Mel Baum Undergraduate Portfolio

Mel Baum Bachelor of Science in Architecture University of Maryland

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glade/grove

4 Center for Urban Ecology

carve + connect

8 Story District Headquarters

material layers

12 DC facade design

cubic cloud

15 Immersive Media Art Gallery

courtyard colors

18 Dupont Circle Library

green(house) hub

22 College Park Resiliency Hub

handmade

26 assorted drawings and paintings

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Glade/Grove

Glade and Grove transforms Reservoir Field into a public promenade through a variety of ecological zones. Along the path from Macarthur Blvd to the Trolley Trail, visitors pass through bands of varied vegetation densities and discover a series of programmed glades and groves.

An outdoor exhibit glade, education amphitheater, and gathering grove of trees build a sequence of public spaces prior to approaching the building in the landscape.

The new Center for Urban Ecology building integrates the expression 4

Center for Urban Ecology / Georgetown Reservoir, DC ARCH 403 / Fall 2020 / 7 weeks Professor Michael Ezban Photoshop / Illustrator / Sketchup / AutoCAD

of glades and groves that structure the landscape. Green roof glades above the rammed earth structure of the research and administration volumes provide non-human habitat and assist with rain water capture. A rooftop glade presents a restful public space among the tree canopies.

A grove of heavy timber columns structure the public volume of the building and references the gridded grove of trees surrounding it.

Ample glazing and overlapping volumes create visual connections between all the public groves, interior and exterior.

GREEN ROOF “GLADES” PROVIDE NON-HUMAN HABITAT, ASSIST WITH RAIN WATER COLLECTION, AND REDUCE SOLAR HEAT GAIN

MASS TIMBER STRUCTURE CREATES A “GROVE OF COLUMNS” IN THE GLASS PUBLIC VOLUME

OPERABLE WINDOWS ALLOW FOR PASSIVE CROSS VENTILATION THROUGH THE GREENHOUSE VOLUME

MOSS LAWN

WILD FLOWER MEADOW

MARSH GRASS AND SHRUBS

DECIDUOUS TREES

CONIFEROUS TREES

EXISTING TREES ON SITE

RAMMED EARTH, A NON-TOXIC MATERIAL WITH A HIGH THERMAL MASS, STRUCTURES THE RESEARCH AND ADMIN VOLUMES

LOUVERS ON THE GLASS FACADE CREATE A SHADING DEVICE TO REDUCE SOLAR HEAT GAIN IN THE PUBLIC SPACES

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MECHANICAL

GREENHOUSE GROVE

FIELD STORAGE MEETING ROOM

OM CLASSROOM CLASSROOM CLASSRO

MUDROOM

OFFICE

OFFICE

OFFICE

ROOFTOP GLADE

OFFICE BATHROOM BATHROOM

OFFICE

BREAK ROOM /KITCHEN

WET LAB 1

RESEARCH STORAGE

OPEN OFFICE

OFFICE STORAGE

EXHIBIT GROVE

OFFICE RECEPTION DESK

OFFICE

OFFICE

OFFICE

OFFICE

WET LAB 1

OFFICE

LOADING

WET LAB 1

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GATHERING GROVE

BATHROOM

LOBBY

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Carve + Connect

Story District Headquarters / Washington DC ARCH 402 / Spring 2020 / 6 weeks Professor Lindsey May Watercolor / Illustrator / AutoCAD / Sketchup

14th St.

T St.

S St.

Carve and Connect is a performance center and office headquarters for Story District DC located in the greater U St neighborhood in Washington DC. This project heavily focuses on designing the promenade, connecting people with storytelling through a variety of spacial experiences.

Along the urban street, people approach the push and pull facade.

Visitors are then filtered and compressed through the entry, connected to the exterior through carved openings along the exterior wall when in the lobby and prefunction space. When elevated to the 8

second floor mezzanine via stair or elevator, a reflection space allows people to reflect back on the exterior and interior spaces they just experienced. Finally, the promenade terminates in the cavernous main event space, a contrasting experience from the open, airy lobby with plenty of visual connection.

The third floor office space reflects aspects of visual connection and stepped back balconies, yet it is distinguished as supporting private space from which the public space is carved out.

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CLASSROOM

CLASSROOM

UP

LOADING

LOBBY

STORAGE BATHROOM CLASSROOM

CLASSROOM UP

TICKET BOOTH

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COAT ROOM

DRESSING ROOM MEETING ROOM DOWN

STORAGE

DRESSING ROOM

PATIO

EVENT SPACE PREFUNCTION SPACE

PATIO

GREEN ROOM

OPEN OFFICE SPACE

OFFICE LOBBY

UP

UP

UP

CAFE

DOWN

KITCHEN

UP

DIRECTOR’S OFFICE

BREAK ROOM

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UP

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Material Layers

This facade is designed for a commercial infill building along Connecticut Avenue in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington D.C. The project sits on a mixed-use block with an array of historic buildings, giving the appearance of an urban collage of styles, materials, textures, and geometries.

This facade design takes inspiration from those layers of the block to introduce the new typology of a contemporary retail building to the mixed-use, historic street, while maintaining the character block. Conceptually, it starts with a layer of glass to reference the

Urban Facade Design / Dupont Circle, Washington DC ARCH 401 / Fall 2019 / 3.5 weeks Professor Joseph McKenley Lasercut and handbuilt model / Sketchup / Illustrator

commercial program. This is followed by a grid of punched openings in brick masonry. On top of that, a frame of steel with a curved bay that mimics the curves of the Victorian and Romanesque buildings along the block.

The facade as a whole expresses an attention to detail that gives both users of the building and the street a rich visual experience.

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Cubic Cloud

Assigned with the task to design an art gallery using nine cubes, this project took aesthetic and formal inspiration from a cloud. The wood structured cubes form a grand lobby with space for sculptural installations while the walled cubes make up a more immersive art experience. The undulating white cubes propel visitors through the galleries as floors, ceilings, and walls shift around them. Ramps throughout the galleries provide an accessible experience of the undulating floor. Cutout openings in the cubes allow artists using the gallery to work with numerous spatial and lighting qualities.

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Immersive Media Art Gallery ARCH 401 / Fall 2019 / 4 weeks Professor Joseph McKenley Handbuilt model / Rhino / Hand drafted

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Courtyard Colors

This library brings a public building full of color to a traffic heavy street in the Dupont Circle neighborhood. A beacon of stained glass forms the courtyard -- the focal point throughout the building. Its diagonal slanted forms create a diagonal grid that organizes the spaces and competes with the orthagonal structure grid. As the courtyard connects all the public spaces vertically, an addition strip of color wraps around the building in all directions. The stained glass is a connector between public spaces and a diffuser of light. It makes its most significant appearance in the expansive top floor reading room.

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Dupont Neighborhood Library / Dupont Circle, Washington DC ARCH 401 / Fall 2019 / 5 weeks Professor Joseph McKenley Watercolor / Sketchup / Illustrator

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BOOK RECEIVING

MECHANICAL

TRASH

STORAGE

BOOK RECEIVING

MECHANICAL

TRASH

STORAGE

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

STAFF OFFICE

STAFF OFFICE

MAIN LIBRARY READING ROOM

COURTYARD

COURTYARD

S

OM

Y RO TUD

S ATE PRIV

CLASSROOM LOBBY

CIRCULATION DESK

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LOBBY

CIRCULATION DESK

CLASSROOM

Green(house) Hub

This resilience hub serves as a shelter and sustainable teaching center that adds vegetation to the urban fabric of College Park.

Responding to the gap in green space that exists at the site, vegetation is incorporated as a sustainable performance strategy throughout the building.

The glass public volume presents an open community space with a vegetated facade that allows the building to evolve with the seasons.

Operable photovoltaic glass panels allow natural cross ventilation to cool the interior atrium. Inside the glass atrium, a suspended grand

Community Resilience Hub / College Park, MD ARCH 403 / Fall 2020 / 6 weeks Professor Michael Ezban Illustrator / Photoshop / AutoCAD / Sketchup

stair connects between catwalks to access additional public program and a trellis covered outdoor patio.

Overall, the hub provides a shell for the community to plant the numerous trellis and greenwall systems how they would like.

Through its sustainable design strategies, the building can become an educational tool for the College Park community with resiliency, adaptability and green space at the center of the conversation.

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BATHROOM

BATHROOM WARMING KITCHEN

MEETING ROOM COAT ROOM

UP

CONFERENCE ROOM

STAFF BREAK ROOM

REFERENCE LIBRARY

UP

LOADING AREA

UP

STORAGE

INFORMATION DESK

OUTDOOR PATIO

DOWN

DOWN

OFFICE

OFFICE

OFFICE

OFFICE

LOBBY

UP

MECHANICAL OFFICE

OPERABLE ROOF PANELS ALLOW NATURAL VENTILATION FOR HOT AIR TO ESCAPE EXTENSIVE GREEN ROOF

ADAPTABLE GREEN WALL USES PLANTS TO SHADE INTERIOR

OFFICE

PHOTOVOLTAIC GLASS TRELLIS COVERING OUTDOOR SPACE CAN BE USED COMMUNITY GARDENING

INTERIOR GREEN WALLS IMPROVE AIR QUALITY

OPERABLE FACADE PANELS USE NATURAL VENTILATION TO COOL THE LOBBY INTERIOR

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BER

SLATTED PLYWOOD SHUTTERS PIVOT BETWEEN VERTICAL TIMBER PANELS WHICH DIRECT PREVAILING WINDS

TIN METAL GABLE ROOF WITH DEEP OVERHANGS TO SHADE INTERIOR

DECEM

PREFABRICATED AUSTRALIAN HARDWOOD TIMBER ASSEMBLED ON SITE

LIGHTWEIGHT STRUCTURAL STEEL FRAME FINISHED IN ALUMINUM

JU NE

PIVOTING ALUMINUM ROOF VENTS ALLOW AIR PRESSURE BUILD UP TO ESCAPE

Marika-Alderton House / Glenn Murcutt / Yirrkala, Australia ARCH 403 / Fall 2020 / 1 week Professor Michael Ezban Photoshop / Illustrator / Sketchup

SEPT MARC H

Sustainable Systems Precedent Analysis

ADJUSTABLE AWNINGS ALLOW VENTILATION AND SHADING CONTROL FOR VARYING WEATHER CONDITIONS NW WET SUMMER WINDS

SE DRY WINTER WINDS

NARROW CROSS SECTION ALLOWS EFFICIENT NATURAL VENTILATION FROM DRY SE WINDS IN THE WINTER AND WET NW WINDS IN THE SUMMER

STRUCTURE RAISED ON STILTS TO PROTECT LIVING AREA FROM TIDAL FOODS AND ALLOW AIR CIRCULATION TO COOL THE FLOOR

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Artwork

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Mel Baum mbaum12@terpmail.umd.edu

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