sarah Pumphrey.
hello. My name is Sarah Pumphrey. I am a junior Architectural Design major at James Madison University. Welcome to my portfolio. When asked as a first grader what i wanted to be when I grew up, I responded, “ � . * While I have always been interested in architecture, I pursued the path of graphic design until I travelled to Japan with James Madison University Architectural Design faculty and students. While abroad, my world opened up. I was thinking critically in ways I never thought possible, and discovering cultural questions that I will hold on to for the rest of my life. Experiencing a radically different culture through a new lens of architecture and space allowed me to better understand the impact of architectural design on a society. I was able to catch glimpses of how designers must create with respect for the societies and cultures they operate within. Immediately upon to returning to America, I decided to pursue an architectural education. I have a hunger for deeply intellectual design processes. I wish to engage in the investigation of human interaction and to design with impact and purpose. My desire is to be frustrated and challenged by a full breadth of design problems, and to re-engage with the unfamiliarity I experienced in Japan, encouraging work of my highest caliber. Architecture is a field in which we are invited to ask and answer questions of culture, leading to discovery. This fascinates me. It is my hope that during my architectural education and career, I can help to improve cultural interaction and how humans exist with architecture. I hope to engage in a forward-thinking practice of architecture that will push preconceived notions in design, structure, and theory. I wish to design spaces that will delight the humans who interact with them, and help to preserve cultural and architectural differences between societies. While doing so, I wish to stress the importance of process in design work. The exercise of discovery in materiality, concept, and personal growth during the design process is just as important as the completed work. A professional program of Architecture is an ideal place to grow in these areas, while developing the ability to communicate discoveries to others. I hope to pursue this education in a professional undergraduate program, in hopes of continuing to graduate and professional levels. Thank you for taking the time to view my portfolio.
* modern, digital version of my real response ** I have since learned how to spell architect
table of contents
studio 04: in process studio 03 : ad-hoc urbanism: high bridge vecchio studio 02 : crossroads of freedom studio 01 : capsule tower redesign materials + methods + computer aided design things graphic design fine arts summer studio : japan
sarah pumphrey james madison university architectural design sarah.m.pumphrey@gmail.com 804.385.7399 instagram: @pumph_it_up
current studies: junior year spring semester
Los Angeles, California: This semester, in Wanda Dye’s junior studio, each of us is responding to ACSA’s Designing Healthy Places competition. Early in the semester, I was drawn to responding to the ever-growing homeless population in Los Angeles, California. Many of these individuals have stable jobs that would allow them to pay rent in many other cities. However, with the price of living, many become homeless. During my research, I found that Uber and Lyft drivers in LA are forced to live in their cars in order to make ends meet. My design is sited at a parking lot in close proximity to LAX that these drivers park and sleep in. The issue inspired me to reinvent the typology of the parking garage to become a parking and living space. The study model to the left explores this new typology by creating a space that is dually human scale and car scale. Individuals may rent a parking space and sleeping pod with basic sanitary and comfort needs. The stair-step internal structure will open the backside of the building to a public atrium space. This design will allow those who are working hard daily, but remain in poverty, to have both private and community space to live in comfortably. Sun-shielding screens create an iconic facade that will be seen by planes flying into nearby LAX. The vertically stacked building will open up the existing site for additional programs such as public green space. Model at 1/32 scale.
models
detail section model @ 1/8 Scale
Detail section study model to explore sleeping pod shape and size
In-Process Formal+ structural Exploration and Facade detail Exploration
initial Sketch model of final structure
additional sketches + sketch models
ad-hoc urbanism: high bridge vecchio
manhattan x bronx, new york: We started in New York City between Manhattan and the Bronx on the High Bridge. After walking its length and documenting its social, historical, and spatial conditions, we were given seven programs and a brief on “Ad-Hoc Urbanism�. I landed on the final program of a church. By the end of the semester I had developed a six-foot wide church that was cut into the side of the bridge. I contemplated light intensely, developing louvred screens based on lines found in my initial site exploration drawing that would swivel on a ball joint, altering the light that entered the space. During this studio, I was able to consider light, spirituality, and cultural-religious demographics to create an intimite setting in which members of two communities could congregate in worship and find solitude in prayer.
final drawings and models:
north detail section
full scale connection piece
entry to bridge steel ribs
aluminum screen panel 1/4 in
aluminum screen panel 1/4 in
ball joint steel hardware joint-panel connection
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final 1/8 scale model
process: final design stemmed from this original study model constructed from site drawing in the style of perry kulper.
Light slots were developed on the idea of movement of various peoples. forms Found in my original site drawing in the style of perry Kulper became pathways for light.
study models for initial 7 programs
Quarter scale model one of two. Form was further developed for final quarter scale model.
inspired original form
mapping of population movement- later inspired light slots
initial site drawing - perry kulper style. Following our physical exploration of the site, the site was explored individually using site mapping, inspired by the drawings of Perry Kulper. The initial form of the final church, as well as ideas of pilgrammage were initially from this drawing.
studio 03: additional work
amber road trekking cabins competition, latvia: The following spreads contain my competition boards that were submitted to the Amber Road Trekking Cabins international architecture competition. We were asked to follow the competition briefs to design a small structure to house hikers following the Latvian coastline. My scheme included the use of repurposed sailboat cloth with timber framing to construct a lightweight, open air tent for coastal hikers. A faculty jury voted and chose my design and two others to be submitted for the competition.
competition : gdansk, poland - distinction awarded
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gdansk, poland: My sophomore studies reside in Gdansk, Poland, where our studio entered an “International Competition of Spatial Forms� called Crossroads of Freedom. Each student has wrestled with the ideas and stories of international civil rights activists and refugees, as well as Polish activist Lech Walesa, in order to design an architectural installation to enter into the competition. My piece gains inspiration from Aung San Suu Kyi and refugee women, aiming to immerse visitors in the struggle of feeling trapped in one’s own home. The landscape I have designed allows for human interaction and discovery, while paying respect to those who have faced these struggles. The following spreads feature my process from graphic representations of research, to material samples, study models, drawings, and a final drawing-model, which were shipped to Poland. Our work as a studio was compiled into one large project, which won a distinction award in the competition. The following concrete tiles are process pieeces I poured to explore texture.
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gdansk, poland: Displayed on this spread are photographs of a drawing-model I have constructed which relates to the site of the memorial I have proposed for the crossroads of freedom competition. Several layers of chipboard, paper, mylar, tape, wire, and concrete were used. The land would undulate, allowing for the architecture to interact with it in a way that provides two layers of interaction. Visitors would have the opportunity to walk over top of other visitors. Both sets of visitors would be able to look up or down to view the other, responding to the idea of being trapped in a space that was designed for comfort, while constantly being watched. I am currently working on a half inch scale model of the structure with its site for Methods and Materials II class.
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gdansk, poland: Sections drawn at 1/8 in scale.
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gdansk, poland: original poster design. visual representation of research on aung san suu kyi. photograph not mine, used for educational purposes only.
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aung san- suu kyi june 19, 1945
present
bio + geography. political activism.
Aung San Suu Kyi was born in Yangon, Myanmar on June 19, 1945. . Myanmar is a country, also known as Burma, located in South East Asia. (It borders Bangladesh, India, China, Laos, and Thailand.) Suu Kyi’s father was a former point the de facto prime minister of British Burma, and was assassinated when she was only two years old, leaving Suu Kyi to be raised by her mother. Her mother, Khin Kyi, was later appointed as an ambassador to India. Following in her parents’ political footsteps as a young woman, Suu Kyi left Myanmar to Study philosophy, economics, and politics at the University of Oxford. While at Oxford, Suu Kyi would meet her future husband, Michael Aris, who studied the culture of the Asian country Bhutan. Suu Kyi returned to Burma after spending years travelling and living abroad (including Japan, Bhutan, India, and the UK)when her mother became ill in 1988. Her move back to Burma would open her eyes and mark the beginning of her career as a political activist.
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Upon Suu Kyi’s return to Burma, she was faced with the aftermath of dictator U Ne Win’s rule. Burma was in a state of unrest as the government slaughtered protestors of the former dictator. Suu Kyi felt compelled to speak out peacefully against U Ne Win, taking a stance in support of democracy and human rights. She was placed under house arrest for doing so in 1989 by the military government of the Union of Myanmar. Given the opportunity to be free if she fled the country, Suu Kyi stood her ground and remained, knowing that it was her duty to help her country be free of political oppression. Her views had the support of much of the country of Burma, but the government would not acknowledge it. Suu Kyi would be in and out of house arrest for political activism until 2010. She used this time to improve her skills in speaking languages such as French and Japanese, to meditate, and to meet with diplomats. Immediately after being freed from house arrest, Suu Kyi would run, and win, the election for a seat in parliament as the head of her political party. Suu Kyi was not able to become president as a result of spcific restrictuons placed on elections designed so that she could not become president, but Suu Kyi got around these restrictions by becoming, state counsellor, a position “above the president”, and created specifically for her. Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in 1991, and was the first to Congressional Gold Medal while imprisoned. Suu Kyi continues to fight peacefully as a political activist .
“In societies where men are truly confident of their own worth, women are not merely tolerated but valued.” “I don’t believe in people just hoping. We work for what we want. I always say that one has no right to hope without endeavor, so we work to try and bring about the situation that is necessary for the country, and we are confident that we will get to the negotiation table at one time or another” “Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps the more precious thing is the courage acquired through endeavor, courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one’s actions, courage that could be described as ‘grace under pressure’- grace which is renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting pressure.” “There is a time to be quiet and a time to talk.” “If you’re feeling helpless, help someone.”
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studio 02: additional work
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49 Drawing based on light coming through a photographed process model. These models and drawings were focused on the word “grotto” as site. Tadao Ando’s light drawings were used as visual references.
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wunderkammer: A drawing-model and axons of layers that would be realized into a multi-layer model. Responds to questions of a site that would convey the message of my creative fear: being held back creatively by becoming too comfortable.
nakagin capsule tower redesign
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capsule tower redesign: Studio one focused on learning technical and conceptual architectual skills. Our second and final project of the semester was to incorporate the technical skills and concepts from our first project into a hypothetical plan to redesign the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo, Japan. My design featured concrete cubes that housed glass living spaces. These living spaces would push out or retract based on the time of day and amount of light being received by the space. This idea was inspired by airplane windows that I observed, which change tints in order to reduce the effects of jetlag. As the original Nakagin Tower was inhabited by somewhat nomadic businessmen, my new design would act similarly to these airplane windows, allowing for visitors to recover from long journeys and escape the bustling city around them.
capsule tower redesign: Process models and sketches of new capsule design.
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measuring + learning: The first project encountered during studio one was one to sharpen technical skills. While learning to use architectural drafting tools, each of us chose an item to devise a measuring system for. The measuring system, rather than the item, was drawn, and later encorporated into our capsule tower redesign proposals.
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a technical drawing and modeling class.
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CASA BIANCHI Case study:
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_04 Casa Bianchi Case Study:
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Displayed to the left is a portion of the project board I designed, which includes a rendering, plans, and exploded axons I created in Revit based on original drawings for Casa Bianchi.
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kengo kuma - sunny hills cake shop: For this assignment, partnerships of two were instructed to research an existing structure and its building processes. My partner and I chose Kengo Kuma’s Sunny Hills Cake Shop in Tokyo, Japan. For the assignement, we had to chose detail sections on the structure and find measurements to produce technical drawings that would help us to learn how the structure was built. We then used similar processes to build a smaller scale model of a section of the preexisting building. This model was constructed using pine and hardware to mimic the joinery used in Kuma’s structure. The purpose of this project was to take a closer look at how masters of architecture design building systems, and to learn from this in order to apply practical techniques to our future studio work.
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3D projects for living
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two-seated Cardboard Chair: While taking a freshman year foundational 3D Design course, we were presented with the task of designing a sturdy carboard chair. I, along with my class partner Tanner Leslie, decided to construct a chair that would invite more than one individual to sit in more than one direction. This chair can hold two individuals who may choose to sit backwards, forwards, or to the side. We were inspired by letterforms which were combined to create forms. The chair acts as a modern loveseat. This chair has a significant fingerprint on my architectural education. Its design and fabrication was one of the events that led me to move from graphic design to pursue architectural design.
Candle: In order to learn how to pour concrete, I made a candle from scrap wood and concrete. This was a personal project.
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design methodology and computer graphics
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line drawings of original photographs taken of local architecture, later transformed to color blocked graphics.
visual representation of inventory taken of insulation at a hardware store, combined with inventory and research about denim; a mundane material which can be used for insulation.
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roll batt
[ 2x4 walls 2x6 walls attics
[
Owens Corning
faced unfaced
]
[
] attics basement ceiling crawlspaces exterior sheathing exterior wall foundation floors garage re-siding under slab
[
2x4 walls 2x6 walls attics ceilings floors
GreenFiber Owens Corning
[
roll sheet
[
] 2 4.9 5.8
Loctite GREAT STUFF Touch N’ Foam GREAT STUFF PRO
[
attics basement ceiling crawlspaces exterior sheathing exterior wall foundation floors garage re-siding under slab
[
1.5 in 3 in 3.5 in 5.5 in 7.25 in
2x4 walls 2x6 walls attics ceilings
[
attics basement ceiling crawlspaces exterior sheathing exterior wall foundation floors garage re-siding under slab
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Series of collaged squares to explore grid design.
one hundred and twenty thumbnail sketches of chosen subject completed in various mediums throughout the semester.
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package design mockup for classmate-designed enamel pin. combination of hand drawings and computer graphics.
digital drawing of original photograph using drawing tablet and Adobe Illustrator.
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two dimensional and three dimensional pieces
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floor to ceiling installation based on childhood memory. bagels nailed to wall.
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Charcoal. Conte. Elbow. From life (or in this case, from death)
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summer 2017: cultural hyphens
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cultural hyphens: During our month-long study in Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Sapporo), we were asked to contemplate encounters with society and landscape that created tension physically, emotionally, or culturally. While travelling, we kept a sketch book and completed collaged drawings each week. In this specific drawing, I address the hyphen I experienced in Hiroshima between the present peace and thriving modern culture, which sits upon land that was once barren, devastated by the bombings of Hiroshima. Visiting this site as an American citizen created tension internally, as we struggled with the weight of historical conflict. While in Japan, I exercised my passion for photography, creating a photo journal of the people, architecture, and culture of various Japanese cities and towns. Some of these photographs can be seen on the following spreads.
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thank you.