RIZER, WILIAM_PORTFOLIO_2023

WILLIAM RIZERPORTFOLIO

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

“I would like to thank those faculty members and colleagues from the University of Kentucky and the University of Virginia who contributed to my education. None of this would have been possible without their help, time, and generous feedback.”

-William Rizer

CONTENTS:

• FALL 2018: URBAN FOREST

(page 4)

• SPRING 2020: MOUNT HOREB

(page 10)

• FALL 2021: THE URBAN GRID

(page 16)

• SPRING 2022: ARTISTS QUARTER

(page 24)

• SPRING 2023: THESIS: IT TAKES A…

(page 30)

WITNESS THE POWER OF HUMAN CONNECTION THROUGH THE UNFILTERED BEAUTY OF LIVE PEFORMANCE.

This project from the fall 2018 semester of sophomore year was a versatile performance arts space. A dense column grid took the form of a forest of trees, clearings were cut out of the trees to create spaces for performances to take place and be

by people moving through the canopy. The project was infused with a deep sense of nostalgia, meant to evoke the sense of play children find in the woods. A way of bringing a dynamism of childlike play to live performance.

URBAN FOREST

TOP: ENTRY PORCH

MIDDLE:

LARGE HALL BOTTOM:

PRACTICE ROOM

I wanted occupants to be able to explore the forest of columns and its clearings and discover the range of performances that take place there; from formal piano recitals to children darting through the field of columns on their way home from school.

I wanted to showcase and democratize the internal performances that take place in the theatre space, and vice versa with performances of the city that happened outside. The goal was to allow people to see into the performance spaces from the street, and for people inside to look out and observe the passing of people on the street.

To minimize the barrier between the outside and inside, glass, shutters, or curtains were used to create physical barriers that were permeable and could minimize the boundaries between spaces.

Note: I wanted the building to sit close to the ground in order to make the spaces comfortable without being overwhelming.

Note: I wanted people to move through the grid during day. Occupancy in formal and informal capacities gave the building an opportunity to be fully integrated into the daily life of the city.

WHERE PAST MEETS PRESENT: THE LEGACY OF PLACE AND THE LANDSCAPES THAT BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER.

This project, conducted during the Spring of 2020, looked at a site owned by the University of Kentucky. Known as the Mount Horeb Earthworks Complex and contains a ring-ditch mound constructed by the Adena people between 500

and 100 CE. The studio project was to design a visitor center for guests visiting the property. This project proposes a structure that contrasts the organic form of the mound with a rigid geometric form.

LEFT:

(Top) SKETCH

(Bottom) COLLAGE

This project was deeply personal. During the design process, I learned that my Grandfather would bring my mother and her sisters to the mound. My grandfather had been an archaeologist and had done minor excavation work there. The project quickly took on a nostalgic aspect. How could I create a place that was meaningful and impactful for people to observe and experience this setting?

I began to think of my space like a compass, orienting people and views toward the mound. The Adena people had oriented the entrance of the mound to the west. The care in crafting directionality began an important aspect of my project. The center of the mount would become the origin point and lines would be drawn out of this at various angles, creating directional views of the mound from the interior of the visitor center.

In the end, the visitor took on a rich and dynamic geometry that was in harsh contrast to the roundness of the mound. The interior was a series of carved earthen ramps made of compressed earth that was directly inspired by the Mound, creating a direct relationship between the two structures but recognized them as being of two different times.

The system for enclosing the visitors center became a large roof system suspended above the earthen ramps by a timber framework. I wanted the enclosure system to hover above the ramps like a tent over an excavation site; protecting the site but never coming into direct contact. The final system was a space that brought people into a cavernous space that provided views of the mound through large apertures and from varying heights.

LEFT:

(Top) ELEVATION & SECTION

(MIDDLE) AERIAL VIEW

(Bottom) VIEWS OF PORCHES & INTERIOR VIEWS

THE GRID: THE DELOVED ORDERING SYSTEM BELOVED BY ARCHITECTS AND PLANNERS EVERYWHERE

This project takes the New York street grid and rotates it into a vertical system. Taking inspiration from the traffic of the city, this project imagines a housing system, that like the city, moves people throughout the structure efficiently.

The structural grid allows for housing modules to be plugged into the structure or removed as housing is needed or adapted. This project imagines a new idea of what it means to design a machine for living.

THE URBAN GRID

Note: Sketching has always been a way for me to quickly iterate and form ideas before modeling them or drawing them digitally.

LEFT: SKETCHBOOK ENTRIES DURING THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS.

The idea of creating an efficient machine that moved people like urban arteries was an exciting prospect. The site was positioned over a stretch of interstate between Rockefeller University and the East River. New York planning has always been intimately tied to the roadways and traffic. It felt necessary to play with idea of shifting that system of avenues and roads to create a mechanism for moving people efiiciently.

There became this imagining of traffic and its flow like blood through a body. This analogy paired with the idea that occupants of this housing complex being medical residents became an exciting generator. I imagined this building constantly bringing in and out, up and down. How could this new series of pathways direct residents in a way that mimicked the city itself.

Note: Early colage exploring the dynamism and layering of the site and context.

Note: I really love colage! I find it to be a great way to create an interpretation of space that is evocative and engaging.

HERE AN URBAN QUARTER, DESIGNED TO CELEBRATE THE CRAFTMANSHIP OF CHICANO CULTURE IN LOS ANGELES!

This project rejects and admonishes the culture of development that threatens the cultural heritage of the Los Angeles’ Chicano population in Boyle Heights. Designed to neighbor the historic Mariachi

Plaza, this urban quarter creates a dense collection of buildings, quartyards, and alleyways for gathering and creating. An arts district designed to celebrate and facilitate the vibrancy of craft that is a part of the chicano experience.

Not: Early provocation collage of images of chicano cultural heritage found within Boyle Heights.

ARTISTS QUARTER

The plan takes a square area and punctures varying sized courtyards for gathering. The spaces vary from workcourts to planted courtyards. A secondary network of alleyways cut through the mass and create a series of channels allows people

to pass from one space to another. Large window apertures blend the boundaries of interior and exterior spaces, creating layers of activity that can be viewed by people moving through the site. A play of experiences showing the diversity

of daily experiences.

Material strategies were deliberately chosen. CMU and Laminated Timber were a means of construction that could be undertaken by the community to self-construct the

the arts quarter. It felt necessary to give the community the power to shape and construct spaces where they could celebrate their culture. An act of revolution that handed power t back to the local population and away from developers.

Note: The interplay of light and shadow caused by the layering of buildings and apertures.

Note: The ability of spaces to host multiple events adjacent to one another.

Honoring the Workers: Labor and the legacy of Thomas

Jefferson’s Academical Village.

For my thesis in 2023, I challenged the existing practice and legacy of maintenance within Thomas Jeffeson’s, Academical Village. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, and over two hundred years old; Thomas Jefferson’s Academical

Village is one of the finest examples of American Neoclassicism. However, since its inception it has relied on an army of invisible laborers to provide upkeep to the visage of architectural perfection.

TOP: (Left) EARLY

(Right) MEDIEVAL

BOTTOM: (Left) BEAUXARTS

(Right) MODERN

The preliminary research looked at the history of the site. How was it conceived? How did it function?

What was the evolution of the space? These questions provided a framework for gathering information about the way Jefferson’s University of Virginia had changed over the course of two hundred years.

What became aparent was the distinction between four different periods of the University. There was the Early Period (1817-1823), the Medieval (1823-1895), the Beaux Arts (18951948), and the Modern (1948-Present.) Each of these periods came with their own distinct approach to development, governance, labor, and preservation.

The most appealing periods for study were the Medieval Period and the Beaux-Arts and the stark difference between the two. The Medieval period contained evidence of people and buildings that had been abundant during the first century of the university. All of these nearly eradicated during the Beaux Arts period when

architects and preservationsits wanted to institute a fixed image of architectural idealism that matched the order of Jefferson’s architecture.

Prior to the 1890’s there had been a self-driven process of construction and addition.This process was a result of residents equiring spaces to perform maintence that were required to upkeep the village proper. Laundries, kitchens, stables, privies, and other buildings were constructed throughout the village’s gardens. All of these spaces, wiped away as part of a cleansing process that was sold as a “restoration” of Jefferson’s masterplan.

I became interested in this early evidence of self-driven construction and manifestation of service spaces. Even in 2023, the performance of maintenance was still out of sight of public spaces. This hidden maintenance helped maintain the idea that the architectural perfection of the Academical Village was untouched and unmolested.

NEXT: ACADEMCIAL VILLAGE W/ FOOTPINTS OF DEMOLISHED BUILDINGS

In the end, I presented a series of sections that reimagined the gardens as places where maintenance strategies were performed. Having been separated from the rest of the University by the now iconic serpentine walls.

I proposed a network of gardens where students, tourists, and maintenance workers could perform daily, monthly, and yearly processes of maintenennce. What had been designed to be ornamental gardens during the late

1940’s were to become work spaces once more. Gardens were to be multifaceted, with space for production, education, and celebration. I wanted to remove the two centuries of division that separated classes of people, and

bring them together to help celebrate the continuity of the place they were all bound to. A place of shared identity, and place that could once again act as a village