E. Scott Mitchell / portfolio / 2009

ERICSCOTTMITCHELL

University of Virginia School of Architecture University of Virginia School of Architecture Master of Landscape Architecture Path A

INDEX

HILLSIDE GARDEN CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA 2005

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NEW ACADEMIC BUILDING CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA 2007

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T.I.L.T. [TRANSFORMATIVE INTELLIGENT LOOP TOWER] 2007

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ESCUELA SANTA RITA DE CASIA RIMAC, LIMA, PERU 2008

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OLLANTAYTAMBO MASTER PLAN + LANDSCAPE STUDY OLLANTAYTAMBO, CUZCO, PERU 2008

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DMAVA STATE PARK JERSEY CITY, NJ 2009

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HILLSIDE GARDEN

CHARLOTTESVILLE,VA ACADEMIC 2005

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The Hillside Garden was one of the first projects completed as part of a design education at the University of Virginia. A small intervention in a much larger urban park, the project was to be a Place for Gathering. The pedagogical goal was to provide a framework for investigating contextual site planning, negotiating complex topographical conditions and formulating coherent arguments for each and every decision made throughout the design process.

Though not strictly tabula rasa, the decision for program, size, extent and siting were to be determined by each student. In addition, the park presented an important historical context and related community patronage that was to be incorporated into the project’s concept and program.

The design presented here was for a portion of the slope between the Upper and Lower parks to be programmed as a small gathering space.

Transforming the relatively steep and uninhabitable slope would provide a unique condition within the park that was both secluded and open. A simple concrete retaining wall faced with recycled synthetic wood a grove of almond trees and daylighted rainwater drainage would be used to create a restful retreat full of various textures and surfaces. Concrete benches and steps play against soft grass and unique textures and colors of the almond. Runoff from the Upper park is directed along the top of the concrete wall where it then cascades to a rill along the precipice of the slope.

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / HILLSIDE GARDEN, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA / 2005 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / HILLSIDE GARDEN, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA / 2005 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / HILLSIDE GARDEN, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA / 2005 / ACADEMIC

NEW ACADEMIC BUILDING

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA ACADEMIC 2007

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The New Academic Building for the University of Virginia was the result of two simultaneous paths of intrigue. The first was rooted in a desire to use architecture to provoke an awareness of interpersonal interaction as a series of events. This was to be accomplished by creating a stage for human collision, both manifested and illusory. The second was an investigation into the interaction between architecture and ground.

By abstracting the ground as a horizontal plane and making legible the activities within the building I could manipulate the interaction between interior and exterior events, an inclusive design of inside and outside. The first step was to lift the primary programmatic elements and allowing the ground to penetrate the phenomenal boundary of the building.

East and west, north and south, were no longer separate and distinct entities of space but rather a continuation and extension of one another. The second, and perhaps most informative, was to arrange the necessary program into an ‘L’ form, thereby creating what I termed an open cloister. This ‘interior’ space was further activated by the transparency of the east façade and the design of the primary circulation just beyond. The result is an activated façade whose response to the open ground is much the same as a projection to a theater audience, a relationship that is inclusive and responsive. Further refinements to the building envelope included a series of large apertures that reveal small moments of activity to the west and to the university’s primary collection of dormitories.

ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / NEW ACADEMIC BUILDING, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA / 2007 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / NEW ACADEMIC BUILDING, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA / 2007 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / NEW ACADEMIC BUILDING, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA / 2007 / ACADEMIC

ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / NEW ACADEMIC BUILDING, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA / 2007 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / NEW ACADEMIC BUILDING, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA / 2007 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / NEW ACADEMIC BUILDING, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA / 2007 / ACADEMIC

T.I.L.T.

WITH K. HELMS, H. KIM, A. KONG + K. KUWABARA TRANSFORMATIVE INTELLIGENT LOOP TOWER ACADEMIC 2007

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T.I.L.T. was a team effort that also included Karey Helms, Howard Kim, Alex Kong and Ko Kuwabara. I played an important role in formulating the conceptual framework for a robotic ecology based on the blowfish, including the specific notion of a spatially-responsive building skin and the environmentally-reactive building system. The design of the static prototype structure as well as conceptual prototypes of skin dynamics were the result of studies with Karey Helms. MAX/ MSP programming was a collaborative effort with Alex Kong. Fabrication and construction of the prototype, including rapid-prototyping and hand assembly of 2000+ paper scales, was a full-team effort.

T.I.L.T was envisioned as a dynamic space for an individual. Its purpose: to transform the very foundation of architectural space. It’s inspiration: the blowfish. Early studies focused on integrating structure, skin and dynamic mechanism into a single ecology, controlled by proxy using a few actuators.

However, through intensive investigations and physical trials it was decided that T.I.L.T would best operate by using a system of “pancake” cam structures arranged in A tower and then skinned with a dynamically porous membrane. This membrane would be pushed and manipulated using three low-voltage DC motors controlled by MAX/MSP responding to any number of stimuli be they proximity, gestural, temperature, sound, even graphic [photographic or video].

We discovered that the responsive nature of T.I.L.T. allowed us to consider the mechanism as an energy consumer and to apply that understanding to a new multivalent proposition. Through the same mechanism that gave its inhabitants new architectural space, T.I.L.T. could, for example, become more aerodynamic or more heliotropic, conserving and absorbing energy as necessary. Embedded intelligence could determine the most efficient orientation, form and response while simultaneously manipulating interior and exterior space. Once an energy user, T.I.L.T was now and prototype for an environmentally and architecturally responsive energy producer.

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / TILT [TRANSFORMATIVE INTELLIGENT LOOP TOWER] / 2007 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / TILT [TRANSFORMATIVE INTELLIGENT LOOP TOWER] / 2007 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / TILT [TRANSFORMATIVE INTELLIGENT LOOP TOWER] / 2007 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / TILT [TRANSFORMATIVE INTELLIGENT LOOP TOWER] / 2007 / ACADEMIC

solar_energy();

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air_flow(); human();

ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / TILT [TRANSFORMATIVE INTELLIGENT LOOP TOWER] / 2007 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / TILT [TRANSFORMATIVE INTELLIGENT LOOP TOWER] / 2007 / ACADEMIC

ESCUELA SANTA RITA DE CASIA RIMAC, LIMA, PERU ACADEMIC 2008

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This short design excercise presented a chance to redesign the dilapidated spaces for a small Catholic school in the historic district of Lima and offered a unique opportunity to investigate smallscale construction techniques and emerging material prototypes in an environment dissimilar from any I had worked with before. Structural concerns of the project had to contend with frequent seismic activity, centuries-old non-reinforced masonry and timber construction. In addition, soil types in the area were particularly susceptible to long-period vibrations during and immediately following seismic activity. Peruvian maritime climate conditions also required special care in dealing with exposure to equatorial sun, strong winds and little to no precipitation for extended periods of time.

The solution was to design a series of ‘floating’ classrooms that used lightweight steel framing and biocomposite Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs), resting gently on the ground in a vibration isolation scheme. A number of classrooms would be ‘built-into’ exisiting single-story spaces as a reinforcement.

Several new classrooms were designed in a twostory arrangement with operable ventilation schemes that not only benefitted the students’ environmental conditions but created a series of interconnected ‘rooms’ to suit a variety of spatial needs. Walls to the interior of the school could swing upwards to simultaneously shield the sun and open one classrom to its neighboring classroom. Louvres along the opposite wall could adjust to allow breezes to penetrate or seal out dust and smog.

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / ESCUELA SANTA RITA DE CASIA, LIMA, PERU / 2008 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / ESCUELA SANTA RITA DE CASIA, LIMA, PERU / 2008 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / ESCUELA SANTA RITA DE CASIA, LIMA, PERU / 2008 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / ESCUELA SANTA RITA DE CASIA, LIMA, PERU / 2008 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / ESCUELA SANTA RITA DE CASIA, LIMA, PERU / 2008 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / ESCUELA SANTA RITA DE CASIA, LIMA, PERU / 2008 / ACADEMIC

OLLANTAYTAMBO STATION + MASTER PLAN 36

WITH R. LEWANDOWSKI + S. JEMEC OLLANTAYTAMBO, CUSCO, PERU ACADEMIC 2008

Ollantaytambo rests at the terminus of the Sacred Valley, home to over 200 sacred Incan sites, and is the gateway to the celebrated site of Machu Picchu.

An existing train station situated along the Urubamba River serves thousands of tourists annually. Though the city has worked tirelessly to respond to the growing tourist industry it has barely met the needs of the local economy and the people who are dependent on the valley for their livelihood.

A new train station would serve both local workers and international travelers who arrive daily by bus, train and automobile. To serve local workers, the station would also become an epicenter for commercial activity by providing freight access, local pedestrian markets and immediate access to two villages. In collaboration with team members Ryan Lewandowski and Sebastijan Jemec, we developed a design derived from both the local market vernacular and modern rammed-earth and glu-lam technology.

The latter was aimed at relieving strain on a timber industry riddled with illegal and unsustainable activity as well as to allow local manual-labor construction techniques to be used most effectively.

Though I played a vital role in developing the station’s architecture, my focus throughout the project was centered on challenges of master planning and landscape remediation strategies. Siting the station close to the nearby village of Rumira, a more modern village that does not struggle with issues of historical preservation, allowed us to focus the growing tourist industry away from sensitive and dilapidated Incan sites. Further studies were made into methods of remediating damaged landscapes due to unsustainable farming practices and years of abuse and a playful landscape was designed as part of the market and to function as a pedagogical tool for travelers to the area. Its planting forms are derived from agriculture and the orchard to reveal the structure, color and character of each plant.

Additionally, the scheme playfully suggests, in a way that is legible to Western tourists, that each plant has a cultural significance to Incan Peru.

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EXTANT TRAIN STATION SOUTH OF TOWN. LOCALS ARRIVE BY RAIL WITH GOODS TO BE SOLD TO TOURISTS AND IN THE LOCAL MARKETS

ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / OLLANTAYTAMBO STATION + MASTER PLAN / 2008 / ACADEMIC

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CONSTRUCTION OF A WATER RESERVOIR A FEW KILOMETERS NORTH OF OLLANTAYTAMBO

ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / OLLANTAYTAMBO STATION + MASTER PLAN / 2008 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / OLLANTAYTAMBO MASTER PLAN + LANDSCAPE STUDY / 2008 / ACADEMIC

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10m

50m

(1:1000)

ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / OLLANTAYTAMBO STATION + MASTER PLAN / 2008 / ACADEMIC

100m

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / OLLANTAYTAMBO STATION + MASTER PLAN / 2008 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / OLLANTAYTAMBO STATION + MASTER PLAN / 2008 / ACADEMIC

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"/(*$0 "OBEFOBOUIFSB DPMVCSJOB M M 4HIS MIMOSA LIKE TREE HAS A THORNY TRUNK WITH LEAVES CM IN LENGTH THAT FOLD IN AT NIGHT )T PRODUCES FLOWERS FROM SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER AND LARGE BEAN PODS FROM SEPTEMBER TO JULY !

SWEET DRINK CAN BE MADE FROM ITS BARK

$)&3*.0:" "OOPOB DIFSJNPMB M THIS .ATIVE HIGHLAND TREE PRODUCES SMALL CLUSTERS OF YELLOW BROWN FLOWERS CM ACROSS 4HE TREE DERIVES ITS NAME FROM THE 1UECHUA WORD FOR hCOLD SEEDSv AS THE PLANT THRIVES IN THE HIGH ALTITUDES OF THE !NDES )4S FRUIT IS SOFT AND SWEET

REMINISCENT OF APPLE BANANA PINEAPPE

STRAWBERRY AND EVEN BUBBLEGUM

/"/$& #ZSTPOJNB DSBTTJGPMJB M .ATIVE TO 0ERU AND ABUNDANT IN THE WILD UP FROM SEA LEVEL TO ALTITUDES OF FT ,EAVES ARE BROAD AND LEATHERY IN MATURITY )TS FRUIT CAN BE EATEN RAW OR USED IN THE PRODUCTION OF CHICHA A RITUAL DRINK OF THE !NDES

$&%"3 $FESFMB MJMMPJ !N IMPORTANT TIMBER IN THE REGION THOUGH VERY DIFFERENT FROM #EDRELA ODORATA THIS 3OUTH !MERICAN CEDAR IS CURRENTLY FACING PROBLEMS OF HABITAT LOSS

$*/$)0/" $JODIPOB QVCFTDFOT M ! LARGE SHRUB OR TREE THE CINCHONA HAS VERY LONG CM LEAVES THAT ARE EVERGREEN IN 0ERU )TS FLOWERS ARE ARRANGED IN PANICLES OF WHITE PINK AND OR RED 4HE PLANT WAS PRIZED WITHIN THE REGION BY EXPLORERS FOR THE QUININE THAT COULD BE EXTRACTED FROM ITS BARK

M

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1"$": *OHB GFVJMMFFJ M 3IMILAR TO THE MIMOSA THE PACAY OR PACAE IS KNOWN FOR ITS BROAD BRANCHES AND LARGE WHITE EDIBLE SEED PODS AND IS COMMONLY CALLED AN h)CE #REAM "EANv IN ENGLISH CULTURES

10%0$"31 1PEPDBSQVT QBSMBUPSFJ M 4HIS HIGHLY SCATTERED EVERGREEN CONIFER HAS LONG CM LANCELOT LEAVES AND PRODUCES RED AND BLUE FRUIT )T THRIVES IN HUMID TROPICAL ENVIRONMENTS AND CAN CAN OFTEN BE FOUND IN FRESHWATER MARINE ENVIRONMENTS

10-:-&1*4 1PMZMFQJT UBSBQBDBOB &AMED FOR BEING THE HIGHEST GROWING WOODY PLANT THE POLYLEPIS IS SO NAMED FOR ITS MANY LAYERED PAPERY BARK 2URAL COMMUNITIES LIKE /LLANTAYTAMBO THREATEN THE HABITATS OF POLYLEPIS MAKING IT A KEY COMPONENT IN REFORESTATION OF THE !NDES )T IS ALSO VERY USEFUL IN PROTECTING AGAINST EROSION

40"1 #"3, 53&& 2VJMMBKB TBQPOBSJB M .ATIVE TO TEMPERATE #HILE AND 0ERU IT CAN OFTEN BE FOUND AT ELEVATIONS ABOVE FT )TS BARK IS THICK AND IN POWDER FORM CAN BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR SOAP THANKS TO THE COMPOUND GLUCOSIDE SAPONIN )T HAS A LONG HISTORY OF MEDICINAL USE IN THE REGION )TS FLOWERS ARE SMALL SINGULAR AND WHITE

1&367*"/ 1&11&3 4DIJOVT NPMMF M .ATIVE TO THE 0ERUVIAN !NDES ITS NAME COMES FROM THE 1UECHUA WORD FOR TREE MOLLI )TS FRUIT IS A SMALL PINK OR RED DRUPE IN DENSE CLUSTERS 4HE SWEETER OUTER PART WAS USED BY THE )NCA TO MAKE A SYRUPY DRINK OFTEN MIXED WITH MAIZE

#*( -&"' .")0(0/: 4XJFUFOJB NBDSPQIZMMB M .ATIVE TO #ENTRAL ANS 3OUTH !MERICA 3 MACROPHYLLA IS VERY COMMON AND AN IMPORTANT TIMBER TREE !S SUCH IT IS THREATENED BY HABITAT LOSS )TS TRUNK CAN OFTEN GROW TO BE M IN DIAMETER )TS WINGED SEEDS ARE FOUND IN A CM LONG CAPSULE )T CAN EASILY HYBRIDIZE WITH OTHER 3WIETENIA SPECIES

5&", 5FDUPOB HSBOEJT M .ATIVE TO )NDIA BUT FOUND AND CULTIVATED IN 0ERU )TS WOOD IS HIGH IN OILS AND THEREFORE SOUGHT OUT FOR ITS RESISTANCE TO WEATHERING

0"5 (3"44 "WFOB TQJDBUB ! NON NATIVE POACEAE USED IN REFORESTATION AND EROSION CONTROL THROUGHOUT THE PUNA GRASSLANDS

1&3&//*"- 3:&(3"44 -PMJVN QFSFOOF ! NON NATIVE POACEAE WITH HIGH SUCCESS RATES IN REFORESTATION AND BROADCAST SEEDING IN THE PUNA GRASSLANDS OF 0ERU )T IS RESISTANT TO WEAR EVEN IN COLD CLIMATES

$0..0/ 41&"3 (3"44 4UJQB DBMBNBHSPTUJT 7ELL KNOWN GRASSED USED IN EROSION CONTROL IN DEVESTATED GRASSLANDS AND AGRICULTURAL AREAS

1&367*"/ '&"5)&3 (3"44 4UJQB JDIV .ATIVE GRASS SPECIES THROUGHOUT THE !DNEAN AND 0UNA REGIONS )CHU IS THE 0ERUVIAN NAME FOR THESE BUNCH GRASSES

3&% $-07&3 5SJGPMJVN QSBUFOTF #OMMONLY FOUND IN ANTI EROSION SEED MIXES BOTH RED AND WHITE CLOVER ARE COMMON IN REGIONS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

8)*5& $-07&3 5SJGPMJVN TQVNPTVN #OMMONLY FOUND IN ANTI EROSION SEED MIXES BOTH RED AND WHITE CLOVER ARE COMMON IN REGIONS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / OLLANTAYTAMBO STATION + MASTER PLAN / 2008 / ACADEMIC

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / OLLANTAYTAMBO STATION + MASTER PLAN / 2008 / ACADEMIC

DMAVA PARK + SHORELINE STABILIZATION WITH SCAPE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE, PLLC 2009

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SCAPE recently started the Shore Stabilization Structure, Walkway and DMAVA Park installation with Langan Engineering. This project presents an exciting challenge to merge environmental, historical and recreational issues into a vibrant waterfront park on the Hudson River. New Jersey’s role in the early making of America – epitomized in the movement of goods and cargo from canal boat to ship on the Morris Canal’s Little Basin and the historic migrations of people through nearby Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty – make this section of the Hudson Riverfront an incredibly compelling story that can be highlighted and interpreted through a sensitive preservation approach, a strong landscape design and ecologically based engineering.

The opportunities for historic narrative interwoven into the public experience of movement along the walkway, combined with dramatic views to the Statue of Liberty and Lower Manhattan, are significant, and are a driving force in our landscape design. SCAPE www. scapestudio.com/projects/dmava-park-and-shorelinestabilization/ My role in the development of the project centered on finding ways not only ro represent the park design to our client and to Langan Engineering, but to investigate possible scnarios for materiality, structure, planting and program through the perspective media.

Tactile qualities, phenomenal experience and sense of place were important to the development of the scheme and to finding material and construction relationships of that scheme that worked well with both the broad concept and the individual human scale.

In addition to the perspective studies seen here I developed a large-scale site model that was used to negotiate issues of boundary, scale and grading and worked with planting plans and presentation drawings for projects throughout the office.

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ERIC SCOTT MITCHELL / DMAVA PARK + SHORELINE STABILIZATION, JERSEY CITY, NJ / 2009 / SCAPE, PLLC

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Eric Scott Mitchell 1470 Lexington Drive Vermilion Ohio 44089 e.scott.mitchell @gmail.com 440 320 2948