UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN M. ARCH III
REBECCA CURTIS
HOTEL AND CULTURAL CENTER SPRING 2015
HOTEL AND CULTURAL CENTER
The conoept of this hotel, mirroring, was inspired by the rows of duplex residences surrounding the site in Toronto. Mirroring was introduced into the lobby with literal mirrors, and into the upper two floors, consisting of hotel rooms, by inverting the pyramids located in the lobby. Of the nine pyramids on the lobby floor, only one is physically complete, but by lining the interior walls in mirror, there is an illusion that the four halves and four quarters are completed. Each pyramid also has one facade, split in half to create an opening into the space. The solid half is covered in a screen print made in-house by a local artist, and a mirror is positioned to reflect the pattern so that by approaching the pyramid from the covered side, the pyramid appears to have no entrance. While this is meant to be disorienting when occupying the first floor, the elevator and overlooks on both second and third floor allow for more top-down views, allowing the guests to reorient themselves.
REFLesTIONS
Exterior
Section
First Floor Plan
Gallery Space Stop Motion 3
SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE FALL 2014
The final project of the semester, “Redo,� was the design of a new house based off of a precedent house, in
Process Diagrams
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SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE
this case the Antonio Siza House by Alvaro Siza. I focused on bringing two aspects of the original design into my own design, which were the use of regulating lines and the interlocking of spaces which creates a less regulated division between rooms in the house. I pared down the number of walls in the house in favor of changing floor heights, ceiling heights, and implementing half walls to create a more cohesive space. I also was consciously creating double height spaces to have connection between spaces vertically, and not just horizontally.
Third Floor 7. Bathroom 10. Bathroom 8. Bedroom 11. Bedroom 9. Bedroom
Second Floor
First Floor 1. Entry 4. Bathroom 2. Kitchen 5. Gathering Space 3. Dining 6. Gathering Space
Section A
Section B
Section C
Section D
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ART MUSEUM SPRING 2014
ART MUSEUM
This semester focused on two projects, both related to the paintings of Alberto Burri. The first project was located in the on-campus art musem, Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis. It featured a four piece Burri exhibit, installed in an existing temporary gallery space. The second project was to design an entire art museum, located in Palm Springs, CA, with both a temporary exhibit space and a permanent gallery design for Burri’s Palm Springs cycle of paintings. A large metal sculpture, also created by Burri, was to be a second permanent installment. Both of the Burri exhibits isolate single paintings in confined spaces that were sized based on the dimensions of the painting on display.
Exterior Perspective
Permanent Palm Springs Cycle Exhibition
Northwest Section
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Museum Plan
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Bathrooms Gift Shop Mechanical Ticketing & Coat Check Office Burri Permanent Gallery Temporary Gallery Storage Offices
VERTICAL GREENHOUSE SPRING 2013
This semester consisted of two parts, the study of a small terrarium structure, and the translation of the terarrium to a multi story greenhouse. For both terrarium and greenhouse, I focused on a shape, multiplied, rotated, and separated, then connected to each other, creating faceted curves twisting through space. The greenhouse’s structure increased in complexity and was modified to separate into the floors, windows, walls, and roof. The greenhouse consisted of six interior floors of varying square footage, which affectected the amount of plant space on each floor, and one open floor on the top of the structure, which also contains planting space. Planting space was determined based on the placement of the rows of windows on both sides of the greenhouse, and specific plants were grown in different spaces dependent on how thick the floor was, which affected the depths of soil.
VERTICAL GREENHOUSE
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Site Plan
Northeast Elevation
First Floor Plan
Second Floor Plan
Third Floor Plan
Longitudinal Section
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Fourth Floor Plan
FURNITURE DESIGN FALL 2012
This studio consisted of two projects: the translation of an existing chair into plywood, and the design and construction of our own chair. The plywood chair included an exaggeration of one element of the original chair. I focused on the scroll of the arms, and created the interlocking pieces shown in the bottom right picture. For the second project, I focused again on interlocking pieces which would need no further connection. I made a digital 3D model, which I used to cut foam pieces on a CNC router, shown on the right. The foam, although my final chair for the class, is more of a transitional model, while the final model would be made out of wood or cement. The rendering on the right shows what a chair made out of wood might look like.
Close-up of Exaggerated Design
Built Plywood Chair and Original Chair
Foam Study Model Component
Foam Study Model
Theoretical Wooden Component
Theoretical Wooden Chair 11
DRAWING
Spring 2013 The first semester of drawing dealt mostly with figure and portrait drawings in grayscale, using mainly charcoal and conte as mediums. The second semester of drawing introduced the use of color, and moved from figure and portrait subjects to first still life and then the creation of space using perspective, figures, and objects. The medium for the second semester was mainly chalk pastel.
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