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MARLA STEPHENS Bachelor of Design in Architecture Undergraduate Portfolio University of Florida | 2018-2021

“Form must have a content, and that content must be linked with nature.” -Alvar Aalto

CONSTRUCTING THE HUMAN HORIZON Design 6 | Spring 2021 | Professor Rabinowitz

NOGUCHI CENTER FOR THE SCULPTURAL ARTS Design 7 | Fall 2021 | Professor Monk

CAMERA OBSCURA

Design 6 | Spring 2021 | Professor Rabinowitz

04 THE PAINTER AND THE PATRON Design 5 | Fall 2020 | Professor Montoya

05 THE DUALITY OF THE SEA Design 5 | Fall 2020 | Professor Montoya

SOLARIS

Luminaire Design Competition | Fall 2021

HOLLERHAUS

Architecture Competition | Summer 2021

01 CONSTRUCTING THE HUMAN HORIZON Historic Cocoa Village, Florida Buoyancy is defined as “the ability or tendency to float in water or air or some other fluid”. Situated along the Space Coast of Florida, this project is dedicated to understanding and celebrating the importance of buoyancy to this region while remaining reactive to the fragility and instability of ground along the Intracoastal

Waterway. The Space Coast is an inherently buoyant site with many ships coming in and out of the port, as well rockets being launched out of Cape Canaveral, establishing a significant relationship between the instability of the ocean’s surface, the horizon, and the sublimity of exiting Earth’s atmosphere.

This set of generative mappings explores the overlap of the new and old Cocoa Village and the spatial joints that exist between the two. In an effort to dissect the relationship between the portico of the historic Porcher House, the tectonic abnormalities of local, nautical hardware store, S.F. Travis, and the flucuating sea level of the Intracoastal Waterway, peculiarities were uncovered, such as the use of a sunken barge as foundation for the expansion of S.F. Travis. 05

My fascination with the sunken barge, used as a makeshift “anchor” to stabilize the dredged sand of the intracoastal, led to the mapping on the right which pinpoints the location of shipwrecks on a global scale. The diagram below features a contour study of the famous shipwreck, La Trinité, located off the coast of Cape Canaveral. This study ignited my interest in the perpendicular relationship between the irregular ocean floor and the horizon (a horizontal datum), and the rising and sinking movement of buoyant structures, such as boats, planes, and oceanographic research devices (a vertical datum).

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The diagram on the right maps the various horizons that humanity has achieved. Starting with... A boat hull at sea level...

an airplane wing... the ISS... a GPS satellite.... and the moon. Each semisphere was measured to be the exact curvature of the Earth proportional to the various altitudes that humanity has achieved. The horizons continue upward until this view of the curve becomes figural (this point at which the view of Earth changes from a curve to a circle).

Ground Floor Plan

From the composite drawing of the measured human horizons I extracted the form of my building: one large curve and two circles of varying diameter. The building overall is this assembly of different human horizons that organize the three primary spatial components which are the public space (holding artifacts of shipwrecks), the atelier (a neutral buoyancy pool where synthetic aperture sonars will be built and then used to scan objects on the ocean floor like shipwrecks), and the archive (where different maps of shipwreck locations are kept).

2nd Floor Plan

3rd Floor Plan

With the organization of the spaces I sought to frame views that are not normally experienced in their correct context such as having to look down and placing this view of space equipment underwater and vice versa in the main gallery where visitors have to look up at the shipwreck that is placed against the view of the open sky.

Controlled lighting to generate the feeling of being above or below the horizon.

NOGUCHI CENTER FOR THE SCULPTURAL ARTS Manhattan, New York In collaboration with Sydney Sinclair & Alexa Lapid

Sinclair

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Summer Solstice

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12:00 p.m.

4:00 p.m.

Winter Solstice Lapid

With New York City’s recent pursuits of revitilizing the public infrastructure, affordable housing, and green spaces of Midtown West Manhattan, this project aims to provide a sanctuary, a moment of rest detached from the chaos of the nearby Madison Square Garden and Moynihan Train Hall. Inspired by the works of Isamu Noguchi and Ruth Asawa, the tower employs a contrasting logic of weightlessness and mass present throughout the tectonic, materiality, and form of the design, emanating the properties of Noguchi and Asawa’s lamps. The diagram on the right served as a jumping-off point for a tower form and it analyzed the negative spaces of the city that operate at various scales, or zones that are occupiable by a walking pedestrian. This information was then layered with the forms of Noguchi and Asawa as a tool to relate the scale of Noguchi and Asawa’s work to the scale of the city streets.

Lapid

Stephens, Sinclair

W 30th St

8th Ave

The form of the ground floor plan was derived from the Noguchi mass/void shape studies below, with each arrangement exploring a unique sequence of movement through the block from either 29th St. or 30th St. Stemming from the form studies, all exterior edges are orthogonal, to respect the traditional form of the Manhattan facade, while all interior edges are curvilinear. All entrances are held within the interior, cultivating an inward looking, fluid movement throughout the ground floor plane. Major cores are grouped together and held within the walls developing a language of a layered wall system that begins to peel away revealing and concealing entrances. Visitors navigate the space by “slipping through the cracks” in a way.

W 29th St

Stephens

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Sinclair, Lapid

The renders above capture the inhabitable facade system employed throughout the structure. Starting at the 2nd floor, this combination of the glass curtain wall system and mesh facade work to break down the large scale of the city and provide a faster mode of transportation while navigating through the tower. It reinforces the nature of the inward looking space by compressing occupants into a zone that hugs the interior curves. On the ground floor are two outdoor sculpture gardens display-

ing the works of Noguchi, one being more public and one being more private. The two gardens provide an accessible, public space that is guarded by the exterior masses, shielding away the noise and motion of the city streets. View is still allowed across the exposed curtain wall system on the ground floor level. The translucent mesh visually compresses the spaces, forcing occupants to look through layered glass on the ground floor, blurring the boundary between all ground floor space.

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The model was utilized as a material study to observe how the mesh would react to different qualities of light at different angles and intensities, emulating light from the Sun. In intense, direct light, the mesh becomes more opaque, obstructing view from exterior to interior. In soft, indirect light, the mesh appears more translucent, allowing view to the inside levels. The

project investigates the dynamic properties a facade can possess. We were interested in a facade that would morph not only from exterior sunlight, but also from interior light produced from the lamp galleries. The facade works to soften the light coming from the interior to create a glowing effect. When viewed from the exterior, the mesh produces a “lantern-like” light quality.

Stephens

Lapid, Sinclair, Stephens

CAMERA OBSCURA

This project aims to break down the typology of an antiquated Floridian landmark, the drive-in theater. At its most basic essence, a drive-in theater is comprised of a projector, light, a

screen, and cars. However, without the projector, the entire concept would cease to exist. Therefore, I define the parti of a drivein theater as the projector being the source of form and function.

An assembly of three thresholds of varying hierarchy that can be found at a drive-in theater. A space for light within the projector A space for people to sit and observe within their car The space/medium that light occupies from the projector to the screen 19

A series of sketches studying how the parti may manifest into habitable space.

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04 THE PAINTER AND THE PATRON Sweetwater Preserve, Gainesville, Florida Situated in a man-made marsh within the Florida landscape, this intervention explores the intersection between the ebb and flow of the natural environment and the rigidity and order of the construct. The program contains an art museum displaying the works of local Florida-based photographer, John

Moran, and painter, Margaret Ross Tolbert as well as artist residences and studios. The conceptual foundation of the design is based on the duality of Moran’s photographs, which capture a perpetual, still moment in time, and Tolbert’s paintings, which possess an everchanging quality upon each viewing.

John Moran, River of Dreams

Margaret Ross Tolbert, Well of the Aquifer 2016, oil on canvas

Ground Floor Plan

Upon visiting Sweetwater Wetlands, I noted how the site was rich with sounds of water flowing, a variety of native bird species, and wind howling through the shrubbery. Throughout the landscape, water carves and marks an organic edge formed by the border between algae and open water. These natural qualities and boundaries which were constantly changing led to an exploration which would contrast this notion, permanence. Given Sweetwater Wetlands is a constructed environment, I sought to elaborate on this idea by creating a built landscape that established an order to the chaotic natural elements. The architectural assembly works to receive-control-release the natural elements such as water, wind, and sound in order to create a sensory experience for patrons and artists. Operating in a similar fashion to the fluctuating organic edge present throughout the site, the intervention utilizes a shifting ground condition to allow specific views of the landscape while simultaneously maintaining a minimal impact on the ground. The ground shifts from light and airy to heavy and imbedded, working in a way that does not disturb the flow of water but rather embraces it.

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The perspectival views seek to capture how materialty and form of the structure work to concentrate the sensory experiences of the surrounding environment. The assembly has a continous logic of suspension to selectively touch the unstable ground plane. 25

05 THE DUALITY OF THE SEA Vilano Beach, St. Augustine, Florida The intervention is situated on a sandbar that forms a naturally curved path from the ocean into the St. Augustine Inlet. It forms a quiet joint between two water conditions, one being the flowing ocean water of the inlet on the South facade and a still tide pool on the North facade. My fascination of this peculiar spatial joint led me to explore what it means for a space to fade away and simply disappear. I strove to

design a space that generates a feeling of isolation and longing, a feeling that naturally arises when one looks out into the sea. The design intent is to create a sensory, isolated space that captures the essence of the sheer vastness of the sea and the notion that we as humans are a part of something beyond us while being rooted to the unique, everchanging landscape of Vilano Beach.

The basis for the spatial organization is derived from the Japanese words ma meaning interval of spacetime, a pause, the natural distance of two things existing in continuity, and en meaning a joint, edge, the in-between. The poetics of these two words informed the design of the intervention as a threshold between two unique water conditions, the flowing inlet and the still tide pool. At low tide these two bodies of water are divided by the sand bar and at high tide they collide creating a zone of chaos and uncertainty. The intervention is aligned along this delicate, joint, serving as a place of pause, an in-between.

The intervention is composed of three moments... The North platform resting above the tide pool, the Southern tiered platforms which disappear into the inlet, and the transition moment between the two with a void that cuts through. The tiered platforms serve as look out points to observe the boats passing by or to merely gaze out into the sea. As the tide fluctuates the occupant may choose to stand on platforms that are level with the water, or submerged ankle to knee deep. These individual platforms serve as points of transcendence where one can feel and see the power and immensity of the ocean.

SOLARIS

Inspired by the poetic movement of the Sun, this desk lamp seeks to capture the beauty of dynamic light and energy produced by the Sun’s solar flares. The design consists of a single orange light bulb projecting light through a fixed, organic hand-blown glass bulb and then through a larger organic hand-blown bulb that rests on a rotating motor. The materiality and form are crafted to serve as

a vessel for light and shadow, steering the focus away from the object itself. The light bulb in use is a 40 W LED amber glass with a lumen rating of 300. The surface of the bulb was hand texturized to project a wide array of orange hues, similar to that of the Sun. The sculptural quality of the glass and the mechanics of the lamp work in unison to create an ethereal experience for the viewer.

A study of light and shadow patterns in motion, an ever-changing display of energy.

HOLLERHAUS

Appalachia, United States In collaboration with Sydney Sinclair & Ann Nguyen

The HollerHaus is crafted from the Appalachian custom that the porch is the central gathering place within a home. The HollerHaus seeks to modernize this notion, transforming the idea of the porch into being the ‘hearth of the home’. The concept of the Southern porch is derived from the symbiotic connection between the environment and the community. 30 30

All spaces encompass the central porch in a modular fashion, generating an inward-looking volume that emphasizes this relationship. The home has a minimal impact on the environment and is ideal for any rural terrain because it is situated on stilts. It perches itself above the landscape, creating a juxtaposition between the orthagonal constrution and the organic environment.

Sinclair

The design is composed of two prefabricated modules, each holding the secondary floors and walls in a folded assembly on the exterior facade of each module. Once situated on the site, one facade from each module will unfold to double the floor space, then unfold again to position the secondary walls. The four folding floors, each measuring 3.2 meters by 9 meters, allow for optimal floor space while remaining compact during transportation. Stephens

The glass folding doors that form the porch are then assembled on the site. The rectangular, glass porch serves as a moldable threshold that can activate and deactivate various spaces within the home. The roof is broken up into four components that can then fold in half and be transported on top of the two main modules.

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Stephens, Nguyen

Sinclair

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The HollerHaus is self-sufficient by utilizing energy strategies such as solar panels which provide all electricity for the home. The home is insulated using icynene insulation, which is a spray foam made of water and castor oil. It is environmentally friendly and repels pests. An embedded gutter system is used for rainwater collection where water feeds into a filtration and disinfection tank. The water is then redistributed back throughout the house as potable water. The form of the folding roofs work to funnel and capture as much rainwater as possible. The home is constructed with local, sustainably sourced materials and is predominantly made with wood such as cedar. The exterior facade is laminated with shou sugi ban wood siding, an ancient Japanese technique that preserves the integrity of the wood and repels insects by charring the wood with fire. Sinclair, Stephens

Sinclair, Stephens

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Bachelor of Design in Architecture Undergraduate Portfolio University of Florida | 2018-2021 +1 (904) 412-5782 mar.stephens32@gmail.com 35