maggie ochsner

Education

California Polytechnic State UniversityBachelor of Architecture and Environmental Design 2007-2012

Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris-Val de SeineParis, France2010-2011

Skills

Proficient: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Rhinoceros, AutoCAD, Sketchup, Flamingo Renditioner for Rhino, model building, hand drafting

Competent: Maya, Revit, 3dsMax Animation, Mental Ray for 3dsMax, V-Ray Renditioner for Rhino

Awards & Special Recognition

2011 Vellum8 CAED Furniture Competition & ExhibitionWinner’s Circle

Accrediting Board Third year design chosen to represent Cal Poly to Nation Architecture Accrediting Board

Dean’s Honor List (top 15%)2011-2012

Foreign Languages

French [Intermediate]Spanish [Beginner]

Maggie Emma Lynn

Ochsner

402.209.2098 melochsner@gmail.com

table of contents____________

addressing the inevitable [thesis]

inside the box

un centre pour le quartier

urban forest

transit hub

vellum 8 furniture competition

1-6

7-10

11-13

15-18

19-20

21-24

addressing the inevitable______thesis 2012 / studio killing

SprawlCar

Dependency

Big Box Lifestyle

Waste/Pollution

When people envison the future, they rarely think of the inevitable; a meaningless wasteland filled with cars and box stores. The box store epidemic recently started, but is growing fast. Any progress that we as Americans make toward a healthier lifestyle is easily pushed back by the development of large box stores and box shopping centers. We need to make drastic changes for the good of our future and box stores are an overlooked problem.

With the big box store, comes the big box lifestyle. This lifestyle includes: waste, sprawl and car dependency.

The twenty-first century is fast becoming the age of the big box store. Do we want our generation to be defined by such a building? Is this how we want to be seen and remembered?

Obstacles--“Big box corporations” are not going to go away anytime soon. Cities are often eager to have these stores because of the money they bring in.-These stores play a huge role in our lives. -roads, traffic, taxes and for many cities, they become the new city centers.-Empty box stores create massive holes in communities. -People have to be dependent on cars.

Above: “Vacation House of the Future” by James R. PowersBelow: One of the millions of box stores littered across America.

Big Box Lifestyle

future

site

The site is currently an underused parking lot and is a hole along busy Marsh street which is filled with various types of stores and restaurants. Adding the showroom here will attract people to other businesses, not out of the city.

Across the street from the site is a popular pedestrian street filled with shops. The street is dead-ended by the empty parking lot and would benefit from another interactive public area.

I chose the parking lot of the First Bank of San Luis Obispo as the new site to build a showroom. This space is in a busy part of downtown and the large parking lot breaks up the rhythm of the interactive environment. If built here, customers will be aware of the other amenities downtown has to offer and will be more likely to use other forms of transportation instead of driving.

San Luis Obispo has fought hard to maintain the small town feel. However, in 2010 the city allowed a 200,000- square-foot Target store to open in the “Perfumo Creek Commons” shopping center on Los Osos Valley Road, far from the center of the city. It was placed there to preserve the local charm of the downtown.

Because of the large amount of money the shopping center would bring to the city, it was hard to say no. How-ever, people worried about the store taking away custom-ers from local businesses. The truth is, if people want to shop at stores like Target, they will. If they don’t support the stores, they will not go there. Before this Target was opened in San Luis Obispo, many people drove the dis-tance to the Walmart in Arroyo Grande or to the Target in Paso Robles. When these box stores are placed outside the city, more box stores follow along with the necessary infrastructure that goes with it. Because of the added traf-fic Target brings to Los Osos Valley Road the city is add-ing additional lanes to make driving to Target easier. The State Transportation Improvement Program has given San Luis Obispo approximately $13.8 million to do this.

As I mentioned earlier, with the big box buildings comes the big box lifestyle. Not only are we settling to interact with large, lifeless shells, these buildings also maintain our dependency on cars and guarantees a continuing devel-opment of automotive infrustructure.

How can the problems of the box store be fixed?This task can be achieved by redesigning the program of a big box store into an engaging showroom. The show-room will allow the building to be open and less opressive. One of each item will be out on display for customers to view and can be “added to their cart” virtually through an app on their smart phone or electronic tablet. This will de-clutter the store with excess merchandise and large carts.

precedentsShowroom & Leisure Center Manuelle Gautrand Architecture Cairo, Egypt

The Showroom and Leisure Center by Mauelle Gautrand Architects is a proposed project in Cairo, Egypt. The building contains showrooms which showcase several types of cars but also has two cinemas, and a few cafes. The open design allows the circulation to smoothly transition between showrooms and spaces. This design creates a relaxed and modern approach to a public space.

Monoprix Grocery & Department Store Paris, France

Monoprix is a chain store in France. In Paris, you often find these stores on every other block and they come in all shapes and sizes. They sell groceries, clothing, kitchen supplies, etc. To many American tourists, it is known as the “Target of Paris.” However, these stores are able to blend in with the high-density urban context of French cities.concept

Without the burden of carts or bags, the space offers a relaxing ap-proach to shopping, unlike the stressful errand it has become. Each person can leisurely stroll throughout the building with the ease of pur-chasing or reading about a product on their personal electronic tablet

or phone. Most everything these days can be purchased online, but people want to be able to see the product with their own eyes and touch and interact with it. This is why the showroom is effective. It cuts down the size of the building considerably be-cause only one of each product has to be on display. Shopping can once again be an event.

progression (noun) a movement or development toward a more advanced state.

The “showroom style” approach to the big box store dramatically decreases the space requirement from about 200,000 sq. ft. to approx. 20,000 sq. ft. This cuts back on sprawl and the need to add automotive infrastructure.

Incorporating these buildings in a downtown area will attract people to other businesses in the area so people will be more likely to eat at the local cafe next door than go through a drive-thru near a big box store. Alternative forms of transportation can be used instead of relying on a car.In order to progress, we must stop spending our lives moving from one big box to another and build places of interest, meaning and interaction......stop the big box epidemic.

[ inside the box ] _____________maggie ochsner + linnea clark / fall 2011 / studio killing

This ten week design task was to create an addition between the two science buildings on the CalPoly campus. Our design borrows aspects of the brutal-ist style which defines many buildings on the campus. It recalls heavy strong geometric shapes of Beuer, Kahn and Corbusier. The other side to this design is inspired by the concept of a geode, a complex, natural structure with a stark outside and a complex jagged inside. With the combination of these two concepts we arrived at a sleek geometric exterior that can appear simple un-til experienced close up. Inside, the jagged forms pierce the 3 interior floors to separate the space and create a cave-like effect.

Study Room-MinimalEating Area-LowCafe-MediumTransit-High

4

3

2

1

Organization of Space [Levels of Noise and Traffic]

The space is stacked according to circulation. The ground floor is designated solely for foot and bike traffic. The second floor contains the cafe and vertical walkway, this space is reserved for those students just grabbing a coffee or snack. If students would like to stay longer they can ascend to the 3rd floor to eat and chat or to the 4th floor for a quiet place to study.

Because the jagged partitions start at the top and slowly decrease in size as they pierce through the floors, more privacy is created at the top where it is most needed and becomes more open in the higher traffic areas.

Steel Column

Spider Joint

Steel Tube

Tie-back

Gutter

Mullion

Insulation

Site N

Model Progression [Concept - Final]

Section from West Section from North

un centre pour le quartier_____printemps 2011

Lift to give the illusion of floating and to let out light.

A shift in volumes to create exterior spaces.

The design task was to create a community center for the low-income neighborhood. The site is located in an area of new development right outside of the 19th arrondissement of Paris. I thought my building would work best on the corner because that would make it the most accessible.

My concept was to create a building that would be a beacon of light where the land creates a point, like a lighthouse. It will attract or “guide” the community to it. The building was lifted to give the illusion of floating with a sliver of light coming out from the bottom.

The building has two parts: a gym complex, a theater with a dance studio.The theater entrance is below ground while the gym entrance on the other side is more casual and approachable. An emergency staircase separates the two different functions.

The building is constructed with concrete colmns and shear walls. The second skin is perferated weathered steel.

Community Gym and Theater

Gradins

Balcon

Balcon

Étape

Classe de

Danse

Stockage pour les Décors

Classe de

Danse

Cafe

Vestiaire

Bureau

Salle de MusculationSalle de Classe

Cafe

VestiaireVestiaire

Stockage

Cuisine

TheatreEntree

GymEntree

B C

A

Etage 0

Etage 1

Etage 2

membrane du toit

isolation

colonne de béton

barrière contre l'humiditédalle de béton

gravierterre

Coupe A

Salle de Spectacle

Salle de Practice

TheatreCafe

Cafe

VestiaireCuisine

Salle deStockage

Coupe B

Salle de Practice

Salle de Classe

Sallede

Bain

Salle de Spectacle

Coupe C

Cafe Theatre Entree

urban forest__________________spring 2010 / studio killing

This quarter’s project was to design a performing arts theater in downtown Santa Monica. One major design objective was to create a penetrable barrier to distinguish the two different worlds of the Santa Monica every day life and the vibrant atmosphere of the theater. Since the skin varies in densities then trickles off the building, it creates a variety of views for all who experience the theater, while providing protection from sun and noise.

Another major objective was to place the public areas of the building along the street sides. Even though there is a permeable barrier, it connects the people in the building with the city. The auditorium was placed in the center to be the core of the building and the circulation flows around. In the space behind the building, there is a sculpture garden where the skin of the building slowly dimishes.

The theater is constructed with reinforced concrete, glass and bamboo for the second skin. The structural system consists of concrete columns, slabs and shear walls.

InspirationIn early design stages, I was inspired by bamboo forests and their beauty and variety. I built a concept model to provoke ideas and express the complexity of these forests. Bamboo is thin enough to have an open feeling even in dense amounts. Also, because of its height, it is able to shade the forest floor from the sun.

Concept Model

WOMEN’S RESTROOM

MEN’SRESTROOM

DRESSINGROOM 1

DRESSINGROOM 2

RESTROOM

RESTROOMWORKSHOP

COATCHECK

CONTROLROOM

TICKETING

RETAILAREA

LOBBY

WOMEN’S RESTROOM

MEN’SRESTROOM

OFFICE

BAR

PROJECTIONROOM

OUTDOORTERRACE

LOUNGEAREA

A

A A

A

B

BB

B

SECTION A

NORTHEAST ELEVATION

NORTHWEST/FRONT ELEVATION

SECTION B

Floor 1 Floor 2

ROOFING MEMBRANEINSULATION

CONCRETE COLUMN

CONCRETE SLABINSULATION

CONCRETE FOOTINGGRAVEL

EARTH

MOISTURE BARRIER

GLASSMULLION

transit hub___________________fall 2009 / studio lange

The design task was to assign a conceptual transit hub in New York City. My design was a super futuristic approach to architecture. My concept was to create a space that represented organized chaos. The structure around the tracks give the space the idea of motion but the building on the other hand is very contradictory and makes a sharp statement.

vellum 8_____________________maggie ochsner + nick ochoa / fall 2011 / vellum 8 furniture competition

For the Vellum 8 Furniture Competition, partner Nick Ochoa and I designed and created two lamps. The collection is named “Liquid Light”.

The first, a floor lamp which is a modern spin on the industrial style is composed of 1” black steel plumbing pipes and a reclaimed gate valve. Electrical wiring runs throughout the piping which supplies electricity to a light fixture pouring from the pipe’s end. The gate valve, reengineered, functions as the light switch. Playing on the idea of controlling a current, the valve now allows for the power to “flow”; thus creating liquid light.

For this entry, we earned a spot in the Winner’s Circle.

The second lamp, a desk lamp, is made of galvanized steel. It is freestanding and also has a valve as a “switch”.