SARA VERNIA

DESIGN+ENGINEERING

WORK SAMPLE

PO Box 4844, Seattle WA 98194

+1 541.915.1954

svernia@gmail.com

www.saravernia.com

SARA VERNIA

EDUCATION

2012 Masters of Architecture, University of Oregon 2003 Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks 1998 Career Discovery Program, Harvard University

WORK HISTORY

2010-2012 Graduate Teaching Faculty, University of Oregon, Architecture Department Assistant teacher for the following: Graduate Design Process, Structures I & II, and Spatial Composition

2004-2007 Civil Designer, ASCG Inc., Transportation Engineering Department Lead Designer: Crow Creek Road Rehabilitation Project, Girdwood Alaska

Staff Engineer: Shotgun Cove Road, Whittier Alaska

Staff Engineer: Homer East End Road, Homer Alaska

2006-2007 Civil Designer, ASCG Inc./WH Pacifi c (work share in Boise Idaho), Land Development Depart. Staff Engineer/Lead Designer: Residential land development projects

1999-2004 Figure Skating Instructor/ Choreographer, Self Employed Private and group lessons

Ice-Skating Instructor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks

Artistic Director of Fairbanks Figure Skating Club annual ice show “Broadway on Ice”

INTERNSHIPS

2003 Project Management Intern, Fairbanks North Star Borough Public Works

2001-2002 Architectural Intern, Charles Bettisworth & Co.

1998 Highway Design Internship, Alaska Department of Transportation

EXHIBITIONS / LICENSING / AWARDS / AFFILIATIONS

2013 Member Artwork Exhibition at AIA Seattle Design Gallery

2003 Fundamentals of Engineering Exam

2002-2003 President, Associated General Contractors Student Chapter

2003 Chi Epsilon Civil Engineering Honors Society

1999 Spanish National Figure Skating Championships: 5th Place, Senior Ladies Freeskate

1997 USA Pacifi c Coast Sectionals: 11th Place, Senior Ladies Freeskate

SKILLS & SOFTWARE

Second Language: Spanish

Computer Applications: Autodesk AutoCAD, Autodesk Revit, Rhinoceros 3D, SketchUp

Software Plug-ins: Grasshopper, Firefl y, Ecotect, Rhino CAM

Adobe Creative Suite: Lightroom, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign

Microsoft Offi ce: Word, Excel, PowerPoint

Digital Fabrication: Laser cutter, 3D Printing, CNC mill

LYCEUM COMPETITION 2009University of Oregon: Fall 2009

Arch 584: Design Studio

Location: Abuja, Nigeria

Professor: Erin Moore

The concept for the 2009 Lyceum Fellowship was to focus

on a design solution for a community center in Abuja,

Nigeria that would simultaneously address local and

global issues, being mindful of the past and respectful of

the present, contemporary needs.

The community center for Abuja would be a ‘hub’ for

international exchange, inviting people of all backgrounds

to this singular place. Whether visitors arrive by car or on

foot, the sculpted site entices people inward towards an

experience that is both a journey and a destination.

Sweeping walls of local limestone emerge as an extension

of the native ground to guide and draw people into the

site from the adjacent market and roadways. The western

portion of the site responds to the Friday Market, offering

a swooping roofscape to serve as public park space

and overfl ow seating area for the outdoor amphitheater.

Arriving by car from Constitution Avenue, visitors fi rst get

a glimpse of the large curtain walls that extend to the

north/northeast. As they approach the complex, the large

extruding walls hide the buildings momentarily until the

central courtyard is revealed at the drop-off. From there,

visitors move into and then out of the parking structure/

bus transit to the ceremonial core of the building and

fi nally to the event halls.

The structure itself acts as a spatial organizing system

that defi nes paths and programmatic spaces throughout.

The walls begin at the ground and curve upward from

the market area. As they continue inward, they cradle

the central hub of the site and form the amphitheater

ceremonial core. Finally the walls radiate outward with

linear directionality to defi ne the main building complex

and event halls. From this unifying core, the outward

extending walls allow visitors to return to their city, viewing

and celebrating its people and resources with fresh eyes.

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FIRST FLOOR PLAN 1 MAIN ENTRANCE 2 LOBBY 3 INFORMATION & CLOAKROOM 4 THEATER FOR DANCES/PLAYS 5 DRESSING ROOMS 6 REHEARSAL ROOMS 7 CATERING SERVICES 8 OPEN GALLERY SPACE 9 ASSEMBLY ROOM10 MEETING ROOMS11 LECTURE HALL12 ART WORKSHOPS13 BISTRO14 LIBRARY15 SECONDARY COURT16 MAIN COURTYARD & REFLECTING POOL17 AMPHITHEATER18 PARKING GARAGE

SECOND FLOOR PLAN

1 MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM 2 THEATER, 2ND FLOOR 3 REHEARSAL ROOMS 4 OFFICES 5 STORAGE 6 MULTI-MEDIA CENTER 7 2ND FLOOR PARKING 8 AMPHITHEATER LIGHTING RMS 9 ROOFTOP PARK SCAPE

SECTION A-A

SECTION B-B

OUTDOOR AMPHITHEATER

INTERIOR PERSPECTIVE OF PARKING GARAGE

VELOSCAPE: A SCENIC BIKEWAYUniversity of Oregon: Fall 2011

ARCH 584: Design Studio

Location: John Day, Oregon

Professor: Jolie Kerns

For this project, a strong emphasis was placed on the

development of an architectural language that would

accommodate bicyclists along the Old West Scenic

Bikeway, a 180-mile route located in Grant County Oregon.

The infrastructure would include facilities ranging from a

simple rest stop or gathering space to a hostel complex

that would provide all the amenities a cyclist would need

for a long distance tour.

After several investigations, it was the articulation of a

parametric surface that would become the main theme

for these rest stops. Depending on programmatic needs,

these surfaces could be scaled, multiplied, folded and/

or extruded in order to create a diversity of enclosures

for the bicyclists along the scenic route. The degree of

enclosure needed for each rest stop would inform whether

the surface would be a simple wall, modifi ed to create a

room, or even a building complex.

PLANE ROOM COMPLEX

The quality of the surface itself would acknowledge

the surrounding activities by self-adjusting its degree

of transparency. This would be achieved at each stop

by using a high tech responsive surface composed

of dynamic louvers programmed to open and close

according to their prescribed function. The dynamic

performance of the surfaces is designed to sense

ambient environmental factors such as light or sound and

interactively communicate them to the user in real time.

FENESTRATION DUE TO DEGREE OF EXPOSURE

LOBBY / COMMUNICATIONS

HOSTEL ROOMS

KITCHEN / DINING HALL

BICYCLE REPAIR SHOP

INTERNET / LIBRARY

LAUNDRY / SHOWERS / SAUNA

PROPOSED RESPONSIVE SURFACE

PROPOSED HOSTEL AT MIDPOINT OF SCENIC BIKEWAY

NORTH VIEW OF THE INSTITUTE

HELSINKI SOUTH HARBORUniversity of Oregon: Winter-Spring 2012

ARCH 585-586: Advance Arch. Design I & II

Location: Helsinki, Finland

Professor: James Tice

This studio was based on an actual competition held in

2011 and focused on developing a comprehensive plan

for urban improvements in the Helsinki South Harbor as

well as a design for a building of our choosing that would

be incorporated within the project area.

Several major moves were made to restructure the

waterfront landscape in order to provide a more connected

system for all the harbor’s users. The fi rst improvement

was to extend Observatory Hill on the eastern edge down

to the water providing a safe and enjoyable pathway

while maintaining the important vehicular thoroughfare.

The second urban move was to create an entirely new

neighborhood block on the western edge of the harbor.

The proposed buildings would speak to the existing grid

system but would be extruded from the mainland to create

an intimate canal for the locals. The proposed Institute of

Technology in Arts and Sciences (ITAS) would be located

at the northern tip of this peninsula and act as a beacon

while simultaneously extending back the city center.

INTERIOR PERSPECTIVE

The Institute would house public gathering spaces as

well as private and commercial research centers. The

interdisciplinary nature of ITAS is intended to be a vessel

for innovative expression of the human condition through

the arts and sciences and technology.

AERIAL VIEW FROM NORTH

EW SECTION THROUGH ITAS

THE RESPONSIVE SURFACE

University of Oregon: Summer 2011

Arch 508: Grasshopper + Firefl y Workshop

Instructors: Jason Johnson & Andrew Payne

Partner: Roussa Cassel

Every act of seeing is a visual judgment; it is immediate

and composed of indivisible ingredients. What we see

gives us a way to orient ourselves, a way to navigate

through an extremely complex world. What if however,

we transcribed these visual ingredients (light and

shadow) into a tactile or physical language? Our

initial thoughts were to mimic the camera obscura, an

optical device that was fi rst conceived in order to view

an external image which would be projected onto a

two dimensional screen. Our intent was to be able to

represent a scene in real time through a static lens and

fi ltered onto a dynamic surface. For the sake of time we

decided to simplify our project by using light sensors

instead of a live image feed to collect our data.

The intent of this project was to be able to represent a

scene in real time through a static lens and fi ltered onto

a dynamic surface. A specifi c location within the White

Stagg Building in Portland, Oregon was chosen to install

a theoretical responsive surface which would refl ect

images of the cloud cover and daylight conditions seen

through the skylight above.

THE SURFACE

The initial inspiration for the responsive surface was a

project done by Daniel Rozin which utilized 830 square

pieces of wood and a built-in camera to rotate blocks

which would recreate the images directly adjacent

using light and shadow. For this project we also used

a grid of blocks, sized at two inches on edge and

colored white, gray and black, each face representing

the average value of the pixel detected above. Each

block would connect to a motor and a light sensor and

rotate to display the face with a tonal value depending

on the light reading. We envisioned the surface as an

elongated fl oor installation composed of a 15x240 grid

of blocks which would mimic the sky above.

MAKING IT WORK

To implement the design we used Grasshopper, a

plug-in for McNeel’s Rhino Modeler, and Firefl y, a set

of comprehensive tools that bridge the gap between

Grasshopper and the Arduino micro-controller, allowing

for real-time data to fl ow to and from the three

dimensional digital world and the physical world.

For the simulation, the objective was to use light meters

that would feed into the analog inputs on the Arduino

board and produce readings in a gradient using pulse-

width modulation. With the data we translated the 10-

bit numeric values (0-1024) into three specifi c rotations.

The light values between 0-333, 334-666 & 667-1024

would respectively correspond to 0°,90°,180°. The data

would then be sourced to the digital output and direct

the servo motors to turn the cubes so they would display

their appropriate tonal value.

The prototype constructed for the project evolved from

a set of three cubes mounted directly on servo motors

connected to an apparatus which would conceal the

mechanical parts and expose only the critical elements.

Because the motors we were working with only rotated

180 degrees, we were limited to using three faces of

the cube.

FOR THE FUTURE

As the next step, a digital model would be developed

more fully so that one could read the pixilated image on

the face of the boxes within the 3D model. A continued

investigation of the initial concept would be to translate

real-time data collected through the lens of a camera to

a digital model that would instantaneously average the

pixels of the photograph and then output to a responsive

surface. An even more ambitious continuation of the

project would be to translate the visual data into a tactile

surface, allowing for one sensory experience to be

interpreted with a different sensory language, perhaps

giving a more holistic understanding of reality.

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ARCH 571 : ENCLOSURESPROFESSOR : DON CORNER

A NEW SCHOOL : WINDOW WALL SARA VERNIA : 951049736 1/211.3.2012

UPPER VENTILATION FLAP

ALUMINUM POST-AND-RAIL FRAMING

KAWNEER ALUMINUM OPERABLE WINDOWWOOD PODIUM W/ STEEL SUPPORTS

CUSTOM LOUVER JAMMECHANICAL OPERABLE VENT LOUVERS

ALUMINUM OPEN GRID FLOORINGKAWNEER STEEL MULLION, TYP.

5/16” TOUGHENED SAFETY GLASS7/8” CAVITY FILLED W/ INERT GAS

5/16” FLOAT GLASS W/ LOW-E COATING

BLOCKING FOR VENTILATION FLAPALUMINUM POST-AND-RAIL FRAMING

3” RIGID INSULATION3” COMPOSITE METAL DECKING

8” CASTELLATED BEAMDECKING FASTENERS

8” TUBE STEEL BEAMTUBE STEEL ANCHORSTEEL SUPPORT ANGLE8” HSS STEEL BEAM8” STEEL COLUMN, 10’ O.C.

TUBE STEEL SUPPORTALUMINUM VENT LOUVERS

STEEL BENT SUPPORTWOOD CANTBITUMEN ROOF MEMBRANE

SHEET ALUMINUM COMPOSITE PANELMETAL BEAM SUPPORTING EXTERIOR GLAZING

PERFORATED METAL LOUVERS

A NEW SCHOOL: DETAILS

University of Oregon: Fall 2012

Arch 571: Enclosures

Location: Eugene, Oregon

Professor: Don Corner

The goal of this project was to explore the design

and detailing of a high performance envelope for the

anticipated Architecture and Allied Arts (AAA) facility

located on the University of Oregon campus. The

proposed building would be composed of terracotta

rainscreen facades and glass connecting elements.

WALL #

WALL TYPE

∑ R-VALUE

∑ U-VALUE

AREA (SF)

ΔT (°F)

HEAT LOSS

COMPONENTS

1

OPAQUE WALL VIEW GLASS CLERESTORY GLASS MULLIONSR R R R

OUTSIDE AIR FILM SERIOUS 1125 SERIES SERIOUS 600 SERIES ALUMINUM0.17 11.10 6.30 1.25

TERRACOTTA SIDING 0.00

24.56 11.10 6.30 1.25

1-5/8” AIR SPACE

3” RIGID INSULATION

CMU BACK-UP WALL

INSIDE AIR FILM

∑ U

∑ R ∑ U / ∑ A

∑ Aequiv

equiv

equiv

1.00

0.04 0.09 0.16 0.80

21.60

74.00 14.50 37.50 22.00

1.11

1 1 1 1

0.68

27.87

0.20140.00

5.02

=

==

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3.01 1.31 5.95 17.60

2 3 4

ARCH 571 : ENCLOSURESPROFESSOR : DON CORNER

A NEW SCHOOL : TERRACOTTA RAINSCREEN SARA VERNIA : 951049736 11.3.2012 2/2

EXTRUDED CAP STRAP

BENTS

1-9/16” THICKNBK TERRACOTTA TILE

BRACKETS ON EITHER SIDE

FLASHING

SILL

NBK TERMINATION CLIP

BED TILE ON SILICON

NBK TERMINATION CLIP

ROOT REINFORCEMENT

5/8” PLYWOOD SHEATHING

WINDOW MULLION BY SERIOUS

METAL C-CHANNEL FOR FINISH

DECKING FASTENERS

SOIL MEDIUM

PARAPET AT COPING BY NBK

INTERIOR FIXED SUNSHADE

CONCRETE HEADER

3” METAL COMPOSITE DECK

DRAINAGE & FILTER LAYER

BITUMEN ROOF MEMBRANE

EXTERIOR FIXED SUNSHADE

WOOD BLOCKING

8” CASTELLATED BEAM

MEMBRANE

WOOD CANT

FIXED WINDOW BY SERIOUS

OPERABLE SHADINGOPERABLE WINDOW BY SERIOUS

3” RIGID INSULATION

PLASTIC FOOTINGS

3” METAL COMPOSITE DECK

2” WALING PAVER

DECKING FASTENERS

6” STEEL SHELF

8” CASTELLATED BEAM20” CASTELLATED BEAM

VERTICAL SUBFRAME

NBK SOFFIT TILE

VERTICAL SUBFRAMEBRACKET

NBK STANDARD CLIP

3” RIGID INSULATION

SUBFRAME ANCHORNBK STANDARD CLIP

FULL GROUT CMU @ ANCHOR3” RIGID INSULATION

WEATHER RESISTANT BARRIER8” CMU BLOCK

CROW CREEK ROAD REHAB.

Location: Girdwood, Alaska

Client: Alaska Dept. of Transportation

Consulting Firm: ASCG Inc.

Role: Lead Civil Designer

Construction Date: Summer 2008

Project Budget: ~$2.5 Million

The objective for this project was to rehabilitate the

existing unpaved road by realigning the roadway

centerline, regrading and paving the roadway surface,

improving roadway drainage and provide access to

existing trail-heads and driveways.

The challenge for this project was to design a new road

that would have minimal impact on the pristine Alaskan

environment. In particular, much attention was given to

the geometric design of the road in order to minimize

both the excavation of soil and the extent of the fi ll to

avoid impacting the stream below.

My role in the design process was to create a full set of

construction documents to be used by Alaska DOT to

successfully bid and construct the project. The design

process included:

• Roadway alignment and layout

• Public involvement

• Geotechnical interpretation

• Roadside safety design

• Preliminary cost estimates

• Bridge design coordination

• Right-of-way acquisitions.

DRIVEWAY PROFILES

DRIVEWAY PLANS

BRIDGE DRAINAGE DETAIL

CROW CREEK ROAD ALIGNMENT PLAN

CENTERLINE PROFILE

TYPICAL SECTION