Carly Yarznbowicz Portfolio 2025

symbiotic spaces

by carly yarznbowicz

Planning to graduate in May 2025, I am currently pursuing a five year Bachelors of Architecture at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia after receiving my Associates of Science in Architecture at Brookdale Community College in New Jersey. Through my design projects, aim to explore how contrasting elements can work in harmony to create innovative designs, that push boundaries while utilizing new technologies. To create spaces that work symbiotically, I challenge myself to not only explore various concepts through iterative design processes but to envision my projects in the real world through research, technical drawings, and incoorporation of new material and construction innovation. I aspire through my career to utilize the built environment to address social issues, such as enviornmental sustainability, community connection, equity, affordable and adequate housing, and accessibility to all to further investigate how the designs we create impact our world.

The artificial, industrial world is static, it conforms to consistent order over free expression. It is stable and stiff, never pushing the boundaries.

The natural world is dynamic, it is free-flowing and holds no boundaries or limits.

Fluid and lively it is ever-growing.

Humanity is the bridge between the natural and artificial worlds.

Although we build artificial things we were born in the natural world.

Humanity is where the two separate worlds unite to become one.

Transcending Barriers

The community urban garden in Gray’s Ferry, Philadelphia, blends the commercial and residential divisions of the neighborhood, by directly engaging with the context of the site. Noticing the differing districts, I started by creating a 3 by 3 grid generated from the blocks of neighborhood. From this, I manipulated the blocks to engage the community and offer an expierience that immerses the people approaching equally on both sides. The market/ educational spaces become the parts of the grid closest to the residential district, while the garden is placed near the South for ample light. Through a diagonol pathway, a sequence of compression and release happens allowing a moment of observing the entire building and landscape at the central node of the site. I let the site dictate the space and matierals by allowing flexible usage of the building and the usage of brick to call back to the staple Philly materiality.