K a s s a n dra Ma r i a Le i va
d es i gn p o r t f o l i o
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TA BLE O F C O N TENT S Arc hit e c t ura l Desi gn 6... Ferry Terminal 16... Public Library 24... Urban Design 32... Two Unit House
O r na me nt Desi gn 42... Threshold: Edgerton Park 46... Ornament Experiments
Communit y Proj ects 50... Talk Back to the Bus 52... Urban Canopy Parklet
Profe ssiona l Wo rk 58...
Visua lizati o n 62...Travel Sketches 64...Architectural Drawings 66...Art
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A R C H ITEC TU R A L D E SIGN
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F ER RY TER MIN A L The Ferry Terminal project responds to a studio prompt to design a food and transportation hub in Soundview. My design proposal takes advantage of the natural landscape to both ground the building in the site and maintain a light and airy sensibility. The major moves in the project are light wells that provide natural daylighting and gardens that cut into the building and provide views to local flora and fauna as well as out to the sound, the nearby park and the adjacent city fabric, thereby visually connecting the building further to its surroundings. In the interior, architectural ornament creates undulating ceilings, which terminate in intricate columns and gates that accentuate the building’s relationship to its site. *Architectural studio critic: Martin Finio.
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Left to right: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floor plans
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The diagram above shows a section through the aquaculture garden and terminal space. The garden functions at multiple levels, providing seafood for consumption, recreational space around it, and a unique lighting condition where light is reflected into the interior of adjacent programs such as the terminal shown below, through ornamental water wells.
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Photographs of model showing lighting conditions described in diagram.
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Below: Section of building through warehouse, greenhouse, and kitchen/administrative spaces. Green house in center services the kitchen, excess food is stored in warehouse.
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P UBLIC LIBR A RY This 3-story library utilizes a distinct language of curving walls resulting from the peeling action of the facade, as can be seen clearly in plan. The walls, curving inward, gently modulate light and minimize glare. They then terminate in windows or doors that are intricately ornamented. The ornament highlights the concept of threshold. The library is meant to be a place of exploration and discovery. Between the space-making curving wall gestures and the singularly placed ornament, the intended experience is one that follows elements of the picturesque. *Architectural studio critic: Brennan Buck.
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“Hidden” Study
Stacks
Office/Conference Room
Rooftop Garden
Circulation/Reference Stacks
Special Collections Reading Room
Stack Storage
Small Auditorium Study
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Cafe
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U R BA N D ES IG N This urban design project analyzes the site of Broadway junction and attempts to connect the urban environment with the existing biodiversity of birds. This is a study of bird and human habitats and the potential connection between the two. The current (and evolving) proposal includes two selected sites around the periphery of the cemetery. The objective of this project is to provide a replicable example for how to enhance urban ecological microcosms that do not fit the category of park. How can these be connected? How does one bring awareness to the life these places harbor? *Critic: Alan Plattus, in collaboration with Alex Velaise.
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Platform
Cup Shaped Pendant Sphere
Secluded Place
Cavity
Mound Plate
Simple Scrape
Study of different bird nest elevations.
Conceptual section showing a variety of urban creatures at different elevations.
Section through site showing cemetery and elevated train tracks.
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Proposed sites for interventions.
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PHASES
Site 1
Site 2
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1
2
3
4
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STRATEGIES Toolkit of Remediation Strategies to prepare sites for more permanent bird and plant habitats.
Fungi-boardwalk (permeable walkway)
Bioswale
Carwash--watershed
Mycoremediation
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Trees as sound barriers.
Rain garden
Permeable walls: gabion wall
Permeable walls: vertical garden
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T WO U N IT H O U S E This house project responds to the studio prompt of the Yale Building Project, which partnered with the Columbus House, an institution that provides shelter and support for the homeless, to design a home for their clients. The project includes a family unit and an individual tenant unit. My design focuses on maintaining a feeling of security and privacy while providing plenty of light and views. On the interior, the main utilities for providing services and hygiene are within and around a vertical core: the restrooms are in the center and auxiliary furnitures such as storage cabinets are attached to the outer wall of the core. The rooms of the house spiral around the core so that every space is visually connected. The project aims to explore what differentiates a house from simple shelter. *Architectural studio critic: Joeb Moore.
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solarium with operable windows living room, access to half bath combined dining and kitchen core contains full bath + half bath
entrance through small parlour
bedroom, access to full bath
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Program of house spirals around core. Two units may be interlocked to form a twin typology.
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A neighborhood.
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O R N A MEN T D E SIGN
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T HR ES H O LD O R N A MEN T This is a design for a collection of ornamented items that create a threshold for New Haven’s Edgerton Park, which has a plant nursery close to the chosen entrance. The nursery has Gothic features, and the ornament design on this page explores different past styles such as Gothic, Art Deco, and Art Nouveau. I invented a grammar of ornament that allows for my additions to speak to nature with their vegetal motifs. Explorations of geometry include: 1. seriality; 2. phasing; and 3.radiality. These patterns make up the elements of the entrance threshold: the finials that accessorize the crenelations of the wall, the gate itself, and the lamps flanking either side. *This project was part of Kent Bloomer’s ornament course. My work was published in Yale’s esteemed Retrospecta journal.
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O R N A MEN T EX PER IMEN TS The following are experiments with material, geometry, and ornament. Bottom right are snippets of an independent study bridging the fields of ornament design and ecology. Sketches show thoughts on how and why ornament can help illustrate important information semiotically about urban ecological experiments.
Pattern 3D printed: Parquet and the golden section
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Curtain panel design with overlapping parametric geometry.
...�Ornament is a genotype expressed as different phenotypes across species. The examples I give above may seem simple: a bee pollinator hotel, a bird house, and a lamp. They are all vastly different objects, but visually they form a family because of their form as well as the ornament on them. The bee hotel has a particular organization that serves as a structure, but in the lamp this organization is purely relational and aesthetic.You need all three to form a network of placefullness and understanding�...
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C O MMU N ITY PRO J ECT S
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TA LK BAC K TO TH E BU S Under the guidance of Professor Elihu Rubin at Yale, I have been working on a project titled ‘Talk Back to the Bus’ for which we have been gathering information about the bus system and lack of bus shelters in New Haven. We have specifically focused on the bus stop outside the Center for Mental Health of Connecticut (CMHC). We have been interviewing its predominant users, predominantly CMHC patients. This project aims to bring visibility to public transportation and to bus riders who are socio-economically vulnerable and rely heavily on the bus system. We are trying to establish the basic needs that the city should provide, and we will produce a client report. *Other student collaborators include Alejandro Duran and Grant Laster.
The sketches below depict a range of body postures at the bus stop.
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PARK ST
E BUS
us stop?
S. FRONTAGE RD
OAK ST
D
N VA YL
AV E
PARK ST
CMHC
HO W AR
E AV
S
Below is an exploratory model for the client. Fun Roof
Shelter in 3 or 4 detachable modules
Informational Panels
Chair modules, detachable and groupable
Recycling and Trash bins Sliding side pieces to adjuist openness of enclusre
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U R BA N C A N O PY PA R K LE T The Urban Canopy project is a winning competition entry to the City of New Haven’s call for parklet designs (in collaboration with student Misha Semenov). We will be working with the city to construct the parklet in the spring. Our project takes up 2 parking spaces and provides seating and repose. We chose Fair Haven as the intended location because this neighborhood would benefit from street infrastructure that provides a sense of community. The design features 5 canopies that mimic the tree silhouettes of New Haven’s street trees. Each seating station also includes information and details as a form of public education. Read more here: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/parklets_/ http://wtnh.com/2017/10/11/yale-students-win-award-for-urban-canopy-design-thatwill-become-reality-in-new-haven/
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Construction in Progress
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5ft 4ft 9.5in
7ft
3ft 3.25in 4ft 2in
3ft
7ft
7ft
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PRO FES S IO N A L WORK
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P ROFES S IO N A L WO R K Work represented is from Robert Orr & Associates (Fall 2015), Mitchell Studio (Spring 2016), and Kent Bloomer Studio (Summer 2017). Pictured below: Models made for Mitchell studio, my duties involved making physical models and drafting construction documents. On the next page, pictured above: Sculpture (to be installed on school building in China) created with Kent Bloomer Studio. I participated in design development and construction. Pictured right, below: Web design for Robert Orr & Associates.
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Architectural Ornament Sculpture based on the geometry of the Chinese puzzle ball.
Homepage of website designed for ROA.
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V IS UA LIZATION
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T R AV EL S K ETC H ES The following are a few of my travel sketches. Below is a sketch from Sao Paulo, Brazil of Lina Bobardi’s SESC Pompeia. On the right, drawings constitute a collection of sketches done through the Shellman Travel Prize I received at Princeton University. Travels included Prague, Vienna, and Ljubljana. Pictured from left to right are sketches of: A river sleuce by Joze Plecnik, the Mozarteum by Jan Kotera, and Hietzing Station by Otto Wagner.
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A R C H ITEC TU R A L D R AW INGS Drawings from various architectural assignments.
Based on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Johnson Wax Headquarters building.
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A RT Artwork below was showcased at an exhibition at the MAC650 Gallery in Middletown.
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