Rand Allison Architecture Portfolio 2024

selected works

Rand Allison Allison

EDUCATION

architectural designer

randallison843@gmail com

www.linkedin com/in/rand-allison843

EXPERIENCE

Savannah College of Art and Design B.F.A . in Architecture

cum laude - art history minor

4 0 gpa in comprehensive design studios - Athletic and Academic scholarship

2019 Cycling Team Captain - 2019 USA Cycling Division 2 National Champion Presidents list : Winter 2021 - Deans list : Fall 2020 + Winter 2020 + Spring 2021

University of Columbia Executive Education

2017 - 2022

Construction Project Management nov 2021- feb 2022

construction project management class - dealing with law, admin, + documentation

Architectural Designer designLAB boston, ma / march 2023 - present worked with architects daily, worked on all phases of design, primarily focused on public, community based projects ranging from 4 to 8 million dollars

Hussey Gay Bell, A&E

Junior Architect

savannah, ga / may - december 2022

worked with registered architects and engineers daily, worked on all phases of design, concept + sd + dd + cds + ca, primarly worked on commercial and public projects

Studio 13

Co-founder / Creative Director

savannah, ga / may 2020 - jan 2022

garment decoration / branding business, built brands for fashion designers, local and national companies, grew company from 1 to 6 employees and grossed 6 figures in second year of operation.

Lott Barber Architects

Intern Architect

SERVICE

savannah, ga / may 2019 - sep 2019

worked with registered architects daily, worked on all phases of design, concept + sd + dd + cds + ca, primarily focused on the design of an affordable housing development

Cambiando Vidas san juan de la maguana, dom. rep. / june 2022

Service Trip

worked with a local charity in the dominican republic to build a house for a family in need. built a house in one week working with local craftspeople and techniques

Volunteer SCAD Serve savannah, ga / 2017 - 2022

worked with various local charities through SCAD’s volunteer service portal

planning scheduling networking sales+marketing

customer service employee management project management

Business research ideation branding model making critical writing presentation layout construction documentation

Software

Design revit rhino lumion autocad enscape climate consultant

adobe creative suite

pgs.

4-11

pgs.

12 - 21

pgs.

22 - 29

pgs.

30-37

An exploration in using steel construction to create a monument to the craft of furniture making. Both aspects (creation and display) of the craft are represented programatically and formally.

CIELO addresses a growing unhoused population and the lack of public space in Miami’s metro area. It uses vertical public amenities to invite people from all walks of life to inhabit and enjoy. The site was selected to show how spaces that are traditionally overlooked become vibrant centers for communities of the future.

Creation + Display

Community Anchor for a neglected Federal Navy base, whose infrastructure is being reexamined as a possible mixed use development. A 1970’s brutalist office building becomes re imagined by combining housing and vital community building programs to encourage growth in the new community.

Revitalization of a community building within a larger municipal park redevelopment scheme. The architecture seeks to coexist harmoniously within its riverside residential context, while providing public access to waterfront recreation.

Revere Boathouse

pgs.

38-45

SUNU seeks to strike a delicate balance between providing focused indoor learning environments while maintaining a connection to the reality of the students’ communities. Through intuitive variations of vernacular building patterns, the project serves as an introduction to resilient and sustainable building practices, hoping to educate and inspire implementation across the region.

CREATION+DISPLAY FURNITURE MUSEUM

Typology: Museum

Scale: 50,000+ sq ft

Location: French Broad River Park, Asheville, NC, USA

Toolbox: Revit, Rhino, Illustrator, Photoshop, Enscape, Lumion 2022 ACSA Steel Competition - 2nd Place / Open / Student 2022 Eduwik Awards - 1st Place / Cultural / Student

IDA 2022 - 3x Honorable Mention / (Museum, Exhibits, Pavilions And Exhibitions) + (Conceptual) + (Landmarks, Symbolic Structures, Memorials, Public Spaces, Parks, Vistas, Plazas)

Furniture is something that sets the stage for our everyday interactions. It confines our social settings. It interrupts and interjects. The function is primal and the aesthetics functional. Every culture from every corner of the earth has their array of the furniture archetypes, each revealing something about the culture that created them. The site of this museum has a deep history and culture of furniture making. Largely influenced by the millions of hardwood trees native to the area, furniture making became one of the most prominent businesses in the state early in its history. Crafting became a vehicle for financial mobility. So the question poses itself: How to design a museum for a place with a strong craft culture and how can the spaces serve the craft?

The project is designed to be used by the artists from the nearby arts district, providing a place to create and display their works. This program would ensure the integration of the project within the local arts culture. The re-programed park space integrates the site within the landscape and context, and contains spaces for gathering, teaching, recreation, and crafting. Site features such as aquaponic tiles and restorative wetlands allow the natural integration of building and site over time. The new pedestrian bridge connects two four mile pedestrian trails enabling walking and cycling from the western suburban side of the river to the urban/industrial east.

FORM

Base form is sited based on solar angles and views across the landscape

ELEVATION

Base form elevated to minimize disturbance of existing public park and to protect against potential flooding

LINEAR PROCESSION

Form extended horizontally to create a processional user experience, while maximizing views + daylighting

BASE

SUPPORT

Supportive tower extruded to support the processional form, while acting as a beacon, protruding above the surrounding landscape

SPLIT

Tower is split to create a circulatory route underneath and to signify entry point

DIFFERENTIATE

Programs are represented formally, with the creation wing being slightly angled, while the display space maintains a horizontal, processional, linearity

WORKSHOP 1

Creation spaces make the craft the object on display. The process is glorified and on view.

GALLERY 1

The building then becomes the setting, while the furniture becomes the active participants in the drama. The objects are displayed in a way that changes the viewers perspective. This perspective shift creates an environment honoring the craft by glorifying the object.

GALLERY 2

Display spaces serve as a setting for the drama of craft. By elevating the craft, the objects become something other than tools for sitting or storing. The spaces are physically manipulated to create to create an angular exhibition gallery.

TYPICAL SUPERSTRUCTURE

WWF beams, HSS cross-bracing and columns, K-series joists

FACADE

Captures and diffuses direct sunlight

STRUCTURAL CONNECTIONS

Joining of sub-structure and super-structure with welded gusset plates and fixed bolted moment connections

ROTATING LOUVER

Rotating photovoltaics adjust based on solar angle and time of year

SUPER-STRUCTURE CORNER

WWF beams welded and bolted to HSS column

FOUNDATION

Pile foundation with heavily reinforced concrete footer and bolted steel superstructure

PV LOUVER

PV SKIN

Photovaultaic skin captures and diffuses sunlight through the photosensitive cells

65% tinted single pane curtain wall

steel bolted facade structure

vented heat chimney facade

weeped steel panel

seamless integrated metal mullion

clear low-e double glazed curtain wall led uplighting vented metal floor plenum

poured metal deck

k-series steel joist

insulated metal panel envelope wrapped wwf steel superstructure

heat chimney vent

insulated metal panel envelope

65% tinted single pane curtain wall

wrapped wwf steel superstructure

interior/heat chimney vent

elevated metal floor

sealed buffer stone

growing medium

recycled rubber

drainage mat

poured metal deck

k-series bar joist

metal tie

suspended metal acoustic ceiling

seamless integrated metal mullion

2

Cielo

Typology: Housing + Public

Scale: 72 floors, 2,000,000+ sq ft total

Location: Overtown/Government Center, Miami, FL, USA

Toolbox: Revit, Rhino, Illustrator, Photoshop, Enscape w/ Daniel Jaraba + Prof. Daniel Brown May-October 2022

2022 Impact Skyrise Submission Personal Project

2022 Impact Skyrise - Top 20

This is a joint project with classmate and friend Daniel Jaraba with guidance from our former Prof. Daniel Brown. Post-Graduation we wanted to design a large scale project in a high density setting with a focus on community building. This project addresses a growing unhoused + low income population and the lack of public space in Miami’s metro area. It uses vertical public amenities to invite people from all walks to inhabit and enjoy. The site was selected to show how spaces that traditionally get overlooked can become vibrant centers for communities of the future. Program features public resources such as a clinic, learning center, spaces for wellness & rehabilitation, recreation, housing, vertical farming, and a multi level market and cafe. Sustainability also plays an important role in the urban setting. The architecture seeks to exist in tandem with its climate, making use of the harsh sunlight, wind, and rain through vertical farming, a water cooled facade, cross ventilation, grey water treatment, bio energy generator, and various shading mechanisms.

Analyzing the site within the context of the Miami and nearby metro areas.

ECONOMICS & METRO AREA

CIELO

REDEFINING THE EXISTING SKYLINE & URBAN PROGRAMMATIC NETWORK

Creating a hub with a public passage from the inner city & transit hub to Biscayne Bay, by linking crucial communal programmatic conditions within the urban setting.

1,052 feet : making the building a skyline icon of publicness

HOUSING

INTERVENTION

Linking the Bay to transit hub & inner city

COMMERCIAL LEISURE

Bayside Shops

BISCAYNE

FTX Arena & Museums

283 feet

PROVIDING A LADDER

Education, health & wellness, and housing anchor the architecture programatically within the community. ”Work, Home, Health” seeks to act as a ladder out of the hole that people can fall into when these elements of life are lacking.

CORE INVERSION

The traditional skyscraper space layout is inverted. Pushing the most public spaces outward, so that they are easily accessible to the public.

Downtown Miami Biscayne Bay

“Give me fulcrum on move

862 feet

COMMUNITY AS SUPPORT

a lever long enough and a on which to place it, and I shall the world.” - Archimedes

VERTICAL CITY BLOCK

Miami Central Station

CONNECTIVITY INNER CITY

520 feet

395 feet

In high density areas all around the world, verticality has become a necessity. Our site was selected due to its “unbuildability” factors and its proximity to major mass transport hubs along with large, low resource neighborhoods.

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

Developing a relationship with the surroundings that benefits the community and making decisions informed by context, programmatic needs, and climate

Connect the Bay with the City

72 floors

Create a civic asset to begin the rebuild of the vacant area. Reintegrate “undesirable” site by using existing commercial railroad infrastructure to create a link between the bay and the inner city.

Based on the architectural & urban context, the lot (with setbacks) is extruded 72 floors to fit program requirements.

The mass is integrated into its context based on the necessity of its programmed spaces.

Split and rotate to accommodate urban factors such as commercial train line, farming facades, housing, public space.

Lean to minimize western + southern solar exposure / maximize northern + eastern solar exposure. Expand views from housing units.

Reveal public spaces + circulation based on urban context, inviting the people to engage with the spaces.

AXONOMETRIC HOUSING SECTION

Taken from south east facade - floors 44 - 50

Gathering

Culinary

Circulation

BUILDING + SIDEWALK BUFFER TRANSIT

IMPLEMENTING STREETLIKE CONDITIONS

The medium/long term housing spaces are designed with shared recreation and circulation spaces to act as micro communities, sustaining a sense of place and belonging

CIRCULATION

RECREATION

WATER

PEDESTRIAN PATH

GREEN SPACE

Housing

43rd

Typology: Learning Center + Housing / Adaptive Reuse

Scale: 150,000+ sq ft

Location: Decommissioned Navy Base, North Charleston, SC, USA

Toolbox: Revit, Autocad, Illustrator, Photoshop, Enscape, Lumion w/ Professor Alice Guess Senior Studio 4

2021

Originally a 600 acre, Olmstead designed public park, the North Charleston Navy Shipyard boasted the largest pier and dry dock on the east coast prior to World War I. For almost 100 years, the Naval Yard bolstered the economic development of North Charleston. Since the decommissioning of the base in 1996, North Charleston has stumbled, but grown, despite crime, loss of industry, and the neglect of the Navy Base. In an effort to revitalize, the decommissioned Navy Base is being re-imagined as a new urbanist community, focused on the creation of a vibrant, contemporary, sustainable, and livable community. Civic Asset is an exploration in urban interventions, creating sensitive and thoughtful solutions for new communities through adaptive reuse projects and the creation of civic commons using culture and civic assets as an anchor.

The adaptation of the existing Army Corps of Engineers Building seeks to create a continuous street front, anchored by a public, accessible, community space. The first floor is programed as an ecological library and research facility, housing labs, study rooms, a lecture hall, a library space, and three courtyards. Projecting into the current park space is a cafe, luring the public outward toward the reprogrammed park. The park circulation is adapted for the new building massing. A new “greenhouse” inspired bus terminal continues the Noisette Boulevard corridor and connects users to the broader community. Large public porches and gracious overhangs are intended to invite the public and signify entry points.

The Army Corps of Engineers Building, abandoned since the late 1990’s

EXISTING URBAN SITE CONTEXT

Aging 20th century industrial infrastructure built on a 19th century Olmstead garden. Remnants of the original park lie to the north and west of the site.

NORTH

DE-CORE EXISTING BUILDING

Insert atrium to create cross ventilation, improve natural lighting, and create central communal space.

EXISTING

URBAN INTERVENTIONS

ADAPTATION

WATERFRONT PARK

The last remnants of the 19th century Fredrick Law Olmstead park, refurbished and updated in the 21st century to include modern amenities and monuments. 200yr old live oaks along with flowering bushes and trees in a semi wetland that abuts the nearby Cooper River.

LOW DENSITY HOUSING

Mostly dilapidated officers housing from the post WW2 economic boom experienced on the Charleston Navy Base. In recent years, redevelopment has occurred (thanks in large part to the descendant fauna) but at a slow pace due to the extremely poorly maintained and largely empty infrastructure at the Base.

ADAPTATION OF PARK

The Turnbull Ave. bus station is moved to the south western side of the site in order to minimize heavy traffic near the low density neighborhood. The green space circulation is optimized around 10 of the remaining live oaks from the 19th century garden. The derelict railroad infrastructure on the site is repurposed into a grey water cistern.

Post-industrial decommissioned navy base set to become redeveloped into a mixed use community as the region continues to grow.

MAP LEGEND

Industrial

Housing

Navy Base

Cooper River

Wetland

ADAPTATION OF BUILDING

The building core is removed to create a naturally lit public space. The first floor is re-purposed as an Ecology Library and Research space. A cafe is used to reach out into the green space to further integrate building and park. Floors 2-6 are adapted to living spaces and shared outdoor terraces. The southern service entrance becomes an accessible entrance and parking.

EXISTING OFFICE BUILDING

Active, existing early 20th century neoclassical office building that shares a parking lot to the north. Building is set to remain during redevelopment plans.

TRUXTON AVE DEVELOPMENT

Empty 2-3 story, early 20th century office buildings, designed to become a vibrant mixed use community. Existing infrastructure is being up fit for new residents and commercial tenants.

EXISTING

INTEGRATING STREET FRONT

Massing along Noisette Boulevard to incorporate the building into planned street front development

ENGAGING GREEN SPACE

Extrude north into existing green space to engage the park and building in an active dialogue

CARVE

Scale the massing down toward the park and street front, in order to create public and private terraces and elevated green spaces

RE-SKIN

Remove existing brutalist facade on northern face and re-skin with glass curtain wall to improve daylighting and visual connections to park

PARKIFICATION

Adapt the park circulation to encourage use as a thoroughfare and as a park proper. Update landscape elements to new urban scale, including courtyards, garden, and central square

FLOOR 3

ADAPTIVE REUSE

Paths, street facing courtyards, and the large entry porch are shaped to integrate site and street scape from the scale of the pedestrian. Turnbull Ave. bus stop is re imagined on Noisette Blvd. with public restrooms and a covered waiting lobby. The cafe and the transparent north facade seek to create a dialogue between building and park. Shared and private terraces are made from recycled historic brutalist concrete panels.

1. one bedroom apartment

2. two bedroom apartment

3. private porch

4. public porch

5. amenity room

6. atrium

7. vertical circulation

8. mechanical

HOUSING

HOUSING FLOOR 6

The housing component is comprised of one and two bedroom apartments, their form derived from the column grid of the existing 6 story office building. A vented core atrium serves as a passive cooling and natural lighting mechanism. Large public and small private terraces offer variety in scale and privacy in outdoor spaces.

Revere Boathouse

REVERE COMMUNITY BOATHOUSE

Typology: Community + Recreation

Scale: 4,000 sq ft

Location: Gibson Park, Revere, MA, USA

Toolbox: Revit, Rhino, Illustrator, Photoshop, Enscape, Lumion Professional Project w/ designLAB Architects

Client: City of Revere Construction set to begin in 2025

Revitalization of a community building within a larger municipal park redevelopment scheme. The architecture seeks to coexist harmoniously within its riverside residential context, while providing public access to waterfront recreation. This project acts a coming together of critical natural amenities and large portions of low density residential neighborhoods. Opacity of materials is utilized to optimize lighting conditions. Due to the large amount of translucent panels, the project emits light outward during the night, acting as a beacon for the community.

Revere Community Boathouse

EXISTING

Brownfield site with abandoned boat workshop, adjacent to existing Gibson Park

RECONNECTION

Vehicular circulation is rerouted to accommodate the new 300 unit residential building

PARK REPROGRAMMING

Park is reprogrammed with improved drainage, revetment dunes on the riverside, sports fields, dog park, and new

HUB

The boathouse is the final piece of the Gibson Park Redevelopment Project. The architecture serves as a handshake between the community, government, and natural environment

Revere Community Boathouse

WATER RECREATION

OPACITIES

Material selection is based on the residential and natural context. The northern, residential facing facade is organized with board and batten siding, to coexist harmoniously with the existing material palettes. The southern, park facing facade are composed entirely of a translucent fiberglass material, evoking the buildings boat building past. Both east and west ends of the mass are clad entirely in translucent panels, in order to maximize daylighting and minimize artificial light usage.

Revere Community Boathouse

Revere Community Boathouse

SUNU PRIMARY SCHOOL

Typology: Education

Scale: 15,000 sq ft

Location: Sub-Saharan Senegal, Western Africa

Toolbox: Revit, Rhino, Illustrator, Photoshop, Enscape, V-Ray 2023 Kaira Looro School Entry

The architecture seeks to create spaces for enlightenment of the highest order as brick and mortar are transformed into a vehicle for self-improvement. Our design seeks to strike a delicate balance between providing focused indoor learning environments while maintaining a connection to the reality of the students’ communities. By carefully designing learning spaces that engage students’ attention inward, while allowing them to embrace the vibrancy of their surroundings, we aim to create a holistic educational experience. Through intuitive variations of vernacular building patterns, the project serves as an introduction to resilient and sustainable building practices, hoping to educate and inspire implementation across the region.

CASAMANCE RIVER DELTA

SUB-SAHARAN SENEGAL

Optimize envelope to respond to environmental and cultural context

CONSTANT DIFFUSED DAYLIGHT

DIRECT SUNLIGHT

CLASSROOMS

CANTEEN RESTROOMS

OFFICES

RAINWATER RESERVOIR

LABORATORY

WATER COLLECTION

SOLAR CONTROL

RAINWATER COLLECTION

RE-ADAPTIVE DESIGN

The architecture turns environmental hazards into resources, inverting the current narrative of the landscape.

By creating spaces that inspire enlightenment, balancing education and nature, fostering a sense of community, and transforming environmental challenges into opportunities, the architecture endeavors to shape a brighter future, empowering individuals and uplifting communities alike.

Research Projects

title: Principles of City Planning in Dholavira class: Survey of World Architecture and Urbanism

brief: 2000 word research essay

2020

Dholavira was once a large Indus Valley city, rising out of a large modern day salt plain, and housed up to 20,000 people. The city was inhabited from around 3,500 BCE to 1,800 BCE. The complex use of modularity in the city planning, the elaborate water systems and reservoirs, and the construction of infrastructure to protect against natural disasters make Dholavira the most archaeologically valuable Indus Valley site. Innovations in sustainability made here can help us learn how to improve current cities to make them more liveable and sustainable.

title: Hadrian’s Canopus: Mapping an Empire through Memory class: Roman Art and Archeology

brief: 3000 word thesis essay

2020

Finished in 134 CE, Hadrian’s Canopus in the Villa Adriana at Tivoli stands as a map for his memory and his empire. The Canopus lies on the southeast side of this complex, oriented Northwest. “Canopus” comes from a town near Alexandria that contained a canal famous for the parties held on its banks. Hadrian models this space after a river delta, filling it with motifs from his travels through the empire. The central pool and colonnades in the middle represents the Nile and the cities formed on the banks, the waterfalls are the cataracts, the exedra is the Nile’s Delta and the basin would be the Mediterranean Sea, the statues of the Amazons depict Ephesus while the Caryatids in the West are Athens.

title: The Development and Maturation of HH Richardson class: Survey of Modern Architecture 1800-1900

brief: 2000 word research essay

2019

In Henry Hobson Richardson’s twenty year career, progression can be seen in three stages; experimentation, development, and finally maturation. Richardson spent time experimenting with elements, forms, and materials before he could claim a distinct American style of architecture. After returning to New York from studying in Paris in 1865, Richardson works in New York under various architects until 1872 when he decides to move to Boston after winning a competition for Trinity Church. This period between 1870-1879 would become his most active and most consequential. Finally Richardson produces his most mature and coherent work in the period between 1879-1886.

title: Islamic Influences on Gaudi’s Barcelona Style class: Survey of Western Art and Architecture brief: 3000 word thesis essay

2019

The Casa Vicens is located in Gracia, a neighborhood to the northwest of the city center of Barcelona and was designed and built between 18831888. Antoni Gaudi was commissioned to design a summer residence for a tile manufacturer, Manel Vicens y Montaner. When Gaudi received this project, he saw it as an opportunity to show the world what a truly Catalan architecture would look like. To many peoples surprise he chose to include almost exclusively architectural elements from the Middle East. This decision becomes one of the most important in modern Spanish Architecture and continues to affect style in the region.

title: Brassai and the Subconscious Architecture of Paris in the 1920s class: Photography and Modernity

brief: mock museum exhibition w/ 4000 word abstract 2021

What does it mean for a city to have a subconscious and how does it affect the culture of a place? Brassai explores these questions through night photography in his 1932 publication Paris de nuit. Inspired by Brassai’s many walks through the network of arrondissements, Paris de nuit depicted regular, yet suggestive, urban landscapes at night. Some photos depict architectural landscapes, others late night cafes, even images of brothels and prostitutes juxtaposed against images of Paris’s high society. Brassai is able to capture the unseen in the complex urban and cultural fabric of inter-war Paris because he is so engrossed in the “scene”. This gives his work a casual familiarity with the subject, revealing a truer depiction of the Parisian artist culture and the urban lifestyle, Post-Haussmannization.

title: Cubism’s Influence on Le Corbusier’s Architectural Modernism class: 20th Century Art

brief: 2000 word research essay 2019

Le Corbusier’s associate, Amadée Ozenfant often bought from D.H. Kahnweiler’s (Picasso’s notorious art dealer) stock on Corbusier’s behalf. Among the pieces bought from these auctions was Picasso’s Still Life with a Bottle of Rum bought in 1921 by Ozenfant. These pieces were to have a profound influence on the development of Corbusier. In his L’esprit Nouveau Pavilion from 1925, he employs techniques derived from a sculpture titled Guitar, done by Picasso in 1912. In 1929 the Villa Savoye played a crucial role in the development of Modernism by translating the cubist perceptions of space into physical architecture.

title: Le Corbusier’s Mechanical Utopia class: French Modernism and Impressionism

brief: mock museum exhibition w/ 5000 word abstract 2021

Prior to the Villa Savoye and Vers Un Architecture, Corbusier looked to illustrate his architectural concepts on a small but modular scale. Corbusier was striving for an intensely logical and mechanical house that would quickly integrate the rebuilding Europe with the modernization of the rest of the west. The Maison Citrohan becomes his first exploration in mechanical living. In the following decades Corbusier would debut three conceptual city plans, all following principles derived from his two major publications Vers un Architecture and Urbanisme. His famous phrase “a house should be a machine for living” can be seen arrayed on the urban scale through these designs.

title: BIG innovations in city planning class: Art and Architecture after 1945 brief: 3000 word research essay 2021

Through his newly conceived, interdisciplinary theory of design, Bjarke Ingels is changing the way cities and architects address human factors and global climate change. Projects like “Copenhill”, Brooklyn-Queens Park, and “The Big U” explore the possibilities of infrastructure and global climate change. A core tenet of the group is the idea that green infrastructure does not have to be an eyesore or an object of sacrifice. While these ideas have come under scrutiny, some of the concepts are to play a crucial role in the redevelopment of our cities and urban spaces going forward.