Portfolio Sabrina Kerr Bachelor’s of Arts in Architectural Studies 2022 - 2023
Notes & Sketches From a young age I began drawing as a way synthesize how I understood my surroundings. To me, drawing is unanimous with self expression and understanding. From the beginning of my architecture educaion at UIC, I carried on this way of understanding by beginning my design process with a pen and paper. For this reason, every project in my portfolio begins with my initial drawings or class notes. While the design process is iterative and the final iteration may not resemble the initial idea, to me the initial sketches are the most potent. As a designer, the practice of flushing out ideas with pen and paper are an important aspect of my design process. Each project in this portfolio is arranged to showcase my different explorations of architectural pedagogies through design, theory, and material studies. A small selection of my personal work displays my design sensibilities outside of an architectural mindset.
Table of Contents 01
Design Peel Pursuit of Sunlight Heat at the Hearth Mosaic of Light
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Material Study Sand
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Theory Is anything real in Millennium Park?
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Personal Work A Different Way of Seeing
01 Design: Peel
Sabrina Kerr
Peel Basic/Extra Abigail Chang ARCH 106 - Fall’22 As a foundational studio in architecture, ARCH 106 first began with understanding the geometric, formal, and organizational principals of architecture’s building blocks: Columns, Beams, Walls, Roofs (BASIC). Second, the translation and abstraction of these objects in the form of a small building (EXTRA). Peel began with the development of a design condition from an initial layered wall/roof form. Through this exercise, I developed the peeling condition where the outer layer of the precedent form peels away from the internal layer. I then applied this condition to a pavilion design. My goal was to develop a pavilion which met certain functional criteria through a totalizing design element - the peel. In this design, the peel is something which is experienced in different ways: as something to walk under, to sit on, to look at, to lean on. The pavilion is the peel.
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01 Design: Peel
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to peel
Extrapolation of peeling applied to a pavilion
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01 Design: Peel
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Peel in Context
Roof Plan
Section
Front Elevation
Back Elevation
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01 Design: Peel
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Circulation Diagram
Interior section with internal peel bench
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01 Design: Pursuit of Sunlight
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Pursuit of Sunlight Architectural Urbanism Julia Turner Arch 106 - Spring ‘23 ARCH 106 introduces the city as a locus of ideas, aesthetics, and experiences, manifested predominantly through architecture and landscape. Critical observations, modes of representation, and design methodologies are introduced and developed through a series of assignments that focus on concepts and techniques fundamental to architecture and urban design processes. The initial design process for this project began with a collaging of figures from different urban environments. Through this process I developed a juxtaposition between the micro buildings of Lagos and the megastructures of Berlin. The new layered city I established separate’s structure and ad hoc living. Above, the buildings of Lagos sprout upward from the courtyards of Berlin and form a new layer of life across the rooftops. The Lagos structures serve as residential living where unpredicted interactions and recreation occur. The Lagos structures are connected through a network of bridges flowing across the rooftops. Below, the mega blocks of Berlin become the location for structured work life in contrast to the unobscured life which occurs above.
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01 Design: Pursuit of Sunlight
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Lagos - micro
Berlin - macro
Pursuit of Sunlgiht - collage Collage Plan
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01 Design: Pursuit of Sunlight
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2640’ x 2640’ block which is a demonstration to the widespread condition of the city
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01 Design: Pursuit of Sunlight
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1320’ x 1320’ block displaying the intensity of life on the rooftops
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01 Design: Pursuit of Sunlight
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Detail view
Striation of density
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01 Design: Pursuit of Sunlight
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01 Design: Pursuit of Sunlight
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01 Design: Pursuit of Sunlight
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01 Design: Heat at the Hearth
Sabrina Kerr
Heat at the Hearth Big, Demanding, Noisy, and Dirty: The Material Realities of Information Infrastructure Clare Lyster Arch 414 - Fall ‘23 Arch 414 explored the material reality of information infrastructure through the analysis of the tangible costs of the digital realm. The material implications of data are abstracted through the production of an exhibition room which focuses on one form of material demand. Heat at the Hearth is a projective design which aims to synthesize heat emissions from data servers. This design stemmed from my research on heat emission from the physical infrastructure systems of the cloud. The vast amounts of waste heat from data centers is becoming a new resource through waste heat recycling. Heat at the Hearth theorizes the data server as the new hearth of the home. In this design, I center the heart of every room around the data server. To materialize heat, the floor of the home is a thermal image reflecting the heat emission as it radiates from the server and throughout the home. In an increasing digital realm, Heat at the Hearth projects the data server to be the next typology of home heating.
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01 Design: Heat at the Hearth
Thermal culture
Sabrina Kerr
Visualisation of heat through thermal flooring
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01 Design: Heat at the Hearth
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Entry view detail
01 Design: Heat at the Hearth
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Looking into the room at the new hearth fire of the digital realm
01 Design: Mosaic of Light
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Mosaic of Light A Window Without Views Juan Suarez TryArch - Fall ‘23 TryArch workshop took an inward look at enclosed architectural spaces through their ‘apertures’ such as skylights, windows, embrasures, lightwells, portholes, and more. The finished model should act as an enclosed, interior scene, to test the possible geometric qualities of light (direct & reflected), shade/shadow, surface, texture, scale, and color. While attending the TryArch day long workshop, I created a physical model which tests the qualities of light and color. My design uses a series of extruded lightwells across the roof and wall to create a lighting condition similar to a mosaic. I used color on the interior of the lightwells to establish color as a graphic and lighting condition. With lighting change, the light mosaic changes form and produces new patterns.
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01 Design: Mosaic of Light
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Wall
Light
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01 Design: Mosaic of Light
lightwells
mosaic
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01 Design: Mosaic of Light
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02 Material Study: Sand
Sabrina Kerr
Sand Material and the Matter from which a thing is Paul Preissner Arch 440 - Fall ‘23 Collaborative project with Ashley Lewis This rather straight forward seminar considers all aspects of earth materials - its geology, mining, differing properties, craftsmanship, specialized techniques, cultural importance, etc - and apply that learned knowledge of inherent material qualities to develop new architectural gestures. Then develop an architecture case study where the resulting reality lay entirely within the material potential, free from reference of representation, other than referring to, and representing itself. The design for this project stemmed from material research on sand and two chosen adhesives of glue and clay. My research was based on constructing elements with sand in a messy yet stable way. My main research prerogative was how to establish window openings in an unstable material. The research studies conducted by Ashley were based solely with clay and glue and focused on creating structured bricks. The final design was a consolidation of both of our construction techniques both clean and messy.
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02 Material Study: Sand
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Composition of Elements
Brick
Column
Window
Wall
Roof
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02 Material Study: Sand
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02 Material Study: Sand
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03 Theory: Millennium Park
Sabrina Kerr
Is anything real in Millennium Park? Architectural Theory I Judith De Jong Arch 371 - Fall ’23 Arch 371 investigates relationships between architecture and the city through seminal conceptual approaches, with a focus on work in and after the 19th century. Assignment 1 asks to apply and extrapolate from the key principles of Olmsted’s philosophy and Koolhaas’ theory to argue which approach best situates the “pleasure ground” that is Millennium Park. Through analysis of landscaping, movement, and isolation I theorize that Millennium Park is more in line with an amusement park, as theorized by Rem Koolhaas, rather than a public park. Through the analysis of the three characteristics, I theorize Millennium Park is designed to filter movement to the designated enclaves of the park’s attractions. Through simple schematic drawings, I conveyed my thought process and theorization of Millennium Park as a playground.
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Sabrina Kerr
03 Theory: Millennium Park
Is anything real in Millennium Park?
Enter, exit, walk, stop, congregate, disperse
The Bean is the crown jewel of Chicago’s Millennium Park, a shiny mirror reflecting the city onto itself, situated eminently in the middle of the park. Rem Koolhaas and Frederick Law Olmsted offer differing philosophies on what city parks look like, which can be used to assess the purpose of Millennium Park. Koolhaas suggests that a park can be a testing ground for new urbanisms sufficiently making them a zonal city. Olmsted suggests that parks are areas of reconstructed nature intended to break away from the urbanity of city life. Just as the Bean may suggest, Millennium Park is a reflection of the urban conditions found in Chicago which facilitates a fabricated recreation of city life. Millennium Park is a physical manifestation of Koolhaas’ theory on public ‘pleasure grounds’ and stands as a utopian city within a city. Millennium Park aligns with Koolhaas’ philosophy of public parks through interweaving design ideas of density, enclave, and spectacle. I. Design for Density Enter, exit, walk, stop, congregate, disperse.
Isolation as a means of congregation
An absurd city in the middle of a conventional one
All forms of movement which occur within a park, where and how these actions occur, are in relation to design. Density is arguably a byproduct of movement due to it being the result of where people move to. Koolhaas and Olmsted have contradictory ideas on density and its relation to public space. Should congregation or dispersal be a desirable byproduct of design? The constructed nature of Millennium Park is not intended for individual seclusion or reconnection with nature but rather amplifies the conditions of urban life. In comparison to Coney Island, the absurdity of the attractions juxtaposed to the urban conditions of Manhattan and broader New York City, drew people into its borders. This magnetic effect creates ‘instead of [a] suspension of urban pressure, it offers intensification,’.(1). With this statement in mind one can begin to analyze the design of Millennium Parks’ plan and question the parks 29
03 Theory: Millennium Park
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design for movement: a. After people enter the park,where will they go, where are they drawn? b. Do the design elements of the park facilitate congregation or dispersal?
mass movement to the various attractions but are not relative to the program of the park itself. The design for density within the park creates an atmosphere of festivity through mass accumulation rather than one of relaxation. II. Enclave
Assessing the plan of Millennium Park can answer the aforementioned questions. The manicured paved sidewalks of Millennium Park do not lend people the choice of meandering, they follow the path to the next ‘attraction’. Image A of Millennium Park shows the structure of the park is designed to create crowds of people, amplifying the condition on the street. The pathways in the park function as streets wide enough to facilitate the circulation of mass crowds. The built elements of the park act as monuments which people are drawn to. The Bean, the Pavilion, and the Crown Fountain are elements of the park that act as areas of intensification rather than methods of dispersal. Each attraction is separate from the other only connected through the pathways leading to them. The grounds of the park itself act as infrastructure to facilitate movement to the various attractions. Interaction with the park occurs at focal points of congregation, the parts in between are merely methods of movement. The separation between park and attraction, infrastructure and entertainment, leads to mass crowding. This goes directly against Frederick Law Olmsted’s philosophy as he states, “when we walk through the denser part of a town, to merely avoid collision with those we meet and pass upon the sidewalk, we have constantly to watch, to foresee, and to guard against their movements,”(2). When assessing the plan of Central Park, designed by Olmsted, the plan indicates that the act of meandering is part of the function of the park. This is where Millennium Park becomes a manifesto of Koolhaas’ theory: the in-between areas of the park, arguably the park space itself, facilitate
Isolation as a means of congregation The plan of the park is designed to facilitate mass accumulation which occurs through the execution of the enclave. Koolhaas analyzed the idea of enclave through Coney Island ’s Steeplechase which expressed the idea of enclave to the highest extent possible through the erection of a wall around the attraction itself (3). While there aren’t any physical enclaves at Millennium Park the idea is expressed through isolation and landscaping. The isolation of elements and idea of enclave within the park intensifies the experience each park goer has with the respected attraction. The elements are arranged and staged in relation to one another allowing the park goer to interact with each element in isolation before moving on to the next. The park goer experiences attraction in isolation rather than experiencing the park as a whole. The landscaping of the park is highly manicured acting as walls of enclosure and more as architecture than nature. The rows of trees establish the connection the park goer is going to have with the park: one which has already been decided for them. In comparison to Central Park, the greenery dictates the architecture with the elements for interaction seemingly carved out of nature itself. Millennium Park however uses landscaping as an architectural element to frame the enclaves of the park. Millennium Park uses nature to reinforce boundaries whereas Central Park uses attractions to reinforce nature. Arguably relation to nature is a key difference in Koolhaas and Olmsted’s philosophies 30
03 Theory: Millennium Park
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on parks and how that relates to isolation within a city. In Olmsted’s eye parks should use nature to facilitate isolation using landscaping sparing to recreate a constructed naturalism. Nature in Olmsted’s view is the only real object that can be found within a city leading to isolation and self reflection away from the corruption of dense city life. Millennium Park in this case falls in line with Koolhas’a philosophy which is not concerned with the real but rather the artificial. Millennium Park uses landscaping to reinforce artificiality and its lack of concern with fabricating a location for personal recollection. III. Spectacle An absurd city in the middle of a conventional one The sheer artificiality of Millennium Park is a spectacle in and of itself, absurdity is destined to attract over the conventional. The park functions as a utopian city of perfectly curated attractions, manicured lawns, and fabricated interactions. The program of the Bean, Crown Fountain, and Pritzker Pavilion are entertainment utilizing technology to create a ‘fantastical urbanism’(4) derived from artificiality. The attractions of Millennium Park are juxtaposed against staged greenery further amplifying the artificiality of the park. The idea of spectacle is heightened by how reality is abstracted at each attraction. The Bean is a reflection, Crown Fountain is a projection, and Pritzker Pavilion is a performance. One can then ask; is anything real at Millennium Park? The abstraction of reality is the appeal of Millennium Park, a fair grounds of attraction to ‘reproduce experiences’(5). When talking about Luna Park on Coney Island, Koolhaas can be quoted as saying it is an, “ideal architectural testing ground, but also insulates the results of any tests from direct confrontation with reality,”(6). The sensation of spectacle is created through the combining of a structured plan and isolation, both
present in Millennium Park. The architectural plan and coherence of Millennium Park creates a thematic experience. The artificial realities each within their own enclave reproduce human sensation through reflection, projection, and performance. Millennium Park is at the heart of downtown Chicago, a break in the monotonous city grid. But what does this Park offer the city, relaxation from urbanity or intensification of the conditions of Chicago? Rem Koolhaas and Frederick Law Olmsted both offer different philosophies on what different public parks look like. Koolhaas uses Coney Island to extrapolate his ideas of the public park as a testing ground for new conditions. Olmsted uses Central Park to defend his ideas of the public park as a means of relaxation. Millennium Park is arguably in line with that of Koolhaas’ theory through the park’s emphasis on density, isolation, and artificiality. The plan of Millennium Park is structured to facilitate mass crowds. The pathways of the park function as streets that open up to the isolated enclaves of the park’s attractions. The isolation of each element intensifies each respective experience found within the given enclave.The spectacle of the park is bolstered through the artificial staging. Each element is arranged in respect to the next, giving them each a ‘stage’ of their own. When looking at Millennium Park in comparison to that of Coney Island, one can begin to see how Millennium Park is a public space built for the sole purpose of entertainment. Millennium Park is a public space which through design acts as a planned city providing an artificial reflection, projection, and performance of urban life. Citations: (1) Rem Koolhaas, “Coney Island: The Technology of the Fantastic,” Delirious New York (New York: The Monacelli Press, 1994), 33. (2) Frederick Law Olmsted, “Public Parks and the Enlargement of Towns,” in Richard T. LeGates and Frederic Stout, eds., The City Reader (New York: Routledge, 1996), 338. (3) Rem Koolhaas, “Coney Island,” 1994, 37. (4) Rem Koolhaas, “Coney Island,” 1994, 62. (5) Rem Koolhaas, “Coney Island,”1994, 61. (6) Rem Koolhaas, “Coney Island,” 1994, 43.
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04 Personal work: Sketchbook
Sabrina Kerr
A different way of seeing Sketchbook Sabrina Kerr My sketchbook conveys the way I synthesize my surroundings. The process of visualization is a haptic and ever evolving practice based in and outside of representational depiction. My design sensibilities have been largely shaped by my years of drawing. Outside of architectural design I spend the majority of my time sketching. My sketch work ranges from quick and dynamic to more detailed work. My sketchbook is a daily practice where I test materials, composition, and visualization.
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4 Personal work: Sketchbook
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04 Personal work: Sketchbook
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Thank You