NINA TSOLAKIS
CONTACT
(417) 569-4375
ninatsolakis@gmail.com linkedin.com/in/ninatsolakis
EDUCATION
M.Arch: Master of Architecture
Minors: Art History and Fine Arts
Certificate: International Studies
Cumulative GPA: 3.97
Anticipated graduation with Honors: May 2025
Drury University (DU)
Hammons School of Architecture (HSA) Springfield, MO
EXPERIENCE
Student intern, LRK (Summer 2023), Baton Rouge, LA
Student Tutor, HSA (2021-present)
Grading assistant, HSA (2022)
I am a fifth year architecture student graduating in May with a master’s degree in architecture. My liberal arts education taught me to engage critical thinking skills and a holistic perspective comprised of sociological, sustainable and cultural contexts. I am eager to enact the design, software and creative tools I have accquired in school into a professional and collaborative environment.
AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS
5th year
• HSA Thesis Research Winner, “Assembling Identity”
• Librarium Nomination: an HSA student showcase made up of nominated studio projects, with top prize awarded by guests jurors.
4th year
• Librarium Nomination (Spring Project)
• Librarium Nomination (Fall Project)
• Catherine Kik Taylor Book Award (HSA)
• WeCreate Design Competition Finalist 3rd year
• Librarium Winner (Spring Project 2023)
• Librarium Nomination (Fall Project)
• Tom Cray '77 Flag Plaza Design Scholarship (HSA) 2nd year
• Outstanding Second Year Student (HSA)
• Judge Warren White Scholarship (DU)
• Design-Build for Revive 66 Shelter(HSA)
1st year
• Outstanding First Year Student (HSA)
• Outstanding Freshman (DU)
Software programs
• Revit
• Twinmotion
• Formit
• AutoCAD
• Sketchup
• Adobe: Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator
SKILLS
Interests
• Sketching
• Painting
• Travel Languages
• English
• Greek (conversational)
1
Birthplace of Revive 66
Fall 2024 | Individual
2
3
West Oakland Revitalization
Fall 2023 | Individual
4
Dignity in the Dark
Fall 2021 | Design-Build Studio
Center for Ecology in Venice
Spring 2023 | Group
ROUTE | CREEK | CITY
Birthplace of Route 66 Museum
Springfield, Missouri
This is a proposal for a Route 66 Museum in Springfield's downtown area. This site was rich with opportunity: first being culturally-tied to Route 66 in the 20th century while also containing Jordan Creek, a historic landmark running through its center, around which Springfield formed.
museum: facilitator and destination
This was a comprehensive studio combining in-depth site, historical and cultural analysis with conceptual, material, structural and mechanical considerations. Being local to Drury, the familiarity of the site allowed further contemplating on the role of design and built form in shaping the visual and physical experiences of people around it.
CREEK WALKWAY AND BRIDGE
PEDESTRIAN THOROUGHFARE
Wood Screen
Perforated Aluminum Decorative Paneling
MATERIAL CONCEPTS EXHIBITION CONCEPTS JOURNEY JOURNEY DESTINATION
Glazing
HVAC and Mechanical Equipment
TEXTURED| PERMEABLE
GLOWING | EVOCATIVE
PERFORATED | VAULTED
CREEK
Sheer Wall System
Structural Steel Framing
SCULPTURE IMMERSION THROUGH LIGHTING, VIEWS AND SCREENS
HISTORY
CONTEMPORARY PUBLIC
TEMPORARY
WEST OAKLAND REVITALIZATION
Social Equity and Hybrid Alternatives in Oakland, California
Oakland is one of the most diverse, walkable and historically-rich cities in the United States. However, the city's demographics and their health, financial and educational outcomes are disproportionately related to their race, access and environment. This studio, through urban and historical analyses, explored the roles of hybridized programming in historically redlined and highway-facing districts to heal and empower underserved communities.
BUFFER CONNECT REPAIR
Hybridized structures of parking, commercial and co-working functions target the highway to protect residences behind them.
Secondary structures connect residential structures to commercial amenities and insert themselves below the highway.
CONCEPTUAL EXPLORATIONS
Reparative interventions that enforce inclusive design while being culturally sensitive and experiential.
REIMAGINING HIGHWAY
Facilitated passage | art walk, seating, dining buffer | hybrid parking, retail
Through raised platforms, wide, lit ramps and tactile wayfinding, this entry plaza directly responds to West Oakland with a community haven protecting from flooding and vehicular traffic while encouraging entry through the rest of the site.
retail and co-working building
west oakland plaza
DIGNITY IN THE DARK Shelter for Revive
66
Springfield, Missouri
This was a semester design build project that began with individual design explorations and ended with studio-wide collaboration into an overnight shelter for Springfield's Revive 66 non-profit organization. The 10'x8' structure provides a rentable haven for a couple on weekdays.
Early individual design explorations
Interior views from morning to evening.
Exterior detailing and plays with light.
Early rendering made personally to explore color, material and experiential qualities.
LAGOON | SCAPE
Center for Lagoon Ecology and History
Sant'Erasmo, Venice, Italy
This is a proposal for a lagoon ecology and research center on the island of Sant'Erasmo. The center respectively services tourists interested in local ecology, history and amenities and visiting scholars, historians and archaelogists.
Sant' Erasmo's fabric is a distinct, patchwork composition of sprawling water channels and complex elements of farmland, gardens and raw site. The proposal seeks to embody, exalt and rise from the island's interactions between overlapping water, lush vegetation and walkable path.
LAND | WATER | HISTORY
Land | Water | History
A complex fabric weaving farmland, the laggon and centuries-long milital history, the site is located at the island's northwestern tip facing the 15th-century quarantine island of Lazzaretto Nuovo.
A complex fabric weaving farmland, the lagoon and centuries-long milital history, the site is located at the island’s northwestern tip facing the 15th-century quarantine island of Lazzaretto Nuovo.
The site's flat, marshland is first zoned into areas of organized, urban activity that rise with public terraces. Pedestrian paths converge onto a central plaza of overlapping marshy water, vegetation and terracing pieces.
To the south, flexible landscaping privileges free, intimate experiences of the island. Patterns of interactive farmland, water and raised paths speak to the subtle, but deeply nuanced character of the island. Farmland
High Terrace and the 15th-century
The site's flat, marshland organized, urban activity that Pedestrian paths converge overlapping marshy water, vegetation To the south, flexible free, intimate experiences interactive farmland, water the subtle, but deeply nuanced
The site's flat marshland is first zoned into areas of organized, urban activity that rise with public terraces. Pedestrian paths converge onto a central plaza of overlapping marshy water, vegetation and terracing pieces.
To the south, flexible landscaping privileges free, intimate experiences of the island. Patterns of interactive farmland, water and raised paths speak to the subtle, but nuanced character of the island.
Site Plan
Venice Proper
Lazzareto Nuovo
ENTRY AND EXHIBITION
EXHIBITION CORRIDOR RESIDENCES
RESEARCH FACILITY
INTERIOR COURTYARD
Research Facility responds to private street Interior courtyard formed along water way
Exhibition corridor creates linear connection
Research Facility splits to create residential
Exposed timber columns plunge into earth
exhibition for the sandoli
The tourist entry serves as an atrium hosting traveling exhibitions, in this case, the historic sandoli boats of Venice. Exhibits may hang, line the orientation space, or be posted on the large east wall facing the entry.
reading room
Through a layering of platforms and interactive, connective stairwell, the reading room is subdivided into community, lounging and private research spaces. A central loft and strips of windows provide researchers with a direct visual experience of the lagoon.
Notable Projects
Study Abroad | Fine Arts | Thesis Research
Study Abroad in Venice
Summer 2022
Sketching studies saw relationships between people, water, land, and their built environment. This series explored a campo on the island's south end.
Painting Studies
Fall 2024
Painting studies from third to fourth year expanded on drawing and mapping knowledge into concepts of value, color, light and shadow.
Assembling Identity:
Reclaiming the Self and The City Through Spatial Agencies
Systemic and infrastructural ideologies creating spatial exclusion in American cities are exemplified by the worsening state of homelessness. The unhoused are by definition denied the urban belonging, spatial agencies and visibility vital to the formation of social, practical, and emotional resilience.
Located in San Francisco’s downtown, this project proposes housing measures bolstered by trauma-informed design and identityspecific resources and, through an infrastructural architectural response, explores the role of spatial justice in embracing a collective identity from the residents to the city.
Full book available below:
https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:d3a39aef-693d-4d83-99d3-b577741c34c9
References Available Upon Request
