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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Resume...... 5

[thesis] Ex-Libris: Citizen...... 7

Baum-Centre Corridor...... 13

Nexus...... 21 REBECCA LEFKOWITZ Afterglow: Urban Beach...... 31 Architecture & Urban Design Portfolio Social Corners...... 45

[thesis] Glitch...... 59

Permeating the Identity Frontier...... 75

Farm as Fiction...... 85

Sketchbook...... 101

EX-LIBRIS: CITIZEN Philadelphia, . 2018 9

EX-LIBRIS: CITIZEN Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . 2018-2019 . 1 year . individual work

How can we cope in an age governed by algorithms, powerful corporations with utopian ideas of progress: oversaturated with media and information, and marked take the headquarters of Google or Facebook that offer by exponential socioeconomic divergence? Only global open layouts, non-hierarchical seating arrangements, networks of localized initiatives can actively reclaim flexible communal spaces, and plenty of amenities that power from the centralized institutions of the past and mean you never have to leave your office. On the surface, delegate that power to the public domain. Inklings of these corporate campuses foster flexibility, community, this egalitarian, decentralized city of the future already and creativity—all in the name of productivity. exist in local grassroots organizations that engage in the Interestingly, this model does not rely exclusively on practice of commoning, a concept that framed the first a digital form of exchange: it is a testament to the semester of thesis research. importance of physical encounters as a way to build trust and establish connections. Historically, libraries have acted as one such platform for exchange and are a great example of a trust-based I believe that spatial alliances between cooperatives sharing economy, with the objectives to produce, are essential: by providing a physical infrastructure store, and disseminate knowledge. The concept of the for exchange between localized initiatives, we can lending library was first explored by Benjamin Franklin establish a campus for the civic sphere, one that acts as and other intellectual colonists, who, out of financial a legitimate symbol for decentralization, sharing, and necessity, began to keep a collective library for their emancipation from market forces. books. This collection eventually grew to become the Library Company of Philadelphia, a privately-run non- Applying concepts like adaptive reuse and prosumerism profit organization that acts outside the market and the found in the Braddock Carnegie Library and Millvale state. I believe that, if applied at an urban scale, the Community Library, the icon-ization of a non- library typology can serve as a symbol for decentralized architectural operation found in Prinzessinnengarten cooperation between localized initiatives in the city of in Berlin, and spatial flexibility found in OMA’s Seattle the future. Public Library and Cedric Price’s Fun Palace, I hope to leverage the conventional model of the lending library The vocabulary of this narrative is often co-opted by as a spatial product of implementing cosmopolitan marketing ploys and capitalist spaces that aim to align localism. 10

In order to borrow some of the architectural language and historical ethos of the library, I’ve chosen to site this project in Philadelphia, particularly in the neighborhood of Hawthorne in South Philadelphia. Sandwiched between Center City and rapidly- gentrifying Bella Vista, Hawthorne is a historically black neighborhood known for its jazz scene, rowdy nightclubs, poverty, and street crime. High-rise public housing projects have epitomized the neighborhood since the 1960s but are slowly being replaced by New Urbanist-style projects, causing displacement as young professionals move in.

But most importantly, Hawthorne is home to a building that formerly held the Library Company of Philadelphia, now The Philadelphia High School for Creative And Performing Arts (CAPA). Even when it was built, this Neoclassical fortress represented an antiquated version of a library, and became a symbol of South Philadelphia’s blight.

Set against this backdrop of grandiose privatism, I envision a hyper-flexible, self-regulating platform for exchange operating on multiple scales outside the spheres of market and state and supportive of spontaneous inculcation of knowledge and skills.

This project is as of yet unfinished but is inspired largely by my interests in protest, historic architectural >>> styles, large-scale urban plans that propose utopian This adjacent image attempts visions, collage, architectural semantics, and equity. to compile a wide variety of This project will cumulate in an group exhibit. thoughts and inspirations for my final vision of this project. BAUM-CENTRE CORRIDOR , Pennsylvania . 2018 15

BAUM-CENTRE CORRIDOR Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania . 2018 . 16 weeks . collaborative work

Conducted for the Remaking Cities Institute alongside horses graze. It’s for this reason that the area is known the City of Pittsburgh Department of City Planning, as the East Liberty Valley, after “liberty,” the British this group project encompassed a wide range of tasks, term for grazing field. Eventually, the area densified as including software analysis for virtual reality as well as Pittsburgh grew, and much of the East Liberty Valley site analysis for the Baum-Centre Corridor, a stretch of was owned by Jacob Negley. He added a road crossing two parallel streets that forms an urban seam situated through , right past his house and aptly between the Shadyside, East Liberty, Bloomfield, and named “Negley Avenue.” At this time, both millionaires Friendship neighborhoods. My primary roles in this and the middle class wanted to get out of the polluted project were to coordinate presentations, experiment downtown, so many moved to the East End. Most with a Rhino to Unity workflow, research the history development was centered on Penn and Fifth Avenues, of the site, and establish a set of typological units to be eventually meeting awkwardly in the middle at the used for quick modeling in virtual reality. newly-constructed Pennsylvania Railroad.

It’s clear that the layout of this urban fabric is piecemeal. These neighborhoods were all scaled to be walkable. It’s difficult to navigate these roads, with some changing But with the advent and popularity of the car plus direction by almost 90 degrees. It’s inconsistent between migration to the suburbs, the scale of urban fabric neighborhoods, producing seams between them. But changed, leading to the construction of this corridor. why? Laid out sometime in the first half of the last century, these two parallel, straight-shooting roads aim straight In the early 1600s, Native Americans used a trail that for the center of East Liberty, occupying that once- followed natural topographical and botanical conditions awkward boundary between the Penn & Fifth grids. to travel in a general East-West direction. This trail The corridor resolves this by simply re-orienting major became a military road to serve , located at the roads like Negley, Aiken, and Shady Avenues. And Point. The British renamed this trail to “” from the history of retail, the scale and speed of the for General Forbes. The valley in which East Liberty car rendered smaller storefronts invisible. With this new exists today was just the right distance away from arterial, valuable, accessible plots were built with new Fort Pitt to make this area ideal for travelers to take a retail needs: car-service stations, larger institutional break, staying overnight in a tavern and letting their “storefronts,” and less housing with bigger footprints. Andrew CarnegieAndrew begins steel Edgar Thomson at production Works Steel Stock Exchange renamed “Oil Exchange” renamed Stock Exchange East Liberty from above Artist Unknown, c. 1940 “[Pittsburgh is] Hell with the lid taken off.”

Negley’s granddaughter marries Thomas Negley’s the East Liberty area Mellon and develops center with a transportation as commercial lines to pass first trolley hub… convincing East Liberty through -James Parton, 1866 View of the Great Fire of Pittsburgh William Coventry Wall, 1846 33-50% of steel nation’s in Pittsburgh produced

Streetcars in East End “In truth, Pittsburg is a smoky, dismal city, at her Artist Unknown, c. 1955 best. At her worst, nothing darker, dingier or Generals Braddock and Forbes’s Generals Braddock and Forbes’s armies through construct roads the wilderness more dispiriting can be imagined.” Hazelwood, 1940 -Willard Glazer, 1883 Jack Delano “I spent some time in viewing the rivers, and the land in the fork; which I think extremely well 1859 View of Pittsburgh situated for a fort, as it has absolute command of 1872 William Schuchman, 1859 Homestead Steel Works both rivers.” granddaughter inherits Casper Taub’s after the and names streets Friendship Aiken, including Roup, family, Winebiddle & Baum Negley, “From whatever direction one approaches the George Westinghouse’s Wabtec Wabtec Westinghouse’s George opens railway 1907 Phipps Conservatory and Phipps Conservatory donated Botanical Gardens Henry Phipps to city by once lovely conjunction of the Allegheny and the -, 1753 Pittsburgh-Greensburg ensures Negley Alexander making the East Liberty, turnpike through built growth and ensuring its future center a trading area

Conway Railyard opens Railyard Conway Monogahela the devastation of progress is appar- Carnegie founds heavy Carnegie heavy founds line Union Railroad freight ent. Quite valleys have been inundated with slag, defaced with refuse, marred by hideous buildings. PPG Place built Pitt Township government formed government Pitt Township Trolleys begin running Trolleys along Baum Blvd Streams have been polluted with sewage and 1984 Pittsburgh becomes possession ofPittsburgh State Pennsylvania the waste from the mills. Life for the majority of the population has been rendered unspeakably Baum Boulevard Car Dealerships Baltimore & Ohio Railroad enters the city & Ohio Railroad Baltimore pinched and dingy.... This is what might be called c. 1950

Regent Theatre opens in East Liberty Theatre Regent the technological blight of heavy industry.” Great Fire of Fire Great Pittsburgh

-R.L. Duffus (Atlantic Monthly), 1930 city hosts G20 summit officially designated as city officially designated Pittsburgh Stock Exchange, Stock Exchange, Pittsburgh founded called “Oil Exchange,” nation’s 8th-largest city 8th-largest nation’s Shadyside’s built Shadyside’s

Henry Phipps Jr. Motor ELDI recreates as un - Garden Square successful indoor mall Thomas Viceroy completes Thomas Viceroy plan the first town East Liberty holiday season Pittsburgh Steel Mill 1839 - 1930 East Liberty largely a free grazing a free area East Liberty largely incorporated as borough Pittsburgh Lithograph of Fort Pitt J&L Steel Company c. 1860 Steel Mill at Night---Jones & Laughlin Steel Company to Erie extends Turnpike c. 1970 first European to enter the region: Robert de La Salle region: to enter the first European first description of Bezallion by Michael fork Ohio River 1758 Gretton, c. 1850 Aaron Henry Gorson, 1910 Shadyside’s Walnut Street French & British explorers fight for fight & British explorers French ofcontrol the region URA demolishes roughly URA demolishes roughly half of East Liberty to restored Avenue Penn street two-way 334,563 city population to meet East Liberty Blvd extends Avenue Penn Bloomfield neighborhood, Collins Township (now (now Township Bloomfield neighborhood, Collins to Pittsburgh annexed and Shadyside East Liberty, Pittsburgh AAA buys AAA buys Pittsburgh Garden Motor Square auto shows for population grows to 1,400 grows population Motor Square Garden Garden Motor Square matches boxing used for maxxed city population out to 676,806 built by the British by built Prince George Fort 1935 Google completes campus Bakery Square at Initiative Baum Centre launched 1900 ofBoulevard the Allies constructed 1690 1700 1710 1720 1730 1740 1750 1760 1770 1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 1957 airport opens Rebellion Whiskey founded Pittsburgh Allegheny City annexed Allegheny opened Liberty Tunnels 2015 glass manufacturers begin to glass manufacturers economy dominate Carnegie companies merged Steel into U.S. Friendship inhabited Friendship families prosperous by 1950s through East Liberty anchored by by East Liberty anchored department stores Shadyside Action Coalition formedShadyside General John Forbes begins Forbes General John construction of Pitt Fort

Fort Duquesne built by the French by Duquesne built Fort Pittsburgh Landscape Shadyside’s Walnut Street

Olive Harriett Nuhfer, c. 1920 c. 1960 Hill District demolished, Lower unrest breeds major dislocation Pennsylvania Turnpike opens Turnpike Pennsylvania 1,600 tech companies now 1,600 tech in Pittsburgh located founded Pirates Pittsburgh

On The Trail To Fort Pitt Burnham’s in East Liberty completed

Robert Griffing, 1762 founded Group Preservation Friendship most valuable deposit ofmost valuable bituminous in Coal Hill discovered coal in U.S.

Stock Exchange renamed “Coal Exchange” renamed Stock Exchange Motor Square Garden East Liberty’s first coworking space opens first coworking East Liberty’s “After traveling for two weeks through white, Andrew Carnegie East Liberty street Renovation, 1980 1835 - 1919 c. 1950

clean, cheerful-looking villages and towns, Chamber of Pittsburgh Greater formed Commerce European fur traders establish area posts and settlements area fur traders establish European to come all at once upon dirty streets and dark, Garden Motor Square AAA buys filthy looking houses stretching away in rows Italian immigrants settle in Bloomfield continuously ahead and enveloped Shadyside’s Walnut Street Quebec soldiers launch expedition to unite Canada expedition Quebec soldiers launch network Louisiana via the river with French in an atmosphere of smoke and soot which Landscape near Pittsburgh c. 1970

blackened everything in sight, local industrialists by founded Carnegie Library opens “Pittsburgh” named by General named by “Pittsburgh” in honor of Forbes John British Pitt William statesman George Hetzel, c. 1866 Penn Avenue in East Liberty was not a pleasant transition.” c. 1930 -Visitor, 1829 Finishing the Silent Spring released Carson’s Rachel between Amalgamated Amalgamated Homestead Strike between ofAssociation and Steel Workers Iron Carnegieversus Steel Company

Treaty of Stanwix signed by Treaty Fort family and Penn nation Iroquois “Six months residence here would justify suicide.” Harry William Scheuch, 1934 -Herbert Spencer, 1882

Pontiac’s War / Battle of / Battle War Run Bushy Pontiac’s 1882

Motor Square Garden built by by built Garden Motor Square as city market East Brookline Steps Mellon Bank & Pittsburgh National Bank National Bank & Pittsburgh Mellon Inc East Liberty Development, create 1952

Lithograph of Pittsburgh 70% ofOver to converted Friendship apartments multi-unit Carnegie’s Pittsburgh Locomotive Locomotive Pittsburgh Carnegie’s opens & Car Works 1849 approximate date of date claim approximate Casper Taub’s settler areas and Garfield Friendship, to Bloomfield, Pennsy’s Pitcairn Yard Pitcairn Yard Pennsy’s marshalling to largest grows in the region yard donates donates Mary Schenley to city 454 acres founded Penguins Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh from the Northwest, 1843 Baum Boulevard in East Liberty Sherman Day, 1843 1937 The Point 1956

“[Pittsburgh is the] Birmingham of America.” Pittsburgh’s from South Side Slopes -George W. Ogden, 1821 c. 1800 Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad & Ohio Railroad Pennsylvania to Philadelphia connects Pittsburgh 18

But the physical transformation of the Baum-Centre (and suburban malls) deterred non-resident visitors to Corridor still does not tell the full story. So why does the the new pedestrian mall of East Liberty. racial makeup of these neighborhoods vary so much? Gentrification’s timing is unpredictable but is often During the migration of millionaires to the East inevitable. Though it suffered a nearly 30-year End, industrial magnates like the Negley’s, Mellon’s, economic paralysis, East Liberty is now marked by Carnegie’s, and more moved out of the city and into a new transit hub, larger-scale retail, and the Bakery the more desirable East Liberty Valley. But the Great Square tech-y development. These flashier, market- Depression spared none from its wrath: many, like the rate projects geared towards the middle class started Negley’s, went broke, and these magnates grew older to crop up here because the area is geographically a and died. As a result, many of their giant mansions desirable distance from downtown, is accessible, and peppered around the area were either divided into had low property rates. apartments or simply demolished. The middle-class residents of the area began to move away, too, leading to The housing stock of surrounding neighborhoods, an even smaller population to serve. This combination particularly Shadyside, Bloomfield, and Friendship, did of events essentially destroyed the commercial viability not suffer the fate of mass demolition in the late 1900s; as of the area. a result, the higher-quality of building stock eventually attracted the first indicators of gentrification: students As the Great Depression’s grip loosened, these property and hippies. With accessible commercial and service rates did not increase, but stayed stagnant, due to the amenities plus this cheap-but-high-quality building drastic loss of commercial services. Because of these stock, these neighborhoods have been gentrified at a dramatically-lowered property rates, minorities and much faster rate than East Liberty—and the seam that disenfranchised groups were able to afford property in binds them all. this area more-so than still-commercial downtown or the growing suburbs. As a result of this varied and evolving history, the Baum- Centre Corridor features some very unique conditions, This was compounded by the Urban Renewal projects like mega-blocks, a tangle of one-way streets, large of the 1970s, when large, fairly low-quality apartment plots, high vacancy rates, plentiful parking lots, blocks were built, more than 1 million square feet of built dangerous intersections, and more. But because of its fabric was demolished, and over-scaled and confusing adjacency to three primarily residential neighborhoods roads, particularly Penn Circle, were constructed. The and commercial center of East Liberty, the Corridor seven-year construction schedule and growing suburbs has potential to serve residents in the future. NEXUS Toronto, Canada . 2018 23

NEXUS Toronto, Canada . 2018 . 2 weeks . collaborative work

The Huron-Wendat people, who once lived on the completing the circle’s edge. A park with a naturalized shores of Lake Ontario between 1200-1600 A.D., landscape edge allows the river to swell here, giving believed that the circle symbolized interconnectedness even more meaning to the circle’s form. The hotel on between humankind and the natural world. Today, the site is one of few east of the Don River, offering an circles remain a meaningful symbol, emphasizing amenity to the businesses and residents here. continuity, unity, and totality. In response to the grand commercial scale of the East By design, Nexus complements Toronto’s surrounding Harbour plan, located just southeast of Nexus, the retail neighborhoods, welcoming visitors and residents alike availability here focuses on smaller, local companies. to an ecologically-sound and programmatically diverse For example, a proposed incubator restaurant called safe space. Community-led programming engages The New Canadian, fosters cultural exchange by the residents of nearby neighborhoods even before hosting four chefs for six-month stints, each with a demolition of existing car dealerships begins, bringing different international menu. A landscaped patio and political attention and real estate speculation to the prime location near the bustling and badly-needed new currently underutilized site while focusing on the needs transit hub allow this type of inclusivity to flourish. of the existing and potential residents. Previously isolated, the proposed Nexus project boasts The Nexus neighborhood is not singular: each edge of exceptional connectivity and accessibility: the Nexus new development attempts to mimic the neighborhood SmartTrack station and an extension of the 501 Queen it faces. The residential townhouses on the eastern Streetcar line allow visitors from across the city and corner of the site repeat the scale and feel of the houses region to arrive on site en masse. Those traveling by just north of Eastern Avenue, while the 30-story office foot, bike, or wheelchair are also able to access Nexus building on the westernmost corner of the site creates from across the river via the station. And by extending an iconic approach to Downtown Toronto and mirrors Broadview Avenue and Lewis Street to the south, Nexus the tallest tower across the river in West Don Lands. creates a new, pedestrian-friendly street grid with short, Continuing the circle created by Corktown Commons, walkable block. A pedestrian bridge, to be completed in a park that caps the West Don Lands project, Nexus 2035, will channel families, friends, and neighbors over attempts to return focus to the Don River with the towers the highway, river, and adjacent lush landscaping.

26 27 <<< The image adjacent shows the master plan for Nexus and the diagrammatic circle connection with the West Don Lands When the Huron-Wendat people lived and built on project. the land that is now Toronto, the lower Don River meandered freely into Lake Ontario, ever-changing in its path and providing fertile ground for agriculture. Recent policies, development, and investments, particularly Sidewalk Lab’s “Sidewalk Toronto” project, have restored and naturalized the mouth of the Don River to combat its nineteenth-century industrial development, thus greatly reducing the flood risk. To complement the river’s naturalization, the plentiful impervious pavement currently existing on the Nexus site is proposed to be removed and replaced with natural landscaping nearest to the river, returning excess water to the Don via bioswales.

The Focus, a multi-purpose amphitheatre that is partially submerged into the ground plane, performs double-duty by hosting community events and gatherings like the Toronto Light Festival while also providing a space for stormwater to collect in the event of a flood. Green roofs on the lower platforms of each building offer supplementary opportunities to collect stormwater on the site, bringing sustainability benefits to the site and health benefits to the region.

Heavily inspired by Canada’s liberal immigration policies and Toronto’s rich social diversity and evolving ecological history, this project is designed to inspire interaction and unity. The proposed Nexus neighborhood allows existing urban patterns, interactions, and communities to converge: an act that could be considered the epitome of Toronto. 28 29 AFTERGLOW: URBAN BEACH Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania . 2017 33

AFTERGLOW: URBAN BEACH Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania . 2017 . 4 weeks . collaborative work . winner

Afterglow will transform the riverfront under Fort Assembly Required in which dancers engages the Duquesne bridge into a unique public space for relaxing audience in a process performance of improvisation, and community events, just steps away from downtown live music and co-creation. Pittsburgh. The installation captures the motion of a setting sun as it dips into the water of the Allegheny, By inviting people into a process of co-creation and and creates a series of micro-public spaces along the the hands-on experience of building together, we linear path of the promenade. Brightening-up the can nurture a sense of ownership and ultimately highway underpass, the suns provide programmatic responsibility that is essential for the success of any differentiation within a unifying and evocative public space. atmosphere. The combination of dazzling sculptural spaces on Beyond offering a place for lunch break getaways, or the one hand, and common DIY-lounge chairs on the taking a rest from a bike ride to dip your feet in the other, aims at striking a balance between creating an water, the installation will serve as a stage for regular extraordinary experience, yet one that feels informal community events to be programmed in collaboration and will incite spontaneous appropriation. with local organizations: performances, concerts and community dances, bike-repair workshops or unicycle This project was completed by StudioGruber with a lessons and the launching paddleboard eco-tours will small team led by Stefan Gruber (smgruber@andrew. bring the venue to life. By collaborating with a range of cmu.edu) and three other students. My primary different initiatives such as Attack Theater, BikePGH contributions to the team were in stakeholder and and SurfSUP Adventures, we aim at creating a place community engagement, renderings, and design that is truly inclusive for a broad and diverse public. development. The competition was announced by Riverlife in early 2017 and StudioGruber was A significant portion of the installation will take selected first as a finalist and finally as the winner of place in public workshops: we will call on volunteers the competition to design a temporary installation to to contribute to assembling 100 Do-It-Yourself be sited on Pittsburgh’s riverfront underneath the Fort Adirondack Chair. The DIY workshops will be co- Duquesne bridge ramp. The project has not yet been hosted with Attack theater and their series Some installed. STUDIOGRUBER 36 37

Afterglow Thomas Lee Gerrit Rietveld STUDIO 1903 1934 2018

3 7 37” Thank you for joining the DIY Chair 50” Workshop! In 1 hour you can create a chair 2 2 for Afterglow! 21” 39” 15” STUDIO 2 2 33” 1 35” 44” 26 4

on 6 t a A 4 e B B p e e D R d D i s & r p e i l h t 1 F F o 8

F 2 F 22” F 3 5

5.5” 7 1.5” 7” 38

The community engagement methods implemented during multiple stakeholder meetings included:

1. Dot exercises to gauge the stakeholders’ interest in specific programming. Provided with green and red stickers (designating positive and negative reactions, respectively), community members narrowed down options of activities that might occur at the riverfront. For example, many people reacted positively to the ideas of experiential art, drinking coffee, light installations, and artsy seating, while many disproved of skating, rock climbing, fishing, and other more recreational activities.

2. Postcard “mailing” to allow community members to envision the future Pittsburgh riverfront. The front of the postcard portrayed a vintage-style image of beachgoers unexpectedly relaxing in today’s concrete, harsh environment under the Bridge ramp. The back of the postcard reads: “Greetings from the Pittsburgh riverfront! I love it here because ___,” prompting Pittsburghers to imagine what they could be proud of in the future.

3. Free responses to a series of questions regarding potential collaborators as well as regional ecological concerns, meant to incite deeper consideration of Pittsburgh’s natural, recreational, and social amenities.

Overall, the responses gathered from these stakeholder engagement events were incredibly insightful and >>> helpful in determining the design, particularly in terms The image adjacent shows some of defining potential users and activities. of the engagement techniques used throughout the process. STUDIOGRUBER STUDIOGRUBER SOCIAL CORNERS Millvale, Pennsylvania . 2017 47

SOCIAL CORNERS Millvale, Pennsylvania . 2018 . 16 weeks . collaborative work

This project was conducted in three parts: a full-studio Lincoln Pharmacy, Jean-Marc Chatellier’s French team to conduct long-term site analysis, a two-person Bakery, Tazza d’Oro, & more; as a result, the image team to produce a long-term design scheme, and a of North Avenue is perhaps the most recognizable as three-person research team to develop short-term Millvale. design strategies. With grants from the Remaking Cities Institute, the objective with this project was to But this quality of locally-owned specialty shops fades design short- and long-term revitalization strategies as you traverse southeast on Grant Avenue; for some for the development of the Borough of Millvale, an reason, the main entrance to Millvale off of Route 28 EcoDistrict just outside Pittsburgh’s city limits. is devoid of the identity central to Millvale’s image. The EcoDistrict Plan emphasized this lack of a strong For the studio design project, my team was primarily entrance as well, planning for this site to be another focused on reviving the commercial culture in Millvale commercial anchor for the town. We heard from many to form an iconic identity at its gateway, proposing that Millvalians a desire for Millvale to be known regionally the collection of diverse local businesses of Millvale’s as a “foodie” haven: a destination where tourists could heyday be reintegrated into the fabric of the town. We travel to sample a diverse range of artisanal fare. Using proposed a series of strategically-placed low-cost, short- food and other “destination retail” like Pamela’s Diner, term events to discover the demand for commercial & Attic Records, and Yetter’s Candy is a powerful way recreational amenities that incrementally grow interest to reframe Millvale’s image as an innovative town & incentivize long-term investment. This drives an while simultaneously opening up new opportunities for image of a historic Millvale, while looking to its future investment. with a unique, innovative, active community. Our proposal focused on building intrigue surrounding With each trip to Millvale and our research on the history these ideas of food and destination retail using of the borough, we noticed the variety and quality of incremental, small-scale interventions to drive interest storefronts that line both North Avenue and Grant in long-term investment. At its final stage, this proposal Avenue. North Avenue has retained the character of a adds 7 food retailers, 6 diverse retailers, 3 new public classic post-industrial American commercial corridor, park amenities, 10 conventional housing units, and 10 lined with specialty shops like Esther’s Hobby Shop, co-housing units.

51 <<< The image adjacent shows some of the base maps produced during the site analysis portion of the project. In order to learn empirical facts about the borough of Millvale and the region in general, I led the full studio team in the production of site analysis maps. Adapting common standards of mapping from The Urban Design Handbook from Urban Design Associates and other drawing standards, these maps allowed us to break down a lot of geographical information provided by Allegheny County. These maps included zoning, public transit routes, street network hierarchies, natural and recreational features, and much more.

We discovered that these initial analyses and diagrams of Millvale largely backed up the first-hand accounts we heard from local stakeholders and our team of consultants. Main problems included a lack of grocery stores, poorly-maintained buildings facing highly public areas, inaccessibility between the town and the riverfront, and an absence of flooding mitigation strategies. Locals cited amenities like restaurants, bars, the new riverfront park, a landmark church, and strong community bonds as aspects they wanted to save and celebrate. Legitimizing, sharing, and analyzing those concerns seemed to be meaningful for the community and assisted our research.

The main conclusions drawn from this type of analysis legitimized the concerns raised by locals, but added elements like a lack of public transit service to the area, a condition of obscurity and inaccessibility to some of the main landmarks in the borough, systematic infrastructural that should be blamed for flooding, and even the redundancy of some traffic patterns.

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Community engagement played a crucial role in the success of this project. In the first weeks of studio, we set up a booth at the annual Millvale Days Parade, asking Millvalians to talk about their favorite spots in town and the places they thought could use improvement. This narrowed down our project scope to primarily focusing on the access to the riverfront, which is hidden and made dangerous by a confusing tangle of roads, highway overpasses, railways, and more.

Each of our presentations was given to groups of community members who were both interested in the project as well as the major stakeholders we identified throughout the semester. Feedback from PennDOT, knowledgeable locals, and borough leaders was invaluable to the design process. For example, one huge design move given to the studio was to demolish an entire block and start fresh; however, after meeting with locals, we discovered that this demolition would destroy a community anchor, Grant Bar, so we decided to adjust our schemes drastically to accommodate this iconic building.

The research portion of this project, focusing on short- term strategies, was even more produced in collaboration with Millvalians; stakeholder interviews, meetings with the Borough, and consultations with traffic engineers >>> from PennDOT allowed us to produce a menu of The images adjacent show strategies that could quickly and fairly cheaply improve community engagement at the pedestrian and bicycle crossing between the town Millvale Days, one of the and the riverfront. Interactive renderings allowed the interactive renderings, and the community to mix and match these strategies. menu of short-term design strategies.

GLITCH Chicago, Illinois . 2016-17 61

GLITCH Chicago, Illinois . 2016-2017 . 1 year . individual work

The lack of disconnect between individuals is the influencers of the urban scene. Because of its location, condition of today’s urban communities: every day, the architectural style, and dominant status, this building lines between physical and virtual, public and private, performs to maintain its rank in the urban hierarchy. and individual and collective become more and more This act is both physical and phenomenological, and blurred. This contemporary urban condition restricts highly dependent on the relationship with the spectator. the ability to carve out space for the individual citizen in reaction to the institutionalized city. In a true democracy, the public sphere is synonymous with the political sphere: public congregation creates This project advocates for the right to solitude as a political action. But the institutions built in the U.S. catalyst for solidarity; where idiosyncratic experiences to represent all its people were built by and for a are linearly aligned in order to balance an active brand specific privileged demographic, leading to a sustained of collective disconnection against this developing exponential divergence between the Powerful and the sociopolitical model of dependency. Powerless. Protest is necessary to shift the status quo.

Siting these moments of social exception must mimic The delineation between the forum and the outside the variety of dichotomous networks already present in forces that shape it is an elastic sort of frontier: one that the city; therefore, this delineation--the projection plane is permeable and promises communication across its for disconnect--always exists adjacent to monuments of thresholds. Protesters must redefine the objects within compliance, remnants of privatization, or perpetuators the fluid fields on either side in order for onlookers to of conformity. The particular urban incubator, Chicago, interact without prejudice to the space and the contested has a long history of fostering subversive cultures that issue. This line exists not simply in plan or section, but emphasize independent mindsets while simultaneously in three dimensions on a macro-urban scale. representing the inherent institutionalization of a first- tier city. When clearly defined, these reciprocal dichotomies become the responsibility of architects: in distinguishing Most importantly, though, this section dissects Chicago’s and making spaces for protest, intersections between City Hall building: a neoclassical structure that helps disparately enfranchised communities and glitches in outline the Canyon and contains the most powerful the system might spark meaningful change.

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As a play on this actor-spectator relationship inherent to speed and whim of the reader. These books, donated each typical edifice, this proposal consists of dispersed by local libraries, are uncensored and not restricted by objects along a linear motif of collective disconnection. genre. The reader reacts to these charged dialogues Each installation, called a Glitch, is composed of four within this new frame of reference, relating to the components. author, the story, and the previous readers--all existing in a time outside the present. Opinions, then, become The Frame synchronistic, as opposed to actions: this transforms The frame is a small, lockable six-sided room lined these spaces of solitude into anachronistic moments of with copper to block cell phone signal on the interior. potential solidarity, motivating the reader to re-enter Silence, darkness, and emptiness ensure a genuinely collective spaces as activists. solitary experience amidst the plurality of the heavily networked city. Each component of the room exists to express the inherent antipodal relationship between actor and The Eye spectator, public and private, individual and institution, The wall opposite the door is distinctive from the rest and physical and virtual. in that it features one small aperture, the “eye.” This perforation grows from a 3-inch square on the interior Within these dichotomous networks lies the potential to of the frame to a 3-foot square on the exterior, hinting at reframe reality as a stage for self-actualization, restoring the immense scale of the adjacent city while juxtaposed opinion to the individual from the institutionalized against the idiosyncratic isolation of the room itself. collective. Accompanied by the otherworldly, anachronistic voice of the book, the visual connection The Beacon to the city through the eye, and the anchorage of the The beacon, really a mundane incandescent light bulb, beacon, this frame for an experience of disconnection hangs from the ceiling; due to the object’s familiarity, it shifts the balance of the existing sociopolitical system acts as an anchor of the commonplace within the local by granting users of a Glitch a better understanding of and global scales that the installation articulates. their place as actors in the urban network.

The Book Reallocating spaces in the city that advocate for a Lastly, resting on an extrusion below the eye, a book right to solitude and induce solidarity as its result waits to tell a story of limitless mutualisms. Functioning paradoxically invents a new network: a new institution as both actor and spectator in its performance, the book meant to deinstitutionalize today’s architecture of discloses its authorship and narrative but only at the advocacy.

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PERMEATING THE IDENTITY FRONTIER Tucson, Arizona . 2017 77

PERMEATING THE IDENTITY FRONTIER Tucson, Arizona . 2017 . 2 weeks . individual work . state finalist

For centuries, humans have attempted to prescribe descending mountainous landscape, and approaching meaning and purpose to existence; when this proves a small, unassuming door. Upon entrance, a visitor sees fruitless, they look to the stars. This is a common naught but darkness and a continuation of the bridge. method for defining things: if we cannot describe what This is an intermediate zone: the observation platform. it is, we start with what it isn’t. This “otherness” has Alone and surrounded by a vast dark void, visitors long fascinated humans, particularly in the case of the feel an innate desire to see beyond the void, using the vastness of space. telescope as a tool to observe the Other. Occupying this foreign, mysterious void allows individuals to According to architectural theorist Sanford Kwinter, consciously interact with the Here and the Other as two “Europe invented ‘America’ as their future and outside, complimentary entities, continuing the long tradition but America invented the new frontiers--outer space of searching for answers about humanity, identity, and and the insane warp speed that was meant to take purpose in the stars. them there--as theirs. Speed and space were the new materials of which the future would be made.” Inventing frontiers involves the construction of the outline of “the other,” separating our definable, visible bodies and the unknowable, unimaginable fabric of the wild sky.

Our innate human desire to explore the unimaginable and define the unknowable manifests itself in the permeation of this frontier, making slow, careful progress in grasping the Other.

This observatory at Mt. Lemmon is just one of these thresholds, allowing visitors to depart from our known world and shared human identity by beginning at a large, expansive public plaza at the summit of the mountain, crossing a long, narrow bridge over the

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FARM AS FICTION Boalsburg, Pennsylvania . 2016 . 16 weeks . collaborative work . column award

The purpose of the farm-to-table movement is to farmer-chefs will prepare dinner hibachi-style as the expose to diners the process of food production, from culmination of the day’s efforts. the field to the plate. This process is extremely complex and largely abstract to most people, so this proposal This edge condition that reveals different aspects of involves a manipulation of the ground plane in order the working farm is punctuated by abstract objects that to reveal a path that connects existing networks on a mark location-specific micro program that both serve macro scale, including water ways, hiking trails, and bus the needs of the farm at that particular location as well routes. The path sits alongside the busy Shingletown as being opportunities to learn more about a specific Road, exposing a clarified version of the farm that piece of the farm-to-table process, like a bus shelter, provides visitors with a tangible representation of the bird house, beehive, water feature, and bike racks. At farm-to-table process. night, these objects lose their individuality & light the path, creating a network of beacons. Visitors will experience this culmination of farm experiences in stages of “on,” “of,” and “in,” alongside With the guidance of the live-in farmers and chefs a rising edge condition that provides a backdrop to and on a small-scale concentration of a farm, visitors will services the complicated activities that take place. have intimately experienced a clarified process of food production, from the field to the plate. The relationship between the visitors and the live-in farmers and chefs throughout the day is an integral This project was produced collaboratively with two part of understanding the complexity and breadth of other students, with whom work was shared equally. the farm-to-table process. The farmer-chefs will begin My primary responsibilities included producing their day above the barn and circulate down to begin the narrative, developing building and particularly tending to the livestock and the fields that bleed into the landscape design, leading the editing process of path. Visitors may sample some of the produce in the presentation materials, and creating the digital model. market and continue towards the central plaza, where Following the tenets of the Living Building Challenge, they will join the farmer-chefs in their work. After a full we aimed to design a building around an experience that day of harvesting crops and tending to the livestock, celebrated sustainability to inspire a new generation of visitors will occupy the restaurant space, where the responsible farmers, chefs, and consumers.

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OBJECT: BUS STOP + BIKE RACK [ACCESS TO STATE COLLEGE, NEIGHBORING TOWNSHIPS]

OBJECT: BEEHIVE [SHORT-TERM VISITORS SEE 1 VERSION OF FARM-TO-TABLE PROCESS]

OBJECT: WATER FEATURE [FARMER-CHEFS + VISITORS CAN CLEAN UP, USE HOSES, WATER LIVESTOCK]

OBJECT: BIRDHOUSE [SIGNALS TRANSITION TO TRAIL + EDUCATIONAL ASPECT FOR VISITORS]

OBJECT: BIKE RACK [MARKS ENTRANCE TO TRAIL + PROVIDES STORAGE FOR CYCLISTS]

98 SKETCHBOOK Anywhere, Earth . Always

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