Since I was young, I have always had an eye for detail. Playing baseball, I was taught about the mechanics of the swing which instantly clicked. I learned I could quickly adapt and adjust to the situation at hand. Through my education in the architecture program at Belmont University, I have clearly seen this skill make its way into my design process. Like the baseball swing, I strive to make sure each part of the project works together cohesively. Being in the inaugural cohort, I have had to be ready for any change or obstacle thrown my way. Outside of architecture, I still enjoy playing baseball, drumming, and traveling.
Experience
Fall 2023 - Present
May 2024 - August 2024
August 2022 - December 2022
June 2022 - August 2022
Education
Expected Graduation: May 2025
Spring 2023
Awards
Organizations
Spring 2024
Belmont Digital Fabrication Lab
Orcutt|Winslow
Britt Development Group
Associate Project Coordinator
Britt Development Group Intern
Belmont University
GPA: 3.7/4.0
Publication
Mobile Charrette Design Competition
Fall 2024 2nd place
Spring 2024
Spring 2023 - Fall 2024
Fall 2022 - Spring 2023
Belmont University Research Symposium Assistant Architecture Intern 2nd place 1st place
Sacred Spaces Design Competition
AIA Middle TN Academy of Architecture for Health Competition
Fall 2020 3rd place
First Annual O’More Design Competition
AIAS Secretary
AIAS Treasurer
The Imprint
North Nashville, TN
Mixed-Use Development
Studio V Fall 2023
15 Weeks
The Imprint is a community-centric campus, located near the newly proposed Nashville Stars MLB stadium. This design is a tapestry of interconnected spaces that embody the warmth and unity of a worn-in baseball glove with a distinct hand-print in leather. The Imprint is a living testament to the power of the North Nashville community, where the past, present, and future harmonize. It weaves together the threads of history, culture, and unity, leaving an imprint on the fabric of the historic neighborhood.
*Team Project - Collaboration with Interior Design Studio III
Each building within this campus represents a piece of this deconstructed baseball glove, showcasing how individuals can leave their unique mark on the community. Copper serves as a symbol of this imprint, mirroring the handprint on the worn-in leather glove.
Left to Right: Kim Sullivan, Isabella Gawaluck, Lauren Patrick, Tatum DeVriese, Amya Patterson, Kayli Clark, Jason Thomas
For our project, we developed a concept matrix to help guide us as we develop spaces that celebrate and create opportunity for human connection. Above the line represents our program, which is designed to nod back to the materials and shapes used on Jefferson Street and North Nashville. Our buildings grow in physical scale as we move from a Jefferson Street house to the new Nashville Stars Stadium. Below the line is our measure of human connection, growing in human scale from one person to groups of people. We decided to use copper to place emphasis on these moments because like our imprinted baseball glove, these moments become more meaningful and unique over time.
Jeff. St. House
Blues Club
BUCHANAN ST.
The design enhances the overall well-being of the North Nashville community. Buildings are strategically placed based on sun patterns to optimize energy efficiency and comfort. An accessible paved trail allows visitors to easily access and travel between the various buildings. This pathway offers a serene nature walk featuring bioswales, pavilions, and benches along the way.
All the buildings were placed to create a campus and are tied together by a walking trail to provide multiple health benefits. While each building has its own presence, they are all connected by the use of materiality. Brick is used as a nod back towards a Jefferson Street home while copper acts as the imprint tying everything together.
Museum Entry
Community Center Entry
Pub Entry
Garage and Amphitheater
Elevations of 1:1 Mock-Up
A wall adorned with billet caps, re-purposed from the baseball bat manufacturing process, guides visitors through the team store making a unique and memorable experience.
Billet Wall Detail
Nashville Stars Team Store Front Elevation
During the process the blanks are transformed into bats with very little waste, including an end cap called a billet, during the cutting process. Our friends at Old Hickory Bat Company were kind enough to give us more than 300 of these caps to use in our scaled 1:1 mock-up. This billet cap wall creates a playful and inviting pathway that guides shoppers throughout the store.
Model Photos
The Nexus
1804 Knowles Street, Nashville, TN
Mixed-Used Development
Studio VI Spring 2024
4 Weeks
The Nexus is a community center that brings together formerly incarcerated individuals and local youth. For this project, each team chose a Social Determinant of Health. Our group chose Economic Stability based on our research for the first half of the semester. Through this, we discovered that the 37208 zip code had a 14% incarceration rate, the highest of any zip code in the United States. The Nexus aims to empower individuals by providing resources and support to help them reintegrate into society successfully.
Team Members: Jason Thomas, Heidi Gabriel, Emily Schiedemeyer
*Award: Best Data Informed Design
KNOWLES ST.
Through thoughtful planning, the site exemplifies a pedestrian first design, activating the streetscapes while also providing parking, creating a buffer between people and vehicles.
DR DB TODD JR BLVD.
By partnering with The Store and the historic First Community Church, we gained invaluable insights into the specific needs and aspirations of the local community. Through conversations with community members, we were able to identify key areas where The Nexus could make a significant impact.
“The Store operates with the mission of allowing people to shop for their basic needs in a way that protects dignity and fosters hope...[Customers] may shop for food to supplement their income during times of crisis and as they work toward self-sufficiency.” - www.thestore.org
Existing Site
Project Scope
Building Layout
Accessibility
Extrude Mass
Greenery
Program
The Nexus lobby houses the employment office, making it easily accessible for those seeking assistance. As visitors move towards The Store, they are naturally exposed to the various programs offered at The Nexus.
The Store
Pedestrian View
DR DB Todd Blvd. Elevation
1. Lobby
Employment Office
The Store
Flex Space 5. Youth Classroom
Housing Office
Workspace 8. The Store Offices
Roof Garden
Both designing for Blue Zones and addressing the Social Determinants of Health highlight the importance of mental health. The Health Office provides a safe space for community members to access group therapy, individual counseling, and other mental wellness programs.
Mental Health Office Garden
Axon
Retail
With the site located in a food desert, the proposed neighborhood grocery store will offer fresh and organic foods to support healthy lifestyles for local families.
The Grocery Store includes a multifunctional prep kitchen that can be used for various purposes. It serves as a workspace for preparing produce, a classroom for nutrition and cooking classes, and an incubator space for local entrepreneurs to start their businesses.
Prep Kitchen
Vestige House
3438 Love Circle, Nashville, TN
Single Family Home
Studio IV Spring 2023
5 Weeks
Upon securing this land through Nashville’s new Innovative Housing Initiative, Laken and Victoria Williams and their two children are relocating to this home. The triangular lot in the Hillsboro West End neighborhood was considered to difficult a shape and too steep to accommodate a house. Focused on materiality as a driving factor, the project embraces the site’s inherent challenges as an opportunity to create a small, sustainable, and site responsive home.
Cedar wood and board-formed concrete were chosen to create a unique and engaging facade. The cedar will begin as a very orange brown color and then will fade into a silvery gray as time progresses. The choice of board-formed concrete was to express the memory of wood and hold the pattern of the past.
Soil
Reservoir Layer
Thermal Insulation
Membrane Protection
Structural Roof
Glass
Slat Connection
Board-Formed Concrete Wall
Mullion
Green Roof Detail
Wood Slat
Laken and Victoria both work very long hours and are thrilled their shortened commute will allow them to spend more time with their children. By providing a private lawn space, attached directly to the living and kitchen, the parents are able to safely watch their kids play and run without having to worry. The lawn also acts as a green roof, creating a sustainability aspect to the home and making it more unique.
Articulate Terraced Seating
The Lawn
Extrude Easement
Lift for 2nd Floor Level
Broadway Terminus
Broadway Riverfront, Nashville, TN
Mixed-Use Transit Center
Studio III Fall 2022
3.5 Weeks
Sitting riverfront at the end of one of the country’s most notable streets, the Broadway Terminus effectively takes the first steps to creating a clearer future on transportation in the city of Nashville. Using limestone as the main material, this building pulls precedent from surrounding historical architecture. This project serves as a new cultural landmark for the city as a complimentary addition to the Broadway corridor while also addressing the city’s parallel movement towards redeveloping the riverfront.
1STAVE.
2ND AVE. BROADWAY
All access to transit happens on the first floor. Visitors have the option to grab what they need at the different cafes or they can enjoy shopping before their train, bus, or water taxi arrive. On the second floor, a high end restaurant and more retail are specifically placed inside the limestone bar, drawing visitors towards it.
Process
This whiteboard documents my design process, capturing the evolution of ideas, iterations, and decisions. Its use facilitated rapid exploration and evaluation, leading to a more informed and successful design outcome.
Broadway Terminus acts as the catalyst the begins the expansion of downtown Nashville across the river, signifying the city’s rapid growth and ambitious future. This prominent move serves as a powerful symbol of Nashville’s expansion, reminding visitors and residents alike of the city’s dynamic evolution and its aspirations for the future. This revised version emphasizes the symbolic importance of the project, highlighting its role in shaping Nashville’s identity and signaling its emergence as a major urban center.
DOWNTOWN
BROADWAY TERMINUS CUMBERLAND RIVER EAST BANK STADIUM
Floor plate
Mullions and Glass
Roof
Limestone Facade
Floor plate
Boardwalk
The cut limestone panels are placed on the front facade of the heavy bar. These panels are supported by structural steel mullions that hold the glass and limestone in place.
Structural Steel Mullion
Limestone Facade
Glass
Toggle Clamp
Rubber Gasket
Limestone Facade
The Transit Wing allows access to train and bus transportation. A cafe sits against the window, inviting visitors to grab a coffee or snack before they depart.
The Boardwalk allows access the water taxi station and also lets visitors connect closer to the Cumberland River.
Transit Wing
Boardwalk
Trail of Tears Memorial
Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, TN Museum and Memorial
Studio III Fall 2022
6 Weeks
The Nashville Trail of Tears Memorial honors the Cherokee Native Americans, implores its visitors to reflect on a challenging moment of our nation’s history, celebrates the resiliency of the Cherokee nation, and reweaves the broken social fabric by creating a place for all to gather in community with each other. Sitting on Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage site, the estate of the president who signed the Indian Removal Act into law, the memorial serves as a reminder of the journey the Cherokee took through Tennessee while on The Trail. The project specifically tasked students with highlighting the experience of a young Cherokee child, Atsila, and her mother, as they endured injustice on the trail (a fictional account for the project).
*Belmont University Research Symposium Presentation
RACHELS LANE
Atsila’s Room is a room dedicated to the display of nine remaining diary pages describing a harrowing first-hand account of a young Cherokee mother on the Trail of Tears. It is the central core element with the rest of the program cascading around it, creating an interior garden of corten steel that Atsila’s room rests in - a journey visitors must take to reach this special destination.
Concept Sketches
Moments of Respite
Program
Atsila’s Room
Corten Field
Auditorium
Classroom 4. Museum
5. Atsila’s Room
6. Corten Field 7. Art Gallery
8. Building Administration
9. Visiting Scholar’s Suite
In the museums and gallery, an accent wall with a skylight puts emphasis on rotating exhibits, allowing for historic Cherokee artifacts, statues, and paintings of the past and present to be highlighted.
In each moment of respite, a visitor has a moment of pause and reflection. A garden of corten steel interrupts the view of Atsila’s Room, creating curiosity among visitors, drawing them to complete the journey.
Moment of Respite
Museum Experience
Atsila’s Room Interior Experience
Overwhelming silence envelops visitors upon entering Atsila’s room, and shuts out the loud chaos of the steel weights chiming together in the corten garden. A completely cedar room honors the Cherokee because it is the wood that honors the dead. Nine glass cases emit the only light source in the room, displaying Atsila’s experience and attracting the attention of the viewers.
