T.E.R. Rowing Facility
SCHUYLKILL RIVER, PHILADELPHIA, PA
Studio 2-A [Foundational Design Studio]
Project Duration: 5 Weeks
Instructor: Dr.-Ing Ulrike Altenmüller-Lewis, AIA
This Training, Education, and Rental rowing facility, to be located on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, explores spatial zoning on its exterior to subtly reveal interior program arrangements. The facility can be rented for various time durations and houses facilities for sixteen college-level rowers, 4 coxswains, two coaches, and an athletic trainer. Two vertical stair towers visually anchor the architectural design of the structure, which is itself a response to an early investigation of architectural jointery. Interior spatial zones are arranged to maximize function, and reflect the zone conditions found on the existing site.
Urban Treehouse: An Art Gallery
LANCASTER AVENUE, PHILADELPHIA, PA
Studio 2-A [Foundational Design Studio]
Project Duration: 5 Weeks
Instructor: Dr.-Ing Ulrike Altenmüller-Lewis, AIA
This art gallery, to be located on Lancaster Avenue in Philadelphia, uses carefully curated spaces to investigate the relationship between growth of the natural environment and decay of the built environment over time. A unique fenestration design displays living 'artifacts' in the natural environment, bringing one's attention to the relationship aforementioned. Carefully selected landscape conditions create an initial experience of order, and as one travels further into the site, the order slowly transitions into natural growth, revealing nature's way of overtaking the built environment as time moves on. An outdoor wrapping stair and deck condition allow visitors to experience the outdoor environment from varied elevational perspectives, and encourages them to question the relationship between building, natural growth, and time.
A Space for Contemplation
DELAWARE WATER GAP, NEW YORK STATE
Studio 1-B [Foundational Design Studio]
Project Duration: 5 Weeks
Instructor: Stephanie Feldman, AIA
After studying concrete casting techniques used in the construction of Toyo Ito's TOD's Omotesando building, design elements of continuous overlapping were derived and employed into a set of plaster molds. This freestanding structure for contemplation was born out of the curious and interwoven nature of the plaster mold designs. Located on a mountainous ridge near the Delaware Water Gap in NY, this rustic-style space highlights elements of structure and partial deconstruction on its interior and subtly reveals these in its façade and fenestration design. The final model is constructed of gray chipboard, square section basswood dowels, basswood planes, and white matboard, representing stone and wood clad siding, timber, wood flooring, and interior finishes, respectively.
Waterfront Acoustic Pier
DELAWARE RIVER, PHILADELPHIA, PA
Studio 1-A [Foundational Design Studio]
Project Duration: 5 Weeks
Instructor: Jason T. Austin, RA
Through a series of magazine collages, field studies, study models, and cardboard section interpolation of a previous foundational studio design project, a new design language was created for a 96-linear-foot waterfront pier on the Delaware River in Philadelphia. The sonic curation of architecture was explored in this conceptual design project, where users experience the exposure to and absence of wind on the river. A series of architectural interventions [moments] are embedded within the pedestrian ground plane - each expressing a unique auditory experience. A trellis-like system creates create a framework overhead to connect these moments, whose language adds cohesion to a dynamic ground plane condition that raises pedestrians up to the sky and lowers them down to the water. The final 48-inch model is constructed of corrugated cardboard, pine wood, square-section basswood dowels, and basswood planes.
