Growing Upwards

Hilltop Alliance Agricultural Elementary School

Upper St. Clair, Pittsburgh, PA

Arch 332 – Spring 2018

Duration: 12 weeks

Professor: Katsuhiko Muramoto

Programs Used:

The design concept starts with the program of the spaces. The most compelling aspect to this school is that it is more than just a normal elementary school; it has a strong agricultural program element. I decided to take the program areas that directly relate to agriculture, such as the Dining spaces, Food Labs, and Kitchens, and set them apart from the typical program elements found in a school, such as the Library and Music spaces. The contrast ing forms are bridged by a pathway that runs the entire length of the site, connecting to each side differently in an architectural dialogue, as it intersects the spaces. Finally, the placement of the spaces required the Nature spaces to overlook the gardens and orchards to the west end of the site, and is placed atop the hilltop, allowing the most unique element to this particular school to be the primary thing one sees upon the approach.

Structurally, the building attempts to contrast on this front as well. Inside the nature space, it is a very dynamic, fowing roof plane with Glulam wood structure and tree-like columns that grow towards the light wells above them. Meanwhile, the exterior is a simple glass facade, and appears from the outside to be a simple box. On the other side of the building, the Arts volume is a very dynamic exterior, with the same grid applied to the exterior of the space. The interior is much simpler, with a very typical stud wall construction, further allowing the spaces to contrast.

Agriculture Program

Exploded Axonometric

Transverse Section

This project was all about getting exposure to the real world of construction through a design and build unit. Grouped with 11 students, I being the project manager, we were given a real life client on campus at Penn State University, Hort Woods Daycare Center, and a budget of $1500. Our task was to design and build a child playground music installation in which kids could experience music in the world around them, and give them more exposure into learning the feld of music. The program was intended for the structure to be for 3 to 5 year old students, just getting their little feet wet into the vast ocean that is music as an art.

Musical Playground Installation

Hort Woods Day Care Center, State College, PA

Programs Used:

Our design focused on how seemingly mundane objects could be utilized by children who love to just experience different sounds. Our preliminary research outlined the ideas of timbre, and how different objects can make different sounds when played with. These sounds vary from how long the attack and decay lasts for each sound wave.

We focused on then making two designed walls which could hang some of these objects which vary from plastic containers to pots and pans, depending on their different timbres. In order to hang them, the group designed a hanging system from which cords could be strung and instruments could be placed on. To keep it sustainable to the State College environment, and allow it to survive the harsh winters, the strings were placed on turnbuckles, which could be tightened and tuned to the teachers liking, and allow the children to experience the piece in another way.

Catalyst Green

Master Plan Development Cleveland, Ohio

Arch 491 – Fall 2019

Duration: 16 Week

Professor: Dan Willis and Daniel Marriot

Catalyst Green is a redevelopment project for a city block in downtown Cleveland, located between 14th and 18th streets, 1 block south of Playhouse Square. The Master Plan requirements included a Hotel, Charter School, Retail Spaces, an outdoor performance plaza and theatre, and fnally an offce and apartment tower. The design intention for this master plan was to reimagine a greener Cleveland, and to become a spark for future development projects to reference. We identifed three main conceptual drivers of Public Green Space, Sustainable Building Materials, and Experiential views to achieve this goal.

Cleveland as a city does not have much usable public green space that is enticing to the user. The plan for this development is to invert the average spent cost on public green space, by designating the majority of our built footprint to green space. Secondly, we looked at how Cleveland was zoned for future economic uses and found that retail plots were located to the North and South of the site. The plan pulls from this and draws retail and economic generating bands to the north and south of the site. The largest green space near our site is the Erie Street Cemetery, located just to the west of the site. This green space is pulled into the site, and surrounds and penetrates our architectural forms, creating one of the most inviting and economically sustainable sites in the city of Cleveland.

Programs Used:

For the master plan to be successful, it was crucial to integrate as much landscape into the building forms as possible. To do so, we added a pergola structure, which uses the same wood material in the buildings, and helps blend the boundary between architecture and landscape. The landscape was then raised conceptually, and draped over the architecture, landing in “buffer zones”. These zones increase in privacy as they move up in elevation and become amenity spaces for each of the building programs.

With Cleveland being such a cold climate city, it was important to have the main outdoor public spaces usable throughout the year. The main performance amphitheater in the center of the site, with its curvy and undulating form, doubles as a skating rink in the colder months. To the north, market spaces can be integrated into the pergola, as well as a permanent outdoor restaurant. Finally, the retail lagoon located at the base of the tower serves both practical and economic purposes. While being an inviting water space and quiet spot in a noisy city area, the lagoon doubles as a storm water retention location for run off on the site. The retail plaza also includes terraced shops and spaces of green space in the building that help bring the activity of playhouse square down through our site and into a future development area of Cleveland.

The material choice of the buildings needed to make a statement similar to our green space allotment. This drove Heavy Timber and CLT construction to be the main sustainable material choice that is used throughout the architecture. The 600-foot apartment tower would become the frst Heavy Timber constructed tower in the region, and hopefully serve as a catalyst for future sustainable project developments. The facade systems also play a key role in our site design. To allow the landscape to penetrate the building forms conceptually, each side of the buildings that face inward to the site are majority transparent, to showcase the lush greenery. The sides facing outward showcase the wood and metal panel system used throughout the entire project and showcase the ideology of the wood construction methods to the rest of the city.