Jaclyn Torn Architecture Portfolio

JACLYN TORN

ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO - 2023

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE ‘24

CONTENTS

Architecture has always been apart of my life. With my mother being a practicing architect, I was raised peering over her drafting board to see what she was doing. I have always been drawn to precision that goes into construction drawings but also the unbounded exploration of preliminary designs. Being in the School of Architecture at University of Miami has revealed to me the true artistry that an architect should have in which one should not just focus on their design, but how the design affects it’s environment, community, and people within them.

01 BISCAYNE NATIONAL PARK ENTRANCE AT BILL BAGGS STATE PARK Academic - Fall 2022 MIAMI BEACH GYM Academic - Spring 2022

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MERCATO S’ELENA Academic - Fall 2021

THE PEEL HOUSE Academic - Spring 2021

BISCAYNE NATIONAL PARK ENTRANCE AT BILL BAGGS STATE PARK

PUBLIC USE SPACE

The National Park Entrance at Bill Baggs has been designed with a lens of vernacularology and fortified by the principles of accessibility. The site plan utilizes pathways that connect the lighthouse, fishing piers, and a parking to the entry center. The Cape Florida Lighthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places and Landmarks. There is an idea of contemplative succession of space throughout the site plan, which translates to the ground floor design, both programmatically and spatially.

The ground level uses a series of walls to create a permeable outdoor room, while the upper level uses adjustable walls to create a flexible exhibition space. Adjoining the two spaces is a fish tank stretching from the ground floor to the second. The shape of this tank is derived from Alvar Aalto’s “Littala” vase and the cone coral our studio saw on our snorkeling trip.

The aquarium has an arched opening that allows visitors to pass through on the ground level, emersing themselves physically within the underwater sensation. The second level allows for a more hands on interaction where visitors can physically touch the animals within the tank. These design features were implemented with handicap accessibility at the forefront of educational design.

The siting of the visitor center is strategically placed with the intentions of preserving the natural landscape, capturing the views of the water, and cohesively translating ina special essence from the lighthouse and piers. Between the building and the bay sits a planter of sand filled with dune grasses in response to coastal flooding and to show the importance of dunes in coastal preservation. This planter also helps shape the parameters of the waterfront piazza.

Fall 2022

Partner Project with Lauren Elia

Project Location : Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida

MIAMI BEACH GYMNASIUM

COMMERCIAL

My proposal for the North Beach Youth Center combines the community’s need for more niche athletic activities such as gymnastics, table tennis, and skateboarding with the community’s need to combat sea level rise and future devestating storms. The main building, which contains most of the athletic activities, sits on the north side of the lot and is raised about eighteen feet above current sea level. The structure also has earth in-filled below it to allow for a 6,600 gallon water cistern to sit above sea level. In the event of a catastrophic storm, the building’s rainwater harvesting system and this cistern have the potential to provide the community with water until local infrastructure is repaired. The building that sits on the southern end of the site holds approximately one hundred solar panels that also has the potential to power fridges and other machinery needed in case of catastrophic storms.

Unfortunately, these storms are inevitable, and so this project was designed to be seventy percent passively cooled and thirty percent actively cooled. This is to reduce the buildings’ environmental impact and to acknowledge that these storms will come and that these spaces for the community can be cross-ventilated and be used when our beloved air conditioning cannot be powered.

The building’s unique cage-like facade is inspired by the massive banyan tree that sits in the center of this site. The vines of the tree inpired me to use its’ intricate and elegant natural form as a way to bring the design of this project closer to its surrounding environment.

Spring 2022

Project Location : North Miami Beach, Florida

MERCATO S’ELENA

LUXURY APARTMENTS

Mercato S’Elena is a three-part structure in Venice, Italy which sits on a three hundred and sixty foot long curved grand loggia. The designed neighborhood, City on a Hill, has an artificial elevation to confront rising flood waters that occur frequently in the area. At its highest, the hill reaches ten feet above the natural elevation of the island and the building stretches across the hill.

The main living area of the thirty luxury apartments all face west, bringing plenty of natural light inside. Specifically, the apartments range from a massive 1,450 square feet two bedroom two bathroom corner units to a cozier interior unit that is just 960 square feet and has one bedroom and one bathroom.

This project is designed for the loggia to transform into an extensive marketplace that’s filled with local Venetian vendors of fresh foods to locally crafted goods. The ground floor of the building has an additional 3,000 SQFT available for retail. The marketplace and retail space would bring locals and tourists together in one space where they can enjoy Italy’s amazing and unique products.

Fall 2021

Project Location : Sant’Elena, Venice, Italy

04

THE PEEL HOUSE

MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL HOUSING

On a lot situated in the culturally rich neigborhood of wynwood norte, this concrete “peel” of an apartment building brings multi-generational families into one house. The “peel” came from the idea of trays stacked on top of each other while extruding over and under each other. The trays visually divided the spaces naturally into their own living units that had their own outdoor terrace flowing within the massing of the design.

Culturally, this neighborhood is known as “little san juan” because the majority population is from puerto rico and they’ve resided in this neighborhood since the 1940s. Since that population has remained in the neighborhood for so long, many of the single family homes include secondary structures for additional family or for rental tenants to reside.

Thus, this structure was designed to be an apartment building for the generations of families to live together in one house.

Spring 2021

Project Location Wynwood, Miami, Florida