Fall 2024 Catherine Zhu Portfolio

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August 2022 – May 2027

Ithaca, NY

Septermber 2018 - June 2022

Portland, OR

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Bachelor of Architecture | Real Estate Minor | GPA: 4.04

OREGON EPISCOPAL SCHOOL

High School | GPA: 4,0

May – August 2023

Portland, OR

Populous | Architecture Intern

• Created site and program diagrams for Deschutes Expo proposal which ultimately win the project

• Presented research proposal into mass timber sports architecture by comparing precedent analysis and past Populous projects

• Initiated preliminary design ideation for renovation of 100 year old expo center into mass timber indoor track facility

• Built site model and modified site drawings for new shared training facility for national women’s soccer and basketball teams

June – August 2023

Portland, OR English

RHINO VRAY ADOBE SUITE ENSCAPE CLIMATE STUDIO BLENDER

Nike. | Sales Athlete

• Assisted more than 100 customers daily during back to school season – accomplished over 10 member connections and app downloads in 2 weeks

• Partook in fiscal year end company store review: examined revenue and current Nike strategies to reposition store to excel in the post pandemic environment

• Summarized best selling products and sales projections as a team to project following year’s sales

Paul Dickinson Prize

Awarded by the faculty of the Department of Architecture to the first-year undergraduate architecture student attaining the highest scholastic record

3rd PLace | Barbara G. Laurie NOMAS Student Design Competition

Annual student design competition with more than 40 participating nationwide chapters taking place at the NOMA conference

CASS PARK LIBRARY

MENDING THE DIVIDE

HOUSE INTERCEPTED

THE BACKYARD

THE AVANT GARDEN COOKHOUSE

NAPLES STATION STRUCTURAL MODEL

PORTLAND EXPO CENTER RENOVATION

FALL 24’
SUMMER 24’
SPRING 23’
SPRING 24’

1 CASS PARK LIBRARY

SPRING 24’ Positioned in Cass Park within Ithaca, New York, this public library initially started out as three main lines, one geared towards the natural views, one facing the lake views, and one oriented towards the recreational park inland. Combined, these three hyperbolas create the basic form that rises from the Cass Park land to create occupiable space for community members of all ages to enjoy, while nestled within upstate New York’s natural beauty.

Initial paper studies using only cutting and folding techniques were tested in order to play with this “emerging landscape” form. Later, these lines of motion transformed into the three driving forces based on the adjacent setting : recreational, aquatic, and ecological.

This exploded axonometric structure displays the main mass timber components which make up the green roofs emerging from the landscape as well as the precise intersection between the three masses.

The plans show how the intermediary mass bisects the bottom two hyperbolas, acting both as an opportunity to view the lake outside but also as a form of circulation which brings visitors from the more children geared book stacks in the North to the adult focused stacks in the South.

Sectonal cuts showcase the sloped green roofs and the placement of roof beams supporting them as well as the continous rhythm established between exterior and interior, the natural and the man-made, based on the placement of walls and masses.

Various environmental systems were considered within the design as well, integrating techniques like natural cross ventilation, photovoltaic panels, green roofs, passive shading, and rainwater collection.

2 MENDING THE DIVIDE:

A NEEDLE, A THREAD, AND A FUTURE WOVEN FALL 24’

Mending the Divide is our Cornell team’s entry into the annual NOMAS Barbara G. Laurie Student Design competition. In 2024, the site was situated in West Baltimore and our objective was to create a new transit centered design that would heal the community from the “Highway to Nowhere”, a stretch of U.S. 40 which divided and displaced predominantly Black communities in the 70s.

Our design is grounded in bringing back was taken by sticking true to the historical maps while creating an elevated transit system that would bring people from all walks of life to the area. We highlighed the performance art history of the region and provided affordable housing units with a farmer’s cooperative living system, to include a diversity of community members into this renovation. Finally, mural spaces were provided throughout as a means for this neighborhood to paint their history forward during a time of healing.

By elevating the train system, opening up the ground to consolidate traffic lanes, we created a pedestrian only walkway that connected and wove together our various programs, from performance spaces, through affordable housing, all the way to the farmers co-op.

View from American Ice Factory and historical artifact exhiibtions
View from farmer’s co-op

Consolidating the two roads, Mulberry St. and Franklin St. into one central spine very literally sews together the division and brings the community together once more, this time at the destination of a vibrant transit hub

3 HOUSE INTERCEPTED

FALL 23’

House intercepted utilized the concept of a mutually beneficial relationship between a new dwelling and an existing building on the Ithaca Gunfactory site. Formally, the new dwelling latches on to the existing structure, seemingly holding it back from its imminent tumble down the gorge nearby.

The human body transcends through the slowly engulfing body of the new structure as it envelopes the old building, overwhelming it and changing its identity. The body then is able to experience the threshold between host and parasite by moving deeper and deeper into the house, or “organism”.

The form of two L’s twisting away from each other along one line of motion, representing the threshold of the cliff, became the starting point of design

The exploded axonometric displays the relationship between the interior structure and the facade as the organism’s “tentacles” grip onto the structure, making its way further in land away from the gorge

Allocation of program is determined by how close a room is to the entrance; the further one descends down the gorge cliff, the more private the space becomes. Thus, the most public, such as kitchen and living room, comes first, and the most private, such as bedroom and study, is furthest away from the entrance

4 THE BACKYARD

FALL 24’ Currently, housing demand in the county of Trumansburg, New York is on the rise. This being a semester long partner project, both my partner and I agreed to utilize the natural and suburban landscape to guide the design towards prioritizing the young families and seniors in the area, while promoting recreational activity as well. Leaning into our chosen building precedent, Hertzberger’s Diagoon Housing, CMU and plywood were chosen as the main materials to maintain affordability and enable incremental growth

The design proposal reinforces the natural character of Trumansburg through a dominant natural corridor insulated by two rows of housing. This corridor ats as a large shared backyard that allows for recreational activities and water management. Throughout the site, bioswales direct the water from North to South, permitting runoff water to filter into the Habitat Nature Preserve and the nearby Trumansburg Creek.

To accomodate both young and old residents in the area, the design is composed of horizontal L-shaped units that are ADA compliant for seniors and vertical S-shaped units for young families. These units are arranged in blocks with a shared wet wall in between every duo, providing ease for future adjustments to plumbing fixtures. The rest of the interior walls are constructed with CMU, following a grid based on the masonry unit dimension

In addition, the proposal forecasts two potential “year X” futures and imagines how the affordable housing will adapt and grow through incremental housing methods

The first scenario imagines an urban overflow future, predicting that urban flight from major cities like New York to smaller rural towns like Trumansburg due to growing preferences for natural , slower paced living will cause a surge in population, The site plan shows the densification that takes place such as the addtional indoor pool and commercial spaces that are developed within the “natural corridor” from new booming businesses

The second scenario imagines an ecological overflow future, predicting an increase in precipitation due to climate change, causing more frequent flooding. Water management will become more critical for maintenance of the site and the natural corridor will transform into more of a wetland with flourishing biodiversity from frequent inundations

Note that in the following axons of the future scenarios red denotes the incremental housing changes.

In the urban overflow scenario in which densification occurs, previous 3-4 feet low garden walls are built up to enclose new auxiliary bedroom spaces for incoming residents. Rooftops become occupiable as patios too.

In the ecological overflow scenario, roofs become water management devices with the inclusion of sedum and green roofs. Gutters also move water towards the central water collection system, directing it towards the natural bioswales. Adjacent stairs are also added for emergency situations and alternative, polyvalent access.

5

COOKHOUSE SPRING 23’

The Avant Garden took the precedent of the Japanese Railway Sleeper House in Miyake Island and extracted the spatial logic of a rhythmic allocation of spaces through a regular placement of beams and columns.

The food type of molecular gastronomy was then chosen to become the theme of the cookhouse due to its similar sequence-driven creation style, alluding to the sequence-driven spatial design of the cookhouse. Four main modules were alloated to four unique molecular gastronomy techniques; spherification, flash freezing, aeration, and aromafication.

By elevating these modules above ground in a stilt-like manner, the ground floor was opened up for a garden, accessible to the modules through skylights and balconies. As the individual moves up through the spaces, they would rise from the natural greenspace and gradually enter an entire forest of manmade beams, an allegory for nature’s garden which will always be a prerequisite for any man-made culinary experience.

FLASHFREEZING

SPHERIFICATION

The cookhouse was designed modularly into four separate units connected visually through beams and columns. To start, a site was chosen with the necessary hierarchy for placing the two main axes. Then, the main solids were inserted along with additional supporting beams and columns.

The axonometric displays the placement of the cookhouse within its site: at the intersection between land and water. Thus, the stilt-like columns act as a way to separate some of the modules from the water below as well as allow for gardening to occur on the ground floor.

Circulation is enabled through four means: the ground floor, sky bridges, stairs, and elevators. Thus, while modules exploring various cooking methods were built in isolation, movement is possible and this allows the occupant to try various dishes along the way.

The section cut axonometric view displays the various activities which can simultaneously occur at different elevations within the structure: the ground floor with gardening beds, “floating” modules for eating and exploring, and elevated patios to look out of. The dialogue between interior and exterior is maintained throughout so that in no area is the presence of the garden lost to the viewer

USING THIN MATERIALS LIKE CHIPBOARD AND BASSWOOD TO REPRESENT THE FOREST OF BEAMS TO SUPPORT THE MODULES ABOVE GROUND CREATES A LEVEL OF TRANSPARENCY AND LIGHTNESS TO THE ENTIRE STRUCTURE

6 NAPLES STATION

STRUCTURAL MODEL

EMBT’s timber station in Naples, Italy was represented through a comprehensive structural model detailing curved members, steel and beam connections, roof systems, and connections to foundation. The station was modeled to scale (3/16” = 1’0”) then cut with bandsaw for each individual part.

Glulam for individual pieces was handmade by gluling layers of plywood, although glulam was simplified to be in the orthogonal direction as opposed to the correct curved orientation due to time constraints.

7 PORTLAND OREGON

A preliminary design proposal for the renovation of a century old expo ceter sitting at the edge of the Columbia River in Portland, Oregon was part of my Summer 2024 internship work. The Oregon government is looking to renovate it as a potential multi-use sports venue, and with mass timber being part of the global shift towards sustainability, along with Portland’s access to vast forests in the Pacific Northwest, a mass timber 200m track and indoor hockey rink proposal was developed.

Some mass timber strategies from precedent studies were employed throughout to hint at potential designs and material usages for the expo center renovation

A few different roof strategies were tested to see various lighting experiences inside the new expo center. In addition, because the Oregon government is hoping that this new space will be multi-purpose and open for various events, diagrams showing the different usage models of this flexible space are outlined on the right: from hockey and track, to basketball and volleyball, all the way to auto shows or other exhibitions.

This flexibility is enabled by elevating the central balcony so that a collapsable wall can be pulled out in the event that spatial division is necessary, or pulled away if continuous space is needed. That balcony, then, can also be employed as a commercial area for cafes, bars, and sports viewing to occur in addition to the grandstands on the side.

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