CHARLOTTE MILBACK
undergraduate portfolio
fourth year architecture student at the catholic university of america
01 02 03
BROOKLAND METRO
DEVELOPMENT SPRING 2023
IL BACETTO DELL’EMILIO
FALL 2024
DC MARITIME MUSEUM FALL 2023
STANTON PARK PAVILION
FALL 2023
SKETCHES
SPRING 2022
BROOKLAND METRO DEVELOPMENT
Throughout this studio my partner and I designed the masterplan for the brookland metro stop development, then each further developed a mixed use housing building. While designing we wanted to establish multiple nodes throughout the space that could serve all members of the community while serving different purposes. An important factor was the connection between the bridge, the park and the metro. Michigan Ave as it is currently is not very pedestrian friendly and serves more as a division than a connection between CUA’s campus and the Brookland neighborhood. We focused on making the space more pedestrian friendly with smaller lanes and building frontage, creating a gateway from the bridge to the park - allowing access from CUA and the Brookland neighborhood, respecting the existing urban scale through smaller developments and more greenspace fronting the existing townhouses, and creating gathering place in the park and metro plaza.
The building I further developed fronts onto the metro plaza. The plaza creates a public space different from the park while making the metro entrance area more inviting and better unifying it with the surrounding development and context. The main street divides the park and the plaza with the most building frontage, large sidewalks, while also providing a space for the existing public transit. Currently there is elevator access to the metro on only one side. As a result the existing metro elevator is enveloped into the elevator up to the bridge, allowing for easier access from those coming from the CUA side of the metro, while also giving easier access to the plaza, the park, and other features of the space, making it accessible for all.
This building strenghtens the connection between the two public spaces of the plaza and the park while accomodating the diverse needs of the building’s location. Since it fronts the metro plaza as well as the main road through the development, maintaining a sight line from the metro plaza to the park was important, further unifying the spaces and allowing the user to have a visual connection of where to continue. This is achieved through the piers along the south side of the building, serving as a gateway between these two public spaces. The ends of the building bookend the interior of the building, creating more frontage towards the bridge and the entrance point from the park. The shape opens up towards the plaza, with apartment terraces overlooking the plaza, creating a connection between public and private spaces.
The first floor is dedicated to commercial and lobby space for the apartments, the second floor includes flat units comprised mostly of studios, while the remaining floors are masionette units, allowing for the potential to house larger families or groups of students further blending the community, while also creating cross ventilation and daylighting through the units.
IL BACETTO DELL’EMILIO
Hospitality involves creating a welcoming and inviting atmosphere, environment, and space. In the context of this project, it means creating this space for travelers and a place where you feel at home and among friends. to create a space for new social connections and gatherings by inviting our guests to share in the hospitality of community and friendship. A “bacetto” is a quick greeting of two kisses on the cheek common among friends. This action represents the approach to hospitality created in this project. The now broken bridge, Ponte Emilio, was once a full bridge that connected Trastevere to the markets and the Forum Boarium on the other side of the Tiber River. The forums were significant parts of daily life, providing a place to trade, socialize, and a hub for activity. This project aims to re-establish the connection by creating a place to bring people together.
The metal mesh skin helps gradually transition from the lower, open levels to the enclosed upper levels and adding to the floating imagery. In the more enclosed spaces, there is a neutralcolored terracotta as the facade material, paying homage to the traditional building materials of Rome and helping to ground the project back to its context.
The hotel is powered by water turbines located under the hotel to provide sustainable, clean energy.
The piers are covered by bio-islands, to soften the presence of hardscape within the water and promoting local greenery. The lower levels provide guests with a unique experience of Ponte Rotto and connection with the Tiber River.
LOBBY
The guests first experience of the hotel. A threshold before crossing over Ponte Rotto, greeting both guests and those visitng the market.
HOTEL ROOMS
The hotel rooms look out over the Tiber River with Rome in the background. The metal mesh skin provides a transition between the exterior and interior while providing more privacy while still allowing for visibility outwards.
THE MARKET
A space where local vendors can gather to share Italian culture with those visiting. A space of community, gathering, and experiencing culture through first hand encounters.
DC MARITIME MUSEUM
Maritime journeys are often characterized by the destination or the discovery, however, the journey itself is almost more important than the endpoint. It’s a process of movement, growth, challenges, and changes. The most common journey that we all experience is the journey of life. Our journeys of life although different, unite us. They serve as our connection to others. Museums transport you back in history on a journey through the past, creating meaningful connections and understandings based on our human connection of understanding the journey of life. This is represented in this museum through the central space, unifying the galleries, and the central roof elements, opening up in different ways yet returning to the central connection of the museum.
west elevation
south elevation
section looking north
section looking east
ELEVATE YOGA STUDIO
One of the most common yoga pose sequences is the warrior sequence. In these poses you are stretching out, opening up, in an upward motion. The roof shape portrays this upward and elevating motion as well as the yoga studios themselves and is visible as you enter the space, circulate through up the stairs, and practice yoga in one of the studios. The ground floor is dedicated to social spaces, to grow as a community, through the reception and gathering area, as well as the store, which portrays the work of local creators in the community, as well as yoga supplies. The studios rise with you and are floating over one another, visible from above, furthering the connecting yet open feeling of yoga as a practice, but also creating separate spaces for individual growth. The studio as a whole seeks to create a space for people to elevate in their yoga journey and their relationships with others, through the space they practice in, down to the yoga poses themselves.
The horizontal louvers on the south facade help to provide shading and allow daylight in while not overly heating the the space and maintaining thermal comfort while still providing daylight. The louvers also help create more privacy between the yoga studios and H St. while still allowing for some visibiliy, to help connect those walking on H St. to the studio.
The clerestory windows and a sawtooth roof, this allow for better daylighting throughout the space, in all levels of the yoga practicing spaces. Since this is an infill lot, and is surrounded by existing buildings, it was important to find ways to allow for natural light while still maintaining the privacy of the spaces.
CREATING CONECTIONS - a pavilion for stanton park
Stanton Park is in a central part of its community, serving as a cross roads space for people leaving work, school children, dog walkers, and neighbors. All these people while seemingly different, and on different paths, share the same connection: being human. This connection unites us and serves as the foundation for building relationships, which is what this space is for. In connection to DC on a larger context, as museums are such a large part of the DC experience, this pavillion is an art gallery walk through space highlighting the work of the community and space for growing connections in the community. As you make your way through the pavillion there is the opportunity for having conversations, reflecting, and learning about the community. The more open social spaces on the outside weave into the more enclosed private space in the center. Overall this pavillion seeks to create a space for those in the park to create meaningful connections within their community.
