Juliet SeremM. Architecture

University of Maryland

BFA Interior ArchitectureRhode Island School of Design

LEED GA

Architecture, Craft and Rural EmpowermentA Craft Center for Maasai Women in Kajiado, Kenya

Culture :: Language :: CraftCairo Silk Center

The Language of DetailsEvo Dining and Event Hall

Professional WorkHardwood Artisans Furniture Showroom RenovationTable Linnea footstool

Architectural Pleasures: Study AbroadStudy drawings, diagrams, watercolors

Making Ordinary ExtraAprons

portfolio

Fall 2011Graduate Thesis Project

Spring 2011Topical Design Studio

Fall 2010Comprehensive Design Studio

Summer and Winter breaks 2002-2011Interior Design and Renovation

Furniture Design

Summer 2010Italy Summer Program

Past, Present, FutureDesign Explorations

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In a desperate effort to earn an income to support their families, Maasai women in Kajiado, Kenya have tried to sell hand-made ornaments to local and international communities. However, poor business and marketing skills, lack of proper guidance and innovation, limited access to financial advice and support encumber their creative endeavors. This thesis project proposed a craft center in Kajiado that would host facilities and programs which would preserve, promote and progress Maasai bead-working with the aim of strengthening the women’s social and economic capacity. The project received ‘The Most Outstanding Thesis’ Award from the University of Maryland, School of Architecture.

Architecture, Craft and Rural EmpowermentA Craft Center for Maasai Women in Kajiado, Kenya.

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“Women working in the informal sector are unrealized potentials trapped in poverty. It is essential to provide an enabling environment and skills to pull them out of poverty.” UNDP

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61. Restaurant, Indoor Retail, Museum2. Admin & Community Building3. Indoor learning places4. Health & Wellness Clinic5. Caretaker’s residence6. Visiting Artists residences7. Artist Studio 8. Temporary Gallery

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Details in architecture are captivating—a visible expression of an internal desire to marry form and function. Detailing the way a building meets the ground and sky, embraces its environment and connects to the user results in an architecture of harmony that speaks to the soul. The design intent for this studio project, envisioned in Evo, Finland, was to design a place that provided a meaningful connection between land and water. The building graciously stretches out an arm to the landscape, receiving the visitor while framing views of the magnificent lake beyond. Attention is equally given to the materials and structure that define the building. The light wood,

a local birch, gives the event hall a light and airy interior—a much needed atmosphere to a place that receives an average of 4.9 sunlight hours per day. The trusses with articulate webs and steel chords add to the open spatial character. Together, the exposed truss, wood beams and double columns parade the structural details that were delightfully conceived.

The Language of DetailsEvo Dining and Event Hall

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“A work of architecture which is designed or considered only from the exterior ceases to be architecture and becomes a stage set”

Pierre von Meiss

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Culture :: Language :: CraftCairo Silk Center

Inspired by the nature and anatomy of the Islamic bazaar, this design project proposed a place that evoked this cultural artifact. The site lies beside an ancient fortifying wall, which frames and defines the open space, juxtaposing old and new. Activities in the have been centered around the craft of silk weaving, dyeing and trading—a once predominant craft in Cairo. The bazaar ‘spine’ is engaged on either side by museums, retail, making and learning places. Altogether, the intervention embraces the beauty of culture and the language of craft, in its architectural form, function and materiality.

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“A great building must begin with the unmeasurable, must go through the measurable means when it is being designed and in the end must be unmeasurable...”

Louis Kahn.

After 33 years of being in business, Hardwood Artisans, a furniture maker located in Virginia, wished to update its Maryland showroom. The completed renovation opened up the showroom, allowing for both visual and daylight penetration. Pedestrian movement was better defined and points of visual interest were created using color, light and accent pieces. The result was a place that enhanced and complimented the simply beautiful furniture.

Hardwood Artisans Furniture Showroom RenovationOctober 2007

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Hardwood Artisans Furniture DesignCustom Dining Table

Hardwood Artisans Furniture DesignLinnea Footstool

20Architectural Pleasures: Study Abroad Rome, Florence, Venice, Vicenza, ComoStudy drawings, diagrams, watercolors

“The capacity to see comes from persistently analyzing our reactions to what we look at and their significance as far as we are concerned. The more one looks the more one will come to see...”

Louise Kahn

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Making Ordinary ExtraAprons

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Enamored by African embroidery, and the artistic skill it takes to make them, this particular design exploration is an adventure taken by my creative spirit. I am captivated by details, be they subtle or ornate, natural or manmade—the joinery, materials and tectonics in architecture, the colors, textures and patterns in textiles,

the stitches and cuts in clothing and the shapes that define an object. The defined cuts and embroidered designs on the aprons add an exquisite detail to an otherwise ordinary item.

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“Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency…Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty.”

Daniel Burnham, 1907