SC shira chu
portfolio of selected works Virginia Tech Bachelor of Architecture
contents
001 SELECTED WORKS bianchi winery consulate deconstruct journey thesis: light + dark
002 OTHER
pottery sketches photography
003 RESUME
BIANCHI WINERY a homage to history
BIANCHI WINERY STUDIO IV Hilary Bryon DURATION Fall 2014 LOCATION Riva San Vitale, Switzerland Located next to the historical Casa Bianchi by Mario Botta, the winery seeks to have its own identity while addressing the duality between the two pieces of architecture from. A courtyard was created to pay homage to the residence in the scenic landscape. The winemaking process was viewed as a journey to its final destination, the barrel room. A catwalk takes visitors through the process in the winery. The width and height of the barrel room is identical to those of the Casa Bianchi, drawing a parallel between the two.
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A The bridge and Casa Bianchi is left untouched to preserve its historical presence and serves as the winemaker’s dwelling residence.
B The courtyard is viewed as a wine tasting area. The dimensions of the water installations and benches are derived from proportions of Casa Bianchi.
C The barrel room is the second tower that sinks below the landscape. Its circulation plays on the duality between the Casa Bianchi and the winery. Rather than descending, an elevator ascends people into the vineyards. C
C O N S U LAT E a space frame with spatial consequences
CONSULATE STUDIO II Michael Ermann DURATION Spring 2013 LOCATION New York, NY Located on a slot site in New York, the consulate has a curved glass wall that serves as an additional space for light to enter through the building. The space frame is exposed, demonstrating structure and creating shadows as the sun rises and sets. Rods are connected by nodes and the insulated panels of glass are attached to the frame with a four-legged spider clamp. Scales of compression are experimented with the building. From the city, people are compressed into the lobby space, which is still relatively generous in height. As people enter the multi-purpose room, they are compressed even further. As one travels vertically through the building. the space frame brings an awareness of compression as the space becomes smaller.
The space within the interior is divided with a partition wall that also serves as storage and bookcase. The front facade is dominated by a line that then continues into the building and lines up with the elevator shaft and skylight. It serves as a point of interest in the building.
The space frame is anchored to a concrete base that rises three feet from the slab. Nodes are used in rod connections. A triplelayered glass panel has a space gap for insulation and is attached to the space frame with a spacer and four-legged spider clamp. The curved space frame allows light to enter the buliding from an additional facade rather than the one facing the street. The space frame also lights the building at night.
steel node floor finish metal deck with concrete steel beam beam/girder system
steel rod spider clamp with caps clamp connector (welded)
column
glass
laminated tempered glass low-e coating air-space
6� concrete slab porous fill rigid insulation
steel plate and angle concrete footing
JOURNEY a path from campus to the secret place
JOURNEY STUDIO IV Heinrich Schnoedt DURATION Spring 2015 JOURNEY LOCATIONTHE Blacksburg, VA people away from the world of Submitted The for path theguides ACSA 2014-2015 the university into a man-made world of nature; Steel Competition, four boards were the arboretum. The agricultural center serves a transition point during the path composed.asAn agricultural center is where the path’s materiality changes from a dense viewed as concrete a retreat away from the to a light yet sturdy steel structure. university campus. A pathway from a An underground concrete parking deck parking garage to the ‘’secret place” provides a place for people to descend into as is met withthey theprepare agricultural center in to enter a tunnel that will lead the middle.them The destination consists towards the agricultural research facility and eventually to thegroves secret place. of a secret place among of trees.
The path guides people away from the world of the university into a manmade world of nature; the arboretum. The agricultural center serves as a transition point during the path where the path’s materiality changes from a dense concrete to a light yet sturdy steel structure. An underground concrete parking deck provides a place for people to descend into as they prepare to enter a tunnel that will lead them towards the agricultural research facility and eventually to the secret place.
arrival
A floating box cladded with perforated corten panels cantelivers above the path. Concrete cores support a two-way steel roof framing system that hangs volumes to support the program. Steel columns flank a walkway within the building leading to different spaces. The south facade is closed off while the north facade has a large window that allows visitors and staff to view the path leading into the arboretum.
The path transitions from a grounded concrete walkway to a suspended steel bridge after the transition point. Tension cables and structural steel frames suspend a glass walkway as one continues the journey towards the secret place. The steel that lines up with the edge of the concrete path transitions into a guardrail on the bridge. The visitor is surrounded by steel but has access to views into the arboretum. The path acts as a datum while the grade and canopy of the trees are ever-changing. The secret place, also the destination, anchors itself into the arboretum. The trees are viewed as materials that essentially make up a room in a grouping of trees. As people reach the end, they are above the canopy of the trees and a set of stairs leads them into the canopy within nature. As they descend once more, they are released into the arboretum, away from the university.
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DECONSTRUCT deconstructing the mighty fortress
DECONSTRUCT STUDIO IV Hilary Bryon DURATION Fall 2014 LOCATION Riva San Vitale, Switzerland The parts together make a whole and the whole is integrated with the separate buildings, a wall, and outdoor space. Each element has more than one function. The wall not only separates the parking lot from the building, but also sets up the precedence for the rest of the building as people get ready to enter a space of worship. The program and spaces needed within the church serves multiple functions to different groups. These spaces are offices, a playground, a home, a place of worship, and a community serving a wide range of people. Having the architecture support the flexibility of a program gives clients the necessary outlet to transform the space.
EAST ELEVATION
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FIRST FLOOR 5
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SECOND FLOOR
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DETAIL A
Wear course and draining layer [1.5 in] Roofing membrane [ 0.1in] Insulation [2 in] Vapor retarder [0.1 in] Reinforced concrete roof slab [6 in]
DETAIL B
6 Bronze panel [0.5 in] 7 Interlocking chanels [1.75 in] 8 Air space [2.0 in] 9 Insulation [4.0 in] 10 Vapor barrier [0.1 in] 11 Reinforced concrete structural wall [12 in] 12 Metal plate [0.25 in] 13 Nail
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concrete roof and insulation
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DETAIL A Roof Section
NOVEMBER Avg Wind Speed 4.07 m/s Gen direction NW
concrete roof beam and girder system
6 7 second floor with concrete slab
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10 11 concrete floor beam and girder system
12 13
AUGUST Avg Wind Speed 3.20 m/s Gen direction NW and SE
DETAIL B Bronze clad wall Section
first floor with concrete slab
B concrete structural walls with bronze cladding
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10 7 12 1 concrete foundation
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DETAIL B Bronze clad wall exploded
PASSIVE SYSTEMS Taking advantage of the NW and SW winds, cross ventilation is used in addition to HVAC to cool most of the building with the exception of the sanctuary. Trees are used to shade and bring in cooler air. The sanctuary is the only double height space, which allows for air stratification. The cool air rises as it warms up and escapes the building through vents. Vertical fins are on the south facade windows, emphasizing verticality and directing sunlight into the spaces. THE WALL Using the wall as the main element, the mighty fortress is deconstructed as the perception of such an idea is changed As people enter the site to park, they are greeted by a single wall that blocks the northwest winds. The wall then reappears within the building that prepares people entering the worship spaces. The longest wall separates the worship spaces from the rest of the building. In the rendering above, the wall sets up a grand entrance as people enter the Holy Place. The wall offers a perspective that draws from the past into the future.
MAY Avg Wind Speed 3.89 m/s Gen direction NW and SE
LIGHT + DARK a thesis studying a narrative of time
LIGHT + DARK STUDIO V Bill Galloway DURATION Fall 2015 - present LOCATION New York, NY The thesis aims to provide a better understanding about the phenomenon of the light and dark through the narrative of time. The trajectory of the sun and moon create dualities and tensions. Rhythms are created but pauses occur. A crease in the sky is created when the sun’s path no longer inclines but declines. The momentary pause allows an individual to be conscious of time. Time is measured not in a scientific method but through qualitative means. The thesis contains a simultaneous exploration and project. A pottery studio and exhibition space is located in a pocket site near the meatpacking district. Nestled in the middle of a bustling city, the calm spaces further play on the dualities created. A potter’s rhythm is overlayed with a vessel’s time of process and completion. Circulation and exhibition spaces are viewed as pauses in between each respective step.
In his essay “The Thing,� Heidegger describes a jug’s ability to hold something in its void. Its presencing is the gathering of the fourfold into a onefold, which consists of the sky and earth and mortals and divinities. The building or the world that I create seeks to give the individual an awareness of the temporal procession. The cylinder, cup, or bowl that I attempt to throw also is its own world. Architecture has the ability to embody a world within the world while engaging the senses with the light and dark.
The building can be interpreted as its own vessel, capturing a world inside. The section of a vessel reveals many qualities about the light or lack of light admitted into the void. The slot building contains a light steel structure that contrasts the concrete shell. The steel structure houses program of the pottery process while the concrete shell serves as pauses in between each step. The individual must walk through it to proceed to the next step. The exhibition space admits little light that might catch the curvature or rim of the pot.
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SKYLIGHT DETAIL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
SLIDING DOOR DETAIL 1 2 3 4 5
cast-in place concrete overhead support track bronze plating door frame panel door void for door handle
floor finish concrete floor slab corrugated metal decking steel beam and girder system laminated glass spider clamp tension cable
OTHER a collection of misc media
POTTERY Juhani Pallasmaa’s “Thinking Hand” evokes the thought that a vessel or pot can embody the memory of the hand. The act of throwing on a wheel not only involves the hand, but also the whole body and the mind. The mind must be engaged and a vision of the finished piece helps dictate the movement of the hand on the piece of clay, adjusting to its everchanging materiality.
SKETCHES 1 Axon of Calatrava Library Zurich, Switzerland Rome, Italy 2 Axon of San Cataldo Cemetery by Rossi Modena, Italy 3 Ceiling geometry in San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane by Borromini 4 Axon studying monk cell in La Tourette Lyon, France
PHOTOGRAPHY 1 Judisches Museum by Libeskind Berlin, Germany 2 Calatrava Airport and Train station Lyon, France
S H I R A
C H U
CONTACT
DIGITAL SKILLS
5 Kinglet Ave Marlboro, NJ 07746 www.shirachu.com shirachu@vt.edu 732-439-6625
EDUCATION
Virginia Tech [School of A + D] Bachelor of Architecture Honors Scholar 3.87 GPA Spring 2016 Graduate Steger Center for International Scholarship Riva San Vitale, Switzerland Fall 2014 Colts Neck High School Colts Neck, NJ 2007 - 2011
Perkins Eastman [New York, NY] June 2015 - Aug 2015 Survey for Research Center [Blacksburg, VA] Sept 2013 - May 2015 Arcari + Iovino Architects [Little Ferry, NJ] May 2014 - Aug 2014 Uncommon Schools [New York, NY] May 2013 - Aug 2013
Adobe Photoshop Adobe InDesign Adobe Illustrator SketchUp AutoCAD Rhino Revit Vray
OTHER SKILLS Photography Model making Watercolor Sketching Pottery
LANGUAGES
Fluent English Fluent Cantonese Conversational Mandarin
WORK EXPERIENCE
Architectural Intern Set up Design Development and Construction Document sets Created 3D renderings and marketing graphics Participated in client meetings during design development Lead Data Collection Assistant Collect data for clients through inquiry input and communication Worked on various surveys depending on client Completion of surveys Architectural Intern Set up Design Development and Construction Document sets Created 3D renderings and conducted site measurements Contributed to schematic designs Facilities Intern Created drawings for renovation and furniture layout Provided project management and conducted site measurements Worked with Directors of Operations at different locations
ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS
Virginia Tech Honors Program 2012 - present Chi Alpha Leadership 2012 - present Hokies for Haiti 2012 - 2014 Residential Leadership Community 2011 - 2012 Global Architectural Brigades 2011 - 2013 First Year Competition Finalist Spring 2012 RCI Education Center Competition Honorable Mention Fall 2013 Walter and Helen H. Beal Scholarship Spring 2014 Virginia AIA Competition Virginia Tech Honorable Mention Fall 2015 Pella Thesis Prize Semi-Finalist Spring 2016 Ellen Braaten Media Award First Place Spring 2016 Dean’s List Fall 2011 - Spring 2016
SHIRA CHU Virginia Tech Class of 2016
shirachu@vt.edu www.shirachu.com www.issuu.com/shirachu