Grace Allen / 2023 Portfolio
Contents Contact Grace Allen 838 Huntington Ave Apt. 3 Boston MA, 02115 allen.gra@northeastern.edu +1 (603) 686 - 4234 Urbanism Studio Green Layers 01 02
Seijo Town House Study Walk-Up Housing Architectonics Artwork 03 04 05 06 8'-5 1 2 " 1'-5" 6' 8' Vapor Barr er Basement F oor S ab W re Mesh Concrete Footing Dra nage Pipe Grave Poured in P ace Concrete Foundation Wal Water Proo ng R gid Insu at on Drainage Mat 2x10 Floor Joist F n shed Floor Sub oor Metal T e F oor Jo st 8'-713 16 " 3 Decking 4' 3'-4" 3'-4" 10 3 4 " 9'-9 1 2 " 1' 14 Heavy T m Metal Tie Bond Beam Flash ng Flash ng Flash ng Flash ng Weep Ho e Stee Linte L ght Shelf L ght Shelf Stee Linte Masonry T e Masonry T e Masonry T e Masonry T e Weep Hole Weep Ho e Weep Ho e Weep Ho e A r S pace Cav ty Rigid Insulation Water Proo ng Modular B rick Veneer CMU Wal Modular B rick Veneer CMU Wal A r S pace Cav ty Rigid Insulation Water Proo ng 10’ -3/4”
01 Urbanism Studio / 2022
Mission Hill / Roxbury, Boston MA
This project began with setting design objectives. The biggest three were Connectivity, Nature, and Community. Establishing community space was very important at a site like this where many demographics intersect.
There are two housing projects around the site which both are very recognizable. I did a mapping study of imageablity in the area and wanted this project to serve as another landmark to help pedestrians understand their relative location. After deciding which existing conditions would remain, I began designing by massing out large organic shapes to provide a recognizable site as well as promote my connectivity design objective. It is designed with no street walls so pedestrians feel welcome to wander in.
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Key
Tremont St.
OrangeLineTracks
Parker St. PrentissSt.
01 Urbanism Studio / 2022 Urban Framework
These Urban Framework Diagrams help to establish my design objectives and choices. There are sweeping organic entries to the site seen in the diagram to the right. Two main arteries cross through this project. The larger vertical artery is a shared pedestrian and vehicle street. The horizontal artery connects the Southwest Corridor on the right of the site with the rest of the project. These arteries also give guidelines for program.
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Aside from walk-up and existing housing, the project is not residential on the first floor. The floors continue to be commercial on the southern portion of the site because Tremont street is a busy commercial street and this project should support that. The programs on the first floor promote local businesses and shopping to help create jobs and economy for the residents and locals.
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Commercial Food & Beverage Athletics Community Building Services Residential
Urbanism Studio / 2022 Axonometric Drawing
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This drawing begins to show more detail of this design. The buildings on the north of the site are primarily residential. The two buildings nearest the orange line tracks curve away from the exposed tracks to create more desirable units. The smaller residential building on the west of the site is affordable and accessible walk-up housing.
The first floor of these buildings have store front conditions to support local businesses and shopping. Curved awnings provide shade and protection from the elements to the exterior of the first floor. Land bridges with pedestrian and bike paths are formed on either side of the tracks to connect the Southwest Corridor to the project.
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Urbanism Studio / 2022 Design Guidelines
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Urbanism Studio / 2022
Roof Plan and Perspectives
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02 Green Layers / 2022
Madrid, Spain
This project began by being assigned nine programs of various sizes and categories. I was assigned with table tennis, archery, handball, wood shop, exhibit space, urban park, urban farm, reading rooms, and a disco. After evaluating potential connections and collisions of the programs I decided that I wanted to emphasize the urban park in my project. Madrid has several parks and forests throughout the city and suburbs but the heart of the city is lacking vegetation. The COAM (Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid) is across from the site. This building has some outdoor green space and my project extends and expands from this.
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02 Green Layers / 2022 Massing
Because of the emphasis on the urban park, I wanted to integrate the outdoors into the indoors. The massing was designed as if it was built around existing trees on the site. Another goal of this project was to keep and maximize the green space. The building foot print on the first floor was minimized in order to achieve this goal.
The stacking strategy of this project also allows there to be an outdoor green space on each floor. These spaces are small gardens and relaxing spaces that fit under my urban farm and reading room requirements. The urban farm is expanded in a butterfly garden on the walls of the most narrow portion of this site.
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Total Project Area
Ground Floor Area
Green Park Space
Building Space
02 Green Layers / 2022 Plans
First Floor Plan Handy Workshop
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Basement
Half Handball Court (daytime) Disco (nighttime)
Second Floor
Reading Room
Third Floor
Exhibit Space
Fourth Floor
Archery
Roof Plan
Urban Park and Gardens
02 Green Layers / 2022 Tree Study
Because this project was meant to introduce vegetation into the heart of Madrid, it was very important to do a study of local flora and fauna. I learned that the Bosque Metropolitano is a large park and forest in Madrid. I wanted this project to introduce a taste of that atmosphere. I researched four other parks and forests in Madrid and found their most popular tree and shrub types.
This project features a butterfly garden and in order to successfully integrate that into my design, I had to research if Madrid had local species that could support butterflies. I learned that they did and many of them were located in the parks I had already selected for precedent.
Trees:
Forest: Ash, Juniper, Kermes Oak, Gall Oak, Rosemary, Rock Rose
City: Arbutus, Acacia, Elm, Cypress, Beechwood
Shrubs for Butterflies:
Rosemarie, Rock Rose, Vines, Lily of the Valley, Lantana, Shasta Daisy
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18 Site Madrid
Green Layers / 2022 Sections
These sections make the trees growing through the building more apparent. Because there is a basement in this project, the ground where the trees are planted need room for roots. The basement houses the half handball court during the day and the disco at night.
The material of the building is also a large part of the project. The facade in the front of the project is a metal mesh with vegetation growing through it. Madrid’s climate allows for this permeable facade. The back facade is mostly glazing. This see through appearance emphasizes the connection from the COAM through this project.
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The rest of the building is made of wood formed concrete and corten steel. As the trees grow and change so will the building. The steel will rust and change color over the course of many years. The butterfly garden is visible in the long section. Wooden plant boxes stretch across the narrow part of the site attracting and feeding butterflies.
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Green Layers / 2022 Model Photos and Perspectives
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03 Seijo Town House Study / 2021
Tokyo, Japan
The Seijo Town Houses by Kazuyo Sejima & Associates is a housing complex consisting of block shape units. There are fourteen units in this complex. To access the site, you walk up on a large driveway and enter the units by pathway. On the ground level the units are not connected. Each has at least one bedroom, kitchen and multiple living spaces. There is no consistent pattern to how each units is organized. The units stack on each other and layer in between each other like a puzzle. If a unit doesn’t reach the third floor it most likely has basement access where it may also have a below grade courtyard. Units that do reach the third floor have a terrace on the roof of the unit below them.
The program organization is fairly simple. The ground floor only houses dining rooms and kitchens, and living rooms. The basement houses all programs including, main bedroom, regular bedroom, kitchen and dining, and living rooms. The second floor has many kitchen and dining spaces and a handful of main bedrooms and living spaces. The third floor houses only main and regular bedroom and living spaces on the terraces.
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Seijo Town House Study / 2021 Project Data and Unit Configuration
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26 Unit J Unit F Unit N Configuration
03 Seijo Town House Study / 2021 Plans and Program
Third Floor
Second Floor
First Floor
Basement
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Key
Main Bedroom
Bedroom
Living room
Dining and Kitchen
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Walk-Up Housing / 2021
Northeastern Campus, Boston MA
During this studio we were tasked with creating graduate and affordable walk-up housing in an empty parking lot on Northeastern’s Campus. There was a street in Boston’s city planning that was never actually built. For this project we imagined this street was a reality and one apartment building was destroyed in order to provide access to the street. This project was done in the Spring of 2021 when Covid-19 was still heavily affecting our world. My goal for this project was to establish and promote comfortable and safe social interaction in a post Covid-19 world while still providing each resident a place to call their own. Slow integration back to the real world is important after a time where everyone has to distant themselves from others. Each floor of the complex has a “social zone” with a different program. Part of this project was also to design fenestration guidelines. In this project the window shape and size relates to the program and space of the interior.
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Walk-Up Housing / 2021 Massing and Private vs . Public
Social Zone
Street Side Units
Back Side Units
This design is made up of private and social areas. There is social space both in the unit and in the communal space of the floor. As you move through the unit, the spaces become more private. This is a very important part of the project because in order to feel comfortable being social, it is helpful to know you have your own space to come back to. The social zones in this project are workspace, cooking and dining space, indoor leisure, and outdoor leisure.
The module was designed using mirror techniques. The street side and back side units in the module are identical. Because I did a study of the Seijo Town houses prior to this project, I used a pushing and pulling technique to form the modules. The parts that are pulled out provide a terrace for the unit above.
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Private Public
Walk-Up Housing / 2021 Plans and Sections
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Walk-Up Housing / 2021 Plans and Sections
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Walk-Up Housing / 2021 Aggregation and Site Plan
Mirror Aggregation
Mirror and Rotation Aggregation
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As explained before, the module was designed using a mirror technique. To create the rectangle complex, the module was mirrored creating a large social zone. This double module was mirrored again but separated on the first floor to allow a pathway to flow through the front and back of the site. To complete the triangular complex, the doubled module was mirrored and rotated around to fit the southern area of the site.
The pathways on the exterior of the project were designed to lead to individual patios on the first floor units. These paths also come off the street and attach to outdoor eating spaces on the left, and skate parks on the right. The trees help to provide privacy on the first floor units. The windows of the bedrooms are staggered so they don’t look into each other but the vegetation provides privacy from pedestrians on the walkways.
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Walk-Up Housing / 2021 Fenestration and Water Color Renders
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Private Unit Public
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Renders
Building Public
42 8'-5 1 2 " 1'-5" 10 3 4 " 1'-2 5 8 " 6' 7'-3 5 8 " 8' Gravel Vapor Barr e Basemen F oor S ab Wire Mesh Concrete Foot ng Drainage P pe Grave Pou ed in P ace Concrete Founda ion Wa Wate Proo ng R g d Insu a ion Dra nage Mat 2x10 F oor Jo st F n shed F oo Sub oor Me a T e F oor Joist 8'-713 16 " 3 Deck ng 4' 3'-4" 3'-4" 10 3 4 " 9'-9 1 2 " 1' 14 Heavy T mber Beam Me a T e Bond Beam 2x10 Roo Rafte 2x10 Ra ter Me a T e R g d nsu at on D a nage System Parapet Wa l Roo Membrane Green Roof System F ash ng F ash ng F ash ng F ash ng F ash ng F ash ng F ash ng Weep Ho e Counter F ash ng Stee L ntel L ght She f L ght She f Stee L ntel Masonry Tie Masonry Tie Masonry Tie Masonry Tie Masonry Tie Masonry Tie Masonry Tie Weep Ho e Weep Ho e Weep Ho e Weep Ho e Weep Ho e Weep Ho e A r Space Cav ty R g d Insu a on Wate P oo ng Bond Beam Modu a B ck Veneer CMU Wa l Gypsum Wall Board Furr ng Modu a B ck Veneer CMU Wa l Modu a B ck Veneer CMU Wa l A r Space Ca ty R g d Insu a on Wa er Proo ng A r Space Cav ty Rig d nsulat on Wate P oo ng 10’ -3/4” Grace Allen Prof. Sheldahl 11/14/20 ARCH 2240 05
Architectonics / 2020 Brick Cavity Wall Detail
43 Grace Allen ARCH 2240 Architectonic Systems 3/8” = 1’ Left Facade Elevation Allen 2240 Architectonic Systems Facade Elevation Watch Tower Elevations Grace Allen ARCH 2240 Architectonic Systems 3/8” = 1’ First Level Flooring and Plan Systems Grace Allen ARCH 2240 Architectonic Systems 3/8” = 1’ Second Level Flooring and Plan First Level Flooring and Plan Second 05 Architectonics / 2020 Watch Tower
and Drawings
Design
44 Architectonic Systems Elevation Grace Allen ARCH 2240 Architectonic Systems 3/8” = 1’ Right Facade Elevation
ARCH 2240 Architectonic Systems 3/8” = 1’ Roof Framing
Grace Allen
Second Level Flooring and Plan Roof Framing
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Artwork / 2018 - Present
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Grace Allen / 2023 Portfolio
