Collected Works Portfolio (2019-2023)

SOMER CARSON

- Multi-Purpose Archive

- Dissability Mobility Hub

- Weeping Willow Botanical Garden

- Mini. Fractal House

- Community Art & Media Center

ACADEMIC PROFESSIONAL

- Mark Foster Gage Internship

- Larson Architecture Works

PERSONAL

- Architectural Sketches & Renders

MULTI-PURPOSE ARCHIVE

This project deals with taking existing government buildings such as municipal archive, branch library, and child care center, and then combining them into one architectural project. The thing about combining these separate programs into one building is that sometimes the functionality of the respective programs don’t always align with each other and thus leads to awkward moments in the design. These awkward moments lead to tough design problems that we were then expected to solve. The way I solved it is by interpreting the programs in a dualistic way where I have on stitching element. In this case the library and the municipal archive were the two distinct elements while the child’s center is the element that stitched the two programs together. Akin to program interpretation there was also using architectural elements to blend these seemingly separate programs into one. The way I did it is by having 3 main systems. The external egress, interior structure, and the envelope. The external egress sought to connect each program at every convenient point, while the grid homogenized the layout, and lastly the envelope wrapped everything into one holistic building.

Carson Somer

Carson Somer

DISSABILITY MOBILITY HUB

This project takes place within the Bronx, NYC. Currently bike and pedestrian mobility infrastructure is being neglected in favor of car infrastructure. The goal of this project is to take this issue and try to use architecture as a guiding force to make it more worthwhile for people to use non-car mobility infrastructure. For this project, I chose a site that had several segre - gated community aspects to begin with. These communities are the nursing home residents, individuals with disabilities, school children, and local low income residents.

When analyzing this site, I noticed that the disability and nurs- ing home community was being neglected the most. This was most evident in the lack of mobility infrastructure for people with impaired mobility (such as people using wheelchairs). So, it was my goal to take the segregated communities around this site, the lack of disability infrastructure, and the neglected bike paths, and stitch it all together with a mobility infrastructure hub.

Northern Elevation

Local Residents

Elderly School

Children

Life Adjustment Patients

Handicaped

Wheelchair Paths

Bike Paths

Nursing

Home Local Schools

Surrounding Residential

Proposed Site

WEEPING WILLOW BOTANICAL GARDEN

This project takes place on my family’s farm in Niobrara, Nebraska. Niobrara is a small community with a population of 365 people as of 2020, and it’s the origin of my family’s story in America. My family first settled here during the early 1900’s due to the advent of World War One. Once they came here, they dedicated themselves to farming while sustaining a simple life. This place is one of my first inspirations when it comes to deciding to become an architect, because I saw the houses my grandfathers built and sustained and always dreamed of doing the same for myself. Today the farm is in a state of neglect where all the buildings are abandoned and deteriorating.. To do justice to its mem- ory I proposed the hypothetical botanical garden that facili- tates the aspects of my family’s origin, the Niobrara community, and midwestern agriculture.I did this, I needed to come up with a philosophy for how fractals could be used as a 3D object.

The frame system here has 3 aspects that define the entire space. The first aspect is the base shape of the frame. This provides the structural support where it acts as the beams, girders, and columns throughout the building. The second aspect is the arch. This at first had an aesthetical purpose but later turned into a more functional purpose. The arch, other than adding to the aesthetic, also separated into its own component where it holds vines and any hanging agriculture. These arch components can be seen mostly on the exterior and in sections holding vines. Lastly there is a subset of the arch com - ponent, which is the light fixture component. The light fixture component is a scaled down version of an arch that is split in half where the light sits at the top of the split arch. In this project you can see how the philosophy of design genealogy (where every element stems from one source and is related) is practiced in its absolute form. The main lesson I learned from doing this project was that going forward I should look at an architectural project as a collage of assets that I design based on program requirements. When I do that, everything within the design has a ruleset and logic that I follow, thus making the design more thought out and manufacturable.

Southern Section

Northern Elevation

MINI. FRACTAL HOUSE

Within nature there are patterns and mathematics that dictate the way a form generates its volume. These behaviors are paths in which cells or stars connect and sprawl into a shape. A lot of these patterns can be classified under what a fractal is. A fractal is a geometric figure, each part of which has the same statistical characteristics as the whole. So, what that means is the more you zoom in or zoom out of a fractal, the same ratios and geometry will be seen. This provides an infinite amount of resolution and generation of forms.

For this project I wanted to take a mini house assignment and provide a unique twist where I used fractals as a way to make the facade pair with the interesting staggered spatial arrangement of the interior. But before I did this, I needed to come up with a philosophy for how fractals could be used as a 3D object.

Fractals, as mentioned are almost infinite, so they have a lot of data to work with, which makes model files too large to deal with. So, to effectively work with fractals, I had to apply some implicit design de- cisions, where I cut out specific forms in smaller sizes and used them like paint on a pallet. With my different assembly of forms I began to apply them to the facade.

While using fractals there were a few lessons I learned through this process. One being that in architecture we have methods or routines that lead us to come to design conclusions. For example, we will use massing diagrams to help us understand how to assemble a space. When using fractals, I noticed a method on how to generate design ideas. I can use fractal equations to generate an infinite fractal and find any form I want. I then select the ones that apply to how I want to direct my project.

Southern Section

Eastern Elevation

Southern Elevation

COMMUNITY ART & MEDIA CENTER

Everyone who practices some sort of artform tend to have some sort of generative process. Where you don’t have to depend on spontaneous creativity. This project enlightened me in regards to developing a process that I can depend on to generate several iterations that deliver an analysis of some architectural issue or tell some architectural story. With this being a community media center, we used screen prints, “day-glo” posters, and the physical properties of paper to define the process of generating ideas.

In this case having paper slump and relax naturally determined the form for the building. While the colors of historic LA graphic design (day-glo pink) and screen print techniques defined the ornamental aspects that express itself on the slumped inspired form.

Northern Section

Second Floor

PAST INTERSHIP WORK EXAMPLES

Mark Foster Gage Atlas Vase

Mark Foster Gage Giraffe

Carson Somer

Lady Gaga Museum Concept

Larson Architecture Works CAD Samples

ARCHITECTURAL SKETCHES & RENDERS

Carson Somer

Carson Somer