Gail Bray Architecture Portfolio

PORTFOLIO

GAIL

BRAY

CONTENTS M. Arch

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A B IGA I L B RAY Timber in the City

middle housing solution in mass timber

Contact gail_bray@outlook.com +1 816.988.6524

10 Undergraduate

16 18 26 30

COMA

work in progress- columbia modern art

LightHAUS 2024 solar decathlon award winner

Habitat 909

net-zero skyscaper adaptive reuse

Heart-Shaped Box

remote lake cabin

Béton Arts visual arts school

Software Revit Sketchup AutoCAD Photoshop Illustrator Indesign Lumion Enscape Twinmotion Rhino

Skills Revit Proficiency Design communication 3D modeling Construction documents Graphic design Design thinking Problem-solving Organization Time-management Digital rendering Analogue drawings Charcoal rendering

TIMBER IN THE CITY mortise + tenon joints

Experience GRADUATE ARCHITECTURE INSTRUCTOR Instructor of record for Visual Design, an undergraduate architecture studio class at the University of Missouri.

current

WAYFINDING DESIGN Designing wayfinding signage diagrams for a Student Success Center, an office building that hosts many student resources.

current

GRAPHIC DESIGN Communications Assistant for Mizzou architectural studies digital presence, content creation for website and social media.

current

Graphic designer and social media director for Mizzou Architecture and Design student organization.

2024-25

SOLAR DECATHLON / BUILDINGSNEXT Competed on 2 teams in the U.S. Department of Energy net-zero design challenge at NREL, and assisted with 2 additional projects.

Placed 3rd in multifamily residential category in 2024.

notch

Fourplex Prototype

2024-25

UNDERGRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANT Graded and redlined construction document sets for senior level Revit/BIM course. Also graded writing-intensive architectural history and programming courses.

2024-25

CUSTOM QUALITY CONSTRUCTION LLC Worked in construction team refinishing and renovating fire-damaged apartment units in Kansas City.

Summer 2024

Education

Honors

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI Master’s of Architecture | 2026 B.S. in Architectural Studies | 2025

National Merit Scholar Stumpe-Tofle Scholar Bright Flight Scholar 4.0 GPA Summa Cum Laude

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The fourplex prototype engages mass timber as an expressive structural element to establish an external identity for each of the four modular units, in contrast to the impersonal podium apartment buildings that pockmark the downtown heart of Columbia, Missouri. The 2-story, 2-bedroom units are designed as stackable pairs that overlap and notch together, inspired by traditional wood joinery techniques.

This geometry creates shaded entry moments, pseudo-front lawns, and internalized vertical circulation. At a total of 3,604 ft2, the small scale of the prototype allows for salient and novel experimentation with timber structural design. The nonrectilinear sillouettes are achieved without material waste by engaging a computational “self-shaping” manufacturing process for curved CLT.

half-lap joint

column tie

column base

SELF-SHAPING CURVED MASS TIMBER passive layer face-glued onto active layer stiffer, less deformation

active layer edge-glued together load-bearing grain direction higher swelling/ shrinking

WET STATE

Using a design process detailed by researchers at the University of Stuggart*, curved mass timber structural members can be manufactured at an industrial scale using a novel process of “self-shaping”. The natural tendency of fibers to deform when introduced to moisture can be utilized and predicted with computational models to create complex, organic shapes through a process of moisture application, drying and deforming into shape, and lamination. The final laminated components are pre-fab, structural and load-bearing.

This process eliminates the material waste required to cut curved shapes from large, laminated timber sheets, which is the typical manufacturing process for curved timber.

acoustic DLT panels Pre-fab DLT panels can be manufactured at any increment up to 12’ wide, allowing for greater design flexibility without panel waste, making acoustic DLT ideal for a smaller residential scale with CNC milled profiles for acoustic material.

sound absorbtion

DLT shear walls

light-frame walls

2b

edr oom

acoustic DLT panels

uni t. 9 01 f t2

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moisture application kiln-drying

DRY STATE curved CLT column

initial self-shaped bilayer

glulam beams curved CLT

elevate private spaces

rotate

void circulation

carve

SELF-SHAPED CLT PANEL self-shaped bilayer

DLT shear walls

cold bent locking layer

6

stack

curved CLT panel *Grönquist, Philippe. (2020).

Smart Manufacturing of Curved Mass Timber Components

by Self-Shaping. 10.3929/ ethz-b-000405617.

DLT panels 2’

8’

LANDSCAPE WITH 2 HORIZONS

work in progress COMA. Columbia Modern Art will serve as a cultural hub to ground the thriving North Village Arts District.

The program includes specialized gallery space to showcase the works of Isamu Noguchi, Barbara Kruger, Alexander Calder, and Dan Flavin as well as educational outreach, a cafe, and artist-in-residence. The rest of the site will home a sculpture garden with the works of Richard Serra and Eduardo Chillida. pictured: preliminary north and west elevations. perspective section through primary gallery atrium. drawn with sanguine on newsprint.

concept + inspiration: local art, Tidal Murmur by Beth Nybeck (pictured).

Calla lilies, spring and ephermerality. fluid motion and eruption from the earth. joined bodies. perversion of planes.

The site is defined by two distinct horizons, which the project occupies and activates through carefully calibrated changes in elevation, slope, and sectional depth. This project proposes an analytical reinterpretation of a selected Richard Diebenkorn painting by translating its compositional, chromatic, and spatial qualities into a three-dimensional surface. Rather than treating the painting solely as a two-dimensional image, the study investigates how Diebenkorn’s layered geometry, subtle color modulation, and spatial tension can be understood as variations in depth, elevation, and topography.

The 90,000 square foot sculpture garden should be conceived as an inhabitable landscape, derived from the spatial logic and varied depth of the earlier study of the Richard Diebenkorn painting. Rather than treating the site as a neutral ground for object placement, the garden is formed as an articulated terrain, an abstracted, three-dimensional translation of Diebenkorn’s planar compositions, shifting horizons, and layered geometries. This proposed articulated landscape becomes both medium and framework. It will simultaneously ground and elevate the users experience of sculpture and site.

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rose music hall talking horse productions cafe berlin

art walk

north village arts district

traffic box art the blue note

stephens theatre

sager reeves

missouri theater C.A.L.

Columbia Public Art

gallery/ studio

public art

performing arts

mural

Diebenkorn Studies

gallery/ studio

performing arts

public art

mural

restrooms

gallery

director’s office

site access

shared office

gallery

meeting + break

Lvl 2

artist residence

studio main entrance

giftshop

Lvl 3

entry from parking

LIGHTHAUS | solar decathlon 2024

Project is in a preliminary stage and missing a curation workspace and collection storage. This element will be hidden in the raised landscaping, south of the primary gallery, which allows the wide road on the East side of the site to be used for loading access. Parking garage is subterranean and will be entered through the north edge of the raised landscaping, which slopes down with the decent of the garage (parking garage details are overlayed on site plan).

Awarded 3rd place in Multifamily Residential category at the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, LightHAUS is a net-zero housing complex designed for international students and early-career educators in Columbia. The project transforms an industrial brownfield into a breathing ecosystem of passive systems and agrovoltaics.

Project was designed and lead by Turma Asokan. This was a big team effort and I was responsible for developing the safety and well-being components of the project, including researching passive atrium ventilation, fire protection methods, and designing living wall systems. I also contributed to building the physical model.

lobby restrooms

structure Utilizing a method invented by Danstex, the load bearing exterior walls will be constructed as sandwhich panels made from prefabricated curved GFRC panels and cast in situ concrete, allowing for a bright, white finish on the interior and exterior wall. White concrete replaced with GFRC for weather resistence, longevity, lighter weight, and reduced carbon emissions.

Prefab GFRC cladding also has potential for the addition of insulation layers.

maker space gallery

1

Level 2 1" = 30'-0"

service

Lvl 2 noguchi

patio

Lvl 1

1

cafe

Level 3 1" = 30'-0"

kitchen restroom

lecture

14

classroom

Lvl 1

15’

30’

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HABITAT 909 SKYSCRAPER

NET-ZERO

RETROFIT

Competition thesis project developed with Benjamin Hendricks and Ezra Stimac and presented at NREL for the U.S. Department of Energy BuildingsNEXT competition (formerly known as Solar Decathlon design challenge.)

HABITAT

909

ECOSYSTEM

Standing as the second tallest building in Missouri, the former AT&T office stands in the heart of downtown St. Louis with 44 stories and 1.45 million square feet. At the time of our proposal, the tower was vacant and its market value had plummeted by $146.7 million. The Habitat 909 retrofit proposes a net-zero, mixed-use, residential space that is marketed towards families and young professionals as a replicable, sustainable solution for adapting the growing number of abandoned office buildings in major cities. Project was modeled in Revit using Point Cloud data provided by TrueScan.

Building-Applied Photocoltaics efficient HVRF & DOAS

reduced conditioned space passive cooling offsite PV-covered parking

solar decathlon 2025

EV shuttles transport residents + energy to tower and store excess energy

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20

909 CHESTNUT STREET

DOWNTOWN ST. LOUIS

Solar + Energy

Updated wall enevelope

RETROFIT EUI: 31.9

Annual energy usage: 9,350,000 KWH

110,420 sqft solar southern facade.

capture

on

flex commercial space

Community terraces

3 bed unit

ac sp or ou td o

e

PASSIVELY COOLED ATRIUM

mech + service

Utilized passive cooling in corridors through stack effect created by atriums.

Vertical Neighborhood

mech + service

with

ity

construction

m m un

Exterior wall R-value 26

co

Reduced conditioned spaces by 270,000 sqft by creating protected community outdoor spaces.

Heat generated by BAPV is used to preheat boiler water lines. passively cooled atrium

e

m

un

ity

ou td o

or

sp

ac

m

Additional solar energy generated from covered parking lot designated for residents with EV shuttles for transporting energy and residents between sites.

Building-Applied Photovoltaics facade

co

2 bed unit

Open-air retail atrium

22 24

studio

Floor 2

Floor 1

Shadow Residence

entry

Floor 3

Valley

The residence is a 3,239 sqft single-family home located near the Shadow Valley Lake in Jefferson City, Missouri. Designed as an extension of its natural context, the house descends toward the lake, each floor following the natural slope of the hill. Naturally lit areas of the house are oriented to the west for a view of the lake & the slope of the hill will prevent southern sun from heating up the house during the summer.

The house features three levels of green roof landscaped with native vegetation that will regulate internal temperatures and connect the house with its lush surroundings.

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9

12 6

6

14

8

11 13

6

10 5

4

7

5

3

1

2

entertain

1. entry 2. garage 3. roof patio 4. living 5. storage 6. bathroom 7. mechanical 8. kitchen 9. dining 10. lounge 11. laundry 12. bedroom 13. library office 14. patio

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10

20

Study Model

26

28

privacy

stack, create circulation

carve angles

Section

South elevation

The postsecondary visual arts school is 2 stories and 36,412 sqft. It is located in central Columbia, Missouri, standing between a nature trail and urban college evironment. The form is derived from the height needs of the spaces within- the tall gallery, studios, & lecture halls are arranged in L-shapes to create the striking angles of the roof. The entrance opens to a 2-story gallery space that will display student work and serve as a circulation hub.

Beyond the gallery is a central atrium with paths between studio classrooms in efficient angles, inspired by the exterior appearance, that will bring natural light into both floors of the building. The stretches of rough concrete and stone are a blank canvas for student expression.

duplicate

Arts

Béton

create L-shape

North elevation

2’ 4’

8’

16’

East elevation

30

32

Floor 2

Floor 1

34