PORTFOLIO

N i c ol e
H ar k i n s

the

r c h it e c t u ral

e s i g n

p e n n s y l v a n ia

s tat e

u n i v e r s it y

Contents

4 Urban Planning

6 Eventarium

8 Affordable Housing

Pittsburgh, PA

Rome, Italy

State College, PA

One of the last undeveloped lots of the

Pittsburgh Cultural District is programmed
with commercial, retail, and residential.

An unplanned and unused 35 acre site is

given purpose with an event arena, museum,
and public plaza.

Through the reuse of abandoned barns, an

12 City Revitalization

16 House

for a

Painter

affordable house is created that connects

to the regions cultural history.

18 Visitors Center

Brownsville, PA

State College, PA

Pittsburgh, PA

An abandoned town is given new life

A landscape painter is given a new home

through strong master planning and an

immersed in the forest to inspire his work

incorporation of new program.

every day of the year.

An educational and hands-on visitors

center is built as an icon for ALCOSAN
wastewater treatment facility.

20 BKYLN Bridge Museum

22 Design Build

26 Hand Drawing

Brooklyn, NY
Through the use of custom CMU a museum is
created to commemorate the Brooklyn Bridge
as well as connect to the adjacent park.

Computer-aided designs are turned into

hands-on, physical full-scale modeling
through the use of the wood shop.

Multiple mediums and disciplines are

explored at different scales and styles to
create one-of-a-kind hand drawings.

U r b a n P la n n i n g
P itt s b u r g h , P A
Currently, Pittsburgh does not have a lot of
downtown residential options. With our site
being in a prime location, with great views
across the river of PNC Park and Heinz
Field, a cohesive, organic, and amenity-filled
site is needed to encourage people to move
to the city.
The proposal includes varying commercial
space - retail, dining, and amenities for the
residential aspect of the site - with public
and private terraced green roofs accessed
by each aspect of the site.
The incorporation of horizontal programs,
through these extending terraces, creates
vertical interconnection to encourage
meetings and interaction throughout the
site. The terraces also function to unify the
site as a whole in order to blend old and
new infrastructure. While the overall building
shapes are rigid and organized in form and
relate to the surrounding city context, the
outdoor space is more lively and freeform,
giving you the ability to explore the site on
all levels.

Currently, Romes Galoppatoio is unplanned and unused. A clear site organization strategy is
necessary to give the large, unzoned park purpose. Through careful consideration of the surrounding
city context as well as similar precedent study the site has been transformed into a destination.
The blending of architecture and landscape is utilized to create enclosure and further define the
space yet keep the organic feel of the site. Furthermore the use of green roofs is not only
sustainable, but will also give users the ability to access the site at multiple levels.

E v e n tari u m
R om e , I tal y

Heavy Timber Columns

(10 x 10)

A fforda b l e H o u s i n g

Nominal Floor Joists

(2 x 10)
Timber Cross Bracing
(6 x 6)

S tat e C oll e g e , P A

Nominal Stud Wall

(2 x 6)
Heavy Timber Beams
(10 x 10)

One way the State College Community Land Trust can

incorporate both affordability and sustainability into the
project is through the reuse of materials. By reusing
abandoned barns in the immediate area, a sustainable
duplex can easily be achieved while still involving the
community in the process.
Recycling barns connects to Pennsylvanias agricultural
history, and creates a rich interior living space under a
budget. The structure of the barn was transformed to
fit the scale of the house, while other materials were
used for cladding and landscaping.

Aluminum Curtain Wall

Mullions (3 x 7)
SIPS Infill Panels

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C it y R e v itali z atio n
B ro w n s v ill e , P A

The abandoned town located 50 miles south of Pittsburgh, PA is in desperate

need of revival. Its rich history and close proximity provides the perfect
vacation town for those trying to relax out of the city. A fully developed retail
and hotel program will attract a crowd and revitalize the town.
The entire downtown area needs to be unified through a single, strong formal
move. The operational strip not only guides visitors from the creek to the river,
but it also creates new spatial relationships between the existing buildings and
modern infrastructure.

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DN

DN

13

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15

MASTER
BEDROOM

BATH

STUDIO

KITCHEN
ENTRY
LIVING
ROOM

SLOP

E:

1/20

DN

DN

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H a j j ar C omp e titio n
S tat e C oll e g e , P A
The steeply sloped and forested site in State College, PA is perfect for an extension of the indoor program to the
outdoors. The widespread deck allows the client - a landscape painter - to be close to his subject, while the curved
roof allows for privacy from the street, but it also guides your view out to the beautiful scenery. The columns, while
not structural, are completely aesthetic and further connect the house to the surrounding rural landscape.
The houses layout allows the painters clients to freely enter the public studio, but also allows for private bedrooms in
the back of the home.

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A L C O S A N V i s itor s C e n t e r
P itt s b u r g h , P A
The educational visitors center is located at the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority in Pittsburgh, PA. ALCOSAN processes up to 250 million gallons of
water daily and their goal for this project was to educate the public about water usage.
The driving force behind the design of the visitors center was the concept of erosion. This erosion can be seen in the carved out plan of the building, the
eroded rivers edge, the central water retention basin, and in the sloping of the building sections towards the river. The building was also shaped by specific
views out from each wing of the building. The architecture utilizes sustainable strategies, such as clerestory windows and thermal mass to be environmentally
friendly.

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NC M A C omp e titio n
B roo k l y n , NY
The main focus of the NCMA competition is to
create a building using primarily CMUs for the
structure of the building. The creation of a custom
CMU block that functions as a planter box and
filters light allowed for the design of a ribbon wall.
As the central feature of the museum, this broken
ribbon wall extends the full height of the museum
and brings nature and light into the hard, synthetic
building to create a dynamic environment. The unique
location of the Brooklyn Bridge Museum allows the
building to have unobstructed views of the river in
front and an urban context behind.

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D e s i g n B u ild
P SU W at e r T o w e r
The Center for Sustainability is located in the northeast region of Penn States campus. Located on site is the
MorningStar Solar Home, the HyRES Laboratory, a greenhouse, community gardens, a garden house, and the
Sustainability Leadership Center.
The water tower is to serve the community gardens and uses completely reclaimed materials. The tower also features
a tank that can be lowered to the ground and raised back into position.

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23

This project focused on a flat-pack design of a wine rack

that utilized the CNC routing machine.
The concept was to create a zippering effect of the wine
bottles and to create a light-weight, transparent piece. The
zippered wine bottles create movement in the piece to
elevate the look of the cost-effective MDF material.

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D e s i g n B u ild
E n ot e c a W i n e R a c k

D e s i g n B u ild
G e od e s i c S p h e r e

The first step of the process was to create a wood frame to support the cladding. The concept
was to contrast the lightness of the structure with the heavy metal exterior - the polar opposite of
what you would assume architecture to be. The wood and metal elements also contrast in color and
reflectivity.
All of these concepts play up the visual interest, was enhanced through recessing and projecting the
pieces to create different shadows.

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H a n d D ra w i n g
P ala z z o V e c c h io
The purpose of the Ufizzi drawing is to show
how multiple drawings can be combined into
one through proper formatting, drawing
techniques, and the use of line weights. The
plan of the Ufizzi by Giorgio Vasari is in
the background of the drawing while in the
foreground there is a prominent section cut of
the building that transforms into a perspective.
These three drawings are necessary to fully
understand the buildings composition and
organization. The hierarchy division of the
facade is visible and is further enhanced by
the section cut. The window details are seen
through the perspective, and the buildings
complexity can be seen in the plan.

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Linework

H a n d D ra w i n g
V illa S t e i n

h ad e

S h ado w

The intention of this project was to show the complexity of le Corbusiers Villa Stein through the
use of shade and shadow on the buildings elevation. The breakdown of the step-by-step process
clearly displays the effects of each process on the final outcome of the composition.

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