Ashley R. Cranston

First of all, this portfolio is a constant work in progress. Please check back every few weeks for more material, or contact me for a more in depth description of my work not shown here.

For those of you who prefer the bullet-point style resume, Click Here. For a printable PDF of my portfolio, Click Here. For everyone else, here is my story:

I was born and raised in Clackamas, Oregon which is a suburb on the outskirts of Portland. For most of my life it was farmland with a few grocery stores and a lot of cul-de-sacs. Most of the houses were mid 70’s cookie cutters with T1-11 siding and a two-car garage that dominated the facade. I consider myself lucky to have grown up in a house with a gorgeous old oak tree smack-dab in the middle of the front yard. Looking back, we really should have added a tire-swing…moving on.

I found my passion for Architecture when I was 8 years old. My mom, grandmother and I went to what would be the first of many tours of the NW Natural Street of Dreams. After spending four hours walking through million-dollar-plus houses I knew I would never want to live in something so grandiose. I found myself critiquing the material choice for the cabinets or the shape of the foyer. I knew in my 8-year-old heart that I would never make the mistake of placing a coat closet so far away from the front door or using a pocket door in an office. And so, the future architect became aware of her passions.

I graduated from Clackamas High School with an honors diploma and moved to Eugene to attend the University of Oregon. I remember sitting in ARCH201 listing to the professor describe our first assignment: a poem about the sensory experience of our favorite outdoor place. I certainly questioned the relevance of such an assignment but when our final project was to design a 100 sqft cabin, I could see the value in exploring the importance of natural light and making a small space feel larger. Passive strategies and the impact architecture can have on the way a resident or user feels continued to have an impact on my design work from that point forward.

In 2013 I accelerated my 5-year program to 4 years and graduated with my Accredited Bachelor’s Degree of Architecture with a Minor in Business Administration. Portland was still in recovery-mode from the 2008 crash so I made my way to Seattle, Washington and was hired for my first official position at SMR Architects. SMR was a unique firm that appealed strongly to my philanthropic tendencies. I have been involved in community service since elementary school so when I learned that SMR had a special focus on low-income housing I was excited to say the least. I was with SMR for almost two years and seven or eight large projects when I uprooted and moved to New York City.

Now I am here, in the most architecturally diverse city in the USA, looking for the opportunities that bring so many people to this country every year. I hope that my experience within the realm of low income and market rate housing, mixed use, and commercial design will be put to good use here in the Big Apple. I come with a background complete with the full Adobe Suite, marketing strategies, Web Design, Microsoft Office, Vectorworks and CAD with entry level skills Revit. I am a fast and fastidious learner with a passion for the only art from which there is no escape…Architecture.