MEGAN HARRISintern architect

work samples

MEGAN HARRISIntern Architect1522 Second St Apt BNew Orleans, LA 70130

tel: 985 778 3298email: mgnhrs@gmail.com

“Architecture has its own realm. It has a special physical relationship with life. I do not think of it primarily as either a message or symbol, but as an envelope and background for life which goes on in and around it, a sensitive container for the rhythm of footsteps on the floor, the concentration of work, for the silence of sleep.” - Peter Zumthor

GREATER NEW ORLEANS URBAN WATER PLANWaggonner & Ball Architects

BAYOU CANE APARTMENTSMSH Architects

BARANCO CLARK YMCA SOLAR PAVILIONDesign/Build Internship

BENEDICTINE MONASTERYLSU School of Architecture

BALTIMORE ARTLINELSU School of Architecture

LOSS AND MEMORYLSU School of Architecture

CROSBY ARBORETUM INTERPRETIVE CENTERLSU School of Architecture

The following pages display samples of academic and professional work completed between 2009 and 2014.

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The Urban Water Plan addresses groundwater and stormwater as critical factors in shaping a safe, livable, and beautiful city.

As a member of the team, I developed plans for districts within the project area, created digital renderings and presen-tation drawings, and played a role in the outreach phase of the project by helping to organize public meetings as well as develop concepts and content for the project’s website.

A redeveloped commercial district in New Orleans East brings water to the fore, with rain gardens, trees, and bioswales enhancing stormwater retention and establishing a high quality environment and identity for the area. The rendering was created in Sketchup and Photoshop to disply how a major thoroughfare in the East could benefit spatially through water management practices.

GREATER NEW ORLEANS URBAN WATER PLANWaggonner & Ball Architects

New Orleans, LA

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Right (top/before) : Neighborhoods in New Orleans East currently suffer with street and yard flooding; additionally, they lack recreational space and access to water amenities.

Right (bottom/after): Retrofits to neighborhood streets create lush residential and recreational environments while mitigating flooding issues from stormwater.

Created in Sketchup and Photoshop.

Left (top/before) : Located at the base of the Huey P. Long Bridge, Elmwood is a highly visible and important center of commerce. Currently, a majority of Elmwood consists of parking lots and paved, impervious surfaces causing street flooding.

Left (bottom/after): Retrofits to its streets, parking lots, and rooftops address localized flooding and reduce stormwater runoff from the district.

Created in Photoshop.

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With the Volunteers of American Greater New Orleans, MSH Architects designed the Bayou Cane Apartments, which will provide affordable housing to the Houma, Louisiana community.

Bayou Cane Apartments is an 82-unit, multi-family affordable housing development located in the vibrant bayou-culture of Louisiana. The units are split between 5 buildings, offering several floor plans to fit the community’s needs, including ADA accessible plans. In addition to the housing units, MSH designed a leasing office, community center, and courtyard for the residents of Bayou Cane. My role throughout this project spanned from schematic design all the way through start of construction.

Drawings created in Revit.

BAYOU CANE APARTMENTSMSH Architects

Houma, LA

Prototypical Building, 16 units

Schematic Site Plan

Prototypical Building, 16 units

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YMCA SOLAR PAVILIONJim Sullivan, AIA + Center for Planning Excellence

Baton Rouge, LA

The YMCA Baranco-Clark Pavilion, a collaboration between the LSU School of Architecture and the Center for Planning Excellence, was designed and constructed with AIA member and LSU Professor of Architecture Jim Sullivan and three additional students.

The pavilion offers shade and a place for gatherings adjacent to a raised playground in a large rear yard that previously offered no respite from the sun. A team from Baton Rouge Community College installed a solar panel on the pavilion that will provide enough energy to run lights and fans. Responsibilities included budgeting, planning, design, and construction organization.

Recognition: Honorable Mention at AIA Rose Awards.

With Stacy Palczynski Haren, Steven Armstrong, Marc Berard, and Jim Sullivan, AIA.

The covered area of the pavilion includes a chalkboard, pin-up space and equipment storage

for the solar panels. The energy harnessed offsets a percentage of the YMCA’s electricity usage.

The pavilion is used as a covered area adjacent to the YMCA’s playground as well as a gathering area

for community events, teaching, and meetings.

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BENEDICTINE URBAN MONASTERYLSU School of Architecture

St. Louis, MO

As a fifth year comprehensive design project, students were tasked with designing the living, working, and serving space for 100 Benedictine monks in the heart of St. Louis, Missouri. These monks live a life of service in total silence.

The monastery acts a vessel containing the daily rituals and worship of the monks and hovers one level over the St.Louis Mall. As a concept, monastic events are “reflected” down to the ground plane, allowing the sacred to mingle with the profane. Monks and mall-goers move along the same sectional lines.

Project completed using charcoal, graphite, Revit, CAD and Photoshop.

Above: Concept poster: reflected grace. The building’s events hover above urban fabric and

reflect down to the ground plane. The life and spirit of Benedictine monks hovers above public

space along the Mall greenway. Created with Photoshop.

Right: Rendering of technical drawing.Created with Revit, CAD, and Photoshop.

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Chapel

Entry Atrium

Right: Communal space is found at the core of the monastery on each level. On Level 1, a dining hall is enclosed by a semi-enclosed cloister and the chapel. Level 1 hovers 15 feet above the ground and remains open to the public during the daytime.

Dining Kitchen

Admininstration

Semi-EnclosedCloister

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ChapelBalcony Entry Atrium

Admininstration

Right: Level 2 is more private and centered around monastic life. A level of dormitories is found on this floor as well as library for studying and adminstration offices. A second cloister overlooks the first floor cloister and serves a second purpose as a gym for the monks.

Library/Meeting Hall

Offices

Gym/Cloister Overlook

Dormitories Dormitories

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WEST BALTIMORE ARTLINELSU School of Architecture

Baltimore, MD

The Artline is a scheme for a neighborhood in West Baltimore. Its purpose is to revitalize the area through a system of buildings that draw upon the community’s art scene. The “line” reaches into the neighborhood from a light rail station that provides transit to the core of Baltimore. The plan includes an outdoor theater, a new light rail station, an outdoor classroom, and a public gallery.

A public art galley is one of four proposed structures along the art line. The spaces is nestled in a residential area and provides studio space for the neighborhood’s thriving artists as well as a gathering and display space for art.

Created in Sketchup and Photoshop.

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The Artline is made up of a light rail station at the core and extends north and south into the neighborhood. South of the transportation line, an outdoor classroom provides gathering space within a residential area while, north of the line, a public art gallery draws upon the neighborhood’s art scene. Surrounding the light rail station, residents can enjoy an outdoor theater and a reconstructed green space.

Right: A proposed light rail station for the Artline.

Created in CAD and Photoshop.

Light Rail Station

Public Art Gallery

Outdoor Classroom

Outdoor Theater

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LOSS AND MEMORYLSU School of Architecture

Cocodrie, LA

Sited in Cocodrie, Louisiana, the structure is meant to stand as a monument and reflection space in honor of the loss and memory of Louisiana’s wetlands. The building is accessed by canoe or other small boat. Depending on water levels, a large, public, space of loss is either walked through or paddled through. A more private space of memory is entered on foot.

Project drawings created with CAD and Photoshop.

a space for

loss & memory

Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium8124 Highway 56

Chauvin, LA

megan claire harris

Louisiana State UniversitySchool of Architecture

136 Atkinson HallBaton Rouge, LA 70803

notes

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Site Plan

authored by: mchdate: 2 December 2009

A1.1

a space for

loss & memory

Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium8124 Highway 56

Chauvin, LA

megan claire harris

Louisiana State UniversitySchool of Architecture

136 Atkinson HallBaton Rouge, LA 70803

notes

N

Site Plan

authored by: mchdate: 2 December 2009

A1.1

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Right: Loss and memory space during low water; visitors reach the space via canoe.

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Above : A semi-enclosed “space of memory” surrounds a more enclosed reflection space.

When tides are high, this space fills with water, is opened up, and may be canoed through.

Left: Typical wall section

Right: Floor plan of memorial space.

6" poured on-site concrete slab

precast concrete beam W10

steel base plate with anchor bolt

8" diamter precast concrete column

12" x 4" wood-plastic composite louver

1" diameter aluminum rod

steel sliding component

steel base plate with anchor bolt14" poured on-site concrete slab

concrete reinforcement (rebar)

friction pile

6"

10"

15'-1"

1'-6"

6"

a space for

loss & memory

Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium8124 Highway 56

Chauvin, LA

megan claire harris

Louisiana State UniversitySchool of Architecture

136 Atkinson HallBaton Rouge, LA 70803

key

notes

Wall Section12"=1'

authored by: mchdate: 2 December 2009

A5.1

a space for

loss & memory

Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium8124 Highway 56

Chauvin, LA

megan claire harris

Louisiana State UniversitySchool of Architecture

136 Atkinson HallBaton Rouge, LA 70803

key

notes

N

Floor Plan

authored by: mchdate: 2 November 2009

A2.1

SPACE FOR MEMORY (PRIVATE)

SPACE FOR LOSS (PUBLIC)

STORAGE

ANTECHAMBER

PUBLIC LANDSCAPE AREA

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a space for

loss & memory

Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium8124 Highway 56

Chauvin, LA

megan claire harris

Louisiana State UniversitySchool of Architecture

136 Atkinson HallBaton Rouge, LA 70803

notes

N

North Elevation

authored by: mchdate: 2 December 2009

A3.3

6” poured on-site concrete slabprecast concrete beam

precast concrete column

.5” x 4” wood-plastic composite louver

6” poured on-site concrete slab

12” CMU

1”diameter aluminum rod

6” poured on-site concrete slab

friction pile14” poured on-site concrete slab

Right: South Elevation.

a space for

loss & memory

Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium8124 Highway 56

Chauvin, LA

megan claire harris

Louisiana State UniversitySchool of Architecture

136 Atkinson HallBaton Rouge, LA 70803

notes

N

North Elevation

authored by: mchdate: 2 December 2009

A3.3

6” poured on-site concrete slabprecast concrete beam

precast concrete column

.5” x 4” wood-plastic composite louver

6” poured on-site concrete slab

12” CMU

1”diameter aluminum rod

6” poured on-site concrete slab

friction pile14” poured on-site concrete slab

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CROSBY ARBORETUM INTERPRETIVE CENTERLSU School of Architecture

Picayune, MS

The Crosby Arboretum aims to educate the public about the native habitats in the area. This mission is carried out by preserving, protecting, and displaying plants native to the Pearl River Drainage Basin ecosystem. The Arboretum displays three basic habitats found in this ecosystem: a Savanna exhibit, a Woodland exhibit, and a Wetland exhibit. Both drastic and subtle changes in landscape patterns can be observed within each exhibit.

The interpretive center acts as a gateway to the arboretum and an introduction to different types of the natural spaces found within it: woodlands, wetlands, and savanna. Visitors move through the central axis of the building towards woodlands with opportunities to view the site at different elevations as they travel through the building. One may focus on the space of woodland treetops, the cool, damp wetland, or the flat expanse of the savanna as they move through the building towards the entrance path to the arboretum.

Project drawings created with CAD and Photoshop. Above : Conceptual collages created to explore abstracted spaces of “woodland” and “wetland.” The interpretive center is meant to extract the most salient qualities of these spaces and “prime” visitors before they explore the natural spaces within the arboretum.

Right: Views from varied elevations allow visitors different dynamic views of the arboretum habitats.

Created in CAD and Photoshop.

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RIght: As visitors move through the central axis of the building, making their way toward the arrival path marked by the beginning of the woodlands, opportunities to view the site at different elevation and in different qualities of spaces will be presented. Emphasis on light and dark, quiet and loud, open and closed will be explored with the purpose of illuminating the site’s attributes to someone moving through the building.

Below ground level (cool, dim, quiet)

To arboretum entrance

Grass-level (semi-enclosed, loud)

To treetop level (open, light, quiet)

Covered gathering area (open, loud)