Ryan Stoddard Portfolio - Fall 2022

ryan stoddard

undergraduate architecture portfolio fall 2022

illuminating time-space strata

Semester: Spring 2022

Critic: Fred Pearsall

conceptual mapping in collaboration with Coby Harris

From a contextual mapping of the site drawing on Torsten Hagerstrand’s “time-space geography” model, an architectural strategy emerges of expressing the conceptual weight of time and place. The aim is not to impress upon every visitor a literal knowledge of time-space geography in Hagerstrandian terms; rather, the nuanced view of spatial and temporal position it presents serves as a foundation for historical and emotional reflection on the embedded meaning of occupying as richly storied a space such as Sweetwater Creek. This spatial experience is primarily expressed through a constructed path, which engages the body along a slowly ascending circulation that both enters within and emerges above the landscape. 'Microsites' of specific historical or ecological significance are encountered along this progression, each featuring a spatial installation that engages the Hagerstrand model to communicate an element of the site's history to a visitor. The experience culminates in the 'Center for Art Union Science Activated by Light' (C.A.U.S.A.L.), an experimental site for exhibiting and researching the poetic significance of light and optical phenomena.

Engage site in its totality as a ‘domain’ of embedded space-time, natural-cultural strata

Construct path system adjacent to Red Trail to enable new system of body-site interaction

Overlay path with ‘stations’ for moments of reflective pause

Circulation through the landscape enables allegorical perception of embedded temporal strata

Project light + shadow in several different contexts to immerse visitor in an alternate time-space experience

Situate C.A.U.S.A.L. extending east from landscape to interconnect path systems and align views

Macro-Site

Illuminated Path

From a contextual mapping of the site drawing on Torsten Hagerstrand’s “timespace geography” model, an architectural strategy emerges of expressing the conceptual weight of time and place. The aim is not to impress upon every visitor a literal knowledge of time-space geography in Hagerstrandian terms; rather, the nuanced view of spatial and temporal position it presents serves as a foundation for historical and emotional reflection on the embedded meaning of occupying as richly storied a space such as Sweetwater Creek. This spatial experience is primarily expressed through a constructed path, which engages the body along a slowly ascending circulation that both enters within and emerges above the landscape.

C.A.U.S.A.L. exists as a final, enveloped extension of the constructed path. It is first entered from underneath in a place of shadow, and opens up into an ascending linear circulation. The primary intervention inside is the camera obscura room; through a staggered system of walls, it significantly interrupts of the linear circulatory path, initially casting the body in darkness. Upon entering, however, the camera obscura fills the otherwise empty space with an inverted projection of the New Manchester mill ruin. The result is an experiential chamber filled with the fuzzy, inverted image of the ruin that envelops the bodies entering it. Thus, it challenges the advertised image of the site and serves as a conceptual conclusion to the reflective journey the path constructs.

C.A.U.S.A.L.

Camera Obscura

Skyspace

Refracted Caustic Projection

The form suggests an emergence from the landscape, inviting the visitor to lapse from progression along the path for a moment of deeper reflection. A layer of water atop a glass panel fills the circular aperture on the ceiling, casting a series of caustic refractions across the cylindrical form. Although the space is somewhat illuminated throughout the course of the day and night, the aperture casts a distinct circle of light depending on solar orientation and, intrinsically, time. Thus the light functions both as a constant phenomena creating a distinct space, and as a tool for the visitor to perceive their temporal occupation of the site.

Microsite

Time Path Shadows

The microsite intervention employs shadow as a revelatory agent to convey the convergent sense of a ‘bundle’ of space-time paths. Thus, it is situated near the confluence of both present means of circulation on the site, and provides a space to contemplate the previous circulatory paths of the mill workers, the enslaved laborors who constructed it, and the union army that destroyed it. Per the Hagerstrandian understanding, these paths are embedded within the strata of the landscape itself; the interventions suggest a their reemergence from the Earth to cast a shadow over the mill as it stands. The amphitheater provides a space set back from the red trail where literal circulation can be viewed in real time, and the that of the past can be contemplated through observation of dynamic shadow interaction throughout the day.

figuration and deep decoration

Semester: Fall 2021

Critic: Marisabel Marratt

Collaboration with Alex Garnica

Drawing from the forms and suggestions of Art Nouveau's whiplash curves and tendrils, a spatial definition for a Design Research Academy in San Fransisco's Embarcadero district is formed. Curves are first derived from Art Nouveau precedent study , and later categorized by form, function and relationship. This gives way to generative seeds which, through transformations of scale, rotation, and warping, form the basis for highly decorative sheets. These sheets are then multiplied, transformed, and arranged to create a system, and further warped, stretched, and delaminated in the horizontal plane to form the basis of a three-dimensional space. The sheets are both deeply decorative and deeply structural; giving way to bands of perforated space divisions, a metastructure that weaves together the floors and functions, and a supporting truss system formally derived from the decorative elements. The circulation, most clearly defined by a grand central ramp, emphasizes the interconnection and harmony of the Design Research Academy's program itself; a fundamentally democratic, interdisciplinary space for all designers, technologies, traditional crafts, and educators to gather and influence one another in the spirit of the early avante-garde design schools and the San Fransisco makerspace of the twenty-first century.

Family I

Hybrid Family Family II

Panel Warping

Metastructural Stretching

Center Panel Delamination

Relation of Truss to Floor Slab

beyond, between

Semester: Spring 2021

Critic: Danielle Willkens

One of Atlanta’s most interesting neighborhoods, Cabbagetown is full of a rich history of juxtaposition. A mill town in a city now lives as a vibrant historical district within a rapidly densifying urban center; in this context is the proposed situation of two live-work artist residences for a culinary artist and couturier. While these structures must clearly suit the needs and benefits of modern program and functionality, they also must conform to Cabbagetown’s strict compatibility regulations. In order to preserve the 19th century mill town’s historic character, the scheme faces both adjacent streets with architectural details characteristic of the neighborhood's vernacular. However, in the intermediary zone beyond the sidewalk's viewshed, the vernacular cottage and shotgun forms are deconstructed and reconfigured into unconventional studio workspaces and a shared outdoor space.

Index of Vernacular Styles

= Shotgun

= Cottage

= Duplex

Cabbagetown Landmark District Compatability Rule:

" The element in question (roof form, architectural trim, etc.) shall match that which predominates on the contributing buildings of the same architectural style and like use on that block face or, where quantifiable (i.e., buildings height and width as measured at front façade, floor height, lot dimensions, etc.), no smaller than the smallest or larger than the largest such dimension of the contributing buildings of the same architectural style and like use in that block face. "

= Not Visible from Gaskill Street

= Not Visible from Powell Street

naivety, failure, remembrance

Semester: Spring 2021

Critic: Danielle Willkens

Exercise in the creation of a stereotomic space based on a guiding narrative. The space accomodates for a place of arrival, place of transition, and place of contemplation; these are represented as guiding metaphors for birth, life, and death. The arrival section features a sloping ceiling that produces a shocking effect mirroring the confusion of birth and childhood. This then gives way to a labyrinth-like transition space, which makes use of dappled ambient light to produce a variable effect. A central enfilade also provides a line of sight throughout the entire form, metaphorical of the omnipresence of death. Finally, the contemplation space is one of solemn rememberance, employing a concave wedge form to produce two distinct chambers: one only illuminated in the morning, the other at night. This creates a parallel for the divergence of perspective when reflecting upon life's highs and lows.

birth arrival

parabol

Semester: Fall 2020

Critic: Ryan Roark

Design for a temporary pavilion to be situated in the Skiles courtyard on Georgia Tech's campus, to be fabricated using forty 60" x 60" polypropelene sheets held together by bolts. The pavilion serves as an investigation of ruled surfaces; specifically, it made use of the intrinsic structural properties of parabolic forms to create a largely open, programatically diverse intervention for the courtyard. The pavilion is composed of two primary forms: one is folded from a pentagonal base, the other from a square base. Combined, these elements provide for an open passthrough, shady covered space, and a tiered seating/ sleeping area that can accomodate multiple individuals and activities simultaneously.

bus station

Semester: Fall 2021

Critic: Charles Rudolph

Completed for ARCH 2211: Construction Technology

Drawing inspiration from the timber construction and visible structural systems of the adjacent Kendeda building in addition to the rigid yet organic juxtaposition of sculptor Patrick Dougherty’s Chip Off the Ole Block in the adjacent Ecocommons, the prototyped bus shelter draws upon both long-standing traditions of frame construction and innovative modern fabrication methods to present an undulating ruled surface and emergent bench at the corner of Ferst Drive and State Street.

Post-to-post Connection: 4” Schedule 80 Steel Pipe

Post to Base Connection: Galvanized Steel Standoff in Site-cast

Plywood

CNC-Cut Glulam

Concrete

hand sketches

Semesters: Fall 2020-Fall 2022

Self-Directed

An ever-developing collection of studies representing an engagement with the built environment through traditional hand-drawing practices, both as a part of coursework and outside of it. The work is mostly done on-location, and specifically focuses on exploring the nuances and beauty of one's surrounding contexts; even and especially those that would not traditionally be deemed 'worthy' of formalized artistic study. The result is not just a relaxing hobby, supplement to an assignment, or a drilling practice of foundational representation skills. Rather, it is a synthesis of such concepts, revealing a deeper engagement with architecture as a whole.

public art

Semesters: Summer 2020-Fall 2021

Self-Directed

Zunzi's Mural in Collaboration with India Bullock

Presentation of two projects that indicate a tangible interaction with the built environment; one actualized, the other a proposal. The first, a 9' x 25' mural on Zunzi's restaurant in West Midtown Atlanta incorporates the requested quote and portrait of Nelson Mandela with experimental hand-lettering and the diverse collective of hands upholding the umbrella logo, as an engagement with both the brand's vibrancy and its commitment to acceptance and equity. It was then painted by India Bullock, an experienced local muralist. The second is a proposed painting to cover an electrical utility box in Atlanta's Candler Park neighborhood, in response to a call for sumbission from the Atlanta Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs. Drawing on both formalized study of neighborhood character and vernacular architecure from studio coursework in conjunction with a day spent wandering the neighborhood, the proposal strives to capture the colorful and dynamic sense of life in the neighborhood, as well as its historic architetcure and deep-rooted sense of place.