Evelyn Saunders - Selected Works

EVELYN SAUNDERS SELECTED WORKS I care about design and people. Design is powerful. It is an immersive, compelling form of communication that mankind uses to build a more complex, beautiful society. It is important to listen to others, care about those around you, and help those in need. I want to help improve people’s lives by improving the environment in which they live.

Who we are is shaped by the things we do, the people we meet, and the experiences we share. I am currently a fourth year architecture student at UVA pursuing a major in Design Thinking and dual minors in both Historic Preservation and Government. The foundation of my architectural education is rooted in Richmond, Virginia. At this time time, I am trying to learn as much as I can about Charlottesville and Virginia as a whole through my education and other experiences. I strive to make the most of all the opportunities I have around me to learn. Those are the fundamentals of my creative trajectory. The following are a number of works created along that path with those ideals in mind.

ORIGINAL PAINITING; CIRCLES, GRAY SCALE, SEE OTHER WORK

Education University of Virginia School of Architecture, BS Architecture - Expected Graduation: May 2021 - Charlottesville, VA. Pursuing Design Thinking major focus with dual minors in Historic Preservation and Government.

Maggie L Walker Governor’s School - Graduation: June 2017 - Richmond, VA.

Varsity Field Hockey Team Captain (2015-2016), National Honor Society Member (2015-2017) , National Art Honor Society Vice President (2015-2017), National English Honor Society Co-President (2015-2017).

Work Experience English Construction Company Internship (May-August 2020), Part time (August 2020-Present) - Charlottesville, VA. Assisting with project management, coordination, and general project needs on site at the South Rivanna Water Treatment Plant expansion and renovation.

Continental Divide Restaurant Part time hostess (August 2019-March 2020) - Charlottesville, VA. Served guests and helped coordinate with staff.

Glavé and Holmes Architecture Internship (December 2018-January 2019) - Richmond, VA. Provided research and initial design suggestions in the Higher Education Studio.

HKS Architects Internship (February-May 2017) - Richmond, VA. Served as junior design and administrative support. Delivered personal design research work to clients.

Glavé and Holmes Architecture Internship (July-December 2016) - Richmond, VA. Learned basics of architectural design work. Completed project research, administrative tasks, and client outreach.

Activities and Academic Projects School of Architecture Student Council Member, Charlottesville, VA (Fall 2019-Present).

Ritual Chair for Gamma Phi Beta Zeta Beta Chapter, Charlottesville, VA (Spring 2020-Fall 2021).

Alumnae Chair for Gamma Phi Beta Zeta Beta Chapter, Charlottesville, VA (Fall 2018).

Evelyn Saunders evelynruthsaunders@gmail.com 804-338-9524

Executive Secretary for Canterbury Student Vestry, Charlottesville, VA (Fall 2017-Spring 2018).

Volunteer Experience Substitute Sunday School Teacher at St. Paul’s Church, Charlottesville, VA (Fall 2018-Spring 2020).

Impact Richmond (home renovation outreach) Project Leader and Youth Counselor (2018 Session).

Honors and Awards Skinner Scholars Program at St. Paul’s Church Award Recipient (2018, 2019, and 2020).

American Institute of Architecture Richmond Scholarship Recipient (2017).

Spirit of Citizenship Award for the Sorensen Institute’s High School Leaders Program (2016).

Skills Adobe Creative Suite AutoCAD | ArcMap | FARO Scene 3D scanning hardware and software | Recap | Geomagic Design X | Rhino, Grasshopper | Revit | ArcGIS StoryMaps | Fusion 360 | KUKA robotic fabrication | Microsoft Office Suite | Web interface creation | Proficient in French.

Current Work The following is work in progress currently being developed in my spring thesis studio.This includes point cloud data visualizations of spaces primarily around Charlottesville and the University of Virginia, represented here colorized vector points. With a mind towards the kind of information available to us, I am trying to show how advanced data analytics and visualization tools can be used to better serve the people within the complex networks of cultural landscapes informed by the stories intrinsic to those places, spaces and things.

Theoretical Framework This paper was originally written for Andrew Johnston’s Historic Preservation Theory and Practice class, but much of its content can serve as excellent background or context to develop on in this project.

The original has been edited by the author and content highlight. This is meant both to frame thought process and contribute to the research otherwise recorded in the annotated bibliography.

Historic Infrastructure

Projections

Comprised of millions of vector points collected as environmental measurements with unique color values assigned, laser point cloud scanning data visualizations make room for a new kind of representational language. The kind that historic preservationists need.

Informing Life and Design EDUCATE

FACILITATE GROWTH

in the Virginia Cultural Landscape

ENGAGE

Program Diagram

More complete interior and exterior point cloud data allows for more complex architectural views as a hybrid model render of the data points with minimal framing and simple line work as shown here with the abandoned Midmont historic house.

Point cloud data visualizations can be used to understand existing topographical conditions. There is huge potential in using this kind of data in GIS tools. Shown here in plan and section the data from the Barboursville Ruins, uncolorized.

Deep Plan

The Midmont House + Expanding Historic Reports ARCH 5604 Field Methods | ARCH 3260 Building Matters

The Midmont House is nestled into an all but forgotten corner of Charlottesville, right on the edge of the University of Virginia‘s Grounds. This analysis attempts to better understand the structural and material composition of the Midmont House using drawing as the primary mode of inquiry based on observations collected in the field. The project maintains historic accuracy by relying on manipulated geometric and color data analytics in the form of a rendered 3D point cloud model of the structure which captures and records conditions at the site in the most faithful and accurate way possible.

POINT CLOUD + CONSTRUCTION DETAIL HYBRID SECTION

AS FOUND DETAILS AND SECTION

Construction began at this site around the same time that the University was founded and has been expanded regularly through several phases of development and expansion. Much of what has shaped the larger Charlottesville landscape in terms of history, urban systems, and material heritage is encapsulated in this one structure. This makes the home’s state of abandon in disrepair all the more unfortunate and intriguing from an architectural archaeological perspective.

The building is primarily constructed of gravity brick masonry walls with necessary timber framing systems in the floors and walls. The first floor, in what is believed to be the oldest part of the house seems to have plaster applied directly to the brick exterior wall. Redevelopment and additions mean that very little of the home has a regular structural pattern and; like many historic structures, it has significant maintenance problems. Entire walls and floors were not aligned as the house gained stories and additions and in several cases it appears that structural members were removed of damage, which is especially apparent in the sectionated drawings through the walls or floors that show significant creep or sag. Because of the completeness of the interior and exterior documentation in a synthesized with this model format can better understand some of the material composition, contextualize photographs taken during field work, and hopefully create a more cohesive visualization of the structure beyond what is possible to see even on site.

POINT CLOUD SCAN DATA EXPLODED AXON VISUALIZATION

After the data is collected, it undergoes a series of post-processing steps to register and align the multiple data sets. Anything that can be seen by the scanner is recorded and carries detailed spatial information. However, anything that can not be seen is not recorded--which in the case of architectural subjects. For all that can be done with these powerful tools, wall sections are the key element that a scan can not record. The drawings then serve to literally fill in the gaps by representing the walls’ composition informed by samples observed on site where damage to the walls allowed us to see inside. Furthermore, certain features of the structure, especially the local irregularities that occur across the global form of a building that has seen multiple unreconciled problems of repair.

These can be highlighted using these methods better aid other aspects of study and inform potential recommendations for the site.

The Attitude of a Park Towards the City + A Historical Analysis of Parks in Brooklyn ARCH 3070 Foundations in Design Thinking | The Other New York City: A Graphic users Guide to Brooklyn Brooklyn--cultural icon, urban hub, historic place, and home to over 40 parks in its vast urban network. Brooklyn has always been a place of strategic and symbolic importance in the history of early America, colonization, and the growth of our nation. As author Stan Allen said in his work Field Conditions, “Form matters, but not so much the forms of things as the forms between things.” This thinking is aspirational, and reflective of the importance of open or collective space in a city. To better understand Brooklyn, its essence and identity, we must look to the spaces in between. We look to parks.

Parks represent the aspirational quality that a city has for the quality of life of its citizens and in Brooklyn that landscape is very much defined by the work of Fredrick Law Olmsted, and the responses to Olmsted by others, from Robert Moses to Michael Van Valkenburgh. Here we see the historical development of the borough and how that story is told through the actors and designers in and of public space. This is followed with a catalouge of selected parks that are ment to illustrate some of thoughs larger points.

Collective spaces can help define a city, so it is important to better understand what defines the collective spaces. This study grapples with both the history and physical makeup of a place, taking into consideration how and why it was designed, and how that design can tell us something about society, at least as perceived by the designer at the time of their work. That is important because those assumptions and decisions are what make up the fabric of the character of a city.

The following are selections from a larger study which can be found at: https://issuu.com/evelynsaunders/docs/booklet_final.

PRE-1900

1900-1949

1950-1999

2000-PRESENT

CARTOGRAPHIC TIME LINE OF BROOKLYN DEVELOPMENT BY LOT YEAR BUILT

0.75 MILES

PROSPECT PARK

0.20 MILES

CADMAN PARK

0.33 MILES

CALVERT VAUX PARK

0.25 MILES

FORT GREEN PARK

0.63 MILES

CANARSIE PARK

0.25 MILES

SUNSET PARK

0.25 MILES

HERBERT VON KING PARK

0.50 MILES

BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK

1.00 MILES

MARINE PARK

SNAPSHOT OF NEW YORK PARKS

Compu+tectonics ARCH 3021 Design Thinking Studio II | Collective Fabrication “information is the resolution of uncertainty.” - Claude Shannon “The ability to move between material and computational design environments is crucial for designers today, as we are asked to consider both the physical assembly of matter and the relational assembly of data simultaneously. So the computational design environment is still an emerging one, computational assemblies are already entangled in human methods of making. These more intuitive yet highly complex processes offer insight into how designers can approach distinction, variation and responsiveness in the otherwise deterministic digital methods we currently use.” - Michael Leighton Beaman These geometric and spatial studies are an exploration on method and approach that work to better understand different forms of space filling and the differences in graphic and physical modeling. Figures 1-6 are selections from individual graduated iterations, from 2D pattern to planar and volumetric aggregation, constantly moving the work between digital and physical space, aided by laser cutters and 3D printers, so that one mode of thinking and working can inform the other. Further collaborative developments in parametric aggregation and packing volumes grew from this work, shown here with the 2.5D study model and digital aggregation of the same unit. Figures 7-10 show collective studio work where of a parametric aggregation study and unit developed to fit within that volume based on the scripted connection rules. Our studio the developed a scheme for a global structure to create the installation shown in the plan drawings here.

Collective Study: https://issuu.com/mlbeaman/docs/compu-tectonics_publication_01

FIG. 3

FIG. 4

FIG. 5

FIG. 6

2.5D HAND MODEL FIG. 1

FIG. 2

PARAMETRIC AGGREGATION MODEL OF 2.5D HAND MODEL

CONTEXT PLAN

FIG. 7

FIG. 8

FIG. 9

FIG. 10

SITE PLAN

Framing the Space | Appartment Housing + Public Park ARCH 2020 Foundations Studio III | Elements of Housing / Insideout / Radical Domesticities for Urban Life “The conceptualization and design of domestic space is an essential part of urban life.” - Felipe Correa

Seated adjacent to The Historic Downtown Mall, a central part of the Charlottesville community for residents and members of the University--this project uses simple construction methods composed in creative and unique ways to provide a mixed, primary affordable living, residential community. Of the 138 apartments, there are 97 single/affordable units, 30 double units, and 11 triple/family units.

From the ground up, terraces structure the existing topography on the western lot. This also provides more designated parking spaces in an underground garage built into the hill. There is ample room for the weekly farmers market in the indicated public commons on the eastern lot and even room for potential growth to the west along the terraces in what would currently serve as a more private outdoor space for the apartment building protected by tree canopies. The height of the structure takes advantage of the grade change so that the building can swell as it travels down grade and simultaneously mimic the height of key existing structures, like the two storied traditional homes to the west and the popular five story parking garage to the east. The apartment building is meant to fade away so you experience the best of the space, both what it was and now what it can be. This goal folds into the idea of building thin, which benefits both the inhabitants who can then experience the most views and natural light, taken in through large glass walls at the southern end of each room, as well as the community who can still see elements of the lively historic district through intentional disruptions in the structure. These disruptions or gaps also provide vertical green space and communal patios for the inhabitants.

Sensitivity to the existing context helps mitigated potential development problems for greater Charlottesville, relying primarily on the controlled foot print, emphasis of open communal space, and generally fluidity of the structure as is grows and shrinks in different places. The facade reiterates the idea of fluidity or flexibility, comprised almost entirely of movable wooden shutters that are controlled by the residents and evoke the same ideas of the famous Rue de Suisse in Paris, France. Furthermore, this movable, minimalist wall design has an elemental quality of simple architecture that helps weave the modern building into the more traditional context. The building has a responsibility to both its inhabitants and the community and is designed to be flexible enough to achieve both.

SECTION NORTH FACING INTERIOR COURTYARD

5TH FLOOR PLAN

PLAN DIAGRAM ALL FLOORS

Combining Advanced Computation Methods with Tradition A Reciprocal Frame Prototype using Invasive Wood Material ARCH 4011 Wood Proto-Architecture Studio 3.0 | Produced in collaboration with Junhong Fu (MLA + UDC), Lizzie Needham (MLA) Beginning with the harvesting of paulownia, an invasive tree species with unique characteristics, this collective project explores new methods of integrating computational design and robotic assistance with the complex form of reciprocal structures. The work in wood prototyping attempts to respect and celebrate material characteristics while also pushing the limits of computational tools to work within the necessary limits and allowances of an organic material in a densely inter-relient tensile structure. Fabricated according to joint, slot, and material labels derived from a complete integrated parametric computer model the final installation was sat back in the landscape.

The larger study can be found at: https://issuu.com/evelynsaunders/docs/funeedhamsaunders_booklet

Resin 3D Printed Joint

Hollow chambers in pith

Generates twisted loft connection for 3D printer

Material dimension and curve labeling customize joint

Recprocal Unit Center line connection points define direction of structure

PAULOWNIA

INSTALLATION

SELECTED GRASSHOPPER SCRIPT

CONTEXT PLAN

SITE PLAN

ELEVATION

INTERIOR VIEW

INSTALLATION POINT CLOUD SCANS

Photo by Tom Daly

PARAMETRIC RECIPROCAL MODEL

KUKA ROBOTIC ARM MILLING

FABRICATED STRUCTURE

Other Work I am for design... based on people informing design and design informing the people.

I am for design... in the spaces in between.

I am for design... drawn from personal experience rather than assumption.

I am for design... that moves forward by remaining cognizant of history.

I am for design... that depends on the knowledge and craft of all who make.

ROOF OF THE FLORINTINE BAPTISTRY ACRYLIC ON BOARD

ABSTRACTION OF GLASS ELEMENTS

IMPRESION SNOW DAY ACRYLIC ON BOARD

NORTH WEST ELEVATED VIEW

DETAIL SHOT OF THIRD FLOOR

CIRCLES ACRYLIC AND PEN ON CANVAS

LINES ACRYLIC AND PEN ON CANVAS

NEW LANDMARK HOTEL PARTI PROPOSAL