My name is Edras Brown, but I go by Eddie. I am an adoptee from Guatemala, but I grew up in California. I have moved a few places since, however found myself loving New York. I am a current 3rd year in the Syracuse School of Architecture. During my time here, I have developed my creative and analytical skills, in addition to improving time management skills. I am fond of the final representational side of the design process, although, I am learning to love the initial phases as well. I intend to keep enhancing my knowledge in different areas to help me grow and persevere as a professional. I aspire to use my creativity to delineate away from the notion of architecture as a concept of fixed structures, to a more dynamic response to the needs of the community, therefore resulting in built form.
Pocket Avenue
Challenging what domestic space could look like
This is a communal housing project that aims to break away form the traditional nuclear family. Our project uses three empty lots in order to cater to a statistically large group of single parent families in the Bronx neighborhood by providing housing and creating a support system for them. To aid in this, we aim to include an elderly population to work with and co-live with the single parent households, in addition to allowing for interchangeable and negotiable space for the families to grow. To expand this new community beyond the limits of domestic space, we are proposing a Timebank as a means of bridging the gap between the residents and their neighbors, forging a new relationship beyond the built structure.
Location: 418 E 158 St, Bronx, NY
Site area: 3 Empty Lots
Typology: Communal Housing Project
Professor: Marcos Parga
Type: Duo With Charles Gebbia
Year: 3rd, ARC 307
Short Perspective Section: B-B
School of Parts
An exploration of portable education tools on a site
Located on a sloped, river bank site along side the Mohawk River, NY, this ecological training center caters to two primary audiences. The linked program begins together at the entry, then disperses into the landscape, eventually meeting back at the waters edge. The Training center, library and campsites provide trainees the capability of learning about habitat preservation during the summer. The gravel patches along side the winding paths allow the trainees to set up the temporary schools contrived out of recycled wood pallets. The locations along side the site are based on the habitats found, such as the water, river bank, forest, and plains.
Location: Mohawk River, NY
Site area: Flooding River plane
Typology: Ecological Education Center
Professor: Timothy Stenson
Type: Individual
Year: 2nd, ARC 208
Waterfront Perspective
The trainees are provided with bikes and attachable carts that covert into sleeping pods. Throughout the summer, the trainees shift along the pathways, learning about the variety of environmental systems. The terrace, walk/bike paths, and boat launch allow the general public to explore the mesmerizing scenery. At the waters edge the conglomerate of building forms mix the two programs together. The primary training center is on the river bank that incorporate the living conditions, such as kitchen/dinning area, bathrooms, and permanent classrooms for the Trainees. Adjacent to it is the library and below is the three door garage with a floating dock.
Living Passage
An exploration of a path’s influence on the site
I constructed my site as a network of paths and sequences. These paths braid with each other creating new relationships through the extended site. took inspiration from the overlapping, and intersecting interactions between the existing networks, such as the river, highways, surface roads, and train tracks that surround my site. The paths I’ve knitted together consist of the main road, entranceway, walking/biking paths, a canal system, and the building itself. Whether going into, around, alongside or under, the paths all engage with my building form, even if just for a moment.
Location: Mohawk River, NY
Site area: Flooding River plane
Typology: Education Center
Professor: Timothy Stenson
Type: Individual
Year: 2nd, ARC 208
Waterfront Perspective
Floor Plan: 1/16”=1’
I’ve utilized a wooden column and beam system as a structural element, but additionally, as guidelines in the distribution of the program. All the program are part of building sequence and primary building circulation. Applying context analysis and the history of the Eerie canal, I’ve constructed the canal system to flow under my building, creating new land masses and separations of space in the site. As the plain floods, it exposes and hides paths, therefore allowing nature to dictate the relevance and influence of each path to the project.
Program Distribution
Site Plan: 50’=1”
Site Network & Path Systems
An exploration of column size fluctuation
Library and Garden spaces orchestrate the primary structural system for the Amoeba: a series of occupiable columns. Utilizing a column system, the generated spaces can vary in size, height and materiality base on the programmatic needs. Wooden columns form light wells for the plant pods at the bottom. Concrete form spaces for the educational programs. The Amoeba is a community center oriented around a local non-profit organization; Syracuse Grows. Syracuse Grows aims to create food justice through education, advocacy, and resources in the support of urban food production. Working together, the Amoeba provides spaces like the fruit walls,auditorium and study spaces to assist in their expansion
Location: Down Town Syracuse, NY
Site area: City Corner Lot
Typology: Community Center
Professor: Jesse McCormick
Type: Duo with Corrine Soo
Year: 2nd, ARC 207
Atrium Perspective
Amoeba
