Work

JESSIE GEMMER port folio

J ESSIE

G EMMER

portfolio

C ONTENTS P art One: Thesis

2010-2011

Research and exploration Project: Memorial for April 16th

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6-25 26-55

P art

Two: Fourth Year 2009-2010 Fashion Museum in Tokyo Spring Chapel of the Annunciation Fall

57 58-69 70-81

P art

Three: Academic Competitions Detonation Tower in the Planetary Garden 2008 Slow Driving 2007 Smithsonian Metro 2009

83 84-85 86-87 88-89

Four: Professional Work 2012 Tower Hotel at Ground Zero

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P art

3

P art

O ne: T hesis Y ear

T he following pages are a sample of a larger study -

I looked to the spirit of the world for six months, trying to define which senses and elements of metaphysical reality can be translated into a concrete form.

I then used that research to design a memorial for

my university, a place to remember the victims of terrible tragedy.

I worked to define and satisfy every physical,

material, and logical requirements of the context along with the emotional and spiritual aspects of a memorial.

The only goal: acheive harmony between two worlds.

5

(This

is

my

6

future)

T he s i s

Architecture is the bridge between the material and the spiritual.

H ow

A physical space can be made sacred, without any association with faith or religion, by architectural form that conveys the qualities of dreams, memories, and fantasy.

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P recedence S pirit

is the life, substance, and

continuity of all things.

Withdraw

We tread on forces. them,

and

creation

collapse.

must

Memory

-Mary Baker Eddy, 1875

“To (Etienne-Louis) Boulee, Newton was a hero and only the most heroic architecture could possibly by appropriate to nurture the memory of the great man.”

-on the Cenotaph for Newton, Lost Buildings

Fantasy

“On leaving this strange, nocturnal

scene of vast buildings and extensive forest, now rendered dimly and partially visible by the declining light of lamps and torches, and the twinkling of a few scattered stars

S

Dream

in a clouded sky, the company seemed, as

“... uddenly I have an image of the talking,

soon as they had passed the sacred boundary

looking and so on, and so on, but there is this

of the great wall, as if waking from a

image. And this is like a spark...It’s some kind

dream, or just freed from the influence of

of beautiful human reaction, which is called

some magic spell.”

imagination.”

-on Fonthill Abbey, the “Gentleman’s Magazine”

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-Peter Zumthor, on the Bruder Klaus Chapel

Dream

T his

is my clearest dream.

Memory

T his

is my past.

Fantasy

T his

is where i would like to be found.

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C hapter O ne: Body in a Room

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F igures

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of the body in mourning.

A

place for them.

L ight.

C hapter T wo: Body in Light

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P hysical An

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expression of mourning.

architecture of light.

S pace.

C hapter T hree: Body in Form

A rchitecture L ayers L ight.

in its simplest form.

of transparency.

Position, form, light hidden, corner, force under, field, glow on, field, omni against, boundary, silhouette inside, room, directional between, wall, haze trapped, well, faint float, space, vague

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ARCHITECTURAL TRANSLATION There is a reveal; an entrance from a universal presence into a specific space.

This change of pressure is imperative.

Highlighted in the totality you see a point of observation, the point from which to realize the whole, a reason to move forward. There is place from which to observe the world beyond.

It is an

island, a temple, a palace; expressing the individual scale as well as the site.

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C hapter F our:

Form, landscape, definition

SITE PLAN I

created an annonymous site, and

withing it a physical space for a metaphysical journey.

Without

context I implemented my thesis by bridging the spiritual world and the physical world.

T he

site

is

a

strip

between two rivers.

of

land

The shores

rise to the peak of a mountain ridge. The inserted spaces exhibit the qualities of light, space,

and awareness of the human scale defined in previous studies.

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/ENTRANCE/PATH/CLIMB/

/CAVE/TUNNEL/TOWER/ 19

W HAT

M ATERIAL

IS BETWEEN THE

T here

AND THE

is a silence - all the usual thoughts melt away.

S PIRITUAL? Your heart seems

to stop but it is only because the time between beats is suddenly tangible.

You are in the presence of something beyond your body. fully aware of your body for the first time.

Or maybe you are

The moment stretches and your

extremities tingle, the breath in your nose tickles as it slides down your throat.

You walk across the floor and though you hear no echo the slide and

drop of water deep below you fills your ears. world above your head.

You feel the weight of the

T his

is after the crossing over, though, after the journey.

W hen

you started walking you didn’t know what you were walking towards

- maybe those less curious turned back and you saw them on your way - their eyes clouded and unable to .

Sometimes you tripped on loose stones, stumbling

off the path into the brush as you lifted your eyes to take in the vastness around you.

Eventually, though, your feet found their rhythm and you were

aware of the blur of dust beneath you only as a sound track to the details in sharp focus above you.

Propelled forward as if by some greater engine perhaps

you forgot that you are supposed to be going someplace until suddenly upon you looms the entrance, a harsh form slammed into the swelling hill before you.

The cavern absorbs and discards all light and you fight the urge to take a deep breath before the plunge.

A fter

And then you enter and then there is silence.

your eyes adjust you walk towards the end where shivers of light

crook a ghostly finger - come on.

There are periods of tightness where the

space all but disappears and you tap your fingers on the wall to make sure it is still there, phases of stairways that lead up and then down through bubbles of air in the rock.

You start to feel you could never find your way

back though you never turned off the path and just as you start to think maybe you should turn around after all, it ends. The cave becomes a wall and you

follow it up to a pinpoint of light above you and see that there is a winding swell of stairs all around you, carved into the stone.

You climb, exhausted,

pausing every few minutes to rest your hot face against the damp and cold of the earth.

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M inutes

pass, maybe hours, until your legs move on their own and you can

feel the light grow stronger though everything looks the same.

All at once

you realize the shadows’ dominance is over and the light is the greater being.

You can smell the open air, taste the grass on the wind that combs through it.

In one second you are a creature of the underworld and in the next you are

above and your legs won’t stop.

T he

stairs have thinned into wood slats that vibrate with your weight,

desperately wishing to return to the earth with you attached.

Now you are a

part of the immediate air, now you are part of the sky - your lungs echo with

a different breed of oxygen and you can feel your heartbeat rush hot in your temples.

Through brief glimpses through the cladding you are aware that you

are getting dangerously far away from safety but your feet won’t stop long enough to press an eye to a slit and fully realize the danger.

You can’t

bring yourself to look up, you don’t want to know how much more there is to

go before whatever this is over. And when you turn that last rotation the

wood beneath you stretches onwards into a road swinging across the air and you run for it.

Tempted by the presence of gravity you keep your eyes glued to

handrails, unable to look at the tiny world below.

At the end you bend over,

gulping air, and turn to look at where you have been. view is fierce, you have conquered that.

Your ownership of the

Only when your pride is glowing do

you turn to the platform you have come to and as the mountain falls and the

sea fades you dissolve into mist.

It

is nothing but an end.

You sit and spend a lifetime hugging yourself

in the thin air, breathing silver in the rush of time.

W hen

the right moment arrives you rise to leave.

There is a hole

almost behind you down which drop stairs to a small concrete platform with a mute block with a door and one button. Down.

open and you are once again in darkness.

Pressing it the door slithers

But this time you are leaning spent

against the curved walls and before you are aware of moving the door is open

and you are pushed outwards, mortal once again.

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P ath

H OW A nalyze

E NTRANCE

TO THE

TO USE THE SITE manipulations

the landscape. Identify the natural paths, views,

and opportunities to enter the earth.

Experiment with

the pressure of moving through different materials, light conditions, and scales of openings.

Create an experience

that moves the visitor into a reality beyond the body, that clears the eyes to see the world. movements, light, material, form

A pproach

enter

wander

O mniscient

P article

fade

interjection

falling

smoothing

glow

empty

between

hide

directional

float

growing

climb

stop

expanse weight

opening

22

L andscape path cave

tunnel well

stair

platform

E NTRANCE

C AVE

TO THE

E NTRANCE

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T UNNEL

T UNNEL

C arved

To the Tower

through the rock,

the pathway expands and

contracts inside the halls

of stone.

It morphs between

rooms, caverns, cathedrals, crawlspaces.

bridges, and stairs.

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T OWER

25

C hapter F ive:

Program, Community, Site

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M EMORIAL

FOR

A PRIL S IXTEENTH

V irginia T ech

B lacksburg,

On

V irginia

April 16, 2007 a student at Virginia Tech shot and killed 32 fellow

students and professors in a rampage that started at West Ambler Johnson dormitory and ended at Norris Hall.

It

was the largest massacre on any school campus in the United States.

T he

current memorial on campus is a public place more fitting

for group gatherings than private reflection.

It is a literal

representation of loss with 32 stones and 32 bushes in a semi-

circle in front of Burruss Hall, centerd on the edge of the campus drillfield.

I t’s

important to remember that day and the people who died, but

it is more important to heal.

There should be a place on campus, a

private place of quiet beauty, for families to grieve.

However, in

fifty years, when the sting of loss has faded, there should be a place that conveys a sense of healing to all visitors regardless of specific memory.

Virginia Tech deserves to have an exquisite place on campus,

made in the spirit of the community that drew together after the tragedy.

I knew I wanted to do this memorial in Spring 2010, months before I

started my thesis.

In the fall I moved away from the specifics of the

project and concentrated on exploring the implications of this kind of space.

After six months of exploration I returned to the memorial.

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Current April 16th memorial

War Memorial for VT students killed in wars

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Concept Sketch

T he

current memorial to the shootings on April

sixteenth will lose its main function as a gathering place for an annual ceremony after this year.

Virginia

Tech will no longer hold a vigil on April 16th and will no longer offer funds to bring families of victims to campus on the anniversary of the shooting.

The current

memorial is in full view of the most public thoroughfare on campus. Those who come to mourn will have no quiet place

to

grieve

responsibility,

and as

a

honor member

the of

victims. the

last

I

feel

a

graduating

class from Tech to witness the tragedy, to design a place for mourners to go: both a park for the student body and a chapel in honor of victims of the tragedy.

29

Virginia Tech Campus

War Memorial

Site Duckpond

30

T his

S ite piece of land is at the south west end of the main

campus thoroughfare - the drillfield. that runs beneath the fieldd.

It runs above a creek

It remains an open channel to

the duckpond, a natural park at the edge of campus.

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Site from Drillfield

Site from Duckpond

32

Drillfield from Site

Elm

33

P laced

at the foot of the drillfield, my design mirrors

the location of the war memorial at the head of campus.

Students walking across the site to class can enter on either side and experience thirty seconds a day of quiet shadows as they cross through the memorial.

From outside,

the memorial is almost invisible - a three foot wall at the top of a gentle hill, its edges blurred by the silver trees

that drape over the boundaries and fill the void carved into the ground.

Inside, the power of their symbolism rises to

meet the power of their natural beauty.

Thirty-two European

Weeping Birches grow like pale columns around a polished stone floor, forming a temple filled with the sound of wind

and the lacework of sunlight through leaves. They are angels standing vigil.

T he

most important decision was to include a thirty-

third tree.

There were thirty-two victims of a specific

crime, but the Virginia Tech community lost thirty-three students.

The birches frame a hundred foot elm that exists

on the site - dark and rough in contrast to the smooth angels surrounding it.

The elm stood before the shooting and will

remain long after the survivors; its weight anchors the space and without it the memorial would be an empty token.

On

the anniversary of the tragedy those who wish to

commemorate the day will gather with candles - their light

reflecting off the stone, illuminating the trees from below.

34

T his

is a temple.

35

T he T he

thirty-third tree

ancient elm remains, dark and massive, 36 rising like an echo.

37

European Weeping Birch Betula Pendula

T hirty T hey

Two Trees

Are Angels Standing Guard

38

39

SITE GEOMETRY

C ar

Traffic around site.

F oot

Traffic across site.

R elation

R elation

to War Memorial and existing April 16th Memorial

to West Ambler Johnson and Norris Hall 40

A ll

Site Considerations

41

42

S ite

R esponse

Plan S ite C onditions.

to

The memorial’s geometry

references West

Ambler

Norris

Hall

Johnston

and

Hall,

the sites of the shootings on April !6th.

The memorial entrance is

in line with the path from War Memorial.

The memorial is placed on

the existing ground level so that the existing elm’s roots are not disturbed.

The memorial must be hidden

from the sight, sound, and smell

of

the

cars

around the site. accomplished inside

a

by

nine

driving

This is

placing

foot

it

grade

change that rises from the boundary of the roads.

The memorial must allow for

students walking to class to pass through the site rather than

forcing

them

their way around it.

N 43

to

make

Ref

e

t pon Exi Duck ce: ren

d

ke e nc wal a r tr En t fo e u d Si ortc Sh

St o fe ne re P nc lin e: th No s rr is Re

rt

44

Re

ths n i l le P Dril d n o l St ce: fie n e fer

Tree t Defi o Norri nes s Room :

ne Li : al n ri io mo ct Me nce Se r a Wa ntr to s E ee ne Tr efi D

Tre sto e to n: W Def est A ine m s R bler oom Joh n-

Sho

e anc ntr ers E e Sid r walk fo cut

rs

M emorial P lan

R esponse

T he

to

S ite C onditions.

entrance is a flat path that leads directly to the elm,

isolated in its own room.

There are stone plinths set into the

ground in the corners formed by the exterior of the elm’s room for students to sit and watch the drillfield.

Inside the memorial,

D rillfield

visitors pass the Elm and enter into the second room, a polished stone floor that reflects the 32 trees that surround it. outer boundary

The

of the memorial is formed by layered stone walls

that form a ledge for leaves to gather and

to perch in the treetops, hidden from view.

for intrepid visitors

A

The angled wall that

ends in the ledge leads to the parapet pon r ithe l Soutside i x t e e nground. t h M e m oThat rial, wall is three feet tall at the height top of B the l a cgrade k s b u rchange. g , V a The exterior is clad in dolomite, or hokie stone, aJessie rough cut stone that Gemmer clads almost all of the buildings on the Virginia Tech campus.

The

appearance is that of a ruin, a foundation of a destroyed building.

My

thesis is that architecture is the threshold between the material and

The trees that grow inside seem to have emerged organically, as if spiritual worlds.

The current memorial to the shootings on April sixteenth will

nature were taking back the land where the building once stood. lose its main function after this year. The current memorial

is in full view of

Inside, the symmetry and is thoroughfare apparent, onbut for Those thosewhowho the number most public campus. comedon’t to mourn

will have no qui

place to grieve honor the would victims.remain I feel a a responsibility, know the story of the memorial, theandcreation mystery.

as a member of

last graduating class to witness the tragedy, to design a place for mourners to

P ast

both a park for the student body and a cathedral in honor of tragedy that will r

the 32 trees is a sweeping staircase, flanked by hills as tain the memory of those lost in years to come.

the ground rises to meet the walls that form the final edge of the space.

After reflecting inPlaced the atcathedral of trees, visitors the foot of made the drillfield, my design mirrors

war memorial at the head of campus. sit and look down through the branches and leaves Students to the walking room. across Upon

the location of th

the site to class

can enter on either side and experience thirty seconds a day of quiet shadows as

leaving, they are faced with a view of duckpond and invited to enter they cross through the memorial.

From outside, the memorial is almost invisibl

a place of natural beauty and leisure, a symbol of healing.

- a three foot wall at the top of a gentle hill, its edges blurred by the silver

Tr Ap ee ri ril to E 16 xi De al th st fi ne Me ing s mo En tr an ce

event.

T he

trees that drape over the boundaries and fill the void carved into the ground.

side, the power is of their meet theof power power of the memorial not symbolism held inrises the tomemory theof

I

their natural beau

Thirty-two European Weeping Birches grow like palegeometry columns around The subtle appearance from campus, the organized

a polished sto

floor, forming a temple filled with the sound of wind and the lacework of sunlight

inside, the reference to tragedy through the symbolism of the ruin, through leaves.

and the likeness of a temple made through the columnar trunks and

polished stone all create Tahespace that is evocative and powerful most important decision was to include a thirty-third tree. There we regardless of context.thirty-two victims of a specific crime, but Virginia Tech lost thirty-three students.

The birches frame a hundred foot oak - dark and rough in contrast to the

smooth silver angels surrounding it.

45

The oak stood before the shooting and will

remain long after the survivors; its weight anchors the space and without it the memorial would be an empty token.

W ar M emorial

E ntrance 46

S ection

through

D rillfield.

A pril 16 th M emorial.

S ection

through

E xit 47

M emorial.

T emple S tairs

Floor

to a place of beauty beyond

48

49

Summer Looking at exit from inside the trees.

50

Winter Looking at entrance from inside the trees.

51

Autumn Looking at entrance from drillfield.

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Entrance, Elm framed by walls. side.

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Plinths on either

MODEL rockite chipboard lacquer branches 24” x 40”

North Elevation

East Elevation

West Elevation

54

Polished stone temple floor, framed by birches

view into temple from exit stair 55

P art

T wo: F ourth Y ear

T his was the year I stared to focus in on the narrative

of architecture. I became better at defining my concept, the character and idea of the story the building was going to tell.

Both projects are about circulation; there is

a firmly articulated path through each building. That is all there is - no room for exploration except through imagination. That was not a product of my will -- the tower in Tokyo and the chapel in Virginia are alike in many ways, not the least of which is their abundance of program and lack of site area.

Both sites had distinct personalities and cultural

standards to respect.

Both took to the air to make room for the

simple and necessary expression of what they always wanted to be.

57

Omotesando Street Aoyama Neighborhood Minato-ku ward Tokyo City Japan

THAUMATROPE what: how:

A 100 m museum of Japanese fashion from the past century.

A landmark for the city.

By

harmoniously

combining

the

innovation

of

contemporary

Japanese deign with the nation’s cultural traditions.

where: Omotesando Street, an elite avenue in Tokyo and site of buildings by the most talented modern architects.

Japanese Fashion Museum 100 meters/333 feet 10 exhibits 1 collection icon

59 57

site

SUMMARY OF SPACES

SITE

Public

Exhibitions Rooms:

Permanent Exhibitions: 1920’s room: 150 m2 1930’s room: 150 m2 1940’s room: 150 m2 1950’s room: 150 m2 1960’s room: 150 m2 1970’s room: 300 m2 1980’s room: 300 m2 1990’s room: 300 m2

Temporary Exhibition:

Featured designer: 300 m2

Entrance Hall: 100m2

Souvenir Store: 50 m2

Public Restrooms: 50 m2 Japanese garden: 100 m2

Bar and Restaurant: 300 m2 Restroom facilities: 20m2 Private

Runway Area:

Seating area: 100 m2

Restroom facilities: 50 m2 Backstage area: 50 m2 Runway: 40 m2 Service:

Parking area: 200 m2 Loading area: 60 m2

50m 40 30 20

This plan is measure

N

S

Business:

d in METERS.

Storage room: 80 m2

0 5 10

Administrative offices: 100 m2 Restroom facilities: 20 m2

Circulation and Walls: 800 m2

OMOTESDANDO STREET

s t rstreet e e t v iview ew

aerial

CONCEPT

61

SKYSCRAPER AS AVIARY

concept sketch hollow core

concept model tensile structure

concept sketch webbed skin

CIRCULATION

ROOF

GARDEN

EXHIBIT

SPACES

A structure of hollow bones.

Exhibits floating like paper birds.

A winding route through the air.

Ciculation Axon

63

MODEL

Each member connects to two ball joints. The skeleton of the tower is

flexible but braces against the wind.

The rotating ramps act as bracing and

are attached to at least one of the three elevators at every junction.

Though appearing fragile, the delicate form creates remarkable strength. plastic, latex, balsa, cardboard 36” x 5” x 5”

ELEVATION

FLOORS

65

At night the tower is a glowing

beacon on the horizon - visible from everywhere in the city it floats like a paper lantern on the cityline.

There is no dense stacking of floor plates here - the hollow structure

hovers, appearing to hesitate before lifting off with the wind.

In certain moments, passing observers pause to look up and imagine that the silhouettes crossing back and

forth in the glow are moments away

from taking wing and merging with the stars.

PLANS

Floor 1: Entrance Gift Shop Ticket Counter Coffee Shop Bathrooms Office Customer Service

Floor 12: Lobby Restaurant Lounge Bar Bathrooms

Floor 22: Exhibit Featured Designer

Floor 33: View Skybar Japanese Garden

67

In daylight, the tower all but

disappears.

As if always enveloped

in mist the building appears

blurry, indistinct; in the process of disintegrating into the clouds.

Through this pale spectre a myriad

of colors peek through, bright notes

in a soothing symphony - the exhibits beckon visitors to enter the volume and become one with the air.

The normal form of the city icon is harsh - geomtric statements imposed

on the horizon. This building brushes rather than scrapes the sky.

SECTION

Floor 33: View Skybar Japanese Garden

Floor 22: Exhibit Featured Designer

Floor 12: Lobby Restaurant Lounge Bar Bathrooms

Floor 1: Entrance Gift Shop Ticket Counter Coffee Shop Bathrooms Office Customer Service

69

CHAPEL OF THE ANNUNCIATION Old Town Alexandria, Virginia

THE ANNUNCIATION

“Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a virgin.

The virgin’s name was Mary.

The angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, you highly favored one! The Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women!’

But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered what kind of salutation this might be.

The angel said ‘Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God!’”

70

THE CHAPEL

detail of chapel window

The Angel Gabriel tells Mary that she is to

bear

the

son

cave

home,

of

God,

terrifying

proposal.

herself

the

burrowing

in

maze

facing

I

the

imagine

deep

until

in

child

she

rock

ran

a

to

her

upon

the

and

stumbling

with

losing

realization that she was but God’s instrument.

This

chapel

is

the

meant

to

importance

convey of

71

the

that

fear

moment.

as

well

as

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site are primarily residential

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Alexandria - the architectural

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to the town and its residents.

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of

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preservation is very important

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The Street: Commerce Street is two blocks

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style is colonial and historical

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DC. It is the historic center of

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is

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Old Town Alexandria is a walkable,

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one of two diagonal streets in

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site

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formed

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the orthagonal grid of Old Town.

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and roughly 40’x60’x70’. It is

48

The Town:

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house,

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Home to a hundred year old ice

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The Site:

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94 110 112 118 128

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4 2

SITE 200 COMMERCE ST, OLD TOWN ALEXANDIRA, VA

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2 13 136

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73

THE SERVICE 8

1

Baptismal Pool 2 Entrance 3 Organ 4 Choir 5 Pews 6 Elevator 7 Spiral Stairs 8

Priest’s 9

9

Walk

Pulpit

5

6

7

4

2 3

1

The five main parts of the service are separated vertically to

be experienced separately while concert once seated.

moving up through the chapel and in

They are, from the lowest level to the highest,

the baptismal pool, the organ, the choir, the pews, and the pulpit.

The congregants, choir, organist, and clergy walk together up

through the walls, peeling off at their appropriate locations.

The

of

re-

last to reach his station, the priest rings the bell from the top

the

spiral

stiars

before

passing

outside

the

building

entering in a burst of light at the pulpit.

and

The chapel is a cave filled with morning light that emmanates

from the glass cieling above and reflects in the baptismal pool below - it is dark, beautiful, and sacred.

74

THE The is

enclosure a

WALLS of

the

chapel

of

angled

topography

planes,

crossed

over

and

tied together by a spiraling path of wooden walkways. planes light

surround -

the

an

The

infinite

baptismal

pool

filling the ground floor, and the glass roof open to the sky reflect

each

other

and

make

the walls appear to float.

S Payne St. elevation

unfolded exterior elevations

unfolded interioir elevations

75

MATERIALS Walls: steel construction with weathered grey wood siding vertical for circulation and horizontal for program.

Walkways, stairs, handrails: cantileved the walls and paneled red wood.

and from with

Floor: insulated and filled with one foot of water for baptism and to reflect the light of the sky.

Roof: glazed with 3’x6’ glass panels with thin aluminum mullions.

76

CIRCULATION The site is divided axially by a cross. quartered

triangle

accepts

the

path

The

along,

through, and outside of the walls. The cross forms

the

lines

along

which

the

program

extends. A spiral stair beneath the bell tower connects all levels.

The circulation is the story of the service, the walls around the circulation are the story of Mary.

77

Bell

Tower

Bell

Tower Pulpit

Choir Priests’

Congregation

Walk

Choir

Pulpit

Entrance

Entrance

Organ

Congregation Choir

Baptismal Pool

Organ

Entrance Baptismal Bell

Pool

Tower

Choir

Congregation Organ

Congregation

Bell

Pulpit

Tower

Pulpit Congregation Baptismal Pool

Choir

Baptismal

Pool

Organ

Priest’s

Walk to Pulpit

Pulpit

Pulpit

Pulpit Congregation Organ

exterior elevations

interior elevations 78

Baptismal

Pool

PLANS

2

2

4

3

5

1

4

1

4

Ground Level:

Below Ground: 1 Baptismal Pool 2 Priests’ Office 3 Closet 4 Bathrooms

1 2 3

3

4 5

Street Entrance Elevator Entrance Spiral Stair down to office/bathrooms or up to bell tower Stair to baptismal pool Stair to Organ

2 1 1

Second Level: 1 2

Organ Stair

to

3

Choir

2

Third 1 2 3

Level:

Choir Spiral Stair up to Priest’s Walk Stair to Congregation

1

2

2 3

1

Fourth 1 2 3

Level:

Fifth

Stair to Priest’sWalk Congregation Path from Elevator to Congregation

1 2

79

Level:

Priest’s Pulpit

Walk

MODEL view

view

80

from

bell

tower

from

above

organ

view

from

pulpit

view

81

from

entrance

P art T hree:

Competitions

Academic competitions are the freewriting of

architecture school. All three of these projects

were finished in a few days with little sleep and

no time for doubt. The have the flaws of a rushed

work, but also the strengths of work produced with no time for self consciousness.

I only want

to make things I deeply, insanely, love.

During

a competition I dont have to be the smartest, or

the most interesting, or the most spohisticated.

I just have to take the spirit of what moves me in a prompt and make the submittal convey every ounce of what I felt in creating it.

The hope

is that by designing honestly you will feel what moved me move through you, too.

83

T HIRD

YEAR: FIRST PLACE

DETONATION TOWER IN PLANETARY GARDEN

A

third year competition - first place

what:

A detonation tower for granite mines in blacksburg, VA. Intent is to use the tower for birdwatching after the mine closed.

The program also includes an outdoor workspace for naturalists, a drying shed for botanists and a library for specimen storage.

why:

To provide an ephemeral experience for the visitors who would stumble upon this site after its industrial occupation.

A treasure trove of structures that seem to grow from the forest floor.

PLANETARY GARDEN

WORKSPACE

84

LIBRARY

DRYING SHED

DETONATION TOWER

WORKSPACE

DETONATION TOWER

DETONATION TOWER

DRYING SHED

85

WORKSPACE

DRYING SHED

LIBRARY

S ECOND

YEAR: FIRST PLACE ARIZONA

VIRGIN

ARIZONA

SLOW

DRIVING

second year competition - first place

what:

three rest stops in three different parts of the country along Route 11: Kansas - a wheat field.

Arizona - an abandoned coal schute Virginia - an old race driving track

why: to promote those driving

86

blindly to stop, explore, enjoy, and truly see the world through which they move without the filter of a windshield and engine’s hum.

NIA

KANSAS

KANSAS

VIRGINIA

with Jordan Mrazik

87

F OURTH

SECTION

YEAR: FIRST PLACE

88

SMITHSONIAN METRO STATION

WAAC competition - first place

what: a properly monumental entrance to the National Mall in Washington, DC. from the city Metro system

why: so that those entering

the mall for the first time will be projected from the metro exit up an epic flight of stairs.

At the top the full glory of the mall is laid out as an overture of an icon.

with Natalie Mutchler

89

P art F our:

A

waterfall

Professional Work

being

pulled,

towards the memorial it over looks.

magnetically, The sides not

in view of the pools remain still, solid, strong

- in deference to the context of the financial district those walls face.

I’ve been working with

the idea of tension between materials and tension between areas of a city.

The most important aspect of the design was to

be respectful.

91

CONCEPT TOWER HOTEL I am the project manager and the lead designer for the design architect on this 320 foot hotel in downtown Manhattan.

It is a select service hotel one block from Tower Four and directly across from the queuing lot for visitors to the 9/11 memorial.

The budget is not large, and it is diminutive compared to the new World Trade Center complex, but we wanted it to be sensitive to and respond to the campus of new buildings.

The corner directly looking at the memoiral pools is a curtain wall, inflecting in color and pattern to echo the transition between city and sky reflected in the new towers as well as the effect of the memorial pool waterfalls.

original concept

92

concept diagram

PODIUM DESIGN HUMAN SCALE

The lowest six floors of the project are designed to be a separate building of the human scale.

It is made to look like a solid piece of rock, carved away to expose the program within.

The shape and distribution of program was decided by zoning, as was the 7 foot setback of rooms on the 2-5 floor.

We designed a delicate screen made of woven metal to hold the street wall, dissolving over the lobby to draw visitors down Thames St from the more obvious retail entrance on Thames.

ELEVATOR CORE 335 SF

OFFICE 55 SF

FRONT DESK LOBBY 687 SF

MARKET 40 SF

WICH

GREEN

RETAIL 2643 SF

LOUNGE

ST

ground floor plan THAMES ST

lobby entrance

93

podium axon

LOADING BERTH

TOWER

view from tower one

material tension between podium and tower

94

AMENITY FLOOR

interior view

view to terrace overlooking memorial WOMENS 100 SF

ADA 96 SF

STORAGE 60 SF MENS 147 SF

CONF 135 SF

TERRACE 721 SF KITCHEN 451 SF S BAR 252 SF

SEATING 1500 SF

floor plan

95