PORTFOLIO
charles dowd
PROJECTS
in remembrance Spring 2018 Lincoln, Nebraska
manifest destiny Fall 2018 rural, Nebraska
sod house Spring 2019 Broken Bow, Nebraska
IN REMEMBRANCE
project brief
The project was a 15,000 SF family chapel, reception, outdoor spaces and a columbarium at Wyuka Cemetery. It included the master plan, program, and site design. The project deals with two concepts. The first is the duality of absence and presence and the second concept is trace and light. The mausoleum serves those who have lost someone. In every relationship there is a trace, and in that loss there are scars. This building acts as a mediator between the living and the dead. The building facilitates the process of grieving as the user needs it. The project focused on creating spaces for three user groups designated by visitation. Permanent users (the deceased), those there for the service, and ongoing visitors.
spring 2018. mark bacon. integrate studio. arch 411 Partner. Landon Lubas University of Nebraska - Lincoln College of Architecture
Process Step 01 Chosen Site Offset from Vine St. and Stream
Step 02 Bar running on East to West Axis
Step 03 Split Living and Dead
De
Step 04 Create Threshold Mixture of Presence and Absence
ath Life
Step 05 Lift death to form Absence
Step 06 Shift life and death mass to create external spaces
Step 07 Raise Threshold Add Committal volume
Step 08 Protrude crypts from below grade to create trace on landscape
Siting and Process _______
Wyuka Cemetery is located between O st. and Vine St. surrounded on the east and west by residential and apartments. We chose the site for four reasons. Due to the tree line the northwest corner has a strong presence on Vine St. for a two story structure while granting privacy for anything below one story. The land is empty so we wouldn’t displace any graves. The existing interior circulation creates a excellent processions to the site from the Vine St. cemetery entrance, and it has minimal grade change. The building is positioned on the East-West axis to most poetically incorporate the movement of the daily sun path as part of the narrative of life and death in the building. In many cultures the sun path is a symbol of life and death. The sunrise is the new life and the sunset is the representative of death or ending. The new parking lot and paths connect off of the existing roads as seen in the site map above.
Reoccuring Mourners Funeral Service members The Body Program
Reoccuring Mourners Funeral Service members The Body Program
Circulation
Circulation
Second Floor
First Floor
Circulation Diagrams _______
The designs goal is to create one single path for the body to travel on. The observers and mourners circulation path crosses and weaves through it at specific moments.
Reoccuring Mourners Funeral Service members The Body Program Circulation
Basment
Longitudinal Section _______
The bodies of the deceased are buried in the basement in both columbariums and mausoleums. Positioning the mausoleums in the basment on the west side of the building allows for visitors to enter without coming through the east side of the building and it opens out onto the landscape gardens
Roof Plan
Second Floor Plan
Roof Plan and Second Floor Plan _______
The roof plan shows the entrances on both the east, north, and west side. The second floor plan shows the assembly hall and the private grieving hall. The rows are spaced double wide in the assembly for movement of the casket. There is an elevator on the stage of the assembly area for ease of transportation. The Narthex overlooks the Threshold.
First Floor Plan
Basment Plan
First Floor Plan and Basement Plan _______
The first floor plan has the foyer, commital and multi purpose room. For receptions there is a fully equipped kitchen with garage access for catering. The windows open up to the north and south portions of the cemetary. The basement houses the mechanical and crypt spaces.
Concept Model _______
Shown above is the initial concept model developed which started expressed the aesthetic and functional aspirations for the project.
Final Section Model _______
Above is the final section model for the project, outlining the building within its context of site and entourage.
Section 1 and Multi Purpose Room _______
Section 1 cuts through the Multi purpose room. It shows the relationship of the Reception space to the corridor. The three sets of windows that light the space. Views out the South windows into the cemetery. Review interior window view of body corridor. Views into the garden space. This is a calming space for interaction and relationship between people
Section 2 and Commital Room _______
Committal room volume is large overall but varies internally. The ceiling height changes with the skylight bringing a flood of light bringing emphasis onto the body. The initial low ceiling makes the space intimate and comforting. The interior walls are light white concrete making a contemplative environment. The presence of the light on the body helps to overshadow the absence of the person. It invokes a feeling of a different place.
Section 3 and Assembly Room _______
Section 3 shows how the facade system and detail, interior curtain wall and how it manipulates light and creates traces of shadow The continuation of the path upwards and the focal point of the body, traces of light and shadow
Section 4 and Crypt _______
The 4th Section displays the light and relationship to path above Low ceiling and dark corridor met by a open ceiling to above in the crypt rooms offering a relief within the grieving process
Manifest Destiny
project brief
The semesters work was soley produced in photoshop. The challenge throughout the whole process to produce designs using found images and colaging them together. This project images a future in which the environment is exhausted and extreme measures are taken to reinvigorate ecosystems throughout the midwest by repurposing old nuclear missile silos to act as recycling centers and drone hives. This combination with a powerful AI slowly inches back the damaged regions around it. What was created as a housing for destruction is slowly gifting life back into a weary land
fall 2018. brian kelly. integrate studio. arch 510 University of Nebraska - Lincoln College of Architecture
Musings
____
Sometimes it feels like it’s just me and the dro day out my very existence is just to clean u one task after another managing the silo an plant trees for the 20 year plan. Making sure long. Downloading the latest data to adjust t collection. My friends in the other silos have d the future, if any of these efforts will actually machines. Now its all about prevention, no watch and see, and hop
of an AI
____
ones working to save the world. Day in and up the big mess that’s been made. It’s just nd the machines. Sending out the drones to none of those plants sit in the incubators too the drones gps flight paths for maximum C02 differing degrees of hopes and doubts about matter, but what would we know, we’re just o longer about prediction. All we can do is pe for a better tomorrow.
Sod House
project brief
The sod house is to become an an extension of the visitor orientation center in Broken Bow, Nebraska. The sod house was chosen to highlight a historic and regionally important building type. The proposal will connect visitors to the material simplicity of the prairie and sod as a building material. It will reference the historic associations between a sod house and its environment. That is to say, it is both derived from and subject to the harsh elements of the great planes.
spring 2019. jason griffiths. arch 511 dowd, mclean, nelsen University of Nebraska - Lincoln College of Architecture
_______
The project will define an immersive experience between the visitors and the land. The path to the house begins at grade. As the visitor walks towards the house, the path begins to descend into the earth. This action memorializes the action of cutting sod from the Earth to construct basic shelter. Within the house, a second ramp descends further. When the visitor sits on a bench, they will be at eye level with the ground with a ribbon window. The window is symbolic of the prairie horizon, and will allow viewers to see both above and below the surface of the Earth. _______
The project will house artifacts relevant to the pioneer history of the area. The central plinth will facilitate the display of a “Grasshopper” cutting plow; it is the type traditionally used to cut construction sods. The plinth will have a cob bed that is the seating position for the ground window. The lowest step of the plints will hold an historic stove. The internal ramp descends between the plinth, and a series of window display boxes in the South wall. These boxes can house smaller artifacts at the client’s discretion, and also function as truth reveals.
1 2
4’
1
Grasshopper Plow
2
Traditional Cob Bed
3
Stove
4
Sod Ruins
5
Truth Window
6
Earth View Window
8’ 5”
14’
6
6 ’7”
36’
2’
30’
4 3
_______
The site was chosen to reinforce the iconography of the sod house. It is located away from the main group of structures. Upon approach, the building will cut a line silhouette against the surrounding prairie. The siting of the structure will also allow it to be visible from the highway to the North. The sod house will become a visible icon for area travelers, and a draw to bring people onto the site.
Charles Dowd PORTFOLIO: https://issuu.com/charlesdowd ADDRESS: 3727 S 78th St., Lincoln, NE 68506 PHONE: (402)-890-5834 EMAIL: ckdowd@gmail.com
OBJECTIVE To apply my education and experience to design opportunities by contributing to human centered architecture using creativity, results-oriented thinking, and communication skills to independently and collaboratively problem solve; to gain experience in the field of design on the journey towards licensure.
EDUCATION 2018 - 2020
GRADUATE University of Nebraska - Li ncoln Masters of Architecture
2014 - 2018
UNDERGRADUATE University of Nebraska - Lincoln Bachelors of Science in Design
WORK EXPERIENCE 2020 - 2021
2019 - 2020
Architecture Associate I Sinclair Hille Architects
Worked as an architectural designer by serving clients, collaborating with other disciplines, and contributing to the studio. The work involved sharing design ideas through use of hand drawing, Revit, Bluebeam, SketchUp, Adobe Suite, and Enscape.
Graduate Teaching Assistant I UNL College of Architecture
Computer Application and Design Course involved teaching software such as Rhino 6, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign to freshman students in a lab format.
Summer 2019 Architectural Intern I BCDM Architects. Worked on a variety of projects including k-12 education, sacred, and business projects. 2016 - 2020
2015 - 2018
Peer Mentoring Program I UNL College of Architecture
Assist new architecture students acclimate to the college, and give facility tours as an ambassador to potential and incoming students. In addition mentors participate in College of Architecture related events.
Landscape Services I University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Student worker on UNL city campus. Duties included landscape design, construction, irrigation maintenance, driving various vehicles, and working well with others.
Summer 2017 SPARKS Learning Guide I Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools Learning Guide at the Nebraska Innovation Studio and on field trips. This included teaching the STEAM curriculum through long and short term projects using photography, 3D modeling, 3D printing, laser cutting, basic woodworking, power tools, and plastic molds.
TECHNICAL SKILLS Proficiencies Rhinoceros 6 Illustrator Wood Fabrication SketchUp
Hand sketching Photoshop Digital Fabrication Enscape
Revit InDesign Leather Working Bluebeam
Architectural Modeling Premier Pro Microsoft Office
SCHOLARSHIP & HONORS SARA NY Student Design Award of Honor (project, Aquatic Communities) Frank H. Woods Telephone Installation Exhibition UNL University Singers, Carnegie Hall Concert Friends of Opera Scholarship Invitational AIA Architecture Installation Exhibition (Parking day installation) Hixson-Lied CFPA Scholarship Phoebe Hamman Scholarship Richard Grace Scholarship
ACTIVITIES AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT 2017 - 2020
American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS)
2014 - 2020
Park(ing) Day Public Installation. Annual open source global event
Summer 2016 NATS Detassler I NATS Detassling Company Detassled Corn during the 2016 season. Squad Leader which included the leadership, Supervision and quality control of teenage detasslers in hard labor conditions. 2015
University of Nebraska - Lincoln, University Singers
2014
University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Men’s Chorus
2009 - 2017
Sunday School Church Teacher - classes of children in grades 1-4. Responsibilities included, teaching a planned lesson and activity to the students, and maintaining a relationship with the parents and siblings of the students.
2010 - 2017
Foster Care Closet - Volunteer service including unpacking, distribution of clothing and the building, furnishing, and assembly of facilities.
2010 - 2014
SAIL Camp Summer Intern - Worked as an assistant to the violin teachers in class. Responsibilities included - teacher in the P.E. class during the camp week, the discussing with parents what was learned each day in class, and the set up and take down for concerts.
2008 - current Nursing Home Volunteer - service at various nursing homes through monthly events
REFERENCES - references available upon request.