EoYS21_MArch_38

KASSANDRA LEE M.Architecture Por tfolio

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Kassandra Lee

M.Architecture / MS. Real Estate Development 2021

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Table of contents

04 - 11

01 / Rooted Studio / Core 3

12 - 21

02 / Arrecife Studio / Adv 4

22 - 27

03 / Waystation Studio / Core 1

28 - 33

04 / Sanctuary Studio / Core 2

34 - 41

05 / Barbaric Yawp Studio / Adv 6

42 - 49

06 / Rebalancing Manhattanville Studio / Adv 5

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01 / Rooted

01 / Rooted

program

location term instructor partner

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: communal housing artist workshops : south bronx, nyc : core 3 / fall 2019 : hilary sample : anoushae eirabie

Lifestyles have changed but housing options have remained static. Though the single family unit is still the default typology in New York City today, the self-contained and autarkic approach may no longer be relevant. In response to the prevalence of elderly, young working professionals, and single mothers, in the neighbourhood, this project explores how communal housing and greenery can be configured to suit different lifestyles for the modern age.

The focal point of the building was the concept of the courtyard as communal hearth, reinterpreted at different scales. At the smallest scale, the shared garden provides a common space between two adjacent units; the communal kitchen serves as a mediumscale courtyard between 10 - 15 units, while the highly porous ground floor acts as an interface between the developmeent and the surrounding neighbourhood.

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01 / Rooted

TOWER & ARM The development is organized around a tower and arm system: the communal kitchen and living areas are stacked within the fixed tower to maximize operational efficiency, which connect to the communal living units housed within the arms.

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Studio / Core 3

SHIFTING GARDENS To maximize the amount on sunlight that each shared garden would receive, the layout and orientation of the units and gardens change on each floor, stepping back and in at different angles to enable more light to filter down into the gardens at the lower floors.

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EXPERIMENTS

01 / Rooted

Studies on massing, structure, light and materials

Studies on massing and mass timber structure details

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Early test render of communal garden overlooking central social stair plaza to examine materiality and light

Studio / Core 3

Light study models simulate the amount of sunlight each shared garden would receive based on different unit and garden configurations

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PUBLIC POROSITY In keeping with the idea of a communal hearth for both the public and the residents, the ground floor and lower levels are dedicated to publicly accessible programs: a public stair plaza, artists workshops, community centre, and fenceless garden

EAST WEST SECTION 11

02 / Arrecife program location term instructor partner

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: marine researc station, vocational training school, visitor center : playa flamenco, puerto rico : adv 4 / spring 2020 (joint architecture/planning studio) : richard plunz, douglas woodward : tihana bulut (planner)

Culebra is currently highly dependent on the ebbs and flows of the tourism industry, which has also led to environmental degredation of the rare coral beds surrounding the island. The proposed Center for Marine Education aims to reduce this dependence by providing vocational training for the residents in marine biology, ecological research, coral reef propagation, in collaboration with NOAA researchers.

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SITE CONTEXT The narrow slip of the Atlantic Ocean between mainland Puerto Rico and the tiny island of Culebra (map below) houses some of the richest and most diverse coral beds in the world.

However, excess tourism and overfishing is threatening the health and future of these reefs.

01 / Rooted

Playa Flamenco on Culebra is one of top-rated beaches in the world, and the main economic driver for the island. While locals heavily rely on tourism spending for their income, the resulting environmental degredation and overcrowding is a constant source of tension between tourists and residents.

Proyect Status : Completed Project Year : 2006 Client : Ipsiquor Site Area : Area Location : Nusa Dua, Bali

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To avoid further environmental damage, the project is situated on an existing clearing next to a popular tourist attraction on the beach: the 70-year old US army tank, a relic from the days when Culebra was a military training site. The proposed location takes advantge of the existing foot path and easy access to the sea, while being sufficiently hidden to avoid marring the pristine beachfront, as demonstrated in the aerial photos and collage below showing the project on site.

Studio / Adv 4

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02 / Arrecife

SITE SECTION The site occupies a liminal space between sea, sand, and forest, and spreads across an undulating terrain that rises from sea level to a hillock. To address these site characteristics, the building was divided into three distinct blocks that sit at differing heights. The program was correspondingly organised based on the differing needs of each space: the research and exhibition areas require access to seawater, serviced areas must be integrated with the potable water treatment, while the community and administrative spaces require a larger footprint and more privacy.

Given the frequency of hurricanes in Puerto Rico, it was critical that the building could withstand strong winds and adapt to wind hurricane damage. The design therefore draws inspiration from the traditional Taino design of caneys, which are more permeable than brick and mortar structures and less susceptible to wind uplift and damage. The structure is thus designed as a series of boxes enclosed within a pavilion.

Studio / Adv 4

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02 / Arrecife

FIRST FLOOR PLAN 18

Studio / Adv 4

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02 / Arrefice

MATERIALITY

Bamboo is the main building material used for both skin and structure, due to versatility, aesthetic congruence with the surrounding beach and forest, and low carbon footprint.

Though not native to Puerto Rico, its easy adaptability to the local climate and easy cultivation make it an ideal building material for the project.

Studio / Adv 4

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03 / Waystation

03 / Waystation

program location term instructor

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: public infrastructure : washington heights, nyc : core 1 / fall 2018 : emmett zeifman

Nestled within the trees of the Broadway Boulevards, this project aims to question the notion of public space, ownership, and enclosure.

The project drew inspiration for the vibrant informal street life of Washington Heights, and houses seating, toilets, libraries, charging infrastructure, drinking fountains, and lighting, to address the dearth of these public amenities in New York City. To provide a visual relief from the hardscape of the surrounding city, the spaces are enclosed by a series of two-way mirrors that turns the attention inwards and upwards towards the tree canopy above.

Interior design Portfolio

Studio / Adv 4

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03 / Waystation

INTERIOR PERSPECTIVE Tree wells carved into the volumes bring the existing greenery on site into the space

PRECEDENT

PLAN

Study on reflection and translucency

The structures house a variety of program meant to address the lack of freely available public amenities in NYC, from toilets and seating to temporary housing for the homeless.

Dan Graham Square Dissected by Curve Louisiana Museum of Art

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Studio / Core 1

SITE AXON Each module is unique, individually shaped by carve-outs from the existing tree beds along each boulevard block

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03 / Waystation

Yoga mats stacked in a corner are unrolled and laid out for a class “Let’s all close our eyes and take a cleansing breath.... in through the nose, and out through the mouth. Ohmmmmm”

Snow begins to pile up as the chess tables are set up for a game “Your move.”

“HAH checkmate!”

Footsteps echo as the toilet door closes. The sound of someone peeing, a toilet flushes, and a tap runs, Santa emerges, and heaves a sigh as he trudges to a bench and slumps down.

The lullaby of gentle snoring as the screen cuts to black...

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VIDEO STILLS

This 1-min video demonstrated the flexible nature of the space by showing the variety of activities that could occur organically in the space, from yoga lessons in the summer, to chess games in the fall, and a rest stop for Santa on his long and arduous Christmas journey.

Studio / Core 1

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04 / Sanctuary program location term instructor

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: library, public park : lower east side, new york : core 2 / spring 2019 : toshihiro oki

Drawing on the well-established concept of the library as sanctuary, this project is intended to create an oasis of serenity in the midst of the hustle and bustle of Lower Manhattan. It aims to achieve this both internally - through the creation of light-filled reading rooms - and externally by returning the greenery to the park and recreating a sense of rolling plains under open skies.

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04 / Sanctuary

Studio / Core 2

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OCCULIGHT Occuli carved out of the roof provide a visual connection between the interior and exterior, and allows light to flood into the reading spaces below, turning them into cathedrals of light.

INTEGRATED GREENERY Supporting an extensively planted park would require a significant amount of planting space. To accomodate the space needed for the roots of mature trees, spaces were carved into the void between the occupiable space underground.

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UNDULATING GROUND Concept sketches to explore how pulling and stretching the ground plane can create volume and apertures. Model experiments via CNC and 3D printing to explore the final iteration.

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02 / Barbaric Yawp program location term instructor

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: music school, outdoor amphitheatre, scream rooms : edgemere, nyc : adv 6 / spring 2021 : jaffer kolb / ivi diamantopoulo

Inspired by Primal Scream, the New York Times feature on working mothers struggling with the pressures of juggling home and work life in the time of Covid-19, this project provides a space for people to externalize anti-social stress relief aka coping mechanisms that are too noisy for the home.

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05 / Barbaric Yawp

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SOUNDSCAPE Experiments in creating specific sound conditions within the given structure

Studio / Adv 6

THE PREFABRICATED BARN The studio was organized around the constraints of a given prefabricated steel barn structure. To test the possibilities of the structure within the given system, I created a taxonomy exploring variations in form, as well as how the building could adapt to different programmatic, ground, and enclosure conditions.

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05 / Barbaric Yawp

SPATIAL ORGANIZATION

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The program of the building is divided between sounds to be amplified versus sounds to be muffled. The loud bar on the top contains the bandshell stage, while the quiet bar contains the dual purpose scream or practice rooms.

Studio / Adv 6

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05 / Barbaric Yawp

CONTROLLING PITCH Drawing on the adjustable pitches of the prefabricated barn structure, the building relies on different angle of roof pitches to modulate how sound is transmitted within and without the building. By angling the roof downwards, the sound from within the practice rooms/scream rooms are muffled, while the outward helps amplify the music from the bandshell stag

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GROUND CONTROL Since the site is located within a high-risk flood zone, water management was a primary concern. Rather than raising the building above the requsite 9ft, sinking the ground down allowed the building to retain a low profile in keeping with the surrounding residential community while mitigating the flood risk. The site would also act as a bioswale during flooding, and help to reduce water damage to the neighbourhood.

Studio / Adv 6

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06 / Rebalancing Manhattanville program location term instructor partner

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: research labs labs, public high school, gym, auditorium, retail : west harlem, new york city : adv 5 / fall 2020 : andres jaque : ian wach

Columbia University’s new Manhattanville campus was born out of a highly contentious and public battle between the university and the displaced occupants of the neighbourhood formerly known as West Harlem. In keeping with the studio’s focus on slum clearance, this project questions the narrative of blight and renewal that Columbia used to justify the Manhattanville expansion project.

West Harlem once housed a rich and diverse urban tapestry (depicted in the collage below) that included everything from a tight-knit Eritrean community, a thriving auto repair and gas station industry, artists and musician houses and studio spaces, multiple churches, and beloved restaraunts that served as a melting pot between Columbia University and the community. However, this has since been razed to the ground to make way for the new Manhattanville superblocks.

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06 / Rebalancing Manhattanville

Studio / Adv 5

DEMOLITION & DISPLACEMENT The once heterogenous mix of different uses on small plots (map on left) is quickly being erased (right above) and will soon be replaced by Columbia’s new homogenous superblocks (right below)

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06 / Rebalancing Manhattanville

REDISTRIBUTING LAND RIGHTS The crux of the issue is land rights; Columbia was able to unilaterally evict tenants and demolish buildings due to a multi-decade operation to accumulate all the land in West Harlem, thereby removing all agency from the residents. To rebalance this uneven power dynamic, we propose allocating half of the total development potential to a community land trust under the West Harlem Development Corporation, as Columbia’s reparations for its past history of displacement and gentrification in Harlem.

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Studio / Adv 5

INTERWOVEN CIRCULATION Most Columbia buildings are typically only accessed by the public at the periphery, which reinforces the barrier between Columbia and the community. To break down this siloed approach, we developed a circulation network that intentionally weaves the path of all the different users of the site together. The points of overlap are transformed into public plazas that act as nodes of potential interaction between Columbia users, high schoolers, and the public.

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PUBLIC GREENERY The greenery incorporated into the building provides a visual indicator of the continuous public path that stretches from the ground level all the way to the top of the development.

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MATERIALITY In contrast to the glossy glass and steel facade of the new Manhattanville buildings, this project seeks to blend in with the brick and mortar facades of the existing neighbourhood, as a sign of integration rather than alienation from the community.

Studio / Adv 5

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