Sophie Ruf
Reveries [2015-2020] Collection
Table of Contents
Reveries
noun a state of being pleasantly lost in one’s thoughts; a daydream
5
13
Aerated
Cultural Distrust
Graduate Design Studio
Undergraduate Design Studio
37
What’s Underneath : Memorial to Dominance Undergraduate Design Studio
Spol
23
29
3
Breathe out of Built
The Riparian Edge
Undergraduate Design Studio
Graduate Design Studio
43
53
lia of Refuge and Resource
lines + lines + lines
Graduate Design Studio
Thesis Prep Seminar
Perforated steel cladding of varying intensities will be adorned in response to the program within the thermally insulated volume beyond or the intensity of natural daylight received.
[Aerated] Urban Winery
5
Graduate Design Studio
Aerated programmatic organizational systems responds to the life-cycle of winemaking - the guiding design logic works in tandem with travel path of the grape delivery, with the wine being fermented and processed and then either descending further to be stored or transitioning via a knuckle at the center of the site to be imbibed by the public. The thermally insulated massing then presented an opportunity for interstitial circulation and flex space that could be housed within a canopy that fosters diffuse light. The geometry of the canopy is articulated so that western winds from Lake Merrit in Oakland, California can be received and guided via triangulated openings, be that clerestory windows for hot air to rise and be released or mid-level openings for ambient wind to travel naturally through the tasting rooms.
Reveries [aerated]
center 6’ on
6’ on
center
retail + tasting
fro m
6’ on center
ting tas to ng
bo ttl i
3x10
floor
joists
flex outdoor tasting ta from tail to re sting
2x8 floor joists
7
The activity is programmized into two bays, a public bay and a utilitarian bay with a transitional central knuckle [the bottling room]. Grapes are received from the northwest entrance of the site and promptly brought to the fourth level within the winemaking bay. The wine is processed following the logic of gravity, with long term storage being located at the ground floor of the utilitarian bay. The public bay interacts more transparently with the canopy envelope with moments of visual and tectonic interactions that would allow for natural ventilation to whistle throughout.
ing
crush
grapes recieved + crus
hed
Aerated
ing +
reciev
GRADUATE
The triangulated canopy responds geometrically to the rising steps of the thermal mass within. The steel structure needs to then pinch and pull in order to create the moments for hot air to escape via clerestories and ambient, tepid air to continue its journey east. An experiential quality is gained from the dueling structural systems - moments arise wherein one can travel within the interstice of the systems splintering. Structure and cladding is exposed to accentuate the metaphor of a thermally controlled volume releasing and allowing its envelope to peel away.
Aerated
GRADUATE
9
The exposed secondary skin and structure begin to support and claim a character and presence of its own. Within the public bay tectonics adopt a less rigid vernacular and planes are removed when redundant. A diffuse light, that has been lifted via perforated steel and non-delicate steel members, enters the public space and implore visitors to interact and question the systems at play: the first is scrupulous and controlled for utility and production, and the second is playful and unsealed, inviting the natural air of the surroundings.
Aerated
GRADUATE
11
Top and Center Sectional model of northeastern portion in front of section 1 Lower Sectional model of northwestern portion in front of section 2
[Cultural Distrust] Pittsburgh Theater Complex
13
Undergraduate Design Studio
A Cultural Distrust displaces and flattens the history of the Red-Light district of Pittsburgh, PA as a means for exposure and further understanding. In 1984 the efforts of the Cultural Trust of Pittsburgh, PA were to reinvent the sex district and garner financial success through a fabricated burgeoning art and theater district. The buildings that were re-imagined by the Cultural Trust remain protected by their historical status. The interior function of each building within the sex district has been replaced in an attempt to estrange the district’s salacious history. However the antique textures and idyllic materiality boast of a falsified sense of a poetic ambiance. The site between 7th and 8th Ave. on Fort Duquesne Blvd acts as an anchor figuratively and is the geographic epicenter of the structures affected by the Cultural Trust.
Reveries [cultural distrust]
Cross-section
Plan 6
Plan 5
Plan 4
Plan 3
Plan 2
Plan 1
Northwest Elevation
Folded Drawing Detail
Scene Threshold Study: Dr. Love’s Potion House
Northwest Facing Exposure Red Light District structures that we casualties of the Cultural Trust are condensed and abstracted in form. The current day program is recreated as brief moments and contrasted/ affronted with the insertion of the program that existed within the same structure in the Red Light District’s heyday. The 70s/80s program acts as a rupturing force that dictates the geometry and communicates a burst and exposure from a narrative within.
Folded Drawing Detail
Scene Threshold Study: Art Cinema Adult Theater
Cultural Distrust
Arch 412
15
Bathhouse
Office Sp
Green Room
Peep Sho Second F
Costume Room Scene Shop
Condom Nation
Longitudinal Section 2
Coffee Shop Peep Show First Floor
Longitudinal Section 2
Lounge Storage Harris Theater
Peep Sho First Flo
Audience
Longitudinal Section 1 Bakery Annex
Office Space
Longitudinal Section 1 Bakery A
Foyer
Coffee Lo
Coffee Lounge Bookstore Annex
Dr. Love Potion H Dr. Love’s Potion House
Plan 3 North
North
pace
ow Floor Condom Nation Lounge Storage
ow oor
Annex Lounge Art Cinema Adult Theater Office Space
Annex 17
ounge Bookstore Annex
e’s House
Plan 5
Cultural Distrust
Arch 412
Longitudinal Section 1
Folded Drawing Detail
Scene Threshold Study: Peepshow
NSFW Onlooker/ Oneiric Performance/Time Through longitudinal section thresholds of experience, time, and performance are articulated . Dimensionalized moments of the section act as a folded frame through which to view scenes of simultaneous action that collapse the time-line of the narrative.. The experience of the space extends past a proposition to a method of communication. Furthering exploration of transitional experience due to unconventionally abutting program a second longitudinal section exposes and communicates the dream-like ambiance of the 70s and 80s program--which heightens the sense of transportation or displacement. Actions appearing to be hallucinations--seen as slivers or brief flashes--are actualized. Condom Nation
Folded Drawing Detail
Scene Threshold Study: Bathhouse
Cultural Distrust
Arch 412
19
North
Cross-section
Folded Drawing Detail
Scene Threshold Study: Condom Nation
Massage Parlor 21
Voyeurism as Art The way in which such hallucinations or ephemeral glimpses encroach upon the program abstracted from the 21st century and therefore the fully integrated experience is studied through cross-section. Views from the conventional programs unto provocative activity (seen through moments of split geometry) is heightened to a status of intentional voyeurism. due to distinct placement and form.
Folded Drawing Detail
Scene Threshold Study: Massage Parlor
Cultural Distrust
Arch 412
[Breath out of Built] Architecture Studio Annex
23
Undergraduate Design Studio
Breath out of Built responds to the natural liveliness of the site in downtown Ann Arbor’s central campus to challenge or question the ubiquitousness of stagnant, lifeless structures. Using light as an guiding hand the form strives to marry spiritually revitalizing practices that hinge on natural light such as yoga and gardening and an architecture institute to foster inspiration and exploration. To facilitate this mental harmony, surfaces swell and bellow at moments of intense lightness to “catch� the sunlight that begins to leak away from the site. The structure additionally will formally reach through surficial gestures in order to allow lightness to pool inward and guide nature and peace through the interior in order to obtain complete integration.
Reveries [breath out of built]
Linear Light Travel Diagram
Diaphanous Light Diagrams
Roof Garden
Individual Yoga Studio Studio Space Communal Yoga Studio Studio Space Classroom
Cafe/Lobby
Auditorium
North Facing Longitudinal Section
Site Lighting Study
Roof Garden
Individual Yoga Studio
Guiding Light Top Right Site analysis spurred a keen focus of how light travels, lives and intensifies within the geometrical confines of the site. Top Left and Center Light diagrams study atmospheric qualities of diaphanous dissipation and linear reverberation. Bottom Longitudinal sections communicate the concurrent programs and traces of life and their reliance on ambient sunlight aided by peripheral light apparatuses.
Communal Yoga Studio Studio Space Classroom Cafe/Lobby
Auditorium
Breath out of Built South Facing Longitudinal Section
Arch 312
25
North
Geometries: Specified Top to Bottom Cross-sectional and plan cut series exhibit how the interior geometries, planar or surficial , are massaged into the specifics of the corresponding light catchers. Such response allows for the light ushered by the apparatuses to coalesce directly upon floor plates . The orientation of program is dictated by the degree of lightness required; light catchers pucker or pinch to adhere to such necessities.
Breath out of Built
Arch 312
27
YEAR 2020 YEAR 2120
obstructed hydrology existing research building
central bioswale shift mass out of run-off zone maintain part of existing massing + renovate
[The Riparian Edge] Estuary Research Center
29
Graduate Design Studio With Hyeon Jun Lee and Zachary Whiteman San Francisco State University’s Estuary and Ocean Science Center will be reimagined as a nexus for interdisciplinary research and innovations in natural sciences. The site will deploy new methodologies of agriculture and education. These additions will call upon the landscape and activities within the Science Center to perform for the visitors. The proposal will accept the unavoidable sea level rise and implore it to help the natural landscape flourish. A 14foot retaining wall will border the buildings closest to the shoreline in order to protect from corrosion. This border will allow for tidal activity to pool across the existing concrete slab. A partially engineered marsh will be placed atop the slab and then we will allow the synergy of the tidal actions and natural growths to perform for the visitors – reinstating the riparian edge.
Reveries [the riparian edge]
OUTDOOR SPACES | Occupiable rooftops give researchers access to outdoor air
LIGHT SHELF | Reflective surfaces bounce light deeper into the space
SKYLIGHT | North facing skylights bring diffuse light into the space
BUTTERFLY | The roof configuration direc water rainwater into the bi
SOLAR ARRAY | A photovoltaics array on the south facing roof effects the energy consumption of the laboratories
cts oswale SKYWALK | Bridges across the bioswale provide expansive views of the bay and foster collaboration between research wings
DYNAMIC SHADING | Operable southern shades allow users to adjust the quality of light in their space
Network by Units
THERMAL BUFFER | A passive-solar circulation space provides an insulating buffer to the labs
RAINWATER CISTERN | Roof water runoff is collected from the swale for re-use
BIOSWALE | A central green space recharges the aquifer and restores local vegetation
SITE RAMPS | Low slope ramps create universally accessible site
The Riparian Edge GRADUATE
31
LAB OR ATOR IES LAB OR ATORY SUPPORT O FFICE SPACE PR OJ ECT + CONFER ENCE SPACE CIR CULATIO N PATH
The existing research building sat directly in the valley of the two hillsides, blocking natural water run-off. The renovated design splits into separate wings, separating to allow hydrology to flow betwe en the two sides. This central zone becomes a bioswale and rain garden, and each wing’s ro of, matching its adjacent hillside, directs water into this garden, visible and shared by the researchers. 33
The Riparian Edge GRADUATE
A series of funnels, constructed with engineered mass timber, are used as spatial defining elements, natural ventilation, and light wells in the third research wing of the facility. The funnels first and foremost collect wind from the west, and create wind-driven natural ventilation in the spaces. With their large diameter and glazed walls, the funnels also bring light down into the laboratories. At the bottom of each structure is a feature pertinent to each lab in some cases, a small outdoor garden, and in others, tanks for storage or experimentation.
WALKWAY | Existing trestle re-purposed for circulation that spans from north to south of site
TOPOGRAPHICAL LOCATION | Capture wind from the west for natural ventilation
ROOF TERRACE WITH WIND FUNNELS | Circulation and gathering area with ventilation guiding pipes
LIGHT PIPES | Glass light pipes to guide natural daylight into labs within lower levels
TRELLIS OVERHANG | To provide horizontal shading for daylight comfort as well as view of greenery via light pipes TRELLIS | Circulation pathway with greenery overhanging
PHOTOVOLTAI Atop existing t photovoltaic p entire length
VERTICAL LOUVRES | To prevent glare within labs and provide daylight comfort MICRO-CLIMATE DISPLAYS | Water research tanks within light pipes to display research in process
EXISTING CONCRETE PAD | Circulation paths atop existing concrete pad to utilize existing platform
LANDSCAPE BEDS | To curb overflow and reclaim use
A fourteen foot tall sea wall will perimeter the shoreline edges of existing buildings as well as provide protection for a circulation pathway that will exist upon the current concrete pad. The sea wall will be fixed within the geometry of the trestle. Beginning at the location of the trestle and then sloping to the shore, nascent greenery will be supplied to then allow water from the bay to infill and precipitate growth of landscape. While the sea wall will protect any circulation and built site attributes from deterioration due to sea level rise-it also provides a figurative platform for visitors and workers alike to engage with the changing landscape. Within the marsh there will be open-program pavilions with adaptive floors that will rise in response to new water levels. Walkways with the same adaptive surface will provide circulation between the structures protected by the sea wall and the marsh/pavilions.
35
m
AICS | trestle a “roof” of panels span the
POP UP PROGRAM | Passive spaces for gathering, displays, workshops tucked within bays of trestle
e of rainfall
WALKWAYS ATOP MARSH | 14’ elevated walkways to interact with marsh that accepts sea level rise
SLOPED MARSH | Engineered marsh slopes from 0’ to 14” to curb via absorption sea level rise and foster plant life
ADAPTABLE PAVILIONS | Dynamic floors and walkways designed as floating docks move upward to accommodate rising water 2120
2070
2020
SEAL WALL | 14’ seawall tucked until existing trestle geometry and supporting the marsh
RETAINING WALLS | Embedded within sloped marsh to ensure king tides won’t demolish 14’ seawall spanning the site entirety
The Riparian Edge GRADUATE
“Let’s see each other through closed eyes”
1 “Another night they guessed their eyes’ expression by the type of silence in the dark” 3
“I feel as if a rose were flung into the room, all hue and scent” 2
rustle of leaves
slosh of water
Visual studies inspired by the poetry of Wislawa Szymborska. Examining relationship between masculinity and femininity as the diluted hierarchy of dominant and subordinate.
Left Page Drawings ! _ “Midsummer Night’s Dream” 2 _ “Nothing Twice” 3 _ “Golden Anniversary” 4 _ “Funeral (1)” 5 _ “Poem in Honor” 6 _ “Over Wine”
[What’s Underneath Memorial to Dominance] National Mall Monument
37
Undergraduate Design Studio
The canon of American monuments is riddled with designs whose main intention is to assert dominance, and to make the visitor feel small in the presence of an authoritative “greatness”. Today, however, we are shaped by more multifaceted perspectives; there is a different imperative. How can a monument offer a space for these new frames of mind? Method can counteract the dogma of traditional memorial design and address new possibilities. What’s Underneath contrasts the top-down methodology of design through allowing the subject to emerge via process instead of being predetermined by a dominant figure. The axial, dictated grid of Washington D.C, which was designed as a promulgation of the idyllic American city, acts as a parameter off of which to explore the auxiliary.
Reveries [what’s underneath]
Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building
Jefferson DR NW
M
Madison DR NW
National Mall Axonometric Topography study
39
An Imploring Inveigle
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
North West Facing Section
Depressions and undulations are embedded guided by the grid of the National Mall and its surrounding blocks. These act as interruptions or distractions that obfuscate desired views of predominate monuments and physically pull or push one’s directionality while entering the National Mall. These movements implore visitors to engage with what is controlled by a higher power: the subordinate landscape articulated via diorama “moment” models to the right, which employ perspective hand drawings to enrich experience with a saturated graphic language..
What’s Underneath
Arch 422
Washington Monument
7th DR NW
National Mall Site Plan
41
Ancillary : Honored
National Art Gallery
North North Facing Section
The memorial emerges as the ultimate anti-monument. It is not a single form that is absorbed at an arm’s length. It does not prompt the experience of purposefully arriving at a destination to then observe motionless. It is an unexpected journey that consumes the unbeknownst passerby that is oblivious to its existence until they are redirected, submerged, and engaged. What’s Underneath: Memorial to Dominance does not compete with the existing, but rather proposes new foci and celebrates the subordinate.
National Art Gallery
Madison DR NW
What’s Underneath
Arch 422
[Spolio of Refuge + Resource] Future Urban System of California
43
Graduate Design Studio
In the year 2093 the state of California, while still an exemplar of technological innovation, is not a leading force in trades and manufacturing. New tariffs have imposed exorbitant financial restrictions on transporting materials, food products, and merchandise due to the industry’s dangerous carbon footprint. Concurrently the rising sea level and increasingly capricious coastal climates has precipitated a mass exodus from coastal regions. Said need for refuge conflated by the necessity to live closer to city centers because of labor locale limitations has resulted in a densification of what is now referred to as “The City Core”. Remnants of coastal civilizations, such as furniture, homes, public buildings, and infrastructure, are unused as populations congregate in The City Core in newly built structures. These newly built structures, however, are amassed from modular slabs sliced from the remains of past civilizations. The process of retrieving and building is performed by mechanisms known as the “Caretakers.”
Reveries [spolio of refuge + resource]
The Caretakers are mobile mechanisms that are fueled via charging vessels within their “reservoirs,� which are located along the outside perimeter of the City Core.
They use their gained energy to travel to abandoned, yet reachable due to their mammoth size, regions to exhume and slice anything and everything to be reused within the City Core.
45
Spolia of Refuge and Resource
Arch 205A
47
Spolia of Refuge and Resource
Arch 205A
The Caretakers must be cognizant of the volatility of the climate, and be capable of promptly rebuilding, modifying, or stabilizing structures as required. To ensure utility moving forward collected matter is sorted by 1 | density (to be sliced into modular slabs), 2 | transparency (to be used as shading devices), 3 | plushness (to be compiled into new furniture), and 4 | particulate of fines (to be combined as aggregate with recycled concrete).
49
The collections are then organized and displayed in a knolling fashion, on the periphery of The City Center in order to be aggressively visible and swiftly accessible at any moment.
Spolia of Refuge and Resource
Arch 205A
51
Spolia of Refuge and Resource
Arch 205A
[lines + lines + lines] Experiential Drawings
53
Thesis Prep Seminar
What is the knuckle between the performative world-building of drag culture and the self-soothing and playful homebuilding of young girls? There are dollhouses here. Is there a physical manifestation of this inhabitable poche? Is there a drag house of the mind that will tease new narratives and allow the under-served to make their own space and story. Discover new textures of identity and contest the constructs that formerly stifled it.
Reveries [thesis prep seminar
55
Can poche be inhabitated and activated by imagination? Are these dollhouses we can exist within - full bodied and full built.
lines + lines + lines
Thesis Prep Seminar
fuR eihpoS
seireveR noitcelloC ]9102-5102[