academic “shared stories” 1

precision poetics in architecture & design:works by Alex Gryger

info@alexgryger.comwww.alexgryger.com

www.precisionpoetics.com

copyright 2013 alex gryger

Entries & Openings: Play of Light & Shadow

Shared Stories proposes an architectural metaphor for New York City, itself, through the mapping of three programs, A House, A Subway, and A Nightclub onto a single site in Hunter’s Point, Queens. Structured like the films of Andrei Tarkovsky, the story lines of these three spatial characters, along with the site’s remaining fragments of the historic Long Island City Savings Bank Building, overlap, intertwine, and blur within the project’s physically defined space while its inhabitants interact as neighbors sharing common sensory experiences of the building through the critically detailed “Party Wall,” which frames the architectural moments where sights, sounds, textures, lights and shadows pass between adjacent programs. Collaged City Drawing | Schematic Section

Disassembled: A House, A Subway, A Nightclub (2010)

ACADEMIC | “SHARED STORIES,” 2006-20111017 JACKSON AVE, HUNTER’S POINT, QUEENS, NY

BEGAN AS SENIOR THESIS | PRATT INSTITUTE

copyright 2013 alexander m. gryger academic “shared stories” 2 for construction “rock slide house” 3copyright 2013 alexander m. gryger

storyboard #1: street, morning, rain

Shared Stories: Southwest Corner

Building Sections at the Apartment Stair

From the Courtyard Looking In

copyright 2013 alexander m. gryger academic “shared stories” 2 for construction “rock slide house” 3copyright 2013 alexander m. gryger

FOR CONSTRUCTION | “ROCK SLIDE HOUSE,” 2012WARWICK, NY | MICHAEL LEWIS ARCHITECTS PC

Perched halfway up a wooded mountainside in Warwick, NY, on a building site characterized by its sweeping valley views and anchored on its northwest corner by a scree of rock in a hollow at the base of a crumbling shale cliff, the project’s main physical challenge was to sensitively integrate a three-bedroom dwelling into this complex terrain. As Project Manager and Designer, I responded to this design problem by developing the Rock Slide House’s parti as a series of volumes stepping down along the slope to create a multi-leveled interior landscape reflecting the dynamic exterior setting and to define a carefully terraced massing that conformed to the

strict building height requirements of Warwick’s “Ridgeline Overlay District” zoning.

Design Development Concept Rendering

Design Development Site Plan

for construction “210 lnp pool house” 4copyright 2013 alexander m. gryger for construction “210 lnp pool house” 5copyright 2013 alexander m. gryger

Something of a landmark in my career, The 210 LNP Pool House Project, which also includes modifications to the existing summer estate house and a new swimming pool and landscaping created in collaboration with LaGuardia Landscape Architects, is the first project where I was fully present for every step of the process from the first meeting with the clients to the walk-through at substantial completion. The project began in 2010 during which time I was positioned as Designer and had full responsibility from initial design through construction documents. During the course of the project, I was recognized for my organizational skills and precise attention to detail and was promoted to Project Manager with the charge of guiding the project the rest of the way through construction. The experience was immensely educational for me and under my observation it was even finished on time, though just barely, two days before the clients arrived for Memorial Day Weekend.

FOR CONSTRUCTION | “210 LNP POOL HOUSE” 2010-2012WATER MILL, NY | MICHAEL LEWIS ARCHITECTS PC

IN COLLABORATION W/LAGUARDIA

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS

construction documents: pool house detailed lateral section

design site plan

construction CL: exterior finish carpentry details

for construction “210 lnp pool house” 4copyright 2013 alexander m. gryger for construction “210 lnp pool house” 5copyright 2013 alexander m. gryger

early design rendering: pool & pool house in site construction observation: pool house exterior

construction observation: vaulted pool house interior framing construction observation: vaulted pool house interior near completion

for construction “indie house restoration” 6copyright 2013 alexander m. gryger academic “largo argentina” 7copyright 2013 alexander m. gryger

FOR CONSTRUCTION | “INDIE HOUSE,” 2009 TO 2010RIVERDALE, BRONX, NY | MICHAEL LEWIS ARCHITECTS PC

Work on the 6000 SF “Indie House,” built circa 1900, began with thorough documentation of its existing conditions and an evaluation of the ability of its program to meet the needs of contemporary dwelling, which led to sensitive design alterations throughout aimed at preserving the existing fabric wherever possible. Additional considerations included feasibility studies for the upgrade of existing mechanical systems to high-efficiency alternatives, the installation of solar panels, and improvements to the building’s thermal shell. As Designer on the project, I was fully responsible for the creation of all proposed modifications and the completion of a full set of RFB drawings.

Details: Restoration of Existing West Porch Solarium

Kitchen Interior Elevation

proposed south elevation

1F Construction Plan For Pricing

for construction “indie house restoration” 6copyright 2013 alexander m. gryger academic “largo argentina” 7copyright 2013 alexander m. gryger

ACADEMIC | LARGO ARGENTINA 2006ROME, ITALY | PRATT INSTITUTE

This design for a visitors’ center and gallery proposes a piece of passage architecture for Rome that provides a way for pedestrians to experience the Largo Argentina Site by replac-ing the existing impenetrable boundary between the modern street level and the lower excavated temples. Working under the premise that Rome can be continually reinvented through the reconfiguration of its spatial prototypes, the design solution is based on the urban stair that ascends the Gianicolo Hill from Trastevere to San Pietro in Montorio, an apt model for urban navigation across a change in elevation, the upper piazza and the Tempietto courtyard. By identifying the elements of the sequence as purely spatial components, it became possible to re-assemble them at the Largo Argentina into a new experiential narrative of intervals of movement and rest.

re-constructed urban fragments joined with site

re-constructed urban spatial fragments

plan at modern street level & section/elevations

independent works “mapping” 8copyright 2013 alexander m. gryger

INDEPENDENT | MAPPING SEQUENCES IN TIME (2010-2011)LIVE MODEL ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING

Literally created from life during live model drawing sessions, the Mapping in Time drawings trace the shifting movements of dancers and performance artists at work to explore their body-space-time relationships in an act of “search and discovery” (2) meant to find material inspiration for later transposition into architectural expression. By recording the subjects’ transformations and progressions of physical action as a compressed drawing in a single frame, the mapping provides an altered point-of-view that allows one to see time in a way that one is unable to experience first hand, revealing the otherwise nearly imperceptible construction of space by the continuity of a body in motion.

2. Donald Wall, “Gordon Matta-Clark’s Building Dissections,” An Interview by Donald Wall Reprinted from Arts

Magazine, May 1976, pp. 74-79

mapping the Cocoon Project by Sherry Alibertidancer #1

red mask mapping ii