Aaron Menninga - Portfolio

Aaron Menninga

Harvard Graduate School of Design M.Arch I (2016)

Graduate Work

Thesis - Kiel Moe (Advisor) 2 Object Studio - Josep Luis Mateo (Instructor) 12 The Forms of Transition - Camillo Restrepo Ochoa (Instructor) 20 Core 4 - Spela Videcnic (Instructor) 26

Built Work

Flexible Brick - Leire Asuncio Viloria (Instructor) Loft 2A

Professional Work

Payette - Amherst College New Science Center Janet Echelman - Sculpture

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CV 48 References 49

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Measured Ground (Graduate Thesis) Kiel Moe (Advisor)

How can the shape of the ground inform design?

The structuring of form in architecture presupposes a relationship with the ground. The foundation is the interface between building and site, mediating between the desires of human inhabitants and the conditions of nature, be they topographic, geographic, or geologic. In the anthropogeographic world we tend to represent the ground as a manipulable surface. The points, splines, and contours that compose this surface inherently affect the choices we make as architects. The implementation of any project relies on its representation, which is the product of its measurement (at a chosen level of resolution), translation (into points, lines, and pixels), and abstraction (onto a visible medium).

This thesis exposes the ways we collect site data and the effect it has on representation and thus building.

Through surveying and interfacing with the ground we understand the foundational drivers of an architectural proposal.

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domino house

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domino house

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monadnock building

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seattle public library

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(22, 23, 23) (44, 23, 21) (44, 53, 18)

(66, 53, 15) (22, 0, 19) (88, 53, 11)

(22, 53, 4)

(0, 23, 2)

(0, 0, 0)

B05 Farnsworth House

Elevation Perspective

farnsworth house 01

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(44, 0, 13)

(66, 23, 10)

(88, 23, 8)

(22, 23, 19) (0, 23, 16) (0, 53, 15)

(44, 53, 18) (44, 23, 15)

(22, 53, 13)

(44, 0, 12)

(66, 53, 16) (66, 23, 13)

(88, 23, 9)

(66, 0, 5)

(88, 0, 0)

B06 Farnsworth House Elevation

farnsworth house 02

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farnsworth house 01

farnsworth house 02

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site abstractions

site objectification

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Hudson River Park Apartments (Manhattan, New York) Josep Luis Mateo (Instructor)

With the High Line in full force and the Hudson Yards redevelopment looming, West Chelsea is undergoing a massive transformation from a manufacturing district to a luxury residential haven. There is no question that New York is in dire need of housing and especially, new, affordable housing.

I propose a housing solution that offers a variety apartment sizes in a modular layout. Thus, units can increase or decrease in size as the market demands. The building contains larger units along its top floors, but consists mainly of studio apartments which address the cities great need for affordable spaces to live. Simply put, more units with less square footage allows lower rents

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site plan

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floor 5 plan

floor 1 plan

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Studio Units

1-2 BR Unit

3 BR Unit

unit plans

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Garden Terrace

3 BR Unit

Studio Units

Studio Units

1-2 BR Unit

Circulation Ramp

Public Platform

Parking

section

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site models

model : east view

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courtyard image

model : southwest view

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Parque Educativo (El Retiro, Colombia) Camillo Restrepo Ochoa (Instructor)

The structure creates an equilibrium of lightweight with heavy and brightness with darkness. A steel truss surrounded by wooden frames cantilever dramatically off the steep hillside, ballanced by the weight of concrete embedded into the ground. Classrooms, a greenhouse and a public platform extend through and above the treetops of the heavily forested site, absorbing the sunlight of the canopy, while the auditorium, dark labs and service spaces embed themselves into the hillside.

Techtonically, the building celebrates construction over surface. Concrete, steel, and wood work in a functional relationship of load bearing and shock absorbing. The wooden prism creates a rhythm of vertical members interrupted only by the concrete embedded within it. Nothing separates the building from its environment. Partitions for classrooms can be closed as needed. The frame is adaptable and transformable seen especially in the greenhouse which, built on a track, can extend beyond the wooden frame, over the trees to maximize its exposure to the sun.

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massing studies

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upper plan

lower plan

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roof decking

timber frame

steel and infill

concrete base

exploded model

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model : southwest view

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Solar Density - Gowanus Canal (Brooklyn, New York) Studio Critic : Spela Videcnic Teammate : Yufeng Zheng Planning Teammates : Yufeng Zheng, Lauren McClellan, Patrick Mayfield

As a team of four, we developed a zoning scheme with the landscape as our starting point. Our main goal was the creation of an ecological buffer zone of parkland adjacent to the Gowanus Canal that would allow all forms of traffic (infrastructural, vehicular, an, animal) to permeate through at different levels. We created zoning codes through mapping and formed a strategy for urban ecology and density through extensive computer and physical modeling. We arrived at a neighborhood connected at the groundplane through a system of parks, and connected by an elevated public surface.

As a team of two, we further developed a single block of the master plan as three towers. The parks that define the block’s groundplane generate solar cones to allow the most sunlight. The cones carve into the towers, giving them and their bases disticnt forms. The units of each tower are arranged around three unique atria.

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plan : upper floors

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diagram

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final model

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process model

unit model

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Flexible Bricks

Course Instructor : Leire Asuncio Villoria Partners : Josh Feldman, Evan Farley While Eladio Dieste relied on brick stacking and concrete reinforcement to achieve his sinusoidal surfaces, we want to create a flexible system that can adapt its curvature to given constraints. By embedding the intelligence into the brick itself, we can achieve multiple curvatures within a singular prototype.

We began exploring from the material outward a method of incorporating flexible intelligence into a repeatable “brick” unit. The project is useful in any number of applications at a range of scales. A stackable, bendable children’s toy, park furniture that responds to your position, a reusable, flexible concrete formwork, an undulating office partition, or a cladding that can respond to complex double curvatures.

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CUTTING METHODS

Cutting Variation B Lap Joint Connection Double-Sided Cutting

Lap joint system for final aggregations

unit aggregations

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installation

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Loft 2A

Designed and Built This live/work space within a Chicago warehouse, featured in Apartment Therapy’s Small Cool contest, fit two people into 400 square feet while keeping the space completely open. By suspending the the loft bedroom from the ceiling beams by steel cables, the kitchen below opens into the space with no obstructions. A single thick wall holds the kitchen appliances and subdivides the space. Built completely of re-used lumber, the loft housed a garden table and a custom built solar water heater.

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exploded axonometric

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images : before and after

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Payette

Amherst College - New Science Center Working with the same design team for two summers and one winter, I was able to design and see to fruition many aspects of this New Sceince Center for Amherst College in Massachusetts. Working from concept to construction documents, I played a leading role in designing the perforated steel fin cladding of the pavilions and the interior elevations where the program bars intersect with the commons.

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model : perforated fin exterior

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pavilion / commons intersection

interior elevation

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Janet Echelman Multiple Sculptures

My work with Janet began as a developer of a specific Autodesk plug-in to simulate the unique physics of her ephemeral sculptures. The work culminated in 2014 with her sculpture “Unnumbered Sparks” for the Vancouver TED conference. Throughout this process we were able to create imagery and video simulation to help develop a number of her sculptures including “Impatient Optimist”, “Allegory”, and “1.26”.

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Aaron Menninga

24 Washington Terrace Apt. B, Somerville, MA 02143 menninga@gsd.harvard.edu 219.680.9250

Education

Harvard University Graduate School of Design

2012-2016

Northwestern University

2005-2009

Platform 6, Platform 7, Platform 8 - Harvard GSD

2014-2016

Master in Architecture, 2016

Bachelor of Arts, Scenic Design / Animate Arts

Honors

Studio Work Selected for Exhibitions and Publications

2013

Open House - Harvard GSD

Exibition of Studio Work

Experience

Boston, MA (2014-2016)

PAYETTE

Architecture Designer

Janet Echelman Inc.

Sculpture Modeling, Simulation, and Animation

Brookline, MA (2013-2014) Cambridge, MA (2012-2016)

Harvard GSD

Woodshop Teaching Assistant Core Studio Teaching Assistant

Cambridge, MA (2014)

The Thinking Hand - Harvard Exhibit Design and Construction

Currated by Mark Mulligan and Yukio Lippit

Kobotech Inc. Shedd Aquarium

Chicago, IL (2009-2012)

Artist Freelance

Chicago, IL (2010-2012)

Live Video Director / FOY Certified Rigger Video/Sound Design Sculpture Animation

Michael Rakowitz: Michael Rakowitz: Patrick Killoran:

Chicago, IL (2009-2012)

Scenic Design/Build

Multiple Productions

Skills

Portfolio 48

Drawing/Modeling Animation/Rendering Video/Audio Simulation Wood/Metalwork

The Breakup The Invisible Enemy The Dream Tower

The Piven Theatre The Artistic Home City Lit Theatre

Rhino3D, Revit, AutoCAD, GIS, Illustrator, InDesign VRay, MAYA, 3D Max, Photoshop, After Effects Final Cut Pro, Pro Tools, Premier Pro Grasshopper, JNet (MAYA), Ecotect Handcraft, CNC, Laser Cut

http://issuu.com/aaronmenninga

References Robert Schaeffner - Principal, Payette rschaeffner@payette.com Janet Echelman - Artist, Echelman Studio janet@echelman.com Kiel Moe - Associate Professor, Harvard GSD kmoe@gsd.harvard.edu

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