Academic Architecture Portfolio

Ryan E. Griffin
M.S. Arch B.Arch

Ryan E. Griffin
M.S. Arch_2012 Pratt Institute GAUD B.Arch_2009 The Pennsylvania State University

Academic Portfolio

Order of Presentation
Indaba Agora - Pratt Thesis, Spring 2012 Sensory Deprivation S(t)imulation Center - Pratt, Fall 2011 Stage and Backstage: Chase Manhattan P.O.P.S. - Pratt, Summer 2011 The Homogeneity of Heterogeneity - Penn State Thesis, 2009 The Lower Don Lands, Toronto - Penn State Urban Studio, Fall 2007 The Philadelphia Athenaeum - Penn State, Spring 2007 State College/Penn State Bus Station - Penn State, Fall 2006

I N D A B A A G O R A

Thes is , S p ring 201 2

Pratt Institute Critic: Thomas Leeser

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters of Science in Architecture, The Pratt Institute GAUD M.S. students complete an intensive, one-semester thesis project. Led by critic Thomas

Leeser, in the fall, students compiled a book entitled "100 Years of Thought in Architecture," analyzing the past 90 years of architectural and cultural production and theory. Our thesis projects were to be part of the last decade of this 100 years and beyond.

Thesis Statement
The components of digital space configure the new open plan. The ability of these technologies to modify physical space changes our ideas of predetermined functionality. With the disappearance of physical objects, a new rationality of architectural space develops that begins to distance itself from strict modularity. The built environment begins to exist for its own rationality of indulgence in physical experience.

Abstract
The city is where people seek to witness, create, and nourish the spectacle. The spectacle stands atop the endless monument in modern cities. However today, as the internet swallows up real space, the monument and the stage fall further into the background. The thesis melds together the functional and navigational qualities of the network (digital space) with those of Cartesian space (physical space). The applications of digital space are embraced for their potential, and physical space is maintained as a body to immerse oneself in. The product is a collaboration and practice space

for musicians, immersive environments artists, and producers, that acknowledges the role technology plays in the evolution of art. The building allows for the same act to produce multiple outcomes; work, play, and performance occur simultaneously. The building

serves as a checkpoint/oasis for derive where the machine of the interior enhances the public space of the exterior in real time.

The project is a place for creation and collaboration between musicians, producers, and immersive environments artists. As a whole, it is a cybist workshop; a network that functions through the interaction of separate units. The units are digitally connected and their relationships can be reconfigured on the fly. Musicians in the city need a place to practice where it is quiet for themselves and others. Producers need sounds to work with, intentionally crafted or found, and a place to interact with other artists of their kind. Immersive environments artists need large, digitally activated spaces to experiment in and a willing audience on which to test their creations. Able to be placed in any city, the building has

two main levels, and a public space; an extension of the ground plane reaching to the space above the top level. The two main levels are the spaces for collaboration, and serve to enhance the public space above and below by transmitting sound and visuals from the inside and

P ROPOSA L

using

it

as

atmospheric occupy

ornament

on

the

exterior. and

Producers

the

rectilinear (sonic

spaces and

orchestrate

digital

connections

visual)

between the separate rooms. The producer may be sampling an active practice session without the active knowledge of the musician, orchestrating collaborations between

multiple musicians and immersive environments artists, or alter the already varying sonic qualities of the

spaces through digital means. Musicians and immersive artists are meant to have mutual influence on each other. This arrangement creates an arena for cybist creation.

Producers Studios

Immersive Environments Lab

Small Practice Spaces Medium Practice Spaces

Large Practice Spaces

Entry

Immersive Performance Space Plan - Ground Floor, Upper Floor Opposite

Stairway, Lounge Spaces

Acoustic transmission allows for musical drive through physical navigation. One experiences a natural re-mix while walking through the corridors.

Practice/Recording Cells

Graphically

and

sonically

digitized

rooms

allow musicians to practice/create in sensorily diverse environments, and on-the-fly talent re-networking.

Public Terrace

Detailed Section - Upper Level

Producer Studio

Small Practice Space Immersive Performance Space Gathering Space

Exploded Model

Gathering Space, Large Studio/Performance Cell

Fenestration/ Shading

Slabs, Rooms, Digital surfaces, Green roofs

Structure

Exterior Ramp to Upper Terrace

Upper Terrace, Shading Structure, Light Well

Public Terrace, Structure, Digital Ornament

S E N S O R Y D E P R I VAT I O N / S ( T ) IMULATION C E N T E R

Stud io , Fall 2011

Pratt Institute Critic: Vito Acconci

The

premise

of

Professor

Acconcis

studio

was

architecture as prison. No matter our ideas of utopia, realizations of our decisions as designers and found physical situations are imposingly limiting factors on our daily lives. The imperative of the studio was to design a prison. However, given the nearly unlimited interpretation of architecture/built environment as prison, was the imperative loose. and The definition studio of prison a wide

inherently

produced

and diverse array of projects as translations of the premise.

The U.S. Prison System

The U.S. has the 2nd highest incarceration rate in modern history (second to Soviet Russia) and the highest currently in the world. Although crime rates have declined by 25% since the mid-eighties, the number of incarcerated Americans has grown by nearly 5x as a result of the War on Drugs, and the Three Strikes Rule. as a In California, judges found their prisons to be criminogenic result of segregation and overcrowding, labelling them

institutions of higher criminal learning. Overcrowding has led to the increased creation of new prisons - the construction and operation of which has been turned over to private corporations resulting in the prison-industrial complex. Medical care is

outsourced to private companies, who work to minimize care given to maximize profits. Private companies also tend to focus less on rehabilitation. The fact that all operations are still publicly funded raises questions of a conflict of interest. All capitalist economies rely on growth. If prison populations

decline, private prison industry loses its reason to exist. One may of question whether or the prison-industrial is complex to is a result the

overcrowding

if

overcrowding

insured

maintain

industry.

P ROPOSA L

A new publicly-funded private facility for rehabilitation will replace the need for growing incarceration and give back to society by combining rehabilitation, research, revenue, and public utility. The project is a center separate from the main prison and removed from societal centers - for controlled sensory input and deprivation, and will be used for physio-neurological research and to treat prisoners and free citizens alike through

prescribed experiences.

Design Process

The

design

consists

of

space

and

circulation

for

physiologists, neurologists, psychologists, and security, and wandering space, float tanks, and stimulation tanks for prisoners and free citizens in need of treatment. Overlaid on top of a regular structural system is

a path system based on the path and form of an endless Buddhist knot. A series of knots stacked atop of each other, rotated, and then connected, create an endless wandering space devoid of here or there. Sensory deprivation tanks are placed throughout the path. Tanks and wandering paths work together to filter out the subjects psyche and remove sensory stimulation. While the float tanks serve to deprive the senses in

an acute manner, the wandering paths are meant to emulate this phenomenon in longer duration in order to sustain the effects of ones experience in the tank or prepare the subject for a tank experience through a softer sensory deprivation. The paths blend and morph between levels of open/closedness, hardness/softness, and being live/dead acoustically. They are constructed using a smart-glasslike material, allowing for manipulation of transparency. for The soundtrack and musical inspiration the project was Alva Notos Halliod

Sections - Wandering Path Variations

Xerrox Copy 3 (Paris).

(cont.)

a.

Panoptical

observation

tower

is

multiplied by three, arranged in triangular layout, used as and twisted. These shafts are from

The Sensory Deprivation Tank

institutional

circulation

the institutional base at the bottom of the structure. The multiplication and In 1954 Dr. John C. Lilly designed the first sensory deprivation (float) tank to study the potentialities of the brain when relieved of sensory input. Lilly sought to eliminate external stimuli: other people, light, sound, gravity, and temperature. Most important b. Structure is added to support triple panopticon. was gravity, accounting for 85-90% of central nervous activity. Floating minimizes gravitational pressure on the body, freeing the nervous system, slowing the c. Buddhist Endless Knot, is multiplied, into the pulse and lowering blood pressure. The tank slows brain waves, increasing theta Theta wave exist in the ephemeral state twisted, connected, weaved

twisting serves to add to the effects of the wandering space, by not providing a central reference point.

a.

b.

c.

structure.

waves.

between wakefulness and sleep. This state, called d. Place float tanks along wandering paths. hypnagogic, is characterized by dissociation and a lack of criticality, and hard to study. Zen masters

d.

e.

e.

Basic

enclosure/exposure

deployment

reach and maintain this state in full wakefulness. The tank induces it within an hour. Floating also increases right brain activity, creating higher

strategy.

f. Deployed path types and placed sensory s(t)imulation tanks

interaction and synchronization between hemispheres and higher brain function. Floating can be used for self-hypnosis, healing, relief, from and increasing habits to and athletic addictions, performance, depression,

g. Envelope development: 1. Intersect rectangular prisms. 2. Subtract intersecting volumes. 3. Remainder serves as envelope.

pain

breaking anxiety

f.

g.

1.

2.

3.

fear,

facilitate

superlearning,

and to achieve general wellness.

Site Selection
ALTONA BARE HILL OGDENSBURG RIVERVIEW FRANKLIN
FRANKLIN

UPSTATE

CHATEAUGAY

MAXIMUM SECURITY
ATTICA AUBURN BEDFORD HILLS (FEMALES) CLINTON (ANNEX) COXSACKIE DOWNSTATE EASTERN ELMIRA FIVE POINTS GREAT MEADOW GREEN HAVEN SHAWANGUNK SING SING SOUTHPORT SULLIVAN UPSTATE WENDE

CLINTON

CLINTON HUB
CLINTON ST LAWRENCE

The site lies along the Hudson River and Metro North rail line and is situated in a central location with respect ADIRONDACK to three different large hubs of high prison population, and New York City. The site was chosen for its centrality and also to achieve the sensation of removal. Whether those at the
ESSEX

VERNEUR

MEDIUM center have come from prisons, orSECURITY from the city, they have been far removed from their everyday MORIAH
ADIRONDACK HALE CREEK (FEMALES) HUDSON environment and placed in ALBION a serene location in the middle of the river. ALTONA LIVINGSTON ARTHUR KILL BARE HILL BAYVIEW (FEMALES) BUTLER CAPE VINCENT CAYUGA CHATEAUGAY COLLINS FISHKILL FRANKLIN MAXIMUM SECURITY GOUVERNEUR GOWANDA GREENE MEDIUM SECURITY GROVELAND
GREAT MEADOW GREEN HAVEN SHAWANGUNK SING SING SOUTHPORT SULLIVAN UPSTATE WENDE HALE CREEK HUDSON LIVINGSTON MARCY MIDMID -ORANGE MID MID-STATE MOHAWK MT. McGregor OGDENSBURG ONEIDA ORLEANS OTISVILLE RIVERVIEW TACONIC (FEMALES) ULSTER WALLKILL WASHINGTON WATERTOWN WOODBOURNE WYOMING

wandering space:
paths, float tanks, s(t)imulation tanks, security access

HAMILTON WARREN

WASHINGTON

GREAT MEADOW
WASHINGTON
UPSTATE CHATEAUGAY ALTONA BARE HILL

NEIDA
HERKIMER
NEW YORK STATE FULTON DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES FACILITIES HALE CREEKMAP
OGDENSBURG RIVERVIEW

OHAWK

GREAT MEADOW HUB

FRANKLIN
FRANKLIN

CLINTON

WATERTOWN HUB SARATOGA

ST LAWRENCE

CLINTON HUB
CLINTON

MID-STATE MARCY

GOUVERNEUR

ADIRONDACK

JEFFERSON

CAPE VINCENT

MT. McGREGOR
LEWIS

ATTICA AUBURN BEDFORD HILLS (FEMALES) CLINTON (ANNEX) COXSACKIE DOWNSTATE EASTERN ELMIRA FIVE POINTS

ESSEX

WATERTOWN

MORIAH

HAMILTON WARREN

WASHINGTON

MONTGOMERY
OSWEGO

GREAT MEADOW
ONEIDA WASHINGTON

ALBION

ONEIDA HUB
NIAGARA

ORLEANS

ORLEANS

MONROE

WAYNE

SCHENECTADY
ONONDAGA

ONEIDA MOHAWK
HERKIMER FULTON

GREAT MEADOW HUB

SARATOGA

ROCHESTER

BUTLER AUBURN
MADISON ONTARIO SENECA CAYUGA

MID-STATE MARCY

HALE CREEK

BUFFALO

GENESEE

MT. McGREGOR

ADIRONDACK ALBION (FEMALES) ALTONA ARTHUR KILL BARE HILL BAYVIEW (FEMALES) BUTLER CAPE VINCENT CAYUGA CHATEAUGAY COLLINS FISHKILL FRANKLIN GOUVERNEUR GOWANDA GREENE GROVELAND

MARCY MIDMID -ORANGE MID MID-STATE MOHAWK MT. McGregor OGDENSBURG ONEIDA ORLEANS OTISVILLE RIVERVIEW TACONIC (FEMALES) ULSTER WALLKILL WASHINGTON WATERTOWN WOODBOURNE WYOMING

WENDE

MONTGOMERY

WENDE HUB
ERIE

ATTICA WYOMING
WYOMING

LIVINGSTON

FIVE POINTS
YATES

CAYUGA

COLLINS LAKEVIEW GOWANDA

SUMMIT
GROVELAND
ALLEGANY

LIVINGSTON

ALBANY

ONEIDA HUB

RENSSELAER
SCHENECTADY

GEORGETOWN SUMMIT

ALBANY

RENSSELAER

WILLARD
CORTLAND OTSEGO

MINIMUM SECURITY
BEACON (FEMALES) BUFFALO EDGECOMBE FULTON

SCHOHARIE

MINIMUM SECURITY
LINCOLN MONTEREY SHOCK MORIAH SHOCK QUEENSBORO SUMMIT SHOCK

SCHUYLER

TOMPKINS

MONTEREY
CHAUTAUQUA CATTARAUGUS

ELMIRA HUB
CHENANGO GREENE DELAWARE

GREENE COXSACKIE HUDSON

COLUMBIA

LAKEVIEW SHOCK (INC FEMALES) ROCHESTER

OTSEGO

SCHOHARIE

STEUBEN
CHEMUNG TIOGA

ELMIRA SOUTHPORT

BROOME ULSTER DUTCHESS SULLIVAN

ULSTER EASTERN SHAWANGUNK WALLKILL

ORANGE

GEORGETOWN
GREEN HAVEN DOWNSTATE FISHKILL BEACON
PUTNAM

WOODBOURNE SULLIVAN

WILLARD (INC. FEMALES)

LEGEND
MAXIMUM CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES MEDIUM CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES RECEPTION CENTERS WORK RELEASE SHOCK INCARCERATION CASAT (MINIMUM CAMP) CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES

GREENE
GREENE

SULLIVAN HUB

BEACON (FEMALES) BUFFALO MINIMUM SECURITY: CAMP EDGECOMBE DRUG TREATMENT CAMPUS FULTON

OTISVILLE MID-ORANGE

GREEN HAVEN HUB

WESTCHESTER

COXSACKIE
LINCOLN

TACONIC
ROCKLAND

BEDFORD HILLS SING SING

BRONX

LINCOLN MONTEREY SHOCK MORIAH SHOCK QUEENSBORO LAKEVIEW SHOCK (INC FEMALES) ROCHESTER SUMMIT SHOCK

MINIMUM CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES

DELAWARE

HUDSON
EDGECOMBE

FULTON
SUFFOLK
NASSAU

DRUG TREATMENT CAMPUS

NEW YORK CITY HUB COLUMBIA

BAYVIEW
KINGS
RICHMOND

QUEENSBORO
QUEENS

ARTHUR KILL

1/19/10

ULSTER DUTCHESS SULLIVAN

MINIMUM SECURITY: CAMP

GEORGETOWN

ULSTER EASTERN SHAWANGUNK WALLKILL

ORANGE

WOODBOURNE SULLIVAN

GREEN HAVEN DOWNSTATE FISHKILL BEACON

PUTNAM

DRUG TREATMENT CAMPUS

WILLARD (INC. FEMALES)

SULLIVAN HUB

OTISVILLE MID-ORANGE

GREEN HAVEN HUB

WESTCHESTER

TACONIC
ROCKLAND

research/ admin./ security

BEDFORD HILLS SING SING

EDGECOMBE LINCOLN BAYVIEW

BRONX

FULTON
SUFFOLK
NASSAU

QUEENSBORO
QUEENS

NEW YORK CITY HUB

KINGS

ARTHUR KILL

RICHMOND

1/19/10

Longitudinal Section - Program

Section - Wandering Paths and S(t)imulation Tank

Exterior View from North

Plan-Section

Section - Wandering Paths and S(t)imulation Tank

Top of Center, Paths and S(t)imulation Tank

Plan-Section - Wandering Paths and S(t)imulation Tank

View Downward from Center of Wandering Paths

Section - Wandering Paths Breaking Through Envelope

Plan-Section - Wandering Paths

View Upward from Center of Wandering Paths

Exterior, Administrative/Security Space

Entryway to Administrative/ Security Space

View From North of Center and Hudson River

View Walking on Wandering Path

S TA G E AND BACKSTAGE: C H A S E MANHATTAN P . O . P . S .

Stud io , S umme r 2011

Pratt Institute Critic: William MacDonald

The site is Chase Manhattan Plaza in the Financial District of Manhattan. Of interest is the public art in the plaza, the J.P. Morgan/Armani Casa commercial and residential tower, and the Chase Manhattan Building housing business offices as well as a world-class art collection. The premise of the project is to take over the mid-levels of the two towers in order to join the two cultures - business and residential - as well as to introduce the institution of the art museum. The impetus for the project is the growing availability of space in the emptying business towers of the district as well as the opportunity to use the space offered through elevator configurations of the mid-levels.

Topological Site Analysis/Conceptual Approach

The studio focused strongly on a prescribed analysis and design methodology. Site analysis was done as a lesson/practice in topology. Understanding the site as a set of qualities (forces) constantly in flux, conclusions were made about intensities and shifts of such, not of fixed identities and hermetic ontologies. The method of intervention in such a conception of space, place,

and time - one of shifts and interaction - had to be just as fluid as that understanding. Minimal surface cells offer infinitely varying possibilities of form, floor/wall/ceiling (supporting/enclosing/ sheltering), affect, and are by definition self-structural. Using a tetrahedron-based minimal surface cell, research into

the formal and affective potentials of the cell was done using parametric modelling techniques. Different cell states were created as genetic types carrying unique characteristics and agencies.

These cells were gradiently deployed in the site as active agents, placed in specific response to the initial quality mapping. The intervention radically changed the topology of the site.

New architectural spaces, forms, and adjacencies gave suggestions for programmatic use, able to exist in flux as well. In the future, expansion to the structure can be done using the same methodologies, and with the possible introduction of new cell types.

Tetrahedral Minimal Surface Generation

Mapped Qualities
2
(heat, humidity, hot fronts)

1
3

Pretentious/Ostentatious

4
(cloud cover, doldrums) A set of found qualities were used to evaluate the site. site. were Each Their mapped quality was documented actions levels throughout the

intensities, at

and

interactions and

different

vertically

P ROPOSA L

through time. Qualities were evaluated with regards to physicality, aesthetics, and psychology. the Pretentious/ostentatious executive offices of fronts Chase emanated from the

Discrete/Discreet

Manhattan,

surrounding office buildings, and the terraces of (cooling winds) the J.P. Morgan/Armani Casa building. These fronts reached out to each other, gravitating towards

interaction. Confidence flowed through the air space as the idea of the city, occasionally distorting

already pretentious spaces. The compliment of these types of spaces was discreet/discrete space.

Confident

Level

Peak

Off-Peak

Minimal Surface Cells

Prying Max

Pry
1. to inquire inquisitively persons private affairs into a 2. to use force in order to move or open (something) or to separate (something from something else) (used in pre/ost and distorted space)

Two

types

of

active cells one

minimal were

surface

developed

that pries and one that excavates - and deployed at varying the strengths site in

throughout

response to the previously mapped site qualities.

Discrete/discrete areas were excavated to create and interior with space, high

spaces

pretentious/ostentatious

Excavate
1. to make a hole in; hollow out 2. to form by hollowing out 3. to remove by digging or scooping out 4. to expose or uncover by or as if by digging (used in discrete/eet space)

tension were pried open in order to be activated.

Excavating Max

Intervention Strategy

weather of focus and existing building at intervention location

placement of re-formed mesh boxes white: excavation red: prying

parametric placement of cells within mesh boxes

cell intervention within existing structures

Deployed Cells with Confine Overlay

Residential/Office Terrace

Sculpture Garden

Rentable Reception Space

Public Terrace/Park

Performance Art Space

Casa Armani Section - Pried Terraces, Excavated Interiors

Casa Armani Terrace Bridging to Chase Manhattan Building, Programmatic Possibilities

Excavated Chase Manhattan with Programmatic Possibilities

Section - Excavated Chase Manhattan

Gallery Space

Office Break Room

Cafe/Restaurant

Rentable Reception Space Museum Store

Excavated Gallery Space

Business Lounge Space

Gallery

Museum Executive Offices

Public Terrace Gallery Office

Restaurant

Art Classrooms Digital Music Library, Listening Pods Rentable Reception Space

Public Promenade

NW View with Programmatic Possibilities

Pried Public Terrace

Pried Public Terrace

Pried Armani Casa Terrace

T H E HOMOGENEIT Y O F HETEROGENEITY

5th Year The s is , 2009

The Pennsylvania State University Thesis Advisor: Darla Lindberg

The project is an artists co-op functioning as an arts center/school where resident artists teach classes

and community members can rent out space. In addition to this, is a commuter train stop and newsstand/

ticket office. The project is constructed by taking a line of five 1930s-era houses and building around, on, and through them.

Problem (Thesis Statement)

A cultural hegemony impacts architecture in small town and suburban America through...

...stratification and separation through materiality, iconography, scale, and physical separation...homogeneity, leading to

placelessness (despite vernacular), disillusionment, stasis, and sterile boredom ...stereotypification of the American Dream and Americans in general (assuming there is a norm) ...indirectly encouraging environmentally unsound developments ...commoditization of community, which can kill existing, organically developed communities.

Approach
the thesis claims and tests itself through...

...play and experiment with iconography, visual identification, materiality, and the blurring of physical and visual boundaries ...an additive ...the use of building process reclaimed materials and preservation of existing

structures ...the implementation an of a program that brings in and a transient encourages

population,

unconventional

family

structure,

unconventional thought.

Innovation...
...the proposition that...

...vernacular doesnt have to be rooted in nostalgia, an idea that has been commercially perpetuated, but defined by stratification through time, visible in physical layering

...landfills dont have to be dirty, and hidden in the ground

...suburban/small town architecture doesnt have to be conservative and can be more appropriate for the way communities can come

together.

Model, Building Envelope Shading System

...the amorphousness out of which objects are materialized by the (a)perceiving subject, the anterior physicality of the physical world emerging, perhaps, as an after-effect of the mutual constitution of subject and object, a retroprojection? You could imagine things, second, as what is excessive in objects, as what exceeds their mere materialization as objects or their mere utilization as

objects - their force as a sensuous presence or as a metaphysical presence, the magic by which objects become values, fetishes, idols, and totems. Temporalized as the before and after of the objects, thingness amounts to a latency (the not yet formed or the not yet formable) and to an excess (what remains physically or metaphysically irreducible to objects). But this temporality obscures the all-at-onceness, the simultaneity, of the object/thing dialectic and the fact that, all at once, the thing seems to name the objects just as it is even as it names some thing else.

- Bill Brown, Thing Theory

Sketches, House Follies

Street Elevation, East

Artist Housing Door Garden Visual Arts Practice Rooms Dance Studio Gathering Space

Longitudinal Section

Gallery/ Shop

Model Perspective - Building Entrance

Transverse Section - Building Entrance, Gathering Space

Painting House

Dance Studio

Periodical Library

Door Garden

Transverse Section - Periodical Library, Painting House, Dance Studio

Perspectives

Dance Studio

Visual Arts Artist Housing

Practice Rooms
Resident Artist Studios

Painting House

Rail Stop Newsstand /Tickets Gallery/ Shop

Periodical Library

Ground Floor Plan

Street Elevation, North

Practice Room Detail - Combined Lighting/Acoustics System, Night and Day

House Intervention Section - Resident Artist Studios

THE LOWER DON LANDS, T O R O N T O

4th Year U rb an Stud io , 2009

The Pennsylvania State University Professor: Madis Pihlak

The

project

was

to

create

schematic

plan

for

community in the Lower Don Lands of Toronto; a current industrial area in declining use, separated from the rest of the city by the Gardiner Expressway.

Planning was done in groups of four to six, including architecture and landscape architecture students.

Plan and Building Design

Building heights were arranged to allow for wind to pass over the buildings, serving as wind protection in addition to the courtyard layouts. Docks are located near the main cultural and commercial area. Businesses are located further to the north near the Gardiner. Light rail lines run through the site using pre-existing tracks.

Schools are located near the sports fields. Landscaping is done in these areas to allow for changing walk out points depending on flood levels. The sports fields are at the upper level of the flood lands and accept overflow in the strongest floods.

After planning, each student took on a design project within the new community. My individual design was for a courtyard building, with a mixed-use ground floor and apartments above. In addition to the courtyard concept, taking a cue from northern European cities, bright colors were used to combat winter grays. The commercial

ground floor is clad in found sheathing materials from old buildings demolished on the site. Varying adjacencies of private/public

were used to create a more intensely activated open space in the courtyard and street.

Left - Concept Sketch

Right - Master Plan

Site Section

Aerial View

Northwest Elevation

Ground Floor Plan, Commercial, Typical

Roof Plan

Apartment Floor Plan, Typical

Section - Balconies and Courtyard

View of Courtyard from Apartment Balcony

Entrance to Courtyard, Outdoor Dining Space

T H E P H I L A . ATHENAEUM

Stud io , S pring 2007

The Pennsylvania State University Professor: Malcolm Woolen

The project is an expansion of the existing library of the Philadelphia Athenaeum. The site is on Washington Square Park in Philadelphia, PA. Key site factors are the site, the Athenaeum, and an existing historical house on the property where the expansion is to go.

Conceptual Approach

The main conceptual moves are a vertically and horizontally weaving pathway moving through the structural stacks, light shafts providing light and marking specific stops on the path, and the reading room, which shares a language with the light shafts, makes a careful gesture over an existing historical house, and looks out onto

Washington Square.

Longitudinal Section - Circulation from Entrance to Reading Room

Site Plan

West Elevation

Floor Plans

b.

1.

3.

4.

2.

Detail Model - Light Shaft Opening, Book Request/Pickup

Building Model

North Elevation

East Elevation

Transverse Section

Transverse Section

S T A T E C O L L E G E / P E N N S TAT E B U S S TAT I O N

Stud io , Fall 2006

The Pennsylvania State University Professor: James Kalsbeek

The project involved a mixed-use program centered around the focal point of a bus station for transport of Penn State students, faculty, and locals. A bus station was already located on the site, inhabiting the old train station, while a Vietnamese restaurant inhabited the old bus station. As a recent property acquisition of Penn State, the design was to incorporate Penn State administrative facilities, an international foods and fresh produce market, a bookstore, restaurant, bar, cafe, newspaper/convenience store, a bank, and an

auditorium, in addition to the revamped bus station.

Design Concept

I drew inspiration from the unglamorous, yet intriguing layering of time visible on the existing site; on the pavement, in the buildings. Continuing with this haphazard development, I used the ideas of amputation, graft and prosthetic in my design to create location specific interventions across the larger, pedestrian-rich site. What resulted was a seemingly free-form solution, arranged as a complex rather than a solitary building, where connection points between the old and the new were the key.

Cut Diagrams

New Old

1. Bookstore 2. Cafe 3. Restaurant 4. Delivery/Shipment 5. University Offices 6. Auditorium 7. Bank 8. Newsstand 9. Convenience Store 10. Bus Station a. ticketing
b. waiting room c. departures/arrivals

11. Restrooms

5 4 11 3 8 9 2 6 1
Aerial View From North

b c 10

Ground Floor Plan

1. Bookstore 2. Cafe 3. Pub 4. FedEx/Kinkos 5. 7. 8. University Offices Fresh Produce International Foods Market 6. Auditorium

View From Southeast - House Cafe Grafted onto Bookstore

Basement Plan

Second Floor Plan

Section - In-Ground Market, Courtyard, Restaurant, Offices

View - Courtyard, Bookstore, Restaurant, Offices

View from West - University Offices

North Elevation - Bus Station

Section - Bus Station, Grafted Buildings

Details - Prosthetics, Wall Section, Bookshelf Interventions

Aerial View From East

View from Street