There are times when you are surrounded by an environment that can heighten your sense of awareness. They can bring a deeper understanding and vitality to your experience. I believe that this is how the built environment should be designed and implemented. I have strived in each of my projects to go beyond just building. I strive to bring another dimension to the built environment and challenge myself to engage the occupant. I want to excite occupants about their surrounding built environment and leave them with a lasting impression. Because I believe that we are more than just building designers. We are life designers. We design environments in which we live, work, play, heal, and feel safe in. We have the ability to design brilliantly crafted buildings, but they can only take us so far. It’s the programming, the life, and the activity in and around these buildings that will be the ultimate success of each project. This portfolio consists of my latest projects that have the potential to create vitality within the walls and outside the windows. All of these projects were designed in an urban environment. One in Old Market Omaha, and the others in various places of Downtown Lincoln. These projects demonstrate my interests in developing events to engage peripheral flows on the urban fabric in order to generate or supplement a density, and to encourage the multivalent nature of the social experience in the urban environment.
codah gatewood
bs in design ‘07 master of arch ‘09 unl
project 1:ducati omaha project 2:haymarket horizon project 3:boardgame shop/park project 4:storytelling theatre project 5:urban camping
The DucatiOmaha dealership is one of only 10 official OEM Ducati dealerships in America. DucatiOmaha was started by local Omaha motorcycle enthusiasts with a real passion for the sport of motorcycle racing. The building will be placed in the Old Market in Omaha, where a motorcycle will feel right at home. The Ducati motorcycle is the true superbike, and the pinnacle of all motorcycles. It is said that only 1% of all motorcycles owned are Ducati motorcycles. That small percentage has a strong passion for motorcycle racing, and they deserve a building that displays the passion of each superbike. By building this for Ducati, I hope that each Ducati owner will also take ownership of the building and finds it suitable for the Ducati name.
in[out]door showroom
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apparel shop
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repair garage
ducati omaha
year: 5 professor: Chris Ford duration: 5 weeks
The motorcycle is one of very few machines that are meant to not only be exposed to the exterior environment, but it also emphasizes that exposure to the human user. Yet, current showrooms do not lend themselves well to create that necessary relationship of machine and exposure. This building is a culmination of that relationship. By utilizing the ideas of transformable architecture, the building opens up to simultaneously allow the motorcycles to be in their rightful environment, and lets people know when the shop is open. The building also opens up to facilitate the engagement of the showroom to the street. The showroom can then progress to become a part of the street-scape, as opposed to being “inside a building.� This encourages non-owners to become more aware of Ducati and their motorcycles.
The Haymarket Horizon project was a collaboration between Meghan DeHarty, Adam Andrews and myself. It was inspired by the 2008 Hyde Chair Professor Chris Abel, where he ran his Vertical Architecture Studio (VAST), a focus for research into high-rise design and urban form. It was an urban design challenge that taught us of the advantages of high density urban design that is more self-sufficient and sustainable than our living practices of today. Specifically, we wanted to prevent suburban sprawl by creating an urban environment that is welcoming to all aspects of the urban experience specific to Lincoln, NE. It was also a look into the Vertical Garden concept that will help sustain the life in high density living. It also helps preserve Nebraska’s proud agricultural lifestyle by stopping the suburban sprawl and utilizing the surrounding land of Lincoln for much needed agriculture.
offices
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apts
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hotel
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garden
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park
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retail
haymarket horizon
year: 6 professor: Chris Abel duration: 18 weeks
Four towers will surround the O Street Bridge. That way, we can begin to blur the boundary between the north Haymarket area and the south Haymarket area that is currently divided by the bridge. By doing this, the south Haymarket area then becomes a more valuable part of the city, and begins to coincide with the expansion goals of the Haymarket and the city. Each of the towers have different purposes: offices, hotel, apartment, and vertical garden. They each also have uses for the community (hotel/ pool, office/restaurant, apartment/ recreation, garden/market) and are therefore connected at multiple levels. They are also connected to the large multipurpose space and park below. The project utilizes multiple types of renewable energies in a way that celebrates their use and become more than just a performative aspect of the project.
These last three projects were a part of the “Urban Acupuncture� challenge presented by our professor Martin Despang. My main goal was to create an urban landmark that engages with the community. How I would do this was by creating places that required an activity within that would create urban vitality for little or no cost. The Boardgame Shop/Park was my first attempt to create that vitality. I would do this by utilizing slate as the primary material and board game play as the primary use. This allowed the ability to write on the building, perfect for keeping score while playing board games. The location was selected due to its proximity to UNL, downtown and the Haymarket. It creates a hub that is on the threshold of each of those parts of downtown. And by picking an activity that is friendly on a multi-generational level, this would be the perfect venue for you to be able to play, and have fun with family, friends, and even strangers.
boardgame shop
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park
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play area
boardgame shop/park
year: 6 professor: Martin Despang duration: 3 weeks
Although the building is designed to compel social interaction, no interaction is as strong as the slate material providing for open conversations to walkers-by or even drivers. The potential for interaction is both on a small scale and a large scale. The small scale can be defined as the groups playing their board games on a table and having a conversation with one-another. While the large scale, as the people’s ability to write things that could be seen from long distances. This would then provoke an experience that would be memorable to everyone who may come in direct or indirect contact with the building. There is also a very open space below the building that is somewhat enclosed to create a board game park. This allows for more casual walkers-by to be invited to games in chance encounters with other Lincolnites.
The Storytelling Theatre encourages social exchange by bringing back an art that has been lost within today’s culture. Our ability to share stories has become more of a private thing than it has a social thing. With our ability to access the internet, we are telling stories through the use of typing blogs, or tweeting small portions of our lives. And although these are called “social networks�, how social are they when we share them with a screen? Our ability to tell stories has no urban venue for the average American. In continuation of the urban acupuncture idea of creating a place for vitality for little of no cost, the Storytelling Theatre is meant to help people tell everyday stories, and even historical stories of certain peoples of this country. This also encourages for the revitalization of the art of storytelling that is so significant in our history as human beings.
storytelling theatre
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city overlook
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power generator
storytelling theatre
year: 6 professor: Martin Despang duration: 3 weeks
The Storytelling Theatre will become an architectural beacon to the Haymarket area. This allows for the small theatre to overlook the city and allows for a clearer view to the skies above. This will assist the storytellers in by utilizing the stars or even the city in their stories. The theatre will also have the ability to have a fire within to give a more intimate feeling to the experience. The fire also pays tribute to the way in which we shared stories by a campfire. The theatre will be constructed with LiTraCon, which is a Light Transmitting Concrete. It is made up of concrete and fiber optic cables that allows for light to pass through the concrete. This allows the fire to be able to be seen from below creating a light beacon glowing when there is a story being told. A skin made of photovoltaic frit glass will also provide power to Holiday Inn Hotel.
Urban Camping is an idea that was a response to the tent cities that were coming up in many cities in the nation in 2009. In those cities, they deemed it necessary to provide essentials to those areas (water, bathroom facilities). This structure allowed for there to be an area to camp, complete with essentials, and also gives it some use after a tent city is no longer needed. After doing research, it was found that there is a small cult following for people who do urban camping. They seem to do it on sidewalks for a few hours, but what if this concept took the same ideas that normal camping does? Camping is when we purposefully want to experience the outside wild world. Of course, it is under controlled circumstances, but what if we created that idea to experience the outside urban world? The sounds of traffic and people laughing, along with the sites of the city that are purposely experienced through a new building type.
urban camping area
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urban park
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centennial mall extension
urban camping
year: 6 professor: Martin Despang duration: 3 weeks
Centennial Mall provides a perfect area in which to create this new outdoor building type. The mall can continue, create a wonderful urban area while simultaneous creating raised camping areas known as camppods. These camppods are raised to allow the campers to overlook and observe the city, similar to the way camp sites allow you to observe the wilderness. The camppods are titanium-lined and are engaging to its surroundings. The partial reflective quality to titanium is a reminder to the urban campers that there is an urban environment to be experienced. The colors, shapes, sounds, and sky reflect off the titanium that emphasizes the diverse nature of the urban environment. The structure also allows for pedestrian traffic to flow above vehicular traffic, where there are platforms to further observe the city. The platforms intensify circulation and encourage social exchange. There is also a small wading pool that allows for campers and urbanites to enjoy the outdoor urban experience.
open camppod areas are meant to engage the urban landscape of Lincoln by creating being observation window
urban camppods
yearone drawings plunger
yeartwo
institute of curious collectors wineot bed and breakfast
hpac activities center
yearthree
haymarket garage
cranbrook museum
bus shelter
ncesr research center sheldon alive annex
yearfour white house redux
judd art storage
yearfive
Intro to Planning Urban Design Plants for Architects Climate Change, Architecture, Publications: 07-08 Intern Books and Culture88 Marketing for Architects Advanced Lighting Integrated Design Delivery Healthcare Design Research Quality of Life Publications: 08-09 Book of Work
contact: Codah Gatewood 4205 Browning St Lincoln, NE 68516 402.601.8725 G8wood11@aol.com