PORTFOLIO
Architectural Projects by Clayton Witt
2015-17 University of Michigan M.Arch
2011-15 Miami University B.Art in Arch
OnUS Development
Architecture/Urban Design: Residential Development
STEAM Green
Architecture/Urban Design: ULI Hines Competition
Medina Gardens
Architecture/Urban Design: Islamic Mosque Design
Shaped by Wind
Architecture Design: London Sustainable by Design
Arcadia Visitors Center
Architecture Design: Interior/Exterior Studio
Hans Wegner Gallery
Architecture Design: Danish furniture and lighting
Graphic Media
Personal: Assorted hand drawing/painting
Personal
(OnUS Development)
Location: Detroit, Mi
Program:
A residential development by Eastern Market on the Dequindre Cut renewing the missing middledensity housing typology in Detroit.
Focus:
A resilient, affordable, and pedestrian oriented residential development.
Fall 2016, Masters Candidate Lars Graebner, Christina Hansen Semester Group Project
“...there must be eyes upon the street, eyes belonging to those we might call the natural proprietors of the street...They [the buildings] cannot turn their backs or blank sides on it and leave it blind.”
-Jane Jacobs
Located in Detroit
Every building faced at least one courtyard, each with an associated “speed” and color, supported by the programming of the landscape as well as the openness to the public.
The identities of these courtyards is reflected by the facade treatment of the framing buildings. This provided wayfinding through the site as well as three distinct communities within the development.
Dequindre
Gratoit Ave. Cut E. Market
St. Joseph
Mdot stops
Active. Lively. Upbeat. Playful. Collective. Fun. Sheltered. Peaceful.
South Elevation
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Longitudinal Section
Dequindre Cut connection
Community hub Residential courts
Gymnasium, Cultural Center, Restaurant, Cafe Splash zone, Daycare Gallery. Courtyards.
Landscape Plan & Unit Distribution
Permeable Surfaces
Inhabitant “speeds”
Connecting to the Dequindre Cut served suppports and draws from the “people highway of Detroit” and provides direct access to the Eastern Market, a thriving aspect of Detroits revitalization, through the site.
Second, it initates a diverse spectrum of inhabitation due to the proximity to public access. The OnUS Development seeks to provide housing for multiple generations supported by public spaces tailored to active, familial, and passive use.
Site Section and Interior Courtyard
from the Dequindre Cut
View
Building Strategies Facade/Building Composition
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Division St. Facade
(STEAM Green)
Location: Atlanta, Ga
Program:
STEAM Green is the conveyor of Sustainability, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Market to Atlanta’s Midtown region.
Focus:
ULI Hines Student Competition is an urban design and development challenge for graduate students.
Spring 2016, Masters Candidate Group Competition 2 Week Project
“...there must be eyes upon the street, eyes belonging to those we might call the natural proprietors of the street...They [the buildings] cannot turn their backs or blank sides on it and leave it blind.”
-Jane Jacobs
Mix it up
Connecting Tech town to the Varsity.
Like many cities nation-wide, Atlanta is faced with a series of social and environmental concerns including the “Urban Heat Island Effect” - the phenomenon of the urban built environment becoming increasingly hotter than the surrounding areas. Atlanta has an opportunity to become an international leader in research addressing this under-appreciated urban challenge. Now is the time to raise the economic temperature of the city and lower its thermal impact on the environment.
Introducing STEAM Green; a 3,000,000 square foot project catalyzing diversity and connectivity in the area by the North Avenue MARTA Station. Playing off the integration of the Arts into the STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), STEAM Green is the conveyor of Sustainability, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Market. Vehicular congestion, income inequality, and climate change - require creative resource management and leadership to evolve. STEAM Green will connect existing cultural agents in the neighborhood - the Fox Theatre, Georgia Institute of Technology, Technology Square, the Varsity, and the Bank of America Plaza - to foster unique solutions to some of the Midtown Atlanta’s most urgent problems.
Bring to Boil Reinvigorate the MARTA Station
Phase 2
Phase 3
Full steam ahead Fill in the urban fabric
(Medina Gardens Mosque)
Location: Detroit, Mi
Program:
To create an Arab-American community through iconic architecture that acts as a regional attraction for Detroit and provides a welcoming atmosphere for residents and visitors.
Focus:
Contemporize traditional Islamic forms/urbanisms and reimagine the associated religious programmatic forms.
Spring 2016, Masters Candidate Douglas Kelbaugh Semester Group Project
“Caught in bands of sunlight, millions of particles of dust have suddenly become visible - but not for long. The moment a cloud passes or the position of the sun changes, the long, straight streaks of light and dark will disappear.”
-Vilhelm Hammershoi
Mosque District
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Ceremonial Entry
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Pattern Through Light
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Entry Elevation
Aesthetic Performance
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(Shaped by Wind, London Studio)
Location: Canary Wharf, London
Program:
Mixed use building. Tailored office for Square Circle Design Co. and general commercial use.
Focus:
Designing toward maximum sustainability as priority number one.
Summer 2013, Undergraduate ARC 399, J.E. Elliott 5 Week Project
“Humans found ways to build comfortable environments long before we were able to model and predict their performance...”
-Huw Heywood
Energy Saving Measures
Trombe floorslabs capture the midday sun due to their thermal lag, release that energy as heat thoughout the cooler hours.
Turbines convert the wind passing across the facade into power for the building. The turbines also passively ventilate each level.
The circulation column passively cycles air through the building, via the stack effect, which is enhanced by the canal’s thermal influence.
Canary Wharf
Sustainable by Design
The site provided three elements to harness:
Water from the canal directly East of the site remains a constant cooler than air temperature. The circulation column’s stack effect draws this cooler air on the ground level up and through the higher levels.
Fire, sunlight from the entire southern horizon of the building is unobstructed. Access to natural light is maximized through the rotated tiered floor plates.
Air, the wind coming off of the Thames blows through Canary Wharf all year long. It flows through turbines, sweeps across the facades, and shapes Square Circle’s Headquarters.
Site Movements
Obstruct Withdraw
Introduce
Rotate
(Arcadian Visitor Center & Garden)
Location: Southeast US
Program:
Visitor center and gallery for architectural exhibitions and outdoor events.
Focus:
Fusing modernism with nature and the history of the fictional city of Arcadia.
Fall 2014, Undergraduate ARC 404, Dick Overton 4 Week Project
“A continuing fascination with diptychs, or two panel paintings, has led me to understand that dependencies can be established across a neutral datum, so that a ‘story’ might only be told by crossing that datum.”
-Michael Graves
Longitudinal Section looking West
Quarry turned modernist architecture exhibition. Site located between two brick commercial buildings.
Nature park to the south.
Historic Arcadia
Below Grade Floor plan
First Floor Plan
Respectful Adjacencies
Our site was an infill between two older brick buildings. Within our site, a row of pylons and party walls from the previous structure remained mainly below grade. And while these remnants could be removed, I saw them as an opportunity.
I utilized the pylons as displays, structural members, and moments of discovery. The program of the project was mainly gallery and exhibition space. Use of the ancient brick forms allowed for a strong contrast between display and displayed to emerge.
With a quarry to the north and a park to the south, the site was a natural thoroughfare. Instead of attempting to control pedestrian flow, I emphasized the passageway and enticed passers by into the visitor’s center with displays and booths within.
As above, so below. While the visitors center above respected the brick remains. The gallery located below worshipped them. Light cascades down their weathered remains, framing the displayed relics of the past while reinforcing existing conditions.
(Hans Wegner Gallery)
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Program:
A store and exhibition space for the furniture of Hans Wegner.
Focus:
Designing within a continuity and addressing the methodology of Danish culture.
Spring 2014, Undergraduate Arc 40, Bo Christiansen Semester Project
“A
chair is to have no backside. It should be beautiful from all sides and angles.”
-Hans Wegner
Joining the Continuum
Strøget is the main walking street in Copenhagen. Only recently has it been allowed for architects to restore and redesign buildings along the iconic shopping street. Walking Strøget is like passing through time. Each step presents another building from an older era.
The storefronts all press and clamber for attention, a riot of colors and classical styles squeeze together. Strøget is a literal urban fabric. It’s collective facade is a patchwork quilt comprised of buildings from Copenhagen’s earliest structures. The Hans Wegner Store’s facade stitches together the two neighboring facades.
Extending
“Stitching” Joining
Strøget
Hans J. Wegner was one of the most prolific designers the world has ever seen. He paved the way for the international breakthrough of “Danish Design.” He created the round chair, which the Americans dubbed, “The Chair:” the ultimate design. His life was a constant quest to explore the logic of materiality, specifically wood.
“The” Chair
(Graphic Media)
Assorted hand drawings, paintings, and photographs
Sketches
Everywhere I go, I keep my sketchbook close.
It is a log of my ideas, experiences, doodles, and passions. I have to rough ideas out by hand before I can fully grasp them. Especially with architecture, whenever I alter a floor plan or tweak a section, the margins of my pages are covered in thumbnail sketches of the experiential quality of what I am designing.
Watercolors
I have always loved to paint. However I have only recently picked up watercolor.
I studied under Søren Amsnæs while in Denmark and learned just how frustrating watercolor can be.
I learned that it is more about water than color, that knowing when to stop is more important than any subject of painting, and how to “be brave.” Søren would tell me to be brave, mess up your paintings. It shows if you paint timidly. Being brave is the only way to achieve and learn.
