BRIAN CRONIN DESIGN PORTFOLIO

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CONTENTS

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CONNECTIVE COLLISIONSHigh School in San Luis Obispo, CaliforniaCal Poly | Spring 2014 | Mark Cabrinha | Samantha Aisawa’s Project with Shaler Campbell

UCSF MISSION CENTERMixed-Use Building in San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco Urban Program | Winter and Spring 2015 | R. Thomas Jones

ZONES FOR PRODUCTIVE INQUIRYHigh School in San Luis Obispo, CaliforniaCal Poly | Winter 2014 | Mark Cabrinha

DISEGNO IN ITALIA / DRAWING IN ITALYShort Projects in Central and Southern ItalyAIA Rome Center | Fall 2014 | Tom Rankin and Scott Schlimgen

EFFORTLESS FORMSBallet School in Santa Cruz, CaliforniaCal Poly | Fall 2013 | R. Thomas Jones

VARIATED LIGHTNESSElementary School in San Luis Obispo, CaliforniaCal Poly | Spring 2013 | Chandrika Jaggia

GROUNDED CHANNELSGallery Project in Santa Monica, CaliforniaCal Poly | Fall 2012 | Jeff Ponitz

CHASM TABLEFurniture Piece Built for Vellum Competition in San Luis Obispo, CaliforniaCal Poly | Fall 2015 | Sandra Stannard

PARASITEInstallation Project in San Luis Obispo, CaliforniaCal Poly | Winter 2012 | Keith Wiley | with Michelle Chen and Allison Costa

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CONTACT

Brian Cronin1045 San Adriano StreetSan Luis Obispo, CA 93405

brcronin@calpoly.edu(530) 558-5128

linkedin.com/in/brcronin24

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CONNECTIVE COLLISIONSHigh School in San Luis Obispo, CaliforniaCal Poly | Spring 2014 | Mark Cabrinha | Samantha Aisawa’s Project with Shaler Campbell

In high school, learning happens everywhere—not just in classrooms and labs, but also in the spaces between, which support rich interactions between students, teachers, and their surroundings. In Connective Collisions, corridors are broad and programmed to catalyze this type of learning, encouraging the student to spend time outside of the classroom and transforming it into a layered social and educational experience. These corridor-based spaces include areas for study, break-out activity zones, and stations for collaboration. Two monumental ramps connect the main learning floors, creating a passing period experience with visual and audial richness spanning between levels.

Entry Approach with Transparency Gradient Building Skin

Linear Atrium with Monumental Ramp

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Open Library Overlooking Atrium

Cafeteria with Expansive Views Beyond

Gathering Area Along Corridor

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This project is a team continuation of a one-quarter individual student project. With a developed starting point, a holistic and integrated building design was achieved in ten weeks. The wall section and elevation above details the cement board paneling system, hints at the developed mechanical system, and reveals the long-span structural system—all of which were comprehensively modeled across the 200,000 square-foot project. But while technical details were developed, the conceptual push behind the project—a concept of what learning in the twenty-first century could be—was always forefront, constantly morphing from real student and teacher feedback.

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UCSF MISSION CENTERMixed-Use Building in San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco Urban Program | Winter and Spring 2015 | R. Thomas Jones

With thinking at an urban-level scale, this ten-week investigation prioritized the development of an integrated mixed-use program and public-benefit outdoor spaces. Located at the edge of San Francisco’s culturally vibrant Mission District, this project aims to become a new community center, transforming a surface parking lot into a new retail hub, with UC San Francisco office space and a combination of market-rate and public-benefit housing above. The building plays off of the palimpsest of the railroad track that cuts through the city grid, employing the angle to “break the block” and create a finer-grained scale at street level.

SAN FRANCISCO STREET GRID MEMORY OF RAILROAD TRACKS BREAKING THE BLOCK

Formal Concept Diagram

Early Experiential Studies

OFFICES AND RESEARCH LABS NEIGHBORHOOD RETAILUCSF STUDENT HOUSING PARKING GARAGECOMMUNITY SPACES

UCSF

LOBBY

RETAIL

RESTAURANT

PARKING GARAGE

HOUSING

LOBBY

MISSION CENTER

DELIVERIES

UCSF

CAFETERIA

RETAIL

RETAIL

RETAIL

RETAIL

RETAIL

RETAIL

RETAIL

RETAIL

CURBSIDE SHUTTLE STOP

DELIVERY ACCESS

TOWNHOUSE

UCSF ENTRANCE

HOUSING

ENTRANCE

HOUSING

EXIT

EXISTING UCSF

MISSION CENTER

MISSION CENTER

ENTRANCE

HOUSING

ACCESS

RETAIL

RETAILCAFE

RETAIL

FIFTEENTH STREET

FOLS

OM

STR

EET

HA

RRIS

ON

STR

EET

0' 10' 20' 50' 100'

TOWNHOUSE

TOWNHOUSE

TOWNHOUSE

TOWN-

HOUSE

Massing and Program Diagram

Site and First Level Plan

View from Intersection of Fifteenth and Harrison Streets

View of Central Plaza from Midblock Fifteenth Street

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0' 10' 20' 50' 100'

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C CONFERENCE ROOM

FOCUS ROOM [2-4 PPL]

HUDDLE ROOM [4-8 PPL]

JANITORIAL ROOM

OPEN OFFICE AREA

RESTROOMS

STORAGE

SOCIAL HUB [KITCHEN]

OUTDOOR TERRACE

COPY & WORK ROOM

Typical Office Level Plan (Phase 1 Project Development)

0' 10' 20' 50' 100'

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STUDY

Terrace Level Residential Plan (Phase 2 Project Development)

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Office and Housing Shared Terrace

North Quiet Garden Terrace

ZONES FOR PRODUCTIVE INQUIRYHigh School in San Luis Obispo, CaliforniaCal Poly | Winter 2014 | Mark Cabrinha

Today’s average high school student spends a majority of his or her time in a uniform setting: the basic classroom. This proposal for a new San Luis Obispo High School expands the venue of learning, integrating labs, studios, shops, and collaboration zones tightly into the daily life of a student. This environment is more open—to both the interior and exterior—than a typical high school, encouraging productive collaboration and inquiry. At the same time, not all learning can happen in a noisy, hands-on matter: the need for focus and quiet is addressed through a maximization of perimeter. With three fingers reaching into the hillside, an appropriate level of isolation can be found for activities that require it. Lastly, this high school is also a community center: with transparency through the entry and quad, the community is welcomed into the school. Once inside, overlooking framed views of the city below and lanscape beyond, one experiences a defined sense of orientation and place.

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integrated learning wingscollaborative cores

auditorium (converted historic gym)administration

library

gym

cafeteria

historic classroom building

pool

open flex space

open flex space

outdoor flex space

enclosed flex room

classroom classroom

science lab

enclosed flex room

Massing and Program Strategy

Collaborative Core Concept

Single-Loaded Corridor and Floating Stairs

Looking Down Circulation Spine After Entry

Collaborative Core Looking Over Outdoor Space

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DISEGNO IN ITALIA / DRAWING IN ITALYShort Projects in Central and Southern ItalyAIA Rome Center | Fall 2014 | Tom Rankin and Scott Schlimgen

3-Day Design Charrettewith Shaler Campbell and Eric Longoria

Castelvecchio Calvisio is a nearly-abandoned hill town in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Damaged by an earthquake in 2009, the historic settlement is in wait of an economic revival. This lightweight insertion of metal and wood is designed to act as a kick-starter for eco-tourism in the area. The second-level sack-lunch café provides shelter and human fuel, the third-level information hub provides information and guidance, and the top-level platform provides views and orientation to the surrounding landscape. (The first level is an existing ruin that will be used for back-of-house purposes.)As a temporary pavilion, the structure slides over the existing ruin to respect its historical integrity, and after a few years of use, might be removed and replaced with a more permanent structure.

View to Information and Lookout Platforms

Site Location within Castelvecchio Calvisio

Protected Bar and Seating Space

Site Plan by S. Campbell

Digital Model and All Base Renderings by Me, Processed by S. Campbell

PARKING

GARAGE

VIRTUAL MUSEUM

ARTIFACT

MUSEUM

ARCHAEOLOGICAL TUNNEL

STREET

GRAND

STAIR

2-Week Master Plan Project with Alina Chen, Eric Longoria, Maggie Pratt, Megan Jones, and Stephanie Carl

Herculaneum is a Pompeii-esque ruined city underneath Ercolano, a depressed suburb of Naples at the foot of Mount Vesuvio. My focus in this group project was to develop a connection between the ancient and contemporary cities. This connection takes the form of a series of archaeological tunnels. As a visitor, one proceeds through a museum before descending to the ancient streets, emerging eventually at one of many points relevant to the city today.

Grand Stair Descent to Archaeological Tunnels View Back to Stair and Elevator from Ancient Street

Digital Model and Renderings by Me

Linework by Me, Processed by A. Chen

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HISTORICAL EXTRUSIONS

ARCHAEOLOGICAL GRID

[MAJOR PROGRAM SPACES]

[SERVICES AND CIRCULATION]

4-Week Individual Design Project

As a continuation of a 2-week master planning project for Rome’s famous Via dei Fori Imperiali (shown bottom), this visitors’ center for the Colosseum and Forum is built up through a referencing of the palimpsests of the site. Traces from historical maps and an imposed archaeological grid combine to create the basic planning principles for the structure, which hovers over a new public piazza. This project is also a gateway for tours to the ancient Ludus Magnus site immediately beneath, and tunnels below that to the Colosseum.

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Layers of Historical Reference

Self-Service Café and Restaurant from Street

New Floating Piazza over Archaeological Zone

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EXCAVATIONS OF LUDUS MAGNUS

PUBLIC TUNNEL TO COLOSSEUM

0 1 2 5 10 20 40LEVEL A1 − 3.0 M

PREP

AREA

SELF-

SERVICE

CAFE

LEVEL 0 + 0.0 M0 1 2 5 10 20 40

KITCHEN

STAFF AREA

LOCKERS

DVD THEATRE

LOBBY

RESTAURANT

TERRACE

WAITING

AREA

BOOKSHOP

TICKET

WINDOWS

OFFICE

OFFICE

OFFICE

SEC.

F. A.

EXHIBITION

INFO. DESK

BALCONY

0 1 2 5 10 20 40LEVEL 1 + 4.0 / 5.0 M

EXHIBITION MEZZANINE

BALCONY

MEMBERS' LOUNGEEDUCATION

CENTER

STOR.

RECEPTIONREADING

NOOK

BALCONY

0 1 2 5 10 20 40LEVEL 2 + 8.0 / 9.8 M

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EFFORTLESS FORMSBallet School in Santa Cruz, CaliforniaCal Poly | Fall 2013 | R. Thomas Jones

A simple sectional curve representing the apparently effortless nature of dance is extruded down a long site to reinforce the rigidity of dance training, creating the elemental volume of this project. Like the dancers within, the school—a small structure of less than ten-thousand square feet—stands nimbly upon a solid base, made of lightweight steel and timber. High, open interior spaces create an environment that is well-lit and thermally suitable for the rigors of dance training. As a potentially real project with a real client at the Tannery Arts Center, the building is designed with efficiency and the surrounding industrial aesthetic in mind.

Aerial View of Project Within Tannery Arts Center Development

Building Approach from Parking Lot

STUDIO 1 STUDIO 2STUDIO 3

SOCIAL CORRIDOR RECEPTION

BOYS’RESTROOM

GIRLS’RESTROOM

GIRLS’ LOCKERS

JAN.

UP

CONFERENCEROOM

DANCERENTRANCE

[MIRRORED WALL] [MIRRORED WALL] [MIRRORED WALL]

[FO

LDAB

LE P

ARTI

TIO

N]

BOYS’ LOCKERS

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This project was created in collaboration with an interdisciplinary class of construction management students, who provided feedback and pricing information over its course of development. This feedback was primarily focused on the developing structure’s area and materials, along with one of its greatest technical challenges: being located in a designated flood plain. Because of this, either a raised structure or a perimeter concrete stem wall became a requirement for protection of the ground floor; the latter was chosen for this project.

South Elevation

East Wall Section and Elevation Detail

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Structure Circulation and Egress

Mechanical System Program

Reception and Social Corridor Looking into Dance Studios

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VARIATED LIGHTNESSElementary School in San Luis Obispo, CaliforniaCal Poly | Spring 2013 | Chandrika Jaggia

This new Teach Elementary School is a place of open learning and discovery. Departing from the traditional plan of uniform, rectangular classrooms, this design is instead grounded in the underlying geometry of a divided golden rectangle. With these forms, a variety of unique indoor and outdoor spaces are created amidst a lightweight structure of wood, glass, and water. The goal is to create a physical environment where children will be excited about learning, advancing to the next grade level, and even growing food right outside of their classrooms.

In order to create learning spaces with the elements of visual and thermal delight, a number of sustainable strategies are pursued. The school is made up of three “bars” that are oriented along the east-west axis, maximizing southern solar exposure. Water walls on the south side act as both thermal mass and light-diffusing devices; they regulate the internal temperature of the classrooms against the high diurnal swings of San Luis Obispo. In addition, each “bar” is only one room deep (with few exceptions), allowing a mix of northern and southern light into each classroom. This reduces glare and improves the overall quality of light, in addition to allowing for effective natural ventilation in each room.

Gardens and Seating Between Classroom Buildings

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Geometry Parti

Typical Classroom Interior with South-Facing Water Walls for Thermal Mass

GROUNDED CHANNELSGallery Project in Santa Monica, CaliforniaCal Poly | Fall 2012 | Jeff Ponitz

The Annenberg Community Beach House lies on a richly layered site—a palimpsest of architecture, culture, and geography. This gallery project developed from intense study of the site through the acts of drawing and making. Emerging from the gentle topography of the beach, the walls of the structure are essentially extensions of the ground. They act as channeling devices to guide visitors in their trek from the parking lot and pool area to the open beach. The channels do not exist as isolated entities, however, and a lighter cross-grain is established between the otherwise linear spaces. The most prominent element of this cross-grain is a repurposed concrete-block box: the shell of this existing building serves as an anchor for the interior space of the structure and a point for vertical movement. The channels, cross-grain elements, and permeable roof structure intersect in various ways, creating an experiential variety of microclimatic spaces.

Reasearch Drawing

This project started with a process of investigation through drawing—site history, current buildings, landscape, location, and spatial relationships were examined. In a process that involved intense (often measured) drawing, interrupted by the layering of gesso, and the occasional insertion of textural extracts, deeper site patterns were found and explored. The final drawing provides a summary of approximately two weeks of focused research.

37Transverse Section Through Gallery Passage, Repurposed Concrete-Block Box, and Upper Level

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Constructs as Research

As a related step in developing this project, mass and frame were investigated through a series of 7.5” x 7.5” x 1.5” constructs. Each investigation took place over a week. The mass construct provided inspiration for the thick walls of the gallery project, which are briefly occupiable as one enters the upper floor. Though ideas from the frame construct were not carried into the final product, the object itself acts as an extension of site research: each layer of the frame is an abstraction of a site pattern.

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Chasm symbolizes the gap between nature and most contemporary development: a missing interface between the found and the built.

Materials: scrap redwood, lightweight concrete, and reinforcing steel; concrete is a custom mix of Portland cement, sand, and an aggregate of waste Styrofoam.

CHASM TABLEFurniture Piece Built for Vellum Competition in San Luis Obispo, CaliforniaCal Poly | Fall 2015 | Sandra Stannard

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Crumbled expanded polystyrene—commonly known as Styrofoam. A waste piece was sourced from a construction site and broken down.

Molds for the EPScrete, made out of particle board shelving with a smooth white surface. The inside edges were caulked with silicon.

Though test pours were successful, the final strength of the EPScrete was unknown, so ample steel reinforcing was embedded.

Concrete pieces before removal from formwork. The texture from the Styrofoam was intentionally left on the interior leg surfaces.

Scrap redwood piece sourced from Pacific Coast Lumber in San Luis Obispo. The piece was a waste scrap with no monetary value.

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PARASITEInstallation Project in San Luis Obispo, CaliforniaCal Poly | Winter 2012 | Keith Wiley | with Michelle Chen and Allison Costa

Each spring at California Polytechnic State University, the Architecture Building becomes a host to dozens of tectonic constructions: paraSITEs. These serve as explorations of site, material, and spatial experience, both challenging and supplementing the existing conditions of the brutalist concrete structure.

I worked in a group of three. Our site was a column on the second floor overlooking the large stair court; it sits in a highly trafficked area. Analysis led to the conclusion that the site was an ideal place to sit and experience the vast nature of the stair court, observing the transient nature of the spaces all around the column.

Our paraSITE evolved from a static bench into a configurable installation. When folded down, the pine and aluminum structure forms three levels of seating. When put up, it wraps around and extends the influence of the column, forming unexpected frames and suggesting brief shelter in an otherwise unbounded space.

© 2016 by Brian Cronin

Dolores Street, San Francisco, CA (January 2015)