Architectural Portfolio

P O R T F O L I O Benjamin Janes bwjanes97@gmail.com LinkedIn: Benjamin Janes

Table of Contents

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Folded Shelter

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Pathways Collage

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The Walker: Dissected

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The Walker: Abstracted

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Machine Part Analysis

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Drawing Study: Rapson Hall

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AERIAL Stadium

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LIFE Wall

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Balancing House

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College (2016-) University of Minnesota - Twin Cities College of Design, School of Architecture Major: Pre-Architecture College of Design Dean’s List, Fall 2016 Cumulative GPA 3.91 High School (2012-2016)

Oregon High School, Oregon, Wisconsin Graduated Summa cum Laude with Highest Honors Cumulative GPA 3.98 Interests + Activities American Institute of Architecture Students (Fall 2016-) Freedom By Design (Fall 2016-) Habitat For Humanity (Fall 2016-) Badger Conference Top 10 Scholar (Spring 2016) National Honor Society (Fall 2015-Spring 2016) Model United Nations (Fall 2015-Spring 2016) GAPP German Exchange (Summer 2014) German Club (Fall 2013-Spring 2016) Cross Country (Fall 2012-Fall 2015) Track and Field (Spring 2013-Spring 2016) Personal Statement I am an undergraduate student studying Architecture at the University of Minnesota. I am passionate about many facets of design, ranging from graphics to furniture to the built environment. I am driven to accomplish my goals, such as earning my degree and starting a career making the world better through design. I firmly believe that designers can help improve people’s quality of life, no matter the project scale.

Work Experience

Painter for Phoenix Painting and Decorating (Summer 2015) My responsibilities at Phoenix painting included using a paint sprayer and a roller to paint building exteriors, as well as interiors. I was also responsible for building preparation, which included paint scraping and window masking, as well as other general labor responsibilities.

Summer School Cross Country Camp Assistant (Summer 2014) During the summer between my sophomore and junior year I assisted my cross country coach in running a summer camp for children interested in cross country. I typically was in charge of leading a small group of children during games or warm-up activities.

Summer School Math Teaching Assistant (Summer 2013) I worked as a teaching assistant in a summer school class for 5th and 6th graders who needed help reaching their expected skill levels. My job primarily entailed individually helping students who were having trouble understanding the teacher’s lesson, as well as leading small group learning activities.

Leadership Experience

OHS Cross Country Captain (Fall 2015) During my senior year, my fellow teammates voted me a captain for my cross country team. In this role, I was in charge of leading the team through workouts, explaining drills and procedures for the practices and meets, and assisting the coaches in leading team meetings.

Badger Boys State (Summer 2015) The summer before my senior year I was selected by the teachers at my high school to be one of 2 representatives to Badger Boys State, an annual leadership conference in Ripon Wisconsin. At Badger Boys State, we ran for simulated government positions and then worked with our fellow campers to solve problems and create policies.

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Folded Shelter Design Fundamentals 2 Professor Adam Jarvi The Folded Shelter project had one basic principle: without removing any material, cut and fold a single sheet of paper into a structure that creates space. The project started with creating solutions individually, before designers were paired up to create a joint structure. The original site of my design was the East River Flats Park, often used for games, picnics, and studying by students. The park is very open, and the trees part on one side to reveal the river. The only other built structure in the park is an angular boat house at the opposite end of the park. Keeping this in mind, I went through the iterative process of creating study models before selecting one that I felt contained both private spaces for study and public spaces that were open to the surrounding park and the river. The design was also more angular geometrically, helping it relate to the only other structure in the park. Part of the process for both the individual and the partner portions of the project also included creating both line drawings and rendered images in Photoshop and Illustrator.

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Photos of the original site, East River Flats Park

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BENJAMIN JANES ARCH2281 - 01C AMANDA WEIKER

On the left, photos of the original study models. Above, a line drawing of the final individual model.

Below, pictures of the private space in the center, and an overview of the model.

After pairing up, my partner Stephen Farrell and I changed our site to the park right behind Coffman Union, a space much more focused on circulation. Our final design creates a semi-covered walkway that also allows light, air, and sky views into the structure, causing the shadows to create intricate and intriguing patterns on the ground throughout the day. The exterior of the structure focuses less on circulation spaces and more on relaxation spaces. The structure bends and folds here to create seating where students can sit or lay against the structure and study or socialize.

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BEN JANES AND STEPHEN FARRELL DESIGN FUNDAMENTALS II PROJECT 1D - JELLYFISH DRAWING AMANDA WEIKER

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Pathways Collage Design Fundamentals 1 Professor Courtney MillerBellairs This collage was created based off observations of the Scholars Walk area of the U of M campus.

The area is mainly used as circulation along two main paths, and is fully enclosed by three visually heavy buildings that forces people not only through the space but also to look up towards the sky, framed by the towering buildings around them. This collage tries to capture those feelings through the use of a gradient, line work, and the combination of figure and void in the composition.

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The Walker: Dissected Design Fundamentals 1 Professor Courtney MillerBellairs Part one of a two-part project, these plans and sections of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis served as tools in my analysis of the building.

The smaller plan and section gave a general sense of the overall layout of the building, while the site plan and the large section started to hint at two aspects of the building that particularly intrigued me; first the effect of squeezing people into the building that the siting creates, as well as the pronounced differences in architectural language between the gallery spaces and the public gathering spaces.

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The Walker: Abstracted Design Fundamentals 1 Professor Courtney Miller-Bellairs The second part of the project allowed me to abstract the conceptual ideas I had discovered about the Walker into a model that was representative of the original building.

My first focus was the difference between the gallery spaces and the public spaces, which manifests in two ways. Both the level of transparency with the outside world and the physical shapes composing the architecture differ wildly. In the gallery, there are no windows, walls are heavy and opaque, and simple orthogonal geometry creates a space where the art is the star of the show. The opposite is true in the public spaces, which are lined with massive window walls that blur the lines between indoors and out, while the rectangular geometry distorts and creates sharply angular openings and walls. To emulate this, I created two cubes; one made of plaster and composed of rectangular shapes that would mimic the gallery space, and another that uses trapezoidal openings and angled indents made of wire mesh that allowed for some transparency to represent the public spaces. A final element abstracted from the Walker into the model was the concept of “squeezing” towards the entrance, forcing people into the building. This was achieved through a “forest” of dowels placed on the edge of the platform and leading towards the entrance.

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Previous Page: A plan, elevation, and series of section cuts through the model; above, photos of the gallery and public spaces; opposite, the full model.

Machine Part Analysis Intro. to Architectural Drawing Professor Andrzej Piotrowski

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The idea behind this assignment was to learn how to think about complex objects while drawing, breaking them into parts and sections and using guides to help determine shape and position to create accurate drawings. The assignment also introduced us to drawing in plans, elevations, and parallel projection drawings.

Drawing Study: Rapson Hall Intro. to Architectural Drawing Professor Andrzej Piotrowski The final assignment in this drawing course was to find a place in Rapson Hall and discover the conceptual ideas behind it through drawing. To do this, we used mainly axonometric and value drawings for our analysis. In my study, I focused on the large stairwell area in the middle of the Rapson addition. Through both my value drawings and my sketches, I determined that the spot I had chosen could be seen as a microcosm of the entire building. The staircase going to the second floor was much more enclosed and had no connection to the outside, much like the oldest part of Rapson Hall. However, the staircase next to it that goes to the basement is much the opposite. Like the addition as a whole, the building seemed to break down, as the exterior wall dissolves into solid glass and the staircase landing hits right at ground level, making it seem like an extension of the ground plane and blurring the lines between inside and out. Even interior walls are reduced to simple beams. These ideas were then expressed in a final value drawing, to the right, as well as a final schematic drawing.

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AERIAL Stadium Personal Project The design for this track stadium started as a project I worked on in my free time in high school, but is something I have come back to during college. The driving factor was to create shelter from the elements that still maintained a sense of connection to the outdoors.

The stadium in turn features a glass roof over the stand area, allowing transparency on nice days and protection on rainy days. Similarly, the backside of the stadium features a slatted wood design, allowing air circulation and light to enter the space.

The use of wood helps bring a sense of warmth and comfort to the largescale project.

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LIFE Wall Personal Project The conceptual idea behind the LIFE Wall project was to create a single thick wall that contained everything that a person would need in a residence, giving the occupants more space to live their lives without being obstructed by walls that constrain them.

One side of the wall serves the public areas, containing a full kitchen as well as a mechanical and storage closet. The other side serves the private areas, with a bed and bathroom fixtures all built into the wall. A frosted glass partition creates privacy in the bathroom section.

Acting as a prefabricated building in and of itself, the wall could be placed into studio apartments or other shelters as shown.

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Balancing House Personal Project Conceptually, the Balancing House was created by simply taking one long box and stacking it on top of another, placed so that it would seem like the second level was precariously balancing on top of the first level. The goal was to create a dramatic cantilever over the backyard patio and pool area, which could provide shade on hot summer days. There was also a focus on connection to the outdoors with the project, and so nearly the entire back side of the house is covered in windows and sliding doors to blur the lines between inside and outside. The same is true of the second level, where the ends of the box become balconies for the two bedrooms.

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