Stephanie Braconnier Architecture Portfolio 2011

Arkitekt, MA, BEDS

projects Urban Nature - The Inhabitable Edge Master’s Thesis

My Urban Interior Year 5 Master’s Project - Furnishing the Townscape

Kurvestol Year 4 Master’s Project - Furniture for 60+

Halifax Library Bachelor Degree Project - Civic Space

Internship - Tekton Arkitekten Models and Visualizations

Building Workshops Yurt; Reading Room

Watercolours

urban nature THE INHABITABLE EDGE master’s thesis 2011 supervised by Merete Ahnfeldt-Mollerup, PhD

The city lakes in Copenhagen are a series of man-made freshwater lakes that connect all the inner-city neighborhoods and are a dominant daily feature of the city landscape. The lakes hold historic and characteristic value and offer a unique natural potential in the midst of a dense urban centre.

The lakes could be a verdant natural area but instead they are biologically unproductive and homogeneous. Algae blooms block out sunlight and choke off a healthy ecosystem. The paths and spaces around the lakes should be vital urban spaces but they are optimized neither for circulation nor inhabitation.

How can urban, public space be combined with a selfsustaining, naturalized edge to create a new meaning of nature in the city?

framing & context > City Lakes, Copenhagen

EXISTING GREEN > Private gardens > Public parks/green space

EXISTING STREETS > Major crossings via bridges > Thoroughfare along east edge > Residential through-traffic & parking

EXISTING + PROPOSED PUBLIC SPACES > Existing designed spaces > Existing incidental spaces (e.g. Dr. Louises Bro) > Potential for new space: University campus, Sø Pavilion, Fredensbro, Fish Island

site strategies

PRIORITY LITTORAL ZONE DEVELOPMENT > Littoral zones are shallow slopes where freshwater species spawn, nest, and feed. These are required for a balanced ecosystem. > New zones with slope 1:5 - 1:10 should be created on southwest facing edges > Can be constructed or infilled on existing edges

INFRASTRUCTURAL CHANGES > Øster, Nørre, and Vester Søgade made residential only > New public/private green space development according to conditions > Continuous pedestrian/cycle lanes replace lakeside parking

FUTURE GREEN > The lake edges become a true urban destination where nature flourishes and there is a diversity of scale and function

vision & method > City lakes as diverse urban nature

patterns for growth

Currently the city lake edges operate as corridors that connect the major neighborhoods and public spaces throughout the city. The edges are long and the distance between usable public space is far.

> provide a more naturalized edge to restore

diversity and support the stability of the lake ecology. > soften the transition between the constructed and natural edge through planting and materials > give a place to stay on the lakes to establish them

as a good urban space as well as a natural, recreational area. > develop a context-sensitive design that can be

applied to different sections of the lakes over time to create a better urban nature.

The city lakes can become even more vibrant and inhabitable by building on the existing typology according to the specific context of each lake.

Where are the possibilities for more rooms along the edge?

Each new room on the edge offers another possibility to mediate between the urban and the natural, incrementally defining a new layer in the character of the city lakes and Copenhagen.

theory city as ecosystem The city is a complex, collective, dynamic entity.

The complexity found in cities comes from the interactions and relationships between the different parts, at different scales, over time.

The built environment is no less an environment to the creatures it accomodates than any ‘natural’ environment.

Marshall, Stephen. Cities, Design & Evolution. New York: Routledge, 2009.

natural order complex Something with MANY PARTS that are NOT PRE-SPECIFIED and MAY BE UNKNOWN TO ANY ONE PERSON, even if every part was placed there by someone.

emergent micro scale planning

‘second nature’ In the urban context, greenery attempts to fill an intuitive void --the absense of nature.

It is possible to reintroduce a performative ‘second nature’ in which ecological relations, water management, and microclimate become part of the engineering of the city.

Geuze, Adriaan, and Matthew Skjonsberg. “Second Nature: New Territories for the Exiled.” Landscape Infrastructure: Case Studies by SWA. Ed. Ying Yu Hung et al. Basel: Birkhauser, 2011. 24-29.

proposal - west side > Vision & Design Development

> Typical section through west edge

> New recreational platforms between the trees

> Fish Island reimagined as an accessible natural area in the water

proposal - west side > A new inhabitable edge

PLATFORMS > Small scale public spaces

NEW LITTORAL ZONE > Habitat restoration for a healthy lake ecology

FISH ISLAND BRIDGE & PLATFORM > A place to connect city + nature

proposal - east side > Vision & Design Development

> Typical section through east edge

> Introducing new pathways and seperation from the busy street

> Development of new paths and terrace, oriented for SW exposure

proposal - east side > Terrace as context-specific public space

NEW PUBLIC SPACE: TERRACE > Unfolding new relationships to the water

NEW NATURALIZED EDGES > Lake edges as verdant urban nature

WALL > Adaptable seperation from the street

my urban interior FURNISHING THE TOWNSCAPE semester project, year 5 instructors: Jesper Pagh & Deane Alan Simpson

There are plenty of great ‘good-weather’ spaces in Copenhagen ...but the weather is often rainy, windy, and dark.

‘My Urban Interior’ is a therapeutic light & rain park.

Public S.A.D. lighting and re-directed rainwater work together to create an urban space that comes alive when the weather is bad.

The design strategy involves the combination of landscape changes, environmental systems, and themed retaining walls to guide people through Svinget - a former

train route in south Copenhagen.

wind & dark > Landscape and light strategies

calm

> Incising into the ground to provide shelter from the wind svinget a. S.A.D light walls b. planted evergreen walls c. rainwater features d. heated benches

S.A.D. S.A.D. is short for ‘seasonal affective disorder,’ a clinical disorder that typically occurs in the winter months when the levels of natural light are at their lowest.

Darkness causes an increase in the hormones that help us to sleep.

light therapy Light triggers the release of hormones that wake us up.

Light therapy is used in the treatment of S.A.D. but is effective for anyone who has a decrease of energy. > Bright light therapy combined with exercise increases energy and motivation

environmental systems > Warm air filtration and re-use in heated benches

warm air heats benches: radiant seating

air passes through filters

warm air from underground parking/metro

light strategy > Public S.A.D. light walls

rainwater collection Rainwater is collected from surrounding roofs (approx.

16 000 m3/year) and brought to catchment basins in the park via filtration gutters. The gutter filters are composed of sand, gravel, charcoal, and moss to cleanse any harmful particulates.

kurvestol SENIOR FURNITURE semester project, year 4 instructors: Nicolai de Gier & Deane Alan Simpson

As we age our bodies undergo changes in posture, mobility, tolerance, and strength.

Kurvestol is a flexible, lightweight chair that adapts to a changing body without complex mechanisms.

Kurvestol, built using traditional materials and methods, promotes healthy and comfortable postures that fit with the needs of a changing body.

adjustability + adaptability > Adjustable frame, static positioning

Not everything has to be adjustable all the time > Controlled dynamic motion: swivelling & tilting

There are ‘rules of thumb’ for positive postures > Controlled static motion: height adjustment, proportions

Add cusioning only where it is needed > Intuitive motion: shape conforming/flexible

form concepts > Refining form through prototyping

kurvestol prototype > Intuitive, flexible frame

halifax library CIVIC SPACE bachelor project, year 3 instructor: Richard Kroeker

How can a public institution bring life to an industrial waterfront?

The new Halifax Library is situated on sloped site in between small-scale residential blocks and the Canadian Naval Dockyards. With an open gesture to the residential side, the extended roof provides a canopy for a public courtyard between the library and a new LRT station. The shape of the roof brings light into a steeply sloped site while maintaining important view lines on the hill above.

The library brings more then accessibility to information; it also contains community & event spaces

where people gain a new view on the harbour.

design proposal > Bringing light into a sloped site

tekton arkitekten INTERN ARCHITECT co-operative work experience amsterdam, the netherlands

Tekton Arkitekten is a small but visionary firm that has won several important commissions in Amsterdam and area.

During my internship I worked primarily as a model maker and helped prepare visualizations for client meetings. I worked on several main projects: the Amsterdam Danshuis; ‘De Drie Hoven’ elderly care competition; Dorpshuis Tienhoven (community center); and design objects for the Hong Kong expo.

yurt TRADITIONAL SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION winter workshop - little foot yurts wolfville, nova scotia

The building of a yurt involves many aspects of traditional and natural building practices. The workshop taught: the basics of yurt construction; coppice as a timber crop; Acadian forest species; making a greenwood working station; using a drawknife, froe, and other hand-tools; planning and designing yurt walls, roof, and wheel; and erecting a yurt.

reading room WOVEN WOOD DESIGN physical parametric modelling instructors: Mette Thomsen, CITA & Mark Burry, RMIT

A part of the ‘Dermoid’ series of workshops with visiting professor Mark Burry, the reading room is a material experiment exploring the potential of laminated and tempered ply. Materials were tested and the results digitally recorded using grasshopper.

Programatically, the reading room is a small-scale piece of public architecture to be located in the Botanic Gardens in Copenhagen, a place for a private act in a public space.

watercolour Painting watercolours is a passion for me. I love the freedom of the media—it is a little uncontrollable, the way edges blend and colours mix. I try to use watercolours in all of my projects as a way to help visualise my ideas or to use as a base for collage.

I like to try to combine traditional architectural drawings with the vibrancy and liveliness of painting.

Most people think of watercolors as dull and delicate, but for me there is something very rich and temperamental in the media. I hope that I can be free to bring this passion to all the work I do in the future.

thank you