Architecture Portfolio

A

P O R T F O L I O

O F

C R E A T I V E

B Y

W O R K S

C H R I S T O P H E R

G A L L O

= Circulation Desk

watchtower

= Bookbinding/Work Room = Restroom

front entrance

6 south end library = Conference Room = Children’s Work Room and Stacks = Main Reading Area = Restroom

1

1

= Periodicals

boathouse

SECOND FLOOR PLAN 1/8” = 1’

2

3

photography

1

1

O F

4 museum exhibit

T A B L E

7

7

FIRST FLOOR PLAN 1/8” = 1’

5

C O N T E N T S

= Offices

site axon

SOUTH END SCHOOL PROPOSAL

= Cart Docking

christopher gallo

1

1

1 classroom

south end school

s o u t h

e n d

s c h o o l

This project, which was cumulative throughout the year, went through three different stages of analysis. The first stage was to analyze a school that was assigned to us. We were to look at the school through both plans and sections while creating a series of diagrams from each. The school assigned to me was the Munkegards School by Arne Jacobsen in Denmark.

Munkegaards School Chris Gallo Grogan

studio 2|fall 2009 Fenestration

Program Zones

Structure

Circulation

= Courtyards = Classes = Work Room

Key Dimensions A B C

1

2

3

4

Program Zones

After analyzing a precedent school, we were to design a classroom of our own. Performing the same diagrammatical approaches, this project was to be used later in our school scheme. Following Jacobsen’s classroom design, I chose to vary the height of the classroom from the rest of the programmatic elements. This created an environment a bit more intimate for the students. Separating the classroom left me with a large open space where I created a core piece that framed the reading room made from cubbies, book shelves etc. Playing with the thick/thin wall approach, I pulled out the teacher’s supply area to better the classroom structurally. We were to also analyze how the classrooms would be grouped together and I went with the coupling method.

Classroom Reading Room Bathroom Wet Zone Student Storage Teacher Storage

Core

Thin/Thick Wall

Finishing up with the classroom, we then proceeded to the actual site where our school was to be located. This location was in the South End of Boston located between Washington and Harrison Street located next to a dog park and a few residential/commercial buildings. First, I analyzed the city at a much larger scale, looking programmatically at each area and classifying it as a residential, commercial or green space. After that, I looked into the surrounding context of the immediate site, taking into factor the buildings around it and what their program was. We were to then diagram our observations in a series of maps and grids to represent our ideas.

Residential Commercial Institutional Green Space

South End Analysis Project Building Intensities

South End Analysis Project Program

Primary Secondary

Circulation

0

250

500 feet

Commercial Industrial Institutional Shared Use Residential Primary Circulation Secondary Circulation

South End Analysis Project

South End Analysis Project

Figure Ground Zones

Residential Zones

Commercial Residential Neutral 0

250

500 feet

Residential Green Space Municipal Green Space

0

250

500 feet

structural grid

courtyards

classroom towers

mat

larger program

circulation

After all of the prior analysis and study, it was time to begin work on the school itself. Through my site analysis, I focused my idea of having a strict, more rigid classroom zone concentrating on Washington Street, which housed most of the residential side of the neighborhood. Here, I created two central towers of classrooms, stacking the couples four levels high except for the special classrooms [art/music] which related to the scale of the surrounding buildings. On the other side, Harrison, there was much more of a scattered irregular building pattern in comparison to its counterpart. Taking that into consideration, I decided to scatter my larger program throughout the site. Since we were required to have a certain amount of green space, I gave the administration, library and kindergarten masses an exterior courtyard. In need of a designated circulation path, I decided on a twelve-foot high roof structure that followed the two classroom towers. This acted as a �glue� to my scheme. Surrounded by glass on the exterior of this mass, it was the perfect solution to allowing light to penetrate the space and provide ample room for the students. Structurally, a tartan grid was laid out beforehand in order to provide a layout for the larger program buildings.

SOUTH END SCHOOL PROPOSAL christopher gallo

1

1

1

1

1

1

7

8

1

1

7

1

1

2

2 6

7

3

6

4

5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

3

5

4

classroom library gymnasium administration cafeteria auditorium kindergarten

first floor plan 1/16” - 1’

1

1

1

1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

second floor plan 1/16” - 1’

classroom library gymnasium cafeteria auditorium kindergarten art classroom music classroom

7 5

6

7

1

1

1

1

7

section a 1/16” - 1’

3

section b 1/16” - 1’

front entrance third floor plan 1/16” - 1’

fourth floor plan 1/16” - 1’

site axon

section c 1/16” - 1’ interior/exterior perspective

Early study model

Final product

w a t c h

t o w e r

In this project, we were to design a watchtower. Unlike our typical projects, this one focused less on design and more on structural elements. I had to carefully construct the tower with a series of 2 x 6 columns for the walls and 2 x 10 beams in the floors and ceilings all sitting atop a solid foundation. Adding windows, doors and stair stringers added to the design process.

Also in the program, we were to design a roof, or series of roofs that were of a ruled surface. Opting for the duel roof scheme, I developed the higher roof to drain into the lower roof, which inevitably drains off to the side of the structure.

tectonics|fall 2009

s o u t h e n d l i b r a r y

In this project, we were to create a southern branch to the Boston Public Library System. We were given a site in the South End of Boston where increases in neighborhood density were being driven, in part, by condo sales, and a growing population of professionals was changing the dynamics of the previously working class neighborhood. Taking this into consideration I decided to focus my project into “bridging” the gap between the residential side of the neighborhood to the elder, more commercial areas.

[right] An interior perspective from the second floor viewing the “bridges” that were meant to connect the residential side of the building to the main reading room where I allowed the most natural light to penetrate the building.

studio 1|fall 2008

During the preliminary stages of the project, we were assigned a library to analyze to aid in our design process. We were to construct diagrams, plans, sections and 3D models of the space based from our analysis. Being assigned the Desert Broom Library by richärd + bauer Architecture in Phoenix, I first noted it’s structural system consisting of a rigid column system anchored by structural walls on the opposite side with a very easy to follow circulation path with duel entrances. I adapted these traits into my design as one will see.

Through the following images, I conveyed my idea of having tighter, more intimately spaced reading nooks versus the public double height industrial-like spaces. On the second and fourth floors, the bridge links the two sides of the library.

SECTION A 1/8” = 1’

SECTION C 1/8” = 1’

SECTION B 1/8” = 1’

= Local History = Cart Docking

= Fiction Stacks

= Offices

= Restroom

= Circulation Desk = Bookbinding/Work Room = Restroom

THIRD FLOOR PLAN 1/8” = 1’

FIRST FLOOR PLAN 1/8” = 1’

= Research/Online Work Stations = Conference Room

= Non - Fiction Stacks

= Children’s Work Room and Stacks = Restroom = Main Reading Area = Restroom = Periodicals

SECOND FLOOR PLAN 1/8” = 1’

FOURTH FLOOR PLAN 1/8” = 1’

In this series of diagrams, I wanted to show the spaces that were created within the building. How the building’s programmatic interiors would be arranged shown in relation to the spatial dimensions of each area was important. After removing the furniture, I showed how the building’s spaces were viewed as the tighter, darker dimensions on the residential side contrasted with the larger, more open commercial zones.

In the first diagram, I wanted to express the circulation through the building. Colored in black, I represented the two egress stairwells anchored on opposite sides of the void down the center as the main central paths while highlighting the bridges as a main connection point of the circulation flow as well. In the second diagram I focused on the structural system of my composition. I utilized a gridded system of columns on the commercial side to aid in the aspect of larger scale measurements, while shifting to floor to ceiling structural walls on the residential side to create those more personal spaces.

b o a t h o u s e

studio 1|fall 2008

In this project, [also in Boston] we were to design a recreational boating facility on a site in front of the Children’s Museum on the Fort Point Channel, which previously connected Boston’s Inner Harbor with the South Bay. It needed to house rental kayaks for use by the community and visitors, as well as storage, and a café. Doing some research on the area it became evident that the Fort Point Channel is loaded with potential to become a pinnacle of urban activity in Boston.

Reinforcing the area’s current mixed use of residential, office, commercial, and industrial, I focused my design around creating two separate entities linked by a series of ramps, or essentially, solid space versus void space with a common circulation path.

Lowering the boat rental building created a space where I could place a window for which patrons of the café could be drawn to the kayaks. Since I designed my space entirely over the water, a series of pylons were needed to sustain the structure. The café featured an open façade that provided a panoramic view of the surrounding city and waterway, bringing in ample light to the space.

[left] While creating the spaces, I defined the roof of the boat storage to be sloping downwards that mirrored the ramp’s decline. This helped direct the passerby’s view down to the loading dock in the water further drawing one’s eye toward the space.

To bring in light to the void space, which was very dark at first, I punched slots into the roof structure to avoid creating an unwelcoming space.

[above] Visiting the site I took note of the circulation through the Harborwalk and intended my design to not break the path but rather be an inviting space that was incorporated with the surrounding waterway, keeping in mind the views from the surrounding area.

m u s e u m

e x h i b i t

digital representation | spring 2008 Given four spaces of various sizes, in this project, we were to create a museum exhibit to house two different paintings. Since the spaces were of different heights, we were to design a stairwell that was to help guide the observant through the space. Taking that into consideration, I wanted to create a hidden stairwell that was open to the main room while giving a preview to the next viewing area.

photography | 2005-2009

Tashmoo, Martha’s Vineyard.

Menemsha, Martha’s Vineyard.

Vineyard Haven. Martha’s Vineyard.

Edgartown. Martha’s Vineyard.

Oak Bluffs. Martha’s Vineyard.

South End Boston

Boston