Undergraduate Architecture Portfolio | Austin Walker
CURRICULUM VITAE EDUCATION
University of Virginia | School of Architecture
Aug 2010 - May 2014
Bachelor of Science in Architecture Cumulative GPA 3.8, Minor in Architectural History Intermediate Honors, Graduate with High Honors William C. Folkes Scholarship Publication in Catalyst [2013] and Colonnade [2014]
UVA Architecture in China Program| Study Abroad A program designed to offer first-hand exposure to contemporary architecture and urbanism in China through visits to eight major Chinese cities and numerous architectural, historical, and cultural sites as well as collaboration with local students at Nanjing University as part of a two-week design/research workshop
SKILLS
Experience with drafting and 3D-modeling programs, including AutoCAD, Rhino, Grasshopper, and SketchUp Knowledge of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign Physical model-making skills as well as analog and digital fabrication experience, including woodworking, concrete casting, basic metalworking, and CNC fabrication using MasterCAM Experience with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Experience with design research and writing in preparation for an undergraduate design thesis
May 2013 - July 2013
Austin Walker
2021 Ivy Rd Apt. D-4 Charlottesville, VA 22903 arw5zn@virginia.edu | (434) 401-8873
EXPERIENCE
University of Virginia | Teaching Assistant ARCH 1010: Lessons of the Lawn | Peter Waldman
Jan 2014 - May 2014
Co-led a discussion section for 10 first-year students addressing fundamental compositional, analytical, diagramming, and writing skills related to architecture and design
Alloy Workshop [Charlottesville, VA] | Extern
Jan 2014
Created digital models using SketchUp to test iterative designs for a new storage and fabrication workspace addition to firm office in Charlottesville Assisted in collecting data on site visit for residential building addition/renovation in Belmont neighborhood
Lynchburg Grows | Summer Intern Assisted in the construction of a “micro-home� to be used for the propagation of rose cuttings, including framing and cladding of walls, painting, electrical wiring, and installing and finishing interior and exterior trimming Helped with other small-scale construction, renovation, and maintenance projects involving greenhouses, aquaponics system, and other facilities Assisted with organization and logistics of local CSA program
May 2011 - Aug 2011, May 2012 - Aug 2012
Taking the HVAC system as the contemporary status quo in the handling of air within the built environment, this proposal attempts to uncover the dynamics of consumption, idealization, and subversion that accompany it in order to expose not only the extent of human effort put into conditioning the air around us, but also to unveil a new way of forming and conditioning space around air itself. Starting with the imagined existence of a typical dorm or classroom building (regular, rectangular, repetitive floor plans) and the accompanying HVAC layout required for such a structure, this scheme imagines the removal and abandonment of all but the skeletal remains of the building’s air conditioning system, which is left to decay as a “future ruin” around which a conglomeration of new and diverse spaces can develop over the subsequent decades. The proposal utilizes the towering remains of this contemporary HVAC system as an initial framework for the future construction of a new system of public gathering and legislative spaces for the UVA student body, with the “ruin” itself surrounded and occupied by a circulation core linking a variety of open-air and naturally-ventilated spaces. Rather than being driven by structure, the system instead becomes a driver of development, providing a spatial skeleton around which more passive design can emerge while remaining as an artifact of the distant present.
The Critique of Air | ARCH 4010 | Instructor: Shiqiao Li
In his call for the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, curator Rem Koolhaas puts forth the framework of Fundamentals, a theme concerned with a focus on histories and the so-called “inevitable elements” of architecture, as well as on the perceived erasure of national characteristics during the past century in favor of the increasing adoption of a near universal architectural language. The call views the First World War and the subsequent rise of modernization as the starting point for a wide range of socio-cultural narratives, with the resulting shift towards a “single modern language” arising from complex processes of cultural interaction, technical innovation, and imperceptible ways of remaining “national”. Ultimately, the framework refers to the contemporary global condition as a “flattening of cultural memory,” and positions architecture at the forefront of resurrecting and exposing the diverse narratives and unique national mentalities that continue to exist and flourish within - and often as a reaction to - broader trends of globalization. Utilizing the conceptual framework of the Biennale, this project proposes the design of an exhibition pavilion exploring the persistance and fluidity of linguistic and cultural variation and heterogeneity within an increasingly global social environment. Working within the Biennale theme, the pavilion design will examine material characteristics and conditions of the site along with dynamics of variation and hybridity in language and architecture as they relate to elucidating the socio-cultural forces of globalization. What results is both a celebration and a partial muting and fragmentation of a multiplicity of “local” conditions, as well as a reframing of the global collective as a distinct mechanism through which new forms of complexity and hybridity can emerge, evolve, and endure.
Emergent Narrative | Undergraduate Thesis
“...we thought the same thoughts of the soul, bleak and blue and sad-eyed, surrounded by the gnarled steel roots of trees of machinery.” - Allen Ginsberg, “Sunflower Sutra” Often escaping the untrained eye, momuments of Lynchburg’s past lie scattered and in ruins throughout the heart of the city; vacant industrial facilities and warehouses permeate Downtown and still hold glimpses of the city’s heritage within their skeletal remains. Initially inspired by the desire to bring Lynchburg’s flourishing trail system into the city’s center, this project serves to use a string of vacant structures along 12th Street as a catalyst for a new cultural corridor that runs throughout the city, revitalizing historic industrial ruins as gathering and performance spaces for writers, poets, musicians, and storytellers while providing for the development of an architectural language of folds that attempts to foster and contain a vibrant new urban culture and community. Within these folds, people from throughout the community can converge in the historic Downtown area to hear stories of the city’s past, accounts of daily life and personal experience, poetic and musical narratives, and pecha kucha presentations on art, architecture, or any number of topics. Ultimately, this new spokenword network would engulf the entire community and provide an environment for ad-hoc interaction and idea-sharing, serving to preserve Lynchburg’s past while simultaneously fostering a progressive new urban culture.
City Between the Folds | ARCH 2020 | Instructor: Alexander Kitchin & Mara Marcu
Within the context of a wood research studio, we were initially charged with examining the wood manufacturing process and developing a fabrication system utilizing both production technology and material properties. We propose that there is an untapped potential for the 3-axis CNC Router to create an autonomous, structural wooden system that could ultimately aid in the redevelopment of the local manufacturing industry. The modified Zipshape system will offer a method of bending wood elements without the need for molds, steam-boxes, or other components that are often expensive, labor intensive, and require considerable amounts of additional time and material to produce. In addition, the current system is formed from a precise curvature through a process that optimizes digital modeling and processing for rapid fabrication as a full manufactured system. The technology could ultimately provide significant payoffs through increased production capacities as well as the introduction of highly-skilled workers, innovative and applied technologies, and other specialized inputs within the manufacturing process that could prove essential in the reemergence of the domestic furniture industry as a competitive and forward-thinking sector. Ultimately, the project will offer an innovative approach to manufacturing wooden furniture that could feasibly be implemented within the existing manufacturing framework, while providing a unique system of fabrication that opens up exciting possibilities for the creation of dynamic, intelligent design projects within both the public and private realms. The Zipshape logic utilizes the potential of widely-used CNC technology to develop a structural system of highly precise curved members while significantly decreasing the amount of materials, resources, and time required in the manufacturing process.
Zipshape & Bending Wood | ARCH 3020 | Instructor: Jeanna Ripple
Other Wood Products 6,900 (20.4%)
Household/Industrial Furniture & Cabinet Manufacturing 8,600 (25.5%)
Converted Paper Products 4,950 (14.7%)
Top Wood Manufacturing Sectors, by Employment (# of jobs)
Other Wood Products 256 (21.3%)
Household/Industrial Furniture & Cabinet Manufacturing 412 (34.4%)
Sawmills & Wood Preservation 185 (15.4%)
Top Wood Manufacturing Sectors, by Resources (# of plants/locations)
Household/Idustrial Furniture and Cabinet Manufacturing Locations
Converted Paper Products Manufacturing Locations
Other Wood Products Manufacturing Locations
Zipshape Base Geometry - Process of determining interlocking pattern
Alternative Zipshape Geometry - Modified with stepdowns and kerf cuts
For centuries, alleyways have held a significant place within the Chinese city, providing spaces of intimacy and exclusivity even as modern megacities encroach and overtake them. These narrow lanes remain hidden in the unconscious of urbanity and serve as vibrant yet veiled channels for a wide range of interaction and exchange. Inspired by the inherent character of the alley and its role in urban development, the library appropriates a narrow street for the recreation of the Matteo Ricci residence - an important early instance of cultural exchange between East and West from Ricci’s time in China. By utilizing a system of spatial exchange with residents of a bordering apartment building, the library will provide a continuous network of adapted reading and exhibition spaces linked by an interior circulation core. Reflecting Ricci’s personal residence, the library serves as both a material archive and an environment for interaction and exchange, reimagining Ricci’s own approach to cultural integration while reengaing with a spatial archetype that remains firmly rooted in the memory of the Chinese city.
A Library for Matteo Ricci | UVA Architecture in China | Nanjing University Workshop
Inspired both by the Continua screen walls of Erwin Hauer and experiments in tensile fabric construction and spatiality done by Achim Menges and others, our design for the 2014 TEDxUVA stage offered an opportunity to explore ideas and techniques of form, materiality, and fabrication outside of the traditional studio framework. Developed intermittently over the course of several months in collaboration with the TEDxUVA committee, our design attempted to reinterpret the elegant modularity of Hauer’s work with concrete using the relative lightness and ethereality of fabric in order to create a backdrop capable of complementing the innovative – and occasionally eccentric - ideas and research presented at the conference, which had been given the theme of “Making the Path”. The design was developed through a combination of digital modeling and iterative physical mock-ups, with each providing critical feedback towards establishing both a final form and a practical and efficient method of construction. Final construction took place over the course of three weeks and involved a variety of analog and digital means of fabrication, including laser-cutting fabric, 3D printing spacers that provide depth to the wall, CNC routing, hand-sewing individual panels, and traditional woodworking to provide the support frame. Ultimately, the process required a considerable amount of experimentation and rapid decision-making and criticality in determining how the final product would come together, and offered a chance to test and develop a new set of skills and a unique way of approaching the design process, with materials and fabrication considered simultaneously and systematically with ideas of form and meaning to create a project within which multiple paths interact and converge.
TEDxUVA Stage Design | w/ Ben Lawson, Ellison Turpin, & Arisa Chentaphun
Fabrication | Digital Craft & Concrete Casting
THANK YOU