Process is Imperative

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Architecture traditionally causes nature to adapt to its spaces. This adaptation usually results in the elimination of natural elements, namely trees and other vegetation. MACA [Mt. Airy Center for the Arts] was designed as an adaptive response to its forested context. Existing within the voids created by tree canopies, it dodges through the openings to ensure that each tree is preserved and that man adapts to nature.

The methodology of this project consisted of rigorous hand-work followed by digital alterations and mixed-media representations. Process was imperative and demonstrated vastly from start until finish. The final “product� was reflective of the journey of the idea’s creation rather than a finalized piece of architecture.

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fall 2010/professor chris kircher/design studio V

02 philadelphia, pa_mount airy_cresheim rd + emlen rd

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fall 2010/professor chris kircher/design studio V

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fall 2010/professor chris kircher/design studio V

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Information is dynamic. There is so much data that it could never be stagnant, it’s always cycling through different topics, concepts and ideas. Philadelphia’s scope of ‘information’ is massive and includes several different areas of study which are all spread out over great distances throughout the urban fabric. This distance disallows collaboration between individual bits of information and creates a stagnant learning environment. The point of this center is to become an entity which responds to the information fluctuations and harnesses them for usage collectively.

Information n. dynamic had a methodology that consisted of extensive handwork both with drawing sets and physical models. Drawing sets were started early in the process and carried through until the final product was produced and presented on the original media. Several different graphic representations were tested in order to gage the concept and its implementation in place of the complex site. These visuals were later put to use as progress diagrams that helped generate forms and spatial experiences.

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spring 2011/professor brian szymanic/design studio VI

08 philadelphia, pa_walnut st corridor_walnut st + 23rd st

Early studies of form included a large-scale composite drawing of potential organizations ranging from spatial characteristics to organizations. These early studies displayed certain levels of spatial reveals and shifts that became the driving devices which created a final space and overall building form.

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spring 2011/professor brian szymanic/design studio VI

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spring 2011/professor brian szymanic/design studio VI

This center will collectively gather bits of information from different institutions around the city bringing them to one place to be seen all at once.

Information displayed will follow common topics and cycle out over time. The plan layout for the information center took on the idea of fluctuating spaces and spatial reveals. Since it is unknown about what the exact sizes and variety of objects may be that circulate through the center, it became pertinent to provide spaces with a high degree of variety in both size and layout.

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a terra cotta rainscreen clads the south elevation while the building cantilevers at the second floor to allow a peak within its galleries

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spring 2011/professor brian szymanic/design studio VI

Through section, the center progressively spreads its inner-spaces apart allowing for more ‘reveals’ deeper into its galleries. This progressive reveal begins to connect the different sizes of spaces to associate concepts with one another, no matter what the medium or size may be. At the roof level, the building splits apart to allow sunlight to filter down through the fragmented spaces.

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main entry via ‘entry gallery’

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spring 2011/professor brian szymanic/design studio VI

lecture + performance exterior presence

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Open Range BBQ is situated on a site that sits between a quick-moving arterial route into the city of Philadelphia and a quaint working-class community. The barriers that exist between the community and commuters is undefined and almost placeless, yet the green space and preceding park in the neighborhood make it somewhat desirable to inhabit. The missing link has yet to be defined between two seemingly different people. One of the main similarities we share as humans is our genuine love of food. What better program suits two different types of people than food? Open Range exists on a road island that at one point in time may have been considered unusable space; however in this case becomes the center for interaction between two opposites. A central chimney defines the space of the eatery which supports to “hinged canopies� that cover the kitchen and seating area. The BBQ can easily be shut down both for the day and the season because it is not a permanent enclosure yet a temporary location for enjoying a great American tradition amongst two sides which may never have come together before.

This project was a response to a two-week design challenge. Through these fourteen days, plans, sections and construction details were all considered and produced. Sketches began the process while computergenerated products and physical modeling completed the inner-school competition.

fall 2011/professor jim cassidy/design studio VIII fall 2011/professor jim cassidy/design studio VIII

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18 philadelphia, pa_east falls_kelly dr

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fall 2011/professor jim cassidy/design studio VIII

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Frank Lloyd Wright considered the hearth to be the center of the home. Much of the same concept is adopted by Open Range as a central chimney hinges two “canopies�.

These canopies which were inspired by the trees littering the site provide shelter to both the cooks in the kitchen as well as the patrons enjoying a bite to eat overlooking beautiful Kelly Drive and the Schuylkill River.

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fall 2011/professor jim cassidy/design studio VIII

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fall 2011/professor jim cassidy/design studio VIII

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fall 2011/professor jim cassidy/design studio VIII

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Philadelphia’s historic Reading Railroad no longer operates today and hasn’t since 1984. Since then, the only reminiscence the city has of the historic train is the elevated viaduct that slashes through the Callowhill neighborhood. Unused and overgrown, the viaduct has been under scrutiny to become an elevated park, much like the Highline in New York. Shortages in funding and little pull from those who have the most say has led to this project laying sterile and abated at the brink of implementation. 12_11: City Hostel is a conceptual mega structure project that works to connect the elevated viaduct across an extremely busy arterial highway through the city of Philadelphia. The hostel takes the stance that the viaduct park is complete and serves as short- and long-term living for visitors to the new tourist attraction.

12_11 is a project in response to an increasingly structural prompt. The main focus of this endeavor was to understand (on a large scale) mega structures in both their assemblies and contextual implications.

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fall 2011/professor jim cassidy/design studio VIII

28 philadelphia, pa_reading viaduct @ callowhill_vine st expwy

The masterplan for the hostel mega structure jumps from the elevated viaduct park and immediately bends to land the entity in the parking lot adjacent to the existing convention center. Top paths cut directly over the structure to land in the park on the other side without needing to enter into the actual hostel space. Green spaces on the roof lend themselves both to recreational activities as well as community gardens which are tended to by the longer-term patrons of the hostel.

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fall 2011/professor jim cassidy/design studio VIII

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fall 2011/professor jim cassidy/design studio VIII

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Overall, the structural system for the mega structure consisted of “H”-shaped members. These members allowed for program and substructural elements to occur within their extents. Cross beams and girders run from side to side to pick up the centralized programmatic pieces and rooftop greenspace and “express route”.

Protected within these large members are the individual hostel elements fully exposing and embracing the structural appeal of the viaduct extension.

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fall 2011/professor jim cassidy/design studio VIII

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2013 John Stewardson Memorial Competition Entry The prompt for the 2013 Stewardson Competition challenged students to create a sustainable monastery. In response to the ten-day sprint project, there was to be a substantial amount of both sustainable solutions as well as design considerations. Harmonic_Habitation sought create an atmosphere that felt like it was one with the cascading hillside it sat upon. Utilizing concrete as the main structural and finish component created a similar appearance to traditional monasteries in that it maintained an outer wall with an interior that focused on the monks and their labors. The center of this campus aims at portraying the monks as what they are, people of the land. Gardens sprout up at the base of a retention pond that is fed by a drainage channel. The top of the complex grants entry to the layman but also splits the enclosure apart to grant only wind into the center of the campus. Elevated are the spaces for the monks and lay people to enjoy and utilize, catching trapped breezes from the central courtyard, the entire community is inward focused and concerned with portraying a brotherhood.

Extensive hand sketches were used to flush out design ideas which eventually led to computergenerated Revit models and CAD plans, all polished by Photoshop for post-processing.

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/design studio X

36 philadelphia metropolitan area, pa_bucks county_private location

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/design studio X

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The longitudal section cut (above) shows the church and the way that cross ventilation is utilized. Placing operable windows at a taller height at one end and lower at another, the breezes are swept through maintaining a constant movement of air. Progressing through the structure, the height of the ceiling continues to rise above giving the space a large presence over the individual. As the space grows above the individual it opens to the front, eastern -facing facade (opposite, right) where early masses are blessed with a flooding sunlight revealed by two walls pulling apart, centering the monk giving mass.

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/design studio X

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The gardens become the centerpiece for the entire complex demonstrating the juxtaposition between man and land. While this is not a harsh comparison of the two entities, it exhibits the importance of welcoming nature into the architecture and ensuring that it has a prominent place. The gardens are cared for by the monks who live entirely from the complex needing little external assistance. Growing enough to last through the winter is crucial, thus the gardens are massive. A water-retention pond exists to the right of the path that can be used for irrigation purposes within the complex.

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/design studio X

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An architectural thesis on how spaces affect the senses...

Our built environment is a museum of experiences both spatially and socially. Unfortunately, it is not conducive to highlighting these experiences due to the nature of movement and functionality. To combat this lack of engrossment in mundane encounters, attention must be drawn to the absence of spatial perceptive senses through the creation of heightened awareness to their truancy. Through creation of sensory devices comes a new form of way finding through the complexities of an urban site. The amplification of preexisting neglected sensory experiences through experiential machines will begin to heighten the perceptive senses as we go about daily endeavors. Experiencing spaces currently, we are in the midst of all of this precious activity, but a certain tunnel vision displaces us from the collective focusing only upon ourselves, the individual. By contrasting conditions, our perception begins to heighten allowing the tunnel vision to break inherently creating space for inactivity and meditation amongst the bustling crowds. Any of these machines simply happen, almost at times without knowing while still providing the opportunity to navigate around them making the user a participant in the architecture. Within the context of Suburban Station, a microcosm of a larger urban setting, these given fragmented experiences will expose different elements of our environment from an alternative vantage point. Simultaneously these experiences open our mind and eyes to encounters and spatial usage we may never have noticed prior to the installation of the machines.

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/thesis studio

44 suburban station, philadelphia pa

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/thesis studio

the amplification of preexisting-but typically ignored-sensory phenomena in order to heighten the user’s awareness of environmental stimuli through immersive machines

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/thesis studio

Initial site studies directed attention to the use of a space (or spaces) that were already immersive in nature.

Naturally, the city provided several opportunities to be ‘immersive’ with all of its activities, program pieces and interactions that occur simultaneously throughout the day. The city also changes frequently throughout the day, thus there were four layers of immersive criteria that made the area around city hall - the busiest part of Philadelphia - a great selection for the program.

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Suburban Station was selected as the site for the program as it had a large daily exposure (26,000 +) of users. Immersive Spaces are meant to reach out to the largest number of people possible, thus placing this in a space where circulation through a pre-existing program was inevitable worked well with all original intentions.

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/thesis studio

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/thesis studio

each machine was methodically placed in a location within the station that made sense to what urban criteria it was seeking to utilize. machine 01: placed at the 15th street entrance to the station. this entry sees roughly 60-75% of the daily flux of people making it a great location to target the dramatic differences in sound levels. machine 02: seeking to increase users’ awareness of both context and other people in the station, this was placed in a busy machine 03: part of the loss of attention to our spaces is due to the lack of excitement ingrained in the extent. this machine was placed on the platform because of its potential to become an enjoyable and usable space instead of a dead area.

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initial concept sketches + diagrams

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/thesis studio

initial study models pointed to experimentation with different materials varying from textures as well as densities to achieve sound absorption/reflection

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The fifteenth street entrance to suburban station is one of the most heavily-used throughout the hub. It also sees the largest fluctuations in sounds which correlates with the fluctuations of users. Coming down into the station (or leaving it) a series of three ‘reflective’ shells direct sound waves back to the people in the space. This machine creates sound fluctuations in itself with a ‘reflective’ experience as well as an ‘absorptive’ one as well.

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/thesis studio

module of amplification machine

frame detail

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/thesis studio

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module of deadening machine

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Noise levels in Suburban Station (especially at points of entry and the platforms) can easily exceed 110dB. These levels seem extreme, even more-so for one leaving a quieter space or emerging from one where sound levels were completely opposite.

This first machine amplified the sounds to bombard and inundate the users of station then gave them a sense of relief from the sounds of the station and the urban fabric.

Overall, this machine aimed at demonstrating to people the various sounds of the environment but also the varying degrees of sound levels throughout the day.

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/thesis studio

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/thesis studio

People in urban spaces are intriguing. There are constantly people around us doing various things; funny things, unintelligent things, entertaining things. Whatever the case may be, we don’t pay enough attention to the most crucial part of our contextual environment; the people.

This machine begs users to acknowledge their surroundings to become acclimated not only to the space itself, but the people engaging it.

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movement through ‘chutes’

The long corridor that cuts directly through the center of that concourse level of Suburban Station provides a great location for Acclimate.

Previously a lengthy walk of self-awareness now becomes an arena displaying the actions of others using space thus forcing outward awareness to an everchanging condition. this is a contrasted condition from what previously was experienced.

commuting corridor

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/thesis studio

conceptual sketch of movement through

panel module

During the day, the LED display tracks and displays users movements through the ‘chutes’, this information is then played back during the evening (offpeak) hours to give the sense of more people in the space. The panels are suspended from the ceiling intentionally blocking visual engagement except for small slits during the journey through creating a sense of suspense to reveal who or what appears at the end.

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peak hour display

peak-hour operation displays live-time LED playblack both inside the ‘chutes’ and to the outside passerby

off-peak hour display

off-peak operations play back recorded LED motions from earlier in the day

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/thesis studio

acclimate module

example section of usage + LED display from outside

processional through machine

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peak hour display

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/thesis studio

off-peak hour display

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conceptual sketches

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/thesis studio

Preliminarily, the third machine was meant to awaken the users’ senses via obscurity. Early implementations demonstrate the use of lighting and different geometries to create a level of uncertainty in the machine.

Eventually the machine began to study the use of uncertainty via altering spaces activated by user groups and the station itself.

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Activating the platform, machine 03 aims at creating dynamic space which fluctuates both with people (users) as well as scheduling of the trains. Frames have the ability to swing out of the platform creating seating, shelters and ‘chutes’ to filter commuters to and from train cars.

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/thesis studio

As an entrance and exit from the station, this machine was meant to invigorate users, changing the space right in front of their eyes while constantly keeping them alert thus altering their senses to their contexts. This heightened awareness is meant to either help jump-start their journey through the station and to work, or to be the last thing users see before heading home into their own lives.

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the machine exists below the platform and is moved into place at random by swinging upwards from a common pivot bar housed below the platform peak usage

heavy usage

light usage

off-peak usage

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spring 2013/professor susan frosten/thesis studio

activate module

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Fifth Year Architectural Capstone Project Philadelphia University has housed its architecture department in the same building since it started in 1990. Part of the continuous six-year NCARB accreditation process initiatives for the university was to begin updating its facilities before the end of the next accredidation cycle. NCARB wished to see all of the Architecture school’s programs in one center that fostered collaboration and interdisciplinary studies. Philadelphia University took the challenge seriously and solicited a project to fifth year studio students to conceptualize, develop and present ideas for a new center based upon their understanding of the criteria NCARB set forth.

Done as a collective three-person group process, each team conceived an idea, site and program that captured their ideas, those given by the staff and the criteria set forth to maintain accreditation. These semester-long projects were compiled together and presented to school administration including all of the deans as well as the president of the institution. This is the collaborative understudy of what the new Center for Architecture and the Built Environment (C_ABE) could look like in the near future.

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fall 2012/professor tom kirchner/capstone studio/collaborative

76 philadelphia university/east falls/philadelphia pa

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fall 2012/professor tom kirchner/capstone studio/collaborative

campus map

a centralized location

walking distance: beginning of campus

walking distance: freshman campus

walking distance: end of campus

Initial site analysis provided a clear picture that the campus was split into two separate campuses. Early on, the concepts began to focus around restitching the campus together with a building that would house approximately half of the population of the entire enrollment. This center was seen very early on as having both a grand visibility both to the rest of the campus and the surrounding community.

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early massing studies on the site took into account scale, visibility, transparencies, vegetation + landscape.

progressions looked to emphasize movement up the hillside and a new entry portal for the university.

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fall 2012/professor tom kirchner/capstone studio/collaborative

building density + centralized location

As the site became more apparent, the placement of the center strongly suggested that there be a presence of not only the university in the residential community, but the general atmosphere of design and architecture. The placement of the center would be centralized to the new campus (top right) and the old/freshman campus (bottom left). In effect, this building would act as a zipper to both the campus and the community.

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fall 2012/professor tom kirchner/capstone studio/collaborative

With the concept of creating a collaborative center that engages all of the campus, the community and of course, C_ABE, it became apparent there would be issues with ‘boundaries’. Being a center for education and learning, the separation between the public and private would have to be minimal to ensure guests visiting the center would feel as if they weren’t intruding. Blurring those boundaries became the conceptual underpinning for how the center would begin to exists as a built environment. Users and visitors alike would experience the collaborative atmosphere no matter their reason for being on campus.

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fall 2012/professor tom kirchner/capstone studio/collaborative

Transitions from conceptual forms to buildable masses occurred quickly as ideas began to develop at a more rapid pace. The building’s most important goal in terms of the community was to invite them into the space and up through to the main campus creating a connection between two sides that currently stand divided. Early studies demonstrated the use of volumes around a central shared corridor effectively moving users up to campus.

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fall 2012/professor tom kirchner/capstone studio/collaborative

As concrete ideas formed about how the building would begin to develop through masses, interior organization and experiences were still undecided. The use of extensive study models and conceptual sketches allowed development of spaces which were conducive to collaboration.

Intersections of users (both from the community and the university) were seen as crucial to spread the word of importance of design. Centralized in the building would be a space that both the public and private would utilized for the same reason.

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fall 2012/professor tom kirchner/capstone studio/collaborative

While C_ABE remains a very public building, it must consider the necessities of privacy to those who are using it for educational purposes. Visual connections became extremely important not only for the public to see fragments of the private users but also for the students within to see work around them and collaborate. Extensive studies were completed both regarding public engagement and the necessities a fully-collaborative architecture center would need.

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fall 2012/professor tom kirchner/capstone studio/collaborative

As the forms began to transition to volumetric and enclosed spaces, it became clear the building needed to become easily maneuverable up to campus. The building was split apart permitting a central public exterior corridor littered in greenery. Volumes interjected at places demanding public attention. The center became one with the site. The entire first floor of the space (to the left side) became a long processional of public spaces and mixed use program to encourage interaction with students.

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entrance from the community lends itself to a public gallery on the right side of the building and a public forum that climbs up the slope granting access to the cafeteria on the campus side

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fall 2012/professor tom kirchner/capstone studio/collaborative

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the second floor to the left side of the building forms a cafeteria right off of the forum for campus use as well as faculty offices. to the right, larger exhibition spaces are made available to the public while a wood and fabrication shop are pushed under ground at the top of the slope.

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fall 2012/professor tom kirchner/capstone studio/collaborative

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fall 2012/professor tom kirchner/capstone studio/collaborative

The wall system was a way for the building to allow different levels of view penetrations through it. If a higher level of privacy was desired then the wall would become more dense whereas with more pubic spaces the number of louvers would decrease. This system also worked well with the context of the heavily wooded site both with material selection (teak) and its at appearance to be a random pattern.

The center blurred public and private spaces to allow guests to feel as if they weren’t be intrusive.

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the third floor is the floor which lands on the upper end of the site. the left side of the building continues to unfold cafeteria space to ease the burden of the third option on campus. to the right, classrooms climb out of the hillside leading to a large main exhibition hall open to the public and meant to hold critiques and small lectures.

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fall 2012/professor tom kirchner/capstone studio/collaborative

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The pods occur between different studios and usually span floors. Connections are created through these open spaces both to other floors + studios but also broadcasted to the public on the central path. These pods are constructed as cantilevered volumes differentiating themselves from the rest of the center.

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fall 2012/professor tom kirchner/capstone studio/collaborative

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fall 2012/professor tom kirchner/capstone studio/collaborative

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fall 2012/professor tom kirchner/capstone studio/collaborative

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fall 2012/professor tom kirchner/capstone studio/collaborative

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fall 2012/professor tom kirchner/capstone studio/collaborative

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