stainless steel mesh veil the north and south faces of the atrium, providing artists with privacy, while allowing views into the public realm. The west atrium wall flanking the vertical circulation core is a hydroponic green wall, which helps to filter air in the building. The Main Street facade of the studio block likewise has stainless steel mesh external sun shading, while on Allen Street, the more open residential facade is defined by an exposed site cast concrete wrapper and recessed glazing. University at Buffalo Professor Annette Lecuyer Collaboration with Andre Assis Fall 2014
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C O N C R E T E A R C H The installation spanned thirty feet across our studio and stood ten feet high. Our group of eight and six critics were able to stand underneath during the final review. The physical studio space was used as form work to cast the beams that span across. Each beam has a wood member cast within to facilitate fastening them. We designed an aggregate mixture bringing the overall weight per beam down by 35%.
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University at Buffalo Professor Christopher Romano Collaboration with Alexandra N. Coop, Matthew Dellehunt, Ryan Hughes, Edgar Martinez, Giovanni Perez & Peter Urban Fall 2011
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S O U T H L I G H T SouthLight design build is an open performance venue and urban lawn. Our team of fifteen student designers and four faculty members, designed, fundraised and built the pavilion within three months. The pavilion has translucent poly-carbonate walls and roof wrapping a redesigned greenhouse kit. With the use of custom LED fixtures, the pavilion gently glows at night in order to promote neighborhood safety. The landscaping involved a newly paved path, 5000 sq-ft lawn, cedar fence, rain garden and flower garden. Rhode Island School of Design + Ultramoderne Collaboration with Aaron Forrest, Yasmin Vobis, Laura Briggs, Brett Schneider, Jonathan Knowles, Feyie Bie, Xichen Que, William Gant, Daniel Stone, Natasha Ruiz, Qi An, Marco Aguirre, Sarp Arditi, Sina Almassi, Gian Villaruel & Genevieve Marsh Summer 2016
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