Eric Randall Morris || Architectural Design Portfolio

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• ERIC RANDALL MORRIS • PROFESSIONAL PORTFOLIO

• TABLE OF CONTENTS • 2 • EXHIBITION : RADICAL HETEROGENEITY 4 • VISI MAG INTERVIEW + GRAPHIC DESIGN 8 • ESSAYS + ILLUSTRATION 12 • SOCIAL NATIVE ADVERTISING 14 • ARCHITECTURE COMPETITIONS 15 • EVOLO SKYSCRAPER COMPETITION 18 • FAIRY TALES VOL.3 20 • ARCH OUT LOUD : VERTICAL CEMETERY 22 • MIT M.ARCH THESIS 32 • HARBORVIEW HOUSE 40 • KENDALL SQUARE URBAN FRAMEWORK 46 • GUGGENHEIM HELSINKI PROPOSAL

642 Castro Street San Francisco, CA 94114 • eric.randall.morris@gmail.com • 404 · 446 · 7000


• COLLAGE CITY : RADICAL HETEROGENEITY • FERAL FACTORY LTD (EXHIBITION) DENVER, CO APRIL 1 - 28, 2017 These prints are accepted pieces to an upcoming exhibition in Denver, CO. The open call for submissions asked for visual art which explores cities, city life, and urbanism.

2 • GRAPHIC DESIGN

These pieces will be shown under the theme of “Radical Heterogeneity” along side other accepted art works. The ambition of the project was to capture the strangeness of the city and the built world, the building elevations were abstracted and exaggerated to evoke the sensation of being caught in a daydream. The work investigates the seemingly infinite nature of urban life, while testing new techniques of photographic manipulation.


Submitted Materials : (4) 12” X 16” Pieces Clockwise from top left : ( THE ZIGZAG HOUSE, INFINITE URBANISM NO.1, ARCHITEXTURE NO.4, and ARCHITEXTURE NO.1) Right Film Strip : Behind the scenes progression shots of the design process.


• VISI MAG : INSTAGRAM LOVE INTERVIEW • CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA NOVEMBER 6, 2016 1. What is your background? - Tell us a bit about yourself. I’m formally trained as an architect, though I have always been a daydreamer. Receiving my B.S. Arch from Georgia Tech and my M. Arch from MIT, I developed a background in visual media and a passion for spatial composition. I grew up and down the East Coast of the United States and every home has left an imprint on me. Born in Annapolis MD and raised on an island in the Chesapeake Bay, the sprawling McMansion suburbs on the Northern edge of Metro Atlanta, and the row houses and walkups of Cambridge MA are all recurrent sources of inspiration for me. Now, newly relocated to San Francisco CA by way of Boston - I’m looking forward to further immersing myself into the art and architecture scene. 2. Describe your pictures in 3 words.

Dystopian / Metaphysical / Dreamlike

3. Explain your work to us. I started this project with homes on my walks around Boston - where I lived after I finished grad school. The different oddities that are found on the facades of homes / houses / buildings interested me and made me question what post-processes are performed to adapt the building to the users needs and wants. So what started as an attempt to catalog an index of the contemporary American Vernacular(s), transformed into a continually evolving visual exercise of the elevation and facades of the cities and suburbs around me. It’s about actualizing my daydreams, and fabricating these surreal new worlds through two dimensions.

4 • GRAPHIC DESIGN

4. What is the process behind your images? Once I have the photo, I take it right into Photoshop where I start distorting and correcting the image. Editing these photos is different each time; some stay simple while others become much

larger undertakings. Transforming these images into orthographic projections can be meticulous but the colors / symmetry / emergent patterns are elements I try and explore and experiment with each time I compose one. The captions always help tell the story I’m imagining, so sometimes the words help direct me moreso than the material I’m working on. Either way, the idea may not start out distinct, but after a bit of playing around something will always surface. 5. Where do you find your buildings? All over! I love to travel and take photos everywhere I go. Typically they are to and from my way to work, or while I’m on my lunchbreak, but if there’s ever a nice day with some great sunlight I’ll take a walk around a new neighborhood and go house hunting. 6. What are you trying to encapsulate though your pieces? An uncomfortable sense of awe. The notion that what you’re seeing is just a representation of your surroundings, and when read as a collective, are just a curated simulation of things we pass by every day. That what we consider normal is not actually normal; it’s odd, it’s strange, it’s obscure, it’s nonsensical. That normal things deserve to be looked at and dreamt about. 7. How has Instagram helped / influenced your work? The creative community on Instagram inspires me every day! I’ve been very fortunate to be surrounded by such a compelling and diverse group of individuals who push boundaries, expose issues, experiment visually, and challenge me to push creatively every day. Having such a digital proximity to these people is something I never expected to have - and meeting them while traveling has given me friends and contemporaries all over the world! On the following pages are a collection of recent graphic design works.


ARCHITEXTURE NO.7 Photography + Photoshop 2017


6 • GRAPHIC DESIGN



• TECHNOPOLITICS ESSAY 1 • INSTRUCTOR : ARINDUM DUTTA, MIT CAMBRIDGE, MA FALL 2012 Offer, based on our discussions, a workable definition of “technopolitics”. Associating technology and its intimate ties with political advancement, technopolitics can been seen as the co-evolution of these institutions. The intersection of which is neither clearly defined nor narrow in its scope and influence. The conflation of mechanical and technical innovation with how people negotiate power and responsibility is a field where the participation of thought is absolute in its necessity. Technopolitics is the method through which the current state of global affairs as well as the direction of mechanization can be traced, analyzed, and projected. Its strategic practice attempts to reconcile and understand the historic connection of technological and political transformation. The association formed from these partnered systems is just that, a system. A series of tangential connections which govern the trajectory of future development. Technology has no moral affiliation. Effectively having zero agenda. And arguably innocent. Its use and application being entirely reliant on the anonymous user[s]. Invention is formed through the quest for knowledge and the furthering of current condition. Politics situates itself on the opposing pole of operation. Politics are the means to an end, imbued with bias and intent from its conception. The network composed from these polar bodies is the realm where we arrive at the collision of past / present / future. Revolving around episodic and consistent economies of human globalization and revolution.

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Curiously, as we continue to sprint towards the future, there is resistance. Resistance to the universal network of information and its constantly evolving use and application. Whether it be from some residual fear of change and the unknown or from a motivation to maintain privacy and

exclusivity among an increasingly integrated world, the spread of technology in the contemporary era, the enterprise of information and its progression must be divorced from dogmatic gain and epistemological preservation. If evolution / [re] evolution / revolution are to have a place in our futures, technopolitics must be a priority. Our problem as a people is grappling with a fundamental sense of alienation. An eternal struggle to maintain ownership over what we believe to be ours. That because we identify something as ours, that it becomes no one else’s. This materialistic notion we hold with such high regard stymies the dispersion of information and technologies, and using a force of governance, we attempt to commodify, package, and market these developments. Politicking becomes a coping mechanism, a tool through which we can comfortably operate within this growing population of people’s wants and needs. Technopolitics is an event horizon. Simultaneously involving itself in economic, cultural, and social behavior so very thoroughly, that all merge into a series of composite structures which we find ourselves held. Distinguishing the part becomes obsolete, and that’s where this concept functions. The whole being the field of operation and the source of potential intellectual advance. Defined as a threshold, technopolitics is the congress of technological progression and political exercise. This is where revolution, economy, and society coalesce. And this is where the transformation of every mode of life can be traced.


ALL MY FRIENDS ARE GHOSTS Book Cover Art (Pen + Ink) 2015


10 • ILLUSTRATION

GEOMETRIC GHOST ARRANGEMENT NO. 3 Illustration (Pen + Ink) 2016


How does ‘public art’ potentially discriminate against the idea of a public? Of, pertaining to, or affecting a population or a community as a whole. The public realm is the representation of every individual. The value of a public area is in its embodiment of universal anonymity. The absence of program while providing a venue for anything, and the freedom of a common space is its primary responsibility. Art has an agenda, art commands a sense of authority over space, and art represents the idea of an individual. However, public areas are the universal venue for the exchange of idea, where open debate is welcomed and encouraged. Our country even addresses this idea of forum as a primary human right. So the addition of a ‘public’ art into this realm falls under this umbrella quite comfortably.

ARCHDAILY HOLIDAY CARD SUBMISSION Illustration (Pen + Ink) 2016

Discrimination is something that can arise from such freedom. The intention of the author of the art can be seen and experienced, just as a protester might use a sidewalk as a pulpit, the political, social, and cultural weight of an art object can be felt. Whether the message is perceived as controversial or not, the message is still valid. As opposed to the message, the public is betrayed in a sense. The publicness is taken away, and replaced exactly with it’s opposite. The context is tainted and the interjection of a piece of art chips away at an unfettered occupation of an open arena. The object bears an authority like the individual may, and through introducing art into a zone designated for the every, the space is no longer reserved primarily for the people. Diminishing the power once held by the public.

GEOMETRIC GHOST ARRANGEMENT NO. 4 Illustration (Pen + Ink) 2015


• SOCIAL NATIVE ADVERTISING • CAMBRIDGE, MA / ATLANTA, GA SAN FRANCISCO, CA I have been a Content Creator with Social Native Marketing since the spring of 2015, and have been contracted to create imagery for various advertising campaigns ove ther years.

12 • ADVERTISING

Some clients I have collaborated with are Coca-Cola, Nissin Ramen Cup o’ Noodles, the ASPCA, Endless Summer, and the Human Rights Campaign.

COCA-COLA HOLIDAY AD : NAUGHTY OR NICE Mixed Media + Illustration Brand Favorite 2015


NISSIN RAMEN CUP O’NOODLES AD 2017

ASCPA ANIMAL ADOPTION WEEK ADVERT 2016

ENDLESS SUMMER #EASTCOST AD 2016

HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN : MAKE AMERICA GAY AGAIN 2016


• ARCHITECTURE COMPETITIONS • EVOLO 2015 • HONORABLE MENTION FAIRY TALES VOL. 3 • SELECTED WORK ARCH OUT LOUD : VERTICAL CEMETERY • TOP 50 These next few pages exhibit recent notable work from various architecture competitions I’ve competed in. The following projects have recieved honors and distinctions and have been published online and in print. Our (my partner Galo Canizares of Office CA) collaboration started with the entry into the Evolo Skyscraper Competition in the winter of 2015. The project “The Valley of Giants” emerged and we recieved an honorable mention for the design, which would later be published in the Sept 2016 publication, Evolo Skyscrapers 3. Soon after we re-imagined our project for the architectural storytelling compeition Fairy Tales Vol 3. The new investigation of our project was chosen to appear in the next installment of Blank Space Project’s, Fairy Tales Vol.3, which was printed in August 2016. The next project was a rapidly paced competition in the fall of 2016, Arch Out Loud : Vertical Cemetery. Our submission “EIDOLON” was ranked in the top 50 projects in the first round of the jury and was circulated among websites such as Bustler and Arch Out Loud.

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These projects also received press from the following entities : Archdaily, Dezeen, Evolo.us, and the Blank Space Project.

EVOLO SKYSCRAPERS 3 eVolo Press 2016



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Excerpt from the fairy tale of, “The Valley of Giants” “... The Giants had come, his grandfather would say, during the time of great unrest. His family had fled the chaos in the North and joined the nomadic tribes as they searched for refuge. He was just a boy when they had finished constructing the last one, and by then his family, like many others of the tribe, decided to settle in the Valley of the Giants. He said that before they came, the Valley was a small cluster of oases, utilized by tribes for hundreds—if not thousands of years. Nomads would pass through, gather water, supplies, and keep moving. But that all changed when the Giants appeared. The oases tripled in size and the land became greener. More wildlife appeared. Birds, bugs, creatures of all sorts. Then the rain came. It was a while before tribes noticed the relationship between the Giants and the changing of the Valley. Because they were always moving, the perception of the area was often dismissed. As more and more permanent settlements appeared, the Giants became legend. They became the keepers of the land.

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Besides his grandfather’s tales, Asil had heard other origin stories about the Giants. Some argued that they were old weapons from the people in the North, others believed they were communicative instruments to relay messages across the desert. Asil reckoned they looked like needles. He sometimes agreed with the weapon the-


ory because they did have a menacing demeanor. They towered over the sand at an excessive scale, and were covered with weathered, rusty white stone. A few had been engulfed by the oasis and had vegetation growing on them; one had even become the home to a flock of birds native to the Valley. However, nobody interacted with them. They were not very welcoming. It was when he noticed the birds leaving and returning to that one particular Giant that Asil formulated the idea of entering them. It was common knowledge that they were impossible to penetrate. Their alabaster shell had no doors, and the only visible openings were fifty feet above. Those that did manage to get up to the openings encountered a dead end and came back down, abandoning any further exploration. It was clear these creatures were not meant to be inhabited, they would all say. The majority of attempts were made by rebellious teens, and would involve treacherous climbs with dubious equipment. Some of the kids fell, which led the elders to put up a series of solid fences around the base. They obviously weren’t interested in what was inside. Or perhaps they were hiding something. But Asil could not get the thought out of his head. For a year now, he obsessed over them. He drew sketches, fabricated theories of what could be on the interior, and finally drafted up a plan of attack. He would go underground.

The ground was often taken for granted in the Valley. It supplied everything that the inhabitants needed without any required work. Fields of vegetation would provide food in the summer, die in the winter, and be replenished by the following spring. Water reservoirs would be constantly fresh, and have an endless supply of water. Grandfather would say this was always the case, hence his family’s decision to settle there. The curious thing, Asil considered, was that nobody questioned how it was possible; nobody wondered. In school he was taught that in other parts of the continent the land has to be worked, but in other parts— like in the Valley—the land is perfectly positioned vis-a-vis the sun and migratory patterns, that the land just works. Because there was no evidence of the contrary, that explanation became canon. Nevertheless, Asil was determined to infiltrate the mysterious ground and unearth its secrets. -That morning, he stepped out into the rain, and equipped with a series of make-shift digging equipment, ventured towards the Giants. At the fence, he dug a small ditch and crawled through. Within minutes he stood face to face with the Giant. He picked the one with the bird nest because he figured it had the most potential. If birds were interested in it, there must be something in there, he said to himself. Walking up to the base, he felt insignificant. The Giant loomed over him with commanding force. Like the ancient statues of the Gods, it had an ominous presence; objects to be respected and left alone. With a deep breath, he began his sacrilegious excavation...”


1658558327

EIDOLON

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noun, plural eidola, eidolons. 1. a phantom; apparition. 2. an ideal. On October 15th, 2014, Minoru Tanaka, founder and CEO of Tanaka Electronics Corp. passed away from heart complications. A lifelong technology enthusiast, Mr. Tanaka had stipulated in his will that the family maintain his Facebook and Google+ profiles as memory shrines. Visitors would be allowed to pay their respects by commenting or posting on his virtual walls, and the wide circle of acquaintances he accumulated through his long life would have access to the recorded memories they shared. In 2025, after the opening of the Shinjuku Eidolon, Mr. Tanaka’s memory profiles were migrated to the Eidolon’s servers. The Tanaka family could now not only secure their grandfather’s digital longevity, but could also interact with his memories in a more immersive way. Once a year, they gather to pay their respects, plug themselves into the Eidolon’s interface, and immerse themselves in Mr. Tanaka’s memories... The Eidolon itself is both a data center and a shrine. As a building, it provides physical spaces of mourning and storage of ashes. As an infrastructure, it provides virtual spaces for interacting with the ghostly remnants of the deceased’s digital presence. Memories stored in the Eidolon can be accessed from anywhere, but most choose to visit the site as a gesture of respect for the deceased. Some meander through the wandering vertical paths, while others move directly to a secluded corner of one of the labyrinthine floors. There is little sound in the Eidolon; only the occasional footsteps against the ambient background of whirring machine-ghosts. The Eidolon is a beacon of an infinite presence, both where the dead rest and where they come alive.

Level 1: Great Hall

Level 2: Cross

Level 3: Alley

Level 4: Narrows

Level 5: Centroid

Level 6: Field

Level 7: Twins

Level 8: Basilica

Level 9: Gallery

Level 10: Spiral

Level 11: Fold

Level 12: Landscape

Columbarium Wall: Contains drawers for ashes and memory modules. Data Pebble: Contains terrabyte solid state modules for memory storage.

A system of fiberoptic cables runs through the entire building providing ubiquitous ports for connecting to memorialized data. Its modular structure also allows it to keep growing as the city grows.

20 • ARCHITECTURE

WANDERING PATH

LIGHT COLUMNS

Each floor features a unique layout of columbarium walls. Visitors can reflect in intimately private areas, wide open halls, and meandering labyrinths.

COLUMBARIUM WALLS

DATA PEBBLES


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vel 2: Cross Level 2: Cross

el 4: Narrows Level 4: Narrows

Level 12 Level 12

Level 11 Level 11

evel 6: Field Level 6: Field

Level 10 Level 10

el 8: Basilica Level 8: Basilica

Level 9 9 Level

vel 10: Spiral Level 10: Spiral

Level 8 8 Level

Level 12: Landscape l 12: Landscape

unique layout que layout of of tors reect cancan reect in in ,dewide open halls, open halls, hs.

Level Level 7 7

Level 6 Level 6

Level 5 Level 5

Level 4 Level 4

DATA PEBBLES PEBBLES

Level 3

Level 3

Level 2

Level 2

Level 1

Level 1


• MIT MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE THESIS • FACULTY ADVISOR : SHEILA KENNEDY, MIT CAMBRIDGE, MA FEB 2014 HOT+COLD : Physical and Atmospheric Phenomena in the Antarctic ‘...people grow powerfully attached to that kind of life, when they get the chance to live it. It allows you to concentrate your attention on the real work, which means everything that is done to stay alive, or make things, or satisfy one’s curiosity, or play. That is utopia… especially for primitives and scientists, which is to say everybody. So a scientific research station is actually a little model of prehistoric utopia, carved out of international money economy by clever primates who want to live well.’ Kim Stanley Robinson’s “The Martians” Utopias have historically been perceived as instruments of societal change, while prior manifestations have normally been attributed to emerging cultural conditions or evolving ethical views, however one of the most pertinent agendas relevant to our field would be the rapidly shifting state of our environment. Human environmental impact is frequently looked at a local or regional scale, with large international protocol, remaining largely ineffective and mired through process. The summation of this altered climate includes effects like rising surface and atmospheric temperatures, rising sea levels, ozone depletion, and reduced cloud formation. And nowhere are these environmental consequences more seen than in Antarctica. Claimed as a global commons, Antarctica is ungoverned, yet under the international protection and afforded the combined preservatory efforts of these bodies of power. Despite our concerted efforts, its current deterioration is due directly to an individual and universal, detrimental contribution.

22 • ARCHITECTURE

This thesis aims to generate an awareness and visibility to the oscillating physical and atmospheric ephemera of this continent, while using the internal and external extrema of a research installation as a performative bridge between architecture and environment. Through granting a variety of sensorial experiences, this station will help instill strong desires to change decision making processes of individuals and other political bodies, while raising questions of personal and institutional responsibility.


ANTARCTIC FACILITY AT SUNSET || FAR-SHOT


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AERIAL + MARITIME CONNECTIONS || DYMAXION PROJECTION


MCMURDO STATION, AQ : 2012 || CLIMATE INFOGRAPH


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RENEWABLE RESOURCE + ENERGY CYCLE OF FACILITY


INCREASED AWARENESS RESULTS IN ACTIVE CONSERVATION


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FLOOR PLAN OF EXCAVATED FACILITY [-5M GRADE]



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SUBTERRANEAN RESEARCH BAY WITH SCIENTISTS AT WORK


FLAT AND CONCAVE SURFACE OPTIC INTERFACE

HOT + COLD AIR CIRCULATION

EXCAVATOR MACHINE TOOLPATH

CURVED INTERNAL WALL SYSTEM


• HARBORVIEW HOUSE • SANTOS PRESCOTT AND ASSOCIATES GLOUCESTER, MA 2015-2017 Situated on a steeply sloped site in the northeast corner of Gloucester Harbor, the Harborview House was created as a two-unit home that capitolizes on environmental factors, orientation, and its unique surroundings. The motion of the house was driven from towards the prominent views of the harbor, which also directed towards the sunsets + prevailing winds. The butterfly roof lifts from the entry of the home and opens up to create a set of clerestory windows that exaggerate these qualities. Containing two, 1,500 SF units over three levels, the home has four (plus one) bedrooms and four full bathrooms. With a sensitive impact on the site and sustainably sourced resources, this house sought to be a responsible addition to the neighborhood.

32 • ARCHITECTURE

Pictured below is the first sketch model of the home. This model became the primary schema for the house, and after the complete development of the project, much of its original character was preserved.

INITIAL STUDY MODEL - WEST ELEVATION


FINAL BUILD - SOUTHWESTERN CORNER


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9

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7 10 6 5

3 4 2

12

LEVEL 0 FLOOR PLAN

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1 • Garage 2 • Home Office 3 • Dining 4 • Living 5 • Kitchen 6 • Guest Room 7 • Bath

LEVEL 1 FLOOR PLAN

8 • Master Bedroom 9 • Master Bath 10 • Entry 11 • Patio 12 • Terrace 13 • Photovoltaics

LEVEL 0 AXONOMETRIC

LEVEL 1 AXONOMETRIC


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1

6

5

10 7 3

4

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12 12 8

9

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LEVEL 2 FLOOR PLAN

LEVEL 3 FLOOR PLAN

LEVEL 2 AXONOMETRIC

LEVEL3 AXONOMETRIC


8

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3

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5

4

2

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LONGITUDINAL SECTION 1

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1• Home Office 2 • Terrace 3 • Dining 4 • Guest Room 5 • Bathroom

6 • Master Bathroom 7 • Living 8 • Kitchen 9 • Backyard 10 • Frontyard

LIVING SPACE WITH WORK LOFT BEYOND

10


LIVING SPACES OPEN TOWARDS THE HARBOR WHILE INTERIOR SPACES ARE CONNECTED THROUGH LIGHT AND THE OPEN FLOOR PLAN


38 • ARCHITECTURE

BRIGHT NATURAL LIGHTING FILLS THE INTERIOR SPACES YEAR ROUND


LIFT AND SLIDE COLLAPSABLE DOORS OPEN UP TOWARDS VIEWS OF THE HARBOR


• KENDALL SQUARE PUBLIC SPACE CENTER PLAN • WITH SANTOS PRESCOTT AND ASSOCIATES AND FRAMEWORK CAMBRIDGE, MA 2015 Kendall Square is where the future is invented. With proximity to MIT and Harvard, large families of biotech and research companies, and a large population of young professionals, Kendall Square deserves a sophisticated urban plan to gather the valuable people and resources of the area, and to propel them forward into new realms of participatory urban life and innovation. The “Public Space Center” was Santos Prescott and Associates’, in collaboration with Seattle urban design frim Framework, entry into an invited competition to determine what the future of Cambridge’s Innovation District could be. Below is the summary of our final proposal. Kendall Square has always been a place for dreaming big, for exploration, research, innovation and taking risks - from early industries built on marsh land, the grand vision of a NASA headquarters of the 50s, to its abundant research facilities and innovative businesses located there today. In developing a new framework for Kendall Square, we questioned : How can this heritage of innovation and ideas be continued and leveraged to address opportunities for Kendall Square today? We need a shift in perspective towards a grand moment of optimism for Kendall Square. People should think of it as a destination in itself, a place to discover, the perfect place to build, to start new ways to participate in public space. Development of a public space framework allows us to ask, “How can we be curious and explore again?”

40 • ARCHITECTURE

Kendall Square has been on the cutting edge of creating the future, we propose making Kendall Square the Public’s Space Center - bringing in the spirit of experimentation, innovation, and optimism into the public realm. The Public Space Center Framework consists of three layers : The Physical Realm, which incorporates the tangible elements and design of landscapes, buildings, and systems; The Participatory Realm, which includes the ideas made visible and the activities that take place in the stage set by the physical realm; and Beautiful Policy, which lays the groundwork for fueling change towards a better public future. This project was a round 2 finalist among 5 other architecture and planning firms.



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• GUGGENHEIM HELSINKI SUBMISSION • WITH SANTOS PRESCOTT AND ASSOCIATES HELSINKI, FINLAND 2014 The prompt for wood suggested a concept: an abstraction of waves against a wooden ship’s hull. A series of “super-ellipse” structural timber rings, clad in wood and zinc, houses the exhibition spaces–conditioned boxes within the protected hull. The massive timber structure is exposed along the circulation and in the multi-level atrium. A wavelike glass wall encloses the harbor-front lobby. The building fits the harbor context and scale of long waterfront buildings. The park is extended into the site with a meandering ramp with landscape. Visitors enter by a porch and museum entry to the north. The lobby will have open access to facilities including retail and dining, while dedicated elevators access the ticketed exhibition floor. A public ice-rink and garden “porch” overlooks the harbor, semi-enclosed within the roof. Our proposal for the new Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki seeks to provide a new world class cultural institution to the city of Helsinki that is at the same time fundamentally a building that responds to its place: site, location, environment, and cultural and economic situation. The desire to maximize and push the envelope of wood as a structural material is a response to the rich timber resources and technology endemic to Finland. What emerged conceptually was an abstraction of the analogy of waves against a wood ship’s hull. The “hull,” a series of “super-ellipse” structural timber rings, clad in wood and metal, houses the exhibition spaces and floats above the public spaces below. A wave-like glass wall encloses the lobby, which faces the harbor and outdoor exhibit and performance spaces.

46 • ARCHITECTURE

The overall form of the building fits the harbor context of long waterfront buildings and responds to the scale of existing structures. The adjacent park landscape is extended to the site with a meandering ramp that connects to the museum at the mezzanine level.

Much of the building is dedicated to public space. A semi-enclosed space embedded in the roof contains a seasonal ice rink and garden; a “porch” overlooking the harbor. The ground floor lobby is proposed to have open public access to exhibits, classrooms, retail and dining. A ferry terminal is included, with a raised terrace above for public dining on the harbor. The staircase to the performance plaza below doubles as an amphitheater. A museum visitor approaching from the city or trolley stop is welcomed by a large lobby on the north end of the building, protected from the elements by the hull above. After purchasing tickets, two dedicated elevators take guests up into the hull where the exhibitions are contained. The spatial experience inside the hull is unique, as the massive timber structure is left exposed along the circulation areas, and completely revealed in the large atrium space that cuts through all levels of the building. The primary exhibition spaces are carefully conditioned boxes within the protective wrapper of the shell, flexible and capable of housing a wide variety of exhibitions. A special large exhibition space occupies the whole of the hull on the north and overlooks the city through a large glass wall. Much of the exhibition level is lit from above by skylights with south-facing operable heliostats. A light slot cuts through the center of the building, lighting the lobby on the ground level. Sustainability plays an important role in the design of this building at all levels. The chosen elliptical form provides an incredibly thermally efficient form, housing all the galleries and mechanical spaces within its protective envelope, acting like a lung providing ventilation to the spaces. Daylighting is enhanced with roof-mounted heliostats and large openings to the south. The wavy glass wall on the ground level is a double wall with glass structure within, providing an efficient thermal separation. A thick stone clad wall on the west braces the building and shields it from the road.


NIGHT VIEW LOOKING UP FROM PUBLIC PLAZA INTO MAIN EXHIBITION SPACE


48 • ARCHITECTURE


EXHIBITION SPACES INTERSECT AND OCCUPY THE MAIN ATRIUM


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DAYLIGHTING STRATEGIES

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ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES



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PROGRAMMATIC AXONOMETRIC


ZONES INTERACT BOTH HORIZONTALLY AND VERTICALLY THROUGHOUT THE SCHEME


• Thanks for reading + bye for now! •


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