James Frank Struthers Architectural Designer 1510 Deerhorn Dr. Chesterfield, MO 63017 636.236.8352 JamesS1@samfox.wustl.edu www.jamesfrankstruthersdesign.com
James Frank Struthers Washington University in St. Louis Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts M. Arch. 2012 B.S. in Arch. 2010 1510 Deerhorn Dr Chesterfield, MO 63017 JamesS1@samfox.wustl.edu 636.236.8352
James Frank Struthers \\ designer
1510 Deerhorn Drive \\ Chesterfield, MO 63017 Phone: (636) 236-8352 \\ JamesS1@samfox.wustl.edu
PROFILE \\A young, dedicated, and knowledgeable designer and graduate of both Washington University in St. Louis’ Graduate and Undergraduate architectural degree programs with experience in design fabrication and education. Possessing a unique aptitude for digital platforms and parametric design. OBJECTIVE \\To work in a challenging environment that allows me to utilize the skills I have acquired and to push the limits of my abilities; to provide, as well as to broaden, a unique perspective and skillset, that I might prove and improve myself as an asset to my colleagues. EDUCATION WORK EXPERIENCE \\ Yogiaman Tracy Design: designer Fall 2012-present Washington University in St. Louis \\ Assisted with the design and development of large scale architectural Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts installations, prototypes, facade systems, and buildings, developing form-finding \\Masters of Architecture with Honors 2012 algorithms and automated systems of manufacturing. Developed presentation and \\B.S. in Architecture Cum Laude 2010 assembly drawings, as well as renderings, for clients, competitions, and fabricators, PUBLICATIONS/AWARDS/COMPETITIONS to see projects like the Cast Thicket, TEX-FAB Applied: Research Through \\Plastic-Cast Concrete: Fabrication as Applied Research, Fabricate 2013 Summer 2013 Fabrication Competition Winner through construction. Co-authored paper discussing research, design and fabrication processes, both \\Studio Confluence: parametric designer and fabricator Summer 2013 digital and physical, involved in our on-going research in cast concrete stategies. \\ Designed, detailed, fabricated, assembled and constructed the cladding and \\Cast Thicket, Acadia 2013 Summer 2013 structural system for the Bird Observatory for the Audubon Center at Co-authored paper outlining and visually describing, the Cast Thicket Installation Riverlands, developing a comprehensive parametric model and subsequent shop and assembly as a prototype for lighter weight, tensile and malleable formwork drawings for CNC fabrication and assembly. assemblies. \\ Space Architects: designer Fall 2012 Fall 2012 \\Cast Thicket, TEX-FAB Applied: Research Through Fabrication Competition Winner \\ Developed drawings and renderings for presentation to clients and competitions, \\Dean’s List: Fall 2006, Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009 and designed digital models to see projects through design development. SKILLS \\ WUSTL Graduate Orientation Critic: advanced studio critic/lecturer Summer 2012 \\Experienced in architectural design process and representation \\ Performed desk crits and assisted with design, fabrication, and representation of \\Proficient with computer 3-D modeling, rendering, and drafting programs Rhinoceros, students’ first graduate project. Assembled instructional tutorials and syllabi, gave Maya, 3D Studio Max, Sketchup, Revit and Autocad lectures on digital platforms and parametric design focusing on the role of \\Experienced with Revit and cross-platform workflows parametrics in design and on the techniques of applying them in practice. \\Highly proficient with parametric design softwares and programming languages, \\ WUSTL Teaching Assistant: Case Studies in 20th Century Architecture 2010-2011 Grasshopper, Generative Components, Processing... Python, HTML... \\ Taught lab sections, led discussions, and encouraged conversation and debate on \\Proficient with Adobe design software (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamworks...) architectural movements of the 20th century. Encouraged intellectual debate and and Microsoft Office Software (Word, Power Point, Excel) exploration through written assignments and analytical models intended to \\Experienced also with hand drafting and rendering techniques develop the student’s voice and uncover unique architectural perspectives.
CAMOUFLAGE
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Camouflage \\ Bird Blind Summer 2013 \\ Professional Work Studio Confluence The Avian Observatory for the Audubon Center at Riverlands is designed as a highly calibrated lens through which the observer, regardless of size, age, or experience, might be placed at ideal vantage points within the habitat and amongst the indigenous birds of the Confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. The shingled cladding system applied across the perimeter of the building adapts to variable formal and viewing necessities, opening to form aperture towards the pond and the birds, and closing to block view and sound of approaching visitors from the opposing direction. And its cantilevered massing strategy allows visitors to view clear across the populated wild of nearby Heron Pond. The interior is clad with black perforated aluminum and the roof with semi-translucent plastic to prevent light and shadow from disturbing the birds, while continuing to allowing the building to breathe. RHINO \\ GRASSHOPPER \\ PYTHON \\ AUTOCAD \\ ILLUSTRATOR RHINO \\ GRASSHOPPER \\ ILLUSTRATOR \\ FABRICATION \\ ASSEMBLY \\ CONSTRUCTION
CAMOUFLAGE
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer
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CAMOUFLAGE
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer
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CAST THICKET
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Cast Thicket \\ Plastic Cast Concrete Fall 2012 \\ Professional Work Yogiaman Tracy Design Cast Thicket proposes a new tensile paradigm for site-cast concrete. Through the use of lightweight, recyclable plastic formwork and by leveraging the fluid materiality of concrete, Cast Thicket creates a lacy network of thin members that disperse and coalesce to address structural and spatial needs. The formal parameters of these members can vary discretely for a denser more opaque, or thinner more transparent mesh. Optimized to perform as horizontal, vertical or bracing members, the system of interconnected struts replaces typical columns, beams, and shear walls. Simulating a network of tensile strands allows for a genotypical or generic grid to be transformed into a contingent structural network. Like a game of Cat’s Cradle, the empirical process involves the addition and subtraction of members based on real-time feedback. This nuanced, haptic design process simultaneously balances structural and spatial concerns.
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CAST THICKET
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer
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STREAMLINE LIVING
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Streamline Living \\ Experimental Housing Fall 2010 \\ Architecture 419 Professor Ben Fehrmann This proposal for an urban housing development in St. Louis seeks to formally address concerns of environmental comfort and efficiency. Principle to this concept is a thoroughly integrated ventilation strategy that defines both the overall form and permeates in every detail of aperture, material, and organization.
1 Bedroom Unit
Studio Unit
Scale: 1” = 4’
Scale: 1” = 4’
The project adopts a formal strategy in cross section akin to airfoil technology in order to facilitate the flow of air through and around the building creating areas of high and low pressure which maximizes the potential for natural ventilation. Futher, a system of operable “gills” allow the polyurethane spandex skin to breathe accordingly. The organization of space within these “airfoils” is relatively open plan to further facilate the potential for natural ventilation and light. And the floating forms envelope spaces of social interaction, both public on the street front, and more private within the courtyard corridor.
North Elevation vation Scale: 1” = 8’
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STREAMLINE LIVING Summer Season 21+ knots
April
17 - 21 knots
May
<84
June
July
August
September
October
11 - 16 knots 7 - 10 knots 4 - 6 knots 1 - 3 knots
392 336 280 224
21+ knots
21+ knots
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17 - 21 knots
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11 - 16 knots
11 - 16 knots
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11 - 16 knots
11 - 16 knots
11 - 16 knots
11 - 16 knots
7 - 10 knots
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4 - 6 knots
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1 - 3 knots
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PERFORMATIVE SKIN BUFFER ZONES Open air during the summer months to provide means of natural ventilation and shade against solar radiation. Sealed thermal buffer in winter months.
During the summer, variable slits across the building skin further capitalize on the pressure differential created by the airfoil geometry, drawing air up and out of the space. In the winter these slits close to create a sleek wind-resistentbuilding profile.
AIRFOIL GEOMETRY Form acts as a means to create a pressure differential to enhance airflow through the building section, i.e. producing negative pressure on the leeward side, actively drawing air through the space.
COMPLEMENTARY VOLUMES Three complementary forms work together to produce a section that performs efficiently as a collective.
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Streamline Living \\ Experimental Housing Fall 2010 \\ Architecture 419 Professor Ben Fehrmann
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STREAMLINE LIVING
Third Floor Plan Scale: 1” = 8’
First Floor Plan Scale: 1” = 8’
Second Floor Plan Scale: 1” = 8’
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Streamline Living \\ Experimental Housing Fall 2010 \\ Architecture 419 Professor Ben Fehrmann
Accessible Unit Scale: 1” = 4’
Townhouse Unit Scale: 1”=4’
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BIRD’S NEST
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Birdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nest \\ Ornothological Observatory Fall 2010 \\ Architecture M.Arch. Professor Sung-ho Kim Designed as a machine for scientific research and observation, this observatory seeks to specifically facilitate the programmatic necessities of ornotholical research. The goal of the project is to simply place researchers in ideal vantage points as to observe birds in various environmental conditions, whether that be on the ground, in the trees, or in the sky; and then, secondarily the project seeks to draw birds directly through the space using a canopy as a means of coercion, thus ideally placing researcher and subject in intimate contact. The structure of wooden slats further invokes the idea of a birdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nest in order to disguise observers and encourage visiting avians.
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LATITUDE 12° 39’ 0” N
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Latitude 12° 39’ 0” N \\ Hotel in Bamako Spring 2010 \\ Architecture 412 Professor Zeuler Lima This design for a hotel in Mali seeks to maximize environmental comfort through the strategic use of passive systems, utilizing indigenous architectural traditions and building materials of Mali. Circulation wraps around the building promoting an exterior lifestyle, protected from the harsh sun and rain, but embraced by the breeze and landscape filling every room’s view. The building is primarily developed in section maximizing potential for natural ventilation and views through its porous skin and dedication to outdoor living space. It adopts Mali’s traditional earthen architecture, an ideal means of thermal mass. Capitalizing on this material potential, a wood trellis system blankets the East and West faces of the building, protecting the thermal mass from the harsh sun. Through the center of the courtyard a long linear water feature acts as a means of evaporative cooling. A pitched pair of roofs act as a highly efficient means of dissipating heat from within the building and feed the pools running inbetween them. All these systems work together to create a comprehensive design for ideal comfort in a harsh climate.
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LATITUDE 12° 39’ 0” N
Unit 3 2.5 ft
7.5 ft
1.5 m
Unit 1 2.5 ft
1.5 m
2.5 ft
15 ft 3m
6m
6m
Unit 4
Unit 2 7.5 ft
15 ft 3m
7.5 ft
1.5 m
2.5 ft
15 ft 3m
6m
7.5 ft
1.5 m
15 ft 3m
6m
Louvered Shading Structure
Large Overhang Shading Courtyard Chimney Effect
Evaporative Cooling Pond
Environmental Strategies
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Latitude 12° 39’ 0” N \\ Hotel in Bamako Spring 2010 \\ Architecture 412 Professor Zeuler Lima
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LATITUDE 12° 39’ 0” N
James Frank Struthers \\ designer Latitude 12° 39’ 0” N \\ Hotel in Bamako Spring 2010 \\ Architecture 412 Professor Zeuler Lima
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CONTINGENT GRAMAPHONE
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Contingent Gramaphone \\ Steedman Competition
Summer 2013 \\ Professional Work Yogiaman Tracy Design Responding to the competition brief the design imagines a substantial addition to the samfox school of design and visual arts. The 50,000 ft2 buiding mediates the complex spatial conditions of the Washington University campus while announcing the creative production of the Graduate Schools of Art and Architecture. Linked to its context through materiality and form, the building creates a twisting network of spatial relationships. This insulated knot of program radiates outward through a set of enclosed exterior spaces to announce the production of art and design within the school. Courtyards and atria puncture the building's mass for air and light while creating spaces for landscape, exhibition, and production. Contingent Gramaphone's reclaimed limestone cladding indexes the geological and historical context of St. Louis. Reinforcing the circumstances of the stone's retrieval the facade pattern emerges from the available widths and imperfect shapes of the found material.
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CONTINGENT GRAMAPHONE
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer
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CONTINGENT GRAMAPHONE
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer
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CONTINGENT GRAMAPHONE
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer
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Emergent
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Emergent \\ Geological Institute | New York Spring 2011 \\ Architecture 511 Professor Ferda Kolatan In designing an Institute of Geology on Wardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Island, just outside of Manhattan, geological formations become the inspiration for architecture. As geologic formations emerge in nature over time as a result of natural forces. Similarly a system of organization can be synthesized through analagous processes of computational parametrics in which variable and control define and emerge as architectural form. This process results in a cohesive system that is at once architecture and landscape, capable of the dynamic variable change reflected in natural systems while maintaining subtle control of its properties. The architecture appears as the emergent artifact of a changing landscape; of a dynamically unifying and bifurcating, concentrating and dissipating network.
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Emergent
HAIR STUDIES
MAYA DYNAMIC SYSTEMS
SITE STUDIES
MAYA DYNAMIC SYSTEMS
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Emergent \\ Geological Institute | New York Spring 2011 \\ Architecture 511 Professor Ferda Kolatan
FOOTBRIDGE ACCESS TO SITE
VEHICULAR ACCESS TO SITE
RECREATIONAL ACCESS TO SITE
SITE PLAN RHINO \\ MAYA \\ GRASSHOPPER \\ ILLUSTRATOR \\ VRAY \\ PHOTOSHOP
Emergent
HALL OF PLATE TECTONICS HALL OF GEMS
HALL OF MINERALS WELCOME AREA
LIBRARY
HALL OF PLANET EARTH
AUDITORIUM
HALL OF METEORITES
PLANETARY GEOLOGY
HALL OF GEOLOGICAL EVOLUTIONS
HALL OF HYDROGEOLOGY HALL OF FOSSILS
LIBRARY
ADMINISTRATION
LABORATORIES
EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES
WELCOME AREA
PLAN
SCALE: 1” = 400’
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Emergent \\ Geological Institute | New York Spring 2011 \\ Architecture 511 Professor Ferda Kolatan
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DESIGN VISUALIZATION
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Design Visualization \\ Model/Detail/Render Fall 2012 \\ Professional Work Space, LLC.
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DESIGN VISUALIZATION
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Design Visualization \\ Model/Detail/Render Fall 2012 \\ Professional Work Space, LLC.
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DESIGN VISUALIZATION
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer
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TECTOSENSPATIONAL TRELLIS
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer (dis)organized simplexity\\ trellis Summer 2012 \\ Digital Design Strategies Professor Ken Tracy This project demonstrates the automation of a process to generate progressive structural elements, to define any number of unique architectural forms. The structure developed here was designed as a sun shading and vine supporting trellis. As such, it required a form emerging from the ground plane, and spiralling overhead to the limit of its extent. The spiralling curve and ground plane serve as the variable seeds, upon which to iterate a system of progressively variable structural units. These units, defined as nominal lumber with variable lengths, are joined to one another via a system of parametrically defined and systematically manufactured cross-halving joints.
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TECTOSENSPATIONAL TRELLIS
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer
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YIN + YANG
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Yin + Yang\\ Mixed Use Development Spring 2009 \\ Architecture 312 Professor Ian Fraser Tower Grove, a once bustling neighborhood along a vibrant urban thoroughfare has since fallen to neglect and abandonment. The urban fabric that stretched across this community has been tattered as buildings bui are left abandoned and lots left vacant. project seeks to revitalize the urban fabric by This p drawing life into the project, and acting as the drawin connective tissue of the urban context. This is conne achieved by a pedestrian thoroughfare through the achiev site which wh connects the neighborhoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residential areas to its vibrant retail district. In doing so, a nodal space of public interaction is created within the site sit which spurs the vitality of the project and to the street. its relation rela The aarchitecture seeks to envelop such vibrancy and draw dr it through a public promenade by way of large cantilevers, overhanging planters, and bridge bridges which imply space and movement through it. Its m materiality, a combination of concrete, wood, and glass g used to indicate program within, scales the m massive site to its urban context and brings its distinc distinct volumes to life.
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YIN + YANG
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Yin + Yang\\ Mixed Use Development Spring 2009 \\ Architecture 312 Professor Ian Fraser
SYNTHETIC MEADOW
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Synthetic Meadow \\ FlatLot Competition Spring 2013 \\ Professional Work Yogiaman Tracy Design + Cobalt Office
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Synthetic Meadow is a vast, open expanse with highly articulated ground plane and shading sky canopy. The configuration synthesizes and inflects events and social gatherings from above and below while maximizing the flexible inhabitation of the middle ground. At each entry corner, Flint Blocks provide news of events along with site furniture storage.
While highly variable, the pattern was designed through an analog algorithm, each edge a result of measuring and triangulating the previous step for the ease of implementation.
PINCH
PEDESTRIAN ENTRIES
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Ground and sky are densely programmed while lightly covered, creating atmosphere through color and movement from both people and the draped fabric pendants above. The proposal uses no parking spaces, extending its logic to the daytime function of parking lot.
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Synthetic Meadow captures as much territory as possible and maintains a high level of visibility at all times, whether occupied by cars or people. It does so through the absolute minimum of means, with the lightest possible materials, paint and polyethylene fabric, deployed as a graphic and volumetric hatching of ground and sky.
SYNTHETIC MEADOW
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer FLINT BLOCKS Inspired by local tradition, each corner entry to Synthetic Meadow will house its own ‘Flint Block.’ These 8X8X4 ft volumes will become billboards for local events and canvases for artists. They will also house lightweight stools and benches that can be deployed throughout the Meadow and arranged to serve various
events from theaterical seating to cocktail parties. In addition, the blocks themselves can be transformed into stages for events. Used singly, they form 8X8 platforms 2 ft tall for small gatherings, or all four can be bound together to form a single 16X24 event stage.
Furniture Unpacking and Stage Assembly Sequence
CANOPY The canopy is a lightweight catenary structure formed from a net of steel and nylon cables attached to the existing grid of laterially reinforced lightposts. The recyclable polyethylene pendants use a minimum of material to produce a floating volume, maximizing the projects visual presence while dappling the ground plane with shade. The teardrop shape maximizes density along the bottom VXUIDFH RI WKH YROXPH DGGLQJ GHͤQLWLRQ WR WKH VSDFH EHQHDWK WKH canopy while the variablity in depth is parametrically optimized for HIͤFLHQW XVH RI VWRFN PDWHULDOV
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Assembled Strands
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EVENT PARK
ATMOSPHERE
The circuitous paths of a bazaar, the small intricate assemblage of a cocktail party or reception, and the large uninterrupted territories for seating of concerts and movies are all expressed within the meadow surface.
The sky canopy flutters gently in the prevailing breeze while the dominant color shifts from blue to white to yellow, articulating each of the corner entry points through a subtle adjustment of the pendant depth calibrated to the natural catenary of the surface.
Movie / Light Projection
Cocktail Party
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Concert / Performance
Lecture / Reading
Bazaar
TOWER TRIALS
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Tower Trials \\ Conceptual Study
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TOWER TRIALS
James Frank Struthers \\ designer
LIGHT METRICS
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Light Metrics \\ Lamp Designs Extracurricular
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LIGHT METRICS
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer
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Crossing Paths
PLAN
SITE PLAN
ELEVATION
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Crossing Paths \\ Lakefront Recreation Facility Fall 2008 \\ Architecture 311 Professor Brent Crittendon
SECTION
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Walking, biking and vehicular paths define movement through Carondelet Park in St. Louis. The design for a recreational center on this site preserves, integrates and encourages the existing circulation through the park and its connection to the greater St. Louis area. The building is accessed via any of the three transportation modes supported by the park. It integrates the walking path that circumnavigates the three acre lake it overlooks as well as the roadway that defines its opposite facade. Finally, defining the spine of the building and built into its roof structure is a cycling path from which there are views both down into the pool and out across the landscape. From this spine, a webbed skeletal structure of exposed, reinforced concrete emerges to traverse the long span spaces on either side and formally reconcile the two distinct volumes. The internal circulation systems within these volumes wind about fluidly, mimicking the natural flow already present in the park. This lakeside recreational center serves as a programmatic node for Carondelet Park, linking its various existing programs with additional pool and fitness facilities.
Crossing Paths
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Crossing Paths \\ Lakefront Recreation Facility Fall 2008 \\ Architecture 311 Professor Brent Crittendon
STRUCTURAL SECTION
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Backyard Ban
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Backyard Ban \\ Gridshell Trellis Summer 2012 \\ Extracurricular This project utilizes a combination of both gridshell technology and minimal surface geometry in order to achieve a structurally sound and aesthetically pleasing trellis, amenable to automated manufacturing techniques. The introduction of variable nodes create spaces for programmatic and structural functioinality. They serve as structural columns or centers for programmatic activity where they meet the ground or open up to the sky.
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Live + Work
ROOF PLAN
NORTH ELEVATION
WEST ELEVATION
SOUTH ELEVATION
SECTION B
SECTION A
SECTION C
THIRD FLOOR PLAN
SECOND FLOOR PLAN
SITE PLAN
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Live + Work \\ A House For Two Artists Fall 2008 \\ Architecture 311 Professor Brent Crittendon Conceiving a house for two artist in the culturally vibrant Grand Center area of St. Louis involved a complex program of a gallery, art and sculpting studios and living quarters.
Public/Private Differentiation
Axial Circulation Organization Around Light
Diagramming Light
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The design designates a substantial portion of the site as courtyard sculpture gallery, advocating a strong distinction between the public and private areas of the home while retaining accessibility to the public gallery area from both studios and residence via an axis of circulation, stairs and walkways. The courtyard works in conjunction with a similar outdoor program in the neighboring lot to provide expansive exterior green space in a very urban environment. In dealing with this highly urban context, the design also emphasizes both privacy and light control through a system of louvers and projected floor plates that allow the home to perform the multiple facets of its program.
Case Studies
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Case Studies Fall 2008 \\ Architecture 333/320A Professor Heather Woofter and Greg Cudihee Case studies are one of the most important resources we have as architects. They provide insight into building systems, innovative design solutions, and design processes. Daniel Libeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin is an excellent example of a revolutionary approach to architecture and process. This study (left) examines how his architecture elicits emotion in visitors. The objects in the space of the museum, composed of the text of the Gedenkbuch records of victims of the Holocaust, are in reality symbolic voids in the structure, a constant reminder of the Jewish history lost and irreplacable in a museum of Jewish history. These voids form a ghostly line through the torturous contorted form of a mangled Jewish star, indicative of the Jewish experience in Berlin. Case studies may also be a kind of social experiment designed specifically to test our common conceptions of how we design buildings. This was the case with both SANAA’s M-House and MVRDV’s Double House. Their radically different approaches to the relationship of architecture and site provide an excellent means of comparison.
HAND DRAFTING/RENDERING
Arcade: Unify + Divide
tool for the measurement of perspectival drawing
HAND DRAFTING
James Frank Struthers \\ designer Arcade: Unify + Divide \\ Spatial Analysis Fall 2007 \\ Architecture 211 Professor Mathieu Lemieux Blanchard Blurring the distinction between continuous and discontinuous space, the arcade at the St. Louis Basilica creates a dynamic environment that, dependent upon perspective, divides or unifies the whole. The interpretation of the chapel space via the promenade beside it is constantly changing as one traverses the hall. As oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perspective changes, so does the role of the adjacent arcade. It is regularly and repetitively interchanging between impervious wall and free flowing space.
relief indicating changing frame of view moving along arcade
HAND DRAFTING
graphite on strathmore
Digitalization
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Digitalization \\ Complex Computer Modeling Spring 2009 \\ Architecture 320 B Professor Mathieu Jessica Senne 31
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RHINO \\ AUTOCAD \\ ILLUSTRATOR
The roles of digital modeling and computer assisted drafting are constantly growing in the field of architecture. Technological advancements allow us to explore architecture in an unprecidented digital environment and present those explorations with extraordinary precision, accuracy, and clarity. The advent of such technologies has the potential to push architecture to new and exciting realms, never before possible, but like any tool of the trade, control over it, not it over design, is essential. This exploration considers a somewhat cumbersome object to describe in-depth and with a substantial level of detail through traditional orthagonal drawings alone. Architectural potential is derived in this process, considering the bottleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unique form and materiality which, through the transmission of light, provides a virtual kaleidascope of distortion. Digital renderings serve as the media for the exploration and representation of this phenomena, and the translation of these digital models into physical models allows for further abstraction considering the human interaction with the object, both visual and tactile.
Traditional Technique
HAND DRAFTING \\ RENDERING
James Frank Struthers \\ designer Traditional Technique\\ Case Study ISA HQ Spring 2010 \\ Architecture 412 Professor Zeuler Lima Brasil Arquitetura’s design for the headquarters of the Instituto Socioambiental - ISA (Social and Environmental Institute) is a deliberate juxtaposition of rationalism and indiginous culture. A simple, rational white masonry cube, clad in a second skin of wood and sheltered by a traditional, indigenous roof structure, it seeks to “develop, collaborate and create conditions for the establishment of a sustainable development program in the Rio Negro Basin,” to serve as a communal gathering place for the annual meetings of the federation of 22 Indian peoples occupying the area of the region’s reserve. As such, the architecture, like the maloca (indigenous communal dwelling place) upon which it derives both its structural stratagy and symbolic vision of community, is a collaborative endeavor where the architects have provided a rationalist means of inhabitation, a modern stratagy for circulation and a technical understanding of systems and environment derived from and dependent upon indigenous knowledge, labor, and construction techniques.
DIGITAL FABRICATIONS
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Digital Fabrcations \\ Code\Fabricate\Construct Spring 2011 \\ Architecture 46 326G Professor Kenneth Tracy
fold
fold
structure
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DIGITAL FABRICATIONS
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer
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Rock + Record
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Rock + Record \\ Fetishizing an Object Spring 2008 \\ Architecture 212 Professor Jen Maigret
The design for a comprehensive record museum on a single 30â&#x20AC;&#x2122;x100â&#x20AC;&#x2122; vacant lot on Cherokee Street in South St. Louis required a scalar progression from record album and display to library and concert venue. The building conforms to the necessities of the program and the object it celebrates. It moves beyond museum to music library and concert venue to incorporate the underlying culture of which the record album is a product.
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Rock + Record
THIRD FLOOR PLAN
SECOND FLOOR PLAN
SECTION
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Rock + Record \\ Fetishizing an Object Spring 2008 \\ Architecture 212 Professor Jen Maigret
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From the Ground Up
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Hydrology \\ From the Ground Up Fall 2009 \\ Architecture 411 Professor Christof Jantzen Designing a research facility for Baltimore in which the goal of both the architecture and its program is a more sustainable future requires a site-specific, research-oriented approach to design. As such, the interaction of the structure with its environment ultimately defines the architecture. The solution, thereby, strategically integrates Baltimore’s most important and influential resource, the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed, considering through section the opportunities afforded by such a hydologically rich site. In this fashion, aquifers 250 feet below the surface are harvested by heat pumps to condition the building. The river running through the site is dammed to allow for bioremediation swales and to harvest the energy of the flowing water for hydro-electric power. Even moisture in the air, the humidity to which Baltimore is always victim, is mitigated through the structure’s skin designed specifically to pull water from the air by way of an innovative liquid desiccant system integrated in the building’s system of louvers. This ground-up , sectional approach to design allows for a 3-dimensional engagement with the site affording opportunites to harvest its potential.
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From the Ground Up WATER WALLS LIQUID DESICCANT WATERFALL Calcium chloride solution drips between two pieces of glass, removing water from the air passing through it, and thus, naturally lowering humidity and indoor temperature, significantly lowering energy and air conditioning costs.
VENTILATION SYSTEM Air is drawn through the desiccant waterfall by way of fans in the cieling which draw air through vents in the floor, up into the waterfall and back up and out from the ceiling.
Ho Hot o Water Tube Louvers Nested within each of the Ne e louvers are hot water tubes lou u which wh h supply the building’s hot ho o water necessities and a se p seperate evaporative tube forr the regeneration of the de e desiccant.
LIQUID DESICCANT REGENERATION The calcium chloride liquid desiccant must be regenerated upon saturation in order to continue to perform as a desiccant. Regeneration g is achieved in this system y byy pumping the liquid through hot water tubes nested in the system of louvers, thus evaporating the water out in the process but not the desiccant with its much higher boiling point.
Desiccant Cistern The desiccant/water solution is collected below the waterfall so that it may be pumped through the hot water tubes to be regenerated.
DESICCANT FLOW
HOT WATER LOUVER TUBE EVAPORATIVE REGENERATION
LIQUID DESICCANT WATER FALL
SECTION SCALE: 1/8” = 1’
SECTION SCALE: 1/8” = 1’
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Hydrology \\ From the Ground Up Fall aall 2009 200 0 \\ Architecture A h e 411 4 Professor r s Christof r t Jantzen Jan antzze z n Researchl
Green Roof
STREET Roof Terrace
THIRD FLOOR
STREET
SCALE: 1/16” = 1’
SCALE: 1/16” = 1’
Lounge
Cafeteria
Lobby Exhibition
STREET
SECOND FLOOR
Space Kitchen
Lobby Information Inf
STREET
GROUND FLOOR SCALE: 1/16” = 1’
RK
PUBLIC PA
SUBLEVEL SCALE: 1/16” = 1’
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SITE PLAN
CONTEXTUAL PLAN
SCALE: 1/8” = 1’
SCALE: 1/64” = 1’
BUILDING SYSTEMS BEYELER FOUNDATION MUSEUM Location: Client: Architect: Contractor: Completed:
RiehenCountry/RegionSwitzerland Beyeler Foundation Renzo Piano Building Workshop Zublin & Wenk AG 1997
DISPLACEMENT VAV RETURN FAN EXTERIOR OUTLET
RETURN DUCT
HEAT WHEEL EXCHANGER
T
ZONE
T
ZONE
THERMAL BUFFER ZONE EXTERIOR INTAKE/OUTLET
SUPPLY FAN EXTERIOR INTAKE
VAV BOX
RETURN DUCTS
VAV BOX
SUPPLY DUCT
SUPPLY GRILLS/DIFFUSERS FLOOR PLENUM
FILTER
AIR HANDLING EQUIPMENT
SUPPLY/RETURN DUCTS AND VAV CONTROL BOX
Roof is multi-layered, with inclined opaque glass sun shading, a flat double-glazed roof, operable louvers, a glass ceiling and a second ceiling in perforated metal. Loft acts as an environmental buffer zone, with passive solar gains in winter creating an insulating blanket above the art zone.
OPERABLE LOUVERS DOUBLE GLAZED ROOF SINGLE GLAZED OVERHANG THERMAL BUFFER ZONE PERFORATED METAL CEILING
The 4000m2 flat glass roof consists primarily of conventionally-supported, double-glazed insulating units. The overhangs comprise laminated, single-glazed panels.
GLASS CEILING
Protected from climatic extremes by thermal ‘buffer’ spaces on the roof and the east and west sides. Heated and ventilated ‘loft’ means that despite the 100% glazed roof, perimeter heating is only needed in the galleries with windows directly to the outside. Displacement system was designed to reduce air velocities to a minimum around the artwork. Air is emitted at barely-perceptible velocities from purpose-built wooden linear floor grilles which can be removed for cleaning or access to electrical sockets.
THERMAL MASS EXTRACT DUCTS
FLOOR GRILLES
Air supply to each gallery module is controlled by variable air volume boxes mounted in a services corridor at basement level.
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer Building Systems \\ Structure\Envelope\Skin Spring 2011 \\ Architecture M.Arch. Professor Jenny Lovell THERMAL FLUE HEATED CAVITY DRAWS AIR UP AND OUT OF SPACE
THERMAL FLUE
EXTRACT
N
S
CORE
SOUTH FACADE SHADING
CONTAINS HVAC DUCTS AND VERTICAL CIRCULATION
NATURAL VENTILATION
DIFFUSERS INDIVIDUAL CONTROL EFFICIENCY
PLENUM EASE OF MAINTENANCE FACILITY FOR RECONFIGURATION
NATURAL VENTILATION
N
S
SOUND BARRIER
RETURN SUPPLY PLATE HEAT EXCHANGER AHU OPEN LOOP HEAT PUMP
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SUN SHADING VISUAL COMFORT THERMAL EFFICIENCY
BUILDING SYSTEMS Mechanical shaft
FOUNDATION STRATEGY
Infrastructural sealing wall Acoustic wall panels Earth Granite cladding panels Groundwater level
V Rainscreen rails
Hydrostatic Pressure 35m
11m
Rigid insulation
Impervious Soil Vapor barrier Concrete Mat Concrete wall structure Piles
DETAIL FOUNDATION SECTION
DETAIL WALL SECTION 14.4 m
160 m 7.2 m 400 mm
600 mm
V 11 m
V
35 m
WATERTIGHT SEALED VOLUME
600 mm
160 m
The library is supported on a (tension/compression) piled raft. Single and 600 mm double-belled bored piles were used. Ground water level, 0.9 meters above sea level, is 11 meters above the basement slab level. The earth and water retention to the deep basement was catered for by a diaphragm wall, which extends to the 1524 mm sandstone at a depth of 35 meters. The diaphragm wall is 160 meters in diameter and is thought to be one of the largest circular diaphragm walls that have ever been built.
CONCRETE MAT:
SUPPLEMENTS BEARING PRESSURE OF SOIL REMOVED FROM BELOW
PILES:
DISTRIBUTE LOAD OF SUPERSTRUCTURE TO SUITABLE BEARING SOIL BELOW
MOMENT/DEFLECTION DIAGRAM
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James Frank Struthers \\ designer The geometry of the building is primarily generated by the functional arrangement of bookshelves and reading desks into identical structural bays measuring 14.4 x 9.6 meters. The 16.08-degree slope of the roof enables these bays to rise by a series of 4.15 meter high stories. To support the roof bays, the slender circular concrete columns expand into elegant conical capitals. The longest columns are 16.5 meters long and 70 centimeters in diameter.
1.45 m
1.00 m 0.70 m
1.72 m
solar shades
aluminum cap systems alcove concrete beams
concrete column
The roof tilts at 16.08 degrees and this angle was derived from the interaction of the structural module with the floor slabs. The structural module is based upon the basic requirements of book shelving and storage, while the 4.15 meter floor-to-floor heights were based upon the optimum needs balanced between book storage and open access areas. The intersection between the floors and the roof then made the 16.08-degree angle and the roof paralleled this line. The roof tilts toward the northwest and the individual modules that make it up are split diagonally. The diagonal cut faces directly north and the resulting aluminum panels glass plane along the diagonal can therefore be free of direct sunlight throughout the year. The absence of direct sunlight into the library is of paramount importance to the welfare of the books. In order to ensure that no direct sunlight would penetrate into the reading room a detailed computer study was made following the path of the sun bent steel beam across the roof modules. This study showed that during the summer solstice a small sliver of sunlight could penetrate the space, so small glass solar shades were added to the skylights shaped to remove this last portion of direct light.
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BUILDING SYSTEMS
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