s t isarah m uwilson li
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f l o w : children’s water museum
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c o n n e c t : genovese cultural center
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p l a y : natural experimentation
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b r e a t h e : living cycle
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d i s c o v e r : sketch studies
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stimulant effects 2
flow:
children’s water museum
Requirements: Redesign the urban plan for downtown Fountain Inn, SC to improve circulation, encourage visitors, and incorporate an environmentally friendly aspect. Then, design a new public building as a forefront to the new plan.
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Retail
Service
Dining
Office Space Retail
Fountain Inn urban plan
Museum Site
Service The new urban plan regulates the streets into a grid pattern, creating space for Dining more parking, pedestrian paths, fountain plazas, and new construction. It Space also provides a water Office collection system, including large conical water harMuseum Site vesters which provide filtered rainwater for irrigation. This urban plan and water harvesting system inspired a new children’s museum on Main St, whose form acknowledges newly created access points and mimics the behavior of water.
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floor plan circulation
The museum acts as a visual and local attraction. The layout of the exhibitions and the circulation spaces are based upon how water flows and interacts with objects. These catalysts of the water’s movement are the anchors of the roof, which is formed by a forest of oversized and inverted umbrellas. The inverted umbrellas act as larger versions of the conical water collectors and serve as a permanent exhibition, promoting intelligent water usage. A change in the amount of allowed natural light between floors alludes to the flow of water from deep oceans to shallow streams, as does the transparency of the perforated scrim wrapping around the side. The museum represents the behavior of water while educating visitors on how it can be sustained.
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connect:
genovese cultural center
Interpret the archetype of the galleria and let it dictate the form and character of the design for a new performance center in Genoa, Italy while preserving some of the on-site gardens. Requirements:
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tower, front elevation
The galleria is both a servant space and a served space; it provides a connection between larger spaces while acting as a usable space itself. Here, it is a served art gallery space while serving as a connection between the indoor theater, outdoor theater, and central tower that contains the remaining program pieces. The tower is the Tower Elevation from Street central axis of the scheme’s axial orga1:250 nization, to which the galleria is the rim.
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tower, back elevation
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Tower Elevation, from garden 1:250
The scheme is oriented on the northwest edge of the site to have minimal impact on the site, preserving some of the gardens and terracing while providing entrance points near a bus stop. The tower provides a vertical organization to several pieces of the program-- the restaurant, the research library, offices, and other supporting spaces--as well as a vista pointe from which to view the replanted gardens below. The rounded shape of the main spaces of each floor mimics the arc of the galleria, and the vertical circulation spaces are clearly differentiated by their rectilinear appearance. the gentle arc of the roof and the scheme of the tower’s materiality was also repeated in the galleria and the two theaters to give unity to the design.
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galleria detail section
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vertical section of tower and galleria
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The project had a strong emphasis on hand production with multiple physiccal models and hand renderings. I created each rendering during the process of our design as a representation of the scheme’s character, of its materiality, and of how each of the pieces interacted with each other and the replanted site.
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play:
natural experimentation
Requirements: Create a scaled replica of a well-known piece of residential architecture with some sort of removable roof to provide a method of depositing donations to the Upstate Homeless Coalition, while illustrating your own idea of what makes a home.
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Finnish architect Alvar Aalto’s Experimental House in Muuratsalo was designed as a kind of laboratory where he could experiment with materiality, patterns, and the site’s natural protection. Aalto took advantage of the forest on his site and its sheltering qualities, orienting the house to take full advantage of the natural protection from wind and sun. Because of this, the model’s removable roof was represented figuratively by trees.
longitudinal section
transverse section
site and floor plan
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diagram of trees and respective handles
“Hom e is de fined by ex p e ri e n c e s w i t h o t h e rs .� 18
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The courtyard was recreated with vivid reds, blues, and etched brickwork to relay Aalto’s experimental playfulness. To further relay this character and incorporate the idea of a home defined by interaction, a circular base was combined with rods, handles, and abstracted trees, creatiing a game similar to that of foosball: in order to reveal the house, donors must work together to either pull or rotate the abstracted trees away so they can then leave their donations inside.
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10’ O.C.
breathe:
10’ O.C.
living cycle
Requirements: Analyze the traffic and safety issues currently discouraging cyclists on and off Clemson University’s campus. Using the powers of 10 as a construction frame, create a new system that will encourage more cyclists to ride to and from campus.
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//end
start// deceleration
We began this design with individual research into the the problems discouraging cyclists from biking to and from Clemson’s campus. One of the most-used routes between campus and a nearby apartment complex was studied for the amounts of traffic along the route. Traffic density was measured by the changes of speed and the amount of time spent at individual traffic lights while driving the route. The size and darkness of the red circles represents slow speeds and heavy traffic spots.
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In groups, we pinpointed the main problems as unsafe street crossings for cyclists, narrow or nonexisting bike lanes, and heavy fumes from vehicular traffic. To solve these problems, we planned to combine a protective membrane to line the edge of bike paths with the technology of an air-cleaning chemical, titanium dioxide. An inexpensive paint with a porous polysiloxane base and nanoparticles of TiO2 and CaCO2 removes nitrous oxides from car fumes and ultimately produces water and CO2.
living cycle This cycle changing vehicular UV light fumes to cleaner, more breathable air for cyclists and pedestrians led us to call our system a “lving cycle�. TiO2 N2 O
nitric acid washed away by rain HNO3
HNO3
or
H2 O
HNO3
nitric acid
CaCO3 HNO3
Ca(NO3)2
CO2
O2
plant Titanium dioxide porous polysiloxane base (polymer consisting of silicon)
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Membrane
Calcium carbonate
N2O
TiO2
coating
O2
H2O
We combined the protective membrane with the air-purifying TiO2 in the form of regularly placed pods within a concrete wall. These pods are bowl-shaped and hollow, to allow hydroponic ferns to be planted inside. The ferns convert CO2 produced by the TiO2 paint’s chemical reaction into oxygen, ultimately providing cleaner air for cyclists. The membrane is formed from prefabricated panels 10 ft in length. These panels vary in height, but are always at least 6 ft high to properly protect cyclists. Prefabricated walls allow ease of installation along any bike path, and can create an exponential effect across the country, even across the globe. To further protect cyclists, particularly dangerous street crossings will include elevated bike paths to give cyclists a safer trip.
10’ O.C.
10’ O.C.
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A series of calculations suggest that if these prefabricated panels are installed along all 14 million miles of highways in America, as much as 2.06 million tons of CO2 could be absorbed yearly, reducing America’s yearly CO2 emissions by as much as 37%. Furthermore, encouraging more cyclist traffic would result in the installation of more cycling amenities and city-wide programs, which would encourage even more citizens to stop driving and start pedaling.
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discover:
sketch studies
Sketches of various subjects drawn while overseas in Genoa, Venice, Bologna, Vicenza, Como, and other cities in Italy during Clemson University’s Fall 2012 off-campus program.
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Sketching taught me to at once see detail and overall shape. I learned to find beauty in the scrolled volute of an ionic column and in the humble terra cotta tile of a Venetian roof.
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Our sketch studies ranged from elements of classical architecture to details of modern architecture, from Roman building methods to the character of European cityscapes.
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s t i m u l i