Architecture Portfolio | Thomas Brossi

Thomas Brossi | Architecture Portfolio

Syracuse University

School of Architecture

Class of 2023

My name is Thomas Brossi, I am a graduating fifth-year student in Syracuse University’s School of Architecture five-year B.Arch program. For all my projects, I hold myself to high standards of ambition, craft, and detail. This portfolio is a compilation of five of my studio works, ranging from technical wall assemblies to humanitarian projects to explorative research in sustainability.

B.Arch Candidate

Syracuse University

School of Architecture

Class of 2023

tmbrossi@syr.edu

774-245-4811

Marlborough, MA

View resume

DuSable Fieldhouse

Public use fieldhouse and park

DuSable Park, Chicago, IL

Professor Joel Kerner

25,600 sf

Researched and designed in collaboration with Mita Gangopadhyay. All included drawings are my own work.

The ambition of the project is to establish relationships between a tectonic frame and a series of three masses that organize the project and create a unique formal expression.

An initial concept model imagined a mass lodged in a frame, that was also punching through a layer contradictory to each’s material properties (a log puncturing the concrete slab). This idea was translated into the scheme by using the frame to organize

the exterior with the interior spaces lodged within. The extension of the frame over the public flyover path suggests that the fieldhouse is for the public and draws people into the project. The occupiable roof acts as this extension of the flyover, while the three masses appropriately break up the offices, community rooms, and exercise rooms across the southern part of the site.

Top right - Second floor/occupiable roof

Bottom right - First floor

THOMAS BROSSI

For integrated design studio, the goal was not only to make a compelling proposal but to also detail realistic wall assemblies and properly sized structural elements. Part of this process included speaking with practicing structural, mechanical, and envelope engineers to refine the technical aspects of the project.

Architecture Portfolio

Top - East/West Section

Bottom - North/South Section

THOMAS BROSSI

Architecture Portfolio

The steel structure and frame were designed to account for necessary loads, thermal bridging, and varying movement between the frame and massing systems. These details simultaneously fulfill the design intention of the steel seemingly puncturing the stone cladding.

Building structure

DUSABLE FIELDHOUSE Public use fieldhouse and park

Building column W12x65

Building girder W30x148

Building girder W24x94

Building girder W21x68

Building joist W14x53

Building joist W12x30

Catwalk structure

Truss bottom W16x57

Truss top W14x53

Truss diagonals W14x53

Truss verticals W12x65

Catwalk column W12x65

Catwalk girder W14x74

Catwalk joist W10x39

THOMAS BROSSI

Architecture Portfolio

Detail 01 - Restrooms, cafe, and community space.

Detail 03 - Small multipurpose space

Detail 02 - Kayak garage and large multipurpose space

Roots

Collective dwelling and civic commons

1215 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY

Professor Ryan Thomas

80,500 sf

Situated in the complex and historic NYC neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, the project cultivates a space of gardening and agriculture that integrates with the apartments and surrounding community.

The building is organized along a grain derived from the collision of two urban block structures, creating a rhythmic sequence that orients towards the central public space. This space grows six crops commonly used across Bed-Stuy’s broad

culinary demographic and follows a crop rotation schedule to maximize seasonal produce. Continuity between the ground plane and the apartments also establishes a formal and programmatic relationship.

THOMAS BROSSI

Architecture Portfolio

ROOTS

Collective dwelling and civic commons

Balancing a prominent facade with an open street condition to welcome the public into the corridor.

The public civic space grows six crops commonly used across Bed-Stuy’s broad culinary demographic. A crop rotation schedule maximizes seasonal produce.

I Spring crop placement

II Summer crop placement

III Autumn crop placement

IV Winter crop placement (none)

THOMAS BROSSI

Architecture Portfolio

Destruction Reconstruction

Research in progress

Professor Nina Sharifi, Yutaka Sho, Daekwon Park, Bess Krietemeyer

My senior thesis research project (to be finished May 2023) seeks to address the issue of timber construction and demolition waste, as about 75% of timber waste ends up in landfills and about 90% of that waste originates from demolition.

As part of the investigation, I spoke with local businesses that handle reused woods. It became clear that the reason for such a high volume of timber ending up in landfills is due to the labor-intensive process of

deconstructing the buildings, and the risks of handling woods with metal fasteners that can damage equipment.

Therefore, given that current timber construction practices only prioritize cost and time rather than the lifecycle of the material, the thesis seeks to reimagine timber assembly such that it meets the economic objectives while enabling disassembly to yield more reusable wood and reduces the quantity sent to landfills.

Does there have to be an end to the lifecycle? What might the next step look like?

Top - Reimagining what the lifecycle of wood used in construction looks like.

Left - Circular Economy / Consumption1

1Diagram recreated from: Hebel, Dirk. Building From Waste: Recovered Materials in Architecture and Construction. Birkhauser, Basel, 2014.

THOMAS BROSSI Architecture Portfolio

To visualize just how many fasteners are in a structure, this exploded axonometric (zoomed out from first image) breaks down the quantity of metal elements depending

on the part of the structure. Each blue dot in the image indicates a metal object holding the structure together, which cause issues in reusing the wood.

Barnwood Addicts is a company in Freeville, NY that reuses wood from abandoned barns. Scott showed me the timeconsuming process of ensuring all the nails are removed from wood and other woods that can’t be used.

Salt City Woods is a Syracuse business that deals with irregularly shaped lawn trees that would normally be thrown out and turns them into furniture.

Some points of contention that come into play with reusing old building materials are structural integrity, logistics, and cost.

The current efforts have been directed towards looking at joinery without fasteners, or joinery that can rely on a different type of fastener, such as rope. However, the main challenge to contend with is developing a system that is even remotely comparable to the speed and cost that current timber structures can be put together.

Potential structural issues

Manufacturing issues

High cost of production/labor

Potential construction issues

Energy performance issues

**Indicates from “Exoshelter” precedent project by Aixopluc

Framing

Large beams/joists

Flooring

Sheathing and dry wall

Exterior cladding

Roofing

Micro Commons

Student Housing and Commons

Ostrom Ave, Syracuse, NY

Professors Katherine Hogan and Vincent Petrarca

120,000 sf

Proposed as student housing for Syracuse University, the project seeks to cultivate spaces of communality for student life, in a variety of scales and programs.

On the exterior, these spaces of communality include a public outdoor space occupying the corner and integrating with the adjacent park, while a more isolated green space is lodged between the massing and topography on the inner part of the site.

In the interior, the commons manifest as recreation and cafe spaces on the ground floor of the central mass. Meanwhile, on each resident floor the hallways are broken down by micro communal spaces including study spaces, recreation, and outdoor porches. These micro commons become expressed formally on the facade as hollowed extrusions.

The overall massing and program are distributed into three parts to divide the lengthy site. The first is an academic block along University Place, the central block is double and single dorm units, and the third is one, two, and three person apartments.

Fiberglass insulation

Suspended

Double

Flashing

THOMAS BROSSI

Architecture Portfolio

Ceramic cladding

gypsum ceiling

pane sliding window

6” Concrete slab on steel decking Steel beam Anondized orange paneling

Triple pane glazing

MICRO COMMONS Student housing and commons

For Posterity

Architecture as Evidence

Onondaga Lake Park Willow Bay

Professor Yutaka Sho

12,200 sf

With current efforts to inspire urgency about the climate crisis being insufficient, the ambition of the project is to develop architecture through scientific and humanitarian evidence, rather than simply representation. This proposal for a cultural center embodies the soil contamination of Onondaga Lake through sensorial experience and audio archiving. The space will take 100 years to complete and a subsequent 100 years to continue the project.

Soil contamination is evidenced in a scientific manner through soil chromatography, a process that visualizes organic matter. During the 100 years of construction, two chromatography tests for two samples of soil will be conducted each year: one from a patch of annually planted corn and another from an area without corn. Through a process called phytoremediation, corn can extract mercury through its roots.

Researched and designed in collaboration with Aqila Bakri. *Indicates drawing by Aqila Bakri.

These samples will be applied to hollow columns that display the results and affect the diffused light into the underground spaces. The research asserts these tests will prove that current cleaning efforts are not enough, and the soil samples from the corn patch will prove more organic.

Top - Predicted differences in light enter the space through the columns.

Bottom - Soil chromatography experiments were done with six different soil samples from the site to determine the most contaminated area.

*Above drawing by Aqila Bakri

Contamination is embodied in a humanitarian aspect through storytelling. Specifically, stories of the changing landscape as told by the Onondaga Nation, whose land has been compromised and destroyed during the Industrial Revolution. The underground space features rooms for smaller groups or individual contemplation, an auditorium space, and recording spaces. The form diverts sound deflections while soil cast in the concrete structure decreases reverberations.

THOMAS BROSSI

Architecture Portfolio

*Above drawing by Aqila Bakri

Top - Project landscape 100 years from start of construction (construction will have just finished).

Bottom - Project landscape 200 years from start of construction, more corn will have been planted around the site to assist in removing contaminates from the soil.

Recreational photography

Abandoned Boston Mine Camp Mayflower Gulch, CO

THOMAS BROSSI

Architecture Portfolio

Fenway Park Boston, MA

THOMAS BROSSI

Architecture Portfolio

East Branch River Intervale, NH

Halibut Point State Park Rockport, MA

Thomas Brossi B.Arch Candidate

Syracuse University

School of Architecture

Class of 2023

tmbrossi@syr.edu

774-245-4811

Marlborough, MA