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Christine Abbott
Harvard University Graduate School of Design, MLA 2013
UNC Charlotte, MArch 2007
University of Virginia, BS in Architecture 2005
PORTFOLIOc. abbott
Analysis of Poetic Structure for Thesis Research Document; Independent Academic Project, Fall 2006; Poems by Anthony Abbott : 1 “Ely Cathedral: Toward Evensong” 2 “That Which Cannot Be Done” 3 “From the Balcony of the Grand Bretagne” 4 “Richard Walking” 5 Come, Lord Jesus.”
CONTENTS
l. Jerusalem Studio: At Jaffa’s Edge Urban Design and Planning Option Studio, GSD
Jerusalem, Israel
lll. Aquaculture and Sewage Treatment Facility Landscape Architecture Core Studio, GSD South Weymouth Naval Air Station, MA
lV. Sparta Teapot Museum MArch Comprehensive Studio, UNCC Sparta, NC
V. Houston Day Laborer Center Topical Studio: Mobile Studio, UNCC Houston, NC
Vl. Emergency Shelter Topical Studio: Pre-fabrication, UNCC Gulf Region, US
Vll. Central Avenue Housing Complex Topical Studio: Pre-fabrication, UNCC Charlotte, NC
Vlll. Rainwater Filtration Center Undergraduate Architecture Studio, UVA Philadelphia, PA
IX. Vendors of Poetic Phenomena MArch Thesis, UNCC New York City, NY
X. Drawing Vicenza Drawing Course & Faculty Research Travel
Italy, France, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Barcelona
Xl. Mapping Undergraduate Architecture Studios, UVA Landscape Architecture Core Studio, GSD Architecture Theory, UNCC
Xll. Landscape Technology Ecologies, Techniques and Technologies IV, GSD Phytoremediation Research Seminar, GSD
Xlll. Experimentations in Form & Material
Landscape Representation Seminar, GSD Materiality: Hybrid Spatial Tectonics Seminar, UNCC
RESEARCH & ANALYSIS:
c. abbott [ selected projects ]
[ Architecture & Landscape ] DESIGN:
Design for a Museum Facade, Charlottesville, VA
At Jaffa’s EdgeLANDSCAPE /URBAN DESIGN / ARCHITECTURE
The Jerusalem Studio Professor Alex Krieger, GSD
As part of Jerusalem’s modernization and the establishment of a new Central Business District (CBD), a light rail was recently installed along Jaffa Road. The proposal “At Jaffa’s Edge” addresses discontinuity in the spatial definition of the street, underdeveloped land, a lack of robust vegetation and stuttered connections perpendicular to the Jaffa. An integrated solution of plant walls began to surface, where quick-growing bougainvillea on light, modular structures would occupy several sites along Jaffa Road (Image A). These interventions provide shade, reference the cable structure of the Calatrava Bridge and strategically add color that contrasts with ubiquitous Jerusalem stone
A re-developed block of creative program includes a series of buildings and landsdcapes including a terraced garden, artist live-work buildings, tower and wedge-shaped public plaza (Image B).
Image A : Perspective along Jaffa Road depicting vertical garden modules draped with Bougainvillea and Calatrava’s Jerusalem Chords Bridge in the distance. Image produced with Rhino v4, and Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop CS5.5.
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Jaffa Wedge
Vertical Garden Intervention [5] tower /
gallery
live - work
Almond Bosque
Central Business District
Image B : Aerial Site Plan of Creative Complex; integrated into the new proposal for the Central Business District.
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Terraced Garden
Vertical Garden Intervention [4]
[3]
school / fabrication
library
REGIONAL CONTEXT
Historic Jaffa Road once connected Jaffa Port to Jerusalem, cutting upland against the region’s topography to the ridge line that divides the two major watersheds in Israel. Today, Jaffa road exists only within municipal Jerusalem, but the design proposal means to reference this ancient connection by emphasizing and selecting plants that allude to Tel Aviv as a Garden City.
Part of Plant Selection included researching soils, which were found to be a combination of heavy (clay) and light (sandy), but consistenly alkaline.
Image B was produced by extracting data from a survey of the soils in Northern Israel in Photoshop and drawing over the image with Illstrator CS5.5.
At Jaffa’s Edge l Jerusalem, Israel
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Jaffa Port
JERUSALEM
TEL AVIV
historic Jaffa Road
V. LOWWATER
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Image C [left page] : Regional Map of Northern Israel showing Soils, Watershed line and selected geography.Images D-E [above]: Plant Palette [top] and Section thru Terracing Garden [bottom].
PLANTS
Plants were chosen based on their suitability in the soil and climate of the site (on the mediterrean side of the watershed line), color and tolerance for pollution and/or drought.
The bougainvillea that covers vertical gardens along Jaffa road feeds the color concept, where a deep burgundies and pinks would stand out against the muted greens and browns of Acacia, Olea and the native grasses as well as the shimmering tan of Jerusalem stone.
NATIVE TOLERANT | ACCLIMATIZED
FLOWERINGCOLOR
TREE
SG
RASS
ES +
At Jaffa’s Edge l Jerusalem, Israel
IMAGES
Image A depicts the public wedge-shaped space - ‘Jaffa Wedge’ - along a long vertical garden through the pavilions that front artist in residence live-work spaces. Beyond the tower that grounds one end of the wedge can be seen with a facade that breaks tinted glass with jerusalem stone paneling.
Image B shows the vertical garden structural concept where cables that reference Calatrava’s bridge just beyond the creative complex site become the armature for bougainvillea to grow. Image C is another section through wedge and ‘back street’ space where entrances to artist studios would be open.
All images where created using Rhino, Illustrator and Photoshop.
Image A : Perspective on Jaffa Wedge showing Vertical Gardens with Bougainvillea, Live-Work Buildings and Tower beyond.
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Image C : Section thru Jaffa Wedge and Live-Work Studio Spaces with flattened version of a vertical garden in the interstitial space.
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Image B : Line Drawing of Vertical Garden in Section, Elevation and Plan.
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2m
2m
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.
As recently as the 1940’s - just before the naval air station was built - much of the site consisted of wetlands (Image A). Because of these site conditions and the depleted supply and high demand for fish in the Boston region, the proposal introduces more surface water by expanding wetlands, and carving ponds for sewage treatment and aquaculture.
Wetlands aid in cleaning headwaters for the French Stream and Old Swamp River, both found on the site. The design includes educational and recreational program to engage community members with food production and regional hydrology.
Image A : Rendering suggesting layers of history (field, air strips) of South Weymouth Naval Air Station
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Aquaculture FacilityLANDSCAPE Core Landscape Architecture StudioProfessor Pierre Bélanger,
Christian Werthman, Niall Kirkwood, GSD
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C
D
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A B C
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Aquaculture Facility l South Weymouth, MA
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
D E F
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IMAGES
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).
Images A-B are constructed independently using Autocad, Adobe Illustrator and watercolor. All images were created in collaboration with teammates Judith Rodriguez and Kenya Endo.
Image Set C : Fish Assemblages
Aquaculture Facility l South Weymouth, MA
Image D : Meadow and Wetlands (Summer)
Image B : Pond Section showing gradient of plants and separation of aquaculture ponds from the watertable.
Image A : Calendars of Program & Maintenance
PLAY
MANAGE
COMPOST
Image E : Rendering of Ponds (Autumn)
Image C : Hydrology Phasing Diagrams
GATHER
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.
The elongated building volume opens to the north with a glass curtain wall extending its length, meant to expose the interior galleries and the transportation of teapots from an adjacent storage building.
Professors Kelly Carlson-Reddig and Rick Kazbee, UNCCSparta Teapot MuseumARCHITECTURE /
LANDSCAPE
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Image A: Working Model at 1’ = 1/16” view from above
see stair detail
IV_2 Image A: Ground Floor Plan
Image B: First Floor Plan
Image C: Second Floor Plan
Sparta Teapot Museum l Sparta, NC
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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
IMAGES
To articulate the concept of filtering, hand-assembled models and digital drawings were employed.
Image A-C were digitally drafted and rendered in Adobe Photoshop to explain the arrangement of interior spaces and the thickness and opacity of the building envelope.
In images D-F, a laser cut and hand-assembled model illustrates the building’s relationship to the land and the nature of the north and south facades.
Images G-H show a larger scale working model constructed in service of design development and assembled entirely by hand.
christine abbott l fall 2005 l independent academic project
Images G-H: Working Model at 1’=1/16”
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Sparta Teapot Museum l Sparta, NC
Image A: South Elevation
IMAGES
The south facade depicted in Image A shows museum occupants as they are exposed to the landscape from extending balconies and a south facing stair.
Analogous to filtering, the scene shows individuals as they have been filtered through the building; they are reoriented east-west as they encounter the landscape. The digitally drafted image was rendered in Photoshop to make the scale and sense of occupation more clear.Image B shows a section through a stair connecting the entry space at the ground floor with gallery and retail spaces one story up.
From this view point, the architecture is intentionally light-handed. A single folded sheet of metal defines the stair that is set into the concrete wall. This digitally drafted image was rendered in Photoshop.
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Image B: Long Section through Southwest Stair Facing South
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IMAGES
Image A-B show a cable-hung stair, digitally drafted and rendered in Photoshop. Images C-D detail the connections of the cable to ceiling and stair tread. All drawings are significantly reduced in scale from their originals.
Images E-F detail a glass curtain wall that runs the entire length and width of the north facade. Image G shows ribbon window negotiating a vertical concrete column.
Image B: Long Section through Southwest Stair Facing North
Image A: Cross Section through Southwest Stair Facing West
Image C-D: Details Showing Cable Connections at the Ceiling (left) and Stair Treads (right)
Sparta Teapot Museum l Sparta, NC
Image G: Axon of Window Detail
Image H: Diagrammatic Plan
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Image E: Section through Glass Curtainwall
Image F: Building Section Facing East
Day Laborer CenterARCHITECTURE /LANDSCAPEINFRASTRUCTURE
The Mobile Studio: Professor Linda Samuels, UNC Charlotte
An open-ended program for a Day Laborer Center beneath a Houston highway was determined by found remnants on the site, each that suggesting particular activities taking place there.
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.
The surface of each pavilion facing inward toward the highway is brillant and reflective to contrast the material of the highway itself - perceived as banal, rough, and weathered.
Image A : Schematic Drawing for Pavilions in water color
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Image A: Eating 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
Images A - L : Photographs of Site Remnants
Day Laborer Center l Houston, TX
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Image M : Perspective of Pavilions from the Highway
IMAGES
The photographs in Images A-L show the remnants left on the site; one pavilion is designed for each remnant with an associated program (i.e. reading pavilion, smoking pavilion).
Image M uses a Maya model rendered in Photoshop to give an idea of how the pavilions would be experienced from the highway above.
The site plan in Image N shows the arrangement of the pavilions along the stretch of highway where day laborers linger. A combination of Maya, Autocad, and Photoshop were used to produce this image.
Image N : Site Plan
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Image B : Section Cuts
Image A : Exterior Perspective from the Ground Level
IMAGES
Image A renders the pavilion and highway similarly as they are materially similar from this view point. The pavilions are tarnished on the exterior to contrast to a reflective interior.
Images B-E show section cuts that give a sense of space resulting from the pavilions. The bending surfaces are pronounced by two distinct material qualities. All images were rendered in Photoshop from vector images taken from a Maya model.
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Day Laborer Center l Houston, TX
Image C-E : Sections through Highway
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Professors Heather Duncan and Larry Scarpa, UNC CharlotteEmergency Shelter
Responding to hurricanes Katrina and Rita which swept through the gulf region in 2005, this emergency shelter means to provide physical and psychological respite in a building that can be efficiently assembled.
The shelters are constructed in pairs leaving an elevated semi-public space equipped with a rudimentary rainwater filtration system and a hearth.
The shelter is raised because the land that it sits on may be disrupted - torn up, flooded or covered with debris. The exterior public space, can, therefore, be understood as a re-defined ground plane.
Image A: Section Diagram showing a Re-defined Ground Plane
Image B: Plan Diagram of an Expanding Modular Cistern
ARCHITECTURE /LANDSCAPE
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Image A: Exploded Axon of Shelter Assembly
IMAGES
Using modular S.C.I.P.S. (Structural Concrete Insulated Panels), the shelter was designed to minimize waste using each 4’ x 8’completely.
Image A describes every component required to assemble the shelter including the S.C.I.P.S. panels, stairs, hearth, and rainwater filtration system. >>
Emergency Shelter l Gulf Region, US
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IMAGES
>> The watercolor diagram in Image B shows two adjacent shelters with a small gathering space in between.
Images C-D depict a 1’ = 1-1/2” model of the shelter using chipboard, and corrugated cardboard. The building itself is constructed accurately but the torn cardboard represents a disrupted ground plane.
The building section in Image E gives a sense of scale in the shelter as it cuts through main space, cistern and hearth.
Image E: 1/4” = 1’ Building Section
Image C-D: Top Views of 1-1/2” = 1’ Model
Image B: Plan Diagram of the Re-defined Public Space
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Image A: Plan Drawing
Image B: Front and Back Elevations
Emergency Shelter l Gulf Region, US
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Image E: Long Sections Facing the Front and Back
Image C: Top View of 1’ = 1-1/2” Model with the Roof Removed
Image D: Diagram of Levels
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ARCHITECTURE /LANDSCAPE
VII
Professors Heather Duncan and Larry Scarpa, UNC CharlotteCentral Avenue Housing
Central Avenue anchors an urban corridor connecting outlying and diverse neighborhoods to uptown Charlotte. Although Central Avenue continues to develop with the density and pedestrian life characteristic of an urban neighborhood, the Plaza-Midwood area to its north is defined by small scale and low-density residences typical of a suburban area.
This small housing complex aims to integrate the urban and suburban with two distinct housing typologies and a mediating exterior space between them.
Units on the northern edge of the site are conceived as town houses, while the more densely packed units along Central Avenue are exposed to and elevated from the street with a Bubble Tea Cafe as a retail component on the ground floor level.
Image A : Working Model at 1’ = 1/16” exploring circulation and sight lines along the Central Avenue approach
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IMAGES
The schematic model in Image A looks at the site context topographically and shows one scheme invesigating a re-orientation of building volumes from the urban street front to the more private neighborhood side. >>
Image A : Conceptual Site Model at 1’ = 1/64”
Image B : Elevation Facing Southwest towards Townhouses and Central Avenue
Central Housing Complex l Charlotte, NC
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Image E-G : Schematic Investigations in Conceptual Site Model at 1/64” = 1’
Image D : Model of Townhouses at 1’=1/8”
Image C : First Floor Plan
>> The nature of the urban facade and general building mass were explored in versions plugged into the model (Images E-G). Images B-C are digitally drafted drawings showing the north elevation and basic plan.
Image E shows shows three townhouses that will sit on the northern edge of the site facing Plaza-Midwood. The piece has been removed from a larger model constructed at 1/8” = 1.’
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Central Housing Complex l Charlotte, NC
Image B : Top View of 1/8”=1’ Model
IMAGES
The diagram in Image A illustrates lines of sight from the front plaza to an interior courtyard.
The model shown in Image B makes clear the two (suburban and urban) portions of the complex in a top view of a final model, while Image C highlights a visual connection between residences walking up to the ‘urban’ units, and the interior porches of the town houses.
The circulation is orchestrated such that each resident approaching their Central Avenue aparment must pass a landing facing into the terraced courtyard.
Image A : Diagram showing sight lines
Image C : Side View of 1/8”=1’ Model
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Image D : Front View of 1/8”=1’ Model
IMAGES
The two photographs of a working model shown in Images D-E depict the front plaza and facade where a texturized ground highlights views to the interior courtyard space. Circulation to each of the urban units is exposed on the facade to further activate the street. This model was assembled entirely by hand using chipboard, mahogany sheets of wood, corrugated cardboard and white charcoal pencil.
Image F shows the ground floor plan with a scan of a working model included as an underlay. Image was digitally drafted and edited in Photoshop.
Image F : Ground Floor Plan
Image E : Side View of 1/8”=1’ Model
Image A : Diagram showing sight lines
VIII
This twenty-four story highrise sits adjacent to the Delaware River and Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia. Its program - the study of rainwater filtration - directly dictates its form. A series of “water bellies” sweep beyond the building in the direction yielding the highest water capture. The bellies are membraneous in the interior of the building, distending with a increase in rainwater capture.
Exterior piping and a water channel running the height of the building distribute water throughout the building for laboratory study, and eventually, consumption. The center’s goal is to to sustain itself solely from rainwater. Thus, the center becomes visually and ideologically rhetorical for the case of water conservation.
Image A : Schematic Drawing of illustrating the notion of water being integrated into the building
Professor Jason Johnson, UVARainwater Filtration CenterARCHITECTURE
VIII_2
IMAGES
All design work for this project was a collaboration with UVa student Karen Lui.
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 D, E.
Image A : Interior Perspective Into Cafe and Auditorium
Image B : Interior Perspective Into Typical Lab Adjacent to Water Channel
Rainwater Filtration Center l Philadelphia, PA
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Image D : Exterior Perspective in a Thunder Storm
Image E : Exterior Perspective at Night
christine abbott l spring 2005 l collaborative academic project
Image C : Filter Diagram
“As usual in New York, everything is torn down / Before you have had time to care for it.”
- James Merril, Urban Convalescence
Image A : Photography from Manhattan and Brooklyn captures Poetic Phenomena
ARCHITECTURE /LANDSCAPE /INSTALLATION ART
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Professors Linda Samuels and Eric Sauda, Advisers Peter Wong and Kelly
Carlson-Reddig, UNC CharlotteVendors of Poetic Phenomena
A set of small-scale installations constituted the design portion of a research-focused graduate thesis on poetry and architecture. The project, - Searching for Contemporary Poet[nyc]ism - investigated poetic phenomena in New York drawn out of a set of poems about the city.
Designs for a Vendor for Con[de]struction, Vendor for Marching Strangers and Vendor for Asylum respond to specific passages that describe climatic, spatial, and social conditions particular to New York City.
Featured here, the Vendor for Con[de]struction pulls largely from Merril’s “Urban Convalescence”hz that speaks about the constant building and rebuilding that occurs in the city.
Vendors of Poetic Phenomena l New York City, NY
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Image C : Iconography for Poetic Phenomena l Poetic Devices
Image B : Conceptual Model - Vendor for Marching Strangers
IMAGES
The conceptual models photographed in Images A-B were constructed in chipboard, thread, colored pencil, conte crayon, and ribbon. The materials serve as abstractions of implied edges, plants and paths of circulation.
In the Vendor for Marching Strangers (Image B), the ribbon represents circulation that converges and then stacks in section. The guesture relates to the convergence of the grid in Greenwhich Village where the island of Manhattan begins to taper. The stacking of circulation - where pedestrians walk close to but are seperated from one another - represents the experience of anonymity in walking the streets of Manhattan. This phenomenon is aptly described in Whitman’s Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun.
Image C shows iconography developed to visually distill poetic phenomena and poetic devices and label photographs and maps used throughout the project.
Image D lays out eight locations for vendors; sound recordings and videos referenced in the map accompanied the original presentation in the Spring of 2007. Images C-D were drawn in Illustrator.
Image A : Conceptual Model - Vendor for Asylum
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Image D : Site Map for Vendors
christine abbott l spring 2007 l independent academic project
Image D : Site Plan for the Vendor for Con[de]struction
Vendors l New York City, NY
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Image B-C : 3-D Prints of Street Objects (above) and Castings (below)
Image B
Image A : Plan and Elevation of the Vendor for Con[de]struction : Detached Cones
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CASTING NEGATIVE SPACE
Image E : Plan and Elevation of the Vendor for Con[de]struction : Separated Line
Image G : Photographs in and around Battery Park
Image F : Photographs of Street Objects: Sawhorse, Barrel, and Cones
PROJECT
Sited in Battery Park - an infill landscape where high-rise buildings typical of Manhattan cannot exist - the Vendor for Con[de]struction is comprised of castings of the negative space between street objects that signify construction on the street: cones, saw horses, and barrels. IMAGES
Images A, E are digitally drafted plans and sections of the installation as two iterations of casting negative space. In each, the function of the original cone is subverted in the installation. For example, in Image E the casts are placed directly in one’s path to highlight the cone’s function in creating paths in the street.
Images D simply lays out the placement of four different castings within Battery Park.
The original street objects and proposals for castings were built in Maya and 3-D printed (Images B-C). In photographs of Images F-G the street objects are shown defining space and circulation patterns on the streets of New York.
ARCHITECTURE /LANDSCAPE /LITERATURE
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Graduate Thesis l Professors Linda Samuels and Eric Sauda, UNC CharlottePoetry Matrix
The initial stages of the vendors of poetic phenomena project examined a representative sample of poetry about New York City with the intention of extracting contextual insights that were specific to the city.
A process of reading, analyzing and sorting all poems published in English about New York City revealed repeated themes or poetic phenomena. The matrix makes visual the process of analysis and selection.
Trends in Structure of Poetry (Along Timeline)
Colored Lines represent Poetic Phenomena (i.e. Restlessness, Con[de]struction, Wind)
Images
Image A : Selection from Poetry Matrix scaled at 50% of the Original
Poetry Matrix
IMAGES
Pieces of the Matrix were drawn in Adobe Illustrator and assembled in Adobe Indesign.
X
Faculty Research Trip, UNCCVicenza Sketching Course
Professors Charles Menefee and Natalie Gattegno, UVADrawings
This set of work is comprised of drawings executed by hand with graphite and colored pencil.
Drawings are pulled from two projects. In a sketching course taken with Charlie Menefee and Natalie Gattegno, we studied urban conditions, buildings, and landscapes in Vicenza and the surrounding Veneto region of Northern Italy.
A research trip taken in the summer of 2008 as part of a teaching fellowship included visits to Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam, and Paris. All drawings in this chapter were executed freehand and on-site at each location, with the exception of the abstract fields drawings shown below and on page XV_3.
RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS
“Fields Sketches” No. 1 & 2. Vicenza, Italy.
IMAGES
Image B depicts the Pantheon in Paris drawn from across the street. The sketch attempts to capture its integration of Neo-Gothic and Renaissance vocabularies.
The Rodin sculpture drawn in Image B was found in Dresden’s Zwinger Museum in the sculpture gallery.
Image A and C are drawn in Berlin and Vienna respectively. Strangely, the original Classical architecture, upon which the Neoclassical Parliament building is based, exists as an artifact preserved inside the Pergamon Museum (A). >>
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Image B : Pantheon, Paris
PARIS, BERLIN
Image A : The Pergamon Museum’s Babylonian Altar, Berlin, Germany
Research Trip l Continental Europe
>> The Fields sketches shown in Images E-D followed and were inspired by a drawing and theory class taken with Sanda Iliescu at the University of Virginia. In this course ‘scribbling’ practiced by artists like Cy Twombly was considered an artistic methodology that had the capacity to capture experience.
These drawings were executed during novel experiences and places while traveling abroad in Italy for the first time (i.e. train to Venice, balcony on Case de Sabastiano in Vicenza).
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VIENNA, DRESDEN
Image E-F : Fields Sketches #3,4, Vicenza, Italy.
Image D : Rodin Sculpture, Zwinger Museum, Dresden, Germany
Image C : Parliament Building, Vienna, Austria
Faculty Research Trip, UNC Charlotte
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VERONAVicenza Sketching Course l Veneto, Italy
Image A : Perspective of Gardens at the Palazzo Giusti Giardino, Verona, Italy
IMAGES
Image A emphasizes the orthogonal order of the garden; the sketch is drawn just right of of central axis.
Images C-D employ a more diagrammaticdrawings style to show order in elevationof one gate along the PiazzaRepublica and in plan within the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, both in Florence, Italy.
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Image B : Piazza Republica, Florence
Images C : Uffizi Plan, Florence Map, Perspective into City
FLORENCE Vicenza Sketching Course Professors Charles Menefee and Natalie Gattegno, UVA
XI
GSD, University of Virginia & UNC CharlotteMapping
These representations analyze, sort, and display information. Mapping, here, is not restricted to geospatial information, but includes concepts and ideas with no physical corollary. Mappings include subjects like architectural theory as well as historical and traditional site analysis.
Each map adopts a particular graphic language and medium to best denote or connote its meaning.
The maps below analyze the context of two buildings studied as precedents: the Asilo Infantile by Giuseppe Terragni and Villa Stein by Corbusier. Watercolor in these diagrams depicts edges as well as fields of relevance.
RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS
Image A-B : Intersections around Asilo Infantile by Giuseppe Terragni (A) and Prominent Infrastructural Lines, Villa Stein, Garches, France (B). Independent academic work, University of Virginia, Professor Chris Cornelius.
ARCHITECTURE THEORY
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Ideas Map “Methods & Meaning” Theory Seminar Professor Mark Morris, UNC Charlotte
The architectural theory elective “Methods and Meaning” concluded the first half of the semester with a design problem for displaying movements in contemporary architectural history from 1968.
This “Ideas Map” self consciously references Piet Mondrian’s visual vocabulary as it evolves, from classic modern works like Composition with Red Blue Yellow to later works like Broadway Boogie-Woogie. The two iterations of the map shown here are chronological and the evolution of lines and patches of color represents a change of influence in the world of architectural and cultural theory from late Modernism into Post-Modernism.
Events
Movements
Terms
People
christine abbott l fall 2006 l independent academic project
Image A : Clipped Ideas Map
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Image A : Analytical Model of the Lawn, Charlottesville, VA. Independent academic work, University of Virginia, Professor Lance Hosey.
Mapping Historic Layers l Charlottesville, VA
Image B : Site Model reveals historic layers along West Main Street, Charlottesville, VA. Collaborative academic project, Fall 2003, University of Virginia, Professor John Quale.
IMAGES
The models in Images A-B investigate sites in Charlottesville by layering historic conditions beneath current conditions. The ‘Eidetic Map’ examines non-conventional ecology in Queens, NY.
REPRESENTATION
Image B: Model with removable layers was constructed in collaboration with Jessica Lane and Abigail Henry out of chipboard, and pine. Image C was drawn in Illustrator.
Undergrad Studios, UVa [left]Landscape Core Studio, GSD [right]
Eidetic Map l Queens, NY
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Technology SeminarsProfessors Niall Kirkwood, Katherine Kennen &
Pierre BélangerLandscape TechnologyLANDSCAPE
XII
This set of drawings accounts for academic study of landscape construction and brownfield remediation technology. Drawings emphasize clarity and thoroughness and are rendered with attention to precise accounting of measurements, notation and lineweight.
These assignments are drawn largely from a series of courses on Ecologies, Techniques and Technologies that constitutes part of the landscape architecture core curriculum at the GSD. They also reflect an interest in brownfields and remediation strategies that I pursued as a landscape architecture student and hope to apply in a professional setting.
Image A: Schematic Drawing showing topography informing stair design for new entry at the School of Architecture, volunteer project as faculty member at UNC Charlotte.
XII_2
Durability Study l Allston, MA Ecologies, Techniques & Technologies IVProfessors Niall Kirkwood and Pierre Bélanger, GSD
PROJECT
These drawings studied an courtyard space at the Harvard’s Business School, 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
christine abbott l spring 2011 l collaborative academic project
XII_3
Phytoremediation Research SeminarProfessors Niall Kirkwood & Katherine Kennen, GSD
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
christine abbott l march 2012 l independent academic project
XII_4
Sugar Creek Pathway l Charlotte, NC
PROJECT
For a reverse engineering assignment, the deconstruction of this pathway and retaining wall reveals several aspects of the original design that could be revisited and revised.
Specifically, the wall itself could be narrowed and either raised or lowered to create a more defined space. Concrete footings could also be reduced in size preventing unecessary disturbance to the soil in construction and deconstructing the wall. Overall, the construction was very heavy-handed in its contact with the ground. Another iteration would investigate plants and re-grading to address the steep topographic condition.
XII_5
Ecologies, Techniques & Technologies IVProfessors Niall Kirkwood and Pierre Bélanger, GSD
XII_6
Sugar Creek Pathway l Charlotte, NC
PROJECT
This drawing explores the construction of the same Sugar Creek Greenway pathway by drawing the process of de-constructing it, with associated technology in notes.
REPRESENTATION
Drawing was drafted in AutoCAD and edited in Illustrator CS5.
XII_7
Ecologies, Techniques & Technologies IVProfessors Niall Kirkwood and Pierre Bélanger, GSD
Experimentation inMateriality & Form
LANDSCAPE /ARCHITECTURE
‘Making’ Seminars, GSD and UNCCProfessors: Andrea Hansen (GSD) and
James Reitinger (UNCC)
These investigations foster divergent design thinking by using a particular working method to discover uncanny and unsual spaces.
In a course titled “Materiality: Hybrid Spatial Tectonics,” physical models were built within the categories of WEAVE, FOLD and INFLATE and then integrated into montages that imagine the models as occupiable structures (Images A-B below).
In a seminar focusing on landform and ecological process, a precedent landscape was constructed and altered in Rhino before being translated, using Vary, Illustrator and Photoshop, into a set of montages that each depict a vivid, idiosyncratic scene.
Image A [above]: Rendering for MHST Seminar, Weaving model overlaid with landscape image. Image B [below]: Photographs of woven model with steel rods and plywood strips.
XIII
Image A : Sectional Perspective: “Wasteland: The Burial of the Dead”
Waste Land-Scapes Professor Andrea Hansen, Harvard GSD
PROJECT
The project transformed a precedent into an imagined landscape capitalizing on surface-making tools in Rhinoceros. Final renderings were informed by imagery from sections of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land.
REPRESENTATION
images A-B were created using Rhino v.4, Grasshopper, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.
GSD2241 - Landscape Representation III: Landform and Ecological Process
Image B : Perspective: “Wasteland: What the Thunder Said”
“Falling towersJerusalem Athens AlexandriaVienna LondonUnreal.”
- t.s. eliot
XIII_4
Materiality: Hybrid Spatial Tectonics
PROJECT
These images represent folded and woven models using a range of materials, figures and background landscapes to bring these small sketch models to life.
REPRESENTATION
Images A-C were created with various modeling materials (as noted) and using photography and Adobe Photoshop. The model in Image A was made in collaboration with UNCC graduate students including Jermey Roh and Brad Buter; all rendering was completed independently.
WEAVE, FOLD
Image A [above] : WEAVE model of steel rods and plywood strips imagine in a desert landscape
Image B: FOLD mode of bended chipboard imagined as hiding place within a tree-studded lawn.
XIII_5
Image C [above] : FOLD model of melted acryclic and piano wire Image D [below]: FOLD mode of bended chipboard.
FOLD