W

Sarah Lucas
Undergraduate Portfolio
Selected Works
2015 - 2019
 Poiema 3
Unbound 8
Queensberry Common 14
Negotiating 18
A Space for the Promotion of Architecture 22
Synthetic Prototypes 26
Acacia House 28
Personal Branding 30
Poiema
A re-imagining of medium density housing for the future

Semester One, 2018

Supervised by: Valerie Austin

This project is largely based on the idea of flexible space, that

can be adapted to suit growing families, changing ways of living
and future environmental issues.

The architecture supports the fundamental ideas of the

degrowth movement, encouraging a simplified way of life,
through a simple modular housing system.

The imagined site is situated on a piece of regenerated land.

A landscape that may have once been used as an industrial site.
The projects time line begins with the clearing and renewal of the
landscape. Once the land is deemed safe, a collection of low
impact, timber housing modules are introduced to the site.
As the new community inhabit the landscape, they are
encouraged to continue working on the land in order to
establish their own food source in the central and surrounding
areas of the site. This landscape renewal narrative is a play on
the idea of the ‘utopian’ site. Perfect plots of land are becoming
increasingly harder to come by these days. In order to establish
a new community, natural landscapes should not be destroyed.
Instead we should be pushing to reuse landscapes that have
already been flattened for human use.

Each of the housing modules are designed to be flexible enough

to suit a myriad of different living situations, through the use of
fixed and movable walls, built within a timber framework.
The expanding shell of the home can be reshaped to
accommodate its inhabitants ever changing needs. Each living
space is designed to bring the outdoors in, encouraging
interaction with the natural surroundings. Shared living and
working spaces have been incorporated into the design to
further increase community interaction.

3
 Sketches exploring flexible spaces through
movable walls that can be oriented to create
new openings and room boundaries. Inspired by
Experimental site plan, made by Steven Holl’s Storefront for Art and Architecture
layering images of Antarctic ice
sheets.

These ice sheet images link the

project to Dr Samuel Alexander’s
article on Degrowth as an
‘Aesthetics of Existence’.

If we reduce our consumption it

may lead to a reduced affect of
global warming on the ice sheets
of Antarctica.

A concept sketch testing the practicality of the

Indonesian long house typology, with its
lightweight timber construction and shared
passageways between homes

Operable openings that are arrange

Final site plan, 1km x 1km site boundary. around the common living areas.
Housing clusters are arrange on the site, in and around the natural features of the landscape, allowing for the site to remain as close to its Timber doors can be closed or opened
natural state as possible. Inhabitants are encouraged to make use of the surrounding rice paddy’s to grow their own food and materials for up to allow greater air circulation and
future building. views or weather protection. 4
Plans for each different type
of house. Different sized
options for small and large
families. There are five Axonometric drawings of each type of house (left) & cluster two arrangement (above).
different floor plans. There are three types of clusters. Each arranged to suit their location on the site. 5
Interior view - communal passage between houses

View across the rice paddys Cluster two perspective

Cluster two sections 6

View of clusters one and two across a pond 7
Unbound
‘The river will always return to where it once was’

Semester One, 2016

Supervised by: Damien Thackray

Unbound focuses on the relationship between architecture and

landscape. This is explored through designing an architecture
that documents the history of Jacks Magazine whilst allowing the
nearby Marybyrnong River to flood the landscape.

The final outcome combines a series of public spaces within

the bluestone walls of the Magazine, including a library, artist
residences, an amphitheater and an archive. These spaces are
connected through a series of elevated copper tread pathways
that weave themselves through the newly carved out landscape.

By carving a series of Scarpa like waterways, the water is

guided around the site to frame buildings and is given the
chance to return to where it once was.

Parts of crumbling buildings have been retained and built upon

to document time and change, whilst other significant features
have been modified to make way for new program and
circulation. Large sections of hill have been excavated to form
a cavity for a flood protected archive and buildings have been
shifted to create new space and documentation of change.

Sketch models exploring ideas of balance and capturing a

moment in time through form, the top inspired by the work
of Roman Signer and the bottom by Andy Goldsworthy 8
Cracking open the landscape, excavating certain parts of the blast mounds to reveal
glimpses and new pathways to the bluestone building. Small interventions have been
spread across the site to achieve a continuous architectural experience. 9
 The first images shows a flood surrounded artist
residence, the second two are views of the
ampitheatre spaces which were once the storage
houses for the magazine.

The central blast mound between the buildings has

been removed and the bluestone walls have begun to
Shifting and embedding the small bluestone building into the northern mound, leaving traces of material erode away with time.
behind as a means of opening up the space and documenting time and change.
This creates a courtyard space, a space for reflection, similar to ARM’s courtyard design for Melbourne’s Site planing sketches, looking at the greater landscape
Shrine of Remembrance.

Remnants used as a base for a gallery space, building upon the leftover materials, to create a stark
juxtaposition between the old and the new. 10
Site plan and axonometric 11
Final plans, sections & axonometric views

To allow access to all areas of the site, during a flood, a series of steel tread walkways have been inserted into
the landscape at certain points of the journey. These will continue to weather and age upon contact with the
water and become another visual record of time and change.

Soft pastel and charcoal colours have been used to capture the textures of the materials used. These also refer-
ence the original materials used in the construction of Jacks Magazine.

12
A perspective view from inside one of the bluestone store houses. Stepped waterways carve their way through the landscape, channeling the flood waters and framing the architecture. 13
Queensberry Common
A precast concrete office tower for Queensberry St

Semester Two, 2017

Supervised by: Beth Solomon

Project partner: Jessica Liu

This project explores the structural possibilities of precast

concrete construction.

The site is situated on the corner of Queensberry St and

Bouverie St in Carlton, Victoria. The brief for the project was to
design a low rise office tower which combines office and
commercial space. The tower includes a cafe, art gallery and
restaurant on the first two floors, with office space above.

The site had a number of planning overlays and NCC restrictions

which needed to be negotiated in order to end up with a
realistic design that could be fully documented in Revit.

(Certain drawings from the final drawing set have not been
included - the final document contained an additional 18 sheets)

14
 A211 A200

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 1 8
2000 4000 4000 4000 4000 4000 4000

W1
W7 W7
G23
A
CAFE SEATING

LEGEND

DISPLAY WALL
W3
FH CAFE SEATING

UP 1 W1 200mm insitu concrete

wall
2
VOID ABOVE
G5 G4 G3

4000
3 300mm insitu concrete
W2
wall
4
W5
5 W3 BENCH AREA W1 W3
100mm insitu concrete
wall
GAS 6
METER

7
600mm insitu concrete
W4

DISPLAY WALL
wall
ART GALLERY
8
50 m²
W3
50mm insitu concrete
9
CONC.02 W5 wall
10 TIMB.03
11
B W6
Curtain Wall Glazing
Type 1
12 CAFE

DISPLAY WALL
LOADING DOCK 13
10 m² G2 W7
Curtain Wall Glazing
Type 2
55 m² 14

15 DISPLAY WALL CAFE SERVICE 50mm Glazing

W8
W5

BENCH AREA
AREA
CONC.01 16

18 19 20 21 22 23 24
17 CONC.01
BELOW STAIR
STORAGE G22

4000
A201 2 G21 FTL.01 Floor tile

DISPLAY WALL DISPLAY WALL

LAM.01 laminate
DP G05 G1 DP
LAM.02 laminate colour 2
W1
TIMB.01 Timber Floorboards 1

W1
FIRE ESCAPE
G07 FIRE ESCAPE
G06 FIRE ESCAPE STAIR

1360
DOOR DOOR

25 m² W2 TIMB.02 Timber Floorboards 2

1200
TIMB.03 Timber Floorboards 3

1
UP C CONC.01 Broomed Finish Concrete Floor
W1 2

CONC.02 Polished Concrete Finish

3

G20 4
MECHANICAL ROOM Doors
Z01
5 m²
G19 G08 5
PASSENGER LIFT N1
6 22
G01 Z01 Windows

7 21
LOBBY / ENTRANCE
8

4000
120 m²
A210 2 20 RD Roof Decking
9 19
CR Insitu Concrete Roofing
W1 10 18 TIMB.01
1 11
W1
17

A300
PASSENGER LIFT N2
G09 12 16
W1
WASTE STORAGE ROOM
G02
13 15

20 m² 14 14

G18 W2 15 13

D
16 12

17 11

W1 RUBBISH 18
G10
10
CHUTE
19 9

20 8

21 7
UP
22 6 1
MAIL SORTER

FRIDGE 2 FRIDGE 3
W1 5
2
W5

4000
4
3

CONC.01 3
4
MAIL SORTER

2
MAIL SORTER

MAIL ROOM 5
10 m² RESTAURANT COOL ROOM CLEANERS STORE 1

5 m² 5 m² UP 6
STORAGE SHELF STORAGE SHELF
CONC.02 1200 7
CONC.02 G11 8
1360

G04
FRIDGE 4
FRIDGE 1

9
FIRE ESCAPE
DOOR

E
10

11 ARCHITECTS

G14 G13 G12

12

13

14
W6
15
SERVICE RISERS
16

W2 17

W1 W1 Ground Floor
18
19
20
21

Plan
22

4000
23

RESTAURANT
W5
G15 G16 G17 G03 65 m²

TIMB.02 81/89 Bouverie St,

FTL.01
FTL.01
Carlton VIC 3053
FTL.01
KITCHEN
MALE WASHROOM FEMALE WASHROOM 10 m²
10 m² 10 m²
ACCESSIBLE WASHROOM
CONC.02 F Project
ARCH1016
FD FD
5FDm²
number

Date 31/03/2017

2000
W5
Drawn by SL

G Checked by BS

W2
A101
Ground floor plan 15
Scale 1 : 50
 A211 A200

1 2 3 4 1
5 1 6 7 8

2000 4000 4000 4000 4000 4000 4000

LEGEND

W1 200mm insitu concrete

4000
CLM3 wall

300mm insitu concrete

W2
wall

100mm insitu concrete

W3
W8 wall

W8 W8 W8 W8
600mm insitu concrete
W4 wall

W8
W8 50mm insitu concrete

B
W5 wall

W8
W8 W6
Curtain Wall Glazing
Type 1

Curtain Wall Glazing

W7 Type 2

MEZZANINE BALCONY W8 50mm Glazing

65 m² W8
W8 W1 W2 W8
TIMB.01

4000
CLM4
A201 2
FTL.01 Floor tile
CLM14 DP CLM2 CLM1 DP
LAM.01 laminate

STOREROOM CLM4 W2 LAM.02 laminate colour 2

5 m² CLM3
W1 W1 FIRE ESCAPE STAIR
W1 TIMB.01 Timber Floorboards 1
25 m²
TIMB.01 TIMB.02 Timber Floorboards 2

C TIMB.03 Timber Floorboards 3

TIMB.01
CONC.01 Broomed Finish Concrete Floor

W2
CONC.02 Polished Concrete Finish

PASSENGER LIFT N1 CLM5 Z01 Doors

Z01 Windows

4000
A210 2 CLM5 W2
RD Roof Decking

CONFRENCE ROOM CR Insitu Concrete Roofing

1 60 m²
A300
PASSENGER LIFT N2
CLM6
TIMB.01

W1

RUBBISH CHUTE
D

800
5 m²
CLM7
W8

W1

2400

4000
CLM6 CLM2

CLEANERS STORE COMMUNAL GARDEN

MEZZANINE
5 m²
120 m²

COMMUNAL KITCHEN
CLM8 CONC.02
RD 80 m²

800
CONC.02 ARCHITECTS
E
CLM10 CLM9

SERVICE RISERS

W1
W2

Garden Level

4000
CLM7 CLM1
CLM13 CLM12 CLM11 Mezzanine

FTL.01
81/89 Bouverie St,
Carlton VIC 3053
FTL.01
FTL.01

MALE WASHROOM FEMALE WASHROOM ACCESSIBLE WASHROOM

10 m² 10 m² 5 m²

FD FD FD F
Project
number ARCH1016

2000
Date 31/03/2017

Drawn by SL
G
Checked by BS

W2 1
1
A105
Garden Level Mezzanine floor plan A210
A201 16
1
A301
Scale 1 : 50
 8 7

Roof Level
45625

AustView 600
PCP1 double glazing system

4000
3275

2000 2000 100

335 335
Steel fixing plate 20x100x200
200 PCP3
Level 11
REFER TO SHEETS A210 &
42350 160 40

100
A211 FOR

10

10
Bolt
FACADE DIAGRAMS
Bolt

240

200

200
455
Steel fixing plate 200 UC 60 Steel fixing plate 200 UC 60

10

10
fixing plates are 10 200 10 200
PCP2 welded to UC 2000

200
3850

CONC.01

1080
Bolt 220

Level 10 Steel fixing plate

38500

220

335
200mm Concrete wall

2650
200 UC 60

PCP3
3850

275
50
160 40

TIMB.01
PCP 3
Level 9

2000

4000
34650 AustView 600
double glazing system

PCP4
3850

Steel fixing plate 20x200x100

Bolt 10 200 10

2495

10
Steel fixing plate
Level 8

200

335
30800

10
200 UC 60

PCP5
3850

ARCHITECTS

Level 7
26950 Typical Facade

50 50
Details
PCP6 81/89 Bouverie St,
Carlton VIC 3053
CORNER PANEL DETAIL
3850

1 1 : 10

PCP ASSMEBLY Project

number ARCH1016

2 AXONOMETRIC
Date 31/03/2017
Level 6
23100
Drawn by SL

Checked by BS

PCP ASSEMBLY A420

Facade details 17
1 ELEVATION
1 : 50 Scale 1 : 50
Negotiating
Semester Two, 2017

Studio lead by: Amy Muir

The memorial is a powerful piece of civic architecture. Its plays

an important role in monumentality and usually holds the
significance of a certain individual or event.

This memorial library is dedicated to the women of Hobart’s

Cascades Female Factory, a place that once housed female
convicts. The memorial encourages visitors to reflect on the
harsh conditions the women faced through a curated journey of
changing spatial conditions across the site. Each spatial
condition represents a separate class that the women were
divided into upon their arrival at the Factory. This allocation
depended on the severity of their crime. There were three
classes in total. The unconventional library program provides
a place for learning and reflection whilst also being a place for
remembering. This challenges the idea of a memorial being
traditionally considered as an object, landmark or a landscape.

Archaeology also plays a large role in the design of the library.

All historically significant features on the site have been retained
and either built around to document the sites history or covered
for future preservation.

18
 Digging below & guiding circulation between the heritage
footings

Initial site sketch

Below, above, sheltered conditions to represent

different classes in the factory

Initial site sketch

A covered path through the site creates a continuation of the

nearby walking track, linking the Derwent River to the nearby
Central Hobart plan Mt Wellington 19
W

Birds eye site plan 20

 The first operation of carving into the site, begins in yard four where
the new library entrance is proposed. The path level rises as the visitor
moves through a series of library spaces. The visitor arrives below the
old isolation cell footings in yard three. The space is dark and confined.
The path moves across, rising upwards into yard one where there are
light filled, reading spaces and rooms filled with books.

The landscape extends out to greater Hobart. In an attempt to make

the Memorial Library a destination, the nearby walking track extends
through the site, connecting the Derwent River and Mt Wellington.
The elevated roof gardens provide a calm, reflection space and a
public thoroughfare through the centre of the site.

Exterior views from each stage of the journey

Ground floor plan Basement plan

21
A Space for
The Promotion of
Architecture
Looking at architecture through a different lens

Semester One, 2016

Studio lead by: Juliet Moore & Ben Edwards

The aim of this studio was to understand and challenge the role
of the pavilion in architecture. We also questioned what people
knew about architecture and in turn, what we knew about it.

The studio focused on making and discussion in the intention of

creating a new type of pavilion that would reflect what our ideal
pavilion would be.

My pavilion became a series of spaces in which people could

leave their possessions, like a gallery space. The architecture
acts as a catalyst for exchange and discussion as it encourages
people to bring their unwanted possessions to the space and
take someone else’s with them.

22
 As part of our studio, we were
encouraged to do some research into
what people knew about architecture.
My partner and I conducted a
survey around Fitzroy. We used a word
association exercise that would allow us
to gain some insight into how much the
public really knew about architecture
and pavilions. Participants were
encouraged to use either text or
drawing in their responses.

My survey partner and I created an

installation with these images and
drawings. Responses & images were
put into envelopes and hung in a spider
web, stalactite like formation.
Fellow students had to actively engage
with the installation in order to find the
results of the survey, becoming part of
the installation themselves.

For the studios mid semester exhibition I

created a secondary installation,
made from melted sheets of plastic and
wire chain.

I had been experimenting earlier in the

semester with melted plastic sheeting, in
an attempt to mimic the material quality
of the Selgascano’s Serpentine Pavilion.

This installation performed in a

similar way to the survey installation as
it encouraged people to interact with the
space it created.

Sculptural marquette and melted plastic earrings, a product of the material

experiment process

23
Brush strokes overlayed onto the
empty site on Richmond’s Highett St.
The painted geometry has been
translated into passageways through the
suburban block. Concrete walls follow
the painted brush strokes to form open
and closed gallery like spaces.

24
 The final outcome is dark and gloomy
concrete space. A thin pipe sculpture
extends across the site, through and
around the concrete walls to guide
circulation through the confusing space.
The result is a gallery like space for
display, exchange and discussion.

Interior views, Axonometric

25
Synthetic Prototypes
An exploration into the possibilities allowed by algorithmic
design and 3D printing

Semester Two, 2018

Supervised by: Roland Snooks & Charles Boman

Developments in 3D printing and fabrication techniques are

rapidly changing the relationship between cost and form, with
highly intricate geometries becoming cheaper than ever before.
Soon these methods will be cheaper than some conventional
fabrication methods.

This project explores the design of intricate forms, their

atmospheric affects and strange qualities.
It also tests the relationships between architectural form,
manufacturing constraints and structural logics.
These relationships were explored simultaneously and as
discovered in the end of the project, a design that can be
printed on a smaller 3D printer will not necessarily print on a
large scale robot.

The design focuses on the repetition of a larger balcony style

component around a loose tower form as the structural system
for the tower. The detail in the design comes from the further
repetition of a smaller, simplified component that has been fused
to the larger structural system. This secondary ‘skin’ forms a
structure for concrete to be cast into, fusing the structural system
and its detail into one homogeneous mass.

The final test was to design a section of a tower and print a small
chunk of our structure on a Kuka150 robot.

A series of experimental, digital ‘objects’,

created using Grasshopper
scripts and Zbrushing techniques
26
Early balcony arrangements and internal views Further experiments, finding a suitable geometry for the balcony shaped base component

The final outcome, a section of the 3D printed tower The printed chunk, before and after six and a half hours of printing 27
Acacia House
2019

Under the guidance of Peter McArdle & Teresa Wersching

(PTMA Architecture)

The clients Craig & Suzi are a creative couple who reside on a large
hinterland property on the Gold Coast.

Their vision is to transform the overgrown bush landscape into a private

sculpture trail, complete with a three bedroom house, a smaller
converted shed residence and a private art stay and studio.

The block is teeming with native flora and fauna which must be taken
into consideration at every stage of the project

The shed conversion, designed by Peter McArdle and Teresa Wersching of

PTMA Architecture, is currently under construction.

My role in the project is to design a three bedroom home for the family.
One that can grow with the family as time goes by.

The concept for the house is a modular pavilion style home that steps
down the hill towards the dam at the centre of the site. The architecture
will be simple, yet eye catching, constructed from fire resistant materials
and be suitable for the clients $500,000 design and construction budget.

Acacia House is currently in the sketch design phase.

28
Early sketch plans and concept furniture designs 29
 Date: 12/08/19
Drawn by: SL
Checked by: PM
Rev: 1

Notes:

...

Personal branding
2019

Personal branding is an important device to attract attention to

your work, especially in an online setting. In order to create an
image for myself, I have chosen a design that makes use of a
motif I have repeatedly used in my work up to this point.

The goal of this personal project was to produce a simple, eye

catching, business card design that could easily be associated
with my design and architectural work and could be reworked
for a website or drawing title block.

The business cards pictured have a fun, stylised design that can
be used for architectural or other design related work in the
future.

Legend:

...

Scale: 1:100 @A3

0m 5m

sig

n
e
rchite c t u r e & D

A
.

S
CA
U
ARA H L + 61 0430 816 441
sarahlucasarch@gmail.com

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