HOW TO: EVOLVE AN URBAN ECOLOGY
Fall 2024
Team: Gabriele Eggerling and Dhruv Jadhav
Instructors:
Amber Bartosh and Vanessa Lastrucci
Project model exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London
“Evolving an Urban Ecology” explores how forgotten urban spaces can be reimagined through ecological care and slow, adaptive design. Focusing on the disused Highgate train station in North London, once the longest uninterrupted greenspace in the city, the project highlights the precarious condition of the site today, where barriers prevent humans from circulating across it and obstruct flora and fauna from migrating along its former ecological corridor. Beneath these restrictions lies a largely unrecognized resource: tons of valuable urban soil whose ecological significance remains widely unknown and scarcely protected.
In response, our proposal outlines a threepronged, long-term strategy: reusing existing concrete in situ to establish a permanent hub for low-tech soil research and education; repurposing common scaffolding systems to create low-impact, temporary circulation routes and community allotments; and adapting agricultural soil and water-collection technologies for urban application. Conceived as a speculative “how-to” guide, the project uses the Highgate site as a test bed to demonstrate how its easily constructible, temporary, and self-sustaining system could extend across Greater London, envisioning an evolving landscape that prioritizes ecological restoration, access, and coexistence over time.
I worked on the entirety of the project along with my studio partners Gabriele and Dhruv.
1_Conceptual collage (by Hannah)
1_Model photographs (by Hannah)
2_Experiential collage
3_Longitudinal section (by Hannah)
1_Assembly of impermanent structure
2_Transverse section
3_Permanent vs. impermanent plans (by Hannah)
2024-2025
Team: NO OFFICE
In collaboration with: Jess Myers and Thomas Hogge
2024 Independent Projects Grants Recipient and 2026 Graham Foundation Grants to Individuals
The I-81 Viaduct is an infrastructure and transportation project common to many postindustrial cities, demonstrating the deeply embedded systems of inequity that produce and perpetuate them. Syracuse serves as a critical case study and prototype for broader development practices, directly linked to policy strategies that reimagine disruptive and divisive infrastructural systems. This project is focused on strategies for equitable housing, productive landscapes, zoning policy, and civic-minded architecture. We have designed and visualized scenarios to assess the present condition of the freeway and to identify catalytic solutions for creating a future-oriented, sustainable, and livable freeway future.
I worked on the visualization of these future scenarios, developing detailed design proposals for five distinct intervention zones along the viaduct and illustrating how each could transform the surrounding urban fabric. I also contributed to the design of new affordable housing placed on currently vacant lots throughout the city, helping shape massing, site layout, and communityoriented public space. In addition, I worked on landscape strategies, including bioswales, biodiversity ponds, and permeable paving, aimed at reducing water runoff, improving ecological performance, and mitigating pollutants across the corridor. Finally, I contributed to the design and installation of the exhibition.
1_East Genesee St. oblique (by Hannah)
1_Adams St. oblique zoom-in (by Hannah)
2_Washington St. oblique zoom-in (by Hannah)
3_Adams St. oblique (by Hannah)
4_Washington St. oblique (by Hannah)
1_Van Buren St. section
2_East Genesee St. section
3_Landscape strategies diagram (by Hannah) 4_Highway debris diagram (by Hannah)
REFORM Spring 2025
Team: Molly Shanley
Instructors: Andy Kim
Nominated for SoA Annual Integrated Design Prize
Located in rural Lebanon, Pennsylvania—an area of barns and warehouses, this steel factory reinterprets local typologies to create a contemporary facility for producing prefabricated components from recycled steel. Drawing from traditional barns, the design inverts the truss, turning it into a central architectural element that signals a shift from agricultural production to a revived steel industry. Balanced on one column and stabilized by tension cables, the 250-foot truss spans a 500-foot structure organized on a 25’ x 25’ grid with primary and secondary beams and a custom “T beam”–“H column” system.
The program unfolds beneath the structure: offices to the north; a recycling center to the northeast that receives, sorts, and melts steel; and production wings beyond. The western “dirty” zone handles casting, welding, cutting, and extruding, while the central hall supports clean assembly and the southeast wing manages finishing. Above, a metal trade school sits within the truss, with classrooms and studios overlooking fabrication below to encourage students to question steel’s conventional uses.
Passive ventilation comes from operable windows and skylights, while HVAC conditions the central core through ductwork threaded inside the truss. Side wings rely on machinerygenerated heat, supported by dedicated exhaust fans.
I worked on the entirety of the project along with my studio partner Molly Shanley.
1_Detailed axonometric (by Hannah)
1_Ground floor plan (by Hannah)
2_Detail sections (by Hannah)
3_Section perspective (by Hannah)
1_Structural model (by Hannah+Molly)
2_Longitudinal section (by Hannah)
3_Chunk model (by Hannah+Molly)
4_Facade model (by Hannah+Molly)
BHOLA HOUSE
Summer 2024
Team: NO OFFICE
In collaboration with: Joseph Perry and 1000 Samples (renderings)
Honorable Mention in the Best of Design Awards in the Architect’s Newspaper
Bhola House is a single-family residence designed for a small household, with accessibility and health as the primary priorities. To ensure ease of movement, the home is a single-story structure with generous floor-to-ceiling height. It is organized in an “M” shape: the larger wing serves the main family, while the smaller wing provides an independent living area for a fulltime nurse and caregiver.
Located in the Ganges Delta near the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh’s Bhola District, the project responds to the hot, humid climate of the region. The building’s form promotes natural ventilation through strategically placed openings, and small courtyards positioned within the voids of the M-shaped plan provide passive heating, cooling, and daylighting yearround. The home is constructed with thick clay brick walls, chosen for their strong thermal properties and ability to moderate indoor temperatures.
I worked on the site research, general massing and plan layout for the house, developing the M-shaped organization, shaping the relationships between the family and caregiver wings, and arranging circulation and courtyards to optimize airflow, daylight, and accessibility.
1_Ground floor plan (by Hannah)
1_Plan diagram (by Hannah)
2_Massing render
3_Bedroom render
4_Courtyard render
5_Site plan (by Hannah)
6_Section perspective
1_Exterior view looking in 2_Interior view looking out 3_Worm’s eye view
4_Site axon (by Hannah)
CULTIVATED KITCHEN Fall
2023
Instructor: Omar Ali
Located in Bronzeville, Chicago, Cultivated Kitchen is a project that weaves a community through housing and examines the cultural importance of food and cooking, looking specifically at the kitchen as a crucial space for social gathering and collectivity. Mostly dedicated to single room occupancy, it aims to house students from the IIT. The housing plan is divided into two bars, one with the units and the other with collective space, overlapping at times and connected by playful circulation. To cultivate a living community, the kitchens were removed from the units and placed on the collective bar, encouraging residents to socialize through cooking. Kitchens vary in size and interweave with small communal spaces like shared work areas, lounges, reading rooms, and game platforms. The collective bar is not continuous on each floor, creating a dynamic atrium and allowing visual connection between levels.
The project forms a gradient of privacy, with a public ground floor, shared residential space, and private units. The ground floor is porous, with a “false” wall acting as a threshold and lining Vincennes Street with new activity. The sidewalk moves into the plan, connecting the building to its context. A small restaurant, theater, community kitchen, garden, market space, and food court program the area. Housing sits above, accessed through two cores and a grand stair. Its form steps from a lower south side toward the taller eastern edge, creating accessible roofs programmed for residents with areas for food cultivation, outdoor gathering, and cooking. Overall, the project emphasizes the collective part of housing through the kitchen.
1_Longitudinal section
2_Ground floor plan
3_Experiential collages