Portfolio- Susannah Montgomery

SUSANNAH MONTGOMERY

Architecture and Biomimicry

Design is tool for understanding complex systems and creating humanitarian architecture. Nature is a key inspiration during this process.

Master Plan of ASU

View, Water, Light PAVILION SERIES 02

LIBRARY PROJECT 03

Perspective, Diversity, Empathy

CRYSTAL BRIDGE 04

Greenhouse Extension Design

Allegheny Riparian Ecosystem 05

Ford City: The Bypass Borough

TEMPE ISLANDS 01

Master Plan of ASU Tempe Campus

This installation creates ‘weird strips of chaos’ in Tempe Town Lake through a series of islands. The project reinvents the limits between bridges from an inaccessible waterscape into a place of civic refuge. It gives a sense of identity to ASU while connecting disciplines and dissolving boundaries. There will be a ritual of removing all the art from ASU art museum and placing it in the lake. The building loses its program, a form of ruinification. The building becomes an architectural palimpsest, developing a new altered life to accommodate a Sustainable Innovation Center. The art from the museum is now placed on an island, placing a piece of campus in the water. This unfolding civic drama reflects this idea “the measurements of space and the events of its past.” The islands begin as ruins, each being overtaken by agriculture. The lake becomes a productive body uniting art, agriculture, and sustainability in a highly accessible area, giving the local citizens and students a greater sense of place through the development of this third space installation.

Historical Picture of Tempe

INSPIRATION IMAGE AND ABSTRACT EXERCISES

There are cars fording over the water implying that there is a destination underneath the bridge, on the waters surface. If people’s true intention is just to cross the lake, then they would just drive over the existing bridge instead of beneath it.

There is a development of a destination… a third space. People remain on the water’s surface in this lowered landscape, this inverted acropolis. Inhabiting the lake creating weird strips of chaos that are places of civic refuge and give a sense of identity to ASU and the city of Tempe.

This installation creates ‘weird strips of chaos’ in the middle of Tempe town lake through a series of islands. It capitalizes on the site’s prime location, tourist attraction, and accessibility. The project stays beneath the bridge and reinvents the limits between these bridges from an inaccessible waterscape into a thriving third space.

This map is made from several different time periods. These islands reflect this history and maintain a collective memory of the past. The design calls back on the flood plane by allowing the water to flow through it and calls back on Tempe’s history of its agricultural patchwork.

“I could tell you how many steps make up the streets rising like stairways, and the degree of the arcades’ curves, and what kind of zinc scales cover the roofs; but I would already know that this would be the same as telling you nothing. The city does not consist of this, but of relationships between the measurements of space and the events of its past.”

Italo Calvino - Invisible Cities

This installation creates a third space while connecting disciplines and dissolving boundaries, establishing lasting relationships between art, agriculture, and sustainability.

The timeline begins with the roads and walkways being placed on the lake to allow access to the future spaces. People can travel on these walkways as a way to inhabit the middle of the lake, something that was not previously possible without a vessel. Islands begin to appear as time continues.

This unfolding civic drama reflects this idea “the measurements of space and the events of its past.”

This island begins as a ruin. Consider the idea of order and chaos. Human construction verse ruinification. It is important to take a moment to design from the perspective of chaos, embracing the ruin rather than the typical insertion of order.

It receives compost from the first and the space is slowly being overtaken by agriculture in a similar way that nature reclaims forgotten buildings.

Visitors must wander through the complex geometry and discover all of the islands spaces and to flow to the next island creating unfamiliar experiences filled with chaotic intriguing moments.

COMPOSTING ISLAND

This first island is responsible for creating the soil that will be used for the future agriculture on the lake from materials and waste that are being exported from the college campus. This island produces the base for the next one.

AGRICULTURAL ISLAND

ART MUSEUM ISLAND

The art museum located on ASU’s Tempe campus is full of potential and flexibility. There will be a ritual of removing all of the art from building and placing it elsewhere. The building becomes an empty envelope and loses its program, which in a way, is a form of ruinification. This opens the door for reform and renewal where the building becomes an architectural palimpsest developing a new altered life to accommodate a new use.

The museum becomes a Sustainable Innovation center. ASU boosts about being number one in innovation, but what are those innovations and how are they contributing to the betterment of the world? Greater access to innovative knowledge elevates the community as a whole makes it more important than it was.

The Art from the museum is now placed on the final island, placing a piece of campus in the water. The prime location of Tempe Town Lake increases access to the art to not just the students, but to the rest of the city and the tourists who are drawn to this area. This island is also being overtaken by plant growth. The lake becomes a productive body uniting art, agriculture, and sustainability in a highly accessible area giving the local citizens and students a greater sense of place through the development of this third space installation

PAVILION SERIES 03

View, Water, Light

In an early design studio, a series of pavilions were designed for the same site located on Tempe Town Lake. Each project considers a different design element including view, water, and light: tower with five viewing platforms frame five different views in the surrounding landscape, shaded pavilion that protects its visitors and control the movement of water around the site, and the third creates intriguing, meaningful moments through manipulating light into a confined space. This is based on an event, time changing over the course of a day, and the changing position of the sun over the course of a year.

PLAN AT + 85FT

Framed View: South Mountain

PLAN AT + 67FT

Framed View: Pueblo Grande

PLAN AT + 49FT

Framed View: Fort McDowell

PLAN AT + 31FT

Framed View: Hole In The Rock

SITE PLAN AT + 13FT

Framed View: Tempe Mill

World Suicide Prevention Day is September 10th. One of the light boxes illuminates a semicolon. This is a symbol of suicide prevention and is shown as time changes throughout the day.

The two bars form an equal sign and are shown throughout the year, symbolizing the furthering of equality in America.

Gay marriage was legalized by the Supreme Court during the Obergefell v. Hodges case on June 27, 2015. The final vote was five to four, and therefore, the time of the event room is set to 5:40pm. The six bars of light are designed to reflect the six colors on the rainbow flag.

LIBRARY PROJECT 04

Perspective, Diversity, Empathy

A library is a place where people of different backgrounds and life experiences can come together to form a community. A community is a unified body of individuals; therefore, communal spaces should reflect that. There are many diverse subdivisions that can be defined by race, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc. These shape the way people see the world and how the world treats them. People tend to associate with other individuals who have similar characteristics or fall under the same category as themselves. By bringing diverse groups together, a sense of community is created. The word “community” goes beyond a mere group of individuals and becomes a social state. This space reflects the diversity within the community and all the ‘subcommunities’ within it. This library creates a safe third space that embodies the community through design, programming, and art.

CONCEPT

COMMUNITY SUBCOMMUNITIES UNITY

Using the term “Community” insinuates a unified whole, but a community is made up of many different subcommunities. Each group has their own needs and provide unique perspectives. It is only when these groups come together that their potential as a whole can be seen.

FACADE SYSTEM

This façade uses perforated metal sheets that open or close depending on the glazing beneath it and orientation of the sun in relation to the site. The perforations tell a story of these subcommunities in America through Morse Code.

14th Amendment, 19th Amendment, Roe v wade, Brown v Board of education, Oberfoell v Hodges, Bill of rights, I have a dream, Ain’t I a woman? (Bell Hooks and 1851Sojourner Truth, a slave), Gettysburg address, Emancipation proclamation, these are the times that try men’s souls- Common Sense- Thomas Paine, ask not what your country can do for you. Kennedy, Reagan- tear down that wall, RBG- On the Basis of Sex, Declaration of independence, Michelle Obama- “when they go low, we go high,” etc.

The site is located along Tempe Town Lake just east of Tempe Center for the Arts. This location is accessible and draws people from around the valley. Within the library, there are areas dedicated to children, teens, and reading along with communal computers. There are study rooms available along with an outdoor deck overlooking the lake. Right pasted the lecture hall, there is a branch of the library dedicated to the people of Tempe which can be used for community events, forums, and nonprofit fundraisers.

CRYSTAL BRIDGE 05

Greenhouse Extension Design

Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory

Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Architect: I.M. Pei/ Conklin and Rossant

Year: 1988-current

The studio project focused on architecture expansions as a “game” with a set of rules that allow detonating improvements and innovation. The goal is to learn from previous buildings through new expansions and programs, giving them a second life with a sustainable and bioclimatic approach. The building typology is botanical gardens greenhouses from the second half of the 20th century.

Project Team Members: Susannah Montgomery, Kelsey Timmer, Kennedy Frazier, and Aaryaman Srivastava

Collage by Susannah Montgomery

EXISTING BUILDING

DESIGN CHALLENGES WITH EXISTING BOTANICAL GARDENS

I. Sustainability

The existing building does not implement any sustainable solutions, despite the botanical garden’s current water and energy consump¬tion, nor does the Crystal Bridge Conservatory educate its users about the importance of sustainability and it’s current impact on the environment.

II. Public Space

Currently, the Crystal Bridge Conservatory does not possess the ability to draw in the public. Even though there is adequate public space on site, the current space is not informed or programmed to users, does not provide permeability, and does not connect with the park.

III. Call to place

Though the building is unique in both form and structure, it does not have a dialogue with its location. By intentionally designing an extension with the goal of evoking a sense of place, the building can become a powerful monument to Oklahoma.

Original plans by Susannah Montgomery

CONCEPT

Extension plans by Susannah Montgomery

By Kelsey Timmer & Susannah Montgomery

PROPOSED DESIGN SOLUTIONS

Is it truly a long building? Remove the lobby and interior steep topography and you are left with a mere 112’ to display botanical collections. This extension fulfills the conservatory’s desire to stretch across the site connecting it to downtown Oklahoma City. After an in-depth analysis of the existing building, there are several notable areas of improvement.

Though the Crystal Bridge is located in a public park, it does not have the infrastructure to support populous communal gatherings. Therefore, our design incorporates large, open-air pavilions.

To address the notable lack of sustainable systems incorporated into the original design, solar panels provide energy and shade the outdoor pavilions. To save further on energy and resources, water filtration systems have been integrated with the new wetland botanical collection to filter graywater.

Architecture has the power to give people a sense of pride in their culture and place. It can also invoke a sense of responsibility to take care of their home. The Crystal Bridge is neither good nor bad in this regard. It is neutral. To bring this design home, the botanical history of its location is explored.

CONCEPT

Elevation by Susannah Montgomery

Axon by Kelsey Timmer

Site plan by Susannah Montgomery

MODEL PICTURES

Model Built & Photographed by Susannah Montgomery

ALLEGHENY RIPARIAN ECOSYSTEM 05

Ford City: The Bypass Borough

Problem Statement: Ford City Pennsylvania has been failing economically because of its inability to retain industry. The high turnover has resulted in much of the population migrating to find employment elsewhere. With this new lower carrying capacity, what does it look like for Ford to lean into this identity and become a thriving small town that still has interesting public amenities?

Born on the river’s edge, Ford City has spent its existence exploiting it. The decrease in water quality, loss of riparian habitat, and poor management of groundwater has opened the city up to many negative consequences including potential clean water scarcity and flooding. How can a project regarding sustainable placemaking address the social, economic, and environmental challenges this location faces?

Natural Models

Freshwater Pearl Mussel (M. margaritifera)

Strategy: Wetlands filter water by both creating variable water flow rates allowing particles to settle to the bottom and by sequestering materials in living organisms, namely plants and biofilms.

What can we learn about water purification?

Scale: Organism/Product

Primary Function: Remove/cycle excess nutrients from aquatic environments

Secondary Function: Optimize flow rates to support aquatic life

Abstracted Design Principle: A sieve-like filter composed of 28 μm cords, spaced 30 μm apart, covered in rows of oscillating hair-like structures draws water through the filter where passing particles, as small as 2 μm, are captured and transported to designated areas where material may be sorted. The filtered water is then expelled through an isolated output.

Wetlands and Local Riparian Areas

Strategy: Valuable plant nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus in the water are readily absorbed by the plants and are sequestered in their tissues. Thick biofilms also account for a great portion of filtering capacity of wetlands. These excess nutrients allow this ecosystem to support a great amount of wildlife. Densely populated with plant life, this type of habitat obstructs the flow of the water and reduce its velocity allowing larger floating particles to settle to the bottom.

What can we learn about water purification?

Scale: Ecosystem

Primary Function: Remove/cycle excess nutrients from an aquatic environment

Secondary Function: Opitimize flow rates to support aquatic life

Abstracted Design Principle: Water velocity is decreased by a large variety of densely packed nutrient uptake filters where suspended particles sink to the bottom or are sequestered via these filters. This does seem to have more potential as a bioutilization solution. This strategy also causes the water flow to slow which is the opposite goal of our identified secondary function of increasing water flow.

Site and System Analysis

Problem:

Ford City produces 400,000 gal/day of wastewater. When it rains, existing water infrastructure is overwhelmed, and raw sewage will be dumped into the river. The city does not have the money to improve systems or repair pump houses that aid during flood events.

Eco-Machine:

Cleans 10 million gallons of water a year to a greywater level

- May-Oct = 104,000 gal/day

- Nov-Day = 10,000 gal/day

Peak water filtration of eco-machine correlates with the months with the highest precipitation in Ford City.

Solution:

-Have an Eco-Machine take Ford’s wastewater to lessen pressures on current infrastructure

-Water flow through system must follow gravity and the current flow of water through the site (eco-machine to fish aquaculture to hydroponic greenhouse)

This system can reduce the stress on current infrastructure by 26% during the months with the highest precipitation and flood risk.

Groundwater Wastewater 400,000 gal/day

ECOMACHINE STEP 1: Solid Settlement Tanks two 10,000 gal septic tanks

ECOMACHINE STEP 1: Solid Settlement Tanks two 10,000 gal septic tanks

ECOMACHINE STEP 2: Equalization tanks two 6,000 gal tanks

ECOMACHINE STEP 3: Anoxic tanks two 5,000 gal tanks

ECOMACHINE STEP 4: Constructed Wetlands four 4,500ft wetlands (3ft deep)

ECOMACHINE STEP 2: Equalization tanks two 6,000 gal tanks

ECOMACHINE STEP 3: Anoxic tanks two 5,000 gal tanks

ECOMACHINE STEP 4: Constructed Wetlands four 4,500ft wetlands (3ft deep)

Intermediate 5,000 gal collection tank

Intermediate 5,000 gal collection tank

ECOMACHINE STEP 5: Aertated Lagoons two lagoons (4 cells & 10 ft deep)

ECOMACHINE STEP 5: Aertated Lagoons two lagoons (4 cells & 10 ft deep)

ECOMACHINE STEP 6: Recirculating sand Filter

ECOMACHINE STEP 6: Recirculating sand Filter

AQUACULTURE: Fish Farm 40,000 ft2 facility (500,000 gal/yr)

AQUAPONICS: Greenhouse 123,000 ft2 facility (1,700,000 gal/yr)

Irrigation and greywater purposes

Eco-Machine

Fish Aquaculture

Hydroponic Greenhouse

Project Vision and Goals

Environmental

-Clean water and reduce stress on sewer system

-Provide a new water source and not just relying on ground water

-Flood mitigation

Social

-Education/sense of responsibility to place

-Recreation and retain youth

-Public Space

Economic

-Heavy industry along river can clean water locally

-More passive purification strategies which lowers energy requirements and provides new water source

-Money, jobs (400-600 new jobs), and economic development along the riverfront

Eco-Machine

Hydroponic Greenhouse

Sustainability Protocol

Economic:

-Aquaponics (fish and hydroponic agriculture) brings money and jobs into the city

-Mitigates stress on sewer infrastructure which the city has no money to update and fix

-Mitigate flooding resulting in less damage to city infrastructure

Social:

-Community gardens tying into the water supply. Further development of this project could include a boardwalk with farm to table restaurants

-Educational programs connected to Butler Community College to help retain young people in the community

-Boat access and water recreation; both amenities the city currently lacks

Environmental:

-Clean sewer water

• No excess nutrients (sewer water) being released into the river

• Not increasing water use for the city

-Heal riparian area along the river to restore several ecosystem services the city needs

• Habitat for local species

• Mitigates flooding

• Filters water

-Passive energy

• Solar angles of greenhouse

• Thermal heat pumps

Tension Roof Structure

Connecting Profile

10mm Triple-Walled Polycarbonate

Susannah Montgomery

PUBLICATIONS

Fundamentals 01 + 02

-ISBN 978-0-36-861029-5

Fundamentals 03 + 04

-ISBN 978-0-36-861044-8

Fundamentals 05 + 06

-ISBN 978-0-36-861064-6

Fundamentals 07 + 08

-ISBN 978-0-36-861072-1

Architecture at ASU, Spring 2020, Pg 271

Architecture at ASU, FALL 2020, Pg 384

CONTACT

Email

-susannahmariem@gmail.com

-smmontg1@asu.edu

Phone - (661) 864-5577

AWARDS

Graduated Summa Cum Laude Spring 2021

ASU Moeur Award (valedictorian equivalent)

Jeffrey R Cook Memorial Scholarship 2021

Design Excellence Award Fall 2018

New American University Provost’s Scholarship 2017

QPR Gatekeeper Certification 2017

Safe Space Ambassador 2015 (High School Award)

Youth Ally Award in 2014 (received From Affirmation)

WORK EXPERIENCE

Biomimicry Professional Certification Program 2022-2024

-Highest and most comprehensive biomimicry training in the world

(6th Cohort)

Orcutt Winslow Architects 2022 (May)-Current

-Architecture Intern in their Education Studio

Hillstone Restaurant 2020-2021

-Server and Bartender

Design Consultant 2020-2021

-Designing an extension to historically significant Ralph Haver Home

-4630 N 11th Pl, Phoenix AZ 85014 (Owner- Rene Frost)

CREW Real Estate. Assistant to Dawn Bloxham 2018-2020

-Part time accounting and data entry

Firebird’s Wood Fired Grill 2018-2019

-Server and Shift Leader

Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen 2017-2018

-Busser, Host, and Server

Agency Arizona 2016-2018

-Fashion Model

Maximum Marketing Inc. 2015-2018

-Production Manager

-Addressing and overseeing the shipping of direct marketing materials

VOLUNTEER WORK

-Gay Straight Alliance Club President

-Ricky’s Retreat AIDS Hospice

-Affirmation Youth Programs

EDUCATION

ASU Current Graduate Studies

-Master of Architecture (spring 2023)

-Master of Science in Biomimicry (spring 2023)

ASU Undergraduate Degree

-BSD Architectural Studies

-Minor in Sustainability

-New American University Provost’s Scholarship

-Summa Cum Laude

-Moeur Award (ASU valedictorian equivalent)

Perry High School / Gilbert AZ

-2017 Diploma (Honors Graduate)

-Dual Enrollment through Chandler-Gilbert Community College

SKILLS

Microsoft Office

-Word (Advanced)

-Excel (Intermediate)

-PowerPoint (Advanced)

Adobe CC

-Photoshop (Advanced)

-InDesign (Advanced)

-Illustrator (Intermediate)

BIM / 2D / 3D

-AutoCad (Advanced)

-Sketch-Up (Advanced)

-Archicad (learning)

-Revit (learning)

-Lumion (Intermediate)

Other Skills

-Hand Drafting (Advanced)

-Physical Model Making (Advanced)

-including laser cutters and 3D printers

A Restoration Project