“As an architect, you design for the present, with an awareness of the past, for a future which is essentially unknown.� - Norman Foster
Academic Work Lehigh Valley Centre for Environmental Studies Sustainability Design Studio - Fall 2016
New York City Afterlife Center Comprehensive Design Studio - Spring 2016
SYM [BIO] SIS Urban Development Studio - Fall 2015
BUNK SHED Design Build Studio - Spring 2015
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Additional Design Work Therme Vals Art & Craft of Building - Fall 2016
Menil Collection Art & Craft of Building - Fall 2016
Pyramid iPhone Case Digital Fabrication - Fall 2015
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Photography Textures
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Academic Work
Lehigh Valley Centre for Environmental Studies Sustainability Design Studio - Fall 2016 Collaboration - Gianni Monteleone
Using sustainable design strategies we designed an environmental education center, The Lehigh Valley Centre for Environmental Education, located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on the recreational site of Sand Island. The site is flanked by the Lehigh River and Delaware & Lehigh Canal. The site is also located along the D&L Trail which spans 125 miles from Wilkes-Barre to Philadelphia. With the site’s current recreational use, the project strives to provide a dual use site, recreation and education. Designed for after school programs, field trips, summer camps, and events, The Lehigh Valley Centre for Environmental Education was sought to immerse students in the environment while providing traditional educational programmatic elements.
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macro site map
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Analyzing existing site conditions and movement across the site, the project sought to expand the slow moving canal by moving the edge of the canal to the buildings edge to provide additional surface area to the canal and offer the site a wetland condition. This served dual purposes, as it expanded the wildlife and aquatic population on the site and increased the recreational use of the canal. Siting the building along the rivers edge and pulling the canals edge into the building allowed the building to become an observatory for wildlife and aquatic populations. Turning the original canal tow path into a raised walkway allowed hikers and bikers of the D&L Trail to continue along the trail. This also provided an opportunity to immerse visitors in the site’s wetland condition.
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sustainable strategies diagram The Lehigh Valley Centre for Environmental Education utilizes both passive and active sustainable strategies to lower the environmental impact of the building.
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By utilizing locally sourced steel as well as renewable and environmentally conscious harvested wood, The LVCEE was able to lower the embodied energy of its building. Using a wood-slat shading system, operable windows, and geothermal heating and cooling system, the building was able to be wrapped with large glass windows providing maximum views to the exterior environment.
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iterative site model
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New York City Afterlife Center Comprehensive Design Studio - Spring 2016 Collaboration - Gianni Monteleone
The New York City Afterlife Center was developed to assist families and friends of the deceased through their journey of mourning and grief, via the intentional crossing of thresholds. The Center is comprised of two sites; Site A, a 3,500 square foot urban site located at 6 Water Street in Downtown Manhattan, which houses a morgue, death research facility, funeral home as well as non-denominational chapels. Site B, is a 350,000 square foot landscape site, located a ferry’s ride away on neighboring Governors Island. Site B is comprised of a new ferry terminal which invites family and friends from Lower Manhattan, a welcome center, a crematorium, memorial halls, a viewing tower and re-imagined columbariums. Through a redesign of the traditional urn, the ashes of a deceased individual, after cremation, are collected, place, and sealed inside of a stone. The, now urn, is inserted into one of the many beautifully designed gabion walls. Families are able to purchase entire sections of these gabion walls for their families urns or choose be placed with other individuals. New York City Afterlife Center 10
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Upon entering Site A, one is brought through the first of two building envelopes. This double envelope design enables circulation across the faรงade. The second envelope, a gabion wall, acts as a visual and physical threshold seperating the buildings circulation from its program. Mourning families are brought up, along, and through the threshold of the gabion wall which provides families with a somber place of repose. The buildings houses a morgue, lobby, research labratories, lecture halls, administrative offices; topped with two non-demonial chapels, the building serves to educate medical students and provide a location for funeral services.
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site plan
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section cc The procession of mourning then continues across the Upper Bay and onto Site B. Upon arrival on site, mourning families are met by a central datum of water which acts as a series of thresholds between programmatic elements and offers points of repose along the journey from the southern most point to the northern tip. The journey terminates with a viewing tower at the north end which frames views of historical Liberty Island, Ellis Island, the Brooklyn Bridge, Battery Park, One World Trade, Lower Manhattan and Site A.
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SYM [BIO] SIS Urban Development Studio - Fall 2015 Collaboration - Gregory Goldstein, Dalton Deardorff
SYM [BIO] SIS is a three phase exploration of the effect technology and infrastructure on the development and preservation of Havana, Cuba. With its rapid immersion into the global market, Cuba’s economy is set to drastically increase as its crumbling infrastructure rapidly decays. The project addresses water management, waste management, environmental preservation and education through direct exposure to the systems themselves.
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based on the patterns documented, the promenade, as an extention to the famous Malecon, was deisgned with the exsisting usage of the Malecon in mind
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BUNK SHED Design Build Studio - Spring 2015 Collaboration - Studio Section
The Bunk Shed was a design build project with nine students addressing disaster relief efforts to provide the basics of living in a shelter for temporary refuge. The goal of the project was to maximize interior functionality as well as prolonged durability while being conscious of project cost as well as the ability to be massed produced, distributed, and assembled within a small window of time.
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detail The materials chosen are weather resistant, maximize light transmittance while providing privacy, and provide sufficient ventilation. Structurally, the shelter is constructed of light gauge steel studs walls skinned with chloroplast to minimumize transport weight while providing ridged walls. The interior space features two sleeping bunks with enough room for storage below, a work statio with a shelving unit, and open room for the occupant’s use. The Bunk Shed also features adustable feet to elevate and level the structure.
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Additional Design Work
Therme Vals was designed in 1996 by Peter Zumthor, built over the only thermal springs in GraubĂźnden, Switzerland. Aesthetically, the baths are made up of 60,000 valser quartzite slabs, half buried into the hill-side at the center of a now existing hotel complex. The building is also capped with a grass roof, allowing it to blend into the landscape. Designed as a semester long case study, grouped as four to five students were to investigate natural light and its relationship and design within the architecture.
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The Menil Collection houses over 10,000 works of ancient African and Surrealist art belonging to John and Dominique de Menil. Designed by Renzo Piano, the museum for the art is viewed under natural light, changing with time, weather, and season. The “heart of the conception� of the building is its ferro-cement louvers, which seem to float in the ceiling. Due to the heaviness of the louvers, a ductile cast iron truss system was designed and covered by sloped glazing skylights. The louvers filter the natural light, whitewashing and defusing said light. Designed as a semester long case study, I assisted Kurt Kimsey, Matthew Wieber, Benjamin Dealy, and Joseph Amendola with the 3D modeling and printing of the louver and its suspension system. The system were modeled in Rhino3D and printed of ABS plastic on a uPrint SE 3D Printer.
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Designed for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S, the pyramid case is designed with comfort and functionality in mind. The triangular pyramid pattern creates a pleasant tactile response while hold the phone as well as hold the phone in your pocket when not in use. To remove the phone from one’s pocket, one simply slides their hand into their pocket, places it along the textured surface and pulls their phone out. Currently printed in ABS plastic, the pyramid case would be injection molded for a smoother surface and a more durable material.
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Photography
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Andrew D. Mitchell, AIAS Bachelor of Architecture P. (570) 352-5714 ADMitchell17@gmail.com