Austin James Portfolio

Architecture 01

The Memphis

Beacon Experimental Mixed-Use Houseing Studio 2022 Fall Semester | 11 weeks

Memphis, Tennessee

This Studio was set in downtown Memphis where the homless crisis continues to grow due to lack of shelters and hazardous shelters. My task was to provide a mixed-use apartment housing a target audience that could remain affordable overtime and provide comfortable living conditions. As a veteran myself, I felt a desire to propose a living condition for handicapped and disabled veterans that would both act as a therapy facility and community where alike veterans live side by side in a tight nit community.

The site was situated between multiple High-rises on the edge of downtown Memphis. This allowed access for close jobs, stores, food markets, and public transport. The proposed programs for this building consists of a commercial restaurant, retail space, physical therapy room, and resident apartment style units.

Six ADA rooms per floor are offered that give a sense of ownership and dignity to its occupants through spacious unit plans, and atrium that acts as a vertical neighborhood, and open spaces meant to release tension and congestion most often felt in common apartment homes. Most importantly programed in is an inhouse nursing and physical therapy floor to care for its residents. The Beacon can be copied like blocks and used by the VA as a more humane treatment facility where residents and staff live side by side.

Site location- Memphis, Tennessee

Site Sketches

Addition

Subtraction

Explorative Parti Diagrams

Addition

Movement

Direction

Separated

Residential Unit layout

Physical massing models and parti diagrams were used to explore how the building evelope would fit into the existing downtown skyline. I clung to the idea of “calming and spacious” units that can be linked into larger units to fit tenants needs. Following solar paths for Memphis I then ex plored how natural light sprinkled each room.

These two units can be combined as the door in the middle can either lock or allow access to the other room in cases of two handicaped persons who want to share a unit.

On 2 of the 6 residential floors, this room becomes a dedicated double bed and bath ADA complient unit.

Structure

The exposure and material of the building’s structure plays a large part in the design intent as I’m aiming to create a natrualistic feeling of comfort and calmness that acts as a subconsious therapudic approach to healing the disabled veterans during their residency. Glulam columns, beams, and Timber Concrete Composite floor slabs are used and left exposed in the residential floors as the presence of wood reminds us of traditional homes and provides a warm and bright environment.

Phsyical model: Basswood, MDF board, chipboard, clear acrylic

Non-ADA unit kitchen/living room view

Coffee bar restaurant and winter garden view

View of Neighbor Office Building

View of Jefferson St. and B B King Blvd Intersection

Architecture 02

Starkville Strong Center

Housing Resource Studio

2022 Fall Semester | 3 weeks

Team-Josh Fuller | Eric Lorio | Charles Rounds III

Starkville, Mississippi

This project was a renovation of a rundown existing building called “KidzVille” owned by a local church, Peter’s Rock. The client was the non-profit organization Starkville Strong in search for a way to provide overnight shelter for their clients who were experiencing housing insecurity and act as a food pantry for donated goods.

Expanding upon the clients wishes, programs such as multi use office spaces, meeting rooms, public bathroom, public laundry facilities, and a take out style food pantry window achieved a more community focused design that was open and inviting while still safe and secure. Visual security, dignity, comfort, and community are paramount to the design.

Inside Existing Building

Exterior Existing Building

Longitudinal Site Section

Transverse Site Section

View From Overnight Sleeping Rooms

View From Entrance Reception Desk

View

View of Exterior Entrance

Architecture 03

Integration Center

Research, Technology, and Economic Development Park Studio

2022 Spring Semester | 14 weeks

Starkville, Mississippi

The Thad Cochran Reasearch Park is partnered with Mississippi State University and provides a multitude of research through technology driven agriculture. The site is surrounded by fields and a rose garden that ultimately becomes incorporated in the orientation circulation of the Integration Center.

I aimed to provide a space that integrates with the surrounding land as in this realm, agriculture rules the world. Fields swarm atop and vegitated walls climb the side of the building letting visitors experience what it means to integrate modern buildings into nature. The Programs include trial gardens and expierimental labs, showcase rooms, an agricultural history gallery, classroom spaces, and offices all connected to one pathway. An intuitive way to expore our agricultural past is sown through that singular passage way as a way to wing back the time clock as you walk through the building. Modern construction materials shift though the circulatory route and end with natural and earth building materials to help one travel through time as they venture the gallery space.

Existing Site Conditions

North Elevation

North Elevation

View of Vegitation Wall on Technology Blvd

View of Agricultural History Gallery

View of Experimental Gardens from rooftop fields

Phsyical site model: Basswood and chipboard

Phsyical Chunk Model: Basswood, MDF, Sandpaper, acrylic, and fake foliage

Patriot’s Park Bench

Arch/BCS Collaborative Studio

2021 Fall Semester | 7 weeks

Ada Fulghram, Camille Mask, Nash Vanlandingham, Becca Garrick

Micheal Herndon, Matthew Thomas, Amanda Noe, Austin

Starkville, Mississippi

City Parks and Recreation of Starkville commissioned for benches to be placed in 4 different park locations in the city. Patriot’s Park is the newest park in Starkville as it now resides over an old junkyard. My team and I conducted interviews of the park goers and recorded the most visited locations of the park. Since the park only has a pavilion and playground to offer, park visitors are most often parents who watch their kids while they play on the playground. This established our location and orientation for the bench.

We took heavy inspiration from the materials of the existing pavilion as we realized the bench would hold more story to keep to the built them. The backs of each board were painted a different color to exude friendlyness as this is a playground focused park. Recycled steel was welded and painted to form brackets to hold the boards in place. The most important piece of the bench is the utility poles anchored to the ground. Not only does it provide a sturdy support but it follows suit with the coloum like utility poles used in the pavilion.

Existing Pavilion

Patriot’s Park Concept Precedent

View of entire bench

Hand Drawings

2021 Summer Semester

Cotton District & MSU Campus

Starkville, Mississippi

Cotton District Starkville, MS

Downtown Apartment Starkville, MS

Chapel of Memories Starkville, MS

Student Union MSU Campus

Hand Axon Drawings