Fall 2010
Core Studio: 317
Project 1
Dynamic Terrain Dynamic terrain is an architectural landscape that develops from the observation of natural phenomenon within the environment. The terrain deals with human interactive conditions in multiple scales and functions. The dynamic terrain is a model for blurring the boundaries between architecture/ landscape and function/form.
Project resolution
This project questions the reality that most architecture is not resolved within the logic of a single model, single surface, or a single material. Architecture operates with assemblies involving multiple models, surfaces, and materials. Architecture is not one continuous monolithic object but is composed of multiple parts and organizational models operating at various scales.
Fall 2010
Core Studio: 317
Project 1
Dynamic Terrain Unit Assembly to Module
Adjustment of standard module A to form module B; a module which causes variation in field growth
Pursuit of controlled field growth
Model photos
Fall 2010
Core Studio: 317
Project 1
Dynamic Terrain Unit Assembly to Module
Pursuit of controlled field growth
Fall 2010
Core Studio: 317
Project 3
Urban Theater
The Urban theater is an apparatus on the landscape recording and tracking various urban events on the site. The theater illuminates the critical role of conceptual thinking in the evolutionary process of making architecture in the city. An intensive research into programmatic urban conditions must be invented to explore the imaginary and visionary power of architecture through making.
Core Studio 317
Urban Theater Overlaying existing building sections to create a new, site specific space.
From 2D to 3D via sticks
Surface it!
Surface models
Core Studio 317
Urban Theater Project development
south elevation scale: 1/8” = 1’ - 0”
north elevation scale: 1/8” = 1’ - 0”
Core Studio 317
Urban Theater Aerial view
Plan view
Spring 2011
Core Studio: 318
Project 1
I-CARES Laboratory
Proposed multi-disciplinary research laboratory for Washington University I-CARES program. The International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) was created to foster research on energy, environment, and sustainability that cannot be done by single investigators or by single disciplines alone. I_CARES nurtures collaboration within Washington University and with regional and international partners in order to contribute to rapid progress on addressing the worlds energy needs.
Core Studio 318
I-CARES Laboratory
The site for this project was located in the Crosby Arboretum, just outside New Orleans. The image below is a “site-collage� that I created after visiting the area. The land itself is very flat, yet this lack of change in topography is made up for by a very diverse landscape of 3 different vegetation zones; forrest, grassland, and swamp. For the collage itself I arrayed strips I cut from site photos along the existing topography lines. My goal was to show the relationship between the ground and the landscape. Not only does the collage serve as a release of ideas and information, but it also begins to suggest a process of making. A process that remained evident throughout.
Core Studio 318
I-CARES Laboratory
This project began by looking for inspiration in nature. I found these images of phytoplankton and was fascinated by the way in which the organism creates an exoskeleton to protect its inner core. The imagine first reminded me of several gladiators, huddled together, holding up their shields in a defensive strategy. This hard shell protecting a soft core would be the main take away from my study.
The next step was to replicate the physical movement and function of the organism using only piano wire.
Core Studio 318
I-CARES Laboratory Study models Once I figured out the formal language of the project I needed a way to take it from the computer to a physical model that I could work with further. I chose to make my study models using rubber bands. Rubber bands were great because they represented both the concept and the reality of it. Rubber bands are soft and could easy pose as the inner core but also elastic enough that they could give me a real sense of how this structure might actually go together, if say I were to use a tension cable approach.
The bristol models were a direct output of an early computer model. One of the goals of the studio was to learn how to utilize the computer for not only digital models, but to also realize that your digital work can be physically represented as well.
Core Studio 318
I-CARES Laboratory
The final result was a building which was defined by hard concrete walls that penetrated deep into the soft soil, held in place by tension cables that stretched out into the surrounding forest, further anchoring the structure into its surroundings.
Core Studio 318
I-CARES Laboratory
Core Studio: 318
I-CARES Laboratory
The final result was building that which was defined by hard concrete walls that penetrated deep into the soft soil, held in place by tension cables that stretched out into the surrounding forest, further anchoring the structure into its surroundings.
Vertical Studio: 611
Urban Renewal
Of Donks & Dyads Washington University currently owns various housing units just North of the famous Delmar Loop that are currently under renovation for student use. Most of these buildings are historic and provide a very real identity to the neighborhood. Most of the renovations Wash U has done has been mainly interior in order to preserve the outer architecture. Up until this studio the design work has been done by local firms.
The goal of our studio was to renovate the two units below. One building would be renovated using Wash U standard practice - the dyad. The other building would serve as our studio cadaver - the donk. We, the students, were encouraged to push the design in any direct we saw fit, but at the same time we had to remain in the same constraints any real firm would be confined to in terms of historical preservation and sustainable design. The hope was that the donk would out perform the dyad once both were renovated. The studio was meant to be a an experiment in every sense.
Vertical Studio: 611
Of Donks & Dyads Unit Assembly to Module
I approached this project very much from a plan view only. I didn’t think a sectional approach would be cost effective or that appropriate given the fact that the staircases and the floors could easily remain intact. I also liked the constraint of having to leave the exterior untouched. I thought it posed an interesting challenge to try and re-arrange the interior walls while paying close attention to window placement and existing circulation.
If you look at the plan below you will notice two different floor layouts. The above layout is existing and the one below is my renovation plan.
One of the first things I noticed when I walked through the original building prior to any renovation is that the original floor plan created very dark spaces, particularly on entry off the main staircase to the East. There are two units per floor and once you take out the interior walls the space itself is very long and narrow.
Core Studio 419
Wash Ave. Housing Plan
View from entry off the East stairwell
View from dining/office area looking West
Vertical Studio: 611
Of Donks & Dyads
One of the most difficult tasks of this project was deciding how to design doors so that spaces could become private or public; not only to maximize space but also to utilize every bit of light.
DIAGRAM A.
DETAIL SCALE: 1/2” = 1’ - 0”
Vertical Studio: 611
Of Donks & Dyads
DIAGRAM B./C. DETAIL SCALE: 1/2” = 1’ - 0”
Vertical Studio: 611
Of Donks & Dyads
Because the buildings are identical most of the windows look directly across into the other unit due to the windows lining up. As I mentioned earlier I wanted to make the circulation coincide with the existing windows. In order to maximize privacy I created this window so that as you walk down the hall you are still moving towards the light, but you also have privacy from the unit across.
DIAGRAM D.
DETAIL SCALE: 1/2” = 1’ - 0”
Vertical Studio: 611
Of Donks & Dyads
Because the floor joists in this building run North/South the back facade wasn’t structural nor was it under the historical preservation constraints. This was beneficial for a number of reasons, but mainly because it allowed me to open up the back facade more which helped with drawing people into the space from the front entry and also helped to better organize/emphasize the interior layout.
WEST ELEVATION SCALE: 1/4” = 1’ - 0”
EXISTING
RENOVATION
1/2 scale model
Vertical Studio: 712
East St. Louis Community Library
Dirty Details
Having grown up in the Midwest I have always been fascinated by these, kit of parts, industrial containment structures used to support the agricultural industry. They are both old and new. They are highly engineered yet one glace and you can easily understand their construction. They are often massive yet they are cost efficient and relatively inexpensive for their size. Most importantly they are monumental and they have an extreme ability to give identity to a place. For this project I questioned every aspect of these structures in the hopes that I could replicate them for civic use.
Vertical Studio: 712
East St. Louis Community Library
Is there a way the iconography of these zones can be re-arranged to combat the anonymity?
Collage of residential zone iconography
The Ready-Made as Art?
Can architecture be questioned in the same way that Marcel Duchamp questioned art?
The Ready- Made as Architecture?
By treating industrial architecture as a ready-made placed in an alien environment, architecture can be reinvented for new purpose.
Vertical Studio: 712
East St. Louis Community Library The site is located approximately 4 miles East of the Mississippi River. On the left hand side of the plan below there is a railroad that corresponds to the railroad you see in the photo above. This railroad stands a boundary between a new urban front meeting up with an aging, agricultural zone. There is also a large, unused, grain elevator that stands on the West edge. The grain elevator is what provides the memory of the past. It was important that I create a relationship with this elevator. This site had a strong identity, but the new houses made no effort to engage it.
Vertical Studio: 712
East St. Louis Community Library
SECTION SCALE . 1/4” = 1’ - 0”
Vertical Studio: 712
East St. Louis Community Library
Vertical Studio: 712
East St. Louis Community Library
Vertical Studio: 712
East St. Louis Community Library