Emily Ashby Portfolio

CO NTE N TS 0 1 . ST UD IO N A R R ATIV E 02

M o n s t er | Ur ba n H ou s in g H y br id

09

L it t le Tibet a n In n

12

M ic ro c lim a [c ]t ic Od ys s ey

15

reCOV E R S ou t h A fr ic a 0 2. PRO FES S IO N A L

E M I LY A S H B Y m a rc h 1 c andidate p or tfolio

18

Za m bo n i Pav ilio n

19

Lo c k Pa r k

20

N a nt a s ket Wa t er fro nt 0 3. ACA D EMIC S A MPL E

22

I n fin ity K n o t

23

H u r r ic a n e H ou s e

24

Pa ra s it ic H yd ro lo gy

27

St u d io Clay

28

Vo r t ex | La n d fill t o La n d fo r m

29

Ven ic e Unveiled

Residential complexes have not seen significant shifts in program and type in over half a century. Housing is inherently modular, and typically produces a homogenous typology. Larger, more figural programs, such as gyms, theaters, and libraries, have more formal freedom and variation. By combining programs, part-modular and part-exceptional, into a building hybrid, housing functions as public space and integrates more fluidly with the urban fabric.

“Hybrid” can be understood in three metaphors: “centaur,” “manimal,” and “cyborg.” The centaur is half-man, halfbeast, preserving typological distinction. The manimal negotiates both typologies into a new merged form. The cyborg is something other entirely, and does not necessarily rely on previous models or precedent.

SINGULAR CONNECTION

SINGULAR CONNECTION

MONSTER | Urban Housing Hybrid ARCH4020 Research Studio / Spring 2014 / Washington DC Critics - Robin Dripps + Ghazal Abbasy omit oblique intersection

omit oblique intersection

A web of transformations begins to describe the possible relationships between process operations. The resulting spatial taxonomy acts as precedent and reference to aid in formal generation and aggregation. Moreover, awareness of families and strains aids in the development of a formal language to describe the monster.

plan disturbances understood through surface and volume

Aggregation [grid]

Physical parameters adopted from zoning restrictions, unit dimensions, circulation grades, sunlight requirements, and site-specific pressures serve as the “grid” from which to introduce deviation. Systematic deviations, or disturbances, locate secondary program within the modular housing field. Exceptions to the

Disturbance [field]

system and normal deviation occur as “the monster.” This unpredictable formal “slip” requires the system to temporarily break and reassemble.

“Monster” moves acknowledge diversity and specificity of site and design intention, becoming signature places, the identifiable landmarks within a landscape.

Monster [figure]

ground interaction - floor 2

interlocking systems - floor 6

tower levels - floor 12

Lower density housing modules with a higher ratio of public space and accessibility hover over the edges of the site, built on a ramping circulation logic.

This low-density model intersects with and plugs-in to the high-density tower module, defining key formal and programmatic “monster� moments.

[left] lower-density units - woven aggregation [below] facade interplay with high-density unit aggregation

[top left] Public programs and parks at ground level encourage interactions between residents and the surrounding community. [top right] Housing integrates with recreational programs, sharing circulation and street frontage, forming relationships through shared amentities. [lower left] Shared circulation at the intersection of housing types and recreational program space. [lower right] The agitated ground plane invites, through directional cues, visitors and residents to cross paths and explore the site.

u rban ana lys is p ara m e t r i c s t u dy c o n c e pt s Each residential building study explores an urban consideration such as sunlight, views, circulation, and activating the street level. Iteratively diagramming abstract responses to address these parameters generates formal and organizational design ideas.

sequential sections

Health, defined not as the absence of sickness, but as a holistic mind and body wellness, changes the way we consider health care.

Eastern medical pracices, specifically in Tibet, have a long tradition of addressing more than just physical wellness.

Western medicine is in constant flux, and leads in innovation. These two approaches to medicine integrate on a smallscale in the Little Tibetan Inn, a community for visiting Tibetan scholar and monks to interact with Charlottesville community partners through healthful practices and engagement.

“Alternative� forms of healing are offered int eh form of massage therapy, acupuncture, chiiropractic, and spa treatment.

The Westover Estate, in Charlottesville, Virginia, is the site for an intended Tibetan integrated medical complex. The formerly productive landscape has roots in agrarian culture.

A drastic topographic range is defined by a prominent central hill, surrounded by slighter mounds and swails. This relative topography has both systematic and phenomeno-

logical implications - from vegetation patterns and circulation to buzzing insects.

An underlying mapping of zones determined by topographic slope describes a gradient of qualitative data, including relative warmth, vegetation, views, and sounds.

These zones outline a network of paths, in which each path straddles two distinct conditions.

[top] CNC sewing maps the build-up of thread to describe density of vegetation on site. [middle] A diagrammatic model of the site topography provides a guide to designing accessible paths with a gradient of inclines. [bottom] A wire diagram translates an idea, that relative topography is correlated to the measured amplitude of insects, into a spatial representation.

B

Plan Level 1

A

Plan Level 2

Plan Level 3

The three regions of Tibet have distinct cultural and geographic characteristics. These characteristics are overlaid in plan and section to initiate programmatic and formal relationships. The Yarlung Tsangpo canyon is the deepest in the world, and Mount Everest is the highest peak. I imagine that the affects of these nat-

tonically, forcing the ground up, creating an ethereal peak and a jagged canyon in the Little Tibetan Inn. Barley, the number one grain in both Tibet and Virginia, is cultivated on terraces and brought into the kitchen so that residents and visitors can share recipes and cook together. These dishes and collaborations are served ural phenomena have in the restaurant above. aftershocks as far as Charlottesville, and plates shift tec-

Plan Level 4

MICRO C L I M A [ C] TIC ODYSS EY [ arch3020 research studio \ lucia phinney \ spring 2013 ]

The Odyssey myth serves as the iconic backdrop for an urban investigation in Baltimore, Maryland. “The rosy fingers of dawn,” “weeping and wailing,” and other phrases meter the poem to signal quotidian patterns.

These cyclical literary devices can be equated to the humdrum repetition of row houses in Baltimore.

While The Odyssey is punctuated by events that break the norm, Baltimore’s streescape lacks an event to break up the homogeny. Water and spatial waste can be exploited as resource to catalyze an epic journey of returning home through spatially and sensorially distinct microclimate moments.

Simultaneity of Memory

Waste as Resource

Structure as Metaphor

Words and phrases in The Odyssey symbolizing quotidian patterns are the basis for a parametric mesh of regularity. A section of this mesh, from morning (east) to night (west) is applied to a two-block area of Baltimore, where metered row houses replace literary symbols.

The two primary waste resources in Baltimore are water and space.

Rainfall on permeable and impermeable surfaces is cross-referenced with a spatial proximity to faces of existing buildings, setting up a gradient of enclosures. These form an armature, which houses microclimate cells.

A new interactive water infrastructure network collects and filters water creatively, making spaces that highlight water in each stage of this process. Rather than harmful runoff flooding the highway, the harvested water is used for residential and agricultural purposes.

roof water volume

level of enclosure

enclosure as height

triangulate

armature

microclimate cells

urban analysis of path and place as program generator

Field. The final destination, home, lifts the ground as a celebratory community market. A strategically shaped roof allows for inhabitation above and below, as well as directing water into a terraced irrigation system.

Forest. A forgotten courtyard between abandoned buildings is redesigned as a forest, with glowing “tree structures collecting water and emitting it as a foggy mist, creating a magical, damp environment for moss to flourish and creatures to thrive.

egy of a ceramic water filter

factory and landscape design prototype. The design is a product of cultural immersion, environmental sensitivity, and resource propogation.

FUTURE FACTORY ++ NETWORK NETWORK FUTURE FACTORIES

sites that serve as possible locations for filter factories based on the outlined criteria

URBAN AREAS URBAN AREAS

regions of South Africa with the building supplies, populations, and market for a filter factory’s success

LATASOL CLAYDEPOSITS DEPOSITS + WATERWAYS LATASOL CLAY WATERWAYS areas framed by access to raw materials

MUKONDENI

LIMPOPO REGION, SOUTH AFRICA

CONTEXT MAPS

LOUIS TRICHARDT

reCOVER SOUTH AFRICA

MUKONDENI

POLOKWANE

POPULATION - 5,439,600

73.5 + HP6

GPS - EAST 30.1084, SOUTH -23.2540

MUKONDENI POTTERY COOPERATIVE

Arup Cause Program, the reCOVER team of four undergraduate students focused on a multi-phased, multi-sectorial limpopo hamashamba implementation strategy of a ceramic water filter factory and landscape design prototype.

The design is a product of cultural immersion, environmental sensitivity, and resource propagation.

MUKONDENI POTTERY COLLECTIVE

The reCOVER Initiative, under a Jefferson Public Citizen Grant, brings together academic, civic, and professional south africa organizations to address tangible needs through design. In partnership with the University of Virginia’s Wather and Halth in Limpopo project; the University of Venda in Thohoyandou, South Africa; the Mukondeni Pottery Cooperative; and the

GPS - EAST 30.1084, SOUTH -23.2540 POPULATION - 2,375

MUKONDENI, SOUTH AFRICA

POPULATION - 49,991,300

SOUTH AFRICA

[ summer 2012 \ anselmo canfora \ erin root, irene preciado, timothy morris, luke gates ]

673

JOJO TANK

672

POTTERY CO-OP

671

670

RONDOVALS

FACTORY SHED

669

FISH POND

668

667

CLAY DEPOSIT

666

5 P66 +L

mukondeni

The initial site strategy derives from a spatial timeline delineating the process of ceramic water filter manufacturing. The intention is to identify and logically support workflows across the site, from clay deposit to factory to display and shipping areas, while accounting for water use through the process. The workflow considers how the individual or groups of potters work during isolated and collective tasks.

timeline of pottery-production

The roof collection system redirects all the rainwater to header tanks, which are placed below the roof and utilize gravity to distribute the water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and pottery production. During heavy rains, the overflow of roof water runoff bypasses the header tank and travels directly to a large secured, partially in-ground concrete cistern.

Calculations have shown that the total water collected ofver the span of one year from roof runoff will be sufficient to support the Mukondeni Pottery Cooperative based on a daily 20-liter-consumption for each of the 45 women of the Cooperative. In addition, the collected water would support the production of ceramic filters, which require four liters per filter.

[top] view from community center to studio and factory [right] view from pottery studio onto terraced landscape

Since 1947, accomplished craftswomen from the fillage of Ha-Mashamba in Limpopo, South Africa have been using a local clay deposit to create a varety of functional and decorative pottery. In 1998, forty of the original potters formed the Mukondeni Pottery Cooperative and began to work in a facility built by the municipal government. The cooperative provides the potters of HaMashamba with a livelihood while the region benefits from the continued production of an iconic symbol of local culture.

view from community center to studio and factory

The Folly

Evolved Shed Form

Surface / Volume Pavilion

ZA M B O N I PAV I L I ON [ Fall 2014 \ Utile \ designer \ Elizabeth Christoforetti ]

A zamboni functions as the star in the unique spectacle of ice-resurfacing. Seasonal outdoor iceskating is a community favorite in Kendall Square, and the current shed housing this object of utility and entertainment is an uninspired eyesore. The design concept for a zamboni pavilion is to incorporate storage with an iconic public space and art amenity.

Four design “families� find inspiration from garden follies, scandanavian household glass, ice scuptures, and graphic floral wallpaper.

Urban Igloo

Urban design considerations, either prioritize the existing landscape form or emphasizing a relationship to adjacent lobby entrances.

LOCKPARK [ Summer 2014 \ Utile \ Design + Graphics ] A collaboration between Utile and Spurr envisions a celebration of the Charles River locks that separate the river from Boston Harbor. As a part of the BSA-sponsored Green Links competition, “LockPark” identifies a missing link in Boston’s bike and pedestrian network. Swinging decks are geometrically calibrated to address the need to bridge across active flood control gates. The resulting artificial topography introduces the potential for creative recreation while providing access and activation to the underutilized route.

motion of locks - open

motion of locks - closed

urban design considerations

NA NTA S K ET R EVI TAL I ZATI ON [ Summer 2014 - ongoing \ Utile \ Tim Love ] Full Build-out

Nantasket Beach has a rich history as an active public space.

Paragon Park, an amusement park in the 1960s was a long-time icon of the area, supporting a significant tourism economy. This unique identity has faded as the park was eventually removed and maintenance of the shore has not kept up with flooding from regular storm surges.

A seven-block strip of land, bounded by ocean on one side and bay on the other, is the neck between mainland and the peninsula of Hull. This neck sees the some of the worst flooding and traffic congestion. In collaboration with Nelson Nygard, Utile has proposed a new two-way traffic distribution, as well as a phased ladder block division.

Existing

Phasing

The block section introduces a new boardwalk and bike lane parallel to the ocean. The development of these blocks takes a resilience initiative to address flooding with a forty-foot “dunescape” offset. Ramps cut through the dunescape to a four-foot raised boardwalk lined with retail. Three levels of residential provide a much-needed mixeduse housing program. The bayside is treated as a smaller-scale village concept, pairing rowhouses with public ground-level parking, accessed through shared alleys.

The proposed four-story rowhouse typology, adapted from an earlier project collaboration, addresses the flood zone by delegating the ground floor to garage.

Block Massing 6’ front porch

4’ back porch

8’ parallel parking

I NFI N I T Y K N OT [ ARCH2010 Foundations Studio \ Mara Marcu \ Fall 2011 ]

An abstracted exploration of a spatial diagram becomes applicable to organization in inhabitable architecture. Hybrid modeling techniques and materials translates diagram to design- in the understanding of material properties and joinery, gradients of transparency, both literal and phenomenal, and structural system logics.

roof material by orientation

redirect runoff in pattern of birm, mound and swail

HURRI CA NE HO U S E [ Dripps + Phinney Studio \ Summer 2013 ] Dripps + Phinney Residence is situated at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, nestled amidst vineyards, rolling hills, and forest. The existing structures are aligned with a geologic ridge and fault line, placing it in the direct path of most storms. A concept for a safe house emerges, with its formal qualities derived from an intersection of the landform with the existing residence, gardens, and microclimates.

intersect logics

inhabit ground

circulate

Children are a parasite of society, dependent in every way. The city is designed by adults primarily to serve adults. While children do not reciprocate contribution in specific tangible ways to society, they are invaluable in intangible ways. Children have a joyful way of seeing and interacting with their environments. Their interests, concerns, and priorities are unadulterated.

A city devoid of life, might gain immensely from adopting a

childlike vibrancy. Lynchburg, Virginia, is disconnected.

Automobile traffic disconnects people from the street life, hard edges distance the city from its position on the James River, and crime-ridden streets inhibit safe public space.

Parasitic Hydrology looks at the city through the eyes of a child in order enliven the streets of through a playful use of texture, water, and a gradient of enclosures.

par•a•site noun 1 an organism that lives on or in an organism of another species, known as the host, from the body of which it obtains nutriment.

2 a person who receives support, advantage, or the like, from another or others without any useful or proper return, as one who lives on the hospitality of others.

spatial representation of crime

street attractions by age

In a symbiotic rather than destructive fashion, a light scaffold network in a variety of permutations directs roof runoff to a planted water channel.

Faceted roof landscapes fold into facades as a hydrological spectacle connecting citizens to the James River.

Carving out a public realm activates street through water, texture, and a variety of enclosure.

Street Life

The roof affects interior and exterior urban life by additng an inteintional layer of natural surveillance specifically in areas of high crime.

transverse section

STUDIO CLAY ARCH2010 Foundations \ Mara Marcu \ Fall 2011 In a collaboration with a local Charlottesville business, City Clay, this studio designed a new community pottery studio on a local infill site.

Vertical circulation integrates with additional functions - storage, display, and partition - in a gradient of porosities. This figural move takes inspiration from the unique program, while responding to differing edge conditions across the site.

Individual “pod” studios at a child’s scale are on tracks, cantilevering out for individual work and sliding in for group lessons. An external armature supports the pods and frames views. Movable screens located by shadow studies adapt with daily and seasonal cycles.

phasing strategy phased build-up

The existing Charlottesville landfills are closing and we no longer can hide trash off-site via this infrastructure - it must be dealt with locally. Trash is now the generator of a new urban system driven by waste infrastructure, and Charlottesville’s strip mall and suburban landscape become cultural artifacts, adapted into new type of urban form generated by waste processing and landfill strategies.

On Route 29, the waste output of the commercial strip is stored in place as linear landfilling, creating inhabitable public space along the highway. The build-up

of these landfill forms create spectacle along the drive, and reflect the outputs of the commercial system, all while creating a new source of energy for new developments through methane production in the landfill.

New pockets of density are centered around collection, distribution, storage, and processing of waste. The emergence of neighborhood collection facilities, sorting , and processing facilities, and storage and manufacturing facilities become hubs of mixed use commercial activity and public space.

distribution center public space

Venice has historically been and continues to be molded both geographically and culturally by its situation at the edge between east and west, lagood and land, antiquity and modernity. Routine fluctuations of anthropological [tourism, cargo, transporation] and ecological [hydrologic, atmospheric, biologic] inputs and outputs overlap and intersect at the water’s edge.

New insertions both manifest existing relationships and offer new opportunities for interactin an d discovery, acting as a conduit to regulate and facilitate a process-driven connection between people, the natural, and the built environment by buffering harmful ship emission, facilitating fluid accessibility, and responding dynamically and symbiotically to ebbs and flows.

alleys guidecca canal public office restaurant faculty residence church

public office restaurant faculty residence church

canals

plan level 2

plan level 1

transverse section

outdoor rooms

circulation

landscape

truss deformation

LED cable wall