CHELSEA MULTI-MEDIA PUBLIC LIBRARY

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Comprehensive Design Studio 02

Professor: Emily Gruendel

Archive: Rensselaer SOA ‘25

Semester: Spring 2025

Projects

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CHELSEA MULTI-MEDIA PUBLIC LIBRARY


The Chelsea Multimedia Public Library explores the relationship between architecture, landscape, and public life by extending the logic of the High Line into a vertical condition. Rather than treating the site as a single plane, the project develops layered eco pathways and planted systems that connect the building to its surroundings architecturally, ecologically, and socially.

Through this studio, I developed a deeper understanding of built ecologies by translating conceptual ideas into coordinated drawing sets, detailed sections, and diagrams used to support architectural proposals. The project strengthened my ability to work across scales, from site and circulation strategies to façade articulation and ecological detailing, while reinforcing drawing as a critical tool for design development and communication.

INTERNATIONAL PEACE GARDEN ICA


The ICA is designed as a three-story cultural building organized around a central atrium that connects the lobby and shared circulation spaces. Each floor contains a large central program with continuous circulation wrapping around it, reinforcing clarity of movement and spatial hierarchy. The overall form was developed through studies of program adjacencies and circulation, using simple volumes that were pushed and pulled to create a dynamic massing condition. Interior gallery spaces employ offset grid systems to guide partitions, skylight placement, and spatial sequencing while supporting controlled lighting conditions for exhibitions.

This studio strengthened my ability to design cultural spaces by emphasizing the relationship between form, circulation, and exhibition experience. The project required careful consideration of how visitors move through space and how light is curated across different programs. These strategies have directly informed my academic work, encouraging me to approach cultural architecture as an integrated system of spatial flow, lighting, and public engagement rather than isolated formal gestures.

ALTERONCE GUMBY STUDIOS


Working within Alteronce Gumby Studio positioned me inside a multidisciplinary artistic practice where painting, ceramics, installation, performance, and film operate as a unified spatial language. My role focused on translating curatorial intent into three-dimensional models and renderings for exhibition spaces, allowing spatial relationships, scale, and circulation to be tested before fabrication. These visualizations supported exhibitions at institutions and galleries including Nicola Vassel Gallery, Jeffrey Deitch, the Stanford Anderson Collection, and Secci Gallery, serving as tools for internal critique and communication between artists, curators, and designers. Through this process, representation became an active design instrument rather than a final output.

Beyond digital production, I contributed directly to the studio’s material and logistical workflows, assisting with fabrication, sourcing, and the organization of evolving works. Supporting the development of new pieces required adaptability across scales, from object-based making to full spatial installations. This experience strengthened my understanding of how artistic ideas move from concept to physical presence within a gallery context. The studio reinforced a practice rooted in collaboration, precision, and the seamless integration of spatial design and contemporary art.