STEPHA NIE BR ACONNIER

M.Arch, B.EDs

stephanie braconnier

archsynth@gmail.com

www.synthetica.ca

URBA N NATURE - The Inhabitable Edge

Master’s Thesis 2011

KURVESTOL

Craftsmanship & Furniture

LIGHTCATCHER BRIDGE

XXL Object in the City

MÜHLDORF

Concentration Camp Memorial

BA AKENHAFEN

New Waterfront Masterplan, Hamburg

BLUMENHALLE

Design Installations, Hamburg

HEBEBR A ND QUARTIER

Sustainable Urban Quarter, Hamburg

ENACHIPAI ACADEMY

Primary School & Community Center

REFR A ME COMPETITION

Modular, Adaptive Design

Academic

Professional

Projects & Competitions

MASTERPL A N

FUTURE SECONDARY SCHOOL

NURSERY SCHOOL

COMMUNITY CLINIC

MAIN GATE

PRIMARY SCHOOL

DINING HALL

PERMACULTURECROPS

ORCHARD

COW PADDOCK

STUDENT DORMS

COMMUNITY CENTRE

KITCHEN GARDENS

SERVICES

TEACHER’SQUARTERS

VOLUNTEER VILLAGE

CAMPSITE

DRY SEASON WINDS

WET SEASON WINDS

ENACHIPAIBuilding Hope Academy - Loita Plains, Kenya

Private Design Commission In partnership with Jedidiah Gordon-Moran &

the Nairoshi Foundation

The majority of people living near Narok are from the Maasai tribe. With the transition from semi-nomadism to permanent settlements, several Maasai villages now require additional educational infrastructure for nursery & primary education, as well as a clinic and community center.

The Enachipai site is located on 15 acres of land southeast of Narok. The site is owned by a Maasai elder and his wife, who run the Nairoshi Foundation to help bring positive cultural and educational change from within the community. One of the main goals of the foundation is to enable women and children to secure a sound economic future and take control over their own developmental needs through education. The first classroom is set to open in May 2013.

Our involvement started with masterplanning and has expanded to include the building design and construction of the teacher’s quarters, primary school classrooms, and dining hall. We are working to source sustainable materials and look forward to returning to Kenya to help build another classroom.

Role: Masterplanning, Building Design & Community Workshops

» View over Enachipai Academy

» Building Phase 1: Teacher’s Quarters design variations » Teacher’s Quarters Elevation

REFRAMEModular, Flexible Space from Re-use Materials

Design Competition 2012Status: honorable mention

Private entry with Jedidiah Gordon-Moran

reFrame was the only international entry to be granted a distinction in the 2012 ReSpace Competition (presented by Habitat for Humanity of Wake County, the Raleigh Chapter of Architecture for Humanity).

reFrame was designed to be a flexible space that could be used privately (e.g., workshop, garden shed, getaway cabin) or expanded for community use (e.g., library, community kitchen, park pavilion).

The unique modular framing system allows materials to be selected based on availability and intended use rather than predetermined limitations that can result from more rigid construction systems. reFrame was meant to adapt to both existing material flows and the users’ needs over time .

Role: Concept Development, Visualisation

OPEN SOURCE M ATERIAL STREA M

The frames can accomodate virtually any material for sheathing & windows because the distance between them can be adjusted.

CONSTRUCTABILITY

reFrame is designed to make use of short lengths of wood to maximize their potential for reuse.

MODUL ARITY

Due to its linear frame concept, reFrame can be expanded over time as the need for more space arises and more materials are acquired.

MÜHLDORFConcentration Camp Memorial

design competition 2012status: 2nd prize

Sinai Gesellschaft von Landschaftsarchitekten

The area near Mühldorf was used by the Nazis as a death camp from 1944. Under the cover of thick pine forests, victims were marched to work on various projects; amongst them an underground bunker where one of the Nazi’s ‘secret weapons’ - Messerschmitt Me 262 jet engines - were to be built. Only 7 of 12 massive concrete arches were completed, and only 1 stands today.

The memorial envisioned includes an unobtrusive path system, information markers, a memorial space at the mass graves, and an overlook onto the demolished bunker.

Role: 3D modeling, Rendering & VisualisationProject Team: Ole Saß, Henning Pagels & Theresa Fehrmann

» Elevation to bunker view point

» Site Plan, bunker remains

»View over Mass Grave Memorial

BAAKENHAFENHamburg - New Nordic City

design competition 2012status: 3rd prize

Sinai Gesellschaft von Landschaftsarchitekten

Baakenhafen is the final quarter of the new harbor to be developed in Hamburg, Germany.

The vision for the quarter took root from the concept of a new ‘nordic city,’ with a close relationship to nature manifested through bare granite archipelagos and pine forests. In the center of Baakenhafen is the recreation island--the central public space for the quarter, with white stone features under a canopy of pines. Bordering the whole island is a new cycle route that brings people from the edges of the city into the heart of Hamburg.

Role: Playground Concept, 3D modeling, Rendering & VisualisationProject Team: Sophie Holz, Maja van der Laan, Elena Emmerich,

Peter Hausdorf, Henning Pagels, Christoph Schimetzky

» Aerial view over inner harbour

» Masterplan Baakenhafen » Plaza connection from inner - outer harbour

BLUMENHALLEInternational Expo, Hamburg

design competition 2012status: won, opening May 2013

Sinai Gesellschaft von Landschaftsarchitekten

The International Garden Show (IGS) 2013 will be hosted in the new urban quarter “Williamsburg” in Hamburg and has the theme of waterfront living and ocean exploration. The Blumenhalle (‘Flower Hall’) is one of the indoor exhibition spaces of the IGS that will be eventually used as a sporthall. The interior concept includes large-scale installations following themes of waterfront living. In July 2012 we participated in an invited competition and won the project, which is under construction and will open in May 2013

My role in the project involved developing and specifying the installations (hanging clouds, a coral reef, and waves of flowers) using Rhino, sourcing & specifying materials and hanging methods, and making 1:1 prototypes.

Role: Concept development through 3D modeling, visualisation, specifications, prototypingProject Team: Sophie Holz, Peter Hausdorf, Bernhard Schwarz

» Finished Cloud Installation » Cloud mock-up 1:10

» Model developed in Rhino

» Coral Reef Prototype » On-Site Installation Test

HEBEBRANDNew Urban Quarter in Hamburg

Design Competition 2012Result: 4th Prize

Sinai Gesellschaft von Landschaftsarchitekten, in collaboration wtih PPP Architects

The Hebebrand Quarter in Hamburg is an urban development that will integrate environmental systems into the basic infrastructure of the neighborhood. One of the main features of the development is a natural water filtration system to remediate urban run off.

The courtyards of the neighborhood will be ‘shared use’ -- semi-public garden spaces that can be used both as a recreational area and a community garden. In this competition, we proposed designs for the main public spaces of the new quarter and detailed the shared-use courtyards.

Role: Main Square Design, 3D Modelling, Rendering & VisualisationProject Team: Elena Emmerich, Sophie Holz, Maja van der Laan

» View over main square and main water retention

» Main square and courtyard detail plan » Site plan with allotment gardens

URBA N NATUREThe Inhabitable Edge

master’s thesis 2011

The City Lakes in Copenhagen are a series of man-made freshwater lakes that connect all the inner-city neighborhoods and are a dominant daily feature of the city landscape. The lakes hold historic and characteristic value and offer a unique natural potential in the midst of a dense urban centre.

The lakes could be a verdant natural area but instead they are biologically unproductive and homogeneous. Algae blooms block out sunlight and choke off a healthy ecosystem. The paths and spaces around the lakes should be vital urban spaces but they are optimized neither for circulation nor inhabitation.

How can urban public space be combined with a self-sustaining, naturalized edge to create a new maning of nature in the city?

Result: 12/12 (A+)Supervised by Merete Anfeldt-Mollerup

THE CITY L AKES

Analysis & Strateg y

» Current conditions: hard, deep edges with yearly algae blooms

» 1-6 months: 1:10 slope infill composed of a clay-silt composite; emergent macrophytes planted

» 1 year: water plants provide habitat and shelter for pescivorous fish and nesting grounds for waterfowl

Existing & Proposed Public Spaces

Priority Littoral Zone Development

Infrastructural Changes Future Green Edges

PL ATFORMS

»Small scale public space NATUR ALIZED EDGES

»Habitat restoration for a healthy lake ecolog y

FISH ISL A ND

»Experiencing the solitude of nature in the city

» Section through West edge - Platform Strateg y » Platform Details & Variations

UNIVERSITY TERR ACE

»Expanding the public connection to the City Lakes

BAL A NCED FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEM

»Balanced biomass and diversity of fish species helps toreduce harmful nutrients and algae blooms over time

STRUCTURED EDGE

»Retaining wall seperates terrace from the street

» Breaking up a long edge - new university terrace » Section through East edge - extended terrace & natural connection to water

LIGHTCATCHER BRIDGE

Urban Pedestrian & Cycle Bridge

semester project 2009

Sluseholmen is a new development in urban planning located in the south harbour of Copenhagen. The area is interesting and varied, but something else is needed: an element that welcomes the wider community into the new area. The lightcatcher bridge is a contrasting form to the pure, controlled architectural detailing of Sluseholmen. It is inspired by the life that becomes visible in the windows at night; each room a different quality of light, each person just a shadowy silhouette within.

The bridge is clad with polycarbonate panels that reflect colours during the day and have light projected upon them at night. In this way the central element, people, and the function of the bridge, motion, are brought together through a third urban element, light.

Section Perspective A-A

A

B

A

B

Section Perspective B-B

» Bridge Opening Strateg y » Site Plan

KURVESTOLSenior Furniture

semester project 2010

As we age our bodies undergo changes in posture, mobility, tolerance and strength. Kurvestol is a flexible, lightweight chair that adapts to a changing body without complex mechanisms.

Kurvestol is made from just 5 pieces of rattan-a super lightweight, fast growing grass- joined with dowels and wrapped with rattan strips.

The use of traditional Danish crafting techniques—steam-bent rattan, with curves set by flame—combines with an open structure to create an inviting, comfortable armchair with a material callback to early 20th-century designs. As an object the chair is familiar because of its material, but modern because of its shaping.

» Design Sketches and Development through sketch models » Prototyping & Construction

» Design Prototype 2

thank you!