ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO
Above all else, I would say that I am a skeptic.
I am at odds with evolutionary stasis -- the idea that because things have been done a certain way for some time must mean that the best way has been found. I find it invigorating to discover and unveil through design the hidden biases and factors that influence why things are built the way they are, or why humans gravitate toward some things and not others.
This hasn't gotten me into toomuch trouble, but what it has done is open my eyes to the potential of the built environment to critique, teach, and improve the world through design.
Please enjoy this portfolio of skepticism.
Front & Rear Cover Images from “Unrest of the Soul”, a Thesis prepared for:
Drew Ton-Morrison
Architect License #954484-AR-AR, LEED Green Assoc. (603) 852-5025 drewaugustus@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/drew-ton-morrison/
Ryan Senkier
Principal, Perry Dean Rogers Partners | Architects ryans@perrydean.com
Rick Ames
Principal, Next Phase Studios rames@nps-architects.com
Paul Hajian
Professor of Architecture, Massachusetts College of Art & Design phajian@massart.edu
contact references education
Massachusetts College of Art & Design M.Arch
B.A. in Architecture with Distinction
professional experience
Perry Dean Rogers Partners | Architects ArchitecturalDesigner
Next Phase Studios, Inc
ArchitecturalDesigner/BIMTechnician
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Instructor-EDAD-211/511"DigitalTools"
TeachingAssistant-EDAD-410"ArchitecturalDesignIV"
june2022-july2022 sept2021-dec2021 july2021-dec2022 sept2016-may2020
may2019-april2023 april2023-current
JOY OF RECYCLING:
ICELAND COMMUNITY CENTER
2022 Bee Breeder's International Competition Shortlist
In creating a new architecture to represent a circular economy through a reuse and recycling center, we must first recognize that the earth partakes in this economy just as much as you or I.
The landscape surrounding the Myvatn region is rich with history, but also with disturbance. The region itself is the result of 400 years of violent volcanic eruptions.
How does one reconcile this history with an agenda that celebrates the earth’s resources and looks to heal it? This design proposes embracing the beauty found in moments of tension between man and nature; built and natural; earthly and heavenly.
Lake Mývatn Skútustaðahreppur / Iceland
Comprehensive Studio / Professor Paul Paturzo
An Undefined Volcanic Landscape
A Quiet Hint of Inhabitation
A Retaining Wall, Built from Excavated Volcanic Rock
Minimized Conditioned Space
A Translucent Rainwater-Collecting Canopy
Property Line
Proposed Communal Building
Mezzanine Exterior Entrance
Vegetated Bioswale for Site Drainage
Permeable Surface Parking
Proposed Roadwork
Existing Thru-Road
Proposed Facility Building Greenhouse
The site plan is organized on either side of an existing thru-road, which connects a small farming village to the main ring road of Iceland. The program is split by subject, and housed under two canopies: the larger massing, a canopy of translucent kalwall and steel set into a hill, focuses on communal trading and storage. The smaller canopy, constructed of bent sheet metal, houses the “dirty” program space, such as composting, recycling, and gardening.
An important aspect of this design is my scrutinization over which of the given program would need to be truly conditioned. To save money, maintenance cost, and reduce the impact of refrigerants and heating energy, very little of the final program is housed within a traditional building envelope. The rest is instead shielded from strong headwinds and rain, and relies on natural ventilation and diffused sunlight.
Ultimately, this building tells a story about our collection of resources. Under the roof, these resources are man-made: collected, sheltered, and redistributed. Just across the thin translucent roof assembly, the geometry itself collects natural resources: diffused sunlight for inhabitation and rainwater for cisterns and vegetation.
The geometry of the roof is derived from the dimensions and slope of two historic Icelandic gable typologies: the Viking Longhouse and the Family Dwelling. The communal memory of these forms finds itself inserted into an innovative feat of engineering: a roof that collects both natural and man-made resources.
2022
The result of this sensitivity to the landscape and a dedication to the narrative of a circular economy is an architectural form that simultaneously adds to and respects the beautiful landscape; ethereal like the northern lights, yet grounded like the volcanic rock it cuts into.
DEGREES OF EXPOSURE:
INHABITING THE GRADIENT
2021 AIA COTE for Students Shortlist
Enacting a narrative of control harms the earth, and humans expend more effort living this way when the solution is actually quite simple; living with nature means accepting it as it is.
This housing project in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam explores the potential of an overlapping gradient between natural and built, and proposes that living on the brink of comfort by dissolving traditional boundaries may be the only way for humans to explore, “what is the right way to live with nature?”
149 Le Loi Street / Go Vap District
Ho Chi Minh City / Vietnam
Degree Project I & II / Professor Tamara Metz
A Traditionally Dense Housing Block
Reinvigorating the Natural Landscape
Allowing Space for both Nature and Humans to Coexist
Every crack in the concrete jungle that is Ho Chi Minh City shows hints of native plant life, fighting its way back to regain control of the delta marshland. What would an urban environment look like if humans were encouraged to participate in the natural ecosystem instead of seeking to control it?
The sidewalks of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam provide a masterclass in functional overlap. Cafes, marketplaces, barber shops, motorbikes, powerful sunlight, and heavy rainfall all find space to coexist, and often pour into the first floor of people’s homes. Unfortunately, this beautiful yet chaotic energy gets lost in dwellings above the first floor, as buildings begin to assume their role as windowless fortresses against nature.
To remedy the divide between natural and built, this design for a new housing project exemplifies porosity in every way: a marketplace floating above a planted earth, an atrium open to the sky, exterior passageways which are intermittently covered overhead, and individual rooms that house both people and plant life. Inhabitants are exposed to the enriching cyclical phenomenology of the city.
The geometry and construction of the atrium adds to the narrative of coexistence. Natural ventilation is pulled in via the atrium, scooped over plantbeds and under walkways right into inhabitants’ rooms, without sacrificing privacy.
Planters For Floor Above
Storage + “Murphy Desk”
Loft + Bed
Kitchenette
Murphy Bed + Storage
Elevated Walkway + Ventilation
Planter + Evaporative Cooling
Living Room + Balcony
Bathroom
The result is a building that reacts and adapts to the cyclical changes of the city, allowing early morning sun into the deepest spaces while sheltering from the harsh mid-day and afternoon sun, and welcoming rainfall to foster vivid local plant life.
A UNIQUE MUSEUM:
Williams College Museum of Art
Seeking ILFI CORE Certification
With a construction start date set for December 2024, executive architect Perry Dean Rogers (PDR) is working hard to bring the collective vision of SO-IL (design architect) and Williams College Art Museum (WCMA) to life. The building is seeking ILFI CORE certification and is Type IV-HT construction, which continues to present interesting challenges.
My role on this project includes performing analyses of the various complex constructs, drafting and development of both large-scale plans and details, leading sustainability coordination, tracking ILFI CORE and Massachusetts Stretch Energy Code requirements alongside our sustainability and MEP consultants, coordinating landscape and civil consultants, and assisting in estimating efforts. Professional renderings shown are by others.
Williams College Art Museum / Williams College
Williamstown / Massachusetts
/ Principal Ryan Senkier
Connection through Interstitial Space
A Holistic Approach to Museum Education
A Welcoming Canopy
The previous site of the Williamstown Inn borders the college campus to the East and a residential district to the West, and is uphill from a wetland. Per ILFI requirements, there is a large reforestation effort in addition to permeable surface and stormwater management requirements. The metal shingle roof canopy is roughly one acre in area, and slopes range from 1/2” per foot slope to over 4” per foot as the surface peels away from its CLT substrate.
The complex roof construct requires many competing requirements to be synthesized. The varying slopes of the metal shingle roof must be watertight, shed water in a controlled way, and be protected against Type IV-HT concealed space requirements, all while remaining a visually cohesive expression of material. I analyzed the roof using Revit and Rhino in tandem with Grasshopper throughout design phases to help catch issues before drawings were issued and material was purchased. Shown is a typical script for analysis, a scupper detail, a concealed space volume axonometric, a rainwater path analysis projected onto a roof plan, and a building section.
The desire for broad expanses of material expression to be “free of clutter” required careful coordination. The fire protection of the eaves embodies this; to avoid exposed piping and a drain-down at all 52 structural bays, I suggested allowing the dry sprinkler mains and branches to run above the CLT structure, so that drainouts would only occur at the seven low points of the roof. I calculated and drew through a strategy, ensuring positive slopes. Shown are various coordination efforts.
The scale of this project has both allowed and demanded a particularly vigorous attention to detail, which in turn has sparked close collaboration between consultants, architecture teams, design-assist partners, client, and construction manager. The result is a beautiful design that has challenged everyone involved to become experts in unique situations.
CELEBRATING WILDERNESS:
PINE BARRENS ECOLOGICAL CENTER
What was once a sacred site for the Wampanoag People had become overrun with pavement and 16 cabins constructed for a religious campsite. In order to rehabilitate this site and provide education not only on the sacredness but also the ecology and history of the place, Next Phase Studios worked with the local Wampanoag People and the Audobon Society to propose a deeply sensitive building.
My role on this project included floor plan and section design, drafting, rendering, preparing client presentations, tracking materials for the Living Building Challenge, and designing pavilions to reuse nonhazardous material from the large-scale demolition.
ILFI Living Building Challenge Candidate
Pine Barrens Kingston / Massachusetts
Next Phase Studios / Principal Rick Ames
Removal of Dilapitated Cabins
A Sacred Site
An Homage, Hidden in the Trees
Several factors determined placement of the proposed building, including a 50’ wetland buffer, existing prominent trees, sacred walking paths, and the demolition of non-crucial roadwork and cabins.
While Next Phase Studios was given great freedom in the design process, one necessity that was challenging to reconcile was the Wampanoag-prescribed east-facing entry. This gave rise to a dynamic entry experience that hints at, delays, and ultimately reveals the grand view out to the pond.
Views into, through, and over were crucial in our commitment to respecting history, ecology, and education. The building educates inhabitants about the site, but also is necessarily in reverence to it.
Two pavilions were designed to make the most out of 16 demolished buildings’ worth of wood framing, and create spaces that were both pleasant outdoor classrooms and provided energy to the main building via rooftop solar panels. One is Usonian in design, the other draws inspiration from a sacred Wampanoag turtle rumored to live in the nearby pond.
The final result of a dedicated reverence to the past, present, and future of this site is a structure that appears built out of the very landscape on which it sits. 2020
