Brian Moore Portfolio 2015
Contents Observation Tower Revitalization of the Detroit Riverfront
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University Architectural Museum
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Royal Oak Transit Center Digital Design Project
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Woodworker Live/Work Urban Woodshop and Loft Space
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Hypertext Museum Concept Theory-based Study of Architecture
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Tree Lot Study Graphic Design and Branding
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Warsaw Watercolors Art Studio in Poland
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Action Space Photography ArtPrize Entry 2014
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Technical Systems Integration
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Perspective (3DS Max & Photoshop)
Observation Tower Thesis Studio
University of Detroit Mercy SOA Prof. John Mueller Site: West Riverwalk: Detroit, MI This project is an architectural excerpt from my thesis, Action Space: Designing for Events in Architecture. The full book can be found at: http://issuu.com/brianmoore9/docs/2014_ moore_action The intentions for the site is to design a public space that encourages reinterpretation of actions and program. Since these contradictory events are often unpredictable, the challenge will lie in how to design a space so that in can be used in unimagined ways. Since designing for all possible programs is not an option due to the problem of the open plan, the best option is to design for a specific program while keeping in mind that the goal is for the conventions of the site to change.The most suitable design program for the project is for a park since the primary function is leisure and the architecture takes no qualms about operating in a more “useless� manner.
The site I selected is the West Riverwalk, a mostly empty lot that was recently renovated to add a walking path and not much else. This park is currently not used much due to the detour between the rest of the Riverwalk that routes between several dense Brutalist structures. The design of the site attempts to reconcile these problems and bring activity back to the area. The site design acts as a framework that specific architectural elements can fit into (these locations are noted on the site plan in pink). One of these elements was to be an observation tower that takes advantage of several elements on site.This point in the river gives the widest views of the Detroit River in the city and is one of the few areas where the passing freighters can be seen approaching directly at the viewer.The Ambassador Bridge is also directly adjacent to the site offering a picturesque background. Once elevated, panoramic views of downtown and Corktown are revealed that were blocked by the fortress-like buildings when at ground level.
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Observation Tower Site
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Site Plan
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The skin of the structure’s envelope was decided to be perforated metal panels so that the external views were always present when ascending the tower, but obscured in a way that makes the open areas more significant. When the stairs or paths open out from the envelope and the screens are not in the way, the result is a view that is made much more spectacular than if the approach had been open to the exterior completely. These platforms frame views of the approaching new riverwalk extension, the Michigan Central Railroad Station in Corktown, and the downtown skyline before reaching the top and providing a panoramic view of the river and the city. The emphasis inward to the city while rising up the tower creates one of the few places where a Detroiter can rise above the buildings and see a view of the urban realm, especially on the west side of downtown. With multiple views framed before reaching the panorama above, the act of ascending the tower becomes just as important as the eventual climax.
Riverwalk Platform View
Top Platform View
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Riverwalk Viewing Platform
Downtown Viewing Platform
Corktown Viewing Platform
Top Viewing Platform
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10 Perspective (3DS Max & Photoshop)
East Elevation
South Elevation
West Elevation
The envelope of the structure also wraps and conforms to the interior paths to sculpt the path of ascension. The goal was to create an interior that both frames the stairs tightly so that visitors can get a glimpse of what is outside and to allow an airy interior that provides views down or up into the tower to see the other guests moving about. The exterior of the tower also had to be carefully considered since it would stand as an icon on the site. The tower, in a way, is a subtle nod to the fact that no major development ever made it to this site and marks a new point going forward. The forms of the tower are fractured and angular, suggesting the motion that happens inside. These forms also visually wrap around the building in order to provide a cohesive form. The five sides of the tower all feature a different form and different elevations so that to fully understand the tower, one must travel around it in various ways.The appearance of the tower from land will be a different facade than what someone would see from a boat on the river.
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12 Perspective (3DS Max)
University Architectural Museum
Technical Studio - Fourth Year University of Detroit Mercy SOA Prof. Joe Odoerfer
Site: UDM McNichols Campus, Detroit, MI This project had a simple program to design an architectural museum for the UDM campus. The primary focus was the integration of several building systems: Site design, parking, schematic design, structure, HVAC, lighting systems, acoustics, ADA & building code, and construction.
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Site Ground Floor Plan
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Site Design The site was situated near the School of Architecture to allow for quick connections to the museum. The center plaza was redesigned with an abstracted gesture of paths that matched pedestrian flow more accurately and allowed space for events. It was necessary to redesign the adjacent parking lot since the new building intrudes on the existing boundaries. The new lot has been modified to be up to date with current off-street parking codes and allow disability access to various buildings.
Second Floor Plan
Third Floor Plan
Schematic Design The schematic design followed a simple concept of having a vertical, central lobby that matches visual connections with the iconic clock tower on campus. From this lobby, the other programs branch off, with a lecture hall on the ground floor and various painting and sculpture galleries above. The basement contains all curatorial functions.
Building Section 15
16 Structural & Mechanical Model (3DS Max)
Structure & Mechanical Design The structure and HVAC of the building follow the schematic design concept of branching as well. A steel frame extents out from the center lobby to support the galleries. The lobby, elevators, and emergency stairways are bounded by concrete shear walls. The mechanical and electrical systems are housed in the basement with return and supply ducts branching from service closets near the lobby. The exterior walls are braced with steel studs between the I-beams and clad with an insulated rainscreen panel system.
Wall Section (3DS Max) 17
18 Gallery Perspective - Night (3DS Max)
Lighting A lighting plan was developed for the entire building,but is best demonstrated in the gallery spaces. On the third floor, the artificial lighting attempts to be as transparent as possible by hiding in the shadows and matching up to the rail mounting system and supply ducts. Erco luminaire models were selected for the wall washing and accentuation in the renderings to reproduce a realistic lighting quality. Gallery Section with Lighting
Gallery Perspective - Daylighting
The galleries on the third floor utilize daylighting from the shielded skylights while the second floor sculpture galleries feature side lighting through windows.
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20 Lecture Hall Perspective (3DS Max)
Acoustics The lecture hall ceiling creates a rhythm with the exterior cladding by using a similar concept of color and pattern.The hall is lit by luminous panels, with incandescent dimming lights between the panel frames.
Hall Section with Lighting
The sound paths have been measured so that the largest difference in sound wave reflections is less than 18’ in section and 23’ in plan. The reverberation time has been calculated at 0.93 seconds, well within the ideal range for a lecture hall.
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22 Perspective facing Northeast (3DS Max)
Formal Development The building form appears almost monolithic, following precedents such as the Vienna Museum of Modern Art and several works by Herzog & de Meuron. This approach echoes the existing buildings on campus, particularly the nearby library. The rusted metal cladding is similar in color to the Spanish-style red roofs that are predominant on campus, but different enough to form a new association.
Second Floor Patio Night Perspective
The walls of the building may appear stark, but open up a great potential to be used for movie projections or the hanging of large scale posters to engage the student body. It would be interesting to see how students are able to use the building as a canvas for thier own creativity.
Lobby Perspective Towards Clocktower 23
24 South Perspective (3DS Max)
Royal Oak Transit Center Digital Studio - Fourth Year University of Detroit Mercy SOA Prof. Wladek Fuchs
Site: Woodward & I-696, Royal Oak, MI This studio focused on digital modeling techniques as a primary design tool. The project was divided into three phases; the first was Master Planning to practice general site composition and social functions.The second was the architectural design phase where we design the articulated and context sensitive transit center. Finally, an interior design phase to understand the consequences of architectural decisions.
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When beginning to master plan, my core concept was dynamic motion and the idea that the crossing paths of movement on the site could serve as a source for visual attention & diversion. The bus hub circulation is drawn on a new, separate axis from the streets to create interesting differentiation and facilitate outbound traffic. A corridor wraps around the site on the second level in order to provide a quick, safe connection between buildings as well as offer panoramic views of the bustling streets and bus traffic below. With the programming of restaurants in the retail buildings, the corridors could also function as seating that looks out over the road. The corridor also provides a sense of a gateway for the buses that enter the transit center and the strong horizontal orientation provides a symbolic foil to the vertical Detroit Zoo water tower across the street.
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Aerial Night View
Moving on to the architectural phase, the front and back faces to the transit center express the ingress and egress of pedestrian traffic.The front facade undulates with activity as crowds move in and out while the facade facing the buses leans out to allow views of the stations and shelter from the weather. The lobby lies between the two entrances with both ends of the building anchored by solid function blocks holding limited retail and dining. The ends are more opaque in order to contrast with the panoramic corridor and turn attention to the pedestrian movement in the lobby.
South Perspective
Woodward Elevation
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28 South Facade (3DS Max)
The interior lobby provides a large open space that allows easy flow of pedestrians to the different functions. The glazed corridor runs along the lobby on the south side to provide panoramic views outward and act as a mezzanine.
West Interior Lobby Perspective
East Interior Lobby Perspective
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30 Cafe Perspective (3DS Max)
For interiors, I focused on a coffee and tea cafe at the end of the transit center lobby. It parallels theme of motion in plan by circulating around the central block of tables and leading out to a patio adjacent to the bus stops. A core strip divides the space while encompassing the main dining and counter. It also serves to lower the ceiling for a more intimate feel from the high height used for the lobby space. The material palette consists of wood, fabrics, and other warm colors that keep the atmosphere cozy and characteristic of a tea shop.
Cafe Floor Plan 31
32Second Year Studio - Prof. Tom Roberts
Woodworker Live/Work Second Year Studio University of Detroit Mercy SOA Prof. Tom Roberts Site: Harmony Park: Detroit, MI For this studio, each student was given a type of craftsman to research and had to develop a living and working space for them, mine being the woodworker. The “Bookends� site consisted of seven narrow adjacent slots wedged between two existing buildings. My particular site was adjacent to an empty slot that would serve as a public park.
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Second Floor Plan
34 Ground Floor Plan
The building responds to the empty slot by having the public circulation wrap around the building to attract visitors from both the front and side and allow for a viewing area into the workshop. The program separates the programmatic needs of public, private, and working spaces while allowing appropriate interactions to still occur between all three types of space. After initial study models, the form was reworked and brought to a larger scale. The public walkway lattice changed to be composed of swiveling panels that can be individually lifted to provide access or shade. Many configurations can be made from this design for store access and the panel designs define the community space in both the day and night time.
Physical Model
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Physical Model Night View
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Eidetic site model
Hypertext Museum Concept
Theory Studio - Third Year University of Detroit Mercy SOA Prof. Tony Martinico
Site: Grand River & Canfield: Detroit, MI The objective of this studio was not to focus on a complete building as an end result, but rather to explore the process of design through theory and ideas. The core concept being explored was memory and the target project for our concepts was a Detroit archive and museum.The process began with an eidetic site analysis. My eidetic studies focused on collective memory, the memory that we do not have individually, but hold and collect communally. My core theme was that collective memory is infinite and can never be fully understood; we can only gain a deeper, yet incomplete, understanding through it. The eidetic model to the left visualizes the objective side of collective memory through the wooden pegs while the subjective memories weave through the site sporadically.
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The chaotic nature of the weavings in my eidetic study led me to become interested in chaos theory, which led me to bifurcation, which led to the idea of hypertext.
Bifurcation weaving
Bifurcation weaving
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Hypertext are the links that allow for a sudden and nonsequential jump to new, but related topics in forms of electronic media. I saw similarities between hypertext and the way that collective memories were shared and formed. I began to investigate how hypertext could be used architecturally to link the complexity of the strands together so that the archival endpoints were not important, but stressed the connections made between those points. Weaving studies became a way to visualize the connections and interactions between paths in an abstract space.A multitude of objectives were made for the weavings; the first studies looked at bifurcation and how several strands would interact with varying endpoints and connections. The studies after were connection weavings that set rules about how and where the strand could interact. This led to a hypertext weaving that used the same connection rules, but simulated only hypertext and no content text. Randomly assigned colors are connected to all other similar colors from separate strips of paper to create an increasingly complex model. The last studies attempted to reconcile the bifurcation and hypertext studies with form to visualize what a hypertext path could look like with real-world constraints.
Connection weaving
Hypertext weaving
Weaving study with form
Weaving study with form
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The final stage of this project was to view hypertext as a form of navigation. Several sketches were made to attempt mapping programmatic spaces and connecting them hypertextually. The result is a building plan concept where the programming of spaces does not reflect on adjacencies or separated spaces,but rather on the connections between ideas and space. A visitor would not need to know what information they are looking for specifically. in this alternative museum Drawing from collective memory, they must instead just wander the architecture and trust that although they do not know exactly what the will learn, they will come out with a deeper understanding.
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44 Retail Center Rendering (Photoshop)
Tree Lot Branding Study Graduate Graphic Design University of Detroit Mercy SOA Prof. Becky Nix
Gift Box Designs (3DS Max)
Tree Lot Entrance (Photoshop)
This branding project required that I devise a name for a tree lot company along with an additional product, logo, product design, and site design. I focused on gifts and giving for the additional products, so the company woudl sell trees and gift boxes. The site is at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the retail rests under a wrapped sculpture.The name, Trunks, references both tree trunks and storage trunks. The gift boxes are intended to make gifts more unique than the standard box by utilizing non-rectilinear shapes or by making boxes that open in unique ways, such as the screw-on box.
Business Card Concept 45
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Still Life
Warsaw Watercolors Watercolor Studio Politechnika Warszawska 2012 Prof. Joanna Petkowska These watercolors are a selection of work from the Watercolor Studio taught by Polish watercolor experts during my Polish Exchange. The course emphasized accurate geometric compositions, but exaggerated and imaginative color rendering.
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Studio Perspective
Still Life
Courtyard
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50 Collage Study of the Detroit Riverwalk
Action/Space Exhibited at ArtPrize 2014
Gerald Ford Presidential Museum Grand Rapids, MI These impressionistic photographs each present a collage of space as perceived through movement. The study began as an attempt to reconcile the problems of the photograph; a photo offers no suggestion as to how a portrayed location is experienced and captures only a single moment without time nor depth. As philosopher MerleauPonty said, “I do not see [space] according to its exterior envelope; I live in it from the inside. After all, the world is all around me, not in front of me.” These collages intend to take two-dimensional representation a step further than a standard photo. The artist’s own perception and experience are used to reveal a blurred progression of action through space instead of just what is in front of the camera.
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Spring 52 Blue Bridge
Selected images from montage 53
54 Blue Spring Boardwalk
Selected images from montage 55
A previously mundane hallway is perceived as an elongated haze. A stairway appears as spiraling fragments as the progression ascends. Although the collages display space without clarity, new fascination is given through depth. Architectural spaces are inherently linked to the actions and events that occur within them. Therefore, actions and spaces were chosen together for this study. Some of these include walking through the city, stepping up a stairway, or sliding down a spiral slide. A montage was acquired for each action/space combination by taking photos at regular intervals while moving until 30 to 40 images were taken. These images were then combined together digitally in a way that gives every layer an equal amount of transparency. The entire process of movement then becomes more important than any individual image. See more at: http://briantmoore.wix.com/actionspace
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Collage Study of a Stairway 57