BRIAN Y KIM University of Cincinnati DAAP M.ARCH 1 University of Forida DCP B.DESIGN
BRIAN Y KIM
bkim.studios@gmail.com + 1.813.335.9185
EDUCATION 2011-2015
University of Cincinnati Master of Architecture 1
2006-2011
University of Florida Bachelor of Design in Interior Design
TEACHING 2015.08 - ongoing
Visiting Faculty, Taliesin Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture Digital Presentation and Design Dean: Aaron Betsky aaronbetsky@gmail.com
2014.08 - 2014.12
Graduate Assistant, University of Cincinnati School of Architecture & Interior Design SAID Lecture Series: Sur face Conversations 1.5 Graduate Director: William Williams williwm@ucmail.uc.edu
2013.01 - 2013.03
Invited Critic, University of Cincinnati School of Architecture & Interior Design Architecture Studio 3 midterm & finals Faculty: Renee Mar tin, Ryan Ball reneemar tin30@gmail.com, ryan.ball@uc.edu
2011.01 - 2011.04
Teaching Assistant, University of Florida College of Design, Construction, & Planning Interior Design Studio 4 Faculty: Maruja Torres, Candy Carmel-Gilfilen mta@dcp.ufl.edu, carmelcn@ufl.edu
2009.04 - 2009.08
Teaching Assistant, University of Florida School of Architecture Architecture Studio 2 Faculty (since relocated): Nancy Sanders nancysanders@usf.edu
SKILLS Digital: Rhino, Revit, CAD, Photoshop, Indesign Analogue: Model, Draft, Sketch, Paint, Ceramics
PROFESSIONAL 2014.05 - 2014.08
Mecanoo Architecten, Delft, Netherlands Internship, Architecture Reference: Fedele Canosa fedele.canosa@mecanoo.nl - Mar thin Luther King Jr. Library renovation | Concept
2013.08 - 2013.12
GLUCK+, New York, NY Internship, Architecture Reference: Stephane Derveaux stephane.derveaux@gluckplus.com - Collegiate School| SD+DD
2013.01 - 2013.04
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, New York, NY Internship, Architecture Reference: For th Bagley for th.bagley@kpf.com - New World Riverside Hotel | SD - Z3 Tower | SD
2012.04 - 2012.06
STUDIOS Architecture, New York, NY Internship, Architecture Reference: David Burns david.burns@studios.com - Chelsea Market expansion | SD - Alexandria Towers Lobby Floor | Competition
2010.06 - 2010.08
Perkins+Will, Atlanta, GA Internship, Interior Design Reference: Nicole Sheffield nicole.sheffield@perkinswill.com - Nour Al-Amal Clinic | SD
CONTENTS ACADEMIC 01-26
SUPERFICIAL SEOUL Cultivating the Episodic, Exotic, & Erotic in a Culture of Erasure
27-36
WHITESPACE Skin | Surface | Space
37-46
THE MADE & THE MAKER Fabrication Lab & Student Housing
47-58
THE CITY AS RUINS, THE RUIN CITY Resisting the urge to Re -plan -vision -design -locate . . .
59-68
LIVING IN MOTION The Domestic Spectacle
69-78
FIELD OF MEMORIES Cultural Center & Media Lab for Downtown Detroit
79-90
WITHIN A CROSSROADS Karosta Cultural Center
91-92
DAAP : SAIDAAP : SAID Graphic Merging PROFESSIONAL
93-98 99-102 103-108
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. LIBRARY DC MECANOO Architecten THE COLLEGIATE SCHOOL GLUCK+ CHELSEA MARKET EXPANSION STUDIOS Architecture
su•per•fi•cial
adjective - existing or occurring at or on the surface. - situated or occurring on the skin or immediately beneath it. - appearing to be true or real only until examined more closely.
su•per•fi•ci•es
noun archaic - a surface - an outward part or appearance Latin, super- (above) facies (face)
su•per
adjective - of high grade or quality - very large or powerful - exhibiting the characteristics of its type to an extreme or excessive degree
face
noun - the front part of the head that has the eyes, nose, and mouth on it - the way something appears when it is first seen or thought about
URBANISM_01
SUPERFICIAL SEOUL: CULTIVATING THE EPISODIC, EXOTIC, & EROTIC IN A CULTURE OF ERASURE Graduate Thesis Project Advisors: Aarati Kanekar & Aaron Betsky Fall 2014 - Spring 2015
+ DAAP Directors’ Choice Award + DAAP Distinguished Design in Urban Design Award The following statements are all factual, but their juxtaposition is entirely incidental: - The average age of apartment buildings in the Korean city is twenty-one years - South Korea is ranked 15th in the world by nominal GDP - Seoul has one of the highest population densities amongst major capital cities - South Korea has the 2nd highest suicide rate in the world - The first major development in Seoul’s urban modernization was the Sewoon Sangga Megaplex - South Korea has the highest plastic surgery rate in the world - Gangnam Style was the first Youtube Video to reach one billion views worldwide The incredible energy of Asian boom cities like Seoul depicts a fascinating environment that intensifies opposing conditions of old and new, movement and suspension, order and disorder, life and death. This type of urban situation of extreme density, erasure, and perpetual (over) development creates a social condition that is paradoxically reactionary to and reliant on its surroundings: a battle between losing the city (identity) and being lost within the city (identity). The motivation of SUPERFICIAL SEOUL is to tap into this tension through not only the city of Seoul, but a specific vehicle that is responsible for the velocity and by-products of the contemporary urban realm. This “vessel on the vast ocean called Seoul” is the SEWOON SANGGA megaplex located in the historic center of the city, and its by-products are the architectural infrastructure (keunseng) and spatial phenomenon (-bang) that has been created. Possibly the most influential and controversial urban development in the history of the city, Sewoon Sangga was the first post-war modern project that set the tone for the urban fabric of the contemporary city, while simultaneously cultivating a culture of erasure through the city’s impressive and daunting trajectory.
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Could a city and its collective be understood through a single site and its resultant by-products? If so, should the site be held responsible/take responsibility for the present situation and possible future outcomes? Should it remain a ruined monument of the past, or evolve hand-in-hand with the current trends of the masses? Or could it challenge the accepted rules, creating a new re-presentation and representation of the site? This thesis doesn’t attempt to provide the answer, but possibly multiple answers via different modes of urban positioning, interaction, experience, and inquiry. Specifically, the treatment of an architectural icon that has quickly reached its limits, falling into a type of redevelopment nightmare, is tested by questioning the abundance of proposals that have either tried to maintain, delete, or coalesce the original icon. This is further tested by delving into the by-products of the megaplex icon, known as “keunseng” buildings and “-bang” (room) culture, that has become a type of architectural infrastructure that holds the fabric of the city together and an urban defense mechanism that lives spatially within this infrastructure. Much like the favelas of Brazil and the row houses of Philadelphia, an architectural typology has the potential to become an infrastructural symbol once it establishes a level of adaptability to the point of being indefinite. Thus, the highly malleable nature of the keunseng has made architecture disappear into a “program incubator” wrapped within a membrane of visual stimuli (i.e. signage, image, technology).
erasure
transformation 2002
2006
amplification 2009
2009
mass density
keunsengs wrapped with stimuli
Cheonggyecheon stream
-bang culture (singing room)
-bang culture (sauna room)
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Since its completion, countless redevelopment plans have been presented, only one has been (barely) implemented, questions still linger... 1912 1919 1928 1944
city revision plan (radial) Keung Sung revised city streets (linear) city revision plan fire gap
1950 1967 1984 1988 1995 2003 2004 2008 2012 2014 2015
Seoul restoration plan Sewoon Sangga opens Redevelopment Plan of Sewoon arcade Olympics - Sewoon arcade zones 2,3 redevelopment plan Jung-gu city basic plan - demolish Sewoon for green belt Cheonggyecheon stream recovery plan Sewoon Sangga redevelopment competition Hyundai Sangga Demolished for green belt Cheonggyecheon stream restored Venice Biennale - Korean Pavilion features Sewoon Sangga Meta-City Seoul plan
November 17th, 1967 The moment of its completion was the beginning of its destruction. The Sewoon Sangga development was a post-war rehabilitation strategy for the historic center of Seoul that was desperately in need of urban development to help support the growing density within the city. The history of this site can be traced back to 1944 when the Japanese chose to erase a 50 m wide by 1.2 km long strip within the center of the Jung-gu district as a fire-gap in fear of war bombings, and by doing so, created a type of scar in the middle of the district. With the abrupt fall of Japan and the end of the occupation, the void quickly became a solid by war refugees and squatters filling this area, bringing with them all kinds of illicit acts dealing with pornography, underground markets, and brothels. As part of the 1950 Seoul Restoration Plan, the solid - void - solid would become void once more as a means of implementing the large megaplex (as solid). In this case, we can see the site’s history as a series of solid and void (or figure/ground) patterns, ending in architectural solid. Further, almost as if the megaplex retained memories of the site’s past, Sewoon Sangga would also be notorious for housing illegal pornography and other illicit acts throughout its lifetime. The thesis seeks to once again erase only the monument within the strip, take all the past, present, and future conditions and collapse them into a graphic and spatial frame. By pinpointing old and new maps and redevelopment plans that have/haven’t been implemented, a composition is created through repeated paths and elements that, when overlaid on top of each other, create its own messy but inherently structured layout. This, in a way, gathers the collective conscious/subconscious that has addressed this district and now creates an extreme, or super, condition that captures the multiple layers and complexity that the district truly represents.
1 map transformation overlays 2 past, present, & future redevelopment plans 3 superimposing collective elements into a singular image
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Dilemma of the District What has grown to be apparent since the inception of Sewoon Sangga is that it was successful in its mission to ignite the fire of urban modernization within its immediate context; however, in doing so, an inverse condition of value between the megaplex and its district would be established. The fact of the matter is that the Jung-gu district has grown into a type of mythical cluster of controlled chaos, while the most compelling aspects of Sewoon Sangga is its success/defiance of expectations and degradation into a modern ruin. The beauty here lies deep within the district’s underlying complexity that has organically grown into an efficient monster of density and exchange. Within the urban chaos, there is an order that is respected by small and large businesses that rely on the district’s specific services and expertise in metal working, electronics, printing, and commerce. In fact, each of the four sections that the district is divided into has its own names and programmatic designations that are essential to the framework of both the district and the overall city of Seoul. Nested deeper in these zones are specific streets and alleyways that are known for their exquisite food, commerce, and specialty programs. This special situation hasn’t gone unnoticed by the city developers, but ironically multiple strategies have been taken in order to relocate the businesses from the city center to the city edges via similar homogenous developments of glass, steel, and concrete. This, of course, would prove to be faulty and irresponsible on behalf of the city planners since it is directly opposing what the people and the urban condition is telling them.
1 48 different programs in the existing structure 2 section showing the multiple path relationships to the building 3 datum lines from retail, pedestrian, and living
electronics
industrial
lighting
jewelry
public bath & water supply
restaurants
situation
link
filter
monster
roads
density
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00_grand re-re-re-opening
01_singing room
1 program strip 2 path strip 3 site plan 4 concept images for urban rooms
02_industrial expo
03_continuous image
A “program strip” and “path strip” was created in order to determine the multiple events and movements that would take place throughout the entire length of the site. This, of course, is not prescriptive, rather it is an episodic condition where multiple levels of interaction can be achieved with technology, image, people, and nature. However, the zoning of each urban -bang (or “room”) was important to the district’s overall setup. Each zone within the site is an amplification or re-presentation of the established zoning within the district. This zoning is taken further into levels of allegory and mysticism when each urban room begins to re-deposit its own condition within the city. Truly a place for experimentation and the belief in trial and error, even failure, there is a feeling of social, sexual, and urban liberation within this strip.
04_social steamer
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There are three main levels of movement working within the project. The “graphic ground” is a stark black and white contrast to the colorful stimuli that surrounds the site. This element folds itself through the site and is directionally laid out to the recorded movement found within the history of the site. The “main path” is 25 feet wide and placed on the traditional axis of the northern grid that is aligned with the ancient Jongmyo shrine. This is the main path that incorporates different levels of velocity (walking, running, biking) that begins at the near entry of the Jongymo Shrine and ends at the southern end of the site facing the Namsan Mountains. Inscribed along the path is the poem by Yoo Ha “The Seun Shopping Mall Kid’s Love” that reinforces the memory of the past, but simultaneously reveals the subversion of culture, sex, and identity within the city. The “meandering paths” are intentionally meant for slower velocity exploration. These paths shoot off from the main path and weave into the density of the surrounding district. These are not random, rather, they are based on specific alleys of interest and movements found within the existing context. In a sense, as one moves higher and away from ground level, one will begin to spiral away from the traditional bounding box of the existing site and into the complex density of the district.
1 exploded diagram of multiple systems working 2 study image of multiple trajectories weaving and interacting
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1 “doumi” or “helpers” that provide adult entertainment in singing rooms 2 the mundane internal corridor juxtaposed with the chaos inside each room
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01_SINGING LABYRINTH The first urban room focuses on the perpetual speed of new technology paired with the renegade program of “singing room” established by Korean culture. The singing room seemingly has no rules, only perpetual excitement to a continuous loop of auditory and visual stimuli is the focus. In this case, the singing room becomes an infinitely finite condition where the users are continuously playing “catch up” with the music, perhaps a fitting metaphor for the urban condition of the city. Time, in this case, is the enemy. Architecturally, the concrete box of the Korean “keunseng” has been inverted into an open air concrete labyrinth paired with gabion walls filled with old technology. As the site slopes downward toward the Cheonggyecheon stream, the singing labyrinth maintains its height to the original ground grade level, which allows passersby to literally walk on the walls that create the labyrinth and occasionally look down into the spaces of singing, dancing, and debauchery. Further, rising from these masses is a perpetual scaffold that creates a contrasting light structure that holds platforms that allow escape from the energy below, or a degree of further exhibitionism and performance.
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1 capsized “MV Sewol” that killed 300 people, mostly school children 2 “the vessel on the vast ocean called Seoul”
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02_INDUSTRIAL EXPO The second urban room takes hold of the mysticism of the district and makes it a complete amplified reality. The industrial zone of the district has one of the most acclaimed reputations within the socio-economic realm for its unprecedented specialties in metal working and innovative industrial/technological solutions. This concentration of mad scientists has created a lasting mythic quality to this industrial zone where rumors of “nuclear submarines could be assembled in this belt of street technology, as some unverified Cold War myth had it.� In that case, what if the site allowed for these brainiacs to showcase these amazing qualities that seem lost deep within the district? What if it was a way of putting a stamp within the city proclaiming their importance and right to be there? Thus, this urban room becomes an industrial expo that is a posturing tool for the people of the district. Further, the presentation of a known object, in this case the massive nuclear submarine, that holds ties to past (and present) socio-political issues, suddenly creates a tension within the center of the historic district. Also, there is an important re-introduction of scale with the new object compared to the lost modern megaplex. This large expo space can be utilized for objects, performances, and protests.
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03
1 keunsengs wrapped in image 2 the merging of image, technology, and nature
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03_CONTINUOUS IMAGE The third urban room questions notions of surface, image, architecture, and space. In this urban density, image and technology has won the rights of the surface of buildings. “Facade” does not exist in this city fabric. But how can this overt stimuli be reinterpreted here? How can we bring architecture or notions of space back into the equation? This zone of the district is for printing, which means it can also be seen as the birthplace of signs and images. Keeping that in mind, the intervention utilizes a continuous ribbon of image that becomes the spatial boundaries that introduce the bare minimum of what constitutes “space’ and “architecture”. Much like the work of Petra Blaisse, the thin membrane or “surface” can become a spatial tool instead of a pure appliquéd to a building. The ribbons are wound up in two main mechanical cranks that can be released to create spatial forms. The points in which the ribbons can pivot around are based on the structural points of the paths above. By utilizing the structure for the ribbons, this allows an infinite amount of variation to create multiple conditions depending on the desired environment. The “urban tattoo” of the city fabric has now become a space-making tool while simultaneously creating a spectacle of itself.
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04
1 traditional Korean above-ground burial mounds 2 Vito Acconci’s “Seedbed” performance art - masturbated under a lifted ground plane with auditory access
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04_SOCIAL STEAMER The fourth and last urban room can be considered the inverse of the first urban room. This part of the district is the food and leisure zone which is comparible to another renegade program popular in the city: the sauna room. The sauna room is the complete opposite condition of the singing room, but still yields an experience of suspension. Suspension can be achieved either in hyper speed or extreme slowness. In the sauna room, time is not an issue. Complete and utter relaxation is the key, and one floats from station to station, program to program, enjoying his or her own time and speed. Further, socially and culturally there is no other program in the city comparible to that of the sauna room. There is no seperation of class, race, beauty, sex, and creed, which all seem so narcissistically important in this society. Architecturally, a proper park condition is blanketed on the undulating surface that holds the program underneath. Different appertures puncture this surface to allow ventilation and also a type of sharing with the public that has not been offered before. In this case, the sauna room is visually and olfactory accessible to the events happening below. Freedom of exhibitonism and voyeurism is the key. Hallucinatory smoke and erotic bodies begin to erase the taboo of sex and address the issue of a failing urban labido.
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The singing room has been reduced to a handful of key elements: the enlarged music screen, the graphic ground, the wall of transgression, the gabion wall of dead technology, and opulent furniture. There is a deliberate juxtaposition and tension of the grit of the urban density captured by the concrete walls and graveyard of built-up technology, with the superficial opulence created by mass capitalism reflected in the furniture and decor. The Continuous Expo is depicted here in two conditions: the nuclear submarine as object, scale, and history, and the protest as object, scale, and history. Acts of transgression are vital to the life of the Korean people. Freedom of political expression, in this case, is heavily prevalent in the culture of the city and this undoubtedly alters the way the urban environment is utilized. The site can be altered into a mode of solid, or a mode of void, depending on what the people need or ask for.
1 singing room 2 final model of Industrial Expo (without paths) 3 Industrial Expo with nuclear submarine 4 Industrial Expo with public protest
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The Continuous Image is depicted here in a compress and release moment where the ribbon has created space both under and outside the confines of the structures above. Different types of voids are presented on the surface of this image, white boxes and actual voids allow different projections and art work to be presented, while views through the image allow a backdrop of the city beyond the 2D plane. Further, in this depiction one side of the ribbon is a repeated mural of the historic fabric of Seoul, while the other is a repeated mural of different signage and image that has overtaken the surfaces of the city. The Social Steamer is seen at the corner of one of the meandering paths. The large sphere is a reinterpretation of the main gathering relaxation space that is found within sauna rooms. This is a unisex space that has a circular ramp that rises from the sauna pool below to the main path above. Different levels of sensory interaction is available to the curious bystander and it is encouraged to take part in this new site of freedom and expression.
1 inside the spatial ribbon 2 final model of the continuous image (without paths) 3 social steamer 4 final model becomes an extrusion of city and image
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Modeled by Anna Pettinga
FASHION_02
WHITESPACE: SKIN | SURFACE | SPACE Fashion + Architecture Band (FAB) Collaboration w/ Zach Hoh Spring 2015
+ Showcased at the 2015 DAAP Fashion Runway Show WHITESPACE questions the relationship of the human skin within surface and that surface/skin within space. This began as an intentionally naive exercise using compositional methods such as simple geometries, collage, registration, and illusion as jumping off points to see where the potential of the garment could lead. The floating pocket became the anchor (or armature) of the garment that allowed a visually powerful vertical stripe element to run through the full length of the piece. Proportion and scale were then addressed through assymetrical composition with a longer front piece and a short back piece, each composed with differing stripes within itself, and white-on-white patchwork with differing textures. Materiality became the defining moment of how the garment would interface with the skin and space, and uphold the concepts of geometry, space, and illusion. Three materials were used: white scuba (main body), white faux-leather (stripe & patchwork), and clear PVC (stripe and collar). As the body moves within the all-white surface, the human skin becomes part of the palette through the voids created by the clear PVC stripe. A sense of eroticism and voyeurism is established as other bodies within the space fixate on the flesh within the white canvas. The surface covers the socially accepted amount of flesh, but the illusion allows the mind to freely wander...
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1 Inspiration Board 2 Second Round Iterations 3 Front/back Technical 4 Mid-Term Changes
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1 Main Patchwork 2 Parts of the Whole
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1 Muslin Prototype 2 Final Garment
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Crankbrook FABLAB Final Model
ARCHITECTURE_03
THE MADE & THE MAKER: FABRICATION LAB & STUDENT HOUSING Bloomfield Hills, MI Instructor: Bob Burnham Autumn 2012 This studio focused on the Cranbrook Academy of Art campus and a proposal for a fabrication lab intermingled with student housing. The ingrained history of the campus integrated in design and architecture is openly apparent in the thoughtfully designed campus and surrounding landscape. The site of the new intervention sits on a current parking lot that is surrounded by forest edge to the north and east, the Cranbrook Art Museum by SmithGroup JJR to the west, and the New Studios building by Rafael Moneo to the south. This intervention was inspired by the relationship between the made and the maker within the fabrication process. The main body of the intervention integrates both making and living, while the gallery cube becomes the subtraction of the body and an inverse of material representation. The heavy reshaping of the landscape was integral to the program and the contextual relationships at hand. The landscape was zoned properly to the given program and allowance of both truck transportation and semi-truck loading and unloading from the fabrication lab. The landscape allows zones of relief spaces for the students and active interaction with both the fabrication lab and the gallery cube. This intervention aims to sit respectfully amongst its neighbors, while amplifying the theme of courtyard spaces central to many of the buildings on campus.
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The key element within the design was not the figure, but the ground elements of the courtyard space that became so crucial towards connecting to the rest of the campus. By mirroring the existing formal “L” shape on the site, this immediately creates a functional landscape zone that inverts the original use of asphalt parking into a hugging landscaped courtyard. Then, by pulling registration lines from the given campus, this created automatic zones that allowed the building to rest comfortably and logically within the site, while still providing a recombinated image of existing campus design languages. Further, the concept of “the made and the maker” was taken to greater lengths by subtracting a literal mass out of the fabrication “L” form, and placing the mass onto it’s own respective footprint. This addition becomes the “Art Cube”, which fulfills the program requirement, but also creates a secondary courtyard space for the Moneo Studio students. This public art gallery and exhibition space provides a space to showcase large fabrication mock-ups, and also opens up to the surrounding landscape and further celebrates the creative process so prevalent within the Cranbrook spirit.
1 Cranbrook Courtyards 2 Concept Diagram 3 Foreground 4 Campus Lines 5 Vehicular and Pedestrian Access 6 Vegetation & Water
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1 Section Perspective 2 Courtyard 3 Maker Lobby 4 Public Stair 5 Ground Level Plan
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Maker Lobby Auditorium Public Stair Rapid Lab Double height Maker Space Loading Dock/Outdoor Maker Space Living Room Living Lobby Art Cube
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1 final model aerial view 2 view from courtyard toward the Art Cube 3 view from vehicular access toward pixelated loading grounds 4 east elevation
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The main building reaches out to the forest edge providing a natural backdrop for the studio and living spaces. The main circulation is loaded toward the inner “L� facing the courtyard, and break-out spaces push out toward the courtyard. The campus registeration lines from the grand allee, north campus, moneo studios, and art museum, all create specific zones that allow the building to sit comfortably within the site while still respecting its neighbors. The pixelated landscape zone is both hard and soft surface that allows a semi-truck to access both the art museum loading dock and also the new fabrication lab loading dock. The Art Cube placement allows a degree of freedom and excitement within this new courtyard space by providing a large exhibition space that can open up to the landscape and also be understood as an extension of the original art museum.
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1 view towards Art Cube 2 overall view of site positiong 3 study model of Art Cube - interior 4 study model of Art Cube - exterior
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1 Gandy’s Soane’s Bank of England 2 riots in OTR 3 Louvre of Paris Idealized & Ruined 4 urban palimpsest 5 OTR density before infrastructure changes 6 Stonehenge and Planet of the Apes (1968)
URBANISM_04
THE CITY AS RUINS, THE RUIN CITY: RESISTING THE URGE TO RE -PLAN -VISION -DESIGN -LOCATE -WRITE -WHITE - - Urbanism Studio Architecture Instructor: Aaron Betsky Ceramics Advisors: Katie Parker & Guy Davis Spring 2014
+ UIA HYP-CUP 2014 International Student Competition Finalist Prize
Joseph Gandy’s representation of Soane’s Bank of England as ruins was an attempt to strip away the formidable architectural vision built on capitalism and politics in order to reveal both the spatial and sociopolitical elements within the confines of the image. This ruined state of architecture creates a vision that transcends time, and one does not know if this is a depiction of a remembered past, present conditions, or an impending future - it is a moment frozen in an unknown time. Much like the ruins of Stonehenge, the ruined vision of Lady Liberty in Franklin J. Schaffner’s Planet of the Apes (1968), or Hubert Robert’s ruined Louvre in Paris, this slippage of time allows a different perspective of the “present” conditions. This phenomenon of the ruin is then applied to the “present” of Over-The-Rhine (OTR), located in Cincinnati, Ohio. OTR is a true depiction of an architectural and urban palimpsest. Whether it is the ancient strata of earth the city was built upon, the deterioration of the original urban grid, the layers of failed infrastructural projects, or the ghostly traces of architectural elements scarred on the surfaces of buildings, the decaying urban condition has begun to depict the city as ruins. Further, the current situation of developer-driven gentrification has begun to shape this area’s image through an uninspired architectural “new”. Displacement, resurfacing, infill, reprogramming, and ultimately demolition and new building are all methods being utilized in order to “revitalize” the image of OTR. However, this has lead to a moment of socio-urban confusion that has begun to exude a different type of socio-economic image. This has been ingrained within Cincinnati through its history of race riots and constant social tensions, and this begs the question: will OTR be another product of re-writing (-whiting) of urban trends, or could it possibly meander off such a predictable path?
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Failure of Infrastructure 3
If the saying goes, “timing is everything”, then it can be said that Cincinnati’s mis-timing was what lead to its urban woes. Cincinnati was once one of the leading urban densities within America. However, the infrastructural decisions by the city have mainly resulted in massive economic and urban downfalls due to stalling and making key decisions too late. Cincinnati is positioned at the heart of the midwest and could have been a thriving economic city like modern day Chicago, however, one could say it’s strive for utopia via its naive reliance on the water routes lead to the perpetual infrastructural failures through the course of time. The canals and rivers that were once the foundation and pride of the city (and what physically created the urban order/grids) was ultimately a type of curse as well. The decision to surpass the railroad for the pure reliance on the waterways would be one of the major nails in the coffin. This, along with major highways that cut through the heart of the city, and the failures of the canal, the streetcar, the subway, and the current central parkway, have all lead to a city left on the operation table dissected into foreign parts.
1 failed infrasturcture 2 OTR, Cincinnati 3 OTR demographics 4 deteriorating urban fabric
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Detriorating Fabric OTR is special because it pertains to a specific cluster between downtown Cincinnati and the upper student area of where the major academic campuses are situated, truly the heart of the city. It’s edges, borders, and grids are direct results of infrastructural and urban decisions that the city implemented. What is interesting is that the urban conditions of OTR are an anomoly within the body of the city. The median income and house value are the lowest and the racial diversity and unemloyment are the highest. What the diagrams begin to show us is that OTR is an island cutoff by infrastructure and built-up landscape. Because of this, it has been effected socially and economically, and of course urbanistically as well. The “constants� of OTR are the architectural icons and public areas such as Music Hall, the churches that break the 4-6 level height of rowhouses, Washington Park, and Ziegler Park. The border of central pkwy is undoubtedly the most significant, it is almost a fault line within the urban condition that starts above OTR and extends down to the Ohio River. This clear seperation shows downtown as a striving entity while OTR is immediately cut off from this progress.
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Because of the importance of the concept of the ground condition and palimpsest within OTR, it seemed necessary to use clay as the medium for this project. The sheer weight and substantiality of clay brings forth a visceral connection to the way the historic architecture is perceived within the city. Even the subtlety and delicacy that can be achieved with clay can also exude an image of the many strata of ground or the peeling of thin layers from building facades. Further, the ability to mold, layer, scrape, dig, and manipulate clay allows an immediate relationship to the important concepts established within the urban condition.
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What is more compelling is the unpredictable nature of clay. The many cracks and faults that appear during the process of creation are due to many natural elements of the clay, and much of it (to a degree) is completely outside the control of man. This would mean that no matter what the image or form or representation one would try to achieve, there would be unescapable “mistakes� that would have to be a part of the ruining process. Thus, this unpredictable nature is harnessed and tested and used to represent the Ruin City.
1 Failed Utopias 2 uncontrolled destruction 3 the many palimpsests of OTR 4 composing the leftover ruins 5 The Great Divide (void) 6 The Great Divide (solid) 6 Fleeting Utopia
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Essentially two basic concepts are presented: the edge as void and the edge as solid. The Void allows us to imagine a tabula rasa within the strip of failures. The urban condition above is out-of-reach and out-of-sight to the subjects below. Could this be a freedom from an unjust metropolis or a doomsday of unreachable modernity? The Solid depicts OTR as an image of a midwest Mecca. The “solid� in this case is represented as both mirror and border, and this brings a sense of irony to the image. Are the subjects walking toward or walking away from this city? Are the inhabitants prisoners or volunteers within this utopia? I will choose to not answer these questions but keep them as open-ended speculations. Like most cities within the developed world, there has always been a struggle to achieve a utopic vision of the city. This vision is constantly moving, shifting, and fleeting at the same time, continuously in flux. In the case of OTR, this yearning is no different, but it is the means of using water as the tool to utopia that has inspired the speculation above. Concepts of void, water as mirror, fleeting modernity, and a sense of inescapable socio-urban constructs are all engrained within this speculation.
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1 The City as Ruins, The Ruin City
This is OTR in its finest hour. The border formerly known as canal, subway, streetcar, and central pkwy is now a void not meant to be filled. The city has ruined itself accordingly to the time it began its deformation. Heterotopias grow like children of Mother Nature. Walking hand-in-hand with the void, the urban grid has almost completely vanished. The superimposed path meanders on and off what is left of the urban grid like an unusual game of cat-and-mouse. The people appreciate the beauty within the decay, they do everything to play the role of the bricoleur, they re-support, re-configure, re-assemblage, and re-understand their surroundings. Order is found within disorder.
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1 Nature Reclaiming 2 The New Sidewalk 3 Unearthing Secrets 4 Utopian Portal 5 The Gathering 6 Entry to The Ruin City 7 Ceramic model of rowhouse condition post-ruin 8 Ceramic model elevations
This a yet another moment in time, not the moment. The ruining process is just that, “a process�. An object is constantly ruining itself as long as time is moving. These depictions are further speculations into what this moment in time could be.
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Because the founding grid was based on the (failed) utopic planning of the city, it can be said that the grid itself is based on false justifications and there is no need for nostalgia in this sense. Within the Ruin City the occupants have created their own path that meanders on and off the course of what little is left of the grid. This meandering allows the occupants to traverse parts of the city that would have been seemingly unperceived or non-existent in the past. It has been said that the in-between moments within a city harness the true identity of that city. The Ruin City exposes and highlights these moments. One of the reoccuring concepts within ruins is that Mother Nature begins to reclaim her rightful place. In the Ruin City, the everlasting heterotopias of Washington Park and Ziegler Park have become outgrowths via lack of manicuring and landscaping. This has created a dense vegetation within the city that is slowly pushing its green fingers up, over, under, and through the ruined buildings. A guerrilla-type architecture is the primary method of restructuring, re-building, re-composing, re-arranging, and reunderstanding within the context. Is a simple path leading to a gathering space or a singular wooden post holding up a feeble wall considered architecture? In the Ruin City, yes.
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PROCESS: 1:500 scale porcelain model of Over-The-Rhine, OH - foam milling of the negative topography #35 count of 12”x12” tiles - construction of mdf walls for varying topo change and sealing foam tiles - hand press clay into negative foam molds to create positive clay topo - hand mold 350 clay buildings - apply glaze finish to tiles - fire tiles in kiln at level cone 6 - assemble collaboration with: Rebecca Wood, Anna Pettinga, Adam Rayne, Mijin Park, Bailey Metzner
1 8’x10’ porcelian model of Over-The-Rhine, Cincinnati
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Concept elevation of program adjacencies
ARCHITECTURE_05
LIVING IN MOTION: THE DOMESTIC SPECTACLE Housing Studio Instructor: Stephen Slaughter Summer 2012 This project focused on a new intervention within Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati that would fuse a public program of performance and spectacle with the private program of urban housing. The inspiration stemmed from the inner city performers and dancers that perform on the streets and open public settings within urban contexts. The design utilizes this spontaneous act of performance by celebrating it’s corner volume and implementing an outdoor public stage for exciting shows. This along with a supportive program of dance studios would cater dance lessons to inner city children and teenagers, while providing exciting shows to the general public. This fusion of living, expression, and philanthropy aims to revitalize a dynamic corner to a growing urban condition.
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Spectacle of People and Program Formally, the building is represented as the existing square site (cube in volume), but then the same cube is inserted then rotated to the true north axis. This simple move allows the building to push the boundaries of the edge conditions, and the interior spaces begin to push and peak out of different views toward it’s surrounding environment. This also begins to create a spectacle of both the building and the inhabitants of the housing and dance studios through a constant moving image of the users and the mirage that the exterior scrim creates. The merging of different types of people was also vital to this project. The corner of 12th and Vine St. is an active and loaded scene with restaurants and bars and traffic that swarm this area. There are students, business people, families, and inner city crowd that all move through the streets of this area. The project in this sense is inspired by this diversity and movement of people and culture.
1 two formal cubes inserted and rotated 2 diagrammatic site plan 3 site situation 4 the diversity of the corner
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The Spontaneous Performance he programming was set up to optimize the corner as a public gathering space and break-out performance T stage. The subtraction of the corner mass allows this space to breathe fresh life and bring both pedestrians and performers to this stage. The housing lives within the rotating masses above. The play with screens and different rythyms of curtain wall mullions allowed for more visual movement for the design. Within the housing masses, voids were carefully implemented to allow for public gathering spaces and seperation of different housing types. The surrounding existing buildings created odd but interesting viewports into the site, and this allowed the back of the housing to have an open garden space which would also visually connect to the cafe located at the north end of the site. This collision of views and rotated axis creates an exciting visual and physical movement in, through, and outside of the building.
1 process diagrams and massing 2 final ground plan and final model - west elevation
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access amenity path relief
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Cultural Center Entrance
ARCHITECTURE_06
FIELD OF MEMORIES: CULTURAL CENTER & MEDIA LAB FOR DOWNTOWN DETROIT Independant Competition Summer 2013
+ Honorable Mention Prize The J.L. Hudson’s site is an empty lot that is encompassed by a nostalgic ghost. The memory of the great shopping center, icon, and beacon of American pride has whittled down to the mere bones of the late building: columns, cores, and parking. These memories and bones make this site special, and essentially this is the condition for the greater Detroit urban context. The question then becomes: What can fill this site to the magnitude and pride of what once was? The solution does not beg for a condition that simply maximizes function and square feet. It also cannot be naive of the historical significance and its effect on the urban condition. This intervention aims to amplify the existing framework of the site: A Field of Memories (the structural grid) Building Blocks of the future (programmatic masses)
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Upholding the Urban Corridor Upholding the Urban Corridor On Woodward Ave, upholding the urban corridor from street level On Woodward upholdingThe thequestion urban corridor fromdoes street level was vital to thisAve, intervention. was, how one hold was vital to this intervention. The question how does This one hold the edge without becoming oppressive andwas, overbearing? is the edge oppressive overbearing? This is where thewithout columnbecoming grid became essentialand to the design. Difference where the column gridthe became design. in perspective allows field ofessential columns to to the change fromDifference a planar in perspective the to field of columns to change from a planar condition on allows approach, a porous condition at arrival. condition on approach, to a porous condition at arrival. The program of this intervention revolves around the essence The programand of this intervention revolves around the basic essence of of receiving sharing ideas, while providing other receiving and sharing whileThe providing otherleads basicupprogrammatic programmatic needs ofideas, the city. grand stair to needs of the city.which The grand stair leadspublic up tostudy the Media the Media Level holds libraries, areas,Level and which holds libraries, public study areas, and conference which push conference rooms which push for social interaction.rooms The main for social interaction. Thebe main auditorium space would utilized for auditorium space would utilized for progressive talks be from progressive from new start-up companies, architects, and TED new start-uptalks companies, architects, and TED talks for the future. talks for the future. use, retail, and restaurants Galleries, office use,Galleries, retail, andoffice restaurants all merge to create all merge to create acondition truly mixed-use condition allows thistocultural a truly mixed-use which allows thiswhich cultural center center toas become as as dynamic as possible. become dynamic possible.
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1 urban corridor concept 2 aerial view of Woodward Ave 3 street view looking north done Woodward Ave. 4 exploded axon diagram
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Carving the Public Plaza
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The new cultural center pushes to uphold Detroit traditions, but in a more permeable condition. The main issue with the old Hudson’s building was that the energy was contained within an enclosed and dense perimeter block condition. The building acted as an icon and a billboard, but it did not give back to the communty at ground level. The solution to this was a simple formal move. By peeling the face back 30 degrees and introducing a grand public stair that carved and invaded the building, this allows the building to open up to pedestrian traffic from the south, while becoming an iconic digital billboard for traffic from the north. The Field of Memories encompass the public stair below and in this instant, the people of Detroit now see the bare essence of what once was. At ground level, windows to the past show exhibits that will hold historic Detroit relics along with rotating exhibitions of new artists and technological advances. This new public plaza will be the core for concerts, festivals, exhibitions, and parades. 3
1 inside the public plaza 2 public seating/stairs opening up to the neighboring monorail 3 section perspective showing porous floor plates and main bridge
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1 Hudson Site 2 amplifying the existing conditions 3 main lobby of the cultural center 4 cultural center during the famous holiday festival
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1 existing site showing paths and bus stop 2 concrete bunkers in the beaches of Karosta
ARCHITECTURE_07 SITE RESTRICTIONS - max site density - max building height
50% 20m
VENUE REQUIREMENTS - tourist info centre - library - exhibition hall - conference hall (large) - conference rooms (x2) - restaurant - carpark (above ground)
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WITHIN A CROSSROADS: KAROSTA CULTURAL CENTER Ghost Town Competition Karosta, Latvia Autumn 2013 LATVIA Since the independence of Latvia in 1990 and the exit of the Soviet military, the nation has been situated within a crossroads of geographical, historical, and cultural significance. With Estonia to the north, Russia to the east, Baltic Sea to the west, and Lithuania and Belarus to the south, Latvia becomes the multi-cultured melting pot amongst its neighbors. LIEPAJA The ancient city of Liepaja is one with deeply rooted traditions with an optimistic look toward the future. The city has been populated for 750 years and is an integral core of culture and history. Liepaja is proudly a city of contrasts transitioning from a former military city to a modern port city. KAROSTA The city of Karosta is an intense situation within Latvia and Liepaja. The proximity to the historical site of the extermination of 6,000 jews, once being a secret military town for the Russian Empire, and the current state of sorrowful abandonment has created a beaten and bruised cloister within the “pearl of the Baltic Sea�. This new architecture strives to prove that a forcible light can emerge from dark pasts and a ghostly present.
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1 final site plan 2 historic image of St. Nicholas Church 3 existing site 4 existing and future housing 5 tracing the walking paths and St. Nicholas axis 6 public green zones 7 process sketches
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Resultant of Place & Program
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uch like the remains of the old War Port, with its heavy concrete M masses sitting stoically within the hills and waters near Karosta, this project pulls from these inspirational forms and creates a landscaped plinth that flows in and around the main building. Reminiscent Paths The new cultural center is the direct result of its given context and programmatic needs. The natural paths created by the people of Karosta through the fields and courtyards were cues to the use of this barren atmosphere. A lone bus stop was the destination and center point to these radiating paths, and thus, this became one of the conceptual drivers for the project. The idea of crossroads and branching paths out toward the surrounding context would inspire stimulation and growth of both people and city.
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Textural Gradation Through the study of the history and time of Karosta, there seemed to be an immediate viceral reaction to the textures and materials within the context, which accumulated into the concept of “textural gradation�: - The Brutalist adjacent buildings and the concrete masses beached on the shores of the Baltic Sea - The significant Art Nouveau influence in Liepaja with its wooden architecture - The ephemeral all-white interiors of the cathedrals - The motifs of carved wood and facades
CONTEXTUAL SHELL ROUGH
CULTURAL BOXES SEMI-ROUGH
EPHEMERAL INTERIOR SMOOTH
STRUCTURE MOTIF
SCULPTURE RELIGION
PUBLIC PLINTH LANDSCAPE
The main building is made of a heavy textured concrete exterior shell. This shell takes cues from the Brutalist architecture and the historic bunkers left over from the War Port days. The facade is made of concrete panels with a rough heavily textured finish.
The next layer of the project moves towards the Art Nouveau inspired wooden architecture and the smooth white cors that are embodied within. This idea of a “city of contrasts” translates in material form and spatial experience.
The sculpture at the SE tip of the site is both a landmark for the building and a homage to the gleaming St. Nicholas Cathedral that lies on its North-South axis. This also replaces the existing bus stop with a new dynamic gathering space for a more enjgaging experience.
The smooth and stepped plinth is for the people. Truly a built-up landscape, this plinth allows public space to act as fingers that reach out toward the existing courtyards and create nodes of gathering space.
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Connections Through Movement and Space The notion of the cultural center being the nucleus of its surrounding context became realized by allowing the connecting paths to become the fingers that reach out to its neighboring environment. This can be seen in the construction of the plinth and its relationship to the many existing courtyards and adjacent roads Further, internal connections within the building was important to the different required programs. In this case, the connections became celebrated in the form of bridges that puncture the programmatic masses inside. Conference Halls, galleries, a library, and restaurant are all encompassed in homogenous wooden masses that are then pierced by these connecting bridges. This constant movement and visual interaction allows for a dynamic spatial experience and joins the programs with the people.
1 one of the sculpture gardens on the public plinth
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1 main entrance into the public crossroads 2 view crossing one of the bridges 3 view of library space
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1 logo merging 2 figuring out the merging 3 potential poster graphics
GRAPHICS_08
DAAP : SAIDAAP : SAID Independant Work DAAP/SAID Logo Design Autumn 2014 This was a graphic design effort that called for the representation of an entity within an entity, a coalessing between two independants into a singular composition. At the University of Cincinnati, the School of Architecture and Interior Design (SAID) is an entity within the larger Department of Architecture, Art, & Planning (DAAP). The physical realm of the DAAP building houses all of the design disciplines (art, architecture, planning, graphics, interior design, sculpture, industrial, & etc.) under one singular roof. In this sense, each specialization stands alone, but is impossible to remove from the greater whole. Through careful alignments and registration, the two logos literally merge and become lost within one another creating a visual stimuli that simultaneously seperates and merges.
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vertical circulation options
PROFESSIONAL_09
MECANOO ARCHITECTEN Architecture Internship Delft, Netherlands Summer 2014 Supervisor: Fedele Canosa Contact: Fedele.Canosa@mecanoo.com This opportunity to work abroad with Mecanoo was extremely vital to the growth and broadening of my professional and personal experience. The main project I was associated with during my stay was the Martin Luther King Jr. Library renovation located in Washingtion, DC. This landmark by Mies Van der Rohe was completed in 1972 and has undergone multiple renovations that have completely dissected the interior plan to the point of being unrecognizable, and has further created an aura of public negative feelings toward the lack of public space associated with this building. The aim of the project was to try and find solutions to the present issues at hand, while simultaneously looking back at original design intents by Mies. This constant back and forth allowed a negotiation of real public concerns with the people of DC, while also breathing new life into the tarnished landmark. The design would focus on the existing four cores of the building, with further emphasis on opening up the front two cores near the library entrance. Concepts of mass vs transparency, heavy vs light, would allow a more exciting entry sequence that would continue deep into the building. Visual sightlines and physical access to public spaces both interior and exterior of the library was vital to the way the public would interact with the building. Multiple series of study models, diagrams, and presentations were investigated in order to flush out ideas.
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1 program diagram 2 model studies of core options
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1 main lobby with large pivot doors 2 public library and kid’s play zone 3 semi-transparent core with public stair and fritted MLK Jr. quotes 4 second floor within the semi-transparent core
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modeled facade options
PROFESSIONAL_10
GLUCK+ Architecture Internship New York City, NY Autumn 2013 Supervisor: Stephane Derveaux Contact: Stephane.Derveaux@gluckplus.com During my stay at GLUCK+, I was assigned to the Collegiate School project located in New York City. The investigation of this project revolved around the specific historical identity of the Collegiate academic mold, and the transformation of this identity into a new representatoin in architectural image and form. The project went through many changes and edits during my stay, and this allowed opportunities for conceptual presentations, facade idea proposals, and small and large scale spatial presentation models. Studying the specific spatial sequence of moving through the body of the building while maintaining the integrity of the conceptual diagram was essential to the development of the project. This would take form in the main core that would be the visual and circulation anchor for the building, and the more public programs would shoot off this public stair. It was important to study the entry sequence and the exact experience students and visitors would have approaching, moving through, and up the building.
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1 main public stair 2 rear patio garden 3 views inside and outside of public stair 4 approaching main entry with iconic red Collegiate door
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1 facade and buffer space options 2 facade detail options 3 site axon diagram
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STUDIOS ARCHITECTURE Architecture Internship New York City, NY Summer 2012 Supervisor: David Burns Contact: dburns@studios.com The internship with STUDIOS Architecture allowed me to touch many different projects at different stages within the developmental process. The two main projects I was assigned to were the Chelsea Market Expansion and the Alexandria competition. For Chelsea Market, the negotiation of the buffer space between old and new building was a challenging effort which required multiple design strategies that could both compositionally and functionally create a balanced condition. Facade studies also played a role within the buffer space and how each condition would speak to similiar languages within the overall design. The Alexandria competition would be based on the reimagining of the lobby level of the towers and a pavilion that rests in between. The concept here was to rid the lobby of unnecessary jogged walls and over articulation, and make it a smooth and clearly articulated space for only necessary zones. Further, a media wall would become the visual backdrop that would compositionally extend from the lobby through to the pavilion and eventually to the next lobby in the neighboring tower.
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CHELSEA MARKET EXPANSION New York City, NY
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1 view from north 10th ave 2 view from High Line 3 north elevation 4 west elevation
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ALEXANDRIA New York City, NY
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1 existing lobby 2 inside the new lobby 3 new lobby with outdoor space 4 pavilion 5 lobby elevation
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THANK/ YOU BKIM.STUDIOS@GMAIL.COM 8 1 3 . 3 3 5 . 9 1 8 5