ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN PORTFOLIO

RICKY RUSSOMANO

Project 1. Gees Bend Quilt.

1 2 3

Project 2. Natatorium.

Project 3. Thesis.

The Quilts of Gees Bend

Professor Robert Cowherd Studio 245 Fall 2006

For this assignment each student was assigned a flat piece of artwork to reinterpret as a three dimensional study model. I was assigned a hand stitched quilt titled Ro man Stripes from the Quilts of Gee s Bend collection. By establishing a hierarchical order of the alternating colors I was able to extrude the shapes and create a dynamic relationship between solids and voids while also being left with the challenge or creating a structural system to support these extrusions.

The Quilts of Gee s Bend

Roman Stripes is a hand assembled quilt composed of module blocks of alternating directional pieces of blue and tan fabric. By assigning the blue pieces the value of a void and the tan pieces the value of a solid I am able to extrude each module and create a self-supporting filigree structure. When these modules are then assembled together, a finished product if formed that takes the rules of the original two dimensional piece and takes them to a third dimension.

Natatorium

Professor Robert Trumbour Studio 345 Summer 2008

The goal of this assignment was to find a way to integrate the three main programmatic elements of this project, an Olympic length lap pool, a high diving pool, and an outdoor seasonal linear speed skating track, to the existing landscape of the Arnold Arboretum. By taking the sloping hillside on the site and converting it into a seating element this project is able to blur the boundaries of the defined building and the adjacent landscape.

Thesis Project
Professor Daniel H. Studio 926 Fall 2010

This project started off with the question, What can architecture actually do? It was in response to this that I set out to create a catalyst with an architectural form and identity. Inspired by the works of radical postmodernists, contemporary projection artists and basic current technologies, I attempted to create a system powered by the ideas and voices of all the members of a community and create a space for these energies to interact.

North Elevation NORTH ELEVATION

1/8 = 1-0

SECTION

1/8 = 1-0

North South Section