PORTFOLIO
ZACHARY BLICK | Spring 2025
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
01 | RE-IMAGINED PERCEPTIONS
Collaborative Project | Arborea Middle School, Sardinia, Italy | May 2025
This project is centered on reclaiming the school as a shared space—not just for students during the day, but for the broader community after school hours—by transforming it into a flexible environment where learning, play, and community can overlap. The existing building facade has been treated with straited concrete and its perforations have been re-imaged, while the addition of the platforms acts as both a physical and symbolic bridge between the school and its neighborhood. Lastly, the new roof adds a bold visual identity and supports sustainable features like rainwater collection and solar panels, signaling a shift in the building’s performance as a long-term, community-focused resource. The additions to the building envelope, platform extensions, and reimagined roofscape create a more inviting school environment that supports public programming, informal gathering, and community use during evenings and weekends.
TRUMPA S STRUMPA
OLA GIRANDOLA
EXPLODED
02 | ARTIST’S RESIDENCE & GALLERY
This project is centered around the “blurred lines” betweeen sculpture and architecture, with the connecting agent being the landscape. The volume utilizes the technique of carving, which can alternatively be seen as the literal “sculpting of space” in order to shape its program. The volume is further carved to create skylights and windows within the space. The landscape is manipulated in order to create sunken courtyards which can be accessed directly from the building, as well as to curate an occupiable roof terrace. This roof terrace sits flush against the landscape and serves as a natural extension of it. The skylights are extended vertically, passing through the volume and act as a mere addition to the sculpture garden which surrounds it.
Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, Cazenovia, NY | November 2023
Section A
Section B
03 | MULTI-CONCENTRIC HOSTEL
Harvard Pl, Syracuse, NY | May 2023
The hostel design encompasses three staircase towers, which are connected by horizontal slabs and vertical partitions that break up the space. The simple and interconnected geometries curate a unique circulation pattern in which accessibility is limited as you progress upward through the building. The vertical surfaces utilize two different materials: glass and wood. Various privacy conditions are created through the manipulation of these two materials onto different surfaces. The project includes a frontal flower garden threshold which is meant to diffuse the hostel away from the commercial strip that surrounds it.
Harvard Place, Syracuse, NY
Gangnam Style Korean Kitchen Westcott Liquor
Floor 2 Plan
Floor 3 Plan
ELEVATION | SECTIONS A&B| CONCEPTUAL DIAGRAMS
Diagrams
Section B
Section A
04 | ART WORKS SAMPLED
December 2021- May 2025
Urban Sketches | Brush Pen
Urban Sketch | Pen & Watercolor Still-life Drawing | Pencil
Urban Sketches | Pen & Watercolor
On-Site Composite Drawings in Italy | Pen & Pencil
05 | TEMPORAL BURN
Hypothetical Site | October 2023
The model was created using recycled materials, including packing peanuts, bubble wrap, wire, and foam. The many layers of this model are representative of abstract structural elements. Although not shown, the model was manipulated by ligthting it with a torch to show the hypothetical reactions of these materials over time to the natural element of fire. It was imagined that this project would be situated in a forest and the “burn effect” the result of a potential forest fire. As seen, the model portrays the story behind the structural components, with certain layers having survived the various stages of the fire while others did not.
06 | AQUATIC, NOMADIC TINY HOME
Collaborative Project | Skaneateles Lake, Finger Lakes Region, NY | December 2023
This tiny home design is centered around the concept of mobility. Designed on a floating foundation with a motor allows for movement at ease around the water. The home is organized into three different sections in plan which divide the public program from the private living environment- an effort to make the house more inviting for guests. Using wood framing, the house is simple in form, yet detailed in its foundational strategies. The drawings are developed to construction level, introducing different structural techniques.
Wood Framing Sectional Perspective Wall Section Wall Plan
Section B
ELEVATION 1&2 | EXPLODED AXONOMETRIC
Elevation 1
Elevation 2
Exterior Wood Cladding
Exterior Decking and Roof Panneling
07 | UN LUGAR PARA TODOS
The concept behind this community center utilizes a colossal column with a sloped inverted umbrella in order to catch the rain and curate a waterfall. The design reacts to the openness of the existing facade found on the site through creating a large set-back for the building mass. This allows the front half of the building to be a community gathering area with the large waterfall and public garden, and the back of the program to be slightly more private. The two distinct parts that make up this design are blending using a light barrier that starts as the public roof-top cafe and meanders its way down the building, creating a secondary circulation path which also overlooks the waterfall garden.
Barcelona 8, Colonia Juárez, Mexico City | May 2024
EXPLODED PLANOMETRIC DIAGRAM | FLOOR PLANS
Ground Floor Plan
COLLECTIVE STUDIO SITE MAP
08 | HALF HILLS HOUSING PROJECT
Harrison
Street, Syracuse, NY | December 2024
Having been assigned a center lot, my site had little access to natural light, so I created two masses that run perpendicular to the surrounding sites in order to create a public connecting space between the neighboring buildings. The ground plane contains cascading hills with circular cutouts which reflect programs of different privacies.The front mass appears to be raised above the hills, whereas the back sinks into them. In maximizing the number of units, I created a 3 storey duplex unit aggregation system that was then deployed throughout the project. The Elevated front mass allows not only for the buildings to be offset by one storey which provides privacy to its residents but also creates a double-heighted rooftop condition in the back mass in order to keep the building profiles unified.
CAUSAL AND STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS | MODEL PHOTO
