Rachel R. Brown

Community Pool – St. Louis, MO – Fraser – Fall 2004

rachitect — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:06:43 +0000

Community Pool - St. Louis, MO - Fraser - Fall 2004

This community pool transitions across a major grade change on a mostly open site. The visitor enters the pool at upper level, proceeding to the pool through the lobby or through locker rooms at either side of the lobby. The pool enclosure is grounded on each corner – a sauna at one end and a children’s pool at the other. Thin tall windows in each concrete structure mimic the vertical mullions in the curtain wall.

At night, light radiates out from the main glass structure, acting as a lantern on the site. The glow from the narrow windows defines the substructures more subtly.

3D in Revit; Diagram in PhotoShop

Art Center and Urban Tree Farm – St. Louis, MO – Thomson – Spring 2005

rachitect — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:05:51 +0000

Art Center and Urban Tree Farm - St. Louis, MO - Thomson - Spring 2005

Serving as both an art center for underserved children in St. Louis and an urban tree farm, this project reclaims a city block currently populated by abandoned homes. The block is anchored by classrooms on one corner with a pathway to a performance and exhibition center on the diagonal corner. The other two corners provide housing for artists-in-residence and community members. Along the pathway across the site are rows of trees for future planting for the revitalization of downtown St. Louis, as well as seating and play areas, and a community garden.

Model/Renders in Rhino/Flamingo

Design-Build – DESIGN – University City, MO – Safe – Fall 2005

rachitect — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:04:07 +0000

Design-Build - DESIGN - University City, MO - Safe - Fall 2005,

This design-build project transformed a traffic island next to a post office into a shaded sitting area, enjoyed by those walking through or driving around. We had relatively few guidelines – a permanent memorial to be enjoyed as public space by the residents of University City, a material budget of ten thousand dollars, and sixteen weeks to design, obtain permits and city approvals, and build the project. The donor simply asked us to “make something beautiful.”

I explored how a curved, dynamic shape could be made from straight wood members, then collaborated with my classmates to come up with a design. The donor and the city mayor selected this design to be built.

Design-Build – BUILD – University City, MO – Safe – Fall 2005

rachitect — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:03:18 +0000

Design-Build - BUILD - University City, MO - Safe - Fall 2005

From digging holes and pouring concrete piers to planing and cutting the redwood to tightening the last screws, the team constructed the entire project in about six weeks.

Design-Build – Detailing – University City, MO – Safe – Fall 2005

rachitect — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:02:18 +0000

Design-Build - DETAIL - University City, MO - Safe - Fall 2005

The jump from balsa wood concept to finished structure required the design and fabrication of a custom bracket. I designed a bracket that held the wood members off the ground while directing them to intersect at set points to create the hyperbolic parabaloid section. The Y-shaped bracket attached one member that angled to the right on the outer side to another member angling opposite on the inner side. All main structural members were predrilled to allow for precise field assembly.

Detailing in AutoCAD

Rest Stop – Wright City, MO – Hancock – Spring ‘06

rachitect — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:01:58 +0000

Rest Stop - Wright City, MO - Hancock - Spring ‘06

A roadside rest stop is a delicate balance of privacy – maintained by obscuring vision – and security – by permitting vision. Through the use of a variety of transparent, translucent, and opaque materials at varying heights and by moving the user through the angled entrance, both privacy and security are attained. Physical separation in conjunction with visual integration of the two restrooms at the entrances are both a recognition and a subversion of the binary gender system.

3D in Rhino/Flamingo

Building Systems – Donnelly – Spring 2005

rachitect — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:51:49 +0000

Building Systems - Donnelly - Spring 2005

The building systems course allowed me to reexamine my summer internship experiences and the classes I took for my structural engineering minor through the lens of building technology. Ultimately, the material learned in building systems allowed me to further enrich my studio projects, applying building tectonics to concept development.

Course lectures were supplemented with building construction tours of a variety of structures. Following each tour was a building section assignment. The drawing at right is for a new building on the Medical Campus at Washington University. In this project, I deduced – from section outlines, lectures, and research – the composition of the wall structure. I then drafted the section as a cut isometric drawing.

Drafting in AutoCAD

A few notes on portfolio pages

rachitect — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:35:00 +0000

Please take a moment to check out some of my portfolio pages, at this point, only including student work. Professional work has been removed for reasons of privacy, copyright, etc. here on the internet. Text has been removed from the pages and is listed below the images for increased legibility at this scale.