ARCHITECTURAL PORTFOLIO
KOFI AKAKPO
KOFI AKAKPO|Resume CONTACT 893 Linkfield Dr, Worthington Ohio, 43085 T: 614.589.0998 E: fifiakakpo@gmail.com www.kofiakakpo.com
EDUCATION 08.2014-05.2017 THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY Major: Architecture Degree: BSc. Architecture (Honors, Honors with Research Distinction). 08.2004- 05.2008 KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY Major: Architecture 01.2001-01.2003 PRESBYTERIAN BOYS SECONDARY SCH. Programs: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths Having been born in Ghana and now living in the US, i have come to the realization that people are more similar than different. My ambition is to use design as a tool to connect people, to create opportunities for people to have shared human experiences that resist the current growing rise of nationalism.
SKILLS AutoCAD Rhino Sketchup Adobe Suite Revit Microsoft Office Suite
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WORK EXPERIENCE
LANGUAGES
06.2013-Present SEARS HOLDINGS Sales Consultant-Home Appliances I am responsible for helping members find the right appliance for their needs, explaining the various features and benefits of several different models. I also offer them various financing options as a means to pay for purchases.
∙∙ Twi (fluent) ∙∙ Ga (fluent) ∙∙ French (intermediate)
05.2010-Present SELF-EMPLOYED Frelance Designer I offer my services online to various clients as a freelance designer and visualizer on various projects. I have worked on several project designs and renderings with architects as well as product designers from all over the world. 01.2009-04.2010 CONSTRUCTS LLC Junior Designer I was responsible for 3D modeling and visualizing of a lot of projects going out of the studio. It was my responsibility to ensure that the clients were able to appreciate the design concept and understand what the final product would look like.
08.2008-01.2009 CITY MODE ASSOCIATES Architectural Intern I took on various responsibilities including site supervision, drafting and design visualization. I was tasked with designing a gate house for a gated community and to supervise the project all through to the construction phase.
HOBBIES/INTERESTS ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙
Basketball Soccer Reading Writing
REFERENCES Beth Blostein Undergraduate Chair, Knowlton Sch. of Arch. T: 614.292.7442 E: blostein.3@osu.edu Jaqueline Gargus Associate Professor, Knowlton Sch. of Arch. T: 614.292.9850 E: gargus.1@osu.edu Doug Graf Professor, Knowlton Sch. of Architecture T: 614.292.0769 E: graf.3@osu.edu
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FEATURED PROJECTS PART 1: EXPERIMENTAL STUDIO NEW WORLDS, OLD ORDERS................................................................... 6 ARCHITECTURAL LANDSCAPISM (AND THE PROBLEM OF THE VAST)................. 12 PART 2: CONNECTED/CONNECTING SPACES TECHIMAN MUNICIPAL HOSPITAL.......................................................... 20 DANCE AND PERFORMING ART CENTER.............................................. 26 BARACK OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY.............................................. 30 SAN FRANCISCO GARDEN OF MUSIC.................................................. 34 PART 3: SOCIAL WORK THE HOOD GROWS WALLS.................................................................... 40
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New Worlds, Old Ideas
DATE: SPRING, 2017 INSTITUTION: OSU INSTRUCTORS: SANDHYA KOCHAR AND DOW KIMBRELL ACADEMIC YEAR: FOURTH COLLABORATORS: AUSTIN GORDON, SAMI SAMAWI
Our project creates new architectural worlds through the employment of a generative technique utilizing the visual language of architecture. The project begins with three samples “seeds” deployed within the generative machine. These samples have been selected based upon their strength of influence within the field at large. While some are more literal, some are diagrammatic, representing vectors of research, design processes and methods within architecture. These initial samples are then modified through what we call “filters”: architectural precedents chosen for their latent affinities with the initial seeds. Resonances and affinities between the seeds and the filters are analyzed, and that analysis guides the development of the subsequent architectural worlds produced. The technique relies heavily on the architect’s interpretation of the precedents to guide KOFI AKAKPO|PORTFOLIO
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the outcomes of the translation through the filters. Traditional readings, mis-readings, and new takes are all valid in the expression of the technique and its outcomes. The worlds created are of varied complexities assuming different characteristics as they influence, contaminate and borrow from each other.
THE WORLDS
The Jeffersonian Dispenser The Jeffersonian Dispenser employs the predominant existing urban layout, the grid, as a tool to distribute new complex worlds into old disused urban spaces. Distributing modernist urbanism opportunistically, it is an infill machine. A collective of conquerors, it is in constant search for new lands to occupy.
Cloud City Cloud City is a world of aerial dwellers located just above the troposphere. It is the home of scientists and astronomers studying and exploring space.
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Drill City Drill City is located in a mine shaft. Its citizens are those whose desire is to mine the earth in search of precious minerals.
Aqua City Aqua City is a collection of 1909 Theorems within a marine environment, a home for explorers of the sea.
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New Tokyo New Tokyo imagines a propagation of Isozaki’s Clusters in the Air over the existing urban condition of the Jeffersonian Grid. Its people are those who desire to be removed from the gridded reality laid by the Jeffersonian Dispenser.
Machine World Machine World takes an alternative look at a dumpsite of old mechanical parts as a site for possible architectural intervention. As the mechanical gives way to the digital, its inhabitants are skilled at making use of old systems that have been discarded by others. 9
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Canyon City Canyon City dwells within the Grand Canyon and juxtaposes the relentless verticality of 1909 with the undulating nature of the natural terrain. It is the world of explorers and adventure junkies.
Oblique City Oblique City examines what happens when the Oblique Function is interrupted by Mies’ Brick Country House, presenting a tension between two systems. It is the home of the Capitalists who are interested in expansion of territory, both vertically and horizontally. KOFI AKAKPO|PORTFOLIO
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No-Stop City No-Stop City explores the seminal architectural project in the vertical as well as horizontal. It is a world where everything happens at the nodes and is home to the Nomads, a group of wanderers in constant search for new experiences.
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the arctic biome the desert
the underground ocean
Architectural Landscapism
An experimental studio project that explores how architecture at a certain scale becomes landscape and how its effects manifest in the physical. It imagines a future where the anthropocene has become so integrated with nature it has become nature. Architecture therefore has to facilitate the existence of all organisms on earth. The project was developed as a critique of the prevailing tendency in architecture for absolutism and the total rejection of all that came before.
(and The Problem of the Vast) DATE: SPRING, 2016 INSTITUTION: OSU COURSE NO: ARCH 3420: ARCH DESIGN 4 INSTRUCTOR: STEPHEN TURK ACADEMIC YEAR: THIRD
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1909 Theorem and Fondazione Prada Hybrid
Hybrid Axonometric:1909 Theorem and Fondazione Prada
Logarithmic Scale Transformation: Fondazione Prada
1909 Theorem and Zeebrugge Hybrid
Hybrid Axonometric:1909 Theorem and Zeebrugge
Logarithmic Scale Transformation: Zeebrugge
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Core sections reveal opportunities for habitation.
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The Arctic Biome
The Harbor
Downtown
The Ocean Biome
The Desert Biome
The Lake
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Eden 3.0 is the third iteration of an attempt to create Nirvana, a perfect world where everyone lives at peace with each other and all social problems are non-existent. 3.0 attempts to fix the problems of two previous attempts by implementing one simple rule: the rejection of absolutism. The city satiates the needs AND desires of its inhabitants. There are rigid shapes and more fluid ones. Variety may be the spice that saves us all.
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Site Section
Techiman Municipal Hospital
An urban study project for the design of a hospital for the city of Techiman, in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. The project attempts to capture two main elements of the city: the cultural embrace of community and communal living, and the colorfulness of the city. The huge canopy also recognizes the constant search for shade in a city where the average temperature is about 75 degrees and acts as a uniting element between separate units.
DATE: SPRING, 2008 INSTITUTION: KNUST COURSE NO: ARC 458: DESIGN OF SPECIALIZED BUILDINGS INSTRUCTOR: CHARLES ESSEL ACADEMIC YEAR: THIRD
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Techiman Location... to Tamale to Tamale
to Tamale
to Tamale
Techiman Market to Nkoranza to Nkoranza
to Sunyani to Sunyani
To Tamale To Tamale
to Kumasi to Kumasi
Techiman township Techiman township
To Sunyani To Sunyani To Kumasi To Kumasi
Ghana Ghana
Techiman Techiman Kumasi Kumasi Accra Accra Sekondi-Takoradi Sekondi-Takoradi Jubilee Oil Field Jubilee Oil Field
Casablanca Casablanca
Cairo
Cairo Khartoum
Africa Khartoum Africa
Lagos
Lagos
An ancient town in the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana, Techiman is the legendary birthplace of the Akan people and the center of the ancient Bono Kingdom which was rich in gold and had strong trading links with the ancient Kingdoms of Timbuktu and Egypt. Techiman is at the center of major crossroads with an important marketing center. It is the capital of the Techiman Municipal District with a current land area of about 432 square miles.
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Johannesburg Johannesburg
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The project creates gathering spaces within courtyards for the entire community.
The project recognizes the constant search for shade in the city in the form of the canopy. Shade invites people to gather. The canopy is also a uniting element between different pavilions that captures the colorfulness of the city and is conspicuous from all around the city inviting people to come and gather.
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8 6
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1 5
1. community playground 2. swimming pond 3. visitor parking 4. outpatient and administration 5. wards
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6. staff parking 7. emergency unit 8. waiting area/amphitheater
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Outpatient Waiting Area
Project Overview
Outpatient/Admin Building
Main Courtyard Space
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Emergency Unit Courtyard
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Site Render
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Section X-X
DANCE AND PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
For this project i explored the theme of tension between a stable element (a cube) and an unstable element ( a seed crystal). The seed gets placed inside the cube, becomes activated and a struggle ensues between the two. The resulting architecture captures the moment of tension where the box is struggling to contain this foreign element and the seed is trying to break free and the result creates interesting, connected spaces.
DATE: SPRING, 2015 INSTITUTION: OSU COURSE NO: ARCH 2420: ARCH DESIGN 2 INSTRUCTOR: ZACK SNYDER ACADEMIC YEAR: SECOND
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Stable element
Unstable element inroduced
Unstable element begins to react. Stable element begins to push back
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The project is frozen at the moment of perfect tension.
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Views into performance spaces
Views into performance spaces
Section Y-Y
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Y
X
X
Ground Level Plan
First Level Plan
Second Level Plan
Y
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Longitudinal Section
Public Officials
Barack Obama Presidential Library, Chicago
This project explores how architecture can facilitate interaction between spaces that are programmatically disparate. The program required a segregation of official and public spaces more easily accomplished by stacking spaces on other spaces they belong with. By rearranging and wrapping these spaces around a central core, the human interaction is reestablished. Occupants of different areas that are not physically linked still share visual connections as they move from space to space.
DATE: FALL, 2015 INSTITUTION: OSU COURSE NO: ARCH 3410: ARCH DESIGN 3 INSTRUCTOR: TROY MALMSTROM ACADEMIC YEAR: THIRD
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The project attempts to promote transparency that encourages visual interaction between inhahibatants of programmatically segregated spaces.
The project achieves this by interweaving elements of disparate spaces so inhabitants are constantly interacting with others they would normally not interact with bringing the public and officials closer together.
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Level 0: Loading Dock
Site Plan
Level 1 Plan
Level 2 Plan Public
Cross Section
Officials
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Level 6b Plan: rooms Type BType Level 6bHotel Plan: Hotel rooms Level 6b Plan: Hotel rooms Type B B
Level 3 Plan: Library and Research
Level 4a Plan: Auditorium
Level 6b Plan: Hotel rooms Ty Level 6a Plan: Level 6aGallery Plan: Gallery Level Plan: Gallery Inhabitants in6a one set of program are able to look right into another. Level 6b Plan: Hotel rooms Type B Level 6a Plan: Gallery Level 6a Plan: Gallery
Inhabitants in public gallery can see officials going up to conference rooms.
Level 4b Plan: Gallery 2
Level 7Level Plan: 7Restaurant Plan: Restaurant Level 7 Plan: Restaurant Level 7 Plan: Restaurant Level 7 Plan: Restaurant
Level 5a Plan: Hotel Rooms type A
Level 5b Plan: Gallery 2 Mezzanine
Level 8Level Plan: station 8Radia Plan: Radia station Level 8 Plan: Radia station Level 8 Plan: Radia station andand conferece and conferece rooms conferece rooms Level 8rooms Plan: Radia station and conferece rooms and conferece rooms
South East View from Water
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Section X-X
SAN FRANCISCO GARDEN OF MUSIC
This project for the design of a music hall in Golden Gate Park resists the urge to simply create a gathering place for the one percent. Borrowing from the general sentiment of movements like occupy wall street and the rise of the so-called sharing economy, with the success of brands like Uber and AirBnB, the concept attempts to create multiple connected nodes of different musical experiences, creating a welcoming place for people of all musical tastes to come together to create shared experiences. People will share within the right context and this project attempts to create just that.
DATE: FALL, 2016 INSTITUTION: OSU COURSE NO: ARCH 4410: ARCH DESIGN 5 INSTRUCTOR: ANDREW CRUSE ACADEMIC YEAR: FOURTH
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PARTI
man made musical experiences
ORGANIZATION
sounds of nature interior nodes exterior nodes The project sets out to create nodes of different musical experiences, interior and exterior, man-made and natural.
System of retaining walls that begin to respond to contours.
These retaining walls begin to trap habitable spaces within.
Bridges that link to retaining walls and create connections between spaces.
EXPERIENCE
The site is originally a very steep hill with a 45’ difference between the highest and lowest points.
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The project creates nodes of musical experiences on different levels which create different ways to experience the park and enhances viual connections and views downtown. KOFI AKAKPO|PORTFOLIO
Conceptual Massing Model
Final Massing Model
Final Model View of Main Music Hall
Final Model View of Bridge to Rooftop Restaurant
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Project Overview
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1. 2-way stage 2. main music hall 3. ticketing/coat check
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4. cafe
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5. external concert space
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X
2
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6. chamber music hall
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X
Y
7. loading area/back of house 8. black box 9. practice spaces 10. ticketing/coat check
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11. floating garden 12. exterior eating area
Ground Level Plan
13. roof top restaurant
Roof Level Plan
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11 9 8
Lower Level Plan
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First Level Plan
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View of floating garden with views to main music hall.
Bridge connecting 2 external music nodes.
Public gathering space
Section Y-Y
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PLACEHOLDER IMAGE
‘THE HOOD GROWS WALLS’ A PUBLIC ART PROJECT
This was a collaborative art project implemented for the Village of Arts and Humanities’ International Artists-inResidence program in North Philadelphia. The 19133 zip code within which the project was located has one of the highest murder rates in the US and The Village’s aim is social intervention through art. The artist Kwasi and i lived within the community and together with residents designed a public art installation as well as a studio exhibition to exhibit the talents of residents.
DATE: SUMMER, 2016 FREELANCE WORK COLLABORATION WITH INTERNATIONAL ARTIST KWASI OHENE-AYEH AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS
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Sculptural Installation
Sculptural Installation
Proposed Exhibition Space
The X reappears within the studio space as a tool to recreate the suffocating conditions of the neighborhood to visitors. Visitors are trapped within a confined space that still produces beauty in the form of art, fashion and people.
Proposed Exhibition Space
In Philadelphia, the X symbol on the street indicates that utilities have been disconnected to homes on that street. We took this symbol of disconnection, disassembled it, and reassembled the elements to create an art piece that becomes a symbol of residents coming together to design and build something. Proposed Exhibition Space
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KOFIAKAKPO.COM|FIFIAKAKPO@GMAIL.COM|614.589.0998