Portfolio - Alex Harper Israel

Alex Harper Israel

May 2025

Contents Resumé 03

what i’ve done and what i can do

The BarricAid Project 04 master’s thesis

Upham’s Nexus 10 comprehensive adaptive reuse

Payette 16

professional large-scale institutional

DiNisco Design 18

professional small-scale educational

Café Culture 20 a myriad of program

Symphony Busking Parklet 24 award winning streetside design

Boston Public Library 26 civic center meets historic preservation

Alex Harper Israel aspiring architect | innovative creative | urban enthusiast email p phone location linkedin website ebs te

aexisra@gmail.com (973) ( ) 529-3694 Boston,, MA | New York , NY linkedin.com/in/alexhisrael / / archituna.com a c tu a co

EDUCATION Northeastern University | Boston, MA Master of Architecture | 05.25 ∘ GPA: 4.00 / 4.00

Bachelor of Science in Architecture | 05.24

∘ GPA: 3.70 / 4.00 ∘ minor: Design and Innovation in Engineering ∘ honors: Magna Cum Laude, Dean’s List 2019-2024 ∘ activities: AIAS (VP), Alpha Epsilon Pi, Solar Decathalon

SKILLS

EXPERIENCE

Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, ArcGIS, Autodesk AutoCAD, Revit, Blender, Enscape, Graphisoft ArchiCAD, Microsoft Suite, Physical Modeling, Rhinoceros 3D, SketchUp, Solidworks, Twinmotion

Capital Planning Design Intern | 06.24 - 12.24 Mass. School Building Authority | Boston, MA

ENDEAVORS Teaching Assistant, Recitation Leader 01.25 - 05.25 | Modern Architecture History, Northeastern University 10-Hour Construction Safety and Health Certification 08.23 | OSHA Study Abroad, Spain 01.22 - 06.22 | IE University, Segovia Parklet Competition, 1st Prize 01.22 | Vectorworks & AIAS Virtual Career Fair 02.21 | AIAS, Northeastern Univeristy Merchandise Chair 09.20 - 06.23 | Alpha Epsilon Pi

INTERESTS drawing, traveling, photography, hiking, skiing, thrifting, listening to music, staying hydrated Seeking opportunities in architectural and urban planning and design.

∘ ensured design submittals in feasibility and schematic phases complied with state sustainability guidelines ∘ reviewed submittals, space summaries, and postoccupancy evaluations to align with best practices ∘ participated in biweekly designer selection panels

Architectural Design Intern | 09.23 - 12.23 Payette | Boston, MA

∘ assisted in construction administration, managing submittals and RFIs for a large institutional project ∘ created detailed plans and elevations, collaborating with the project team to execute fit-out design

Stakeholder / Planning Intern | 06.23 - 08.23 The Port Authority of NY & NJ | New York, NY ∘ addressed stakeholder concerns for the $10 billion PABT Replacement Project, coordinating with city departments and the local community board ∘ engaged with lead architects and engineers in schematic urban design and terminal planning

Architectural Design Intern | 07.21 - 12.21 DiNisco Design | Boston, MA

∘ edited architectural drawings across multiple project phases, ensuring design consistency ∘ collaborated with multidisciplinary teams on interior and exterior elements, creating design mockups

Interior Design Assistant | 05.21 - 07.21 Heather Wells Inc. | Boston, MA

∘ elevated design development through fabric and furniture curation and vendor communication ∘ arranged interior spaces and presentation boards

The BarricAid Project Boston, Spring 2025

The BarricAid Project is a tactical urban intervention which transforms hostile steel barricades into adaptable, inclusive spaces meant to evolve into safe consumption sites over time.

Designed to meet an immediate need, the project uses off-theshelf 2x3 wood planks, rope, tarps, and zip ties to create shaded spaces quickly, cost-effectively, and power-tool-free.

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The BarricAid Project utilizes Ikea-like guidelines for users to easily fabricate the shade structures with little-to-no design background or education. A step-by-step process outlines assembly instructions, with material quantities, detailed directions, and warnings. The project is meant to be easily constructed and deconstructed, requiring an unobtrusive method to leave both the barricade itself and the structural wood planks unscathed and returnable.

The total cost of a single module is $110.34 with parts from Amazon and mainly Home Depot. Built to be reusable and semi-returnable, the cost of a single module may be lower, or recycled. If wood planks were to be returned or reused, and sand bags were filled with material found on-site (with dirt or rocks, for example), the actual cost of a single module would be $37.86.

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In just one week, over 300 passersby scanned the BarricAid’s QR code—proof of its visual impact. Bright and unexpected in form, yet grounded in real issues, it draws attention and invites curiosity. By engaging with it, pedestrians learn about the opioid and housing crises affecting Boston and beyond.

The BarricAid is makeshift, scrappy, and intentionally unfinished. This rawness sparks reimagination and participation. It offers rest, shade, and even functions as a drug consumption site. As a prototype, it invites critique and collaboration: a small temporary action meant to inspire lasting change.

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Upham’s Nexus

Upham’s Corner, Spring 2024 The adaptive reuse of the Leon Electric Building envisions a vibrant mixed-use space rooted in its industrial heritage. Creating new residential, cultural, and commercial opportunities, this transformative concept aims to reinvigorate the neighborhood, forging a necessary commuter corridor and serving as a nexus for cultural enrichment and economic revitalization.

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The project was informed by the AIA Framework for Design Excellence, in pursuit of an architecture of justice, equity, and resilience.

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The project integrates passive design strategies to reduce reliance on mechanical systems. Cross ventilation and daylighting are achieved through strategic facade and floor slab cuts, minimizing the need for artificial heating and cooling. Geothermal wells and photovoltaic panels are incorporated to improve energy efficiency, striving to achieve a low energy use intensity (EUI) in alignment with local, national, and global sustainability goals.

Material reuse is a key component of the project’s sustainability approach. Excess brick from the site is repurposed for hardscaping elements, reducing waste while maintaining the site’s historic character.

Efficient mechanical energy systems, including photovoltaic panels and ground source heat pumps, optimize long-term operational savings and minimize construction costs.

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Payette

Boston, Fall 2023 As an intern at Payette, I worked on Northeastern University’s Interdisciplinary Science and Education Center (ISEC) and EXP building during the construction administration phase of the large-scale project.

Along with submittals and punchlisting, marketing work included creating the drawings below, which can be considered “false sections.” Consisting of many section cuts collaged together, they represent specific moments in the building’s design, enhancing overall conceptual understanding of the complex.

Images were created in conjunction with Payette staff.

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DiNisco Design Boston, Fall 2021

At DiNisco Design, I contributed to the construction documentation and design development phases of the firm’s Peabody Welch Elementary School and Homer-DeBerry Elementary School projects. For the Welch adaptive reuse project, I designed graphic panels and proposed introducing a skylight into the entry. Renderings, construction documents, and other drawings produced represented spatial arrangements, materiality, furnishings, signage, and paneling. Images were created in conjunction with DiNisco Design staff. Photo by Peter Vanderwarker.

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Café Culture

Madrid, Spring 2022 At the site of an empty lot in the city of Madrid, located directly across from the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid (COAM), Café Culture is a product of the design of a multi-purpose facility with randomly-chosen program. Programmatic elements included small, medium, and large spaces (three of each), consisting of sport, culture, and “other” miscellaneous functions. Inspired by the culture surrounding food, leisure, and entertainment Spain (siesta), restaurants at the ground floor introduce an urban condition resembling a narrow street packed to the brim with cafés and café-goers to the site.

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To connect the urban fabric, an open path through the site continues to the COAM across the street. On the ground floor, restaurants have outdoor seating and bifold window doors, opening up to a landscaped pathway with natural sun shading. On the thin edge of the site, a smaller-scale entrance provides bike storage. The natural path creates a transversing park and urban corridor.

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Symphony Busking Parklet

Boston, Fall 2022 1st Prize The Symphony Busking Parklet is in response to an AIAS and Vectorworks design competition calling for proposals to enhance the streetscape through an innovative, dimensionally accurate parklet. Located in the Symphony area in Boston, this pop-up performing pod is meant to provide up-andcoming street performers with a free, public stage to sing, dance, play, or create.

The parklet’s location, in the center of Boston’s most musical area, is a great way for budding talents to get discovered. Bright, playful colors lure pedestrians to watch, while shaded seating entices viewers to stay. The stairs leading up to Symphony Hall, directly across from the parklet, serve as extra seating when the performer attracts a crowd (which is made possible by the parklet’s convienient location near Symphony station, a heavilyused light-rail transit station, and a busy commercial and residential neighborhood).

The proposal won first prize and was featured by AIAS and Vectorworks on Instagram.

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BPL Chinatown Boston, Fall 2020

At the border of Chinatown and the Leather District, 125 Lincoln Street sets the stage for an adaptive resuse project which would transform an abandoned parking garage into the Chinatown Boston Public Library branch. The library connects the distinct neighborhoods via a public interaction zone and serves as a cap to the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Existing storefronts and restaurants remain unchanged, while the above ramps are adapted. The roof is removed and half the garage floor is exposed to the Greenway, while the Library is built onto the other, quieter half near the denser Leather District.

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The brick façade is split by large concrete arches with prefabricated glass windows to maximize light in the main collection and reading areas. Within the children’s, teen’s, and technology sections, dynamic work and play areas are separated by curved bookshelves.

The library’s bottom floors, with adaptable spaces and an “outdoor living room,” are partially open with revolving windows and landscaped park amenities. As the ramp level increases, the building becomes more fully enclosed and circulation follows the circular ramp. The Chinatown BPL park offers pleasant, picturesque raised views of the Greenway and the city.

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May 2025 made with love