Alex Harper Israel
January
Portfolio
2024
Contents.
03 Café Culture 04 Mission Crossing 08 DiNisco Design 12 Payette 13 Unité de Vie-Travail 14 Chinatown Pavilion 18 Boston Public Library 20 The Symphony Busking Parklet 24 Personal Projects 26 Resumé
what i’ve done and what i can do
a myriad of program
transit-oriented urban design small-scale educational large-scale institutional
a twist on the modernist original
for cards and news
civic center meets historic preservation
award winning streetside design
just for fun
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ALEX HARPER ISRAEL
∘ aexisra@gmail.com ∘ (973)-529-3694 ∘ Boston, MA; New York City, NY ∘ linkedin.com/in/ alexhisrael ∘ tunastuff.com ∘ @tunastuff
aspiring architect | innovative creative | urban enthusiast
Northeastern University | Boston, MA candidate for bachelor of science in architecture | expected 06/2024 grade point average | 3.69 / 4.00 activities | AIAS (vice president), Alpha Epsilon Pi, Solar Decathalon honors | Dean’s List 2020-2023
IE University | Segovia, Spain study abroad experience | 01/2022 - 05/2022 grade point average | 3.77 / 4.00
Randolph High School | Randolph, NJ
ABOUT I’m a creative architecture student with a keen eye for detail, driven by a deep passion to design spaces that contribute to a healthier and more vibrant future. I thrive in collaborative team environments, and embrace new challenges and experiences to learn and grow from!
SKILLS technical Adobe Photoshop Adobe Illustrator Adobe InDesign Autodesk AutoCAD Autodesk Revit Enscape Graphisoft ArchiCAD Microsoft Suite Rhinoceros 3D SketchUp Twinmotion
EDUCATION
soft Analytical Attention to detail Conceptualization Creative Dedicated Experimentation Organization Passionate Problem-solving Work ethic Writing
ACHIEVEMENTS Vectorworks & AIAS Parklet Design Competition jan 2022 | 1st Place ∘ designed a winning perfromance space the size of a parking lot for an open competition
AIAS Virtual Career Fair feb 2021 ∘ organized a virtual career fair in which students could learn about and be interviewed by firms
AEPi Merchandising sep 2020 - present ∘ led creation of organization merchandise and designed composites and clothing
graduated 05/2019 grade point average | 4.43 / 5.33 activites | Cross Country and Track (captain), Honors Societies
WORK EXPERIENCE Payette | Boston, MA design intern |09/2023 - 12/2023 ∘ supported the construction administration phase for a large institutional project, handling tasks such as submittals, RFIs, and punch lists ∘ assisted in fit-out project planning by creating detailed plans and elevations and collaborating with the project team to execute design ∘ played a key role in marketing efforts, creating impactful website graphics and actively collaborating with cross-functional teams
The Port Authority of NY & NJ | New York City, NY stakeholder relations / planning intern |06/2023 - 08/2023 ∘ contributed to the schematic design of a key regional transportation terminal by addressing stakeholder concerns raised by various city departments and the local community board ∘ worked closely within a small team in the major capital project department as the client and liaison for hired architects and engineers ∘ utilized SketchUp for detailed modeling and conducted extensive urban research, enhancing project understanding
DiNisco Design | Boston, MA architectural intern | 07/2021 - 12/2021 ∘ edited plans, sections, details, and other drawings during the construction documentation phases of multiple institutional projects ∘ collaborated with multi-disciplinary teams on decisions for interior and exterior elements, creating mockups and renderings to accurately convey design concepts
Heather Wells Interior Design | Boston, MA interior design intern | 05/2021 - 07/2021 ∘ utilized CAD to arrange interior spaces and create presentation boards ∘ elevated interior design development through fabric and furniture curation, collaborating with clients and vendors to enhance aesthetic ∘ organized material library and walked two beautiful labradoodles
Trader Joe’s | Boston, MA
INTERESTS painting, drawing, photography, hiking, skiing, thrifting, listening to music, staying hydrated
crew member | 06/2022 - 12/2022 ∘ provided customer with exceptional shopping experience ∘ operated cash register, including POS and gift card transactions ∘ stocked and faced inventory throughout store, maintained signage
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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 (or, COAM), Café Culture is a product of the design of a multi-purpose facility in which the program would be chosen at random. 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 in Europe and Spain in particular (think: siesta), multiple restaurants at the ground plane would introduce an urban condition resembling a narrow street packed to the brim with cafés and café-goers to the site.
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S: Table Tennis; S: Exhibition Space; S: TV Recording Studio M: Archery; M: Workshop Space; M: Massage Spa L: Handball Court; L: Urban Park; L: Multiple Restaurants
café culture
To connect the urban fabric. The ground floor creates a path through the long site, and continues through 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 side of the site, a smaller-scale entrance has bike storage. The natural path creates a transversing park and urban corridor.
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café culture
The mixed-use multi-story building is inward-facing within the atrium. With such wildly different programmatic elements, opportunities for connection, interaction, and discovery are present throughout.
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Exhibition space looks out over the busy pedestrians .
A spiral staircase in the center of the site serves as the main vertical circulation. Further up, an indoor archery range with a partially-glass floor and a sloped double-height roof is visible from almost every point. The urban park extends from the ground floor to the roof, as do the restaurants: a rooftop bar sits adjacent to the sloped rooftop garden, both with views over the city of Madrid.
Mission Crossing. Boston, Fall 2022. Through transit-oriented design and historic preservation, Mission Crossing transforms a dull site, consisting of institutional parking lots in Mission Hill, Boston, into a mixed-use housing project that caters to the car-less commuter. Commercial opportunities at the ground level blend with social, accessible living units, creating an essence of liveliness and activity that encourages travel through the site. Private courtyards contain sculptural bike storage units, which allow residents to easily walk up their bike and enter their unit. Roxbury Crossing station, which connects the area to downtown Boston by bus and train service, is extended across busy Tremont Street and becomes a bike hub for commuters along the Southwest Corridor Park. The sunken train tracks, a scar that currently divides the Mission Hill and Roxbury communities, is covered by a farmer’s market promenade that builds on the existing Roxbury Crossing market. Streets are designed for pedestrians, and blocks are organized with desire paths in mind.
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Arcades extend the pedestrian street at the ground plane and provide cover. The vehicle path is replaced with a human path, establishing a community based on sustainable and accessible transit.
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DiNisco Design. Boston, Fall 2021.
During my co-op 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, gaining proficiency in programs including ArchiCAD and Twinmotion while simultaneously improving professional and organizational skills. Renderings, construction documents, and other drawings produced represented spatial arrangements, materiality, furnishings, signage, and paneling. All images were created in conjunction with DiNisco Design staff.
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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.
Unité de Vie-Travail.
Boston, Spring 2021. For the design of a graduate student housing complex on the site of an unbuilt road-turned-parking lot at Northeastern University, a primary goal was to devise a unit module that could be repeated to maximize density and value. I studied Le Corbusier’s Unité de Habitation (or, Housing Unit) as a model for a selfsustaining city within a building, and based the form of the project off of a modification of his interlocking units around a double-loaded corridor. The Unité de Vie-Travail (or, Live-Work Unit) would cater to the graduate lifestyle and free the oppressed circulation.
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GROUND FLOOR SITE PLAN
50’
100’
150’
1/32”=1’-0”
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Bedrooms and bathrooms, both private to the individual, are pushed to the northern side, while shared living and eating spaces are located on the southern side to receive maximum sunlight. Upper-level units are accessed from the single-loaded corridor on the third floor, via a straight-shot stairwell. Upper-level units have double-height balconies, and ground floor flats have accessible porches. Tunnels run through the building on the first floor that contain bike storage, underneath communal working spaces (and laundry rooms). Comfort and light are prioritized to support the hurried lifestyle of the graduate.
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Newspaper Pavilion. Boston, Fall 2020.
In the area surrounding Boston’s Chinatown Gate, two activities are most prominent: playing cards (at Mary Soo Hoo Park) and reading the newspaper. These activities became the basis for the pavilion design, informing creative and practical decisions. By unevenly extruding circular shapes to form the platform, movement would mimic that of Mary Soo Hoo Park, around tables in a circumscribing motion to watch and play games as well as plainly sitting to read or relax. Height difference in the platform fosters a unique spectating experience. Ramps allow for wheelchair accessibility, which is important due to the high percentage of elderly occupants. The envelope is meant to partially cover the pavilion from the elements while remaining partially transparent to allow light to penetrate for readers and card game players to easily see. Oriented by the cores of the platform, the envelope is wide and looks as if it was stretched across the site to be inviting for passerby’s to walk through.
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The cores of the pavilion host three primary functions: storage, information, and vending. BPL newspaper collections are housed in concrete shelves, sorted randomly to give users unique experiences. The information core seats two librarians, who are responsible for checking out materials, monitoring the site, and fielding questions. The vending core consists of newspaper racks, each with current articles.
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Boston Public Library. 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. Materiality is taken from the public and private Chinatown and Leather District typologies, in which brick, concrete and arched forms match nearby buildings.
O BOR EDIN
BEACH ST.
21 T. OS BOR
ST.
EDIN
KING STON ST.
JOHN F FITZGERALD SURFA F CE RD
I-93 TUNN EL A CCES S
BEACH ST. LINCOLN
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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. The lecture hall overlooks the Chinatown Gate and is situated within the concrete waffle slab construction. Within the children’s, teen’s, and technology sections, dynamic work and play areas are separated by curved bookshelves. The library’s bottom floors are partially open with revolving windows and serve as adaptable community spaces. As the ramp level increases, the building becomes more fully enclosed and circulation follows the circular ramp. The two bottom levels of the parking garage serve as an “outdoor living room” with landscaped plants, seating, and park amenities. The Chinatown BPL park offers pleasant, picturesque raised views of the Greenway and the city.
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The Symphony Busking Parklet.
Buildings related to the Arts.
BUY LEARN N PERFORM
Boston, Fall 2022.
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Competition, 1st Place.
PARKLET LOCATION
The Symphony Busking Parklet is a 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 place in the design competition, and was featured by AIAS and Vectorworks on Instagram.
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Personal Projects. Above: Folsom St, Boston, 2020. Right: Arc de Triomf, Barcelona, 2022. Below: View from Giudecca, Venice, 2022.
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Above: Wandering through Granada, Spain, 2022. Right: Bridge Over Troubled Water, Oil Pastel, 2021.
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Top: Watercolor, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2021. Upper Right: Photograph, Madrid, 2022. Lower Right: Photograph, East Side Gallery, Berlin, 2022.
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Top Left: Chutes and Ladders, Digital Art, 2022. Top Right: Noise, 2022. Middle: Photograph, Cisternerne, Copenhagen, 2022. Bottom: Brick Wall With Opening, Mixed Media, 2022.
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January
2024 made with love