A Fort Comes Full-Circle

It's hard to imagine that  two and a half ago I was in Texas stressing-out over completing my Final Study project for my Master's Degree.  I highlighted the project here and here, but I didn't specify where the building was located mainly because it was still an active military base slated for closure.  Well today the nation's oldest continuously operating military base, Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia, is being decommissioned by the Army and is open to the public for the first time since its creation in 1819.

What is so amazing about this location is that since it was a military base, it remained untouched by developers who grabbed almost all of the waterfront property in Hampton Roads.  So not only does it have an incredible sampling of two centuries of architectural styles (plus a MOAT!), but the waterfront views are absolutely astounding.  

photo court. of Fort Monroe at Old Point Comfort via flickr 

The redevelopment authority for Fort Monroe has strict preservation and development standards in place as to prevent developers from going crazy over this property - and there's also a local movement to have the Fort made a National Park, so the views are safe for the moment.   If you are in Hampton Roads Virginia, be sure to take advantage of being able to visit this incredible treasure and all it has to offer.  And be sure to check out the one piece of Fort Monroe that is near and dear to my heart: Building 57 (aka, the motor Pool)

Which I proposed go from looking like this:

to this: 

and this:

Here's hoping that whoever redevelops this building uses it for something other than parking (which is the currently listed "best redevelopment use" for this building... a total cop-out if you ask me).  The 8 foot tall casement windows that span the length of the building still make me knees weak.

Happy decommissioning day to Fort Monroe and here's looking forward to an incredibly successful future!

Times are a changin' -- a return to blog-world

Hello everyone! Long time, no, see, speak or hear. Yes, a long absence, i know. However, its been one insane week after another. Some things to note:

1) I passed my final thesis with so much ease, it was awesome. My committee loved it, I could answer all of the tough questions, and my images were worth the 10+ hours of rendering... each. If you knew me the first year of architecture school 3 years ago, you will understand just how amazing this is-- back then I called home almost every night, in tears about how I was going to drop out, hated architecture and missed home. However, lots of all-nighters, great guidance and poor fast-food eating habits helped me to achieve a project that not only made my committee happy, but proved that no matter what I believed 3 years ago, I am NOW a competent designer. Below you can see a few pictures from my final study:

(The picture on the upper right is the building's existing condition. The main image is my proposed condition)

(night view looking in the other direction, at the new bar addition)

(The proposed gallery space in the industrial building. I previously posted about my initial rendering of this space. The image in the upper right had corner is the existing view of the space. The largest image is the proposed reuse)

So yay for being done! Passing my final study then lead to my next update:

2) GRADUATION!! I have my masters degree, thank Heavens. Here's a picture of me after the hooding:

It was a blast and very bittersweet. I am so happy to be done, but I know I'm going to miss this time in my life for one reason or another.

4) After graduation, it was time to pack everything up and move everything about 7 hours east to my fiance and I's new hometown... now for him and in September for me: New Orleans. It is absolutely an amazing city and for the first time in my life I've visited a place and haven't ever wanted to leave. We got to catch up with friends, both new and old who now call this amazing place home, so Bama Boy and I are really looking forward to starting our life off there together in September. The lucky guy gets a head start on me though, since he gets to live there now while I have to wait. We didn't take a lot of pictures b/c we were pretty absorbed by finding a temporary place for my fiance to live til the wedding, but I know more pictures will come the next time I visit/ when I officially move there. One thing to note: the 3 course breakfast at Brennan's is a must.... it is a day's worth of calories at one meal, but oh my goodness it is so amazing (Brennan's is the restaurant that invented Banana's Foster in the '50s).
So here I am back in Virginia working after a crazy month of graduating, moving to a new city and spending time w/ extended family in New Jersey. The next adventure? Diving head-first into planning a big party (more commonly referred to as a "wedding") in less than 100 days.... so here we go!

I swear I'm still here.... somewhere

Apologies - Ive been MIA alot recently primarily b/c I have t-minus 8 days until I give my final presentation, aka my Thesis defense #2 i guess you could say. This means 8 more days of NO sleep and a ton of work, all for a project that doesnt exist and honestly, no one except myself & my 3 committee members care about (see above Dilbert cartoon, its sad but true). So is the oh so glamorous world of architecture. I promise I'll be back after May 7th... that is, of course, unless I don't pass my final. Then I think I'll drown in misery b/c it means I'll be in Texas until August. Now wouldnt that be fun?

Final Study Friday

Since I haven't done Fugly Architecture Thursday in a while, I decided to share my final project design instead. Heck, depending on your preferences, this could be considered fugly. But eh, its all subjective anyway.

As many of you know, I'm trying to wrap up my Masters in architecture. I've been immersed in the world of late nights, no sleep, critiques and model making for 3 years already and I cannot wait to get that diploma. But before that glorious May 15, I have to complete a the architecture version of a master's thesis: aka- the final study project. Since I'm a preservation nerd, I chose to adaptively reuse a 1934 Motor Pool Building located on an Army base that is projected to close in 2011. When I visited my site in December, this is the current condition of the building's inside:

Very very industrial, and blase. Also very dark. But the entire left side of the building in this picture has 9 foot tall casement windows that stretch from about 4 ft off the ground to the bottom of those trusses. Some brilliant person in the 1960s decided it would be a fabulous idea to cover up the top 5 feet of these windows with ugly siding... thus creating the dark interior. Genius I tell you (*rolls eyes*). The wonderful current condition is shown below:

Isnt that just horrid!!??

Since I'm dealing w/ 48,000 sq ft total, my project proposal was to adapt the building into a art gallery, restaurant, art academy spaces and standing room only, House of Blues type entertainment hall. All areas are connected by a central "avenue" that runs the center of the building. My description is totally not doing the design justice, but this past march for my "thesis defense" I had a 20-slide PowerPoint to explain my project. I'll spare you the pain of that presentation.

Now I'm in the design development phase and here's a little sample of where I am in my project.

This is the proposed view down the main "avenue." To the left (behind the turquoise wall) is a dance studio and part of the academy. To the right is the side of the Entertainment Hall.
The other end of the corridor is the art gallery, the entrance of which is shown below:
The red wall in the background is the entrance to the Entertainment Hall. This view is from practically the same location as the original, dark and icky picture shown above. Also, I've removed the silly window coverings and voila: more light! Shocking, I know.

These are very preliminary renderings and theres still A LOT to do -- last night i spent just developing skylights. Oh Ces't La Vie. Must push on til the 7th!!

PS - SUPER excited, b/c Bama boy will be here tomorrow!! It's been 2 months since we last saw each other. Oh the horror.

Take a big breath...

lets see..... how much can I cram into one post (this is what I get for not posting in eons)


1) symposium went off really well. Friday night was a fabulous affair in a beautiful old venue. Not only that, but on Saturday the discussion between so many great minds in the preservation world was so wonderful and really brought to the surface not only that LEED needs to be revamped to address historic structures, but maybe the holy grail of the preservation world: the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation should be updated as well. Intriguing as intriguing can be for us preservation nerds.


2) On March 11 I defended my thesis and believe it or not.... I PASSED!! After 2 straight weeks of pulling 4 & 6 ams, I presented my mid-point presentation to my Masters committee and they loved it. Amazing considering that 2 weeks before I met w/ my chair and he mentioned the possibility of an August graduation based upon the amount of work I had done -- NOT something a girl who is not the biggest Texas fan wants to hear. But thankfully, w/ a lot of sleep lost and a HUGE amount of help from the big man upstairs, I passed and I am allowed to graduate in May. *sigh* what a friggin relief. Now I'm on break back in Virginia and can sleep.

3) Bama boy & I got our engagement pictures done and we were thrilled. Here's one of my faves:






Allison Cargile of Cargile Photography did a fabulous job of catching just how much fun the two of us have together and I'm kind of bummed that she isn't our photographer for the wedding (2,000 miles doesnt help). But I'm meeting the wedding photographer this week and I'm stoked for that!
4) Ok, so one thing when you're planning a destination or any other wedding where people need to travel distances is that you need to create Save the Dates. Kind of like a pre-invitation invitation. However, I cannot help but notice that in all of my wedding planning books and on alot of the wedding websites & forums, these little mailing notifications are casually referred to as STDs. Call me immature or juvenile, but does ANYONE else giggle at this reference? Is the wedding industry and other brides so sucked into this weird psycho wedding world that this goes so unnoticed? No way I'm the first to point this out. Anyhow, My Save-the-Dates have been made and I'm just waiting for a proof. Whoop!
5) I tried on my dress. GORGEOUS! perfect in every way possible, which isn't too shabby considering that I ordered it off the internet from j crew and was going off my other j crew dress sizes. I was so impressed, it was beautifully packaged and is so perfectly detailed and simple I'm just in awe. Now just gots to find some shoes for the big day.

6) The wedding website es fini! Big thanks to my fellow September wedding twin Misa at notreallyblogginmaterial for my fiance & I's witty and cute website domain name. As we're finding out at an alarming rate, great minds think alike. Misa & I are two super duper busy girls who are trying to survive two breakneck Master's programs, live normal lives full of normal interests and things all while, oh yeah, planning super simple, classy, practical and really fun September weddings without breaking the bank. Without my girls I swear I'd have thrown in the towel back in January.
And I'm out for now. My beds' calling and since I'm actually allowed to sleep now, I've got to make up for lost time.

Shameless Plug

This is what's consumed my life (no joke... supposed to be 20 hours a week.... has turned into 40 hours) the past 4 weeks.

But I can't complain. anything that involves 450 green legos cannot make anyone truly upset. Plus, the team helping out (my fellow co-workers) is absolutely stellar. Totally couldn't do it w/out them and their undying patience and work-aholic tendencies. I'm excited b/c its a meeting of so many preservation & sustainability experts from Texas all the way up to Nova Scotia. This year we've got a really diverse speaker list (an economist/developer, a few architects, an engineer, and a previous AIA president!) so our attendees are expected to be just as diverse. Now if we can just keep the little crazy fires at bay, we'll be good to go!


After Saturday life can resume its semi-nomality. Thank heavens. I'll let ya'll know how it goes.


PS- engagement pics to come soon.... we got the proofs, now just time to wait for the DVD to come in mail & the images are all ours.