A Wooden Box

Elizabeth F. Papile

Elizabeth F. Papile

Undergraduate Thesis Bachelor of ArchitectureVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Primany Advisor- Patrick Doan

Memories of the outside world will never have the same tonailty of those as home and, by recalling these memories, we add to our store of dreams; we are never real histo-rians, but always near poets, and our emotion is perhaps nothing but an expression of a poetry that was lost.

Gaston Bachelard

In your home you created the space for me to grow, the space for me to draw, and the space for me to love; I will always remember that.

For My Father

• Introduction• Site• Intention• Program• Assembly• Beginnings• Sketchbook• Acknowledgments

Table of Conents

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At the corner of Roa-noke and Main Street sits a block. It is a simple block, 30 feet wide and 70 feet long, with four strong thick walls holdng it up. This block is a bank, it is a bar, it is a school, it is a workshop, and it is a home. This simple block rests quietly on its corner in a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains. How are four walls and a roof interupted? How are the walls broken? What climbs out of a cube?

Introduction

2

3

Site

4

5

Downtown Blacksburg

6

Roanoke St. & S. Main St.

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Intention

To interupt an existing structure without hindering its frame. The intention lies in the touching of the new and the old. To situate a home in the center of a masonry cube.

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A Box with in a Box

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Program

• Plan• Section

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11

12

1 Gallery2 Workshop3 Bathrooms4 Storage5 Kitchen6 Balcony

First Floor

DOWN

UP

BATH

KITCHEN

1

2

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Second FloorA B

1”= 15’

6

1

2

33

4

13

A

B

14

1

2

3

C

D

1 Bedroom2 Garden3 Balcony Below

Third Floor

1”= 10’

15

C

D

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Interior View of Model from S. Main Street

Exterior View on Model from Roanoke Street

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Assembly

• Detail• Construction

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The part in relation to the whole

At the core of the wooden box is the home; a center for living.

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A section cut of the core model

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Stair

1

2

3

1 Steel plate holing wood together

2 Half Inch Pieces of Ply Wood Stacked

3 Rod running the

length of the stair 22

Column

1

2

1 6”x6” Wood column

2 Steel plate sunk 6” into floor.

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Wall

123

4

5

1 Copper plate

2 Stair landing

3 Concrete

4 Steel rebar

5 Steel dowels

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Floor

12

3

4

1 Wooden deck

2 Concrete slab

3 Metal decking

4 Steel drain

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1st Floor View

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1st Floor View

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Beginnings

• Exploration• Precedence

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Exploration of human scale in proportion to the golden ratio.

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First model of stairs

This model informed the way in which light would play a role in the wooden box.

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Light study of stairs

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Second model of stairs

Light studyThis second study model in-formed the form of the liv-ing space and from it the wooden tower was created.

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Herz-Jesu-Kirche,Munich, Germany

Markus All-mann, Aman-dus Sattler & Ludwig Wappner

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Sketch taken from Europe Sketchbook

The plan of this church is a box with-in a box, articulated by using circulation and contrasting mate-rials

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Cemetary Modena,Modena, Italy

Aldo Rossi

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Sketch taken from Europe Sketchbook

The form in Rossi’s lends to an oppertunity for steady repeating patterns of light

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Sketchbook

Drawings from Italy

An analytical look at how build-ings are put together by drawing their form.

40

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An afternoon spent on the steps of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Florence, Italy.

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An early morning pressed between tourists and a retaining wall on the River Arno. Florence, Italy.

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Six hours in a Cathedral. (Unfinished). Siena, Italy.

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A street in Milan before the train back to Lake Como. Milan, Italy.

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A busy plaza along a lapping cannal. Venice,

Italy.

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An ancient ruin just outside Rome. Tivoli, Italy.

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Acknowledgments

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A very special thanks

To The Faculty

Particularly... Patrick Doan, for your enthusiastic encouragement, you have truly made my final year a fantastic one. Sal Choudhury, for a beautiful insight into the world or Architecture. Harry Dyer, a teacher, a story teller, a friend.

My Family

Particularly... My mother and Aunt Linta, two of the strongest women I know, I admire and love you both. Thank you many many times over.

My Friends

Particularly... Emily Reid, without you I never would have achieved this. For telling me when to wake up, where to be, and what to bring, thank you. Read Urban, for your cooking, your patience, and most of all your pos-itive and limitless support. It means more to me then words can say.

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A final thought...

As I prepare to close the undergraduate chapter of my life I look on with a feeling of great excitement. Taking with me an immense appreciation for the very smallest details, the very finest lines, and the most precise execution of a con-

crete pour, Architecture school has given me the ability to always be looking, always asking, and always making note.

So with that, I say to you, fellow and future students; al-ways look, always question, always note, and when you make a

line, make it count.

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