Architecture Portfolio 2013

JONATHAN EHLERS

PORTFOLIO 240 NORTH CHURCH ROAD ROCHESTER, NEW YORK 14612 EHLERS.JONATHAN@GMAIL.COM 585.451.9795

Content Sunset on the Niagara River Fall 2007 - Professor North Bailey Fire Company Spring 2010 - Professor Rand Building, Buffalo, New York Spring 2010 - Professor Forest Glenn Apartment Proposal Spring 2010 - Professor Portland, Oregon Bicycle Network Fall 2010 - Professor Old Town, Tonawanda 2035 Revitalization Spring 2011 - Professor Lombardi Lake view Residential Proposal June 2012 - Jonathan Ehlers Home Owner Proposal Febuary 2012 - Jonathan Ehlers

Sunset on the Niagara River Applying a contrast of positive and negative values, the images explore the characteristics of light. The river subtly reflects the sky’s color, creating dramatic undertones that are emphasized by the negative space along the shoreline. These techniques are utilized to create dramatic photographs of Buffalo’s Niagara River.

North Bailey Fire Company The drawing was designed to create an efficient way of showing current conditions for the North Bailey Fire Company. The use of hierarchy helps the viewer get a sense of the building depth and orientation along the street. This drawing could easily be used as the basis for improved environmental design, landscaping and architectural modifications to alter the monotonous facade of the building’s exterior.

Rand Building The inspiration for the Empire State Building History

Rand Building Considered the inspiration for the Empire State Building, the Rand Building is a landmark property in Buffalo, New York.

Focusing on graphical representations and text hierarchy the poster serves as an information advertisement to visitors to the Buffalo area. The text is designed to attract a person’s attention by including larger font for more important information. As the viewer comes closer more information is revealed in the smaller more detailed text, while pictorial and vector maps describe the physical location of the building. The information is designed to help the view find their way to the building and know the type of amities that are located around the area.

The success of the poster lends itself to clearly defining the description and location of the building for any potential visitors to the area.

Making up Buffalo’s beautiful skyline the Rand Building was constructed in 1929 by James W. Kideney & Associates; Franklyn and William Kid. The office building rises 408 feet above street level and can be visible for miles in all directions. Opened in 1929 the building was named in honor of George F. Rand, the president of the Marine Bank. It was his vision and efforts that led to New York’s first consolidated banking system called Marine Midland Corporation. The building was recently acquired by Hempel and while under the new ownership significant capital was invested to bring quality and state of the art systems to the Rand Building. Hempel maintained the historical charm and art deco that is characteristic of the building making it a landmark property within the city. The use of small floor plates and abundant window areas offer excellent views of the Buffalo skyline from anywhere in the structure.

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Public Transportation

Located at 14 LaFayette Square, the Rand Building is centrally located within the City of Buffalo. A conveniently located Niagara Frontier Transit Authority bus stop and the Metro Rail located within walking distance. NFTA utilizes both buses and trains to cover Buffalo, Lockport and Niagara Falls with countless points in between drawing many people from a wide range of geographic locations. NFTA offers their customers an all-day pass, cost $4.00, which offers the rider the freedom of unlimited rides covering the entire bus and rail system. The Metro Bus and Rail provided their customers with economical service to major events across the Niagara Region.

Retail

The Rand Building is centrally located in the City of Buffalo and is very pedestrian friendly. Within walking distance there are numerous shops and restaurants easily within walking distance. Employees and visitors are able to enjoy LaFayette Square park like feeling. People are able to enjoy the central locality of the park and enjoy the wide range of architectural design of surrounding buildings

Pedestrian Oriented

The Rand Building houses about 250 offices an a HSBC Bank located on the ground floor. The HSBC Bank serves the Buffalo public with financial services as well as investment opportunities. The Rand Building also houses several retail shops including Caribou Coffee, Potbelly’s, Rand Sushi Dynasty, City Hairstylist, and Billy & Marty’s convenie. With the excellent views of the Buffalo Skyline and all its fine aesthetic details, shopping here is truly a unique and wonderful experience.

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Forest Glenn Apartment Proposal The Forest Glenn Apartment Proposal, is a four-unit apartment complex designed to understand a building’s environmental control systems. The project looked to create an understanding of how design elements and resource management affect the outcome of comfort and afford-ability for residents renting an apartment. The design looked to minimize the cost of construction and livability of the residences during the lifespan of the building. Allowing the bathrooms to be located in a central area in addition to kitchen necessities, cost for plumbing is greatly reduced by limiting the amount of material need to provide service to each residence. In addition utilizing the heat loss calculation for each apartment. Residents will save money on their heating and cooling by allowing each apartment to be adjacent to one another. To further reduce energy loss and provide a comfortable living space, the implementation of Low-e windows and doors in each apartment will help decrease the sun’s glare and heat absorption during summer months.

North Elevation

South Elevation

Business Park Waterfront Proposal

Old Town, Tonawanda 2035 Revitalization The Comprehensive Plan to revitalize Old Town, Tonawanda, a small town south of the City of Tonawanda surrounded by heavy industry along the Niagara River. The plan aimed at redeveloping the area to attract young professionals and business investments, through green initiatives and brownfield redevelopment. One proposal was for the town to acquire vacated land to be converted into pocket parks according to a strategic plan that would allow ease of access for residents to walk and take their children to.

Helping to facilitate new investments to the area the Comprehensive Plan assumed the old portion of the General Motors Plant would be closed and eventually sold. With the town acquiring this land and other neighboring industry the brownfields can be renovated to create a new business park. The park would draw new service based industry to the area and restaurants along the Niagara River Waterfront. Establishing such an area would increase tax revenue for Old Town while drawing new families and entrepreneurs to the area.

Neighborhood Park Design Proposal

The Comprehensive Plan also focused on providing a complete street design to promote the use of alternative modes of transportation through amenities designed specifically for bicyclists and pedestrian traffic. Narrowing of the roadway and the introduction of a median helps to slow vehicle traffic in addition to the reduction of the heat island effect by shading the roadway. The Plan proposes two road designs that incorporate the use of the median with differing ideas on how it should be utilized. Road Design A incorporates a bicycle path along the center of the median to separate out all three modes of transportation. Bicyclists are protected from vehicle traffic as well as pedestrians with a green buffer consisting of curbs and trees. The second, Road Design B, still consists of a median and green buffer however, bicyclist have a designated path along the shoulder of the road. This design has been implemented and proven successful in areas of Buffalo New York along stretches of Main Street. Both designs looks to promote alternative modes of transportation by establishing a designated safe area for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Alternative Road Design A

Alternative Road Design B

Portland, Oregon Bicycle Network The City of Portland, is well known community that places emphasis on alternative modes of transportation to help reduce the dependency of vehicles and congestion within the city. These maps, created in ArcGIS, look to analyze why Portland’s extensive bicycle network is such a success for the community. The first map, Parks and Recreation, shows the vast greenspace within the city and the dedicated trails allowing people to access throughout the entire park. Moving to the second map, Parks with in a 1/4 Mile Buffer, connects the parks with the bicycle network in it entirety. Every park is accessible from one of the many trails and even connect with the park trails, despite the given location of an individual. In the third and final map entitles Bicycle Network, the entire bicycle network is viewable in addition to bicycle park, which consists of bicycle racks or other similar amenity. This compliment to the network allows commuters to safely secure their bicycles while they are at work or easily access the pedestrian squares in the center of the City. The central focus around accessibility and provisions to promote bicycle use in Portland and provide a model to help prompt other communities to follow suit.

Lake view Residential Proposal The house was designed as a sustainable home that accommodated the locations unique natural features. Constructed on a sloped lot, the home is able to have an exposed basement essentially creating a third floor towards the rear of the structure. This feature allows generous amounts of natural light to enter what would typically be a rather dark basement. The exquisite view the location provides is emphasized by the large corner windows overlooking the nearby lake. These windows help to frame in the lake and its natural surrounding allowing for a seamless feel of bringing the outdoors in.

Homeowner Design Proposal Providing a unique perspective for potential homeowners, this house provides a detailed floor plan and elevation creating an exclusive digital walk-through.

The exterior of the house features charming wood trim arranged to accent and highlight architectural features of the home. As the owner steps inside, the fully furnished floor plan allows for a unique opportunity to visualize what their home could look like once the project is completed.