FRICK PARK, PITTSBURGH | FALL 2008

Located on a slag heap within Frick Park, this performance park facilitates the staged work of performance artists. The design of this fabricated landscape en-courages private and public interaction between the audience and performers by creating different levels of enclosure or exposure. The landscape, composed of wood, concrete, and plant material, si-multaneously acts as seating, enclosure, and sequence. Material choices respond to occupant activities as well: concrete designates walking paths, and wood des-ignates seating areas.

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FRICK PARK, PITTSBURGH | FALL 2008

Entrance sequence [previous page]

Model studies

Site section

Building section

Main performance area

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BENCH INSTALLATION | FALL 2009BOTTOM LEVEL

SEAT LEVEL

SEAT BACK LEVEL

TOP LEVEL

Utilizing the idea of horizontal screening, this layered bench instal-lation creates a variety of different social seating sections to activate the void space within a stairwell. Hori-zontal pieces were created using a CNC mill machine and were secured with threaded metal rods and bolts.

Milling operations were established to create five distinctive pieces that were profiled and engraved to clearly designate individual placement dur-ing the bench installation.

Created in collaboration with:Silvia ParkArlie SchrantzKevin Wong

COMPONENT SECTION LABELS

MILL COMPONENTS

STACK COMPONENTS

PROTOTYPE LAYERING

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PRAIRIE MONASTERY | SPRING 2011

thesis question: how do forms of repre-sentation and working methodology in-fluence the design of architecture?

The design process has a primary role in the architectural product, but the work-ing methodology of the architect rarely receives the same scrutiny as the final design itself. This thesis became a con-scious investigation into how process can be crafted to create better architecture.

The site for the thesis exploration sits in the remote farmland of New Effington, South Dakota. The program is a small monastery, a building typology that must function as a living, study, and worship space.

The experiential factors of the site and building program include time, light, scale, movement, and ritual. Explora-tion of these factors in the landscape led to the sectioning of the land, a series of massing model studies, and the deci-sion to unify the experience of moving through the site and the monastery to create a comprehensive, holistic focus the infinite landscape of the plains.

EXTENDED CONTEXT | NEW EFFINGTON, SOUTH DAKOTAIMMEDIATE CONTEXT | LOT 5

COLOR + LIGHT INITIAL MODEL STUDIES

COLOR + LIGHT INITIAL MODEL STUDIES

EAST | WEST BUILDING SECTION

SECTIONING MODEL STUDIES

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PRAIRIE MONASTERY | SPRING 2011

INDIVIDUAL MONK CELL, 7:30 AM

SANCTUARY DOOR MECHANISM

OPERATIONAL DIAGRAMPIVOT JOINT PLAN

CORRIDOR, 7:40 AM PUBLIC COURTYARD, 7:45 AM

To highlight the movement of the occupant through both the site and the building, the design of the mon-astery was explored through a series of iterative overlay drawings that divided the building and landscape into sectional “frames” of experi-ence. This allowed the design to be explored with the understand-ing of how monks and visitors alike would perceive the site and building through a sequence of time. Aspects of monastic ritual were also impor-tant to understanding how the build-ing would be occupied over time.

By designing a specific method of ar-chitectural process and drawing, as-pects of conceptual decision-making and building/site design were uni-fied to enhance the final product.

Worship unit

Sanctuary sequence excerpt

Final overlay booklet

Living unit

OPERABLE WHEEL ELEVATION

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