Fall 2021
This first semester of the MArch 3 program at Virginia Tech was a crash course in basic design with emphasis on exploring and understanding form and structure. Instead of one semester long project, we completed several smaller projects through a variety of mediums with intersecting themes. I have distilled the work into four main projects, marking the four corners of the portfolio collage.

Top Left:
My initial exploration of structure and form utilizes Bristol paper. Folding each sheet just three times, I was seeking to understand the way light played with the surfaces and discovered very different effects when the Bristol was curved versus flat.

Top Right:
For the next project, we were instructed to build intersecting octagonal prisms out of Bristol paper in an effort to understand the nature of the intersection and the resulting internal form. We also constructed the same intersection out of balsa wood, simulating a structural system if this form were to be built.

Bottom Right:
This next project seeks to understand forms more closely. Initially, we were tasked with creating a new form by uniting a 3” cube, cylinder and pyramid. My resulting form, shown in the red section, resulted from dividing up the cylinder into 8 equal sections and setting them into each corner of the cube. The pyramid was then placed upside down sticking out of the top. After this initial exploration, I was interested in investigating each of these forms more closely, and decided to systematically divide the forms as I had done with the cylinder. As I was doing this, I became fascinated by the central axis created by dividing the cube diagonally. With four triangular prisms forming the cube, I was able to slide and translate the cube out into the very dynamic shape shown in the bottom right.

Bottom Left:
For the final project, with all we had learned about form and structure, we were tasked with building model bases for the two octagonal intersections, a balsa base for the Bristol intersection, and a Bristol base for the balsa intersection. Using what I learned about light from the initial Bristol forms early in the semester, I wanted to incorporate curves into the final design, and ultimately designed a column like structure with intersecting forms to mimic the intersection that it was designed to hold. Because the balsa intersection looked and felt so light, I wanted to elevate it off the base just slightly, giving it a hovering effect. I designed a trough-like gutter with cross supports that the intersection rests on.

In contrast to the Bristol base, the balsa base, designed to hold the Bristol intersection, is very different. Utilizing balsa sheets, I designed a repetitive modular system that is anchored by 3 square structural towers, creating a L shaped plan. To hold the Bristol intersection, I cut trapezoidal sections out of the modular sheets allowing the Bristol intersection to cantilever in front of the base allowing a more formal presentation of the intersection.