SARAHTROPPER selected works architecture + design graduate + undergraduate
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ART ARCHIVAL thesis | art and public space
SUNSET HOUSE social housing
EMERGENCE school of entrepreneurial studies
OPENING courthouse
HALCYON zen meditation center
SKYSCRAPER an urban renaissance
PROFESSIONAL work sample
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ART ARCHIVAL university of southern california | fall 2018 - spring 2019
site: the whitney museum, marcel breuer
As a product of its time, Breuer’s design of the Whitney Museum responded to context, program needs, and Breuer’s view of the future. This makes the Whitney a fascinating starting point for examining how an art museum should be designed for today, and how it can be transformed to fit the needs of its urban surroundings and community. Breuer’s Whitney is an example of a self-contained building, one which is indifferent to its context. It’s structure and material palette make it at once a foreboding presence on the street and inside, a sheltered intimate space for viewing art. While these attributes served the Whitney well for decades, at a certain point the restrictive nature of the building no longer satisfied the needs of an ever-expanding contemporary collection. The question becomes: How can an art museum engage its urban context, rather than shutting it out? Can an art museum satisfy its program’s requirements of flexibility and expansion?
the whitney - marcel breuer facing page: sample of precedent research
museum axonometric facing page: process concept diagram
eyebrow window informs facade
This concept rethinks the division between storage and gallery. In combining the two, much more stored art has the opportunity to be seen. This concept is further expanded by exploring display/storage possibilities for “difficult� forms of art, such as films and large-scale installations.
framed views and experiennce
madison avenue elevation
east 75th street elevation
public space + circulation | existing vs proposed
galleries | existing vs proposed
storage + experiential galleries | existing vs proposed
spatial and programmatic arrangement
model
experiential galleries + light
The Whitney’s galleries were designed both as rigid boxes and flexible, open plan space. With this proposal, the idea of gallery flexibility is expanded. The galleries themselves become the flexible aspect of the museum, able to transform and activate the space among them. While the Whitney’s design leaves art in storage hidden from view, the new design highlights storage by putting it on display, thereby challenging typical notions of what an art museum can and cannot show.
Breuer’s design of the sunken sculpture garden is the most overt public space in the museum, and has some relationship to its urban context. An expanded sculpture garden could become a ribbon of interaction with the public sphere and urban context. It could also allow for a smoother transition among galleries and become a space for installations and exhibits. By expanding the Whitney’s architectural engagement with its artists, the new ribbon of circulation and public space help bring hidden art to light. This design element becomes a space for interaction and absorption of art.
SUNSET HOUSE university of southern california | fall 2018 | six weeks
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site: venice beach, ca The goal for this project is to help address the housing crisis in Los Angeles through a close examination of aesthetic practices - specifically art and its relationship to architecture. The resulting design, Sunset House, is focused on community-building within the homeless population of Venice Beach. Concepts of beauty and growth help replace crisis and decay. Non-traditional housing models were explored and used to alter concepts for homeless housing in Los Angeles. The outcome is a model of collective family and non-family housing units on a former bus yard in Venice. The three-acre lot on Sunset Avenue is three blocks from the Pacific Ocean and provides opportunity for not only housing, but also for connecting an artistically driven community to its most vulnerable residents.
preliminary site compositions | layering and texture
appropriate floor area ratio
lift to allow parking
push out to community
courtyards
more light and green space
add youth co-living communities
courtyard space
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pa typical floor plan
This proposal emphasizes green space and access to nature as therapy in helping transition inhabitants from homelessness back into the Venice community. The site strategy adds a marketplace, library, and restaurant to attract the larger Venice community, while providing amenities such as job workshops and health facilities on the interior to support inhabitants. Each unit has direct access to green spaces, communal kitchens and living rooms to foster a social environment, encouraging occupants away from isolation.
view from pacific ave: retail shops with units above
single residant occupancy unit 122 occupants
The single resident occupancy units provide natural light and visual access to green space. Each is adjacent to communal kitchens and living rooms, thereby encouraging community engagement. These make up the majority of units, providing for the largest percentage of homeless people in Venice.
family unit
youth co-living unit
20 units
120 occupants
Family units have access to green space on the top floor of the housing block, a nod to the front porches of family homes of the past. These units are natural-light filled with kitchens and living rooms, creating a family space.
The youth co-living units are the two buildings on the northwest corner of the site. These consist of alternating floors of communal spaces and shared rooms, similar to a college dormitory. Each bedroom and shared space has a view to green space as well as walkways connecting to the retail and amenities of the larger block.
corner of sunset and main
EMERGENCE university of southern california | spring 2018 | fourteen weeks
site: historic broadway theater district
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Emergence is an incubator for ideas, creativity, and entrepreneurship. Taking inspiration from its historical context of the Broadway Theater district in Downtown Los Angeles, this satellite campus for USC’s Marshall School for Entrepreneurial Studies uses technology and invention as a catalyst for innovation. For Los Angeles, these theaters were centers for state-of-the-art technology, creating a sparkling downtown district bathed in neon light. The idea of the neon sign as a signifier for technological advancement in this district drove the concept for this design. Ideas being explored and crafted within the building are brought back out to the street with a programmable façade. The façade’s form gives pedestrians a hint of what is inside.
programmable facade - glass curtain wall - interior
A large driver of the design’s program is student collaboration and exhibition space. In this design, the two are fused in the form of immersive pods. Pods allow for a completely mutable space in which students can display their conceptual ideas, receive feedback on designs, and experiment with technology. Pods also influence the building’s façade, consisting of LED panels that can be programmed to showcase the work of students, project lectures to the street, and much more. The façade flows into the top floor with an exhibition gallery becoming a part of the skylight sun-filtering system of the roof.
elevation with signage
site axon and programmable facade
eighth floor
fourth floor
first floor 1. lobby 2. social space 3. cafe + kitchen 4. auditorium 5. mechanical 6. classroom 7. makers’ studio 8. immersive pod 9. offices 10. gallery
makerspace through facade
experiment
testing
learning
discussion
feedback
creating display
immersive pod
section model
OPENING georgia institute of technology | spring 2017 | fourteen weeks
site: mobile, al
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This project melds the culture of Mobile, Alabama with the symbolism and implementation of a United States federal courthouse. Mobile is a vibrant city with a rich history reflecting the cultures of multiple occupiers. The architecture of Mobile is emblematic of its cultural staple: the Mardi Gras parade. Delicate iron balconies and prominent green squares transform in celebration on parade days. This, and Mobile’s unique situation in a wetland environment near the bay, have informed our site strategies. The main concept for this courthouse is to capture the culture of Mobile through the ground relationship between a courthouse and public park. This design not only brings the park up and into the courthouse but also brings the street through the building, providing the symbolic and literal procession of the parade.
site
typical courthouse-park relationship
park + procession
site situation on mobile bay
The tiered landscape of the park and the public exterior areas of the courthouse become the iron porches Mobile is known for: viewing platforms for a parade that can pass in its entirety through the base of the courthouse. The ideal of a courthouse as a truly public project is captured. Circulation bridges are included in a six story atrium that allows natural light into the courthouse and gives visual access to the procession path in the plinth below.
view on entry
judges’ catwalks
Lobby Level a. public entry b. clerk c. probation d. jury gathering space e. grand jury f. public circulation g. restricted judicial quarters h. restricted judicial atrium
Typical Courtroom Floor a. public stair b. public elevator core c. secure public space d. jury suite/ elevator e. judge’s quarters f. attorney/witness rooms
conceptual sketch | courtroom plan
glass
concrete
marble
acoustic wood paneling
acoustic wood paneling
acoustic plaster
HALCYON georgia institute of technology | fall 2016 | fourteen weeks
site: atlanta, ga Zen is a moment in time, its sacred nature emphasized by transition to and movement around the sacred space in which it takes place.
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The experience of the site this design aims to capture is the lush nature of the forest surrounding it. As the zen center is approached from parking onto a path on its northern face, the forest frames a view of a monolithic figure, completely surrounded by greenery. A sense of movement through the building is evoked with a stair wrapping around the faรงade just under the exterior skin of the building. As the path continues, there is a glimpse into the building through a glass sliver running the height of the faรงade. Insidean open, airy interior is juxtaposed with the heaviness of the faรงade with a see through courtyard out to the forest beyond. The zendo, the center of meditation in the zen center, is floating above the first floor, projecting both into the courtyard and into the forest.
site plan
ground floor
level 2
level 3
level 4
massing concept diagram
On the western façade is the entrance to the center. The entry space, however, is still an exterior one. The building becomes closed as you move into the social space of the dining room or continue up the staircase to the second floor. The second floor is dedicated to meditation, with daison rooms dedicated to individual study as well as a library. The second floor creates connection to the zendo over a bridge, emphasizing the transition to a sacred space. The zendo’s walls are a translucent glass, giving glimpses to the courtyard on one side and to the forest on the other, keeping the tranquil atmosphere needed for meditation. The circulation around the building is continued up to the third and fourth floors, which are residential, with a rooftop garden.
1. glass sliver
2. courtyard upon entry
3. zendo meditation room
4. rooftop garden
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SKYSCRAPER georgia institute of technology | spring 2016 | fourteen weeks
site: atlanta, ga The site of One Baltimore Place is a leftover, forgotten space. On the edge of midtown and downtown Atlanta, it is surrounded by a tangle of one-way streets that are sliced by the ravine of highway I75/85. Though on the same block as a MARTA station, there is no connection between the two. To the northern edge of the site is historic Baltimore Block, a set of row houses built in 1885. The question becomes: how can architecture reinvigorate this space and create a strong connection between downtown and midtown?
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To revitalize this area of Atlanta, the design places vibrant public spaces in and around the base of a skyscraper, which at 1,200’, would be the tallest building in the Southeast. The two main spaces are a park capping the highway and a marketplace in the base of the building that creates a gathering space for people throughout midtown and downtown. The skyscraper itself consists of makerspace offices and residential units.
One Baltimore Place was designed to not only revitalize the site, but also to start a design trend that can revitalize the city. Capping highways with green space, utilizing public transportation, and creating rich, vibrant spaces that provide an atmosphere for creativity and innovation are all trends that can be built upon and fostered so that the entire city can benefit. In this way, the design inspires an urban renaissance.
ground floor plan 1. one baltimore place 2. baltimore row houses 3. park capping highway 4. marta station 5. future development
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site context
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marketplace floors 1-3
The marketplace at the base of One Baltimore Place frames Baltimore Block. This approach invites the historic structure into a vibrant new space rather than simply overshadowing it with a huge structure. The base considers entry points from the street as well as from the park. A monumental stair creates an exterior space to enjoy the spectacular views of Atlanta’s downtown. The design also connects directly to the MARTA tunnel below, bringing access to the market throughout Atlanta by encouraging use of public transportation.
office + research
residential
floors 4-43
floors 44-80
Though the marketplace and park are the most publicly accessible, office space reinvigorates Atlanta on another level. With the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory Hospital only blocks away, this office space is geared toward makers who are creating the future through technology and research. To promote the flow of new ideas, a design system of interlocking floor plates is included to create an environment of movement and interaction. This is captured by the multi-story spaces around staircases which not only provide views to the city beyond but also create social spaces to foster creativity.
The residential units cap off the skyscraper design. The distinct form of One Baltimore Place is used to provide views over Atlanta from every direction. The floor plates taper as they ascend, which allows for upper level single unit luxury apartments as well as multi-unit floors in the middle of the building.
PROFESSIONAL sample of work | 2016 - 2019
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APEX MUSEUM PHASE II studio h shape | summer 2019
CONNECTING AUBURN APEX + MLK Center
BALTIMORE BLOCK gamma real estate in collaboration with plexus r+d | summer 2016
residential hallway
residences
retail + office atrium
REDONDO BEACH REDEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL rainville design studio | summer 2018
1. promenade
2. rooftop cafe
3. green belt bridge
site sections
PROJECT LIST + CREDITS art archivalucation
university of southern california spring 2019 advisor: amy murphy arch 793: design directed research (thesis)
sunset houseucation
university of southern california fall 2018 advisor: peter zellner arch 705a : advanced graduate architecture design (topic)
emergenceucation
university of southern california spring 2018 advisor: aaron neubert arch 605b : graduate comprehensive
c openinguation
georgia institute of technology spring 2017 advisor: thanos economou arch 4012: design studio vi team: sarah tropper john stenzel
halcyon
georgia institute of technology fall 2016 advisor: julie kim arch 4011: design studio vi
skyscrapercation
georgia institute of technology spring 2016 advisor: herman howard arch 3012: design studio iv team: sarah tropper john carlisle grace reed