Fifth Year | gmzarchitecture

Fifth Year of College

Fall 2015

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Classes: Studio 6-1 & Professional Practice I

Studio: This was a partner project that began with analyzing a competition entry from the Philadelphia Athenaeum. Our goal was to further develop the project from the competition entry, but we ended up taking the design in a new, more modern direction. Our main goal was to increase visibility for the new Athenaeum building and focus on interactions from inside and outside of the building. Some reading areas are located adjacent to the curtainwall on the west facade. This area is for people in Washington Square to see what is going on within the building and to attract them to it. In a reverse situation, there is a lookout area at the top of the stair on the north elevation. This area is a breakout area from the library and allows users a mental rest to watch people in the square below. The large atrium within the building allows for the connection of users within the library space.

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Winter 2016

Classes: Studio 6-2, Professional Practice II, & History of Modern Architecture I

Studio: The term began with a two week design competition for the IZE Prize. The project was to create an art gallery for Kamp Kippy that would also mark the location on the road to turn toward the camp. I wanted to create a sculptural piece that would be a "can't miss" element that also was related to the local culture. I settled on a large magenta lobster (the state crustacean of Maine) towering over the building.

After the Ize Prize Competition, we started an 18-week project to design an academic building for Drexel. To be incorporated into the developing Innovation neighborhood, we chose the newly-created Entrepreneur School to design the building for. As a partner project, it took a little while to begin merging our ideas about the massing of the building. We tried to create a fluid building that would change appearance throughout the day based on the shadows it cast upon itself. This was intended to relate to the young and evolving Entrepreneur School as it seeks to create its identity. A key element of the interior building was trying to create multi-level spaces for people to connect.

Spring 2016

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Classes: Studio 6-3, Tiny House Competition I

Studio: At the start of the spring term, we collected our ideas and began the massing anew. The building shape became more curvilinear in an effort to play with movement in relation of the building to the site and the users within. The building was broken down into two spaces - academic and professional - and had a central core that was for user connections. The metal panel facade was patterned to show a linear movement along the building. Window and panel sizes were varied as well as the amount of transparency on different window types. The movement of the facade also correlated with the movement on the inside as students would begin on one side of the building and then progress to the other side of the building as professionals after graduation.

Tiny House: This was a competition to design a tiny house that would be built over the summer to be used at Greensgrow, a local urban farm. My design focused on public to private transitions as the building was to be used for education but also the ability for someone to be living there at the same time. The exterior of my building was to represent different appearances of rowhomes in Philadelphia and demonstrate the importance of recycling and reuse of materials.

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Summer 2016

Classes: Tiny House Competition II

Tiny House: This was the planning and building of the tiny house. I edited the plans according to feedback in class as well as taking some liberties with the kitchen plans. We had some setbacks delaying the beginning of the build, but eventually the trailer arrived. We planned to use SIP panel walls and ceilings but forgot about a panel for the floor. In the photos you can see that we framed out the floor of the trailer and then filled it with insulation before capping with plywood. The summer ended before the SIP panels arrived, but the walls were the next step to install.