This document provides a summary of projects and work by Abby Schwab, including architectural designs, sketches, and writings. Some of the designs discussed include an Eno hammock stand structure, a boathouse for a crew team, an artist's residence using shipping containers, and a sustainability center. The document also discusses Schwab's writings on topics like graffiti, street art, and criticisms of contemporary architecture focusing solely on form over function. Visual examples are provided of sketches, booklets, and photos related to Schwab's architectural and creative work.

1. ABBY SCHWAB

3. table of contents.
1.1 visual communications
2.1 design-build
.2 sketch with wood
3.1 eno hammock stands
.2 boathouse
.3 artist’s residence
.4 faculty spa
.5 sustainability center
4.1 graffiti
.2 plop architecture
5.1 graffiti booklet
.2 331 booklet
6.1 various oddities

4. During my freshman
year, I was required
to take a Visual
Communications
course that focused
on the skill of hand-
drawing. Right: A
final drawing of the
Weissenhoffsiedlung
Apartments in
Stuttgart. Bottom:
Villa Stein by Le
Corbusier. Next
page: Hand-drawing
of Vasari’s Uffizi in
Florence.

5. VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS

6. DESIGN/BUILD
Designed for the Center for Sustainability
on the Penn State University Park campus,
this structure was built to accomodate
groups and guests visiting the gardens.
Planned, designed, and constructed by
myself and fifteen other students in my
first-year Architecture Studio course,
the structure included poured concrete
footings, a brick patio (laid by hand), and a
water collection system tied to the metal
roofing (not pictured).

7. SKETCH WITH WOOD
This project, required by a
Materials class, provided groups
with a kit of wood and bolts
to build a structure of our
choosing. For our project, we
designed new connections
(pictured here on the obtuse
angles of the ship) and built a
working pirate ship ride. The
structure allowed the ship to
swing freely when pushed.

8. In conjuction with Eagles
Nest Outfitters, or ENO,
and a Digital Fabrication
course, this structure was
designed as a solution to
group hammock lounging.
The design, based on a set
of poles and connectors,
needed to be extremely
portable but also sturdy
enough to support the
weight of the users. The
structure also had the
ability to congregate and
accomodate large groups.

9. ENO

11. BOATHOUSE
Designed for the Penn State
Crew Team, this boathouse
needed to accomodate the
team locker rooms, a team
lounge, and housing for the
30ft. team boats. The design
was based on the dual curves
of waves created during the
rowing motion of the crew
team.

12. To provide housing
for artists in the State
College area, this home
was designed using old
shipping containers and
structural steel beams. The
artist in this residence, a
destructivist artist, required
an industrial design
aesthetic to match his
work. The structure uses
thick glass to emphasize
circulation and openness,
the home.

13. ARTIST’S RESIDENCE

15. Based near Washington
Square Park in New York City,
this project was to design a
faculty spa for the professors
of New York University.
In conjunction with the
National Concrete Masonry
Association, my design
focused on a combination of
concrete fiber panels and the
use of glass to bring light into
lounging and exercise areas.
FACULTY SPA

16. Centered in the Philadelphia
Naval Yard, this project
required a design for a
Sustainability Education
Center. My design focused
on social sustainability, and
featured a vast, open public
space flanked by two brick
corridors of offices and
classrooms.

17. SUSTAINABILITY CENTER

18. Born out of the anger and roughness
of disadvantaged communities in New
York City and Los Angeles, graffiti and
street art are now widely accepted by
the public as viable artistic expressions.
Artists publicly display their work without
fear of repression, simply because they
know too well that their art pales in
comparison to strength of the larger public
voice. Furthermore, with the advent and
growth of the internet, texting, Twitter,
Facebook, and other forms of instant
communication, this style of art, with a
personality described as “‘in your face’,
anti-authoritarian, irreverent, irrepressible,
wise, ironic, a voice for the powerless
and the have-nots” has the potential “to
spread like wildfire”.
And, to an extent, the contemporary art
world has accepted the legitimacy of this
art as well. With modern “street art” and
“urban art” paintings selling for upwards
of half a million dollars in today’s market,
many art critics consider the graffiti and
street art scenes to be the biggest art
movements since the Pop Art movement
of the 1960s (which is impressive,
considering graffiti is still illegal in most
states and countries throughout the
world).
OWN THE
WALLS
A Study of the Graffiti and Street
Art Movements
Abby Schwab (2011)
Despite worldwide growth and interaction,
our news cycles today are still filled
with stories about major global debts,
increases in job loss and homelessness,
and antigovernment protests throughout
the world. Clearly, with flourishing political
movements popping up in the United
States, Egypt, Russia, and China, to
name a few, global resentment towards
the greater governmental, social, and
economic powers throughout the world
has grown substantially.
No wonder there has been such a growth
in graffiti and street art in the past twenty
years.

19. Furthermore, the influences
of graffiti and street art
stretch much farther than
just the art world. In fact,
graffiti and street art have
impacted everything from
sports to photography and
film to dance, music, and
fashion. With its political
undertones, street art now
impacts governmental
policy on a regular basis
and allows young people
to easily access political
information. Finally, with
its roots tracing back
to disadvantaged New
York neighborhoods
and failed housing
experiments, graffiti has
greatly influenced urban
planning, and, of course,
architecture.
Some may say that
graffiti and street art allow
vandals to get away with
destroying public property.
Some may say that graffiti
and street art taint the
urban landscape and
visually destroy our cities.
However, even those
graffiti writers without the
strongest artistic motives
show the spirit of graffiti
art.
A poster, created by street
artist Jenny Holzer in the
early 1980s, reads:
“You think I don’t know
what’s going on. You think
I’m afraid to react. The
joke’s on you... I’ve been
planning while you’re
playing. I’ve been saving
while you’re spending. The
game is almost over so
it’s time you acknowledge
me. Do you want to fall not
ever knowing who took
you?” This exemplifies
the fiery spirit of the graffiti
movement.
And, as Henry Chalfant,
famed photographer
and documenter of the
underground culture of
New York reminds us,
“Own the walls that
surround you!”
This style of art, with a personality
described as ‘in your face’,
anti-authoritarian, irreverent,
irrepressible, wise, ironic, a voice
for the powerless and the have-
nots, has the potential to spread
like wildfire.
“
“
GRAFFITI

20. In the 1960s, the art world witnessed a
number of artists rising up against what
they viewed as an injustice and lack
of meaning in public art. These artists,
dubbing themselves part of the “plop
art” movement, called for the removal
of sculptures from public squares and
plazas, arguing that the artwork lacked
site specificity and meaning and acted
merely as decorations for the major
corporations in the skyscrapers towering
over them. Without meaning, they said,
the sculptors sold off their artwork and
“plopped” them down wherever they
chose... Ironically, the Architecture world
faced a similar set of arguments as those
for and against the plop art movement...
All of these movements discussed
whether buildings should or should not
respond to their environment or act on
their own as individual pieces of artwork.
But with the recent creation of the
Deconstructivist and Pop Architecture
movements, buildings have taken on
lives of their own, as seen in the works
of Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Daniel
Libeskind and many other well-known
architects. Although their projects “test
the boundaries of design” as “brave
explorations, kinks and all”, these
architects, in an attempt to become iconic,
focus almost solely on form. However,
Architecture is not only art, just as it is not
mere structure and functionality. Whether
“form follows function” or “function
follows form” does not determine “good”
architecture. Good architecture exists
within the tension between form and
function, as if function and form work
in tandem with each other. As Robert
Venturi stated, “Architecture is form and
substance – abstract and concrete…
These oscillating relationships, complex
and contradictory, are the source of the
ambiguity and tension characteristic to
the medium of architecture”. Because
function and form should not come
FORM vs.
FUNCTION
“Plop Architecture” and
The Failures of Contemporary
Architecture
Abby Schwab (2012)

21. separately, many of the
buildings constructed
within this purely artistic
mindset have faced a
multitude of structural and
functional issues.
Previous arguments
in Architectural theory
focused on the function
of ornament and the
benefits of utilitarian
design. Today, in a strange
twist on “less is more”
and “wit, ornament, and
reference”, contemporary
architects subscribe to
a theory that ‘permit[s]
the architect to be ‘highly
selective in determining
which problems [he
wants] to solve,’” not “how
the problems should be
solved’” (Venturi 24). If
an architect chooses not
to address the site or
users of the building, his
or her theoretical beliefs
deem it permissible,
simply because the
project focuses not on
site specification or user
interaction but the form
of the building itself.
Architecture today seems
focused on an argument of
form and artistic expression
versus functionality, as if
one could exist without the
other. However, form and
function cannot survive
separately and buildings
that focus on only one
side of the argument will
not and do not last very
long. Without recognizing
this tension and building
within it, contemporary
architecture, while
seemingly iconic, will not
last. If we do not demand
respect and consideration
for the ambiguity within this
profession, Architecture will
exist just as the sculptures
of the plop art movement
did: in the middle of a
public plaza surrounded by
disapproval, except from
those above it.
This desperate need to create
contemporary iconic buildings
threatens the future of Architecture
because it only recognizes the
artistic expression of the building
instead of dealing with the
technical issues and essential
function of its construction.
“
“
PLOP ARCHITECTURE

22. This booklet was
designed to convey the
site specifications for
the Faculty Spa project
near Washington Square
Park. The color scheme
was based on the color
of the taxis in New York,
and the layout was
designed to fit in a strict
grid system, much like
the area where our site
was located.
NCMA BOOKLET

23. This booklet was created to show the site
specifications for the Sustainability Center
at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. Using an
analogous color scheme focused on the
“green” in sustainability, this booklet featured
historical site information, geographical and
climate conditions, LEED ratings and building
sustainability options, and precedence for green
design. The booklet was also formatted to fit to
an 11”x17” page size.
331 BOOKLET

24. This booklet was designed to accompany
my thesis entitled “Own The Walls” about the
growth of graffiti and street art in modern
society. It features full spread images as well as
graphic comparisons between the styles found
in graffiti and street art.
GRAFFITI BOOKLET

25. These photos were part of
a set of images honored
by Morpholio and the
International Center for
Photography as an Honor
Award winner in the 2012
Eyetime Competition
under the Emerging Talent
subsection. These photos
were chosen to show the
beauty of urban decay in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
They were taken in an
abandoned Cadillac
dealership currently under
renovation.
VARIOUS ODDITIES