Benjamin Han Architecture Portfolio
BENJAMIN HAN
Rhode Island School of Design, B. Arch 2020. 2 College St, Providence, RI 02903
EDUCATION
LEADERSHIP
Rhode Island School of Design Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch), GPA 3.768 2016-2020
Teaching Assistant, Theories of Modern Architecture January 2018 - current Facilitates discussion, organizes course submissions and materials for a sophomore-level architectural history course taught by professor Ruth Lo.
Maryland Institute College of Art Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), GPA 3.92 2015-2016 Western Academy of Beijing International Baccalaureate, High School Diploma, 42/45 2011-2015
Secretary, American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) September 2017 - current Facilitated communication between department faculty and the AIAS leadership group. Collected and organized notes for each AIAS meeting. Art Director, Inkblot Magazine September 2012 - May 2015 Lead the design team of the Western Academy of Beijing’s tri-annual student magazine. Directed a group of 7 designers and represented the group at various events for two years.
RECOGNITION
WORK EXPERIENCE
IB Visual Arts Academic Award Western Academy of Beijing May 2015
Digital Fabrication Monitor Rhode Island School of Design February 2018 - current Supervisor of laser cutting lab. Assisted students in formatting files and operating machines.
Academic Honors Scholarship Maryland Institute College of Art August 2015 Creative Vision Award Maryland Institute College of Art August 2015
Summer Assistantship Atelier FCJZ May 2015 - May 2015 | Beijing, China Assisted in model-making for a private residential project.
LIGHT CONTACT: URBANISM OVER THE UNBUILT What can we learn from the unbuilt landscapes before our time? This project imagines downtown Olneyville, Rhode Island as a meeting point for the built and the preoccupational unbuilt. A desolated parking lot by a thinly channeled river is restored to a sloping wetland. A hundred housing units are constructed gently across, elevated on piers. A public walkway extends across the Woonasquatucket River and frames a new riverside park. By restoring the presence of the river, a once desolated town centre is given a public space to regather itself.
The site is divided into rows of housing and landscape. Abundant spacing between each row allow for sunlight and ventilation to enter units, as an effort to alliviate discomfort of hot summers and cold winters. The two end conditions of each row transform into retail space by the street and residential common rooms by the river's edge.
Engineered Soil
With an emphasis on sustainability, operational energy savings are achieved in the long run by utilizing high performance materials in the building envelope, specifically mineral wool insulation, triple argon windows and a continuous high performance air barrier. By designing around high performance materials and smart internal systems, the building operates at a low Energy Use Intensity below the passive house benchmark of 120 kWh/m2.
Air, Moisture, Root Barrier 8" R34.4 Mineral Wool Insulation
Timber Cladding 6" R25.8 Mineral Wool Insulation Triple Argon LowE High Solar Gain Window
Continuous Air Barrier
The project uses structural cross-laminated timber as opposed to a conventional steel frame to both reduce carbon emissions and structural weight. Additionally, a wood pile foundation is used in place of a conventional concrete foundation, further minimizing carbon emissions. In a 50-year life cycle, the building is projected to emit less than half the carbon of a conventional steel and concrete construction.
8" CLT Wall Panel
Vegetation on-site green roof prous block pavement vegetated area wetland + bioswales
Total Vegetated Area: 90% Stormwater Managed Onsite: 79%
Water Treatment
Stage 3: clarifiying and reuse
Stage 2: processing via open tanks
Stage 1: primary anaerobic process
This project used the river to structure spaces for dwelling, ecosystem restoration, and collective urban activity. A series of walkways extend to the south end of the site, where programs of pavilions, park spaces, and a riverside boardwalk frame an active pedestrian space in the urban core of Olneyville.
The project transforms water in two ways. Abundant vegetated areas and bioswales buffer on-site rainwater during a storm. A series of waterprocessing pavilions embedded within the public walkway treat blackwater of the residential units while inviting the public to observe the process.
THE ASCENDING LIBRARY
The project is a public library proposal in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It investigates the axial cut and sectional shift, using these conditions to structure a modern library.
The project is driven by iterations of model making exploring verical sequences. Beginning with a series of cuts and displacements, the project explores how the vertical unfolding of a cube volume can result in separate but interconnected pockets of volumes.
the modern library requires abundant spaces for activities such as digital reading and device usage. The axial cut enables the south side of the library to be open, interconnected, and exposed to sunlight, creating an ideal space for collective dwelling.
Simultaneously, the modern library requires spaces for storing and protecting books from sunlight. The axial cut enables the north side of the library to be closed, shaded from sun, and hyper space efficient.
LE COURBUSIER’S INTROVERTED MONASTERY
La Tourette is a inward-looking project defined by its separation from the ground and isolation from the exterior environment. The centrepiece is a courtyard and a series of intersection passageways. The passageways are highlighted in the drawing to emphasize the importance of the interior.
The central courtyard transitions into a series of corridors that serve the living quarters, library, and dining rooms of La Tourette. On one end, La Tourette is capped by the chapel. On the other end, La Tourette encloses itself with three walls of programs.
If La Tourette is defined by its persistent effort to enclose back on itself, then one organizing structure is its corners and paths of divergence. Here, La Tourette’s programs are exploded in respective to the corners and paths of divergence.
In an attempt to break from conventional understandings of the building, La Tourette is reinterpreted as a series of enclosed transitionary moments wherever the path diverges into multiples. The isolated moments draw new relationships with one another unrestricted by the inward-looking configuration of the building.
Benjamin Han