ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO
Grace Ruddy
GRACE RUDDY
Northeastern University Candidate for B.S. in Architecture
Minor in Urban Landscape Studies
ruddy.g@northeastern.edu
(603)-728-8442
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Living With Nature: A n Urban Walk Up Housing Prototype
Free to All: A BPL Chinatown Branch Library Proposal
Serving the Community: A Public Rest Stop and Pavilion Proposal for Chinatown
The Mother Stair: A Thick Thin House Design
The Climb: A R aum Plan House Design
Learning from the Past: Precedent Studies and Analysis
Living With Nature: An Urban Walk Up Housing Prototype
Street Cross Section
This project sought to create a walk up housing prototype module that would house Northeastern graduate students and Boston residents on two sites with a street between. The design was to address both sites and the street, creating a narrative for living. The key goals in this design was to provide residents access and interaction with sunlight and nature from every unit; create compact units to maximize both space for nature, windows, and code capicity while still meeting the varied needs of the residents; and reflect the surrounding building typology of bay windows and brick facades to blend the new architecture into the existing fabric of the neighborhood.
Section Perspective
South-East Site Axonometric
North-West Site Axonometric
Site Plan with First Floor Plans CIRCULATION DIAGRAM
MATERIALITY DIAGRAM Circulation Diagram Materiality Diagram
Free To All: A BPL Chinatown Branch Library Proposal
Site Cross Section
This project explored library design, in terms of both form and program. Using a real site in Chinatown, the goal was to create a Boston Public Library branch library to serve the Chinatown community, with both a library and an outdoor community space. The main concept of this library was the adaptation of a traditional Chinese screen design into bookshelves, using the stack screens as program dividers, structural elements, and aesthetic design. To contrast the complexity of the screen and keep the main focus of the design, the overall building form is simple, with directionality for both sunlight and views.
Outdoor Living Room Stage Full Height Stack Atrium View Primary Design Features Diagram
Stack/Screen Concept
Exterior Render
Residential Site Commercial Mixed Use Industrial Institutional Surrounding Building Typology Key Surrounding Use Site Analysis Diagram
Serving The Community: A Public Rest Stop and Pavilion Proposal for Chinatown
Hudson Street View
This project looked at the design of public spaces, specifically pavilions and restrooms. The goal was to design a year-round public rest room integrated into a seasonal pavilion that met a need of the Chinatown community. This pavilion was designed to act primarily as spaces for dining, to serve the numerous restaurants and shops surrounding the site. The form was inspired by traditional Chinese courtyard style homes and the Vitra Design Museum. The cutthrough guides circulation through the site, while the open nature of the pavilion encouraged interaction from Hudson Street.
Plans
Restrooms
Restrooms
Dining
Dining
Storage
Legend Storage
Key: Program Diagram
Circulation Diagram
The Mother Stair: A Thick Thin House Design
Interior Model Photo from Living Room
This project explored thick thin in residential design. Using the case study of Louis Kahn’s Dominican Motherhouse to shape serving space, scaling down the individual buildings into rooms, and using it as a core like in free plan. Raum plan was also used, with the center of the serving core being a staircase, and each space having a different level. Spaces were defined by a combination of the core serving space and the varying floor levels. The circulation was defined by the major route, the central stair, to main spaces and secondary routes to more private areas.
Plans
Exploded Axonometric Sections
0’2’ 4’ 8’ SECTION A 0’2’ 4’ 8’ SECTION B
The Climb: A Raum Plan House Design
Section
This project explored the concept of Raum plan in residential design. Inspired by the classic canal houses of Amsterdam and the Loba House by Pezo von Ellrichshausen, this design used half of the given site to maximize natural light and outdoor space. Slight level changes were used to manipulate ceiling height and define spaces, as well as accomate the slope of the site with minimal need for regrading. The major level changes defined private versus shared space. Together, both the minor and major level changes work to create a gradiant of program and privacy starting at the entrance and flowing to the top of the home. There was also an emphasis put on vertical structure, with walls extending from the ground floor to the roof.
Plans
Phillips Exeter Academy Library
Materiality
Key:
Brick
Reinforced Concrete
Wood
Scale: 1’ = 1/16”
0’ 8’ 16’32’
Learning from Precedent Studies
Phillips Exeter Academy Library (Louis Kahn) Materiality Diagram and Model
CCP Pavilion (Republica Portatil) 1:3 Construction Section
from the Past: Studies and Analysis
Rowan Lane House (Adele Santos) Circulation Diagram
Section Model
THANK YOU
