PORTFOLIO
BENJAMIN JANES
CONTENTS STUDIO PROJECTS PRAIRIE ART CENTER ARTIST3 RESIDENCE
PERSONAL PROJECTS WRITER’S CABIN GETAWAY HOUSE
Right, the private courtyard of the Prairie Art Center.
Left, the interior gallery space looking out into the restored prairie.
The Prairie Art Center is a proposal that attempts to marry the existing sculpture park to the idea of a nature park. This starts with a reintroduction of prairie grasses and trees to the site, helping it to better blend into its context. The program is then separated into its primary elements - a public gallery and private live and work spaces for visiting sculptors - with each area treated as a separate structure. An elevated path that flows between the different spaces lifts the structures off the ground and gives them the impression of floating above the prairie. Each of these spaces is defined by its own framework and skin, which creates both a sense of rhythm and repetition as well as a unifying form that all the buildings share. The spaces embrace their surroundings by breaking this form, wrapping around trees and prairies that act like natural sculptures, complementing their man-made counterparts. Building orientation and skin opacity are manipulated to create view corridors to the surroundings, while the interiors are flooded with both direct and indirect natural light, giving them an airy, ethereal feeling that starts to blur the line between the outside and the inside. Franconia Sculpture Park, MN Studio I - Dan Winden 2017
PRAIRIE ART CENTER
In the places where the prairie intersects with the new art center, a subtraction is performed on the building, taking chunks out of the otherwise simple building forms and creating a sense of deference to the environment.
From left to right, a model of the system, the individual building pieces, a diagram of building elements, and a diagram of the structure showing the assembly process
Above (clockwise from top left) diagrams showing where views into and out of spaces are blocked,, the focusing of views on the restored prairie and the rest of the environment, the public and private circulation through he spaces, and the programmatic breakdown of how the spaces are divided. Opposite, a view from the sculpture exhibition area at night, and a plan of the project.
Left, the interior studio space looking into the presentation space. Right, the exterior presentation space looking into the studios.
Left, the eastern elevation of the building.
The Artist3 Residence is a project that plays on the segmentation of an artist’s life as a sculptor at Franconia. There are three main elements: their work life, their public life, and their private life. Each of these elements is given its own separate space with its own relationship to the site. An artist’s work is what brings them to Franconia in the first place, so their studios are the thought to be of the site, buried in the earth mound. The public space sits level with the park, putting it squarely in the realm of the sculptures, with its open glass facade allowing views out into the park. The private spaces are the most removed, suggesting that no matter what happens in their public and work life, an artist’s private life is a place of refuge and separation. The whole building is organized around a pair of axis which divide the program, the circulation, the view orientations and sensory experiences. There is a focusing of views towards the landscape, with the glazing placed on the west side towards the forest and farm fields. In addition, a green roof replaces the ground space used in the development of the studio and gallery spaces. Franconia Sculpture Park, MN Studio I - Dan Winden 2017
ARTIST3 RESIDENCE
C i r c u l at i o n D i a g r a m
Far left, the first floor plan. Near left, the second floor plan. Right, diagrams of the plans organization in relation to circulation, senses, program, and privacy.
Sensory Diagram
O r g a n i z at i o n a l
Diagram
Program Diagram
Below, early sketches of the sense of floating above and integration into the ground that drove the design process. Right, elevations and sections show the way these building-ground relationships manifested in the finished project.
Far left, the cabin viewed from the creek below. Bottom, a cross section through the writing space and bathroom. Above, the cabin plan.
Like many others, I have often felt a sense of refreshed creativity after a walk in the woods. It was after a wintry hike near our family cabin that I challenged myself to design a space that would connect writers, designers, artists, or anyone else looking for isolation with an environment where their work can be both inspired and their sole focus. The site is a hillside near an existing cabin, overlooking a creek that flows out into a lake several hundred yards away. A natural clearing in the forest provided a size constraint for the cabin, which is limited to a sleeping space, work space, bathroom, and support closet. The cabin is lifted off of the ground, partially because of the swampy soil but also in a slight nod to the hunting cabins and stands that dot the nearby countryside. The openings in the bathroom and workspace extrude out from the building, creating space for work and storage while simultaneously bringing the inside out. Another focus of the project was on the iterative process and the evolution of the design, something I had looked to integrate more fully into my design process. Dutch Hallow Lake, LaValle, WI Personal Project 2018
W R I T E R ’S C A B I N
From left to right, top to bottom, the key iterations that highlight the evolution of the design.
Left, the house as seen from the water.
Designed as a reaction against the sprawling, massive cabins that have become popular in the north woods, the Getaway House is intended to function as a return to the original purpose of the wilderness retreat. Rejecting the notion that cabins need to have every amenity and activity imaginable, Getaway House refocuses the attention on interaction and connection with nature. Platforms hold the cabin up off the ground, creating a bridge of sorts from the land directly over the water, forming a visual connection between the two. The house itself serves as a way-point for observation, with a transparency that invites the outside in and encourages occupants to get outside and take a hike, go swimming, or simply enjoy nature. The critical systems of the house (kitchen, bathroom, utility, and bedroom areas) are contained in a single unit that can be prefabricated and trucked to the site, decreasing environmental impact. The prefabricated unit also acts as a system that would allow the cabin’s concepts to be translated to wilderness retreats across the country. Personal Project 2017
G E TAWAY
HOUSE
Left, the plan of the house, with deck, building envelope, and prefab utility unit. Right, a section through the center of the house.
janes036@umn.edu (608)-235-4475
linkedin.com/in/benjamin-janes-a71b1a127
BENJAMIN JANES