Rhythm Architecture

Spring 2017

This project was to design a performing arts school neat Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia.
The driving idea of this project was Rhythm in Architecture. This can be seen in the offices climbing up the front facade of the building as well as the stacking of the programmed spaces and the circulation surrounding the core.
There is a theater that seats 421 patrons, a Black Box performance space that seats 95 patrons, a cafe, 3 dance studios, 4 theater rehersal rooms, an orchestra room, a choir room, a general music room as well as 5 classrooms, a keyboard lab and a computer lab.

Lehigh Wildlife Sanctuary

Group Project Fall 2016 | Jessica Yorkovich, Emma Fritzinger

This project was assigned in pairs and was organized to be an entry in the 2016 AIA COTE Top Ten for Students.
With this project we wanted to be able to give back to the environment. We wanted to design a space that educated people about the natural world around them while making efforts to help the environment be healthy. The proposal is a wildlife rehabilitation center connected to an educational nature center. The plan is to let the local schools utilize the facility to educate students about the natural world. While the Sanctuary will provide rehabilitation for injured wildlife The site will use pervious concrete pavers as well as bio-swales and rain gardens to lessen the impact of rainwater runoff from the buildings. The roof will also be covered with the Tesla Solar Roof Shingles to maximize solar energy collected.

Dissipation

Group Project Spring 2016 | Brianna Muller, Emma Fritzinger

For this project partners were assigned two sites within the New York City area, an urban and a landscape site. The program for the two sites were, death research laboratories, a funeral home, crematorium, columbarium, mausoleum, and cemetery.
My partner and I wanted to keep religious components out of the design so as to not alienate any one group of people. Because of this our driving idea for our design was Dissipation.
We saw dissipation in relation to loved ones coping with death in their grief becoming less as time progresses. We also saw dissipation in it’s literal form as the gradual breaking down of the body.
Dissipation is seen in the landscape site through the gradual decrease of the built environment. In the urban site dissipation is realized in the decibels typically encountered in the spaces decreasing as one moves up the building.

Critical Preservation

Group Project Fall 2014 | Brianna Muller, Emily Maldari, Emma Fritzinger

For this project the group took a critical look at the conditions in Centro Habana in relation to the surrounding municipalities. The group took the stand that Centro Habana had a culture that was struggling to flourish in the decaying conditions of the roads and buildings.
With this project the group proposed tearing down the most decrepit buildings in the area and replacing them with safer, community driven buildings with rooftop spaces connected through a series of stairs.