Portfolio Eric Futerfas
Professional Experience__
ERIC FUTERFAS Profile__ Graduate architecture student and young professional. Have an affection for the natural world as an integral counterpoint to the built, being that architecture is typically deployed to establish a definition between the two. Developing thesis on urban vegetative fusion via biomimetic and computational processes. Contact__ 919 208 3443 ejfuterf@ncsu.edu 804 W Morgan St Raleigh NC 27603 Apt W3B
O’BRIEN ATIKINS
DESIGN LINE STUDIOS
ROSS/DECKARD ARCHITECTS
Oct 2017 - Present
May 2016 - March 2017 (10 mo)
Summers of 2013 and 2014 (6 mo)
Schematic Design Design Development Construction Documents Master Planning High-End Rendering Physical Modeling Daylighting Analysis
Interior Design Presenting to Clients Detailing Rendering Ceiling Plan Lighting Layout Conceptual Design Material Specification
Drafting Plans, Sections, Elevations Construction Drawing Layouts BIM Modeling Sketch Renderings Digital and Physical Archiving Door / Window Schedules Residential Schematic Design
Academic Experience__ 2017 - Graduate Semester in Stuttgart, Germany with the University of Stuttgart, ITECH M.S. Program Studied under four Doctoratal candidates to design and prototype the 2017-18 ITECH Research Pavilion
2016 - 5-year Accredited Bachelor in Architecture from North Carolina State University Progressed knowledge and skills in further detail while branching into more experimental architecture
2015 - 4-year Bachelor in Environmental Design in Architecture from North Carolina State University Developed skills to analyze, conceptualize, design, and communicate modern/contemporary architecture
2014 - Undergraduate Semester in Prague, Czech Republic with North Carolina State University Satellite Program Studied under Adam Gebrian (2015 Czech Architect of the year) to design a series of ephemeral landscape installations
References__ Jeffery Bottomley Current Supervisor / Principal at O’Brien Atkins Skills__ Photoshop Illustrator
jbottomley@obrienatkins.com 919 389 0916
David Hill
Indesign
Seminar Professor / Head of the NCSU School of Architecture
Rhinoceros
dbhill@ncsu.edu 919 513 4841
Grasshopper Sketchup
Erin Sterling Lewis 5th year Studio Professor / Principal at In Situ Studio
Revit Python
erin@insitustudio.us 919 397 3951
Physical Modeling V-Ray
Favorite Architects/Firms__ Frie Otto Kisho Kurokawa R&Sie[n] Alvar Aalto AMID (Cero 9) Toyo Ito Foreign Office Architects
Awards__ 2017 - NCSU Study Abroad Scholarship - $1000 2016 - AIA Triangle Honorable Mention Scholarship - $1000 2014 - 1st Prize Team in Masonry Design Competition - $500/5
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Ne[t]xus _02
2017-18 ITECH Research Pavilion _06
iCAM _10
rad10larian _14
the SEED _16
Omorfiรก _20
Wake Tech RT-2 _24
Photography _28
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Ne[t]xus Typology__ Sequoia Tree Climbing Space Location__ Giant Grove National Sequoia Forest California, USA
Institution__ Reth!nking Architecture Competition
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Team Size__ 3 Year Completed__ 2016 Prompt__ Scout out a site in the National Sequoia Forest for the location and design of a tree climbing space that integrates itself into the environment and helps visitors appreciate the Sequoias for the natural wonders that they are.
Response__ Employ nature’s particular morphological strategy of efficiency through a construction process that utilizes a hybrid of ancient and emerging technologies to execute a lightweight tensile structure woven by a fleet of drones with minimal physical impact to the trees, visually and functionally lending itself to the Sequoias and their habitat. The structure creates a profound sense of immersion with the environment through minimally obstructed views and 360o approaches to each Sequoia tree central to the structure. The material and structural nature of the tensile system also facilitates a special connection between coincidental visitors through the rippling forces absorbed by the system and consequent light generated by piezoelectric fibers as people climb and navigate through the space.
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Meadow 100’
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rig protection sleeves equipped with steel cable spools connect steel cables to adjacent trees rig pulleys construct bamboo platform around trunk hoist platform with personnel on it secure netting from platform to tree cross and secure hoist cables to create bridge support prepare drones with fiber optics weave fiber optics to secure and enclose unroll bamboo matts to create bridges
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Place
zip
line
The site was discovered and chosen based on the dynamic convergence of steep topography, running water, accessibility by existing trail, and adjacency to a meadow as a complimentary environment to be discharged into via zipline.
Network
Program Day Camp Wing
Challenge Course Wing
Primary Wing
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The eastern approach gives visitors a broad view of the overall installation and entices them with the entry to the challenge course as a method to ascend the Sequoias.
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At the intersection of the three wings is the central climbing space, woven entirely with piezoelectric fiber optics by drones.
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The end of the Primary Wing graces the edge of a meadow which not only offers a spectacular spatial and visual release, but also an exciting way to depart from the installation by hitching a ride on a ziplline across the meadow.
[renderings (3) on current page produced by project partner]
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Custom Dragonfly Drone [drone design
sonar sensor for 3D environment mapping biaxial propeller for agile movement light-weight areodynamic frame magnetic hook for grasping steel cables fiber optic spools
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2017-18 ITECH Research Pavilion Typology__ Experimental Research Pavilion Location__ Stuttgart Baden-WĂźrttemberg Germany
Institution__ University of Stuttgart Institute of Computational Design (ICD) / Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) Course__ ITECH Masters Studio: Adaptive Morphology Professors__ Achim Menges (ICD) Jan Knippers (ITKE) Tutors__ Lauren Vasey (ICD) Maria Yablonina (ICD) Anja Mader (ITKE) Evy Slabbinck (ITKE) Team Size__ 12
2017-18 ITECH Pavilion credit: University of Stuttgart
Global Design_ Distilling the input from all other groups into potential schematic designs that are rendered in digital and physical formats
Material_ Physically testing material properties, limits, and tectonic relationships to gauge their performative potentials as well as prototyping fabrication techniques
Year Completed__ 2017 (personal contributions) Prompt__ Develop a deployable, component-based composite system which utilizes simple compliant mechanisms and robotic actuation to alter its geometrical or topological configuration locally or globally towards a performative goal or state. Response__ Elect in the Global Design and Material Development groups to investigate the synergies between a schematic model and the material possibilities of a bending-active system which was chosen as a structurally efficient means to create space while conserving material and weight, reducing the work that a robotic actuator would have to do. Enclosure would be achieved through the use of membrane as the tensile reciprocal to the compressive forces that keep the structure in a hybrid state of tensegrity.
Structural_ Calculating forces through digital simulations to test the feasibility of design iterations and generate realistic geometries
Computational_ Coding design tools based on structural and material input and programming a computational engine to manage sensor data that determines pavilion state configuration
Robotic_ Developing mobile and stationary robots that will negotiate the connections between pavilion components in order to physically facilitate spatial configuration changes
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Global Design
The project was conceived of as a bending-active tensile hybrid structure with the bendingactive element initially being a glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) rod. Another initial criteria (later disregarded as the project became more complex) was an emphasis on deployability. This demanded a module that was both simple in its construction yet dynamic in how it could alter itself spatially. To the right is the original conception of that module. When fitted with a membrane and transformed into a tensile hybrid structure, the module becomes the most primitive distillation of all the project criteria, serving as a foundational component to be iterated upon and evolve into future global design schemes.
mobile robotic node
Scheme 1
Clasping modules create parallel rod tracks that zip open and closed to modulate the direction and degree of enclosure
Scheme 2
Superimposed, down-scaled modules independently swivel out in a fan motion to create a cave, capped by a flexible plate
Scheme 3
Scheme 4
Three modules grace each others tangent edges as they shrink along their spiral arrangement and enclose niche spaces that blend into each other with different formal configurations
Two off-scale modules overlap each other at an oblique angle, using bending-active plates to carry the forces previously born by rods, demonstrating the feasibility of plates as an alternative
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Material
Bending-Active Hybrid Module Prototyping Process sonal investiga per tio n
rod
ation
tig
a tig es inv
tio n
plate
in ve s
r partne
Tectonic Investigations
r tn pa
er
The pringle-shaped module became a crucial component for the project’s prototyping process because of the myriad of criteria it embodies and tectonic relationships it entails, notably since determining to proceed with the seamless connection as it is the most materially consistent option, yet inversely the most difficult to fabricate.
membrane
section
hinge connection_
composite plate GFRP rod clamp
pocket connection_
composite plate GFRP rod
seamless connection_
composite plate
plan
9 biaxial warp-weft glass fiber textile
layered, angled biaxial textile gains quadraxial performance when laminated
Material
45o
unprecedented partial vaccuumsealed lamination process
[number of layers determined by structural group calculations]
1 Glass fiber textile is cut at 45o from roll into sheets
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Glass fiber sheets are layered in a rotated fashion to create a stronger warp-weft pattern
Layers are consecutively laminated to eliminate air bubbles while the ends are left intact for future lamination
4 Layered glass fiber sheets are vaccumsealed with resin pump to eliminate excess resin and smoothen surfaces
[membrane cut pattern drawn and sewn by structural group]
Unprecedented glass fiber membrane lamination to glass fiber composite plate
5 Longitudinally bifurcate cured composite plates and laminate ends together into a loop
6 Bend composite loop into jig to hold it in torqued position
7 Laminate glass fiber architectural membrane to outer face of torqued composite loop
8 Allow to cure and remove from jig
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iCAM Typology__ Institute for the Contemporary Art Museum Location__ Raleigh North Carolina, USA
Institution__ North Carolina State University Course__ 5th-Year Studio Professor__ Erin Sterling Lewis Team Size__ Solo Year Completed__ 2015 Recognition__ $1000 AIA Triangle Honorable Mention Scholarship Prompt__ Design a higher-education building with a provided program that serves as an extension to the program of the Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) in downtown Raleigh.
Response__ Bridge the substantial distance from the project site to CAM by adopting and reinterpreting the Museum’s iconic faceted geometry to create a psychological connection in the absence of a physical one. Employ this geometry to carve a faceted void through the building that creates structure, admits light, permits egress, and delineates program. Use the slope of the land to cantilever the volume over the front of the site where a dynamic terrace of concrete and vegetation meanders to fuse with the adjacent landscape. This bold form is reflective of the artistic ambition and talent that the building incubates.
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Rather than making unidirectional deformations of a pure 2D plane (like the canopy of CAM), iCAM’s geometry is derived through a process of multidirectional subtractions from a pure 3D volume.
iCAM
admit light isolate studio spaces structural support for floors vertical circulation outdoor sculpture garden
ADA entrance tensile support for cantilevered front roof lounge / downtown lookout vertical circulation auditorium main entrance Unsealed, perforated copper panels that clad the facade are left to patina while faceted surfaces are sealed to remain intact and create contrast with a continuous material.
[CAM canopy diagram produced by Clearscapes]
Entry Canopy credit: CAM
CAM’s iconic faceted entry canopy offers the most convenient and direct way to translate the identity of the museum to its new art institute. This flexible language is leveraged to create many different features on either side of the faceted surface as it carves through the building.
CAM
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Level 3 30 27
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Level 2 24
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Level 1 21
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14 19
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Level G 10
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outdoor atrium reception collaboration conference confidential mail meeting faculty lobby mechanical / electric administration office storage ADA/ side entrance student pre-function service core classroom classroom classroom auditorium lounge gallery critique space open studio space classroom lounge auditorium prefunction open studio space faculty office library study space roof lounge / lookout
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rad10larian Typology__ Pendant Lamp Shade Institution__ North Carolina State University Course__ Digital-Material Translations Professor__ David Hill Team Size__ Solo Year Completed__ 2016 Prompt__ Design a lamp shade entirely within Grasshopper and proceed to develop the processes to translate it from the digital to the material world. Response__ Employ the flexibility of preimpregnated carbon fiber string to form a dynamic module that can be populated around a nucleus of light. The geometry draws inspiration from natural forms, starting with the base shape of an irregular dodecahedron for practical and aesthetic purposes, providing enough surfaces for a dynamic result but not too many as to be overwhelmingly difficult to fabricate. The outward stretch of each module is programmed according to the surface area of its derivative dodecahedron surface, resulting in 4 different modules that give the lamp a tapering appearance. The conglomerate geometry was wrapped together with ribbon (visually consistent with the carbon fiber) to stabilize the form through constant inward compression, reciprocating the outward expulsion of light that it regulates, enhancing the sense of tension between the modular shading elements and the light penetrating them.
section
plan
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Igloo credit: Getty
Illustration of Radiolaria credit: Earnst Haeckel
2013-14 ITECH Research Pavilion credit: University of Stuttgart
Digital Process
Material Process
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construct cardboard formwork wrap with pre-impregnated carbon ďŹ ber heat to cure resin and solidify ďŹ bers submerge in water to weaken formwork remove formwork
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the Seed Typology__ Urban Garden Center Location__ Dorothea Dix Park Raleigh North Carolina, USA
Institution__ North Carolina State University
community garden
Course__ 5th-Year Studio
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Professor__ Patrick Rand
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Team Size__ Solo Year Completed__ 2016 Prompt__ Design an urban garden center that provides a hub for Raleigh’s gardening interests and launches the fist phase of the redevelopment of Dorothea Dix Park after the city’s acquisition of the property.
100’
Response__ Stack the program vertically to preserve the park’s open greens pace and lead visitors up through a didactic sequence of food preparation. The resultant tower provides the stature necessary to create a beacon for the park that is able to communicate with the downtown skyline despite the physical and logistical separation by a suburban neighborhood and Western Blvd. Enclose several rooms in the tower with a flexible ETFE film that can be folded away to convert the space between the two modes of inside and outside without truly ever being either. Compliment this tower with a horizontal greenhouse that lays within a natural cradle of the topography. The project would host a large amount of bamboo to help reconcile its impact, channeling its growth through concrete troughs to create spaces, structures, and enclosures. These trails lead to four different platforms throughout the site that host bamboo for cultivation, acting as temporary pavilions that provide material resources for future developments within the park, where the park becomes pollinated by physical offsprings from the Seed. Running Bamboo credit: bambooaustralia.com.au
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growth
pressure
circulation
structure
exterior interior
vertical lateral
observation dining kitchen hydroponics workshops library admin seed bank service
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Bamboo Culm Cross Section credit: Eckhard Voelcker
The circulation core draws inspiration from the cavity of a bamboo culm with all of the materials rendered as glass to provide transparency
Microscopic Bamboo Cross Section credit: Eckhard Voelcker
The convertible pneumatic rooms are inspired by the cellular composition of the culm walls surrounding the cavity.
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Omorfiá Typology__ Sculptural Installation Location__ Public Municipal Garden Pafos Cyprus
Institution__ Town of Pafos Competition Team Size__ 2 Year Completed__ 2016 Prompt__ Help reactivate the town’s Municipal Garden by designing a structure within a 3m3 limit that strengthens the relationship between the town, people, and nature with the expectation that it may be assembled and disassembled by ordinary Pafos citizens. Response__ Pafos is laced with fascinating connections to Greek mythology that became the foundation of the design. It’s fabled that Aphrodite herself, the goddess of beauty (after which the project was named) was birthed offshore from Pafos, to where she ascended from the water. During her ascension, a Greek Myrtle shrub clipping clothed her from nudity. Aphrodite then became the first wife of Hephaestus, the god of metallurgy and sculptures. In a testament to these gods, the project urges visitors to reevaluate their relationship with the environment by distorting the line between built and natural structures. It engages the local aluminum industry of the town to efficiently and reliably manufacture several 3D voxels that can be easily stacked and sculpted into a porous shape that cantilevers out from an ultra-minimal footprint. This mushrooming form suspends itself in anticipation of embracing and fusing with the growing myrtle shrubs planted at its base. Over time, the installation takes on an increasingly more sublime state as the aluminum structure assumes the roll of a trellis and supports the growth of robust myrtle shrubs, demonstrating the potential for humanity to benevolently insert itself into nature’s processes.
100’
Aluminum Manufacturer
time
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2cm 7 1 3.5cm
8cm
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2cm
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30cm 5
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30cm
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anodized aluminum square section opaque plastic cap for exposed ends bolt washer
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nut module marriage piece mister hosing zip tie
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lighting wire caulked hole to secure and seal wire programmable LED light bulb
nourish mist irrigates the Greek Myrtle shrubs and dematerializes the aluminum lattice to abstract it with the white myrtle flowers
Myrtus communis (Greek Myrtle) a local evergreen shrub; is best grown in sandy, well draining soil like that of the Municipal Garden; can grow up to 1.5m in height over 3 years with partial to full sun and has many tolerances; white, fragrant flowers bloom in early Summer, creating an aromatic lure; Sacred to Aphrodite who was born from the sea foam off Pafos
buttress the aluminum lattice ascends to support a series of hoses that expel mist
FEEDBACK LOOP
fuse branches grow to pierce through the porous trellis structure and merge with the built form
Myrtus Communis Illustration credit: Wikipedia
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With the intention to obfuscate the built with natural, a recursive branching script was employed to invite a variable of entropy into the design process to help emulate a natural growth pattern. Seeding the algorithm different numbers allowed for a series of rapid prototypes from which the most desirable form was picked and modified.
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The structure would be equipped with motion sensors that field the presence of visitors and trigger the nucleus of lights to brighten and pulse proportional to present activity. At night, the mist refracts this light and further brightens the installation and its surroundings.
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Wake Technical Community College RT-2 3 Typology__ Higher Education Classroom Building Location__ Research Triangle Park Morrisville North Carolina, USA
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Institution__ O’Brien Atkins Team Size__ 5 Year Completed__ Ongoing Prompt__ Wake Technical Community College asked O’Brien Atkins to design the second building for their Research Triangle campus while simultaneously re-developing the layout of their master plan. The Town of Morrisville’s Universal Development Ordinance also has exceptionally strict and conservative mandates for what a building can look like in terms of the facade materials and composition. This had to be reconciled with the College’s desire to establish a more progressive identity than the previous building (RT-1) did, especially within the technologydriven community that their industrial neighbors in the Research Triangle propel. Response__ Use RT-1 as a material precedent to establish a coherent palette, but employ a more liberal use of metal and glass in a dynamic pattern to reinforce a progressive aesthetic and reflect the interior program. Introduce Limestone to enclose the zinc-framed upper levels in an efficient and contemporary way that also satisfies the UDO. Engage the neighboring industries by instituting an accessible Partnership Center on the ground level where companies can engage with students to bridge the gap between the academic and professional worlds, and bend the footprint to embrace the main approach from the parking deck and encourage visitors to enter the quad that comes into definition with the establishment of RT-2.
100’
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existing
interior network
place
animate
20o
program
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embrace
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Level 3
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Level 2
Level 1
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all photos shot with professional 35mm black and white film and not post-processed
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