Allison Sudlow Portfolio 2022

ALLISON SUDLOW PORTFOLIO

Allison Sudlow About Me

I grew up in Aiken, SC, a small southern town rich in history and the arts. I have had a love for these topics since I was little, attending art class religiously at school and watching westerns and nature films with my grandfather after school.

When I started high school my Mom and Dad suggested I apply for the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville, SC to pursue my dream of becoming a Disney animator. After taking several courses in animation I was able to design 3D spaces that I was supposed to animate within, but could not stop designing new environments in Maya and Mudbox. It reminded me of playing Sims 3 growing up so I then decided to pursue a career in video game development. That was until I had my first architecture class the next semester.

I designed my first project in Spring of 2019 and then no one could tell me that there was a better career for me than architecture. It held the history, art, and narrative that I had come to adore while studying fine arts at the Governor’s school while having the bonus of impacting a greater community of

While studying at Clemson University I have been able to develop my personal definition of architecture and expand my passions. Video games and creating art are still near and dear to my heart but I have furthered my love for construction, outdoor activities, and gardening while living in Clemson. I am very grateful to my family, friends, and mentors who have guided me to the point I am and cannot wait to continue to grow as an artist, architect, and person.

1. the most widely available art form to the general public, no matter one’s age, gender, race, status, or walk of life.

2. something that improves the daily lives of the communities; the prime directive of every architect.

Contents

Urban Garden on Tenth

Chelsea, NY Third Year Fall Studio

Clemson University 2022

Professor Clarissa Mendez

Partner Caitlin Manion

For this office building I focused on how designs centered on beauty and mental health impact the workplace and productivity. Countless studies have been conducted on how this works in our minds and it has been found that natural lighting, vegetation, spatial usage, and color have the largest influences.

The building acts as a transition from the Highline to the rest of the surrounding context through greenery, geometry, transparency, and materiality. The usage of native plants on the Highline inspired the plant, tree, and shrub selections for the urban plaza, on site park, external and internal green walls, and the gardens throughout the building. Geometry has an important role in directing foot traffic. The width, shape, and direction of pavement invites visitors when they are open, easily visible, have appeal, and are appropriately placed in relation to the surrounding context. I used glass throughout our building to create transparency in the material. The lower public areas have more glass and open floor plans than the higher private floors. Sound works in a similar way here. Finally I chose the materials very carefully. Polished concrete works as the floor plates to coordinate with the exterior pavement and gray of New York. Strip wood sets the cores apart from the rest of the building as they are the only natural material other than the green walls throughout the building, and they relate well with the trees that triangulate the site.

The site and surrounding context are vital to the building as the Highline, foot traffic, and food options have informed countless aspects of the design. The cutouts that allow the trees to thrive near the building are made of revolved geometric arches, located where they will get the most sun on the site. On top of allowing the trees and vegetation to grow healthy, the cutouts also minimize reflections onto neighboring buildings. The Highline has informed the vegetation and the decision to make the structure visible. Steel beams and columns provide a challenge to our desire for fluidity, pushing us in interesting ways. Foot traffic in New York is famous for being crowded and intense, so we have opened up the sidewalk and invited pedestrians to come into our gardens, park, and small covered pavilions on the ground floor. Within this plaza we intend to bring in rotational food trucks in order to bring new flavors and variety in palette to the site.

I formed the unique floor plate shapes by pushing and pulling the edges in accordance with the 22' x 20' grid that spans the building. Using this as a foundation for all the outlines pushed my creativity and understanding of structure as I figured out where load bearing walls and open air spaces could and should occur. The two rough sketches to the right show the process and the back and forth that occurred throughout the development of the project.

Rough Floor Plate Sketch

Rough Push and Pull Sketch

Ground Floor Plan

Office Sixth Floor Plan

Speculative Second Floor Plan

Rooftop Cafe Tenth Floor Plan

One challenge that I struggled with was designing through section, as this would create more interesting vertical and horizontal spans that I would not be able to imagine through plan. With this in mind I found that the cores and atrium could play off of each other and form relationships with each other and the facade of the building. I began by following the grid but it was too boring, so I split them using the quarter rule and that was even worse. Then I started to augment the quartered placement and to focus on what sort of spaces they made on each floor, making sure that the stairs didn't land on open air. This created intimate spaces surrounding the sides and rear of each core block and allowed there to be usable spaces around the atrium without disrupting the egress of the elevators and stairs (see right sketch).

Atrium Reading Experience Sketch

Cross Section 02

Atrium Mid Day Render

10 |

Urban Garden on Tenth 2022 with Caitlin Manion

One of my guiding principles is involving the community within the buildings I design and this project was no different. The site was unique in its proximity to two schools, a daycare facility, several galleries, other office buildings, and an apartment complex. With so many different groups of people that this building could benefit I found the most important aspects were providing food options, educational experiences, and green spaces to those in and out of the building.

The urban plaza is the first part of the building that is seen and experienced by visitors so I included experiences that would be tempting to the surrounding demographic. Several small gardens litter the site with intentionally designed geometric pathways intended to invite. Some of the garden areas are covered and seating is available throughout, providing shelter from the elements for the patrons of the buses and other public transport that are very popular on 10th Avenue. In the back corner of the site, next to the Highline stairs, is a small park with play equipment and lots of seating for the children and parents in the area. Under the Highline lies the Underline, a versatile pop-up area with rotational dining, shopping, and lounging options that are constantly changing. The spaces themselves are sectioned off using the fabric screens that unroll from the base of the light poles and clip into the other neighboring lights. This allows for variety and interaction from the community to take place in the space.

Early Morning Post Rain Render

Mid Day Lower Level Cafeteria Render

Late Night Post Party Rooftop Cafe Snowing Render Evening Playtime Park and Underline Pop-up Cafe Render

Urban Plaza Diagram

Final Model In-situ

Study Model 01

Study Model 02

Study Model 03

The Welder Series

Artistry Gallery Greenville, SC

December 2022 Exhibition

Acrylic, Medium, & Sand on Canvas

Triptych Format and Display

2022 Welder’s Fulgor, Acrylic on Canvas 36” x 48”

2022 Flying Sparks, Acrylic on Canvas 36” x 48”

Welding is an art form in itself, and as such deserves to be depicted in such a light. The three compositions work together linearly to guide the eye throughout the triptych. The warm tones occupy an important role in guiding the eye in a trapezoidal shape using the angles created with the body of the welder and their relationship with the light in each respective piece.

2022 A Light in the Dark, Acrylic on Canvas 36” x 48”

Throughout the process of designing the approach to the building I struggled with how to direct people to specific areas when they were not obvious. The long schism between the two parts of the building makes sense as a grand entrance but subverts expectations when visitors realize that the entrances are on the long narrow walls rather than the double doors at the end of the corridor. This set of doors leads to the upper level mezzanine that overlooks the black box theater below and is placed here for the convenience of deliveries and preservation of the magic of the theater for the audience.

The main entrance for first time visitors to the community center is under the bridge in the underground plaza. The three large ramps provide an approach that allows the viewer to observe activities taking place in the sunken area as well as visually explore this new landscape they are descending into. The placement of the entrance mimics that of a cave and increases the intimacy and protection of guests from the elements.

The beauty of the two main entrances not being initially obvious is that it forces people to explore or interact with others to bring the community together in childlike wonder and adventure.

Rough Parti Sketch

Rough Concept Sketch

Basement

Section Perspective 02

Gallery Day Time Render

Materiality was a primary challenge presented to the studio with this project as we had the unique opportunity to source masonry and stone from the quarry less than a mile away. I chose to proceed with brickwork to allow the community center to follow the standard of the surrounding buildings because the structure would already stand out due to the building being two stories taller than all the other buildings in a three block radius.

Masonry provided a set of complications for me as I enjoy playing with light in all of my designs and masonry tends to be heavy in large buildings. As such I created voids in the facade to allow light to permeate the interior spaces. This had the added benefit of making hundreds of singular views for guests in the community center,

as everyone will physically have a different perspective based on their height and view out of the small windows.

The interior schism remained solid to maintain itself as a separation of spaces and encourage exploration. That being said I did use glass sky bridges to lighten the spaces between and allow for amazing views one would normally be unable to experience from such heights anywhere else in Cayce.

Elevation 02

Bridge Split Night Render

Form is an experience and an illusion as it does not exist for certain until we touch it. Children between eighteen and twenty-four months have no concept of object permanence and have the purest experience of form being an illusion and a form all at once. The cave ponders the nature of this reality and the origin of knowledge as a meandering journey.

Light is physically and metaphorically broken down in the bath house through its refraction and reflection of the natural light rays throughout each pool and the placement of lighting fixtures in the main atrium, floating and dispersing in space like bubbles.

Initial Sketches and Concepts

Section Drawing 01

Maintaining the level of the water between the large and small pool rooms is vital to the experience as the head space above the water level of the pool dictates the reaction of the light within the space. The smaller pool room with intimate spaces has a much lower ceiling so the light is more intense and sharp in its shapes on the planes of the room. Inversely the tall ceilings with more light in the larger pool room allow for more but softer rays to permeate and play in the space.

The construction of the physical model proposed an interesting challenge as most of the structure is not only underground but also has water and specific views I wanted to be experienced. With this goal in mind I proceeded to make a dollhouse-esc model that had several missing walls to allow easy communication of the spaces. This created the need for increased stability in the corners of each section, so I added small struts inside the walls of the smaller rooms and unseen corners in order to better support the large pieces of museum board.

Maintaining a level ground place while keeping the dollhouse cutouts visible was a beast in its own right as it would warp in the middle of the voids where their was no way to invisibility support the length, or at corners where they warped due to weight or humidity. To fix this I applied a watered down Elmer’s glue to subtly warp the board in the opposite direction to which it would usually sag. This leveled out the worst areas and allowed me to limit the bulk of the obvious support to the black straw in the corner of the site.

Lastly, and most challengingly, was my portrayal of the water. Acrylic or plexi-glass would have been an easy enough representation for the water but it would not have created the shadows nor reflections that my entire concept was hinged on. I was determined to have this crucial bit in the model so I began experimenting with different materials in order to achieve the life-like ripples of water with the rigidity and stability of the acrylic.

I tried drying layer of acrylic medium, glue, resin, epoxy, hot glue, and even curls of plexi-glass on top of each other but none of them created the right likeness. I then tried creating thin textured layers on the acrylic sheets, as they were thinner, and found more success.

Sadly none of the aforementioned materials could both hold the shape of the water’s surface and create reflections and refractions that I was looking for. Only when I was at the hardware store picking up sealant for a mini-renovation project in my bathroom did I find the perfect material. Clear caulking became a saving grace in more than just the shower as I began iterating experiments of its use as a water surface. Eventually I figured out that if you caulked out ample product then smudge and texture the material it would dry in beautiful peaks and crests as well as cast the correct shadows.

Physical Model View 01

Physical Model View 02

Physical Model View 03

Physical Model View 04

Massing Process

The outer buildings contain the restrooms, changing rooms, and showers. The inner building contains mechanical and electrical, storage, and a family restroom and shower, and a large lobby space for the comfort of casual guests.

The material of the building is a smoothed out concrete shell that is easy to maintain longterm and creates an interactive space for younger visitors. The thick, hard walls make it possible for games of wall ball and chalk activities to take place with no damage to the structure. The main challenge with concrete on the interior is the space becoming too dark and claustrophobic, so I limited the height of the internal walls to twelve feet. This not only allows the head space to feel open an airy but also permits air flow within the spaces themselves.

Life Drawings

Life Drawings

The human body is a space and a subject, and portraying it in two dimensions has proven a challenge I take on whenever given the opportunity. These are some of countless pieces I have in my archives of life drawings and studies of the human form. These drawings are some of my favorite personal works because the subjects were recurring models who often talked while posing and it allowed me to more accurately capture their personalities in the works I showed them in.

2020 Pensive Bandanna Man, Charcoal 36” x 18”

2020 Emma Portrait 02, Subtractive Charcoal 18” x 36”

(Behind) 2020 Self Portrait, Ink 18” x 36”

2019 Fluid Gesture; Graphite and Conte 18” x 36”

2020 Dancing Male Figures, Mixed Media Collage, 18” x 36”

2020 Dancing Male Figures, Mixed Media Collage, 18” x 36”

2022 Strong Woman, Graphite, 18” x 36”

2020 Woman Standing, Mixed Media, 36” x 18”

Concentration

Downtown Greenville, SC Senior Concentration Studio SCGSAH 2020

Mentor Cary Perkins

For my senior project under Cary Perkins at the Governor’s School, I designed a theoretical mixed use, mixed income apartment complex that would satisfy the need for affordable housing in downtown Greenville by fulfilling consumer desires for safe teen hangouts and more variety in restaurants. The site itself is the cinch point between Reedy Falls Park and downtown Greenville. Keeping this in mind, I made sure the landscape acted as a natural transition between the two very different environments through the use of native plants, mostly natural pathways, and a variety of interactive spaces.

I involved the community I was designing for at as many stages as I could, from developing pathways based on where random people moved a game piece on my site map to interviewing street-goers on what they wanted in downtown Greenville.

Throughout the process, I was also researching several sustainable materials, methods, and maintenance practices that could not only benefit the local environment but save an exponential amount of money throughout the course of the building’s life. The most notable of these were the use of ashcrete, bamboo, the implementation of solar panels on the roofs and as decorative shading throughout the landscape, incorporation of living green roofs to maintain internal temperature fluctuations and reduce carbon emissions, the replanting of native flora throughout the landscaping, and the use of grey water systems on site. All of these sustainable solutions not only benefit the health of the site and its residents, but also reduce the upkeep of the complex tremendously over time.

The social needs of the community were met by using the commercial spaces on the first, second, third, and top floors containing a breakfast place, a more permanent home for the Greenville Farmer’s Market, a bizarre style hallway for visiting vendors to keep the lobby fresh, a safe teenage hang out spot, and a large day care for the residents use. The roof top acts as a cafe, bookstore, outdoor pavilion, gardens, and a radio station.

Experiential Drawing 01

3D Works

Brass Polished Earrings, Metal Working

Double Handled Vessel, Glazed Earthenware Speckled Cup, Glazed Earthenware Vined Vessel, Glazed Earthenware Basket , Glazed Earthenware

Traditional Mishima Bowl Set, Glazed Earthenware

Speckled Vase, Glazed Earthenware

Black Gold Cracked Vessel, Glazed Earthenware Textured Spiral Vessel, Glazed Earthenware

A-Frame Home

Philosophical Construct

Senior Fall Studio 2020 SCGSAH

Mentor Cary Perkins

I took inspiration from the treatises of John Locke to inspire this piece, each element of the space having a direct tie to one of his core philosophies.

I decided to create a home as all men were equal and free in existence together in nature, and in a home all people are to be of equal importance. I designed the home to be an A frame because Locke determined that divine rule was not the way of the world but rather a social contract where the lay people allow others to rule over them so long at said ruler protects their fundamental rights. The Social Contract was one of Locke’s most popular and understood concepts by society during this time.

Separation of power is shown in the literal separation of the modules and the ability to be remove pieces from the core and examined. This is how the basics of the separation of power works because when you know how and why something works you are aware of when such systems are being abused. This visibility and awareness of the system is symbolically represented in the windows that take up the majority of the front and rear facades.

Finally we come to the center of the household: the hearth. The hearth heats the home and allows life to be comfortable but more complex. You have to keep the fire going which creates more responsibilities for those who are involved in the upkeep and procurement of the fire. In this case education and the obtainment of knowledge is the hearth.

1st Place Young Women in Arts Converse Contest 2020

The model itself was designed to be interacted with by the viewer; the right hand panel of the roof opens on a paper hinge to allow access to the interior, and the top floor is entirely removable to allow access to the floor below it.

In order to do this I had to create rigid stationary pieces that the removable and mobile modules could base their movements off of. After several study models I was able to finalize the construction of a paper hinge that was strong but subtle enough to support the opening and closing of the right roof portion. Once this was constructed to close seamlessly within the frame of the two windowed facades and the other roof side, I was able to begin fabrication of the interior mobile pieces. To make sure the loft could be easily removed and replaced I had to ensure it had a snug fit over the hearth void and the bathroom. I accomplished this by roughly sanding the edges of contact so friction would grab onto the other surfaces with ease.

Physical Model Detail 01

Physical Model Detail 02

Ground Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan

The places that surround our lives only come to life and hold meaning when we pour love and soul into them. It is a hard thing to start a community, even harder to keep it together, but without community and interactions with others we are not human.

The spaces we create, the art we make, the relationships we make with one another to come closer together are what make us human and what makes life worth living. That is architecture to me: an art, a feeling, a community, a way of being, and a change of perspective.

SELECTED WORKS 2018 - 2022 ARCHITECTURE IS EVERYWHERE.