Chiara Zecchini Undergraduate Architecture Portfolio

CHIARA ZECCHINI

Selected Works | Portfolio

Ghost Floods

BONNET CARRÉ SPILLWAY RESEARCH AND VISITORS CENTER | NEW ORLEANS, FALL 2024 | CORE STUDIO | AUSTIN LIGHTLE

The design of the Bonnet Carre Spillway Visitors and Research Center is presented in a landscape shaped by the memory of water. Situated on a site parallel to a microcosm of a peninsula, the structure stays elevated, prepared for the inevitable return of floods. The purpose of its multiple steps is not only for circulation and areas of gathering but also for markers—measuring the ghosts of water levels past, tracing the invisible residue of storms. As the floodwaters seep in, the building performs a quiet ritual: the central heart becomes a pond. The building’s purpose is to collect, reflect, and transform. This pond is both a research field, visitors center, and memory pool, where scientists gather phytoplankton samples drifting in from Lake Pontchartrain, and where stillness becomes a method of witnessing. Titled Ghost Floods, the project acknowledges the temporality of disaster and the permanence of its impact. The water may recede, but its presence lingers—etched into thresholds, etched into history. The architecture does not resist this memory, it holds it. Through a vessel for absence, it beholds what no longer appears but remains.

Second Floor Plan

A singular, elevated, mass bridges two of the firstfloor buildings. This strip, designed as an exhibition space, floats just beneath the roof-line of the first-floor volume. Its glass enclosure subtly reveals what lies above. From the first floor, glimpses into the second become moments of visual exchange. This aperture allows light and transparency to foster a quiet dialogue between levels.

Section Cut

Model at 1/32”=1’

Model at 1/32”=1’ Section

Topography Map and Diagram of Phytoplankton Distribution in Floodplain Ecologies

Topographic Site Map

CHIARA ZECCHINI

Diagram of Phytoplankton Communities

Site and Building Axonometric

Courtyard House

HORIZONTAL MULTI-GENERATIONAL HOUSE

| NEW ORLEANS, SPRING 2025 | CORE STUDIO | MIGUEL SOTOS

The traditional courtyard house is organized around the heart of the home, which is the central patio. Rather than relying on the exterior for light, the design invites moments of illumination inward, allowing the interior to become a source of light and life. The house is structured around a series of three patios, with the central courtyard merging with an open kitchen and dining area, allowing living spaces to flow seamlessly. Designed for a multigenerational family, the home balances private and public zones, ensuring individual privacy while allowing daily life to unfold in shared connection. Section

INTERIOR SPACES

ETERIOR CEMENT WALL OF PATIO HOUSE

Model at 1/16”=1’

Maple Performing Arts Center

A PLATFORM FOR PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT AND CROSS-DISCIPLINARY ARTS EDUCATION

| NEW ORLEANS, SPRING 2024 | CORE STUDIO | KENNETH

SCHWARTZ

The Performing Arts Center is imagined as a vibrant hub for nearby college students. The front glass facade of the ground-level lobby gently curves to define a public space between the building’s entrance and the neighborhood corner. This gesture invites everyday, mundane experiences to unfold within the site, bringing in energy and openness. Working in harmony with the site, the curvature helps shape an informal plaza that blends built form with community activity. The metallic facade captures and animates light and shadow, amongst the interior and exterior of the building. Activated by sunlight, these reflections choreograph temporary patterns across the ground. The open lobby, fully visible from the outside, functions as a flexible, multipurpose space, accommodating activities such as yoga sessions, informal gatherings, and pre-show events.

Model at 1/16”=1’

AUDIENCE CHAMBER

Exploded Axonometric

CIRCULATION

Building Program Exploded Axonometric

EXPLODED PROGRAM DIAGRAM

CIRCULATION

BACK OF HOUSE

REHERSAL ROOM

BUILDING AXON

Pouy Pavilion

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL CEMETERY PAVILION

| NEW ORLEANS, FALL 2023 | CORE STUDIO | HANNAH KENYON

The design of the cemetery instills structures that are spatially positioned in order to create spaces for reflection and meditation with oneself and one’s surroundings. A series of platforms, surrounded by thin water canals, establish varying topographic levels and spatial thresholds. They serve as a moat separating the ground level, to the pavilions. In response to New Orleans’ vulnerability to flooding, the graves in most of the city are elevated. The pavilion echoes this language of elevation and separation, reinforcing the dialogue between landscape, memory, and ritual.