Katelyn Lentz Selected Works | 2023

ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

If our responsibility as architects is to activate our built spaces for the rejuvenation of our users, we must rethink the way we design juvenile justice facilities. Through architecture, the aim of this project is to challenge existing normalities of the juvenile probation system by proposing an environment that heals and regenerates the lives of those facing incarceration.

Katelyn Lentz | 793B Graduate Thesis

Wes Jones | The University of Southern California

Architecture is the embodiment of the human spirit activating our physical environment. However, it is common that prisons become works of engineering, and furthermore, mere spaces devoid of the human spirit to control inhabitants. Juvenile justice centers are no different from these.

To counteract this, the typology of the SF Community Healing Center challenges the juvenile justice system through architectural intervention. Integrating both youth and public in the same building and bringing nature into the user’s experience, the residents find uplift and healing in their environment, equipped to enter back into everyday society.

CURRENT MODEL

PROPOSED MODEL

Excluded from society (Ritoque Camp + Open City Pedegogy)

Space of healing but not excluded from society (integration)

PHOEBE IS EXPECTING A PLACE OF ISOLATION AND PUNISHMENT...

... INSTEAD THE CENTER IS BRIGHT AND CHEERFUL WITH NATURE INTERTWINED IN THE FACILITY.

A PUBLIC LIBRARY STRETCHES ACROSS THE MAJOR STREET BELOW.

EACH UNIT HAS A VIEW OUT TO THE CITY, INSTILLING A SENSE OF HOPE FOR THE FUTURE.

FIND ACTIVATION IN THE OVERLAPPING ELEMENTS, REFLECTING THE MANY LAYERS THAT MAKE UP OUR SOCIETY.

KOZA

cocoon (n.) a safe, quiet place.

In our return to campus, we seek an atmosphere of peace: protection during these changing times of COVID and connection to our classmates and professors. As we discover the importance of fresh air to our mental and physical wellbeing, the learning environment is taken outside into the open space surrounding the School of Architecture.

Honorable Mention for Student Choice Award for USC School of Architecture’s competition “Spaced Out.”

Step into your Koza. The slatted outer layer rotates to reveal the single-student studio within, while net and plexiglass layers provide protection adjustable to the student’s needs. Reach solace as the Koza lifts up to meet the others - distanced apart but coming together as a family of units.

A shell of wood slats revolves about a central axis, enclosing the interior layers of the Koza. As the shell opens entirely, the Koza sets into a channel as it lowers to the ground.

A layer of plexiglass allows the student to feel protected while providing visual access to classmates and professors.

A layer of net material allows the students to maintain both visual and audible access to classmates and professors.

INTER_SECTION

USC’s International House is an intersection for domestic and international students. The project reflects this intersectionality through form, circulation and location as it bridges campus life and leisure.

Total Units: 275

Total Students Housed: 305

Total Square Footage: 94,962 sq.ft.

Diagram Parti

Separate + Scale

Rotate Bar Intersect

SITE RELATIONSHIP

Terraces step up from ground plane

PROGRAM ORGANIZATION

Intersecting curvalinear elements

Campus Entry into Courtyard

Brise Soleil

Prevailing Winds

ORGANIZATION

elements signify major entry points

ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN

Building mass orients towards southern sun and southwest prevailing breezes

Main Takeaways from Community Voices + Site Visits:

- Designing for the next generation

- Bring back community retail

- Celebrate community connectivity

If there is one aspect of previous Oakwood you could bring back...

”how community members would flow from one house to another, always being welcomed in regardless if they knew you. It created close familial ties within the community.” - Jericho, community member

VERA DAVIS COMMUNITY FORUM

Inspired by the flowing circulation from one house to another of the Oakwood residents prior to the most recent zoning ordinance, the residential and retail districts become connected through flowing landscape and increased density.

This community plan and adaptive reuse project aims to regain and celebrate the resilient culture of the historically redlined African American community of Oakwood in Venice, Los Angeles, utilizing input from several Oakwood community members.

Katelyn Lentz, Letao Lin, Ana Mangino, Yisheng Wu | 705A Landscape, Urbanism + Architecture Studio Professors Christof Jantzen + Esther Marguiles | The University of Southern California

MENTOR NAOMI NIGHTINGALE

Inspired by the flowing circulation from one house to another of the Oakwood residents prior to the most recent zoning ordinance, the residential and retail districts become connected through flowing landscape and increased density.

This community plan and adaptive reuse project aims to regain and celebrate the resilient culture of the historically redlined African American community of Oakwood in Venice, Los Angeles, utilizing input from several Oakwood community members.

WANDER_PLAY

Wander through the noise of the city to the quiet of the desert and find play throughout the journey. A series of instruments guides your way, becoming softer in volume until you reach solace.

Design Excellence Award | Installed in Mesa, Arizona

Project Team: Katelyn Lentz (Project Manager), Thao Ngo, Taylor Stickelman, Joyce Choi, Margot Stevens, Grace Dudzinski | Arizona State University

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Scale Study Model

Selected watercolor sketches of the University of Southern California campus.