"A Corner of the World" - 2nd Place Winner Willeke Architecture Portfolio 2020

A CORNER OF THE WORLD Willeke Portfolio 2020

“We should therefore have to say how we inhabit our vital space, in accord with all the dialectics of life, how we take root, day after day, in a ‘corner of the world’.”

Gaston Bachelard - The Poetics of Space

CONTENTS TESTING GROUNDS 3 RIVERSTAGE 13 THE VISIBLE AND THE VEILED 23 SPLIT-BRIDGE 33 FALSE SOLIDS 39 IT’S ALL ABOUT THE GRID 45 DRAWING TECHNIQUES 51 INITIATIVE FOR AN INCLUSIVE CAMPUS 55 EXCERPT OF A HOUSE 59 ARCHITECTURE AS FRAME 65 RE-VISION 69

“Testing Grounds” seeks to rework the relationships between plants and people, and between land and architecture. It recognizes plants and people as living beings with the capacity to help each other and their shared environment, and land and architecture as dynamic characters within the broader systems of ecology and commercialization. In a sense, the project proposes a wellness center for both the living and the land affected by industry, but not by considering “wellness” as a way to smooth over the environmental, bodily, and psychological trauma of over-industrialization. Rather, it integrates the present state of environmental and human affliction as the foundation for recovery by making the actors involved more aware of each other as collaborators in restoration.

TESTING GROUNDS A Restoration Center

In collaboration with Allison Stamm Fall 2019 | UG3 | Instructor : Daniel Jacobs

With industries of mass commodification evergrowing and changing the earth, it becomes imperative to address the new collective condition that emerges from the interaction between human bodies, artificial landscapes, and other living participants in the environment. A particular example of this exists in the commercialized plant industry, consequences of which include drastic environmental change, physical and psychological strain on laborers, and exploitation of plant species.

Natural environmental processes are being stretched to the detriment of the climate in order to mass produce botanical goods, and this also affects the workforce involved in these industries.

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This Chicago site is a representative piece of how these systems of industry alter the environmental and social landscape that results from the intensive commercialization of both human and natural resources, affecting the workforce in the neighboring industrial and park systems as well as the botanical species that exist here.

1st FLOOR PLAN

2nd FLOOR PLAN

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WALKWAY TO COMMUNITY CENTER

PHYSICAL/MENTAL

L THERAPY CENTER

GREENHOUSE - RESEARCH CENTER

MAIN AXIS - ENTRANCE VIEW

Placing the buildings at different sectional heights sets the ground in motion, at times pulverizing or leaving alone parts of the existing asphalt surface to create different ground conditions that interact with the architecture and emerging plant life in new ways. Oriented to the south where the elevated rail provides access from other areas of Chicago, the center pathway is situated about a main axis that leads through four structures each designed to cater towards new ways of inhabiting and interacting with the ever changing earth conditions.

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CIRCUMAMBULATORY WALKWAY

The complex is unified by a circumambulatory walkway that, due to the significantly changing elevation of the ground surface, at times hovers above the earth while at other times touches down on a rooftop, on the ground, or merges into a building, which provides the occupant opportunities for varied spatial and material experiences of the ground, building, and nature.

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COMMUNITY CENTER - FOOD HALL

Located closest to the main access point of the railway, the community gathering building provides spaces for educational programs to teach people about the processes that go into phytoremediation, sustainable living, and plant properties. The polycarbonate wall panels in the structure are able to slide open and create a balcony, giving greater access to the landscape. The open floor plan can be shaped as needed for the community by curtains acting as walls and non-fixed furniture. A central staircase doubles as seating and indoor plant growth, which allows the exterior ground condition to infiltrate into the building and the space that people typically inhabit.

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HYDROTHERAPY CENTER - BATH HALL

The hydrotherapy center establishes a setting for social bathing and recentering the components of a typical “spa” to be focused on the essentials of bodily health without the connotations of luxury--which are often an economic and social barrier. Here, spaces for plants, people, water, and light are made ambiguous.

Aqueous and humidity-loving plants help maintain the space by filtering the water and air. It contains an open hot pool hall where people can intermingle with each other and plants either in the water or on the heated ground. The hall is fringed on the edges by smaller niches for rest and dry sauna rooms embedded into the thick walls to create spaces that emphasize how deep within the ground you are.

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This proposal for a boathouse serves not only as a community rowing center that provides access to the historically exclusive sport to a wider range of people, but also as a rest stop for trail users for the local park system. Open to the public as a place of pause, it offers a stage for people to familiarize themselves with the world of rowing and grow the community.

RIVERSTAGE

A Boathouse for Spectacle

Winter 2019 | UG2 | Instructor : Jen Maigret

BANDEMER PARK - ANN ARBOR, MI

LENGTH OF TRAIL

A park situated in between an industrial strip, residential neighborhoods, and a series of nature areas, Bandemer Park spans a popular location for boating and other forms of outdoor recreation for local rowing teams, families, and general residents of Ann Arbor. Although the area is predicted to undergo significant development in the near future, the site still holds a key position on a continous trail that spans over 5 miles from Fuller Park to Barton Nature Area.

While this trail may be a desireable length for those who wish to enjoy the outdoors in fair weather, the stretch can be quite tiring, especially in the wintertime when warm shelter is in higher demand.

0 mi Barton Nature Area

This proposal for a boathouse serves not only as a community rowing center that provides access to the historically exclusive sport to a wider range of people, but also as a rest stop for user of the trail. Open to the public as a place of pause, it offers a stage for people to familiarize themselves with the world of rowing.

1.3 mi

2.3 mi

Bandemer Park

Argo Park

2.8 mi

3.2 mi

Broadway Park

Fuller Park

3.7 mi Cedar Bend Nature Area

Barton Nature Area

Kuebler Langford Nature Area

Bandemer Park

Argo Nature Area

Bluffs Nature Area

Cedar Bend Cedar Bend Nature Area Nature Area Argo Park

Fuller Park Fuller Park

Broadway Park

Riverside RiversidePark Park

1/256”=1’-0” 320’

640’

1600’

ANN ARBOR TRAIL SYSTEM

Situated in between an industrial strip, residential neighborhoods, and a series of nature areas, Bandemer Park spans a popular location for boating and other forms of outdoor recreation for local rowing teams, families, and general residents of Ann Arbor. Although the area is predicted to undergo significant development in the near future, the site still holds a key position on a continuous trail that spans over 5 miles from Fuller Park to Barton Nature Area.

While this trail may be desireable length for those who wish to enjoy the outdoors in fair weather, the stretch can be quite tiring, especially in the wintertime.

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1/32”=1’-0” 40’

80’

200’

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1/8”=1’-0” 10’

20’

To serve both competitive rowers, interested beginners, and observing locals, the boathouse provides spaces for rowing equipment storage, indoor training, classrooms, public restrooms, and a cafe.

50’

21

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THE VISIBLE AND THE VEILED

An Chinese Puppet Archive

Fall 2018 | UG1 | Instructor : Ance Trandafirescu

This project is a proposal for an archive of Chinese shadow puppets, an art form that engages a duality of frontstage-backstage, displayed-hidden, imagined-tangible.

Reflecting the spirit of the art, the archive shapes a spatial relationship between the real and illusionary, the artisan and the collector, the performer and the audience.

Site

N

Downtown Establishments University Buildings Residential

An infill site on the ambiguous edge between downtown Ann Arbor and the university campus provides an opportunity to serve a mixed demographic comprising the general public and more specialized visiting scholars.

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Through the theatre language of a scrim that serves as a blurring division between the viewer and the performer, the archive creates space for both the curious visitor and the focused scholar to interact with the puppets which are displayed on translucent curtain walls that simultaneously split and bridge the two sides.

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VISITOR’S SIDE - EXHIBIT GALLERY

SCHOLAR’S SIDE - RESEARCH FACILITIES

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5th FLOOR PLAN

4th FLOOR PLAN

3rd FLOOR PLAN

2nd FLOOR PLAN

1st FLOOR PLAN

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POSITIVE SPACE and SUSPENSION Through a stacked model, this project explores the tension created by the contrast between thin negative space and heavy positive space. The contrast creates ambiguity between cohesion and discreteness within a form, making it unclear whether it is composed of one or multiple masses.

SPLIT-BRIDGE Winter 2018 | UG1 | Instructor : Anca Trandafirescu

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NEGATIVE SPACE and FRAGILITY Based on an inversion of the stacked model, this negative space cast emphasizes the dissonance between a heavy rectangular mass and a thin, geometrically complex interior.

This creates a variation of ambiguity that plays on the perceived heft of a mass.

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FALSE SOLIDS

Manipulation of View Through Illusion and Boundary Winter 2019 | ARCH218 | Instructor : Michael Jefferson

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Prompted to actualize the effect of the action “to drag” through a 6”x6”x6” cube, I designed a form that imagines various impressions of an object being dragged through it, engaging all sides of the cube to evoke the textural and formal consequences.

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Using the elevation drawings of the “drag” cube, I then derived a plan for a structure embedded in a topographical landscape. The language of arches emphasizes the aspect of framing through forms that create the illusion of solidness or hollowness depending on the direction of view.

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Through a critical study of Villa Tugendhat by Mies van der Rohe, we developed drawings and a model to examine the formal and experiential role of the grid in the house, especially in terms of how it unifies the floor plans and how it creates dynamics of transparency and publicprivate relationships.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE GRID A Study of Villa Tugendhat

In Collaboration With Kay Wright Winter 2018 | ARCH218 | Instructor : Michael Jefferson

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DRAWING TECHNIQUES A Selection of Freehand Drawings

Fall 2016 | ARCH201 | Instructor: Melissa Harris

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Through a close study of a stairwell in the architecture building of Taubman College, these drawings document how light creates space by giving shape and texture to form and the dissonance between what light reveals and what is actually present.

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INITIATIVE FOR AN INCLUSIVE CAMPUS Imagining a More Accessible Educational Environment

In Collaboration With the Initiative for Inclusive Design Summer - Fall 2017 | “Campus of the Future” Design Competition Finalist

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“Initiative for an Inclusive Campus” was the student organization the Initiative for Inclusive Design’s entry for the University of Michigan’s Campus of the Future Competition. The proposal imagines spaces that create equitable academic environments for people of a broader range of ability. This project reached the final round of the competition.

My main roles in this colloborative project involved research of existing architecture on U-M’s campus and heading the design and construction of the hexagonal classrooms and the bathrooms, as well as the furniture within them.

*Model designed and built in collaboration with Mitchell Lawrence, Ellis Wills-Begley, Courtney Klee Other Team Members (Research, Ideation, Presentation): Celeste Adams, Aimee Wolf, Jake Gondek, Mieko Preston, Antonella Salluku, Brenna Thompson, Rachel Wittenberg, Michelle Bonin

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EXCERPT OF A HOUSE Adaptation of Construction Methods

In collaboration with Kay Wright, Phillip Allore, and Connor Cain Fall 2018 | ARCH317 | Instructors: Craig Borum, Kasey Vliet

Our team worked to design a house inspired by Casa Levene

by NO MAD Studio, with a focus on adapting construction methods.

The study in construction involved drafting documents that describe the construction materials and composition of the structures as well as a physical model that represents a selected section of the house design.

My primary roles involved research of the the precedent and existing construction methods, drafting construction drawings focusing on the main area of vertical circulation, and colloborating to build the model with a concentration on the stairs and structural system.

Ann Arbor, MI 48109

A317-417 Assignment 1

PREPARED BY:

A1.7

Kay Wright

1

CSI MASTER FORMAT:

Division 03 - concrete 030000 030000 030000

72'-0" 18'-6"

12'-6"

7'-0"

1'-0" 3'-0"

14'-6"

3'-0" 1'-0"

10'-6"

1'-0"

Division 04 - masonry 040000 040000 040000 Division 05 - metals 050000 050000 050000

3 Division 06 - wood, plastics 060000 060000 060000

2

22'-0"

-0'-1 3/4"

+0'-0"

Division 07 - thermal, moisture 070000 070000 070000

1 UP

Division 08 - openings 080000 080000 080000

1 34'-0"

4

A1.8

A1.4

Division 09 - finishes 090000 090000 090000

2

2

6'-0"

6'-0"

2

3

2000 Bonisteel Blvd Ann Arbor, MI 48103 p.734.764.1300 f. 734.763.2322 taubmancollege.umich.edu

35'-0"

3

2 A1.5

A1.9

3 A1.6 Taubman College architecture

1. PORCH 2. BED 3. BATH 4. STUDY

X

Plan Drawing : Kay Wright FLOOR 1 1/4 " = 1'-0"

11/29/2018

DATE: SCALE:

AS NOTED

FLOOR PLANS N 0'

2'

4'

8'

A1.1

8"

8"

10'-8"

10'-8"

9'-3"

31'-10 78 "

32'-9 21 "

22'-1"

ONOMETRIC 3/4 " = 1'-0"

Ann Arbor,

Assignment

PREPARED BY

Leah Hong

CSI MASTER F

1. DOUBLE PANE GLASS 2. STONE CLADDING 3. CLIPPING SYSTEM 4. AIR CAVITY 5. WATERPROOF MEMBRANE 6. RIGID INSULATION 7. CORRUGATED STEEL SHEET 8. STEEL I-BEAM 9. STEEL TUBE 10. INSULATION 11. FIBERGLASS ACOUSTIC INSULATION 12. SHEATHING (3/4" PLYWOOD) 13. PLASTERBOARD WITH EPOXY FINISH 14. LAMINATE WITH EPOXY FINISH 15. SUBFLOOR (3/4" PLYWOOD) 16. RADIANT HEATING SYSTEM 17. CONCRETE SLAB 18. GYPSUM 19. STEEL PLATE 20. ALUMINUM FRAME 21. STEEL BOLTS 22. STEEL ANGLE BEAM 23. FURRING CHANNEL SYSTEM 24. C CHANNEL

Division 03 - c 030000 030000 030000

Division 04 - m 040000 040000 040000

Division 05 - m 050000 050000 050000

Division 06 - w 060000 060000 060000

Division 07 - th 070000 070000 070000

Division 08 - o 080000 080000 080000

Division 09 - fi 090000 090000 090000

2000 Bonistee Ann Arbor, MI p.734.764.130 f. 734.763.232 taubmancolleg

Taubman C architecture DATE:

0

SCALE:

A

EXPLOD AXONO

A1

ARCHITECTURE AS FRAME Observations On the Shape of Architecture Around Post-Soviet Life Spring 2018 | Travel Course - Soviet Modernism | Instructor : Ashley Bigham

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During a 3-week course across Armenia, Georgia, and Ukraine, I traveled with 11 other students to study the effects of Soviet authority on the architecture of these different countries.

Through an immersive survey of a various monuments and historical buildings, we researched how the common and distinct reflections of Soviet influence in the architecture shaped the culture and lives of the residents of these regions.

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RE-VISION Selections of Personal Artwork 2015 - 2018

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The artwork featured in this portfolio are part of a series of paintings which study the relationship between light and moments within space, both built and natural. The paintings focus on how light augments shape, texture, and color while simultaneously being shaped and colored by the environment that it permeates.

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THANK YOU.