portfolio

CONTENTSc. abbott

I. Sparta Teapot Museum 01

II. Rainwater Filtration Center 05

III. Emergency Shelter 07

IV. Houston Day Laborer Center 09

V. Central Avenue Housing Complex 13

VI. Sketching 15

XI. Vendors of Poetic Phenomena 17

VII. Aquaculture Facility 18

VIII. Analytical Drawing 22

X. Waste Land-scape 24

XIII. Teaching 23

DESIGN

RESEARCH and ANALYSIS

PRACTICE

Image A : Little Abstract Sketches #1,2, Vicenza, Italy ‘04

Recipient: Cooper Robertson & Partners, New YorkChristine Abbott - Spring 2012Graduate School of Design - MLA 1 AP ‘12

SPARTA TEAPOT MUSEUM l Sparta, NC

christine abbott l fall 2005 l independent academic project

see stair detailing, p03-4

Image A: Ground Floor Plan

Image B: First Floor Plan

Image C: Second Floor Plan

01_I

Professors Kelly Carlson Reddig, Rick Kazbee, UNC Charlotte

Image E: Presentation Model facing the North Facade

Image F: Presentation Model facing the South Facade

Image D: Presentation Model at 1’= 1/32” from Above

Image G-H: Working Model at 1’=1/16”

PROjECT

A 30,000 SF museum for teapots set in the mountains of western North Carolina draws its form from the landscape and an idea about filtering.

North of the building, a roughly sculpted landscape suggests falling toward an entry where circulation paths converge. To the south, a set of pale concrete walls cuts into the land creating more temperate micro climates within the landscape and relating to extended balconies on the building’s South facade.

REPRESENTATION

Plans shown in Images A-C were digitally drafted. The presentation model was laser cut and hand assembled (Images D-F), and the working model (Images G-H) was constructed by hand, serving as an important tool for design development.


02_I

ARCH7101 - Comprehensive Graduate Studio

Image E: Building Section Facing East

Image C-D: Details Showing Cable Connections at the Ceiling (A) and Stair Treads (B)

SPARTA TEAPOT MUSEUM l Sparta, NC

Image B: Long Section through Southwest Stair Facing North

Image A: Cross Section through Southwest Stair Facing West

christine abbott l 2005-6 l independent academic project

03_I

Professors Kelly Carlson Reddig, Rick Kazbee, UNC Charlotte

Image G: South Elevation

Image F: Long Section through Southwest Stair Facing South

christine abbott l 2005-6 l independent academic project

04_I

ARCH7101 - Comprehensive Graduate Studio l Detailing Elective

DETAILING

An elective course in detailing sponsored several more in-depth design investigations. Among these, a gallery stair (Image A-D, F) and glass curtainwall along the north facade (Image E) were resolved at enlarged scales.

PROjECT

The program of this twenty-four story highrise - the study of rainwater filtration - directly dictates its form. A series of “water bellies” sweep beyond the building, lined with a membraneous material that distends with a increase in rainwater capture.All design work for this project was a collaboration with UVa student Karen Lui.

REPRESENTATION

All images utilized a 3-D digital model constructed in Maya as underlays. The production of Images A-B was independent and consisted of a combination of watercolor, photoshop, and 3-D modeling. While I took responsibility for most of the 3-D digital modeling, Karen Lui exported and digitally rendered Images C, D. I have made some minor adjustments to Image C in photoshop since 2005.

RAINWATER FILTRATION CENTER l Philadelphia, PA

christine abbott l spring 2005 l collaborative academic project

05_II

Professor jason johnson, University of Virginia

Image A : Interior Perspective Into Cafe and Auditorium

Image B : Interior Perspective Into Typical Lab Adjacent to Water Channel

Image C : Building Section

Image E : Diagram of Water Channel


06_II

ARCH402 - Undergraduate Studio

Image D : Exterior Perspective Showing Piping

EMERGENCY SHELTER l Gulf Region

Image A: Exploded Axon of Shelter Assembly

PROjECT

Responding to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, this emergency shelter means to provide physical and psychological respite in a building that can be efficiently assembled.

Using modular S.C.I.P.S. (Structural Concrete Insulated Panels), the shelter was designed to minimize waste using each 4’ x 8’completely. >>


07_III

Professors Heather Duncan, Larry Scarpa, UNC Charlotte

>> The shelters are constructed in pairs leaving an elevated semi-public space equipped with a rudimentary rainwater filtration system and a hearth (Image B). The shelter is raised because the land that the shelter sits on may be disrupted - torn up, flooded or covered with debris (Image C). The exterior public space, can, therefore, be understood as a re-defined ground plane.

REPRESENTATION

All Drawings (Image A-D) were digitally drafted and watercolored (Images B-C) or rendered in photoshop (Image D). The model was constructed by hand and used torn corrugated cardboard to represent and disrupted landscape and chipboard to described the S.C.I.P.S. panels.

Image F: 1/4” = 1’ Building Section


08_III

ARCH7201 - Topical Graduate Studio

Image B-C: Plan (above) and Section (below) Diagram showing a Re-defined Ground Plane

Image D-E: Top Views of 1-1/2” = 1’ Model

Image B

DAY LABORER CENTER l Houston, TX

Image A: Eating

Images A - L : Photographs of Site Remnants

Image B: Walking Image C: Hanging

Image D: Building Image E: Listening Image F: Smoking

Image G: Building Image H: Washing Image I: Seeing

Image j: Disposal Image K: Playing Image L: Reading

christine abbott l spring 2006 l independent academic project

09_IV

Professor Linda Samuels, UNC Charlotte

PROjECT

An open-ended program for a Day Laborer Center beneath a Houston highway was determined by using found remnants on the site as suggestions for particular activities (i.e. reading, smoking, washing).

A pavilion for each remnant is constructed as a sweeping metal structure. The design means to call attention to the laborers hidden below the highway as much as it is meant to serve practical needs for the workers.

REPRESENTATION

All drawings and perspectives drew from a 3-D digital model constructed in Maya. Vector line drawings were then rendered in photoshop with an intentional level of abstraction to highlight disparities of material and communicate basic gestures.

Image M : Perspective of Pavilions from the Highway

Image N : Site Plan


10_IV


DAY LABORER CENTER l Houston, TX


11_IV

Professor Linda Samuels, UNC Charlotte

Image B : Section Cuts

Image A : Exterior Perspective from the Ground Level

Image C

>> Sections show a bridging of space above and below the highway (Images C-E) with a suggestion of tarnished and reflective sides of each sweeping pavilion.

Image F was drafted by hand and watercolored as an initial investigation of the location and articulation of these pavilions.


12_IV


Image C-E : Sections through Highway

Image D

Image F : Schematic Drawing for Pavilions in Water Color

CENTRAL AVENUE HOUSING l Charlotte, NC

PROjECT

This small housing complex aims to integrate the urban and suburban conditions along Central Avenue’s developing corridor connecting outlying and diverse neighborhoods to downtown Charlotte.

An exterior courtyard space mediates between two distinct housing typologies. Units on the northern edge of the site are conceived as town houses (Image E), while the more densely packed units along Central Avenue (Image F) are exposed to and elevated from the street with a Bubble Tea Cafe as a retail component on the ground floor level.

The circulation is orchestrated such that each resident approaching their Central Avenue aparment must pass a landing facing into the terraced courtyard (Image C).

13_V

Professors Heather Duncan, Larry Scarpa, UNC Charlotte


Image B : Top View of 1/8”=1’ Model

Image A : Diagram showing sight lines

Image C : Side View of 1/8”=1’ Model

14_V



Image F : Front View of 1/8”=1’ Model

Image D : Ground Floor Plan

Image G : Side View of 1/8”=1’ Model

Image E : Model of Townhouses at 1’=1/8”

REPRESENTATION

Image D was digitally drafted and rendered in photoshop with an underlay of a scanned process model. The presentation model was constructed entirely by hand (Images B-C, E-G).

SKETCHING l Verona, Vienna

15_VI

Professors Charles Menefee, Natalie Gattegno, University of Virginia

christine abbott l summer 2004, 2008 l independent academic l professional project

PROjECT

These drawings are pulled from two projects: a sketching course based in Vicenza, Italy taken with Charlie Menefee and Natalie Gattegno and a research trip. >>

Image B : Vienna’s Parliament Building

Image A : Perspective of Gardens at the Palazzo Giusti Giardino, Verona, Italy

SKETCHING l Paris, Dresden

16_VI

ARCH500 - Vicenza Drawing Course

christine abbott l summer 2004, 2008 l independent l professional academic project

>> The research trip included visits to Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam, and Paris and serviced the seminar elective Information Landscapes where students would engage in researching one of a collection of these cities.

REPRESENTATION

Aside from the ‘Little Abstract Drawings’ below, all drawings were drawn freehand in graphite and on-site at each location.

Image C : Pantheon, Paris

Image B : Rodin Sculpture, Zwinger Museum, Dresden

Image A : Little Abstract Sketches #3,4, Vicenza, Italy

17_VI

VENDORS for POETIC PHENOMENA l New York City, NY


Image A : Plan and Elevation of the Vendor for Con[de]struction : Detached Cones

Image B-C : 3-D Prints of Street Objects (above) and Castings (below)

Image E : Site Plan for the Vendor for Con[de]struction

PROjECT

A graduate thesis project included designing Vendors for Poetic Phenomena that made physical poetic events specific to New York City. One such Vendor (Images A, C)) casts the implied negative space between objects on the street that signify construction (Image B) articulating an implied barrier that dictates how New Yorkers move around the city.

REPRESENTATION

The casts and derivative street objects were built in Maya and 3-D printed (Images B, C). Drawings were constructed in Autocad (Image A) and Illustrator (Image E).

Image B

Image E : Site Map for Vendors christine abbott l spring 2007 l independent academic project

DURABILITY STUDY l Allston, MA Professors Niall Kirkwood and Pierre Belanger, Harvard GSDGSD6242 - Ecologies, Techniques and Technologies IV

PRojEcT

These drawings studied an outdoor space by Harvard’s Business School housing, looking for symptoms of durability success and durability failure. While the folded benches (Image A) showed little evidence of degradation, the gravel path edge (Image B) was compromised by rain and pedestrian wear.

REPRESENTATIoN

Image A was created independently using Rhino v.4 and Adobe Illustrator. Image B was drawn by Alexis DelVecchio. All observation and conclusions about the work was completely collaborative.

Image A : Exploded Axon of Folded Bench-to-Ground-Surface

Image B : Section through Path Edge

22_VIII


PROJECT

A short design problem for a phytoremediation seminar proposed a phased strategy for mitigating arsenic contamination for a site in Weston, MA. Pre-phase testing (Image A) is analyzed to target the most contaminated areas. Phase 1 partitions and plants Chinese Brake Ferns based on this analysis. Phase 2 (Image B) re-plants after results from 1 season.

REPRESENTATION

All images were drafted in Rhino v.4 and refined in Adobe Illustrator.

Image A : Pre-Phase Testing | Analysis

Image B : Phase 2: Test and [re]-Plant

PHYTOREMEDIATION PROPOSAL l Weston, MA Professors Niall Kirkwood and Kathryn Kennen, Harvard GSDGSD9108 - Phyto: Remediation

and Rebuilding Technologies in the Landscape

23_VIII

christine abbott l march 2012 l independent academic project

christine abbott l fall 2010 l collaborative academic project

AQUACULTURE FACILITY l South Weymouth, MA Professor Christian Werthmann and Pierre Belanger, Harvard GSD

18_VII

Waster Water Treatment System

Aquatic Plants Research Lab

[Sub] Surface Flow Wetlands

Meadow

Wet Meadow

Preserved Hardscape

Aquaculture Ponds

Forest

Vernal Pools

Image A : Land Cover Plan

Image Set B : Sections Showing Relationship of Ponds and Wetlands to Watertable

AB

C

D

E F

A B C

christine abbott l fall 2010 l collaborative academic project

ARCH1211 - Core Landscape Architecture Studio

19_VII

PROJECT

Responding to ecological devastation due to over-fishing and high-demand in the New England market, this decommissioned Naval air station in South Weymouth is conceived as a large scale aquaculture facility.

Drawing From precedents, a secondary sewage treatment system is integrated into aquaculture ponds. Nutrient and food cycles dictate combinations of fish (Image set C). Wetlands restore headwaters of three watersheds converging on the site (Image A). Ponds are strategically placed based on soil and water table (Image set B).

REPRESENTATION

Images A-B are constructed independently using Autocad, Adobe Illustrator and watercolor. Image Set C was created in collaboration with teammate Judith Rodriguez.

Image Set C : Fish Assemblages

D E F

Image Set A : Program Calendars

HARVEST MANAGE GATHER

AQUACULTURE FACILITY l South Weymouth, MA

20_VII

Professor Christian Werthmann and Pierre Belanger, Harvard GSD

PROJECT

The Aquaculture Facility acts as an educational and recreational space as well as a commercial enterprise and an ecologically restorative practice.

Year-round programming was considered to integrate different agendas associated with the project.

REPRESENTATION

Image set A was created independently using Adobe Illustrator and watercolors. Images B-D were created by teammate Kenya Endo using Adobe Photoshop.

Image C : Meadow and Wetlands (Summer)

COMPOST FISH PLAY

21_VII

ARCH1211 - Core Landscape Architecture Studio

Image C [above] : Ponds (Winter) Image D [below] : Ponds (Autumn)

Image A : Sectional Perspective: “Wasteland: The Burial of the Dead”

WASTE LAND-SCAPE Professor Andrea Hansen, Harvard GSD

24_X

PROJECT

The project transformed a precedent into an imagined landscape capitalizing on surface-making tools in Rhinoceros. Final renderings pulled imagery from sections of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land.

REPRESENTATION

images A-B were created using Rhino v.5, Grasshopper, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.


GSD2241 - Landscape Representation III: Landform and Ecological Process

Image B : Perspective: “Wasteland: What the Thunder Said”

25_X

“Falling towersJerusalem Athens AlexandriaVienna LondonUnreal.”

- t.s. eliot


practice UNc charlotte Full-time Lecturer l Duketip architecture instructorteaching

a four semester lectureship offered the opportunity to teach foundational architecture design studios to first-year undergraduate and graduate students as well as elective courses in writing, analytical representation and drawing.

the position was modeled after a teaching fellowship, and responsibility for course content steadily increased over the two year period. an upper-level elective course in the final semester focused on the graphic communication of information; the content was drawn largely from the texts of edward tufte including Beautiful Evidence.

Building on graduate research in poetry and architecture, and pulling from team-taught representation courses, the seminar explored traditional and non-traditional mapping, graphics of text, and collage.

two summers of the fellowship were spent teaching gifted youth in a condensed (3-week) introductory architecture course through the Duketip Summer Studies program at Davidson college, Nc and texas a&M University, college Station, tX.

image a : Duketip Student Jalen Lewis presents at a mid-review; texas a&M, Summer 2009. photograph by elissa Bostain

UNc charlotte teaching appointments

Fall 2007arcH 1101 First Year Undergraduate StudioarcH2601 Second-Year Writing Seminar

Spring 2008arcH1102 First Year Undergraduate StudioarcH1602 First Year [Drawing] Seminar

Fall 2008arcH1101 First Year Undergraduate StudioarcH6111 Graduate Studio: representation and analysis component

Spring 2009arcH1102 First Year Undergraduate StudioarcH4050 critical thinking elective Seminar: Information Landscapes

Duketip Summer Studies

Summer 2007, 2009introduction to architecture for Gifted Youth

christine abbott l 2007-2009 l professional practice

23_iX

image D : el Lissitzky, Self portrait, Self portrait: the constructor, 1924. in Visual Explanations. edward r. tufte. cheshire, connecticut: Graphics press LLc, 1997, p140.

image B : Flower Fields. Oceanside, california. found in Taking Measure Across the American Landscape. James corner and alex S. MacLean. Yale University press, 1996, p 112.

image c : Noa eshkol and abraham Wachmann. Movement Notation (London, 1958), 10, 11, 20, 31. in Envisioning Information. edward r. tufte. cheshire, connecticut: Graphics press LLc, 1990, p116.

image a : Mountain Village in Vrin, the Grisons found in The Architect, the Cook and Good Taste. ed. petra Hagen Hodgson and rolf toyka. Birkhauder, 2007, p82.

UNc charlotte [ Selected ] Lectures images


24_iX

UNc charlotte Full-time Lecturer l Duketip architecture instructorLectures

UNc charlotte [ Selected ] Lectures

arcH1101L1 Ways of Seeing_31aug07L2 Path and Datum_19sept07L3 The Nature of Boundaries_25oct09WL4 Circulation_01oct08WL5 Order in Houses_24oct08WL6 Diagrams_04nov08

arcH2601 Second-Year Writing Seminar01b_Write_introduction02_Analysis

arcH1102L1_SketchbooksL3.0_DiagrammingL3.1_Field TripL4.0_Site DiagrammingL4.2_Palimpsest Perspectives

arcH1602L7a Fields_04feb09L7b Frames_06feb09L8a Figure vs. Field_11feb09L9a Map + Moments_18feb09L9b Vignettes_20feb09L10 Sketchbook_25feb09

arcH6111L1 Camera Operations_Kertesz_26aug08L2 Analysis_02sept08L3 Sorting_09sept08L4 Fields_18sept08

arcH4050 information LandscapesL1_Site_27jan09 L2_Mapping Cities_02mar09L3_Collage_24march09L4_Text_16apr09

Duketip Summer Studies [ Selected ] illustrated Dialogues

iD [Circulation]_21jul09iD [Palimpsest]_16june09 FolderiD [Diagramming]_28jul09

iMaGeS

images a-B were used as examples of field conditions related to building and landscape.

images c-D were shown in lectures for information Landscapes (see p26-7). image c was an example of communicating information about movement at the scale of the body, and image D served as an example of communicating meaning more subjectively through the medium of collage.


25_iX

1. A mystery blueand white TRAM ROUTE 4in black and whitegigantic boldface larger than any

black four whispering while SHOUTINGthrough the red and brown cobblestonesand scorched e l e c t r i c metaltracks and the e n d l e s s

restlessness of the spectrum f o o t s t e p sof a million mobius stripsclothed in dark woolwarm, inviting to the homethe smell of the river like the smell of freshbread, that mystery blue and whiteTRAM ozones in respirationasking me to get on board.

2. A night visitor c.r.e.a.k.s. open

a randOM chanceas I turn and wake UPin semi-dark-ness where the shapes

of shadows slide be-tween the formand the formless field of receptors.Is it the movement or the awarenessthat sends it f l e e i n g ?

3. There are women in cabinets,

erotic knickknacks,for SALE, bathed in redand lonely, sudden breaths.There’s a DIXIELAND trombone laughing

in the distance. With the camerasand the knuckles r.a.p.p.i.n.g. on the windows

everybody’s floating on the beat.

4. In the Park people s-t-r-o-l-las 2 grey llamas runcircles around a cowasking them to STO .with each new dust cloud revolution.The llamas don’t stop.NO, the llamas don’t stop.

Some guy hands me a FLYer

for a coffee shop. A beggar says“I AM Dutch, therefore I speak English.”

5. Across an open offwhite RIB CAGE

stands a COLOSSAL hologramin oil paint and the willfullycaptured light of the eye’s fire

burning from the edisni tuoa center of light that even NOW sendsthe viewer onto a chromatic bridgebetween the nuc-l-eus and the Orbit.

6. Sunny is an AUSTRALIA-Nmusing at THE ENDof the Heineken Brewery Tour.She b r u s h e s back her long brown hairwith a NEWly acquired backpacker’s hand.“We’re ALL convicts you know,” she says,“or descended from convicts.”Her face doesn’t get any whiter

but her lips p - a - r - t.Luckily, we have beer.

7. At the edge of a canal I FINISHthe last of my Northern LIGHTS,

rOlled up with some brown shag Drumfor which I paid .exact. change.The man be-hind the counter thanked me.Central Street murmuredlike a h e a r t b e a t .The blood r e a c h e s the lungsand the river r e a c h e s the sea.

over

Student Work l information Landscapes

image B-c : text Map (left) and collages (right) on amsterdam, 5th year student, Josh cannup

image a : Berlin Map and time line 1920’s - 1970’s, 3rd year undergraduate student, patrick McMurry

MappiNG aND cOLLaGe

christine abbott l spring 2007 l professional practice

26_iX

UNc charlotte Full-time Lecturercourse independently Developed and taught arcH4050 information Landscapes

( Syllabus excerpts )

preMiSe in the process of making places, architects appropriate pieces of their reality from a myriad of sources. they may mine creative works from other disciplines [ i.e. painting, music, poetry ] - to adapt form or infuse meaning into their own work. to understand the larger context into which he or she builds, an architect will examine landscape and infrastructure, social patterning and political or cultural history of that particular site. in addition, an architect must have the ability to process and translate this data into graphic and spatial form in order to successfully analyze and demonstrate the information they take into the design process.

cONteNtthe course provides a venue for discussing, making, and critiquing cognitive art - graphic or spatial representations that display data. each of four (4) projects will begin with a different set of input about a particular place, ranging from primary sources (i.e. original photography, on-site observations, found remnants) to secondary sources (i.e. published maps or writings about a place). each project translates this original data into an integrated visual.

MetHODStudents will construct and submit a project in the format that corresponds to that unit: relief model and diagrams [UNit 1], urban-scaled maps [UNit 2], collage [UNit 3], and text maps [UNit 4].

in the first and second unit, data will be mapped in plan, focusing first on the scale of the architectural site, and then on the scale of the city. Discussions in this unit examine the language of maps, the meaning and history of symbols, and the place of site analysis in the generation of initial design concepts.

the third unit focuses on image, where photographs and remnants from different sources are collaged to-gether to illustrate ideas about a place. remnants or reclaimed images as well as photographs constitute the final collages.

the fourth unit addresses the problem of exploiting and translating data about place in the form of text. readings and discussions will address interpretive matters of deriving form from ideas embedded in a text, as well as more objective methods of effectively using typography as part of a graphic layout.

iMaGeS

a time line of events during the third reich in Germany is mapped onto a street in center city Berlin (Mitte) where Hitler planned to construct enormous Neoclassical buildings (images a).

images B-c describe the city of amsterdam as a piece of text translated graphically and a set of collages.


27_iX


Student Work l First Year Drawing Seminar DiaGraMMiNG aND SketcHiNG

image a : Diagramming Field compositions including Horizontal Bounding lines and Negative Space

image B : Selected Drawings of the Vietnam and world War ii Memorials at the National Mall, UVa’s Lawn, and Monticello, emmie Huang

image c : Hand Made accordion Sketchbook as artifact, J. Diaz

28_iX

arcH1602 First Year Drawing Seminar

cOLLaBOratiONresponsible for the middle third of the semester, i planned and taught coursework for six weeks preceding a field trip to charlottesville, Va and Washington D.c.

Lectures and assignments focused on understanding the relationships between figure and field, building and context. images a-F show assignments from this middle portion of the semester.

the first and last sections of the course were taught by associate professor Greg Synder and associate professor Michael Swisher respectively.


cOUrSe DeScriptiONthis course further refines drawing and representation skills including composition, analysis and transformation, diagramming, and elaborationon the principles and the use of color and the medium of watercolor.the development of these skills targets content that describes various architectural concepts related to form and meaning. projects, lectures, demonstrations, and exercises present the language and conventionsof architectural drawings and representations, and the role that such representations play in the design process.projects, lectures, demonstrations, and exercises introduce the skill of drawing and analysis. the aim (in concert with design studio) is to understand drawing and analysis as a vital means to see, represent, and understand essential aspects of the visual environment.

( assignment excerpt )

reNDeriNG FiGUre VS. FieLD complete two drawings of one of your 16 images discriminatively rendered inside and outside of your chosen frames. in addition, you will re-draw the thumbnail sketches of your contact sheet.

Objectives:· to practice adept manipulation of different rendering techniques.· to consider the subtle relationship between figure and field.· to recognize a particular method of analytical drawing through the calling-out of an area of your field composition.

UNc charlotte Full-time Lecturer

iMaGeS

image a shows a few examples from a series of diagrams studying field compositions as photographs.

the drawings shown in image B are taken from a student’s field trip sketchbook. they each respond to on-site assignments at the National Mall and at Jefferson’s University and home in charlottesville. image c shows one of these sketchbooks students made prior to the trip.


29_iX

christine abbott l spring 2008, 2009 l professional practice

Student Work l First Year Undergraduate Studio BUiLDiNG aND LaNDScape

image a : iterations Set in Designed cast cube, adrianne Blossom

image c : Final Orthographic Drawings, Zachary tartlon

image D : Final Model beside Water in Site, adrianne Blossom

image F : iterations of Massing Models painted to clarify Hierarchy, adrianne Blossom

image e : Final Model Set into the Landscape, Zachary tartlon

image B : Final perspective collage, Zachary tartlon

30_iX

arcH1102 First Year Undergraduate Studio

cOLLaBOratiONall course content was developed with associate professor peter Wong, assistant professor Jeff Balmer, Full-time Lecturer Jason Slatinksy (Spring 2008) and Visiting assistant professor Nora Wendl (Spring 2009). the writing of project statements and delivering of lectures alternated among the four professors over the course of the semester.

in the two years (spring ‘08, ‘09) i taught this course the content evolved to focus more on the building’s relationship to the land, in part, to adapt to changing demands in architectural education and in part as a response the areas of interest and expertise specific to rotating foundational professors (Jason Slatinsky, Nora Wendl and myself).

( Syllabus excerpt )

preMiSearchitecture Design Studio 2 continues the architectural design sequence by expanding the knowledge and skills in architectural processes, methods, principles, and issues that affect the built environment. Design is presented as a discipline involving conceptual analysis, interpretation, synthesis and transformation of the physical environment.

( assignment excerpt )

2.2 Site: Space DeFiNeD BY tHe eartHin the next part of the project you will locate and site five of your ten compositions with respect to ahypothetical ground or base situation. Hence, you will embed your volumes into the earth. in so doing youwill create space by carving or subtracting from a given ground or base condition.You will need to establish a vertical datum for your spatial compositions and their newfound site. thisdatum will be designated as a horizontal plane to which all vertical locations can be referenced.

VOcaBULarY aND terMiNOLOGY• ground• site• datum• poché• subtraction/subtractive• void• cellular space


iMaGeS

Schematic design investigated in models shown in images a, F evolved into an articulated building with plan and section drawings (image c), models set into a context (images D-e) and collaged perspectives (image B).

christine abbott l spring 2008, 2009 l professional practice

31_iX

Student Work l Graduate representation aNaLYSiS

image a : analysis of Soho Facades, Graduate March Hanin kasruh

image B : photographing, analyzing and Sorting Field compositions, elizabeth Unruh

christine abbott l fall 2008 l professional practice

32_iX

arcH6111 Graduate representation

cOLLaBOratiONthis graduate studio taught basic design and representational skills to incoming March i students or those without architecture backgrounds. the course content and method was collaboratively developed with associate professor peter Wong. responsible for the representation Studio, i wrote all assignments, delivered lectures and taught class for the Tuesday / thursday portion of the class.

Having co-taught this course previously as a graduate student, i adjusted it to focus more on analytical representation meant to tie into an evidence-based design strategy stressed by professor Wong.


preMiSeFor some, architecture is merely a way of sheltering people from nature and the environment. For others, architecture affords economic and financial prosperity – e.g., as witnessed with developers and real estate agents. However, buildings must also serve to satisfy fundamental human needs, such as comfort, memory, and spiritual well-being. as the contemporary Viennese architect, Hans Hollein once said, “architecture should maintain body temperature and ritual.” this course, and its projects, will engage fundamental design skills as well as the concepts required in the design of architecture.

OBJectiVeSarcH 6111 is the first studio course for those enrolled in the March 1 program. the studio explores the fundamental concepts, processes, and skills required to understand architectural design.

MetHODDesign Studio: course work assigned will be studio-based. Design projects are intended to initiate a range of discussions on architecture and design-related subjects. the development of a foundation of critical thinking skills and spatial understanding of form are objectives of these assignments.

representation Studio: tuesday and thursday class sessions shall focus on representation concepts and analytical techniques. exercises will specifically address the topics of drawing and image manipulation via observation, analysis, data collecting, and mapping. the exercises for this part of the course shall be coordinated with the projects in design studio.


iMaGeS

images a and B demonstrate analytical representation skills emphasized in the representation Studio.

image a is taken from the facade of storefront in one block in Soho.

the Matrix depicted in image B arranges field compositions analytically based on the source of visual order.

christine abbott l fall 2008 l professional practice

33_iX

Student Work l Duketip architecture FUNDaMeNtaLS

image a : invitation to the Final critique, Session ii at texas a&M University, Summer 2009

image c : analytical Model; temperature along a path, Nat Fox image D : color Fields painting, austin McDonough

image B : Final Model for a Nature pavilion, Mary Schwabe

christine abbott l summers 2007, 2009 l professional practice

34_iX

introduction to architecture

cOLLaBOratiONthe devlopment of the course including scripting the syllabus and assignments was executed independently. teaching assistant elissa Bostain (4th year architecture student at clemson) assisted in class planning, classroom management and a handful of assignment presentations.

to accomodate an active class constituency, “illustrated Dialogues” replaced traditional lectures. in these presentations images prompted questions and students engaged in conversation as i presented course material.


preMiSearchitecture is an interdisciplinary practice requiring a diverse set of skills and drawing from various knowledge sets. these levels of understanding include but are not limited to:

1] skills for recognizing and generating 2 and 3-dimensional compositions 2] analytical skills for considering human occupation and perception of spaces 3] a base of knowledge about the cultural history of buildings 4] a base of knowledge about how buildings are assembled or tectonics

in this course, we focus on the first two skills sets – composition and analysis through a series of assignments and qualifying illustrated dialogues. We address and acknowledge the latter two categories of knowledge secondarily as points of discussion.

cONteNtcontent for this course is delivered in a variety of ways. as mentioned above, a series of making assignments provide students an opportunity to generate novel examples of visual and architectural concepts. readings and subsequent group discussions broach major issues in the cultural history of architecture, while illustrated dialogues provide examples of constructed projects (i.e. buildings, landscapes, urban spaces, and paper architecture projects) and other student work of abstract visual principals. the content, therefore, can be broken up into three categories: visual concepts, skills in making, and the development of analytical skills.

architecture instructor with Duketip Summer Studies

iMaGeS

an invitation for a final critique features Student kerri thomas’s Final Model for a Music pavilion in image a, and a design for a Nature pavilion by Mary Schwabe in image B.

Nathan Fox maps the change in temperature and its cause along a path studied on the texas a&M campus (image c), and a color field painting becomes a schematic plan for austin McDonough’s camping pavilion (image D).

christine abbott l summers 2007, 2009 l professional practice

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portfolio

Documents

presentation model

independent academic

stair detailing

southwest stair

d modeling

south facadeimage d

hand assembled images

working model images