Work Sample

SIte and the CitySIte and the City

AdAPT NYC Microhousing Fall 2012 | Semester Group Project

The demand for single-person housing in and around New York City is very quickly outpacing supply. In response, the AdAPT NY competition was a call for proposals for a new typology of “micro-units,” or units of less than 300 sf.

In the world of the micro-unit, the city becomes the living room. Activities like cooking or entertaining often become removed from the primary living space. Thus, creating community nodes in and around the building becomes a priority, and the link between those nodes and the individual apartment is a generator for the overall design.

Mission StatementIn today’s world of high-density residential design, the default model takes the position that the site always takes second fiddle to the individual unit. This condition is the direct result of a viewpoint of economy. However, the quality of place is disregarded in lieu of higher occupancy.

Instead, placemaking should be a critical aspect in design that capitalizes on a community’s assets, inspirations, and potential. How these people meet, interact, and live throughout a place should be facilitated by the architecture. That architecture should ultimately create the opportunity not only for a place to live, but a place to dwell.

habitat ny

CBF Environmental Center CompetitionSpring 2011 | Competition Finalist-Honorable Mention

Pleasure House Point, one of the last stretches of pristine wetlands in the Virginia Beach area, is home to the most successful oyster recovery site in the Chesapeake Bay. In order to further educate people about the bay and its impact, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation commissioned a sustainable building design, functioning as a headquarters for the foundation and an educational center for the surrounding community.

In order to reduce the building footprint, as well as the run off from impermeable surfaces, the building is designed on stilts above the flood plain. The roof is a set of two curving tensile membranes intended to collect and recycle rainwater for use.

Urban | LABSpring 2012 | Semester Project

“The world moves along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of each tiny worker”

Cincinnati is a city that is changing rapidly after a long period of stagnation. As a proposal for mapping growth and revitalization within the city, the project is a mixed-use facility for urban mapping, art exhibition, and a live-work environment for artists.

Virginia Leonard | Architecture + Urban [email protected]

Watershed ObservatoryFall 2011 | Semester Project

Does architecture have the potential to revitalize a dying town? By creating a mixed use facility that fosters research and recreation, the Watershed Observatory is an exploration into the architecture of intervention.The observatory functions as a landmark between the mass of the Great Smoky mountains and Fontanta Lake. It is a research facility for the local ecosystem and a community launching point for lake-related activities.

Virginia Leonard | Architecture + Urban [email protected]