Emalee Davidson Portfolio 2025

Emalee Davidson

Portfolio

Resume Education UCLA, M.Arch I, 2026 UCLA, BA in Architecture, Magna Cum Laude, 2022 Professional Experience –Practice/Office– FORMA, DESIGNER, spring/summer 2025 Chicago Architecture Biennale - DD, installation design & coordination, on-site installation Koning Eizenberg, ARCHITECTURAL INTERN, summer/fall 2024 (6 months) RFP and RFQ preparation, marketing diagramming and drawing for website content, & office standard imagery production Punch listing at T.O.C affordable mixed-use housing developments Developed office resources for design selections and physical/digital material library Produced informational diagrams on LA Metro’s 2028 Olympics plan and its impact on Little Tokyo’s development, coordinating extensive research and materials for a University of Oregon course Ellis Architects, JUNIOR ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER, 2019-22 (3.5 years) Schematic design for low-income housing, shopping centers, community centers, a winery, and an educational Animal Barn Primarily responsible for imagery, on-site measuring, setting up project files, as-built models in Revit, and CDs Regularly created site plans, program diagrams, and precedent studies Flatland Concrete Studio, GFRC MOULD/POUR SHOP ASSISTANT, 2014-17 (3.5 years) –Instruction– UCLA Architecture & Urban Design, TEACHING ASSISTANT, Fall 2025 Undergraduate Studio 122, Katy Barkan: 10 weeks, (8) hours desk crits, (2) hours office hours per week UCLA Architecture & Urban Design, TEACHING ASSISTANT, Fall 2024 Architectural Mediation I, Miroslava Brooks: 10 weeks, (2) hours lecture, (2) hours review per week Jumpstart Summer Program, TEACHING ASSISTANT, Summer 2024, Summer 2025 4 weeks, (10) hours lecture (20) hours coordination, desk critique, review, & prep per week Cosumnes River College, TEACHING ASSISTANT, 2019-2020 Revit, SketchUp & Adobe Suite instruction, managing dept. supplies, course materials, creating base models & templates.

Awards + Honors 3-Year Merit-Based Recruitment Fellowship + Recruitment Stipend, UCLA AUD, 2023-2026 Harvey S. Perloff Award, 2025 Edgardo Contini Fellowship, 2024 Elaine Krown Klein Fine Arts Scholarship, 2021, 2024 Graduated with Honors & Distinction, 2022 Emma B. Keller Fine Arts Scholarship, 2021 Currents Exhibition, UCLA AUD. 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024 Extracurriculars + Leadership Graphics Editor, POOL.la Issue 10, 2024-2025 Contributor, “Of the Moment” Magazine, Stray Dog Cafe, 2024 Rumble Representative, UCLA AUD, 2022, 2024, 2025 Contributor, POOL.la Issue 7, 2022 Vice President, AIAS @ UCLA, 2021-2022 Secretary, Architecture Student Association at Cosumnes River College, 2018-2020 Relevant Software Revit, Rhino, AutoCAD, Grasshopper, Blender, VRay, Enscape, Lumion, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Excel

Main X Rose Urban Accelerator Lincoln Arts Collective Truss Terrain Between Seasons: a home for two lives Commons Reimagined POOL.la 10 Cover

Instructor: Educational Work: Term: Program:

Accumulative

Green

Social Condenser

Main X Rose Urban Accelerator

Neil Denari M.Arch I Fall 2025 Mixed Use Housing

CULTURAL HUB

Main X Rose Urban Accelerator, Santa Monica, CA This is the Main X Rose Social Condenser --or better: the Main X Rose Urban Accelerator. Theoretically, housing is about “home.” Home is ambiguous. It cannot standardize; it cannot scale. Housing, however, must. Think modulated systems that produce many local instances of repetition, or Ricardo Bofil’s accumulation logic incorporating misalignment and deep courtyards for chance encounters…… And housing, in this city is generally BAD. Its standardization erases individuality–an essential in the American psyche. Its repetition is anti-Los Angeles, a city rooted in misalignment.

LA oscillates between excess and precision. Loose fit produces freedom; tight fit produces pressure.

Their collision produces form. Thus I look to a repetitive structural system of proportionally varied hex extrusions from Paul Rudolph’s Wellcome project or the fuzzy edges of OMA’s Norra Tornen for insight on how to grapple with loose fit and precision. Given the premise of a coastal high rise city in Santa Monica, I knew the project needed to be overly tall to make a point but with pockets in the facade to eat away at the mass. Borrowed from Soviet “social condenser” theory and rewritten for LA: a building that accelerates adjacency rather than ideology producing friction, encounter, collision.

Given that the Yellow line is the only metro line that reaches Santa Monica, I imagine a new subterranean metro line that cuts through Main Street that the building dips down to catch. A bus terminal occupies the ground floor piercing the buillding with a cultural hub and high density housing above.

Figure 1.1 Rendering. ON MAIN ST LOOKING TO ROSE AVE

This project is one of accumulation: an accumulation of two mega types: center core tower and courtyard building; an accumulation of program with metro and bus at the base, free cultural spaces that are quiet in the middle and housing on top. It’s an accumulation formally with hexagonal forms pentagons and cubes jostling in and out, slipping past one another, piled up for a loose fit quality, and materially its an accumulation of bold punchy color mixed with the ubiquitous stucco of Los Angeles.

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Figure 1.2 Main Street elevational rendering. THE TOWER SITS TALL IN THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA.

Main X Rose Urban Accelerator

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BUS TERMINAL

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INSIDE METRO TICKETING GATE

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SECURITY / LOCKERS

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STUDY SPACE

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SITTING AREA

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PLAZA

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BUS STOPS

Figure 1.3 Ground Floor Plan. BUS STOP AT THE GROUND FLOOR INVITES EVERY DAY COMMUTERS AND VISITORS INTO THE SPACE. THEY ALSO FIND PUBLIC AMENITIES.

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Figure 1.5 Basement Plan. The Rose St. Metro landing.

Figure 1.6 Floor 15 plan. REVEALS LOOSE FIT QUALITY OF THE PROJECT + MANY ROOF TERRACES & 10 UNITS PER FLOOR.

Figure 1.4 Southeast Elevation

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COURTYARD CORE / FIRE ESCAPE BALCONY UNIT SANDWICHED UNIT LOWER UNIT PUBLIC TRANSIT STOPS

Figure 1.8 East Entrance from Main Street to First Floor

Figure 1.9 Ground Floor Public Space. Waiting + Visiting

Figure 1.7 Key section

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Figure 1.10 Rendering of the Floor 9 Courtyard

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Instructor: Collaborator: Educational Work: Term: Program:

Extrusive

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Comprehensive

Lincoln Arts Collective

Multivalent

Kutan Ayata Nabil Davidson M.Arch I Winter 2025 Art Center

Site: 1320 Lincoln Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401 Upon visiting the site, we recognized the existing structure as one yearning for completion—not an unfamiliar condition in LA. Our project seeks to engage with this incompleteness, re-imagining the building in its urban context through a strategy of temporal ambiguity. While maintaining the existing profile, the addition consists of two wavelengths pushing through one another, sliced with the sloped edge of the existing roof. At the heart of the project, a sunken courtyard presses into the ground from which the basement plan radiates, encircled by the ground floor, and crossed over by the upper floors. The project does not adhere to a singular reading: is it one building, three tubes, or many sawtooth profiles? Rather than a mere extrusion, the design embraces a multiplicity of forms. Mirrored profiles in plan and section create shifting volumes of light, defining a middle ground between texture and spatial experience.

Santa Monica’s mild climate allows the project to blur boundaries between interior and exterior. Glazed terracotta cladding provides permeability (louvers of sorts) to reception, a café, and the sculpture garden unfolding within open-air, covered spaces. Above, four galleries are organized into three distinct volumes that hover just below the roof-line. Each gallery is enclosed, with north-facing skylights ensuring soft, diffused illumination.

Between these gallery spaces, the roof opens strategically, welcoming southern light into public areas.

These moments of exposure amplify contrast—where controlled, indirect light defines the galleries, direct sunlight penetrates communal zones, enriching spatial perception.

Figure 2.1 Fro nt co rn er ren derin g

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Figure 2.2 Lincoln Street rendering. M E TA L CURTA IN GETS MA NUA L LY L IFTED TO O PEN THE A RT C E N TE R . W E P R ES ER V ED THE FACA DE O F THE EX ISTING B UIL IDNG A ND C L A D IT IN Lincoln Arts Collective

ALUMIN UM. THE FIGURE OF THE ROOF MIMICS THE FIGURE OF THE F R O NT E D GE I N P LAN UN IFIE D BY A SHE AR CUT. A FIGURAL GUT TE R COMPLE TES THE E D G E E XP R ES S I O N. 17

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Figure 2.3 1/8”=1’-0” physical model. PLA, birch plywood, & acrylic. THE SLICED ROOF GETS CUT INTO AT THE FRONT CORNER FOR A PORCH AT THE THIRD GALLERY.

Figure 2.5 Second floor plan. SHOWIN G OFFICES, CLASSROOMS AN D E N T RY S EQ UE NCE .

Figure 2.4 Lincoln Street rendering. I N TE R I OR P E RSPECTIVE RENDERING. STREET LO O K ING IN. P EO P LE E N T ER V I A B R I D G ES OV E R THE E XCAVATED B ASEMENT FLO O R . GA L L ERY U ND E R B E LLY ’S S OA R OV E R HE A D. Lincoln Arts Collective

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Figure 2.7 Key section. L I G HT A N D A I R PAS S TH RO UGH O PENINGS TO THE B ASEMENT A ND G R O U N D F LO O R P U B L I C S PAC ES, W HI L E F I LTERED NO RTHERN L IGHT EMA NATES FRO M C L E R ESTO R I ES A B OV E T H E G A L L E R I ES.

Figure 2.8 Third floor plan. SHOWING LONG GALLE RIES CONNECTE D BY BR I D GES T H AT LO O K ON TO THE D OUBLE HE IGHT ATRIUM BE LOW. Figure 2.6 1/2”=1’-0” Physical chunk model composed of birch plywood, PLA & acrylic

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Figure 2.9 1/8”=1’-0” physical model. PLA, birch plywood, & acrylic. BAC K FACA DE FAC ES A N A L L EY. O NE O PE N IN G FOL LOWS THE F I G U R E OF THE MIDDL E GA L L ERY WITH GL ASS FLU SH TO THE FACA D E . R I B B O N W I N D OWS A N D G A R AG E A R E R E M N A N TS F R O M T H E O R I G I N A L B U I L D I N G .

Lincoln Arts Collective

Figure 2.10 Rendering of the most narrow gallery.

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Instructor: Educational Work: Term: Program:

Exposed

Truss Terrain

Vector-Active

Urban

Hallie Black M.Arch I Winter 2024 Arboretum

Truss Terrain In thinking of spaces for trees, given an undulating Los Angeles site, the ground should belong to the trees, while human intervention should maintain a light footprint. By relying on the principle of structural depth and its capacity to resist moment and the advantageous strength of steel it allows for maximum possibility in the spatial programmatic output. But achieving this goal implies an a-priori structural approach to design. So I began with developing a set of game rules. The game produced countless iterations of: top chord, bottom chord, web, and a relationship to the ground. Intersecting outputs provided structural capacity and spatialized the flat trusses. To address circulation, floors and paths hang from the trusses, and while two elevators allow for fast vertical movement, an expressive stair at the edge of the site offers another public event, climbing to the highest point among the trees.

While the outward-facing structure implies permeability of the public program (an urban arboretum) the visibly light structure belies a heavy mass buried deep in the hill at the west end. Paths that run along the legs of the structure, plug into the hill where visitors can rest, access food, and learn from the archival herbarium.

Figure 3.1 Stair inspired by Robertson and Piano’s exterior stair at the NY Whitney museum, where circulation is not a passive event, rather the stair is itself an arrival at the edge of the building, leading to the highest point in on the site.

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AXO XO no no.7 o.7 7

Figure 3.2 F i na l t hre e s e c t i o ns p ro d u c ed t hrough a Sol Lewi tt-i nspi red ga me t hat c oompr i s e t h e g l obal stru c t u ra l d e s i g n Figure 3.3

Truss Terrain

AX AXO XO no.1 no no. o.15 o.1 15

AXO A AX O no.3 no n o3

AX AXO XO no. no no.2 o 1

Figure 3.4 Stru ctu ral ch u n k p ro du ced fo r f irst p art of stu dio with Yan g q i (Kiki) Li. Ba s s wood, 8mm 20 guage rings, silver jewelery wire, jewelery clasps, and butcher paper on an MDF milled

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Truss Terrain

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Truss Terrain

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Truss Terrain

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Figure 3.5

Truss Terrain

Figure 3.6

When a new non-profit for low-water content plants takes over the building

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Rendering of the project after it was de-commissioned during co n stru ctio n

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Collaborators:

Competition: Term: Program:

Microhome

Agricultural Worker Housing

Seasonal

Between Seasons: a home for two lives

Beverly Chan, Peiyin Chou, Weihan (Bella) Zheng Buildner Microhome Winter 2025 Art Center

A self-sufficient microhome that bridges seasonal labor and long-term value through modular, off-grid design in California’s Central Valley.

California, the nation’s leading agricultural state, produces over one-third of the United States’ vegetables and three-quarters of its fruits and nuts — feeding the world from its Central Valley. Yet behind this abundance lies a stark imbalance: over 400,000 migrant and seasonal farmworkers sustain the state’s $60 billion agricultural economy, while many live in overcrowded, unsafe, and impermanent housing that falls short of basic human dignity. Housing in the US is complex, but one part of the crisis that could be aided by careful design stems from the seasonal nature of agricultural labor. For most farm owners, it is financially unsustainable to invest in quality worker housing that sits empty for a third of the year.

‘Between Seasons’ proposes an architectural solution that bridges this divide — an off-grid, locally sourced, prefabricated microhome situated in Fresno County of California’s Central Valley. Designed for both human dignity and long-term value, the microhome serves as a safe, insulated, and ventilated home for migrant farmworkers during harvest season, and a flexible, revenue-generating space during the offseason.

At its core lies an L-shaped folding module containing the home’s essential systems — beds, tables, chairs, and bathroom — all compactable to transform the interior from a fully furnished dwelling into an open, multi-purpose space. During farming months, the clustered microhomes form a connected yet private community for workers; in the off-season, they shift into adaptable units that can host workshops, rentals, or local business uses, reintegrating the farm into its surrounding community.

Figure 4.1 On season rendering.

‘Between Seasons’ reimagines farmworker housing not as a temporary necessity, or pure commodity, but as a sustainable, dual-purpose architecture — one that honors the people who sustain the land while offering tangible, long-term benefits to those who own it.

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Between Seasons: a home for two lives

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Figure 4.2 Typical Site Plan UNIT MODULES LINK TOGETHER IN CASCADING FORMATIONS

Between Seasons: a home for two lives

Figure 4.3 Interior Rendering at the Bedroom THE FOLDING CORE REVEALS A TRUNDLE BED AND RETRACTABLE DESKS. SHELVING LINES THE CORE FOR LOTS OF STORAGE. 6

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Figure 4.5 Off season view

Figure 4.6 Off season use examples, from left-to-right, top-to-bottom: COMMUNITY GATHERING SPACE, FARMER’S OFFICE, ROAD-SIDE FARMER’S MARKET, VISITING SCIENTIST, TEMPORARY GUEST ACCOMODATIONS (SHORT TERM RENTAL)

Figure 4.4 Exploded axonometric construction drawing EACH UNIT IS TIMBER BENCH FRAMED WITH METAL CLADDING. THE ROOF FOLDS DOWN TO BECOME A PROTECTIVE WALL THAT SHEILDS THE HOT CENTRAL VALLEY SOUTHERN SUN Between Seasons: a home for two lives

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CAB 6: Shift: Architecture in Times of Radical Change

Scale-Shift

Collectivity

Commons Reimagined Collectivity Through Space

Supervisor: Professional Work: Format: Term: Program:

Play

Miroslava Brooks FORMA Exhibition Summer 2025 Playscape

Sep 19, 2025–Feb 28, 2026 SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change at the Chicago Cultural Center In times of rapid change, economic uncertainty, and political division, we all could use a little more play, lightheartedness and unity. The exhibition invites visitors to explore new forms of collectivity, centering on the idea of the commons – public spaces designed to serve the collective, promote inclusivity, and create new opportunities for interaction and collaboration. A meditation on the role of groundscape in architecture, a character-driven civic space designed by FORMA – The Playscapes – is used as a case study and transformed into a participatory installation that fosters collective experience and shared interaction. The term playscape suggests a more ambiguous relationship with terms like ‘ground’, ‘community’, or even ‘nature’ and provides a chance to rethink them on a more fundamental level. Inspired by the experimental playgrounds of Isamu Noguchi and Aldo van Eyck, the project challenges rigid notions of function, form, and scale, proposing play as a creative framework for rethinking public space and architecture’s role in shaping collective futures.

The exhibition re-imagines FORMA’s previously-designed 16,000 SF proposal for an Early Education and Community Center as a scaleless object – a reconfigurable collective seating within the gallery setting – to be interacted with, sat on, and circumnavigated. Roughly translated to an architectural scale of 1/2” = 1’, the modular structure aggregates to a 19-foot-long seat, parts of which can be moved around and re-arranged, inviting participation and active engagement. The seating is positioned on a colorful, large, custom-designed rug – conceptually linking the ground of the exhibition space as one of collective experience with the ideas of collective groundscape in the case-study project. A large composite drawing accompanies the floor installation illustrating how architecture at all scales can serve as a catalyst for new forms of social connectivity and civic engagement in a rapidly changing world.

Commons Reimagined: Collectivity Through Space

Figure 5.1 (left) Installation photograph. INSTALLATION ON OPE ING DAY: R UG , BE NCH , & D R AWI NG Figure 5.2 (above) Installation photograph. INSTALLATION SE E N THROUGH TH E CULT UR AL CE NT E R GIFT SHOP D OORS

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*I worked on drawing, translating design intent for the bench and rug into shop drawings while coordinating with vendors, and on-site physical installation of the work at CAB 6. All work done under FORMA’s Miroslava Brooks. Wallywool manufactured the bench & Art of Rugs manufactured the rug.

Figure 5.3

Composite Drawing, (12) 36” x 43” Panels. ADAPTED FROM FORMA’S “PLAYSCAPES”

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25

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20 7 8"

27"

1" R8 4

° 81

1" 17 2

1" 72

72 °

1" 72

1" 17 2 1" 72

° 62

° 75

TOP PLAN

BOTTOM PLAN

1" = 1'-0"

1" = 1'-0"

1" = 1'-0"

12 5 8"

16" 3" 78

16"

ELEVATION

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1" = 1'-0"

ELEVATION

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1" = 1'-0"

11 7 8"

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R4 3 4"

85 8"

BOTTOM PLAN

85 8"

TOP PLAN 1" = 1'-0"

3" 78

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ELEVATION

12

1" = 1'-0"

ELEVATION

ELEVATION

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1" = 1'-0"

1" = 1'-0"

JUNE 29, 2025

JUNE 29, 2025

ELEVATION

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1" = 1'-0"

3" 14 8

3 8"

R10"

1" 72

1" R5 4

20 7 8"

23 5 8" 1/8" SPACE FOR DACRON AND VINYL

BOTTOM OF WOOD WALLS

BOTTOM OF WOOD WALLS

DASHED WOOD BASE OUTLINE

DASHED WOOD BASE OUTLINE

ELEVATION

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1" 14 8

1" 21 4

1/8" SPACE FOR DACRON AND VINYL

C11

ELEVATION 1" = 1'-0"

1" = 1'-0"

24 7 8"

27 7 8"

I9

G11

C10

33 3 4"

G10

E11

E12

C1

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C8

D1

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1" 16 4

1" 16 2

1" 17 2

A10

C9 G12 I10

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A9

3" 34 8

46 3 4" 1 of 7

Figure 5.4

2 of 7

3 of 7

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Commons Reimagined B ench. Schematic drawings & shop drawing.

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Figure 5.5 Composite Drawing at 1/4” = 1’-0”, Panel 1A , 36” x 43”. Adapted from FORMA’S 2024 project , “Plays c apes”

Commons Reimagined: Collectivity Through Space

Figure 5.6 Composite Drawing at 1/4” = 1’-0”, Panel 2F, 36” x 43”. Adapted from FORMA’S 2024 project , “Plays c apes”

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Figure 5.7 Composite Drawing at 1/4” = 1’-0”, Panel 1B , 36” x 43”. Adapted from FORMA’S 2024 project , “Plays c apes”

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Figure 5.8 Composite Drawing at 1/4” = 1’-0”, Panel 2A , 36” x 43”. Adapted from FORMA’S 2024 project , “Plays c apes”

Commons Reimagined: Collectivity Through Space

Figure 5.9 Composite Drawing at 1/4” = 1’-0”, Panel 2B , 36” x 43”. Adapted from FORMA’S 2024 project , “Plays c apes”

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Figure 5.10 Composite Drawing at 1/4” = 1’-0”, Panel 1D, 36” x 43”. Adapted from FORMA’S 2024 project , “Plays c apes”

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Figure 5.11 Composite Drawing at 1/4” = 1’-0”, Panel 2D, 36” x 43”. Adapted from FORMA’S 2024 project , “Plays c apes” DETAIL OF THE REDEFINTED RIVER’S EDGE

Commons Reimagined: Collectivity Through Space

Figure 5.12 Composite Drawing at 1/4” = 1’-0”, Panel 1F, 36” x 43”. Adapted from FORMA’S 2024 project , “Plays c apes”

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Last Pa g e

B a c k Insi d e C over

B a c k Cover

Fro nt Cover

Fro nt In side Cover

F ir st Pa g e

Figure 6.1 As a graphics editor for UCLA AUD’s architectural publication POOL, issue 10: FLOTSAM, I structured the cover composition starting with Hieronymus Boschs Triptych “The Garden of Earthly Delights” inserting Issue 10’s contributor submissions into a collage that reflects the issues theme. The issue was published Spring 2025. Issue 11 is in the works.

POOL 10

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