David Woodruff
Portfolio | 2017
This portfolio is comprised of original work undertaken by David Woodruff. The intent of this portfolio is to demonstrate creative ability and highlight design potential. Information provided should be used to compliment and assess the owner’s application to the Master of Architecture program. Unless otherwise stated, all content is the intellectual property of the owner.
Ta b l e o f C o n t e n t s Graphic Sketches Photography
Constructed Ceramics Street Furniture Modular Shelving Unit Side Table
Academic Urban Design Plan Lynchian Analysis Extended Essay
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Sketc he s
Peter Hemingway Fitness and Leisure Centre in Edmonton, AB. Ink on paper, 2016.
The Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, BC. Ink on paper, 2016.
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Conceptual sketch of a faceted building with repeating sections. Ink on paper, 2015.
Conceptual public art alluding to the ruins described by Percy Shelley in Ozymandias. This sculpture depicts similar ruins in modern business attire to draw parallels between the past and future. It is a sobering reminder of the fragility of human power. Ink on paper, 2014.
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Photog raphy
De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA. As a photographer, I am interested in capturing the candid interplay between people and the built environment . In this photo, the light and glass create a compelling dynamic that blurs the interior and exterior of the building.
Kinney Lake, BC. I strive to take photographs that convey both visual and sensational experiences. In this setting, I was drawn to the sense ease created by the enclosure the mountains and the tranquility of the pristine lake surface.
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The Parkade, Spokane, WA. My photography is self-directed and reflects my interests and hobbies. Visually interesting or architecturally significant buildings are my favorite subjects to photograph, and I am continuously improving my skill in architectural photography.
Long Exposure, Vancouver, BC. I have developed technical skill in digital and analog photography, which gives me greater freedom in how I record experiences and observations. I regularly practice these skills to improve my range as a photographer.
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Ce ramic s
Catch-all Dish: A shallow dish designed with low, sloped walls to easily access its contents. Wheel thrown. (4” diameter)
Tea Cup: A modern take on handleless teaware featuring a subtle hourglass figure. Wheel thrown. (3” diameter, 3.5” height)
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Altered Cup: A cup with indents that suggest a predictable course of interaction between the object and its user. Wheel thrown, hand altered. (2.5” diameter, 3.5” height)
Conical Bowl: A conical bowl finished in a rich blue glaze that accents its throwing rings. Wheel thrown. (5” diameter, 2” height)
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Urban Relief: A sculptural tile inspired by organic urban forms and development. Hand built. (4.5” x 4.5” x 2” height)
Fruit Bowl: A large bowl with neutral tones and a bare tree motif. Hand built and painted. (8” diameter, 2” height)
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Stre et Furniture This table and stool were built as part of an annual street furniture competition where contestants are given 6 hours to design and build a piece of furniture. The theme of the competition in 2016 was placemaking, and teams were asked to design pieces that create a sense of shared ownership of a city and its public spaces. A panel of local architects and designers judged the final furniture pieces.
For this competition, I worked on a team of four and was responsible for the design of the table and constructing it with a partner. The concept behind our furniture was to encourage people to meet in Downtown Edmonton by providing tables to eat or rest at. The design fuses a cocktail table with a planter to provide a functional and aesthetic element for the public realm. Our piece placed third in the competition and was displayed as part of The Works Art and Design Festival
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The initial design of the table (1), which illustrates its function as a planter. The finished project in use at the festival (2).
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M odular She lving Unit
Inspired by ephemeral structures such as scaffolding, this shelving unit is designed to be dismantled and rebuilt by one person. The design also allows the piece to be stored and transported with ease, avoiding challenges traditionally associated with changing residency. The unit is constructed from galvanized pipe, fittings, and reclaimed wood boards. Aside from being functional and readily available, these materials provide a cohesive look that pays homage to the utilitarian structures that inspired the shelving design. Dimensions: 5’ x 14� x 20�. Self-initiated, 2014.
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Side Table
The design of this table evolved from the simple forms and slanted legs of Mid-Century furniture, however, it reinterprets these principles with legs that slant inward rather than outward. This creates an unexpected visual effect and the illusion that the table is delicately balanced. Reconciling the weight of the granite tabletop with the angle of the legs proved a considerable challenge during construction of the table, so the final design employs a connecting piece that secures the legs so that they do not give out. This also allows the piece to be disassembled for storage or transportation.
The primary design consideration of this table was creating a high quality and adaptable piece of furniture. Using fittings and galvanized pipe for the legs provides strength and allows the table’s height and leg design to be manipulated as its use changes. The luxury of granite and the utility of pipe are visually coherent in this piece despite their contrasting materiality and uses in conventional industrial design. Dimensions: 2’ x 14” x 26”. Self-initiated, 2016.
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Urban D e sig n Plan Program: B.Sc Planning
Course: HGP 381, Fall 2016 Instructor: Dnyanesh Deshpande Grade: 96% on Initial Analysis
The term project for an urban design studio course I took was to create an urban design vision for Edmonton’s Chinatown. I worked with five other students throughout the term to determine potential improvement areas from site visits and neighborhood analyses. We identified three areas for improvement, one of which was the Chinatown Commercial District. My contributions to the project were primarily analyzing and creating the design plans for this district. Highlights of my work are shown and explained below.
Study Site
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The extent and use intensity of ethnic businesses were determined from site visits and land use maps (1). Potential streetscaping elements that would address safety concerns and provide to a more cohesive public realm in Chinatown (2). Murals add visual interest to empty lots and would be used to enhance the character of the area (3).
U The primary commercial district in Chinatown has a limited pedestrian realm due to narrow sidewalks and high vehicular traffic. This plan removes street parking and extends the sidewalks on either side of the street to address safety and accessibility issues (4). Pedestrian directed lighting provides a sense of security and contributes to natural surveillance.
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I proposed to maintain on-street parking in the secondary commercial district but extend the sidewalks on one side of the street to encourage pedestrian traffic (5). Increased lighting in this area will address high incidents of crime and limiting the height of new buildings to 2 stories encourages empty lots to be filled in.
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Establishing visual cues along major paths and points of entry to Chinatown enhances visitor experience through serial vision principles. I proposed several symbols and metaphors as cues that allude to the area as the visitor travels there. The example shown (6) uses an existing bridge and the image of an open fan. Just as these fans obscure the identity of their users, the bridge visually obscures Chinatown. The district is only revealed when the visitor passes under the bridge and their vantage changes.
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Lync hian Analysis Program: B.Sc Planning
Course: HGP 310, Fall 2015 Professor: Dr Sandeep Agrawal Grade: 100% on Lynchian analysis Grade: 87% overall presentation
This neighborhood analysis was undertaken as part of a capstone presentation for a land use planning course. The presentation focused on Strathearn, in Edmonton and included comprehensive demographic and land use analyses. As part of the Lynchian analysis, I spent an extensive amount of time in the neighborhood determining people’s spatial and temporal patterns of movement. Originally part of a poster, the map has been modified for the purpose of this portfolio and novel observations from these visits are explained below.
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This mural along 95th Ave (1) is major landmark, as it is located at an important node and along a major path at the point of entry to the neighborhood. Montgomery Legion Place (2) is a major landmark because of its scale and location along an arterial road. The viewpoints in Strathearn Park were minor landmarks because they were identifiable primarily by residents rather than people external to the neighborhood. The tracks in the snow (3) indicate that there is a well used path through the park, despite no formal walkway.
Exte nde d Essay Program: International Baccalaureate Diploma
Course: Visual Arts Extended Essay, June - December 2012 Grade: B A core requirement of my high school program was the extended essay: a 4000 word independent research paper on a topic of personal interest. Although I was not taking visual arts, I used the opportunity to write about my interest in architecture. The Art Gallery of Alberta had recently been reopened in Edmonton and many were citing its new design by Randall Stout as a direct imitation of Frank Gehry’s work. However, these assertions were not explained by any media sources and were not found in the literature. The crux of my extended essay was to determine the extent to which these claims were justified by examining the architectural similarities in the Art Gallery of Alberta and Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Bilbao. My extended essay was a comparative analysis operating under the premise that the Art Gallery of Alberta was a manifestation of the ‘Bilbao effect’, whereby avant-garde architecture is used as a mechanism of urban revitalization. As such, I examined the architectural qualities of each building, and articulated their resemblance regarding form, materiality, and contrasting elements. Furthermore, I considered each building’s relation to its context and found further similarities. The parallels outlined in the essay enhance comparisons drawn earlier and provide a case for the Bilbao effect as a global phenomenon in architecture.
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Sketches of the atriums of the Guggenheim Bilbao (1) and the Art Gallery of Alberta (2). The sinuous organic forms present in both buildings were inspired by natural features in their respective contexts. Similarly, these forms are are both contrasted by angular window panes, meant to represent the street patterns of their respective cities.
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David Woodruff