Architecture Portfolio - Tessa Laplante

TESSA LAPLANTE

selected works | 2017-2022

TESSA LAPLANTE

EDUCATION

tlaplante@utexas.edu

813.716.9949

303 W 40th St Unit 108 Austin, TX 78751

SKILLS

Microsoft Office

Adobe CS

AutoCAD

Rhino

Revit

Archicad

Lumion

Enscape

Twinmotion

Vray

On-site Construction

AWARDS

UVA Studio Spotlights

Fall ‘16, “Stepping Stones”

Fall ‘17, “Hudson Shard”

The Pantheon Institute

Fall ‘18, “Restitching Rome”

UTSOA

Fall ‘22, Design Excellence

Nomination

HOBBIES / INTERESTS

drawing running reading real estate hiking traveling

Expected

Graduation:

May 2024

2015 - 2019

Fall 2018

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

Master’s in Architecture Candidate | GPA: 4.0

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

Bachelor of Science in Architecture | GPA: 3.68

Minors in Civil Engineering and Architectural History

Semester Study Abroad: Rome, Italy

EXPERIENCE

Dec 2021Present

// ARCHITECTURE

POINT B DESIGN GROUP | AUSTIN, TX

Architectural Designer

Current responsibilities include digital modeling, drawing development, formal and informal presentation, site and code analysis, and rendering.

Feb 2021Aug 2022

NEIGHBORING CONCEPTS | CHARLOTTE, NC

Architectural Designer

Participated in the development of transit, civic, and affordable housing projects. Responsibilities included digital modeling, consultant coordination, client engagement, code analysis, drafting, and rendering.

Jan 3 - 12, 2019

May 2016 -

Sept 2020

OVERLAND PARTNERS | SAN ANTONIO, TX

Extern

// SALES + LEADERSHIP

SOUTHWESTERN ADVANTAGE | NASHVILLE, TN

Recruiter / Organizational Manager

Completed over 400 hours of sales + management training; Conducted interviews and recruitment presentations; Led 3 organizations of 15+ salespeople.

Salesperson NC, TN, WI, IN, KS

Executed sales, accounting, and delivery of products; Prospected and approached over 15,000 families; Total Personal Retail Sales: $358,080

// VOLUNTEER

Jan 2016 -

May 2019

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY | CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA

Crew Leader / Program Director

Completed over 360 construction hours; Recruited + trained 14 student crew leaders.

Jan 2016 -

May 2019

FRALIN MUSEUM OF ART | CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA

Museum Docent

01 | AUSTIN ART GALLERY

A Revitalization of Laguna Gloria

The Austin Contemporary Art Museum has two locations - one in the heart of Downtown and one at the city’s periphery at Laguna Gloria. The studio was tasked with designing an interior art gallery for Laguna Gloria. The intention for this project was inspired by an initial visit to the site and the elements of surprise and whimsy that one experiences while traversing the sculpture gardens. The proposed building mimicks this sense of discovery with three sculpted galleries housed in a rectinlinear building. Galleries are ambiguously lit by the diffused light of floor-to-floor clerestories, leading to a stark constrast between exhibit and circulation spaces. From an urban standpoint, the museum provides a new landmark for arriving visitors, and facilitates circulation from street level into the existing landscape.

Professor Kevin Alter Rhino / Adobe CS / Enscape UTSOA - Fall 2022

CLERESTORIES

STEEL FRAME

CONCRETE WAFFLE SLAB

SECONDARY WALLS - WOOD

PRIMARY WALLS - CONCRETE

MASSING

Building as a Noun, Building as a Verb

Professor Kevin Alter

Rhino / Adobe CS / Enscape

UTSOA - Fall 2022

This project focuses on the intimate scale associated with a particular environment for creativity and making things. The task was to design a standalone maker space to reside on the West Terrace of Goldsmith Hall. The program chosen was a furniture design classroom, leading to two main design intentionsfirst to connect the makerspace to the Woodshop beneath the terrace and use it as a vehicle for bringing light into the Woodshop; and second, to visually and tangibly celebrate wood as a construction material and create a builtin learning opportunity for students.

03 | RE-STITCHING ROME

Via dei Fori Imperiali Revisted

Professor David Sabello

Revit / Adobe CS / GIS

Partners - Peter Morano and Alex Keiser

Rome, Italy - Fall 2018

Today, Via dei Fori Imperiali exists as a vehicular urban trench separating the archaeological sites of the Imperial Forums from the Roman Forum. The objective for the studio was to rework the existing street network to connect the fora and transform them into a continuous open-air, archaeological site for visitors to be able to experience the wonderment of Ancient Rome. The second aspect of the project the design of an “antiquarium,” for which the group determined three intentions: First, to connect the Colosseum with the ruins through the excavation of Piazza del Coloseo. Second, to bring natural light into the ancient level. And third, to respect the volumes and sight lines of both the ancient and contemporary grids of the city.

urban paths

urban strategies

Three major spatial relationships exist on the site: N-S, E-W, and Up-Down. These conditions were evaluated as independent urban grids. The urban design strategy delicately “stitches” together the three grids with new paths that facilitate urban circulation and emphasize key existing sightlines to orient locals and tourists alike. The resulting scheme balances the experiential exploration of the ancient site with the practical need to traverse the city.

urban anchors

re-stitching

“antiquarium”

1. Ludus Magnus

2. Ancient exhibitions

3. Imperial exhibitions

4. Modern exhibitions

5. Contemporary exhibitions

6. Hall to Colosseum

7. Theater

looking west

looking east

looking north

looking south

Parapet Cap

Flashing

Cant strip

Counter Flashing

Gravel

Weather barrier

Concrete slab

Support structure

Metal deck

Drop ceiling

Equitone

Air gap

Vapor barrier

Rigid insulation

Steel structure

Equitone

Flashing

Glass

Mullion

north wall section

1’-0” = 1/8”

04 | SCHOOL AS A VILLAGE/ VILLAGE AS A SCHOOL

Merging Typologies

Professor Mona El Khafif Rhino / Adobe CS

UVA - Spring 2019

This thesis project examines the spatial demands of the Montessori method for the purpose of generating an architectural prototype that both supports and enhances the pedagogy. The Montessori method comprises many educational and communal advantages, although its common drawback is a learning environment often isolated from the public realm. This project proposes a solution proposed that spatially integrates school and residential community into a single living-learning entity. The site of the investigation is the Southwood mobile home park located in Southwest Charlottesville. Habitat for Humanity maintains plans to redevelop the park using nondisplacement methods, and the project considers the Southwood community demographics, programmatic needs, and site as a skeleton to test the architectural notion of the school as a village and the village as a school.

timber framing

wooden louves for adjustable light and privacy

entry cubbies

plinth

accessible entry ramp exploded

1/16” = 1’-0”

1. individual work area

2. group work area

3. reading nook

4. restroom

5. outdoor patio

6. entry door beyond

7. accessible roof

upper elementary

middle school

adapted for dwelling

The Southwood residences are connected to the school by a central sequence of semipublic spaces, creating a natural interface of engagement between the school and the community. To further enhance the connection, residential buildings mirror the courtyard forms of the school, with housing units that utilize the same dimensions as the nearby classrooms. The system is stacked to increase capacity, and shifted to allow light to flood courtyards. A new form is generated, one with vertical atmospheres that facilitate social exchange and environmental connectivity for residents.

one-story unit

loft unit

two-story unit

A Model for Manhattan

Professor Peter Waldman Rhino / Autocad / Adobe CS UVA - Fall 2017

All that remains of Manhattan Island’s Tectonic Mountain Range are its foundations, Manhattan Schist, an ancient bedrock that still helps support many long-standing buildings in NYC. With contemporary technologies, new develop-ments no longer require this suberrranean schist for foundational support. The Hudson Yards development, for instance, has multiple buildings over 1,000 feet tall with a site not grounded in schist. This raises the question of what can ground Hudson Yards [not physically but emblematically] and connect it to its spatial origins? This project, a culinary institute, brings forth a new schist on the site of Hudson 30. Through its architecture, the project aims to absorb pressures of contemporary society while thematically reflecting forms and figures of the past.

schist rising

The culinary institute is made up of six floors, each one a mezzanine. The mezzanines are offset and sliced to maintain visual connections between each floor. Like schist, crystal volumes are nestled into the school’s layers, illuminating interior spaces as well as the public block below. Passersby are drawn in by this light along with the smell of freshly baked bread. Each crystal, whether opaque or void, signifies a gathering space within the school. Here, students, faculty, and visitors can come together to share food, tell stories, and exchange ideas.

steel truss system

structural steel members aluminum trellis screen

1. culinary school

2. cinematic void

3. feasting hall