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Emma Agnes Sheffer

@emmasheffer

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Architecture Student @harvardgsd
Filmmaker @channelfilms
Internet Troll @insta_repeat

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“Any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.”

Field Dressed armchair from Harvard Recycling Center turned Life Jacket™ ™ ™ by way of Jonathan Grinham’s Circuits, Circles and Loops Course at Harvard Graduate School of Design

XOXO,
Emma Sheffer, Sam Spencer, Dong Nyung Lee

(The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams)

@harvardgsd @harvardgsd_architecture taken in Harvard Graduate School of Design by @emmasheffer

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4 days ago

Appreciation Post for Maqaavik on his birthday-
A friend for life ❤️‍🩹.

These first portraits are from May 2025. We both ended up in Seattle at the same time, I was spending time with my parents before Jenny’s memorial, angry, overwhelmed and confused. Isaiah was in town for an appointment all the way down from Savoonga. He suggested a dance to honor Jenny and patiently taught me. No matter how amazing the adventures Isaiah and his family have shared with me, this quiet dance in a park in Seattle while we were both a bit broken in different ways will always be one of the most important to me. by @emmasheffer

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a month ago

Work in progress- sometimes I just have to let things simmer and cook a while. 🏆Trophy City is still in the oven but thought I’d share a fun snippet by @emmasheffer

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a month ago

Kwong Von Glinow Option Studio
New Rooms: Defining a Permanently Temporary Art Infrastructure
With Allison Von Glinow and Lap Chi Kwong (@kwongvonglinow)

This is my first time using video to show views and perspectives of my project filming inside the physical 3/16”:1’ model.
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‘Power House #1’ (the original building) remains mostly unchanged with the exception of the removal of the industrial, mechanical system. This removal leaves a cross shaped void through the center of the floor plates.
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This geometry, is kept consistent throughout each smaller, scaled power house.
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Scale can't be universally applied which generates a tension between successively smaller and smaller spaces, floor heights and ceiling heights, while material thickness, texture and the human occupants remain at a constant scale throughout.
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I love @jennyirenestudio and I will talk about them, think about them, include them, celebrate them and remind myself how lucky I am to know them forever. This first slide features a miniature, scaled version of their legs, ‘Self Portrait’ from 2021. Jenny will always inspire me. by @emmasheffer

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2 months ago

Kwong Von Glinow Option Studio
New Rooms: Defining a Permanently Temporary Art Infrastructure
With Allison Von Glinow and Lap Chi Kwong (@kwongvonglinow) at Harvard Graduate School of Design (@harvardgsd)
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The scaling operation forced the floor plates into misalignment. This misalignment creates a main level, or ‘piano nobile’, that gradually ascends from the smallest power house to the largest, original power house. Each individual shift of floor plate is connected by a few steps while the overall elevation change from lowest “main level” to highest is connected by a Ramp 1:20 ramp stretching the entire length of the building.
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The scaling splits the building into the public-facing exhibition above the ascending ‘main level’ and the back-of-house, commercial art book bindery below with access to the loading docks and service entrance on the back of the original power house.
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A range of exhibition spaces stretch across the 10 power houses within a gradient of scale. The progressively smaller sized of rooms, ceiling height and elevation changes divide building into clear sections. Large halls in the largest power house which can accommodate large scale art works and massive events such as biennales and art fairs. The center sections of the building divide up into mid-sized gallery spaces that compare with the size of many independent to large galleries for mid-career artists. Finally, the smallest sections near the entrance of the building hold the intimate, smaller-scale programs like guest services, coat check, bookstore and library/reading room. by @emmasheffer

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2 months ago

Kwong Von Glinow Option Studio
New Rooms: Defining a Permanently Temporary Art Infrastructure
With Allison Von Glinow and Lap Chi Kwong (@kwongvonglinow) at Harvard Graduate School of Design (@HarvardGSD)
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Allison Von Glinow and Lap Chi Kwong’s brief tasked the studio to design an adaptive reuse of ‘preservation’ of a building that has sat vacant for decades but is loved by Chicago. I take the Union Station Power House down to the human scale.
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Operation:
Multiply the Power House building by 10 reducing each successive box 50% by volume.
The final, 10th Power House is the size of a small room, a vestibule. This Power-House-as-threshold serves as the main entrance to the building, an multi functional art space for the city of Chicago.
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Art space is not one size fits all by @emmasheffer

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2 months ago

Theseus: A New Housing Typology
by Joe Russell and Emma Sheffer

⚓️

Studio: Core IV Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Instructor: Warren Techentin

🏘️

Theseus is a 150-bed housing project adjacent to the Port of Chelsea, MA, that repurposes cargo holds from decommissioned bulk-carrier ships, which are typically retired after just 25 years.

The project transforms maritime steel infrastructure into resilient, occupiable superstructures. The inherent strength and form of the cargo holds support the building, enabling suspended floor plates that keep the ground open for communal use and create a flood-able, adaptable civic space. Because the main structural load is carried by the steel hull and frame, the units themselves do not require structural walls.

This structural logic offers flexibility: residents can open operable party walls to expand or merge households, adapting to shifting domestic needs. The five-building complex addresses climate adaptation, material scarcity, and long-term housing stability. By reusing locally sourced steel and integrating public programming, Theseus reframes housing as long-term civic infrastructure that is scalable to other port cities. The project proposes a new architectural typology rooted in industrial heritage, designed not just to shelter but to support life, work, and community over time by @emmasheffer

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5 months ago

Theseus: A New Housing Typology
by Joe Russell and Emma Sheffer

⚓️

Studio: Core IV Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Instructor: Warren Techentin

🏘️

Theseus is a 150-bed housing project adjacent to the Port of Chelsea, MA, that repurposes cargo holds from decommissioned bulk-carrier ships, which are typically retired after just 25 years.

The project transforms maritime steel infrastructure into resilient, occupiable superstructures. The inherent strength and form of the cargo holds support the building, enabling suspended floor plates that keep the ground open for communal use and create a flood-able, adaptable civic space. Because the main structural load is carried by the steel hull and frame, the units themselves do not require structural walls.

This structural logic offers flexibility: residents can open operable party walls to expand or merge households, adapting to shifting domestic needs. The five-building complex addresses climate adaptation, material scarcity, and long-term housing stability. By reusing locally sourced steel and integrating public programming, Theseus reframes housing as long-term civic infrastructure that is scalable to other port cities. The project proposes a new architectural typology rooted in industrial heritage, designed not just to shelter but to support life, work, and community over time by @emmasheffer

2k

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5 months ago

Theseus: A New Housing Typology
by Joe Russell and Emma Sheffer

⚓️

Studio: Core IV Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Instructor: Warren Techentin

🏘️

Theseus is a 150-bed housing project adjacent to the Port of Chelsea, MA, that repurposes cargo holds from decommissioned bulk-carrier ships, which are typically retired after just 25 years.

The project transforms maritime steel infrastructure into resilient, occupiable superstructures. The inherent strength and form of the cargo holds support the building, enabling suspended floor plates that keep the ground open for communal use and create a flood-able, adaptable civic space. Because the main structural load is carried by the steel hull and frame, the units themselves do not require structural walls.

This structural logic offers flexibility: residents can open operable party walls to expand or merge households, adapting to shifting domestic needs. The five-building complex addresses climate adaptation, material scarcity, and long-term housing stability. By reusing locally sourced steel and integrating public programming, Theseus reframes housing as long-term civic infrastructure that is scalable to other port cities. The project proposes a new architectural typology rooted in industrial heritage, designed not just to shelter but to support life, work, and community over time by @emmasheffer

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7 months ago

Wild ride by @emmasheffer

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a year ago

SpaceSuits.US

On July 20, 1969, humankind took its first steps on the moon. As these two men placed their feet on a celestial body, the imprint they left on the surface was not quite human.
The oval-shaped indent on the surface of the moon is instead evidence of a system of metal and fabric that allowed the human bodies to withstand the otherwise uninhabitable environment.
Until now, architectural design and space exploration has remained relatively separate domains, and though similar strategies have been developed in parallel for buildings, the direct adaptation of fabric layers as a retrofit strategy is novel. Elaborating on the science behind space suits, SpaceSuits.US merges thin layers of insulation with standard construction techniques in the United States.
SpaceSuits.US proposes a shift in material cultures and climatic solutions in architecture by leveraging the adaptability and material specificity of space suits. Drawing parallels between astronauts in extreme environments and urban dwellers facing extreme environmental shifts, the project explores how heat reflection, thermal insulation, and ultra-thin adjustments to existing buildings can provide an architectural solution for impending climatic emergencies. Building on NASA’s material research, SpaceSuits.US features a method of tailored assembly in which the materials in question can be pinned, cinched, or draped onto leaky old houses.

Team:
@emiwis
@sam.h.sheffer
@tnalscharleskim
@s.rae.lloyd
@jeroezquerro
@emmasheffer

@labiennale

First Photo by @lloydleephotography, Second photo by @emmasheffer

Thank you to RISD for all their support
@risdarch @risd1877 taken in La Biennale di Venezia by @emmasheffer

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a year ago

Ultra-thin adjustments by @emmasheffer

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a year ago