Chicago Studio Manual by Janice Jones

KIT OF

PARTS

01 LEARNING CHICAGO

EXPLORATIONS MAPPING INSTITUTO TECHNOLOGICO DE MONTERREY TRAVELS

02 STUDIO PROJECT

INTRODUCTION SITE INFORMATION PROGRAMMATIC STUDIES CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT DESIGN DEVELOPMENT FINAL STUDIES

03 PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

LECTURES ON PRACTICE INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS DIAGRAM OF A TYPICAL PROJECT SCHEDULE HYPOTHETICAL FIRM

04 URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

140

192

WEEKEND OBSERVATIONS DESIGN STUDIES

05 REFLECTIONS 214

THE STUDIO THE HOST FIRM

LEARNING CHICAGO

COMPUTATIONAL MODELING

8 12

EXPLORATIONS

MAPPING

INSTITUTO TECHNOLOGICO DE MONTERREY

TRAVELS

THE STUDIO The CHICAGO STUDIO program is offered to 4th-year undergraduate students in the College of Architecture & Urban Studies. CHICAGO STUDIO creates a neutral platform for the discussion of architecture and urbanism in Chicago, and the curriculum is guided by the collaboration with Chicago’s visionaries in an effort to generate innovative ideas for the city. This powerful mechanism directly integrates education and practice by embedding students within some of Chicago’s top architecture and urban design firms. Real voices, real problems, and real stakeholders inspire the curriculum to create real opportunity by using Chicago as the design laboratory where students test ideas. The program is structured in a virtual campus — the design lab and lecture halls are located within a network of shared spaces in design firms, civic institutions and other private companies. The program has active partnerships in the public and private sector, ranging from global leaders in practice to the city government to the local community. The process intentionally takes the university, the profession and the city out of a familiar setting to drive true creativity and broad communityfocused architectural solutions that are relevant to the contemporary city. CHICAGO STUDIO has established an amazing network in Chicago — directly engaging some 500 professionals, more than half of them local architects and urban designers (many VT alumni) that are enriching the students experience. Together, we are making Chicago a better place through the collaboration of these passionate students and established leaders. This collaboration engages the city — from the Mayor to local Chicagoans — to confront real issues that architecture and design can help solve.

PHOTO CREDIT: ALEX CHENG 7

THE HOSTS

SKIDMORE, OWINGS, & MERRILL Janice Jones Connor Walker Joanna Brindise Alex Cheng

CANNON DESIGN Andres Jimenez Ryan Myers Kirsten Hull Michael Mekonen

von WEISE ASSOCIATES Palmer Ferguson Zach Wolk

GREC Barbara Dior Kane Landon Williams Chanel Carter-Harris Mo Wang

SOM

My firm for the Spring 2015 Chicago Studio was Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill’s Chicago office. This office is multidisciplinary, with engineers, architects, urban designers, and interior designers working side by side. Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill works with big projects and clients. In my previous internships, I hadn’t been exposed to that sort of environment, and so I was excited to gain experience in a new type of environment. I was interested to learn how a firm operates on such a large scale and with offices spread throughout the world. I also had only worked on smaller projects, and was curious about how large projects were broken up throughout an office. Skidmore, Owing, & Merrill’s office is broken into smaller groups by dividing into studios. The firm has about 300 employees working at the Chicago office, and so the studios help to divide the work load and groups into more manageable pieces. The facilities at Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill were amazing. They have a large model shop with a full time employee working within. They also have lunch and learn types of sessions at least once a week by people in the firm presenting topics that are their specialty. The people at Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill all seem to be very nice. Although they were very busy, there was always someone available to use as a resource while figuring out structural systems and building materials. It was nice to have a library of people at our disposal for questions and conversations. During the studio portion of the semester, I worked on the 10th floor with Connor Walker. We used the desk and facilities and resources of Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill to forward our studio design. The other two interns sat separately, working together on the 9th floor. In the internship portion of the semester, Connor and I worked to put together things for client presentations. I was able to learn VRay and complex modeling in Rhino. I also was able to put my Photoshop skills to the test, fixing renderings and adding in textures on different materials. I figured out what dynamic views to show clients and partners at SOM, trying to capture what the space would truly feel like in three dimensions through a series of views. I also worked to build models for clients to show different structural systems. It was exciting to work in a firm whose portfolio I have admired before. It includes the Lever House, and the Lever House’s use of pilotis on the first floor to provide a public micro-park as a threshold between the exterior and interior. I think that working at Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill was a learning experience and helped with my understanding of the professional practice of architecture as a whole. 9

The internship portion of the Chicago Studio experience with SOM included a portion where Connor and I worked on the timber tower project. We built models of the project, attempting to illustrate the structural system in a way that would entice people to try out building a tower with this experimental technology. The goal of the Timber Tower Research Project was to develop a structural system for tall buildings that uses mass timber as the main structural material and minimizes the embodied carbon footprint of the building. SOMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s solution to the tall wooden building problem is the Concrete Jointed Timber Frame. This system relies primarily on mass timber for the main structural elements, with supplementary reinforced concrete at the connecting joints. This system plays to the strengths of both materials. The result is an efficient structure that could compete with reinforced concrete and steel while reducing the carbon footprint by 60 percent to 75 percent.

COMPUTATIONAL MODELING

Once a week, the Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill group met with Neil Katz. Neil took an hour every week to teach us about computational modeling, focusing on Grasshopper and Rhino. Parametric modeling, a subset of “computational modeling”, provides a powerful design tool in exploring design options, particularly where the designer is interested in applying “rules” and constraints to the exploration. Parametric modeling and computational modeling are not dependent on computers, but are processes and work flows which can be done with a variety of tools, including just pencil and paper, or even just in one’s mind. However, computers can assist enormously in this type of design, and some digital tools are designed for precisely this type of exploration. A computer programmer’s efforts include defining rules and constraints, and initial conditions, and providing a result. Some architects have become quite facile with various programming languages, and are able to use their programs themselves for exploratory parametric modeling, or provide their tools to others. There’s an enormous benefit to being able to create one’s own tools. Grasshopper makes this tool-creating process accessible to many people who are not “programmers” (coders, scripters, etc.), by using a visual, intuitive, and accessible interface to allow most people to create tools of this type. An understanding of exploration techniques (iteration, optimization, etc.), of a variety of mathematical concepts (geometry and trigonometry, for example), and of design-influencing factors (sustainability concepts, structures, nature, etc.) is extremely helpful in this design process. Because these techniques use a system of rigidly-defined rules and relationships, it may seem that the results should be highly predictable, but (luckily) this is often not the case, and the results of this process can be interesting, useful, and sometimes surprising. The process itself can be informative, inspiring, and fun! We will examine how programming and parametrics can be further exploited, not only be used as a tool for form generation, but also for representation and analysis. Throughout the course, concepts of computational design and representation will be presented and discussed to provide students with a foundation of thought, critical precedent and continuing research within the architectural community, at large, and within SOM, specifically.

EXPLORATIONS

Chicago is a city made up of a collection of smaller cities, each with their own flavor and culture. It has such urban sprawl, but this dissolution of urbanity leads to the creation of these micro communities of like minded individuals. Because of these communities, I was able to travel through different cultures and compilations of people just by hopping on and off the CTA. I ate my way through dim sum in Chinatown, Polish bakeries, Korean barbecues, and Senegalese restaurants. I was able to explore not just Chicago, but a whole new realm of taste and texture. The Spring 2015 Chicago Studio group lived in the heart of one of these communities, in Lakeside. Being able to live with Chicagoans and commute every day, like one of them, taught me what actually living in the city is like versus being a tourist. I chronicled my explorations of the city through photographs, documenting things that caught my eye.

McCormick Tribune Campus Center OMA Illinois Institute of Technology Campus 17

Chicago Standards: Pocket Shops, Snow, CTA, Night Lights

On Saint Patrick’s Day, Chicago explodes. The streets are filled with people. Car horns ring through the air. And ton after ton of dye is poured into the Chicago River, in a green celebration of “Irish heritage” and beer. 20

MAPPING To really begin to learn and understand the geographic layouts of Chicago, our semester began with mapping studies. The first map that I made linked together my travels on both the red and blue L lines as I journeyed from Jefferson Park to Chinatown for my first dim sum. It became a study of the differences of scale and density between the stops that we made in the area.

I mapped the area surrounding the Jefferson Park transit center using solely my sense of smell. Smells shape your spatial perception. They produce an atmosphere and a narrative to spaces. A sense of community/belonging is strongly tied in with familiar smells. At the moment, scents are often occurring as unintentional consequence of other planning decisions in many regions. It is a sense that people often times donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think about when designing spaces. In the Enlightenment Era, the sense of smell was relegated to something that was lower class and common, while sight and sound were referenced with knowledge, culture, and class. Sight and lack of sound are still the most important senses today. The sense of smell is both fundamental and neglected. Every time we breathe, we inhale smell data. And we breathe roughly 23,000 times per day. But people constantly ignore the olfactory input data that they are receiving.

We are able to enter into different perceptual states of smell. People get into mindsets as to whether or not to actively perceive both sounds and smells. But smells, whether registered or not, influence the perception of a space. But although people donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think about smells consciously, they use them as a navigation tool. A smell map is formed with distinctive smells as geographic reference points. Brains can identify spaces and places by memories of their distinctive smells. 30

vehicle emissions

food

domestic

trash and refuse

100

200

500

The smell map layered together different types of smells into different hatches. vehicle emissions

food

domestic

With this smell map, Connor and I were able to read areas of the site by their smells and consequently their uses.

trash and refuse

The scents of Jefferson Park can be read on the map, branding areas with their wares or designating desirable areas of town. The north eastern section of this map can begin to be read as a neighborhood without having to see any houses. All you need to know about is the smell of laundry, grass, and barbecue. It designates itself through the odors. Different fast foods and restaurants brand themselves and attract customers through the smells that they emit. Surrounding the Jefferson Park Transit Center is a cacophony of fragrances, enticing visitors to come get a burger! slurpee! donut! with the chains distinct smells acting as the advertising. Smells also act to point out undesirable zones around the Transit Center, with the trash smells emanating from alleys and the mildew smells seeping out of abandoned buildings. I started to question how smell could be designed. If I had to walk around one of my designs using only my sense of smell, would I be able to find my way?

INSTITUTO TECHNOLOGICO DE MONTERREY 34

Chicago Studio partnered up with students from the architecture school at Instituto Technologico de Monterrey to work on a quick, one day design charrette. I worked in collaboration with two students from Monterrey, Perla Castro and Marcelo Cavazos. The design brief was simple: imagine what the Jefferson Park area of Chicago could be in 100 years. The Jefferson Park area of Chicago has been home to a large Polish community for years. In the site plan below, we highlighted all of the Polish or Polish owned businesses along just the Milwaukee Ave. area of Jefferson Park. We imagined that the community could form their own Polish Paradise, bringing archetypes of Polish architecture to the Jefferson Park area to create a destination and a place of home for the area, in a similar way to how Chinatown is designed. This would aid in not having Jefferson Park continue to quickly gentrify, and give Chicagoans and visitors a reason to visit the currently aging community.

TRAVELS Chicago Studio traveled as a group to Milwaukee and Minneapolis in addition to traveling around Chicago itself together. We took a train to Milwaukee for a day trip, and took a bus to Wisconsin for a long weekend. In Milwaukee, we were able to visit the Public Market, the Harley Davidson Museum by Pentagram, and Santiago Calatrava’s Milwaukee Art Museum. Overall, Milwaukee seemed like a city with no pedestrians. I don’t remember passing any people or even seeing many people during the entire day of walking around. The most active spaces were tourist destinations and breweries, not the city itself. In Minneapolis, we were able to have office visits with MSR and HGA. We went on a walking tour of the city, seeing towers by Philip Johnson, I M Pei, SOM, and Cesar Pelli. Chicago Studio went to a show and backstage tour at Jean Nouvel’s Guthrie Theater. The Lakewood Cemetery Mausoleum by HGA and the Walker Art Center by Herzog and de Mueron were highlights of our last day in Minneapolis. Minneapolis felt much more alive than Milwaukee. It reminded me of Richmond, Virginia. It had a downtown that seemed rather sparse compared to the downtown of Chicago, but the large student community surrounding the area ensured that there was a constant stream of activity going on. The most intriguing thing about the setup of the city were the skyways connecting block after block of private buildings to facilitate public travel.

MINNEAPOLIS

MILWAUKEE

CHICAGO

Harley-Davidson Museum Pentagram Architects Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee Art Museum Santiago Calatrava Milwaukee, Wisconsin 43

Lakewood Cemetery Mausoleum HGA Minneapolis, Minnesota 46

IDS Tower Atrium Philip Johnson Minneapolis, Minnesota 49

Walker Art Center Herzog & de Mueron Minneapolis, Minnesota 51

Guthrie Theater Jean Nouvel Minneapolis, Minnesota 52

STUDIO PROJECT 56

INTRODUCTION

SITE INFORMATION

PROGRAMMATIC STUDIES

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

106

FINAL STUDIES

120

This project is a community catalyst, a specialized kind of development that will prove to be an amenity for the neighborhood now and deep into the future. The building will provide a variety of residences and amenities that work together to create a vibrant and exciting ecosystem that is both self regenerating internally and stimulating to the neighborhood and the city. Mixed markets have existed for all of recorded history and there are emerging trends to create spaces that capture the unique opportunities of the local context and culture (non-generic, nonsuburban). This project is hyperlocal, yet regionally connected. I worked in a team with Connor Walker for the duration of the studio projects. All presentations were done in tandem, and all ideas were shared.

INTRODUCTION

The project is a mixed use residential and retail building, consisting of a market space and 250-300 micro apartments. It is located in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of Chicago, IL in a triangular sharped site adjacent to the Jefferson Park Transit Center.

The modern market is becoming more than just a place to pick up your groceries. They are developing themselves beyond the mundane functions of a typical grocery store. They try to become community centers and destination spaces. They are a popular attraction for tourists and locals as restaurants, learning annexes, and department stores focused on the culinary arts. The importance of amenities and common spaces go up exponentially with the size of the apartment decreasing. With micro apartments, the common spaces are especially important, as they are the only places where more than one or two people can converse comfortably. They also become almost like community centers for the apartments, with many people coming to use the facilities on a daily basis and interacting with each other. The building we propose will become a focal point of the community, bridging the gap between the two sides of town separated by the transit lanes of Jefferson Park. The market will provide a transitionary space between residences to the north, and the park to the south, creating a more cohesive community.

Mixed Market 75,000 - 80,000 sq ft Market Prepared Foods Coffee Bar Restaurant / Bar (seating for up to 50 ppl) Cooking Classrooms (2 @ 1000 sq ft each) Restrooms (6 fixtures per m/f) Mechanical Space min 18â&#x20AC;&#x2122; ceiling ht vertical circulation no parking reqâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d Residential 250-300 apartments 200-250 sq ft Each unit includes: Living area Bedroom Kitchen Bathroom Closet Storage vertical circulation no parking reqâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d

Connor and I started off the process for introducing ourselves to this program by visiting local markets. We studied the spatial organization, layout and overall atmosphere of each market. Then we researched each business: the mission, business model and identity until we understood the basic structure for each business, pulling out the organizations or structures that worked and those that did not. The use of wood paneling and bright, white materials, and indirect lighting give the sense that you are in a higher class establishment than the typical grocery store. Baskets and crates to display food, as well as the open air plan make the stores feel like farmers markets. Trust is built through this illusionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;visitors do not feel that they are buying from a corporation, but that they are buying local, safe, well-treated food. Spatial organization of the three markets is based on pockets of program that can be circulated through freely. The difference between them is that they have varying degrees of regimentation. Plum market, as a more traditional store model, has very standardized blocks of program. Eataly expands on this slightly by allowing those spaces to overlap and interlock. Whole foods takes that to the extreme, mimicking the organically formed layout of something like a farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s market. The circulation for each of the stores reflects their programmatic layout. Plum market is the most conventional, with standard aisles that must be traversed. Eataly is a more circuitous route, looping in on itself and forcing visitors to travel the store from front to back before ascending to the second floor. Whole foods is a hybrid of the two. All three businesses have a common commitment to providing high quality food, enriching their communities both through that food and through other means, and creating a cultural space based on food where shopping is only half of the engagement. The three vary in their outward reach. Eataly operates as an introverted model, influencing relatively little outside the bounds of their store. Plum Markets is more invested in supporting local business, whereas Whole Foods is actively reaching out into communities through work with food banks, farmers, and everyday civilians. All three have developed beyond the function of typical grocery stores. They are a popular destination for tourists and locals as restaurants, learning annexes, and department stores focused on the culinary arts. We aim to emulate that in our own design, creating a focal point in the community of Jefferson Park.

EATALY (43 E OHIO) S

EATALY

PLUM MARKET (1233 N WELLS)

WHOLE FOODS (1550 N KINGSBURY) I

WHOLE FOODS MARKET

PLUM MARKET

SITE INFORMATION 62

Jefferson Park is located in the North Side of Chicago. The Jefferson Park Transit Center has a stop on the blue line. It is one of the only blue line stops where the area around it has not been built up, and so therefore Jefferson Park has a largely older community mostly made up of public servants and city workers such as police officers and fire fighters. The site is located just southeast of the Jefferson Park transit center. It is a triangularly shaped site bounded by the Metra line and Kennedy Expressway, N Lipps Ave, and W Ainslie St. We analyzed the Jefferson Park area surrounding the site and the Jefferson Park Transit Center. We also looked into the grid of the area, since Chicago is such a heavily gridded city. And we looked into the site itself. What are the dimensions, what does it offer?

Chicago is ruled by the grid. It stretches across the city, guiding streets, building forms, and lighting. The grid is mostly made out of long, narrow blocks that are subdivided through the middle with an alley. In Jefferson Park, there are tons of different types of grids that all smash in to one another. There seems to be no direct ordering system. Grids are cut through by multiple main streets along with the highway and CTA line. The majority of grids in the Jefferson Park area are made up of 28â&#x20AC;&#x2122; plots with 22â&#x20AC;&#x2122; wide houses sitting on them.

Adjacent to the site is the Jefferson Park Transit Center. The Jefferson Park Transit Center is an intermodal passenger transport center in the Jefferson Park neighborhood that services the community with rail, rapid transit, and a bus terminal. The CTA Jefferson Park blue line station consists of a surface level station with a single island platform, located in the middle of the Kennedy Expressway. The Metra station has a stop for the union pacific northwest line that can carry people from Jefferson Park to Harvard (50 miles away) without having to switch trains. This gives people the ability for people to easily traverse not only the city, but to cross the state without needing a car or a plane ticket. Jefferson Station has some very processional characteristics because of the long pathway through the tunnel followed by a raised central median area in the bus station. This sudden end to the processional without a crosswalk is a very awkward ending. We assumed that there would have to be a continuation of this axis. This axis is reinforced by the strong horizontality of Jefferson Station. Because of the raised hill and low profile, the L line station is inconspicuous in its surroundings. The entrance to the station is almost hidden as a hole in the side of a long wall. The busses take precedence because of the visual space devoted to them and their constancy. To right: Axonometric section through the Jefferson Park Transit Center

SOM designed the stations between Logan Square and Jefferson Park in 1970. Project headed by Myron Goldsmith (principle architect, student of Mies) in the International Style that SOM was known for. You can see the stylistic similarities between these other stations (shown on the right) and Jefferson Station.

The station was built of white steel and glass for maximum illumination and visibility through the station frame and skin. Design goals included improved visibility and security, ease of cleaning, and more comfortable working conditions. These formal and functional criteria are expressed in: uncluttered, brightly lit interior spaces; Durability, safety, and maximum efficiency of movement; and lightness and purity of structure. These light, bright spaces that were originally envisioned are not in ideal quality now. The buildup of everyday use, trains passing below, and smog from cars has obscured the windows. They now screen and filter light rather than live up to the design goals that they were originally made for.

LOGAN SQUARE LOGAN SQUARE

JEFFERSON PARK JEFFERSON PARK

STATE / LAKE STATE / LAKE

Studies were done regarding the size and scope of Jefferson Park Transit Center in relation to other stations with comparable qualities. Logan Square is also a fairly typical station in the neighborhoods surrounding Chicago, but has far less density than Jefferson Park in terms of busses, L lines, and Metra lines. State and Lake, on the other hand, has a similar type of density as Jefferson Park. The station, however, is located in the heart of the Loop. It is interesting that a fairly typical Chicago neighborhood station has as much density as a station servicing the entire downtown community. Line weights on the drawings above let you know how often different modes of transportation pass through Jefferson Station. This gives you a picture of how busy the station is at peak times in the day. The station has modes of transportation running to all parts of the city and surrounding community.

The station functions more as a series of hallways meant to move people from one place to the other, and does not encourage lingering. However, upon exiting the station, pedestrians are exposed to a vista of shops and restaurants well within walking distance. Rather than having a planned commercial addition, the area immediately surrounding the Jefferson park transit station has developed organically into a kind of Block 37. There are four or five chain restaurants, two ATMs, two bars, two convenience stores and a tobacco shop within five minutes walking distance. While the station itself has set boundaries, the transit hub that is Jefferson park extends into the town itself, encompassing a much larger area than it would first appear. The town becomes an organic extension of the transit center.

Because the State and Lake station at Block 37 and Jefferson have such comparible densities, we started to look at how they were organized. While Jefferson Station funnels you into and out of the station directly, Block 37 tries to pull you up and around the stations in your commute. It is not only about ease of motion, but about ease of commerce.

The one hitch in this extension is Milwaukee avenue, which bisects the downtown area in much the same way that the expressway separates the commercial and residential sides of town. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a necessary presence, as it allows the buses from the transit hub to leave the station, but it also prevents the easy access to the amenities opposite the station, such as Popeyes.

Despite being comparable in size and reach to the State and Lake stop, Jefferson Park doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seem to have nearly as many of the amenities and commercial spaces.

Any structure built on the selected site could become one of these amenities to the Jefferson Park Station.

REX TAVERN

怡東花園

No crosswalks near the transportation center, which forces you to walk around and into Jefferson Park, not just through and across. It is not focused on providing desire paths, and instead routes you around to what is convenient for the bus systems to not have to worry about pedestrians as they enter and exit the station. They would also have to provide some sort of light and worry about traffic issues if they installed a crosswalk in that area. Jefferson Station has some very processional characteristics because of the long pathway through the tunnel followed by a raised central median area in the bus station. This sudden end to the processional without a crosswalk is a very awkward ending. We assumed that there would have to be a continuation of this axis. This axis is reinforced by the strong horizontality of Jefferson Station. Because of the raised hill and low profile, the L line station is inconspicuous in its surroundings. The entrance to the station is almost hidden as a hole in the side of a long wall. The busses take precedence because of the visual space devoted to them and their constancy.

15’

405’

375’

145’

Site section looking Southeast 75

PROGRAMMATIC STUDIES 78

Our project is located on a site in Jefferson Park, just to the southeast corner of the Jefferson Park Transit Center. It consists of a market and a micro apartment building with 300 units. To do the entire project, it will take 172,000 square feet. This massive amount of building area is not going to fit on our site in one level. The proportions are simply too far off. We heavily analyzed the program of this project, breaking down the square footage of individual programmatic areas into their constituent parts. This breaking down of the layers of each space, and unpacking everything we know about them, caused us to begin to fully understanding the typical. This understanding is necessary whenever attempting a reorganization into the atypical.

TOTAL SITE TOTAL SITE 26,000 ft2 26,000 FT2

TOTALPROGRAM PROGRAM TOTAL 172,000 ft2 2 172,000 FT

6 STORY

7 STORY

8 STORY

9 STORY

10 STORY

5 STORY

4 STORY

3 STORY

2 STORY

1 STORY

11 STORY

12 STORY

14 STORY

13 STORY

100

200

We began to look at this building in a mass, organizing it as one story up to 14, looking at how the proportional relationships of the building will change as you move farther up in height and get closer to the base area of the site, which you hit at around 7 stories.

9 8 7 6

This site section shows the relationship of necessary height to the surrounding area. Diferent percentages of the site open up on the ground level as the building is allowed to get taller. 80

The diagram shows the floor area of the residential and retail sector getting subdivided and further subdivided into smaller and smaller spaces. We used these diagrams as a programmatic study to break the program up into manageable pieces. It also allows us to see the mass of the building in its constituent parts in a very graphic way.

GROCERY

58,000 ft2 35%

BACK OF HOUSE

4,200 ft2 3%

DINING

11,000 ft2 7% 2,000 ft2 1%

MARKET 75,000 ft2 45%

LEARNING TOTAL PROGRAM 172,000 ft2 100%

APARTMENTS

62,000 ft2 36%

AMENITIES

20,000 ft2 11%

CIRCULATION

13,500 ft2 7%

RESIDENTIAL 95,000 ft2 55%

We heavily analyzed the program of this project, breaking down the square footage of individual programmatic areas into their constituent parts. These percentage bar diagrams illustrate how the square footage of the building will be subdivided into these areas. Apartment buildings typically have a large spread of different types of housing throughout the building to bring in the highest amount of revenue. We are looking at these micro units as modular, starting out as a studio with the ability to grow to up to three bedroom apartments. We looked at what amenities would be nice to have in such a large apartment building. These include the 82

normal sort of areas, like a mail room and fitness center, and also services that people would really want and need, like a daycare and clinic near their home. We looked at three case study markets (Plum Market, Eataly, and Whole Foods). The layout and services in those stores led to the information regarding what percentages of the floor area each component of the grocery store would find necessary. Many grocery stores are trying to become more than just places to pick up food. They are incorporating dining, learning experiences, coffee bars, and other amenities that arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t typically seen in the nearest food mart. This lead to a study of how the amenities from the apartment area and the market areas could be combined.

Y R

REFRIGERATED 14,700 ft2 25%

PRODUCE

6,500 ft2 11%

FROZEN FOODS

2,200 ft2 4% 2,000 ft2 3%

MEATS DAIRY

E 58,000 ft2 100%

PREPARED FOODS BEER/WINE

UNREFRIGERATED 18,900 ft2 33%

BAKERY

PREPARED FOODS 3,400 ft2 6%

DRY GOODS

8,500 ft2 14%

HOUSEHOLD GOODS

6,600 ft2 9%

STORAGE

5,600 ft2 10%

CHECKOUT

5,300 ft2 9%

CIRCULATION

9,550 ft2 16%

BATHROOMS

750 ft2 2%

800 ft2ft2ft2 800 800 4% 4%4%

LOBBY LOBBY LOBBY

1,000 ft2ft2ft2 1,000 1,000 5% 5%5%

RECREATIONAL RECREATIONAL RECREATIONAL

3,200 ft2ft2ft2 3,200 3,200 16% 16% 16%

FITNESS CENTER FITNESS CENTER FITNESS CENTER

2,500 ft2ft2ft2 2,500 2,500 12% 12% 12%

BATHROOMS BATHROOMS BATHROOMS

400 ft2ft2ft2 400 400 2% 2%2%

POOL POOL POOL

3,000 ft2ft2ft2 3,000 3,000 15% 15% 15%

BUSINESS CENTER BUSINESS CENTER BUSINESS CENTER

600 ft2ft2ft2 600 600 3% 3%3%

GREEN SPACE GREEN SPACE GREEN SPACE

3,500 ft2ft2ft2 3,500 3,500 18% 18% 18%

MAILROOM MAILROOM MAILROOM

200 ft2ft2ft2 200 200 1% 1%1%

DAYCARE DAYCARE DAYCARE

2400 ft2ft2ft2 2400 2400 12% 12% 12%

COFFEE CENTER COFFEE CENTER COFFEE CENTER

800 ft2ft2ft2 800 800 4% 4%4%

CLINIC CLINIC CLINIC

1600 ft2ft2ft2 1600 1600 8% 8%8%

A A

M M

N N

SS G

BACK OF HOUSE 21,000 ft2 37%

CONVENIENCE SHOP CONVENIENCE SHOP CONVENIENCE SHOP

4,000 ft2 7% 2,200 ft2 4% 1,200 ft2 2% 3,800 ft2 7%

20,000 20,000 20,000 ftft2ft2 2 100% 100% 100%

CONVENIENCE SHOP LOBBY

RECREATIONAL

FITNESS CENTER

BATHROOMS

POOL

GREEN SPACE

MAILROOM COFFEE SHOP BUSINESS CENTER

DAYCARE

CLINIC 84

PRODUCE

FROZEN FOODS MEATS DAIRY BAKERY PREPARED FOODS BEER/WINE

DRY GOODS

HOUSEHOLD GOODS

STORAGE

CHECKOUT

CIRCULATION

BATHROOMS DELIVERY DINING LEARNING PHARMACY

PRIVACY

OPACITY

HEIGHT

MOBILITY

ACCESS

TRAFFIC

TEMPERATURE

UTILITIES

PRODUCE

FROZEN FOOD

MEATS

DAIRY

BAKERY

PREPPED FOODS

BEER/ WINE

DRY GOODS

HOUSEHOLD GOODS

STORAGE

CHECKOUT

CIRCULATION

BATHROOMS

DELIVERY

86 DINING

CIRCULATION

PRIVACY

OPACITY

HEIGHT

MOBILITY

ACCESS

TRAFFIC

TEMPERATURE

UTILITIES

BATHROOMS

DELIVERY

DINING PRODUCE

LEARNING FROZEN PHARMACY FOOD

CONVENIENCE MEATS SHOP

LOBBY DAIRY

RECREBAKERY ATIONAL

FITNESS PREPPED CENTER FOODS

BATHBEER/ ROOMS WINE

DRY POOL GOODS

HOUSEGREEN HOLD SPACE GOODS

STORAGE MAILROOM

COFFEE CHECKOUT SHOP

BUSINESS CIRCULACENTER TION

BATHDAYCARE ROOMS

CLINIC DELIVERY

87 DINING

DINING FACILITIES

POOL

VIEWING GATHERING AREA FITNESS CENTER VIEWING AREA

GREEN SPACES

SPACES

DAYCARE COFFEE SHOP

RESTROOM

ELEVATORS

DINING

CONVENIENCE BUISINESS SHOP

VESTIBULES

CENTER

HALLWAYS

LOBBY

LEARNING

CLINIC STAIRS APARTMENT

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OFFICE

MAIL

OFFICES

PRODUCE

CHECKOUT

PREPPED FOODS

BAKERY HOUSEHOLD GOODS

DRY GOODS

MEATS

COLD STORAGE

BEER/WINE

CHEESES

These are typical market and apartment building organizations. The grocery store operates in a very specific flow pattern, so that it is easy for any consumer to go into any grocery store and find what they need without mass confusion. Apartment buildings typically cluster all apartments together in one mass, with a hallway separating them from amenities and the way out of the building.

DRY STORAGE

DAIRY

This program can be organized in many ways, but these are three that we looked into. It can be lumped together as one building mass, the inside parts twisting around each other for room. Or it can be broken up into a village, several different sectors separated by function, such as residential and market. The third way, and our preferred, is to organize the program into a city, where different functions are seperate separate specialty shops, like the Eataly setup or the way that classical market booths are organized. This idea of a city led us to the work of Archigram. We want to create something that is constantly moving and shifting, breathing and changing as the needs change within it. Cities have the ability to do this. The matrix shows some of this work, in seeing how permanent or malleable certain structures are. They can be rearranged and shift, like the microunits coming together to form larger units within the existing structure.

STAIRS ELEVATOR

STAIRS

VESTIBULES

ELEVATOR

RESTAURANT

GROCERY

OUTDOOR SEATING DINING FACILITIES

COFFEE

POOL

VIEWING GATHERING AREA

GREEN SPACES

SPACES

VIEWING AREA

CUSTOMER SERVICE

RESTROOM

CLASSROOM

FITNESS CENTER

BATHROOMS

CLASSROOM

BATHROOMS

ELEVATORS

HALLWAYS

LOBBY STAIRS

APARTMENT

OFFICE

This organization takes the typical layouts for both an apartment building and a market space and simply abuts the two programs through a green space.

OFFICES MAIL

APARTMENT

OUTDOOR SEATING

DINING FACILITIES

POOL

APARTMENT

FITNESS GATHERING SPACES CENTER

APARTMENT

RESTAURANT

APARTMENT

GREEN SPACES

VIEWING VIEWING AREA AREA

COFFEE

OFFICES

RESTROOM

CLASSROOM APARTMENT

APARTMENT

CLASSROOM

APARTMENT

OFFICE STAIRS

LOBBY

APARTMENT

BATHBATHROOMS ROOMS APARTMENT

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MAIL

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STAIRS

VESTIBULES

BATHROOMS APARTMENT

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GROCERY

ELEVATOR ELEVATORS

CUSTOMER SERVICE

APARTMENT

APARTMENT ELEVATOR

APARTMENT

HALLWAYS

APARTMENT

APARTMENT STAIRS

APARTMENT

The amenities are pushed toward the center of the property, with grocery and apartment divided around these central spaces. The organization becomes more of that of a community center being the grounding and centralizing factor.

OFFICES GATHERING SPACES

VIEWING AREA

CLASSROOM

VIEWING AREA

STAIRS CUSTOMER SERVICE

ELEVATOR

VESTIBULES

STAIRS

ELEVATOR

FITNESS CENTER

BATHROOMS

POOL

RESTROOM

GROCERY

GREEN SPACES

OUTDOOR SEATING

DINING FACILITIES

COFFEE

HALLWAYS

Amenities for the apartment building are completely taken into the public realm. The apartment building is left with only bare bones.

RESTAURANT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

LOBBY STAIRS

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT

ELEVATORS

OFFICE

MAIL

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

CUSTOMER APARTMENT SERVICE

APARTMENT

OFFICES

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT

GATHERING SPACES APARTMENT

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT

STAIRS APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

VIEWING VIEWING AREA AREA

APARTMENT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT

CLASSROOM

STAIRS

RESTROOM APARTMENT APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

VESTIBULES

APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT ELEVATOR ELEVATOR BATHBATHROOMS ROOMS

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT

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APARTMENT APARTMENT

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FITNESS CENTER

APARTMENT APARTMENT

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POOL

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MAIL

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OFFICE APARTMENT

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LOBBY

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APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT

GROCERY

The grocery store is the central element, around which community spaces and apartments are located.

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

GREEN SPACES

APARTMENT

ELEVATORS

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT

STAIRS

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

COFFEE

HALLWAYS

RESTAURANT

APARTMENT

DINING FACILITIES

APARTMENT

OUTDOOR SEATING

APARTMENT

OUTDOOR SEATING APARTMENT

APARTMENT

DINING FACILITIES

APARTMENT

POOL

APARTMENT

FITNESS GATHERING SPACES CENTER

APARTMENT

RESTAURANT APARTMENT

APARTMENT

GREEN SPACES

VIEWING VIEWING AREA AREA

COFFEE

OFFICES

RESTROOM

CLASSROOM APARTMENT

APARTMENT

CLASSROOM

APARTMENT

OFFICE

APARTMENT

STAIRS

APARTMENT

LOBBY

APARTMENT

BATHBATHROOMS ROOMS APARTMENT

APARTMENT

MAIL

APARTMENT

STAIRS

VESTIBULES

BATHROOMS APARTMENT

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GROCERY APARTMENT

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ELEVATOR ELEVATORS

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APARTMENT

APARTMENT ELEVATOR

HALLWAYS

APARTMENT

CUSTOMER SERVICE

APARTMENT

We propose to reorganize the typical separation. The amenities from the apartment building become a centerpiece of the project, interpreting themselves as community amenities instead of private ones. In this way, the building is taken from being a private institution into having to interact with the members of the Jefferson Park community that live in the bungalows surrounding the site. The apartments are broken up into smaller communities and sprinkled across the site, with some closer and farther to amenities than others. This allows for a variety of uses and needs to be met, and for residents to cross through public areas and interact while heading from one area to another. 92

To do this, we used the information assembled in the matrix to begin to extrude the areas, in what already begins to look like a microcosm of a city. We can now begin to look at how these masses can be stacked an ordered so as to eventually all fit on the site.

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

Over the course of the semester, our concept underwent many iterations and refinements. These refinements served to make the concept a true concept, and not a

We took inspiration from buildings that create public space through their spatial organization. Toronto Art Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s elevated volume provides a unique experience to ground level visitors, allowing them to wander amongst the columns. Likewise, the vertical gardens of MFO Park in Zurich are an excitingly novel way of experiencing a park. Both are popular with tourists and locals alike, and we wanted to bring those qualities into our design.

We experimented with a number of different arrangements between public and private space that offer interesting opportunities for similar qualities to develop. These can be taken both as plans and sections, ideas being extrapolated by the context in which they are placed.

The first organization we wanted to look at were these two, excited by the prospect of the overhanging structures creating unconventional spaces that could blur the lines between residential boundaries and the grocery store. We merged them into a concept that allows for a great deal of freedom in plan and section. In this particular instance the grocery store can be seen to literally be supporting the residences.

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THE GRID Chicago is ruled by the grid. It stretches across the city, guiding streets, building forms, and lighting. The grid is mostly made out of long, narrow blocks that are subdivided through the middle with an alley. In Jefferson Park, there are tons of different types of grids that all smash in to one another. There seems to be no direct ordering system. Grids are cut through by multiple main streets along with the highway and CTA line. The majority of grids in the Jefferson Park area are made up of 28’ plots with 22’ wide houses sitting on them. We sought to distill some sense of order from this chaos and bring a familiar scale to the site. A 22’ grid was created and then was subdivided into narrow rectangles similar to the way that the city grid is subdivided. A line of chaos representing the Kennedy Expressway cuts through the order. The grid was aligned with the street grid that exists around the site. The scale incorporates the width of the bungalows that surround the area. This creates a familiar sense of scale within the ordering system for the project. The main grid is subdivided further to give you the size of an individual micro unit, 22’ by 11’. The bungalows in the community were used as inspiration not only for the grid, but also for the interior of the micro unit. The same ratio of the outer walls of the bungalow is used for the outer walls of the micro unit. The organizing principle of dividing the mass into 60/40 parts is also incorporated. And the kitchen, living, and dining areas are grouped together within the unit.

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Our project aims to recreate a city on the site and within the context of Jefferson park. Cities are a combination of high density areas and low density areas, the example being Chicagoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Loop and the surrounding neighborhoods. 104

The goal is to combine these high and low densities into a singular building that is still sensitive to how those kinds of areas function, how they interact with each other, and how they relate to the context of Jefferson Park. 105

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

The building is a city. This essence of a city designed on a microcosmic level holding amenities, public centers, housing, and grocery areas. The city fits within the scale of the Jefferson Park area while being as bustling, busy, and dense as any downtown area.

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Design development tracks the changes and improvements that went on during the course of the project. The idea tracking changes and improvements in the course of the project while maintaining a central conceptual idea.

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As the site exists now, traffic comes mainly from the circulation between people arriving at and leaving the transit center, and foot traffic coming from the residential side of town. Ideally that traffic could be funneled through the site somehow, drawing people into the space that we create there.

We chose to study one that would circumvent the street corner and, at the same time, create a public ground floor space from which people could enter the building. This also allows back of house access. The smaller portion of the building represents the private space, and the foot of the vertical circulation of the building.

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The footprint for our building was an iterative process focused on how best to facilitate the circulation of pedestrians once the site was opened to the public. The ratio between how much public and private space touched the ground was also a consideration, as this would partially effect the organization of the upper levels.

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During the Chicago Studio program, one of the things that I feel Connor and I had a good grip on was always staying iterative. It helps to ensure us of the decisions we are making while also giving us more ideas and thoughts for all aspects of the project. Staying iterative is something that I have struggled with in the past. Usually I will either get very attached to something and build it over and over, or I will be so unattached that I will have twenty completely different buildings and concepts that I have worked on. I felt that this semester struck a good balance of being open to different ideas and interpretations while still keeping the main concept in mind once we understood it. Iterative processes mean that you are always learning new things about both the design and the process it is going through. It is the best way that I have found to learn.

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The program is not strictly separated between public and private. Instead, it is arranged on more of a gradient, where some public spaces and private spaces intermingle toward the center. This is similar with the ways cities function, with commercial areas slowly tapering away and urban sprawl encroaching on the boundaries. The grid organizes all of the walls within the floor plans. The diagonal wall along the back of the building slowly pixelates as you move up. It is as if the pixelization of the building has eroded from the constant movement at the base. On the lower floors, the center of the building at the bottom is not touching the ground. The majority of the top floors is made up of apartment units mixed with the more private amenity and circulation spaces. The apartment building subdivides into two masses at the top and tapers as it rises further into the air. Apartments along the northern side of the apartment floors are oriented to receive the most daylight possible. Most apartments have been oriented to also have a west facing window. In central floors, the residential community and commercial areas intersect. Private functions, like the mail room and apartments, share the same floor as a restaurant and fitness center for the community. While divided by walls, they occupy the same area. The public functions do have a 22â&#x20AC;&#x2122; floor to floor area, while the private areas are double stacked within the floor with an 11â&#x20AC;&#x2122; floor to floor height.

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You can see the continuation of the grid module in the section through the building. The floor to floor height in the market area is 22â&#x20AC;&#x2122;, and the floor to floor height of smaller areas, like apartments, is 11â&#x20AC;&#x2122;. The section through the building also illustrates how circulation is spread across and throughout the site. There are two strictly residential elevator and stair areas, one freight area, and another area for public vertical circulation. 114

The bungalows in the community were used as inspiration not only for the grid, but also for the interior of the micro unit. The same ratio of the outer walls of the bungalow is used for the outer walls of the micro unit. The organizing principle of dividing the mass into 60/40 parts is also incorporated. And the kitchen, living, and dining areas are grouped together within the unit.

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A general building mass was experimented on to find out how light was effected on the site by the Social Security Administration Building located directly across the street from our site, which is currently the tallest building in Jefferson Park at 8 stories. We looked at the shadows on both the summer and winter solstice to extrapolate the least and highest amount of shadows that would be received on the site throughout the year. The center of the building gets the most shade, and so we incorporated this information into initial massings to try to take advantage of any sunlight we could get. Besides the form just being the most interesting to us, the building mass that we ended up going with after our light studies also reminds us of clustered groups of towers, like a city that has been forced together onto the site. The building is quite large compared to all other buildings in the area. We tried to break down this mass into smaller, more understandable parts and pieces that are clustered together on the small site. Because of this, the building appears to be pixelated, dissolving as it moves higher in elevation. The building acts as a beacon for Jefferson Park, drawing people in from the highway, CTA line, and the Metra. The building also works as an icon from N Milwaukee Avenue, enticing people closer to its extreme density through the use of an intriguing form and an active program for the community

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Smaller scale shops with a centralized storage and preparation area allow for people to meander around and through the building, ducking in to the market stores as they wish. This brings the building to a relatable scale for the Jefferson Park area, along with making a reference to boutique food shopping for a more artisanal, high class seeming experience. The shops can also change location to organize themselves into different seasonal experiences, like placing wine and cheese together or organizing childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s products and candy next to each other. The collage plans helped us to demonstrate some of the activities going on within each building structure in a more easily understood way. They show how the bump outs and breaks in the facade are each created to house a specific function and orient themselves to get sufficient light and privacy requirements.

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The first floor is subdivided into two building masses that the community can circulate around and through. It includes a coffee bar area to draw people in from the nearby brown line station. The delivery areas for the market and restaurants are also located on the first floor. We allowed an area of sufficient size for two trucks to simultaneously unload. We also included a sizable storage area and freight elevators to run continuously through the building and to a storage area on every floor. The space caused by the building lifting up is set to be used as a community green space and farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s market. This is meant to serve as the main produce area for the market throughout the summer season. This also provides an area of respite from rain, snow, and sleet for the people making their way home from the Jefferson Park Transit Center.

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FINAL STUDIES

The final studies of the project aimed to tie together the loose ends of the project in a satisfying way. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe I am forever done with these studies, because the questions in all projects stay in the back of my mind as I go on to new projects and other ways of investigating my questions within them.

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This building is a city in that it is connected to the communities that surround it. The high and low density areas of this building are designed to interact with each other but also with the greater Jefferson Park area. They act as a catalyst that will make Jefferson Parkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s downtown area a more busy, vibrant place.

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The organizing principle that makes this goal possible is the city grid of Chicago itself. The design is set on a 22x44 grid, a close approximation of the residential plots found in Jefferson Park. The city grid is occasionally disrupted by diagonal highways, and this is represented in the siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s close proximity to the Kennedy Expressway. Applying this grid to the total mass of programming incorporated in the design, we are able to define residential and commercial areas, terrace them for views and daylighting, and define entrances and public spaces that guide visitors across the stie. The building is broken into something far less monolithic. 122

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The result is a series of residential communities surrounding the grocery store and amenities of the building. Much like a city, this high density commercial space becomes the meeting place for people from the different communities, as well as visitors from outside the city itself. Again, much like organization of the city, these public and private spaces are not totally insular. Though there will be a main checkout space for people entering and exiting the building, there will be smaller checkout spaces that connect the residential portions of the building to the market, allowing residents to come and go as they please. The market itself is arranged in a manner typical to most grocery store layouts, but in a vertical rather than horizontal direction. Items of more immediate need are placed on the lower floors, while items that visitors are willing to travel farther for are place at the top.

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LEVEL 6

RESTAURANT

LEVEL 5

FROZEN FOODS, REFRIGERATED FOODS

LEVEL 4

DRY GOODS

LEVEL 3

MEAT, SEAFOOD, BAKERY

LEVEL 2

PREPARED FOODS, ALCOHOL, FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

LEVEL 1

COFFEE SHOP

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Floors modulate as the building grows taller, accommodating program that requires more space. The coffee shop, on the ground floor, takes relatively little space, and so much of the ground floor is given over to the entrance plaza. The fourth floor covers the expanse of the site entirely, and hosts dry goods, one of the largest sections in any grocery store. As the building grows taller, more and more of the floors are given over to residential units. This is done not only to create a gradient of transition between high and low density areas, but also to ensure that as many people as possible are away from the nearby Metra line, and have access to a maximum amount of daylight and scenery. The apartment themselves are microunits, aligning along the grid as 11x22 modules. The length of the unit creates a challenge in providing natural light to the entirety of the space. The bathroom and storage space are pushed to the back, since they do not require this lighting, and are used to frame the entrance hallway. The contrast in size between this hallway and the living space makes the unit seem bigger than it is. The apartments are accessed by a stair and elevator core at the very tip of the building, which are more private. The main thoroughfare of the building, however, is the grand staircase of the grocery store. This will facilitate foot traffic between floors. Elevators are also provided, which can access the more intimate space of the sixth floor restaurant.

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These elevators are also how one accesses the building proper. This was a decision made to preserve the open air public space that is sheltered underneath the building. This space is meant to be a place that is open for programming by the community, and is a connection point between the two parks within the neighborhood, Jefferson Park and Robert Square Park.

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This space also frees up the corner of the site, reducing its visual size and providing a circulation path between N Lipps and W Ainsley. It invites passerby inside the building, or merely into the forest of columns that hold it up. Though it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seem quite so large at street level, the building becomes a prominent figure within the community, distinct not only for its height but its facade. This pattern is based on the street grid, and displays the integration of high and low density areas, as well as those spaces that serve them.

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WEST FACADE

PUBLIC

BLIC

PRIVATE

The public spaces have the largest window exposure, allowing for a maximum of light. The apartment windows are a quartered versions of those public windows, smaller, but still generous for their relative size. Spaces such as circulation cores, hallways, and public bathrooms benefit from natural light, but do not necessarily need views. These PRIVATE are given a still smaller patterning. The southern facade takes advantage of its positioning to take as much light as possible, illuminating what is the largest, deepest part of the building. By contrast, the northern part of the building has very few apartments, and is given over more to circulation and a few amenity spaces. The east facade, which faces the Kennedy Expressway, presents itself as a shield wall against the noise of traffic and the oncoming Metra. This wall is punctured by the residential units as the building grows in height, allowing the apartments access to daylight, but also a connecting view of the neighborhoods across the expressway, giving residents the feeling of proximity to other communities. This building is a city in that it is connected to the communities that surround it. The high and low density areas of this building are designed to interact with each other but also with the greater Jefferson Park area. They act as a catalyst that will make Jefferson Parkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s downtown area a more busy, vibrant place.

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INTERSTITIAL

INTERS

SOUTH FACADE

NORTH FACADE

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The windows that were previously shown got the point across successfully of showing the functions on the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interior from the exterior, but might not have been the best actualization of a window type. In the previous study, the interstitial spaceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s window, while keeping on the gridded module, seemed like the space behind it was more private than the private areas of the building, instead of somewhere in between public and private. So window studies were done, trying to find what window types were right. We were not only searching for an interstitial window, but were also doing a study of all window types, trying to iterate to make sure that we were making the right decision by figuring out all of our options.

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The project so far had been mostly immaterial and external when I looked back through the work. In an effort to get a more techtonic spatial imagining of the interior and exterior spaces, I created material studies of the exterior so that I could begin to understand how it would look at a distance, how it would feel as a CTA passenger walked down the sidewalk, what people would touch. I think that this study helped to begin that dialogue, opening the gates to a more tactile and experiential way of thinking about the spaces being created. The exterior of the building was wrapped in greying Larch wood, aging with weather and time. This material would be familiar for Jefferson Park, bringing in wood and warmth even when it has such a cool palette. Where the building pixelates, lifting off the ground and swooping down from the high heights, it turns to copper or bronze, reflecting the activities going on inside these cavities. This brings in warmer tones and causes an almost geode-like effect on the exterior, like it has been broken open to expose a sparkling interior surprise. The glass appearances on both the material sections would be very flush. This glass would be of a yellow tone and filter for the areas surrounded by metal, and more mirror like for the areas surrounded by Larch. These glass finished reinforce the differences between the two surface treatments of the building.

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PRACTICE

PROFESSIONAL 140

LECTURES ON PRACTICE OTHER THAN ARCHITECTURE

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INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS CHIP VON WEISE

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WORKING SMALL OPERATING A MID-SIZE FIRM CONSTRUCTING LOGIC CONTRACTS

142 144 146 148 150

ANDREW BALSTER CHELSEA KILBURN YAN ZENG NEIL KATZ ROMAN UDAKOV

152 156 158 162 166 170

DIAGRAM OF A TYPICAL PROJECT SCHEDULE

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HYPOTHETICAL FIRM

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The intention of this professional practice manual is to centralize all the information learned and produced for the course into a resource that can be referred back to as students enter the profession. Much of the current architectural education focuses solely on design or peripherals associated with it. Yet the profession, as the Chicago Studio witnesses, is far more complex. The design of the architects practice, path or business, is as important as the design of their architecture. This manual is made up of a collection of responses to lectures given by Chicago practitioners on subjects related to the business of architecture.

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OTHER THAN ARCHITECTURE 142

FAIA MANAGING DIRECTOR IPM CONSULTING LTD.

LAURA FISCHER & GRACIA SHIFFRIN ASSET RESOLUTION SPECIALIST U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT FAIA

to find work. She worked as a plan reviewer, learning about codes and safety. She also worked for a small firm that specialized in schools, looking into projected growth of the areas population and funding to figure out how the building would need to be programmed. Eventually, Gracia turned away from architecture to pursue a law degree. During an externship in the City of Chicago Law Department, Gracia’s architecture background came together with her law degree. She worked with affordable housing for teachers, firefighters, police, and the homeless. Rehabilitation of historic high rises was done through working with owners, architects, and tax incentive programs to propose how these areas could be reworked into affordable housing. Gracia now works in real estate development with a social purpose. She works to get approval for a community to provide affordable housing for people who need it. She regularly consults with developers by hiring and making suggestions.

Laura Fischer and Gracia Shiffrin are both architects. They are FAIA members, graduated architecture schools, and worked previously in architecture offices. But neither of them uses this to design architecture on a day-to-day basis. While you see design in school, the practice is really much broader. Laura Fischer found this out after graduating from an architecture school when she went to get her first job. She was hired by banks, managing properties and hiring architects to design for her clients needs. She became an owner’s representative, using her expertise in architecture and real estate to help businesses like Bank of America, McDonald’s, Wells Fargo, Disney, and Deutsche Bank manage large scale projects. She has hired IM Pei and other starchitects to design for her clients. Laura now works with leasing, design, construction, property management, portfolio management, and strategic planning. Her knowledge of architecture helps to enhance her understanding and communication skills regarding these properties. Following this career path instead of a more traditional one after graduating architecture school does not make Laura any less of an architect, but instead is just another offshoot of the architecture profession.

The field of architecture is very large and filled with fulfilling, rewarding work. Graduates just have to be open to all possibilities of an architecture degree. If you stick to the traditional boundaries of architecture, you may miss out on some excellent opportunities to better your understanding of the architecture field by taking on a new perspective. I feel like this professional practice lecture in particular really opened my eyes to looking at more than one career path. I feel like I have a more collective view of the profession than what I see in school during any of the other semesters. It also made me more critical. I can look at offices, look at details, and not be afraid of moving on or finding something different if I am not where I want to be in life. I am able to look at the office around me and see what I like and don’t like, and so I feel constantly more aware of my choices. What do I really want to do after I graduate? I need to start thinking about questions like these when thinking about my experiences at different firms and what I am interested in. Did I like the corporate SOM, or was I more inclined to the scale of work at Von Weise Associates? Once I have answers to my questions, I can form a direction for my life but not be afraid to change it.

Gracia Shiffrin also followed a nontraditional path after graduating with an architecture degree but being unable 143

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design fee followed by a fixed or percentage fee for the construction documents. If they would like construction administration services, Von Weise charges a flat monthly fee. The fee structure that Von Weise has established was made up through a process of trial and error. The AIA used to fix fees and the cost of construction. When they lost an anti-trust suit, the AIA could no longer do this. It is now much harder for architecture firms to make money, because they are constantly managing the relationship between the work product and the fee. One way of keeping costs down is to bring in contractors early. Clients can get a proposal on what a project would cost to build during schematic design. This way, the architects donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to make tons of drawings and charge a higher fee for a building that can never be built.

A lot of dealing with clients is dealing with the emotional side of architecture when you are designing houses. Houses are status symbols that are filled with familial memories. Clients often donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to constrain themselves, which can lead to very expensive projects that need to be redesigned. Because of this designing and redesigning process, there are multiple ways of charging a fee that Von Weise Associates uses to dictate how to go about designing a project. Von Weise typically tries to get around 15-18% of the final cost of construction in fees for most projects. If a client changes their mind about certain points of the design, however, this number will go up because of the redesigning process.

This fee process does seem to make sense, with Chipâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s preferred method protecting Von Weise Associates during the sometimes long schematic phases, while making sure the price is understood before moving on to the construction documents. Bringing contractors in early also means that Von Weise is able to find out what the easiest or best way to, for instance, build and design a corner would be. They get specific input from the very people who will be putting the project together. This would seem to create a much better working relationship, in which the input from both specialties is respected. It is very intriguing to me that so much of the fee structure has to do with emotions. I have only worked on more corporate projects, and so those usually are more focused on what the bottom line cost is instead of on the feelings involved. I have only seen architecture fee negotiations as they pertain to the bottom line for businesses, and not for the bottom line when it comes to people getting exactly what they want. Clients have so much more sway over the final product of the architect than what they show you in schools, but all of those changes or frustrations come with an associated fee.

An hourly fee can be charged for a project as one way to make up the fee. This is the most cost effective method if the client is a decisive decision maker. Von Weise can also get a percentage of the construction fee as their architectural fee. But with this method, clients can overindulge themselves and create a very lavish house that they cannot afford to pay for. When the project needs to be redesigned to be less expensive, Von Weise cannot make as much money for all of the hours that they have put into it. The preferred fee method for Von Weise associates is a type of hybrid. They like to have a hourly schematic 145

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DON COPPER PRINCIPLE GREC ARCHITECTS

When starting a mid-size firm, the things that you do set the tone for what you will be doing. In order to be a successful business person, you have to be savvy, proactive, and reactive. You have to know what can be used as bread and butter, like healthcare. Healthcare will never stop or go away. It is constant and dependable. To me, the most terrifying this about starting a firm is this idea of inconsistency of work. That is a reality in the architecture profession, but the fact that people would be dependent upon the work, and thus money, that is brought into the firm by me is just an incredible amount of lives and responsibility. The what-ifs are almost crushing. But the ability to work on things that you truly believe in, to be that small firm culture with a big firm portfolio, just seems so exhilarating that they just might balance out.

GREC considers itself a mid-sized firm that offers corporate level service. They have no specific specialization hierarchy, and that sets they apart from larger firms that need to be more efficient by necessity. For the most part, GREC tries to offer high design services to set a building apart from the rest of the crowd without the most expensive price tag. Don Copper and his fellow principles look at a number of things when deciding how much to grow their business. They looked at how growth would affect the firm culture, which right now is intensely collaborative. They also thought about work affecting a stress level for themselves, with more people to support and depending on them to bring in clients. The size of their new office space is also, of course, limiting. Don Copper and his fellow associates do not have a typical partnership. In a typical architecture trio, there is a technical guy, a business development guy, and a design guy. GREC doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have that. All three partners do different things, and they wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be able to do that in a large firm. A new firm is made with a leap. Someone has to give you a chance, and then you just have to bust ass to give the best service possible. If you go above average with design and service, people will come back. Word gets around. Architecture is a very geographic business. 147

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CARL D’SILVA VICE PRESIDENT AND PRINCIPLE ARCHITECT JAHN ARCHITECTURE FAIA

stone walls surrounding it. The glass also serves to act as a giant skylight for the entire program buried beneath the ground. The program elements of the glass pyramid serve as a way to act out and enhance the design concept. They are not the same. There is the what and then the how. It is important to keep these separate in your mind, so as to not get overly attached to something that in the end is not the important factor. You design how to solve a problem first. Carl spoke about the program elements as something that was almost inevitable with that design concept. It makes me think about if that is always the case, if there is always a distinctly right way to do something to enhance the design concept to the highest extent. And I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know if I believe that there is. I think that the idea of inevitability can get very dangerous when it comes to a formal language supporting a design concept.

The first thing that anyone pictures when thinking of the Louvre is IM Peiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s glass pyramid. But from a design standpoint, the fact that is a glass pyramid is the least important factor. The concept behind the expansion of the Louvre was simple: to create an underground space through which you could circulate between wings and access program. The Louvre originally was a square medieval fortress. Most of the building has been destroyed over time through a constant cycle of adaptation and reuse. When the Louvre was a palace, it had a private art gallery. This was the start of the Louvre collection. The modern Louvre takes a space and collection that was once made for the rich by the rich, and makes it into a palace of the public. With the addition to the Louvre, they needed a large amount of program space to be added. This is because they wanted both wings of the Louvre to hold art galleries, as opposed to the office space that had been there before. Much of this added space is for art storage, but space was also needed for ticketing and circulation space. An axis through the city of Paris ends at the Louvre. An important question IM Pei had to answer was how do you end such a strong axis. His axis end created a new entrance icon, to make it clear what to head towards. The glass caused it to not block or compete with the 149

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DREW RANIERI ASSOCIATE PRINCIPLE SOLOMON CORDWELL BUENZ

product. There are blurring lines in the architecture field, making it hard to understand completely who is responsible. The final work product is made up of a compendium of resources. An architectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tools are made up of precedents and experience as much as they are out of 2D and 3D drawings. Physical models, mock-ups, and specifications are all things that the architect may need to provide in order to satisfy contractual agreements. The nuances of a working relationship seem to be stuffed with legalities. But these legal contracts all exist for protection. All parties need to know what the other(s) expects and what is expected of them. This is the best way to protect the practice and establish a good working relationship with other parties.

Architecture is both a profession and a business. It is when you mix these two that you get a practice. And practices are full of contracts. There are many different types of contracts that need to be arranged in an architecture office daily. The minimum is a contract between the architect and the client. Contracts will detail the work schedule and compensation. They define the scope of work of the architect, and what is to happen if any changes to this scope are made. A large amount of risk and responsibility is defined in a contract. The standard relationship of owner, contractor, and architect, however, can always change. A design build partnership, an owner client, and a build to suit are three other ways of organizing a practiceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work. These would all require different types of contract to renegotiate the responsibility balance between different parties. Through the contract there can be a large list of consultants that either the owner or architect can be responsible for hiring. Some of the consultants that owners might bring in include ownerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s representatives, legal services, zoning consultants, and marketing managers. Architects can hire their own consultants too, with various engineers making up the biggest percentage. All consultants would require their own contracts. Each additional contract that is made creates a more and more twisted line of liability for the final 151

CHIP VON WEISE PRINCIPLE VON WEISE ASSOCIATES

What first got you into architecture? I know you have a background in something else? It was almost like process of elimination. So I was a fine arts and art history major in college. So drawing and painting. I was also a European Studies minor, so I studied history and philosophy and literature and European art history. I spent a year in Scotland studying at Edinburgh College of Art and traveling all over, obviously. When I graduated, my advisor asked, “What are you going to do?” When I told him I had no idea, he said I should think about architecture. And I said, “Don’t you need calculus and physics for that?” He was a painter. He goes, “I don’t know!” And it turns out you do, right? And I hadn’t taken those. I’d taken high school physics and classes and passed the AP exams, but no graduate schools take that. So I was like I’m not doing that. I’m not going to go back. I just graduated. I’m not going to go take calculus and physics. I started to interview with some ad agencies. I had taken a year off. During high school and summers, I built houses. So I started out as a laborer, and by the time I finished college I was a carpenter. And so I hopped in a station wagon with my best friend and we 152

drove from Nantucket Island to California and back. And when I got back I didn’t have a job, and I needed money, so I build houses. And I started interviewing with ad agencies. I had interviewed with one on campus in college and went back out and interviewed with them in New York. Long story short, I started advertising at Leo Burnett the spring after I graduated. And my job here at Leo Burnett was not in the art department. It was as an account executive, so it was managing accounts. Or being trained to manage accounts, more accurately, because I knew nothing. And I really loved Chicago, I loved Leo Burnett, did not like advertising. And it’s not that it wasn’t fun, it was really fun when I was 24, 25 years old. You know, I had an unlimited expense account; I was flying all over the country, going to commercial TV shoots all over the place. We rented Bob Newhart’s house on the beach outside of LA and shot a beer commercial. So we’re sitting on the beach drinking beer in director’s chairs for ten days, with a bunch of very pretty young ladies with us. So you know, it was pretty fun. But I didn’t want my boss’s boss’s job. Because suddenly, you’re looking around. You are two or three years in. And they are telling you we like you, you can have a good career here. So you look at the guys above you. And then you look at their boss. And I didn’t want to be forty years old and doing that.

So I thought well, I think I ought to think about doing something else. So I applied for a PhD program in art history. So I got accepted to NYU and University of Chicago and Northwestern, and I went to talk to them and realized that I didn’t want to do art history. With the PhD program, the only jobs when you are done are to be a professor or to be a museum curator. And my grandmother told me I couldn’t afford either of those. If she had known more about architecture, she would’ve known I couldn’t afford to be an architect either. But she didn’t, luckily. So while I was doing that I was still making really good money in advertising. So I went and bought a condo and renovated it. I had a cousin that was married to an architect, and it was really fun with him, renovating the condo. It wasn’t anything fancy, but I thought, “huh. I could do that.” I had an uncle that was an architect, who at that point was dean at the Architecture School at the University of Minnesota, and who was subsequently dean at Berkley’s Architecture School. He had done some pretty interesting projects, and so I talked to him an applied to architecture school. So I was pretty old in my class when I was in architecture school. I graduated when I was 31. I was married. My wife supported me during architecture school. She worked in real estate financing, so that worked out pretty well. And so I guess that’s how I became an architect. I came to Chicago after being in Boston. My brother and cousins were in Boston, but I loved Chicago. So when I graduated from architecture school I flew out here and talked to 5 or 6 firms and got a job offer from Booth Hansen. Which is a nice design firm. At that point it was about 12 architects, I think now it’s around 50. When I graduated school I designed two houses, one for my mother and father-in-law and one for my brother-in-law. My mother and father-in-law decided not to build theirs, but my brother-in-law, scarily enough, built a house I designed right out of school. So I finished that up and then started with Booth Hansen. How did von Weise Associates start? I worked at Booth Hansen for two and a half, maybe three years. I had been bringing in projects, one of which was a pretty good fee, about a $250,000 fee. And I was getting a very small cut of the work I was bringing in. I sat down with Larry and told him that I liked it there, I wanted to stay there. It just wasn’t working for me financially. I was a third year person making a third year salary but bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work. He gave me a ten percent bonus, but that doesn’t work for me. If they are making 15-25% of the work I was bringing in, I would like to see a cut of that. He wasn’t ready to take on partners at that point. He had actually just broken up with Paul Hansen, and wasn’t ready to take on another partner. He told me, “I want you to stay and make you partner eventually.” I said, “Well,

how about we start to work out the financial stuff?” The reason I was pushing was because I knew I had a bunch of projects coming in, so we did two really big apartment projects. I then started von Weise Pietrie Ronan with John Ronan and Matt Pietrie. John has his own practice now, and Matt in Boston. We did that for about two years before John and I realized we had very different goals in life. He was single and teaching at IIT, and he only wanted to do projects that had design components that he was interested in. He was single and didn’t need the money, while I was married with two kids. I had a lot of people coming in that wanted traditional projects in addition to modern stuff. I would say I would like to do that but John didn’t want that kind of work in the office. He didn’t want it on the walls. So we would be working on a traditional project, and most of our clients would come in, look at the walls, and say well where is my project? And I thought well, that’s a problem. I put it on the walls. When John said that doesn’t work, we went our separate ways. von Weise Pietrie Ronan became von Weise Associates. We started Von Weise Pietrie Ronan in the basement of my house. Classic startup. Not the garage, because it’s the city, and no one has one of those. What’s your favorite movie, and why? Gallipoli. It’s either Gallipoli or Chariots of Fire. Both period pieces. I like sad movies. Although Tron is pretty cool too, because the design is pretty cool. The spatial design, the graphic design…really cool. And it’s a really old movie. So when that came out, it was mind blowing. But it’s not a good movie. It was amazing visually and graphically, it looks almost as fresh now as when it came out. It has very old, Atari graphics. What music do you like? I like all sorts of stuff. I listen to classical. A little bit of techno stuff from my kids. I listen to a lot of classic rock. Right now I’m obsessed with Rodriguez. He was like the Detroit Bob Dylan. No one knew him. But he became really popular in South Africa. He got big again about ten years ago, and he was like 65 and so confused. He’s nice. A lot of folksy, bluesy stuff. What is your favorite part of running your own firm? I like the balance of the time you spend with people, both clients and staff, and the collaboration of it, with being able to take quiet time to design. So it is the balance of the design and the people. And to a certain degree, I get to choose that balance. So it is very rewarding when you get to build your designs in collaboration with the clients and the people in the studio. And you get to meet a lot of great people along the way, clients and contractors and subcontractors and consultants. You get to choose who 153

you work with on that side. I don’t work with a contractor I don’t like, I don’t work with a consultant I don’t like. And to a certain degree I get to make that choice about the clients, too. It doesn’t happen a lot. But sometimes, we’ll say, “you know what? If I’m gonna work with that guy, I’m gonna need double my fee, because that guy seems like a real jerk.” Or we just won’t submit a proposal. When you run your own firm, you get to make that decision. If you work for me, and I pick someone who I think is cool and you think is an asshole, you’re stuck with them or you need to go find another job. When you work at a firm, there are people above you to evaluate your performance. When you are the Principle, who evaluates your performance? My clients. So if they’re unhappy, I hear about it. If they are really unhappy I’ll hear about it. If they are moderately unhappy, we might finish the project, but they won’t call me again. And we’ll hear that they are doing another project with somebody else and I’ll know that we didn’t do a good job. It’s more nebulous, no doubt. I don’t have anyone giving me a formal review. I did an experiment about ten years ago, having my staff, as part of a review, make comments about me. And I found that people were pretty inhibited. I didn’t get very good feedback, and so I just stopped doing that. Has there ever been a situation where you don’t particularly like a client, but the client really wants you for a specific job? It has happened once or twice. You make up an excuse. You’re too busy, or you give a fee proposal that you know they won’t pay for. If they do pay it, I’m making twice our normal fee. That buys a lot of headaches. You’re pretty familiar with the Virginia Tech program overall. Is there anything you feel could be improved? The Chicago Studio program? Because I actually am not that familiar with the school overall. I have been down there two or three times. I know just enough to know that I don’t know a lot. But I think the school is in transition now, with Henri de Hahn coming in. It seems exciting. I spent a lot of time with Henri when he was here. I’m curious to see where it goes. I know he is interested in bringing more theoretical and philosophical curriculum to your program. And I know that he is interested in the Chicago Studio program because of the Co-Op nature of the program. He loves being embedded in the firms. And he comes from Cal-Poly, which has a Co-Op factor to it. I don’t know that he’ll take Tech in that direction, but he has experience with it. And you guys must be doing something right, because you are always in the top five of undergraduate programs in the country. Kathryn Albright is one of the most dedicated educators I have 154

ever met. I’ll get to know a lot more, because I will be on the faculty starting in 2016, so I’ll be going to Blacksburg a lot more frequently. They have goals of taking the Chicago studio model, and rolling it out to other cities. Do you think that this type of set up would work in other cities? I don’t see why it couldn’t, it is just going to take the right group of people. Really, Kathryn put together the core group of people, and Andrew has nurtured it along the way. He came out of SOM through a previous relationship that Kathryn had with SOM, so it is all about people and relationships. Like life and all great literature. It could happen in other cities I think. Henri is talking about places in California, like LA and San Francisco. It would be harder in LA I think, only because you need a car. New York is a no brainer, but it is expensive. The infrastructure and the density is fantastic though. Chicago strikes a good balance, because it is definitely urban but not as intense as New York. And you don’t need a car. What architects do you admire most? I like a range. Our practice is diverse, you know? So there are a couple of architecture firms that I like that do smaller projects and houses. Vincent James, out of Minneapolis. Locally, I admire the work of Dan Wheeler, Wheeler Kerns. He went through an awkward period, his buildings have become much more developed aesthetically. His buildings are smart. They are always smart. Internationally, I like the work of Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn. I like John Pawson, David Chipperfield. David Adjaye, based out of London. I do not like Zaha Hadid’s work. I am lukewarm on UN studio. I think it is all smart work, same with Frank Gehry, but it has created a bunch of awful architecture. I am nervous about the preformative nature of a lot of current architecture. People do these wild forms because a computer can help you figure out how to build it. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you should build it. It is worrying. The proposal from MAD architects for the Lucas museum are troubling. And you hate to say that, because I am a big proponent for avant garde architecture. But dropping a spaceship on the lakefront? Having said that, I like the renovation of soldier field because of the play of old and new. There is only one awkward moment, where the stadium gets too close to the glass disc. And of course that is the most prominent corner. But the rest of it is really well done, I believe. Most people react to the concept of the glass spaceship dropped into this neoclassical structure. I’m sure I’m missing some people…Olsen Kundig, their residential work. The detail. Steven Hull has really interesting work. What I admire about him is the relation

of the watercolor sketches and initial parti ideas to the intellectual, finished work and the final form. It is this really rich interweaving of it all. What shifts do you see happening in the practice? I think that in the last 15 to 20 years, architecture has changed dramatically. And it is continuing to change. I was one of the last classes to graduate without ever having done a computer drawing. The revolution of representational tools is profound. It has propagated what I call the blob-itecture effect. But it has a fundamental change in how you make drawings, which changes the people who are attracted to the profession. So I think it becomes more technical and more engineering based, because people who are tactile and intuitive often do not gravitate to a computer. And that has become the primary means of representation. I’m not saying that hand drawing is better, but it brought a different group of people to the profession. I am very curious to see how it plays out in the next twenty years. I have a son who loves computers. There is a reasonable chance that he might end up being an architect because he loves manipulating things, he loves graphic design, he loves digital music. He has never taken a drawing course. I have a drawing who loves drawing and painting. She will never be an architect, because she hates the computer. I became an architect because I love to draw. I wouldn’t become an architect now. Or at least I don’t think so, because I wouldn’t be interested in spending so much time tied to a box. But don’t you believe that media is still romanticizing the profession? That is an astute observation, but it is a complicated observation. Think of the cult of the celebrity or the actor. There is this whole cult of beauty and creativity. And the media pops it up. I had dinner with a guy who just wrote his second book last night. And I was talking to him about it. Because when the media writes about a book or a building, they are celebrating or criticizing the final product. And there is this mystery or myth about how it gets made. And that is what gets romanticized. So you could call it the Howard Roark effect. There is this magnificent, omniscient being that pulls the idea and building out of a thunderbolt in the sky. That is the art. We all know that that it a myth. We know what goes into it. So I was talking to this writer, and I asked what is your favorite part. And he told me that he likes when he looks at the clock, and it is five hours after I’ve looked up, but it feels like it has been ten minutes. You guys know that from working on your studio projects. Sometimes that’s accompanied by an oh, shit. Sometimes it is awesome. You find yourself connected to a drawing or a model. The making of it, the process of stepping in and out and

looking at it, that to me is compelling and awesome and intuitive and mysterious about architecture. The media never talk about this. They don’t understand. Or it’s not sexy, not going to sell a newspaper. They only celebrate the object as if it landed as a complete idea dropped into your lap. So what is interesting to me about architecture is that the process of making is changing more and more every year. It had been the same since the invention of the blueprint machine in 1920 to when I graduated in the 1990s. If you wanted a drawing at ¼”, you would plop it down and grab a scale and draw it at ¼”. Now we draw everything at full scale and print it out at whatever scale we want. We draw it flat, but our computer software allows us to extrude and look at it in different ways. That changes every year. But the blueprint hadn’t changed since the invention of the straightedge. The rate of change is going to be incredibly interesting. I am interested to see how this plays out and how the cult of the celebrity changes. In America, the cult of the celebrity continues to build for athletes, actors, models, and architects. This is going to happen to the rest of society. Where you have a small percentage of people paying a large amount of money to have custom things built. And only a small amount of architects are designing and building those. We are just on the edge of that with our practice, but Jeanne Gang is right in the thick of that. Our clients are by and large wealthy, and so they build a really nice office or a really nice office building. But more often than not, someone is chosen on a basis of fee. There is a real separation of society and a real separation in architecture. It is horrible for architecture, and even worse for the built environment. Because the star architects keep building even grander and less relevant buildings, and the average architect is building slop. Even really beautiful, sensitive projects, like Renzo Piano’s addition to the Art Institute? I think that was $3,000 per square foot. I can build a house that is the fanciest looking thing I have ever done, for $500 per foot. So if these are the ideals that we all admire and look up to as professionals, it is an interesting condition. Who can afford that? It’s an interesting thing that is going on in the country and architecture is caught up in that. How is that for a suitably convoluted answer to a simple question? When technology is second nature for your generation, when it is intuitive, how is that going to effect the build environment? It is crazy how much research that you have to do just to keep up.

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ANDREW BALSTER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ARCHEWORKS

How did you get started in the field of Architecture?

to become irrelevant.

It is kind of a funny story. So I was walking along with a bunch of rolled up photos across campus. One of my friend’s parents saw me and asked if I was an architecture student. I had never thought of architecture before. At the time I was a finance major, but I hated the idea of finance. When I started taking design classes, I finally felt comfortable. I got a Bachelors of Science in Architecture from the University of Minnesota, and went on to receive his Masters in Architecture from the University of Edinburgh. I worked at SOM for many years, but I found myself working on projects that I couldn’t relate to at all. I got to the point where I couldn’t go back. And so I started to teach.

There is arrogance as well. Many institutions have a lofty focus of problem-solving at unreasonable scales. A single architectural plan or product cannot fix all of the problems of the place in which it’s built—attempts of that nature usually end with a building that does not fix any problem reasonably well. Architecture should focus on a few problems, and solve them well.

What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of architectural programs today? Students are the greatest strength, and teachers are its greatest weakness. Right now, design teaching is too focused on the current trends in architecture, rather than creating new trends. Architecture schools have the potential to be creative think tanks, pushing the boundaries of what we know to be possible and true in architecture. Instead, they focus obsessively on readying students for existing conditions. They are so relevant as 156

These same institutions do not place enough emphasis on students. A university should be focused on how best to prep students to become successful, contributing innovators their field. You’d be surprised at how few times the word “student” comes up in most staff meetings. Universities just have a really self serving nature. What is your favorite book? I read non-fiction almost exclusively. Probably...the Virtue of Selfishness. I don’t necessarily agree with all of Ayn Rand, but...I like the empowering sense to it. As the title suggests, the book teaches that in order to help others and reach your full potential as a family member, friend, or employee, you have to look out for your needs first and foremost. I don’t think I could be as good of a

father, architect, professor, whatever, if I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t care about being the best version of me that I can be. We just think we are so important. It is arrogance that leads to failing. you need to know yourself, and just be the best version. What is your favorite movie? Bottle Rocket, or the Big Lebowski. What is Archeworks? It is an independent institution with a social agenda. But it is almost an anti-institution. It is all about the students: enabling and empowering them to do something instead of focusing on hypotheticals constantly. It is think and action based. Archeworks uses a multi-disciplinary approach to teach design skills focused around positive change in culture. The core mission is social change...not just providing band-aids to problems, but actual solutions or considerations. The program and its twin organization Chicago Complex act as laboratories for the solving of cultural problems, places to produce culture itself. They are available for more than just students. We can organize things for seminars, classes, workshops. We have certificate programs. What is the difference between Archeworks and Chicago Complex? Chicago Complex works with universities to create institutional relationships. These partnerships include universities in the city of Chicago, as well as outside the state of Illinois, or even the country in the case of Monterrey Tech in Mexico. It has the ability to set up a virtual campus network in Chicago and operate the campus for the institutions. What do you listen to? Mostly hip hop or rap remixes.

157

CHELSEA KILBURN ARCHITECTURAL INTERN VON WEISE ASSOCIATES

What’s your favorite movie and why? I don’t know. Can I give you a few? There are certain things that I always go back to, you know? Just like stupid, fun things. Like I love all of Miyazaki’s movies, so that’s when I’m just brainless and I just want to watch something happy and beautiful. I really like a lot of things that are heavily imagery based. I like Tree of Life, 2001. I don’t know if I have a favorite movie. It’s difficult. How do you keep yourself from not burning out or getting bored with what you are doing during thesis? It’s something that I see different people struggle with at different times. There is the initial oh, this is great. Followed by the I have no idea what I am doing with this. I’m just gonna make a bunch of random stuff. And some of it is really crap and some of it is important, and that will show up later in your work. But I think it’s maybe just related to film or something. Surround yourself with things you find inspiring. For myself, I was frustrated that I wasn’t making enough stuff. I didn’t have things where I could sit back and 158

evaluate. When I didn’t know what I was doing next, I would just go to the library and pull a bunch of books on related subjects. Things that weren’t even tangentially related, but would be by the same author or office or things that are making sense to me. Having those things or being able to look through them... Or just like different design blogs and things like that. I had a thing where I constantly kept a folder of images and just dump everything I saw into it. You forget about a lot of stuff when it is 500 images later, and so it is fun to go back through and organize it. That’s something that I think can be very useful and really help you generate a lot of stuff. That’s something that really worked for me, but I think other people, just talking to other people, helps. You can say, “What stage are you in?” and what they are diagramming, whatever, whatever. Is there a timeline to thesis? It is partly dependent on who you have as your advisor. With Hilary, she will demand different things at different times. With Jim’s studio, as you saw, he really let us create our own deadlines. There were very few checkpoints or formal talk kinds of sessions.

But Hilary, she asks for very specific information at certain stages. It doesn’t have to be in any specific form though. It can be a plan or just a diagram of a plan, you know? But she definitely had a more rigorous “work through this” type of thing, but it was still very open. I didn’t even know what I was exploring until October. And I think you start to define the terms as you go. You will start with a very general outlook and sketch of life and art and architecture, and all the things you are interested in. And that will narrow, focusing down to a point. But I think it important to let that open back up again at other points, don’t box yourself in with one turn. But it is important to focus, to have a thesis that you can focus on. You can set goals for yourself, for what you want to have by December or whatever. What is the first draft of that statement. It will develop along the way. I think it is important and helpful to set boundaries every month. Like maybe you write a paragraph every month, looking at what you made and what it means to you or to other people. I think it will just happen for the most part. Always be critical of what you have made. Have your friends critique you and help you understand what you are doing. It makes more sense to other people than it does to you sometimes. Was the transfer from thesis year to a full time job a huge transformation or a big difference? I think your advisor will probably say this to you at some point, something like your thesis ideas will stay with you and they have always been with you. Something like that, you know? And I think that’s true, because those are the things that you are very basically interested in, what drives you. So it’s not like I’m thinking about the uncanny all of the time, I’m not thinking about that in terms of what we are doing here. But you recognize moments of thesis in your everyday work. And it is nice to stop for a minute and document that. Whenever I’m working in Sketchup and I’ll look and things will be all funky because it’s Sketchup and not a real thing, I’ll screenshot it. So I have a catalogue of all of these things that are just really weird in the computer or in a drawing or whatever. So it’s not like a one to one relationship, and it was difficult transforming from an environment that is a creative and academic mindset to some day where you spend all day doing redlines. So you’re not translating it, it is just a transition. If you are aware and conscious of your thesis, it will appear to you. If you continue to research, to go to lectures and do your

own thing, it is still apparent. You can find out whose work is relevant to your questions. The flow can be continued. It’s not like I have another thesis paper in the works, but there are little pieces of it everywhere. What do you consider your biggest influence outside of architecture? Is this like a person or a thing or anything? See, this is really bad because I’m at this stage of my life where I am getting over feeling guilty if I am not doing something related to architecture. This sounds really corny, but I really like being outside. Just being in a nice place outside. It doesn’t have to be like a built space, but when it is nice outside, I feel really good, inspired, and happy. I am also super interested in digital technologies now. Not exactly for architecture, but looking at the way that we talk about things like the Internet or space in regards to the Internet. My friends and I are writing this paper about the way that we work in regards to the virtual, not necessarily the digital. And how that relationship has been changing. We were having this discussion about the Internet, and how we talk about it like it is a website, and all of the sites that are seemingly adjacent to each other. You think about it like adjacent pieces of paper, and there is this back and forth to it. They are forward and backward in relation to each other. I think that’s a really interesting topic, and I see the relationship to architecture. I’m just super taken by that idea right now, even though it seems a bit dated. It is so amorphous. My thesis is influencing everything. Being outside and the Internet. Yep. How did you get interested or started in architecture? I wanted to be an artist. Every since I was five. My parents said no. I didn’t have any money, and so they said if we are paying for school, you are doing something professional. I don’t think they realized that being professional in architecture does not make you that money back. But I liked math, and the abstractness of art. And I liked art, and the history of art. And so I think that those things kind of collide in architecture. Through Chicago Studio, and having a concrete office experience, you can see the two completely different sides of architecture that can work together. Academia and practice. I think that is really intriguing. It is the same dichotomy between math and art to me. It keeps me interested in architecture. What do you do to prepare for the ARE exams? The whole process of licensure is such a sham in 159

so many ways, but it is really elegant how they get everybody to learn all this crap and have this common system. How do you teach people architecture in the most basic way? And that’s not design, it’s basically just how not to get sued. It is smart, but at the same time it is the most idiotic process. I asked people questions before I took my exam. Which one do I take first? What is the process like? What happens if I fail? So one of the things I would advise when you are getting ready to accept a job is to find out if they pay for exams and have materials to prepare. Because that is really expensive otherwise. I think if they support it then that means the office is a pretty good place. They want you to become licensed, not just hang on to you while you sit there. I think office support is important. Having a group of people that want to take the same exam is great. You can get together and drink wine and study. And you can all share study materials. It is great. I was talking to one guy who had already finished his exams, and he said that what you should do is wait a year to take your first exam. And then six months for the next, three for the following, then bam, bam, bam. I would advise spending time just in the office before you start taking them. I’ve been here eight months, and I just took my first one a week ago. So I’ve spent eight months preparing. Not that I was studying that whole time, but I studied for two months. All the stuff that you do on the office is on the exam. You come into different situations, and here about them, and they appear in a more concrete way later on. It has been really helpful to have some experience under my belt and some real knowledge to fall back on. Don’t rush straight in. It will happen. What’s your favorite book? Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. You can pick it up and put it down, take it on the train and read one. All of the short stories I am liking a lot more these days. Each story is so interesting because they are all so optimistic and exciting with the future at first, but each one is also devastating. That’s part of what’s magical about them. They are idealistic but super realistic. And I like how things are phrased too. When there is a fantasy element, it is always a miracle. It is put into some quasi-religious context. That is the backup. It has to do with god or your mind, instead of just an alien. It is just another angel form. I think it is very clever and smart. So for now that is my favorite book. Pretty much all of the books that I own are my favorite book on one day or another though. 160

Do you have any pre-thesis book recommendations? I actually used Martian Chronicles as part of mine. I think in terms of something more concretely architecture, David Leatherbarrow’s writings are really great. I think if you are dealing with ground or tectonics or really anything touching the horizontal plane, which everyone deals with at some point, this is a good place to start. They are really smart and well written, and they bring out a lot of different sources. But at the same time it is architectural. It is not just random ramblings about feelings of architecture. I think you should not be scared to just read whatever you are normally interested in though. That probably relates in some way to what you are interested in terms of architecture. I don’t have one go to bible. I feel like everyone talks about the Poetics of Space, but I don’t know.

161

YAN ZENG URBAN DESIGN ARCHITECTURAL PROFESSIONAL SKIDMORE, OWINGS, & MERRILL

How did you get started in urban design? By accident. I used to study architecture in China. In school, I did an internship doing some planning work. And then I got a masters degree in architecture in China. When I came to the US, I needed another degree. I thought, maybe I can try urban design. Because I knew SOM from when I was in China, and I knew they did a lot of urban design and planning projects. I even had a chance to work on some of them in the later phases. When they finish, sometimes they would need refinements. So I met someone who had graduated from Michigan and worked at SOM. So I knew there was an urban design department. And so I decided to do that instead of another architecture degree. So I applied to the urban design Michigan program. I knew some people there, and so I thought it seemed ok. Learning more urban design was interesting. They are larger scale. But because people in urban design are from all different backgrounds, landscape, planning, architecture, it all gets very broad. Very different. The classes were different. You learn a lot of city history,city forms. I jumped from a small to a very large scale. I work a lot with the architecture department thought, because of my background. My scale is 162

mostly on the smaller size of urban design. When I communicate with the architects, I think they constantly focus in details. It is strange working at two completely different scales. I mostly am thinking about the city context, the culture. I think about how we can deal with that, and also how the unique building fits and responds. It is not all about the facade and geometry. You have to see wider. The culture, everything. Urban design taught me that, not architecture. I have a lot of feelings about the relationship between the two. My professor in China was a very good architect, but so focused on the details and space and spatial relationships. We focus on the large regional context here. Cities, regions, principles. Especially when I was in China, urban designers would design guidelines for areas. The architects would get irritated about setbacks, like New York. When I came to urban design, I think about how to , make the architects a little bit happy, but still make the city better. I think I use the way I see both scales every day. You said you went to Michigan. Did you start at SOM in China? No. I started after graduation here. They have a lot of alumni and are familiar with the program though, and so

they like the Michigan graduates. Good preformance, good reputation. They know the program, and so they keep hiring from it. Are there any difficulties when you work with other disciplines? Yes, but it is different. Architects have to coordinate with the structural engineers and things like that. We coordinate with many consultants, like transportation and landscape and rendering. We also coordinate with the Shanghai office and architects here. The architects sometimes are a little difficult, because they are so focused on the ideas. We are trying to regulate them. Letting them know the best natural circulation paths or city contexts. We tell them our thought about the sites. The regulation of the government. Architects will have a strong opinion though, so you have to have a strong argument to win. But eventually we work better and get a nice project, because everyone is working at all scales. A nice composition. The same thing happens with landscape architects. We can all work together to support the ideas. It is just a lot of communication and knowing how to guide them. Go down the right direction. So I know you use rhino a lot when you are working with the architecture department here. Are there any other softwares that urban design uses a lot? We have a lot of softwares, but it depends on the scale. Rhino, autoCAD, 3ds, Adobe, those are all the ones I normally use because I am working with architects. When you are doing city planning, do you tend to model everything? Or do you just do drawings of the overall schemes? Depends on the scale of the projects. If it is a very big city, like the Middle East projects, they try to use the programs and parametric a that can generate the project very quickly and generally. But at a smaller scale, we usually model buildings in rhino or autoCAD. It is very simple, quick modeling. Not a detailed kind. Extruding. At a larger scale, we discuss with the professionals in our office. We usually consult with Neil Katz. He can tell us if there is a way to make it faster or generate faster. Are there any specific types of projects that you enjoy working on? Actually, no. I think all projects have something that I enjoy working on. Maybe not everything, but there is always something interesting. But some projects are definitely more difficult than others. Smaller scales, two or three blocks, are definitely harder

than the ten or twelve block projects. You feel like you have more constraints and have to work with more details. Smaller scale is like mega architecture. You have to control the details and have big ideas. Two or three are more difficult, but more interesting. You can integrate landscapes and architecture very well. It is not just a courtyard in the middle of a parcel, but instead the landscape interacts and shapes. It isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t easy, but it is fun. You have to be very involved. It is hard to differentiate works at that point though. You have to define what the architect needs to do, what the scope is for each profession. It gets messy. Urban has to communicate very closely. You define a bigger framework and they fit into that. Everything is not very clear, but you have to define everything better. Urban design at SOM....I have seen a lot of master planning. Are there other things that you guys do, or do you mostly focus on that? I think it is mostly master planning. People work at all different scales though. New town, new cities. We used to do those more. A lot of them in China and the Middle East. Not as many of those in the US. But they are looking for mixed use developments in the US. But in the Middle East, they look at starting a city from nothing. The past three years we have done a lot of new towns in China. But recently, we are doing small scales, working closely with the architects. So I know that you said that the smaller projects are more difficult than larger ones, but which scale do you enjoy working at more? More recently I have worked on a lot of retail components, and urban renewal projects. I did one in my hometown. A movie theater, a market. Revitalizing things I have lived with and walked through is nice. You have to walk through it in your head, and think about how it could be renovated. It is difficult, because you have to keep the memory of the city. It is so difficult but rewarding, working on places you know so well. I can see it. It is a young history city, but that is the oldest place in the area. It is nice to think how I could make it better. What is your favorite movie? I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a favorite movie, but I do have some favorite directors. Woody Allen? I like him very much. I like his cities. It is always in different cities. Paris, Barcelona. The cities are characters, and he also shows the people and different cultural backgrounds. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to travel, I can feel the city through the movie. The people, the accents, the essence of the city. How the parts work together. The people from all different countries. When I was in Michigan I took a movie class. They were all old American movies, like rear window. It is 163

kind of old, but good. Hitchcock. And metropolis. I think every architect has watched that movie. It has all these narrow slices of the city, very interesting. The working class living below the city, lots of stratification. I thought when I watched it that it would be very boring, but it was impressive for 1920. They shift the camera very fast. Not sleepy. The last year in Madrid is this very quiet movie. That is how I translate the name from Chinese. Architects always like that. They have nice views of the buildings, but it is very sleepy. I have seen it many times, because my previous boss in China liked that movie a lot. He would ask us to write a thesis for the architecture of the movie. What was your thesis for architecture in China? It was about public space. Kind of like urban design already. Urban scale. There was a biennial that year for architecture. My boss got invited to give a talk, and so I did the research. My thesis was about the deconfiguration of public space. Many things happen in a public space that are not designed for. People use the space creatively. They will bring umbrellas, there will be street hawkers. When you design a public plaza in China, it can be very nice, but no people will go there. People like trees, shade. So all things happen that arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t expected, and so I recorded and categorized all activities that go on there. It was meant to be used to rethink public space, to see how we could do it better. When we design it, we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think about how they use it. In China, during the day there are streets, but at night they are turned into night markets. It is not official, but impermanent. Temporary storefronts. It is not like the US where things are neat and clean. People just do what they want to do. My research was just categorizing and photographing this. There is a book by Margaret Crawford, everyday urbanism. It is similar. She wrote about LA, the garage sales and other things. It is similar. I found it when I came to the US. But that happens a lot in southeast Asian countries, because the people donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t own the land. The city owns the land. So the people just try to occupy as much of it as they can. We mapped out all the urban areas in the city, all the public spaces, and drove from one to the next, taking photos as we moved. I fell into urbanism before I studied urban design. It was an accident.

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165

NEIL KATZ ASSOCIATE ARCHITECT SKIDMORE, OWINGS, & MERRILL

Have you always been an architect? How did you get started in the field? I was always in architecture, always interested in architecture, since high school I guess. So I went to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. I never knew architects when I was growing up, and somehow decided that that was what I wanted to do. Probably because I loved math and I loved art, I loved to draw, and people said “oh, you should become an architect.” When I got to Pratt I realized I really didn’t have any idea what it was all about, but I actually loved it once I started learning more and more about it. What’s the structure of their program? Well, that’s interesting. A lot of the professors were actually practicing architects, a lot of the professors that I had when I was there, so from that point of view it was a very practical education. But they also talked about theory, things like that. Some schools are really towards the theory side, some schools are really towards the practical side. I didn’t think that Pratt was either one of those, really either one of any one of those extremes, it was a pretty general education. But because a lot of the professors were practicing, that was an important factor. 166

There was one professor who I studied with, actually a couple, a lot-- my interest was always in mathematics and geometry—and there were a couple of professors who focused on that. One of them was Anting, and the other one was Horaslevany, so in the beginning I had Anting for a course called Technics, and then Horaslevany for Morphology and I took him several times while I was there. So my interest in math and patterns and parametrics, parametric modeling, is probably due to those two people. I know you’ve probably explained it to us, but what is parametric architecture and how is it different from what is taught in schools? I would define parametrics as modeling, or designing, based on rules and parameters, rather than a sculptural process. So you define rules that a form needs to follow. And they can be geometric, they can be based on physical things like wind or views or structure, but that really defines what the object or building will look like. Do you think that technology will overpower human thinking? Well, there’s parametric design, there’s computational design, and I think they’re related to each other. I don’t

know how to exactly define the difference, but I think they’re both based on rules. I think computational design doesn’t necessarily mean you have to use a computer in order to do it, same with parametric design. You can go through a very computational process in your mind and then using pencil and paper to document it. One of my favorite computational designers is Gaudi—his process is very rigorous and very much based on pure geometry and mathematics. No I’m trying to remember what the question was… Will technology overpower the architect? I don’t think so, for that reason. I think Gaudi would’ve really appreciated using a computer to do a lot of the things that he did, but I think it still requires that rigorous process of thinking, and I don’t think that will ever go away. I think computers will make it much more efficient to do those kinds of things, but I don’t think it will ever remove that process from the architect, from the human being behind it. What do you think your biggest influence is outside of other architects or architecture? That’s a great question. One thing I love about what I do is I learn from so many different things, and I’m inspired by so many different things, like nature. Looking at leaves and flowers and the way that they grow-- I think it’s very geometric if you study it from that point of view, and I think that inspires me to do a lot of the things that I do. Another thing outside of architecture that influences me in architecture is music. Is there a certain type of music you listen to? I like classical music, and also jazz, actually. I like jazz a lot too. Music because it’s really a system, and I think there are so many relationships in music and design, music and form and architecture. Even some of the vocabulary they use is very similar, like rhythm and color. Do you have a favorite musician or composer? I like Bach. What does sustainability mean to you? I think it’s using resources in an efficient way, and from a design point of view, designing buildings, structures with that in mind. I usually participate in projects at the very beginning, and there are so many things that we have the opportunity to do that will make buildings more sustainable at the beginning, like where it’s located on the site, or its orientation—that can make a huge difference. Do you find that sustainable architecture is still its

own category of design? No no no, I think it’s very much integrated. SOM has been thinking along those lines from the very beginning. So if you look at buildings that were done in the 50s and 60s when it wasn’t something that people were talking about, there were so many features of the buildings— windows that had setbacks or buildings’ orientations and sitings that were done that way for those reasons. If you look at the National Commercial Bank in Saudi Arabia the triangle building, the openings in that building are shaped to protect it from the sun. You have a lot of publications. What specifically have your publications been able to offer you? Well, a couple of things. Like the ability to share the things that I do and that I’m passionate about. I think also when you publish something, or when you prepare something to be published, you have to really think about it in a very different way than if you’re just doing those things in the regular design process. You need to make sure that your thinking is really complete. Same thing with teaching. I was teaching much more in New York than here in Chicago, though I’m teaching some classes in Chicago as well, and when you teach something you need to think about what you’re teaching, whether its program or design, in a slightly different way. Are you working on publishing something now? Actually, yes. I’ve been working on this one topic that I’m hoping to get published soon. It’s been so long, I’m not sure how much longer it’ll take. One of my interests is tiles and patterns and coming up with not just different individual tiles, but really a system, like a parametric way of modeling an infinite number of patterns. I’m hoping to get that published. How are you modeling that? Well I’m using two things. I’m doing a lot of it in AutoCAD, either with scripting or just using AutoCAD functions. With AutoCAD you can do a lot even without scripting, with layers and blocks. It’s amazing how many things you can do. But also using some scripting, and now also starting to use grasshopper to model those tiles as well. And one thing I found out recently—so I’ve been doing a lot of it in AutoCAD recently, and I said I’m using Grasshopper a lot, and we’re learning that together as well—how I can redo what I did in Grasshopper and make it more dynamic. So in Grasshopper we have the sliders and I can take a tile and manipulate it using the slider and actually see it change on the screen. It’s more difficult to do that in AutoCAD. It was so difficult for me to actually grade it. Y’know with scripting in AutoCAD it’s a very linear process. You do one thing, and then based off of that you can extend it. With Grasshopper you almost have to think of the whole system at one time. 167

I was finally able to do it-- it was challenging, but it helped to force myself to think about what I was doing, and was doing very comfortably in AutoCAD, to force myself to do it in a different way, and in a different language. Is there a software you enjoy more than others? I enjoy AutoCAD, and I also enjoy Rhino and Grasshopper. I don’t know Rhino very well. I think we talked about that in our Grasshopper lessons, but with Grasshopper you don’t need to be an expert in Rhino, and you can do so much. I know AutoCAD very well, and also I do a lot of scripting in AutoCAD. The reason I think I like those programs rather than some of the more sophisticated programs like Revit, Maya, Digital Project, is because they’re so simple and basic. And with simple tools, like scripting, using very simple scripts, it’s so powerful, you can do so much with it, because the system doesn’t really force you to work in any particular way. Do you think patterns are pervasive? I think so. I think sometimes they’re more difficult to define in places than others but they’re there. Like with Frank Ghery. Y’know, there’s an interesting story—when I was going to school he was becoming popular. He even came to one of my crits at Pratt, so I got to meet him. He wasn’t as well-known as he is today. I was always interested in his projects and his process, because he did what people hadn’t done before. I guess the technology was beginning to allow that, and his thinking also, his process was allowing that. I was so interested in his process, because I had a very rigorous, geometric process, and I was sure he did too, but the results were so different. When I started working at SOM right after I graduated from Pratt, we were also collaborating together, SOM and Frank Gehry, on a couple of things, and he gave a lecture at my office. And someone asked him that question, “What’s your process, how do you come up with the things that you do?” And I said here it is, he’s going to tell me, he’s going to explain, and he said “oh, I just do.” I was so disappointed. And then after that I didn’t appreciate his work as much as I had before. But then lately, I’m thinking maybe he couldn’t express it, or just didn’t want to, but I still think there’s an interesting process, even if it’s intuitive, if it’s in his head, and maybe he doesn’t even know what it is. And sometimes I relate that to jazz. There are so many great jazz musicians who—and jazz is very systematic and also very rigorous—I think would also not be able to explain exactly what’s behind the music they’re creating. It’s just intuitive, and still beautiful. And Gehry’s using some very sophisticated computer 168

software. Digital Project, which his firm helped create, based on Katia. But I think he uses it not to create forms, which is my interest, using software rules to actually generate forms, he’s doing that as a part of his own sculptural process, but then using the sophisticated software that he uses to realize it, to analyze it, and to make it buildable. What were your preconceptions about what you’d be doing as a professional while in school, and how did they change once you got into practice? School is great because there’s so much freedom. There are so many parts of real-life architecture that you don’t need to worry about when you’re in school. I think budgets fall into that. And I think it’s important as well to be able to not be blocked, just to be free and design and to explore things that you wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. But then in the real world you have to think about cost, and working with other people on a team and that dynamic, politics. I think you guys are lucky, too, because you’re in school, and probably when you’re working on your school projects you have that freedom, but now also seeing what its like in practice. Do you play an instrument? I do, I play clarinet. I started playing in high school, and I was in our high school band, which I guess is kind of late for someone who really wants to be good at what they do. A lot of people start when they’re five years old. I was hoping to continue it, because in high school I really did get into it, I was first clarinetist in our high school band, but at Pratt there was no music at all. And not only that, but no time to even do it on my own. So I pretty much let it go for five years. But then after I graduated I started to take lessons, which I had never done in high school, take private lessons, and then started taking group classes, getting together with friends, and that’s what I’m doing right now. How do you deal with clients rejecting an idea? Yeah, that happens. That happens all the time. One thing that I often do because of the tools that I use and the way that I work is come up with not just a single design, but come up with a whole variety of options. Sometimes one of those options will end up going forward, sometimes none of them will, but even if that happens, a lot of times the things that I did will sort of lead to an idea, even if it’s in a different direction, and that’s not a bad thing either. Sometimes what I get disappointed about is when I work on a project, if it’s one options that’s going forward or even a whole bunch of options, and it’s based on all of these rigorous rules and the way that I work, and it gets more and more real, some of the rules start to get broken. We have to have exceptions because

mechanical floors are bigger than regular floors, things like that. Do you find it easier to make time for personal stuff now that you are in the professional world? Yes, but not much. I love what I do, so even being here for 12 hours a day, which is typical, isn’t a bad thing. I don’t regret that I’m here as much as I am. But also, I think it’s important to do something else. So when I have an appointment to get together with friends and play music, or when I have a class, Monday nights I have a music class, so I have to leave at 5:30, I make time for that. It’s not a problem.

infrastructure will maybe gradually change to become more sustainable. Reacting to climate change and things like that. I think people are learning that cities in general are great from a sustainable point of view, because everything is close and dense and there’s the ability to share resources and energy, rather than being out in the suburbs where there are more ways to waste that. So I think Chicago will continue to benefit from that.

How often are you able to travel? Well I do. Usually not for projects. We do a lot of projects overseas, in China and the Middle East. Other people usually travel, the senior designers and project managers for those projects. I often attend conferences, as an attendee or sometimes as a speaker, all over the country or sometimes other parts of the world. A couple of the more exotic places I’ve gone too are Berlin, Morocco. A lot of [the conferences] have contacted me, maybe because of some of the publications or some of the people that I work with might’ve been attending. There’s a community of people who do computational design, so we all know each other. And sometimes I travel just for pleasure. Do you have a favorite movie? Y’know I don’t see a lot of movies. Can’t even think of one that might be my favorite. One movie that comes to mind, I don’t even know if it’s my favorite, is a musicrelated movie. The music by Phillip Glass Koyannisqati. The images in the film are beautiful as well. And it’s part of a trilogy. What advice would you give young architects? The two things that have helped me enjoy what I do as much as I do are: develop a passion and just follow it, and also be open. There are so many things out there, be willing to learn from those things, like music. That would be my advice. What do you see happening in Chicago in the next 50-100 years? I never thought about that, that’s a good question. Well, some of the things that may be related to that are some of the new cities. I think we’re so lucky at SOM because one of the things we do is get to design cities from scratch. And I think some of those new cities will take into account a lot of the sustainability issues and even geometric things that I’m interested in, in how the cities are laid out and ordered. I think even cities like Chicago, existing cities that have so much existing 169

ROMAN UDAKOV DESIGNER / MODEL MAKER SKIDMORE, OWINGS, & MERRILL

How did you start working at SOM How did I start working at SOM? I moved from San Francisco to Detroit because I was interviewing with GM, and it was such a drastic change, northern California to Detroit, and I was like “man, am I doing the right thing?” And a buddy of mine that I went to school with, him and his fiancé they moved to Chicago, so I get a phone call one Friday afternoon, “hey man, how’s it going, heard you were in the neighborhood. Hop in the car, drive down to Chicago.” And I did that, and I was like “y’know, I like Chicago much better than I like Detroit,” so I packed my stuff up, moved down here, ended up declining the job with GM, started sending out portfolios. Sent out maybe one hundred of ‘em, and get an email one day from SOM. Mind you, I knew nothing about architecture, was not remotely interested. So I get this email, and the previous guy that was running the shop here had seen some of my work and said “hey, we’d like you to come in and interview for this job.” I did my quick research on the firm and I was like wow, this is a big name firm, and just came in not knowing what to expect. When I got here, it was on Michigan avenue, right by the lake, the park. When I came in, the office was completely different, it was so busy. Burj, all these big projects that were happening, and I think there were about four to five 170

hundred people in this office, I mean it was huge. It was like a bees nest, and what actually blew me away was the source of creativity, and what people were doing in all of these projects. I was blown away that that was real architecture. Before, architecture was just so bland and geometric, like boxes, extrusions, this and that. When I saw it I was impressed. I ended up taking the job because I figured if it works out, it works out, if it doesn’t it doesn’t. It’s better to do something and regret it than not doing it and regretting it. And here I am eight years later, still here. I feel like it’s been a learning process, to learn all of this architecture terminology. I’m still not the hugest fan of architecture, but its cool. What was your portfolio of before? My portfolio basically consisted of a few automotive projects that I’d done and a lot of product design stuff, because that’s my background, product design. So prior to this I did a competition for Pugot and then they hired me to do another project. Up til that I did a lot of freelance work. Then I worked for Sony, doing their displays and stuff, and after that I decided to pack up my stuff and move to Detroit. GM at that time was offering contract work, and maybe if it had been in sunny

southern California or another place I would’ve taken the job, but Michigan, y’know, it’s not a bad place, I just felt like a fish outta water. Do you think that innovative forms are difficult to build? I think what’s cool is that SOM even though it’s very corporate, it’s not as corporate as some of the larger firms. The cool thing here is that they’re not afraid to push the envelope, just like this thing with the wind tunnel—they’re gonna be the first office, I think in North America, to have a wind tunnel in the office. Or when they created this black box, which is basically this thinktank of engineers, designers, which is cool because history either repeats itself or evolves into something new, just like with this whole thing with sustainability. Right now sustainability is just a pretty word. In reality, all of these projects and things say they’re sustainable, they’re not. If a building takes from the environment, collects all the rainwater collects all of the solar energy and uses it, where it has very low emissions, where there’s pretty much no waste—doesn’t waste electricity, doesn’t waste water, doesn’t waste sewage, things like that—eventually, in 30 or 50 years, that’s gonna happen. Right now, we’re still on the old grid, old infrastructure, etc. Eventually, it will happen. It has to, because, just like when people lived in mud huts with straw roofs, and you look at a regular apartment now. I think that Skidmore draws what we’ll call architectural rebels. They’ll have this crazy idea, and it’s very tough to fully execute it, but the partners will hear things, and they’ll start pushing it, bringing it to life. Things like that. The other great thing is that there are so many creative and hardworking people here, like the core people. They don’t mind working long hours because they’re idealists, architectural idealists. Mind you, it’s not the healthiest thing to do. In architecture, its industry standard to not have a life-work balance, which is bad, but it’s the unfortunate reality now. You guys, for the young professionals that are just now getting out of school to start working, just keep in mind that sometimes that’s gonna be the reality. You are gonna have to, for a couple years, put your head down and work really hard, where you’re not really gonna have time to go out and do things. But if you play your cards right, all those things are only gonna help you out in the end. Or you can do another thing where—you know that in the corporate environment it’s very tough and competitive—if you go for a smaller firm, you’ll have a little bit more of a life work balance. The biggest advice I can give you guys is don’t be afraid. I remember when I graduated, I was looking for a job, for interviews, and you don’t really know anything. You’re gonna learn everything on the job. School just gives you a very basic understanding of the tools, but if you surround yourself with good, positive

people, you’re just gonna absorb knowledge like a sponge. Just stay positive. Positivity breeds positivity. Look on the bright side of things all the time, even when you’re looking for a job or they’re working you to death, always stay positive. Even if you have to work an all nighter—go home, eat, work out, do what you have to do, and then come back. Don’t just sit there, because then it becomes very painful. Structure your life around obstacles, don’t let them take you under. When you get a crazy design, does that always correlate to a more difficult model to make? It depends. The best way to describe it is the bigger you go, the more detailed you have to be. The smaller the model, it can be very conceptual. Just stuff like that, where it’s basically a little ideation or form. But the bigger you go, yes. And sometimes it’s either the clients or even sometimes the partners, they’re just so caught up with their whole spiel that they have unrealistic expectations, especially when it comes to model-making. We’re very fortunate to have a model shop because 70% of firms don’t have a model shop, and still we’re not able to do everything. We can do a lot of things, more than most other places, but we’re not a full-on fabrication shop, where you have access to pretty much any tool that you need. Although we have a good network of fabrication shops and 3d printers and cnc mills, so anything we can’t do we can outsource. It also boils down to money. Presentation models are very expensive, I mean they range anywhere between $20,000 to $200,000, some even more. Very expensive—and the thing is a lot of times we can’t compete, because the larger model-making firms, they’re overseas because of very expensive labor. Companies in China can have 30 to 100 employees, and they’ll have people that just do painting, they’ll have people who just do sanding, they’ll have people that just do lasercutting. Each professional has a task. That’s why they’re expensive. Where here, it would be just you guys and me, and I can explain how to do something, but sometimes it’s tough because you have to train somebody, hold their hand, explain things. So for us, we have one chance to execute it. Sometimes were fortunate that we can mock things up, but a lot of times the designers are still designing, and let’s say they’re leaving on Monday, so you have a couple of days to get that together. Just like for this thing: we have to do a context site, there’s options, there’s this thing, and they’re leaving Monday. And they’re still designing options. Time is your friend and you’re enemy. What do you do when you’re not at SOM. I’m fortunate that I have hobbies. There’s quality family 171

time with wife and kids, or during winter time I ice race, during summer time I do motorcross and supermoto. I try to keep myself busy, and I have to be. People ask “well, you work a 60 hour week and still go ride?” It’s because if I don’t, I’d go nuts. It helps you stay positive, that’s what I always tell people, even my wife.

50 of them.

You have to have hobbies, because that can take your mind off things, it’s very helpful. You’ll have something to look forward to, and that’s why I also encourage you guys, when you start working, to also have a hobby, whether its sports, activities, whatever. You have to take a break. When we have these crazy-busy times, I’ll leave, I’ll go home, do whatever, put the kids to bed, then I come back and I work all night, so you have to take a break. If you just stay here all the time, you’re gonna go nuts. Just tryna do what I do.

What’s your favorite musical then?

Since you have a background in automotive and industrial design, do you see a correlation between that design and architecture? I view the buildings like I view cars. I look at surface development, I look at tension, reflections, highlights, stuff like that. Perfect example: when I started here, the shop only had two small lasercutters, and just a tablesaw, sanders, stuff like that. The model-making methods were completely different. They were very generic. They were using either wood or plex. Because of my background, I started using more high density foams, butterboard, all those things. It’s more environmentally friendly. Don’t get me wrong, wood is beautiful, but wood looks beautiful bare, or maybe with a little wax, some light treatment. Plexi you can paint, but foam is a great material because it’s easy to cut paint, sand, you can get a really good finish, and it’s a lot cheaper. A big slab is about $400. Same slab of wood would be twice to three times that amount. You can use it for a site model like that, it’s simple, faster. With the wood you have to worry about the grain. So in that sense I brought in a lot. And then 3d printing has been an industry standard for product design for years already, and in architecture it’s just starting to come in. If you look at the top shelf over there, there’s a clay building. That’s actual SOM models from the 70s. So that is the way they ideated back in the day. So they’d use clay sculpee. This is before lasercutters, so everything was hand-cut. This was a finished one, out of plex. So that was a lot of work, a lot of elbow grease. It looks so simple, but it would take you forever to make. A lot of people take for granted that we have all these tools available now. If you have a strategy, you can incorporate a lot of these technologies that we have, like lasercutting and cnc milling and 3d printing. Like this, this was cast. They needed 50 of these. To 3d print 50, it would cost a fortune. To mill, it would take forever, so what I do is build one. I milled it, made a mold, and cast 172

What’s your favorite movie? My favorite movie? That’s a tough one. It depends on the genre.

That’s tough. I’d say Beach Blanket Babylon. When you’re in San Francisco, check it out, you’ll like it. It’s like a parody musical. It’s a San Francisco tradition, I guess. Movie, I would say… god that’s tough. I’m an 80s guy, so like Breakfast Club, Weird Science, all those. Sixteen Candles, all those movies, the Goonies, The Lost Boys, stuff like that. I think most of the movies were good in the 80s. Music was good, the party scene, everything. Maybe it’s because I grew up in the Soviet Union, and I remember like in my teens when the first VHS movies started coming out. We were watching these American movies, and that’s how I imagined America to be. That’s why when I came here when I was 16, and got out of the airport in New York, I was like “okay, skyscrapers, people,” I thought the whole of America was skycrapers. And then we got to Brooklyn and I was like “what the hell is this?” I was really disappointed, seriously. I thought limos, skyscrapers, gangsters, that was my perception of the US. Because in Moscow, everybody lives in high rises, from five stories to 22 stories, so I thought that America would be even taller. I was like “that’s it? These little ranch homes? That’s not cool.” I was listening to a podcast this morning on soviet design… Soviet design I’m not a fan of because, to me, it’s sort of this post-modernist bs. There’s some cool contemporary stuff, but the majority sucks. During the Soviet Era, design wasn’t a factor. Everything just had to have a purpose and a practicality, and it had literally zero design to it. To me, the whole 70 years of Communism was a very destructive period in the design sphere. Russia has to find its own identity now, and my problem is that they not necessarily copy, but they look too much to the West for their ideas. Russia is a multi-ethnic, multi-national country, and there are some really cool traditional designs that vary from the region, from the district. I hope that eventually Russian design will find its own design identity, because there’s really a tremendous amount of creative people living there. But it seems like everybody’s looking towards the West for their ideas, and everything starts to look the same after a while. Things get kind of stagnant. What’s your favorite place in Chicago? My favorite place in Chicago? I would say the botanical gardens. It’s in Skokie, check them out. I’m a big nature

guy. For me, have to get out of the city at least one day a week. My ideal place to live would be somewhere in nature where I drive half an hour to a store. That sounds like Hell! You’re like my wife, she needs strong wifi, shops conveniently located. I don’t mind wifi, wifi’s good, but when I come out into my backyard, I don’t want to see my neigbors or anybody. Just stars, trees, mountains, stuff like that. Ideally. I lived in the city, in Pilsen, and my wife lived in Lincoln Square, and we moved in together and lived in Lincoln Square for a while. A city’s good when you’re young, when you don’t have a family because everything’s conveniently located, you don’t need a car, you have an abundance of shops and restaurants, bars etc. I lived in New York City, but now you couldn’t pay me to move back to New York, no way. It’s a great place to visit, but not to live. Same with Chicago. Chicago’s a great place to work, but to live? I wouldn’t want to live in Chicago. I live in Chicago, but literally you go across the street and it’s already a suburb. Chicago’s a really cool city. I would say it’s probably the most affordable big city in the country. It’s like a hybrid city. It reminds me of New York, it reminds me of San Francisco, its weird. It just has different influences. You’d never think you were in the Midwest, it’s a big city, very cultured. You drive half an hour, you’re in Wisconsin, you drive another half hour you’re in Indiana. It’s cool. But yeah, favorite restaurant in Chicago, that’s a tough one. To tell you the truth, I’m not a big fan of Chicago Midwest food, because everything is greasy, a lot of bread, cheese. Deep-dish pizza, what the fuck is that? It comes in a pot. That’s like a pizza soup or pizza lasagna or something, it’s crazy. I love seafood. I’m a carnivore, I love meat. Here’s its hot dogs, or polish sausages or Italian beef. It’s good once in a while. That’s one thing I miss about California is all the fresh seafood. You could go down to the coast to get some fresh oysters. Here? Forget about it. They’re either gonna charge you an arm and a leg for it, or it’s not really fresh, if you know what I mean. That’s about it. You guys gotta make the best of what you got.

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GENERATE MULTIPLE DESIGNS AND ALTERNATIVES

DETERMINE HIGHEST AND MOST ECONOMICAL USE FOR THE SITE

ESTABLISH CLIENT NEEDS AND PRIORITIES, DEFINE THE SCOPE OF WORK

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DEVELOP DESCRIPTION DEVELOP DESIGN CONCEPT SELECT MAIN SCHEME STRUCTURAL DESIGN DEVELOP PHASING PLAN LIFE CYCLE COST ANALYSIS PREFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS COMPLETE SCHEMATIC DESIGN

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REFINE SCHEMATIC DESIGN SUB-CONSULTANTS BROUGHT ON MECHANICAL ELECTRICAL PLUMBING INVESTIGATE BUILDING SYSTEMS PRICING CODE EVALUATION ISSUE DOCUMENTS FOR BID PARTICULARITIES OF STRUCTURE, ENVELOPE, AND ENCLOSURE RESOLVED

ADDITIONAL CONSULTANTS SELECTED, OUTSIDE DISCIPLINES RELIED UPON HEAVILY DURING DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

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TYPICAL PROJECT SCHEDULE MEET CLIENT DEVELOP PROGRAM SITE ANALYSIS FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS CHARETTE DEVELOP DESCRIPTION DEVELOP DESIGN CONCEPT SELECT MAIN SCHEME STRUCTURAL DESIGN DEVELOP PHASING PLAN LIFE CYCLE COST ANALYSIS PREFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS COMPLETE SCHEMATIC DESIGN REFINE SCHEMATIC DESIGN SUB-CONSULTANTS BROUGHT ON MECHANICAL ELECTRICAL PLUMBING INVESTIGATE BUILDING SYSTEMS PRICING CODE EVALUATION ISSUE DOCUMENTS FOR BID BIDS SUBMITTED

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SUSPICIOUSLY LEGITIMATE DESIGN A HYPOTHETICAL FIRM Is it suspiciously legitimate or legitimately suspicious? All we know is that the hypothetical firm Suspiciously Legitimate Design is a coalition formed by Janice Jones and Connor Walker. This design coalition focuses on all scales of design, from the font kerning up to the main concept. Suspiciously Legitimate Design incorporates a unique mix of graphic design, furniture design, and architecture into the practice. Suspiciously Legitimate Design is based out of Austin, TX. It is a firm of thirty people with a mix of designers, craftsmen, and architects that work in tandem to create a diverse range of work to that illustrates the innovative spirit of the team.

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Suspiciously Legitimate has collected a range of precedents with which the firm has used to design the business. They have taken these models and improved upon them, mixing together their unique occurrences with the precedents to create a sustainable business model. DROR Dror is an ideas-driven design practice that disrupts conventions of art, architecture, and design. Their audacious, experimental projects strive to profoundly impact communities and environments around the globe. The New York studio is led by Dror Benshetrit, a designer, thinker, dreamer, and futurist whose holistic approach informs a striking range of affecting, unconventional work. Together, they tackle visionary pursuits that result in increased brand equity for our partners. Dror collaborate with top-tier companies, developers, and institutions that share our commitment to design excellence. Since launching in 2002, Dror has partnered with Alessi, Bentley, Cappellini, Yigal Azrouël, SHVO, Target, and TUMI, among others, through which we acquired unique expertise in projects that vary in nature and size. Fueled by Benshetrit’s boundless curiosity, the practice’s international work illustrates the creative spirit and penchant for challenge. ARANDA\LASCH Aranda\Lasch is an architectural studio dedicated to experimental research and building. Established by Benjamin Aranda and Chris Lasch, the studio designs installations, objects and buildings through a deep investigation of materials and structure. Winners of the United States Artists Award and Young Architects Award, their early architectural projects are the subject of the book, Pamphlet Architecture #27: Tooling. Their work has been exhibited in galleries and museums including the MoMA, MAD, Venice Biennale, Design Miami/ and TBA-21. Aranda\ Lasch develop experimental furniture products through the Johnson Trading Gallery in New York. They are currently working on retail and civic developments in Miami, Florida and Libreville, Gabon. BLUDOT Bludot is a modern furniture company founded by two architects and a sculptor in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They are a mix of around 30% designers and 70% craftsmen. Bludot’s goal is to bring good design to as many people as possible. This means creating designs that are useful, affordable, and desirable. To make this happen, the design process is focused on collaboration. Not just among themselves, but a total collaboration from pencil and paper, materials and machines, even packaging and assembly. 184

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Suspiciously Legitimate finds experimental design to be highly influential. Founding partner Janice Jones closely studies the work of both Norman Kelley and Aranda/ Lasch to look at the qualities of perception and truth within architecture and objects. What is the link between what we perceive the truth to be and what it actually is? Can there be multiple truths? Is there a limit to how many truths there could be? Is there a reality you are missing when you perceive something in a different way? These are the questions that Suspiciously Legitimate keeps in mind while working and studying, vigilant to never stop thinking while designing.

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Suspiciously Legitimate has a number of beyond the norm questions to consider because of their combination of both studio and fabricator. UNIQUE OCCURRENCES There are several unique occurances associated with opening a firm like Suspiciously Legitimate. You have to consider the overall floor area of the shop, and what that cost will add to the monthly rent. There has to be space for all of the machines, for storage, and for workspace. The space also may have to be soundproofed or seperated so as not to add distractions to the work environment of the people designing. This larger space and varied machines will mean that Suspiciously Legitimate will have to cover higher electric and utility bills than most architecture offices of its size. They will also have to contend with highet equipment and supply costs, and build those associated fees into the yearly office budget. Royalties for furniture design could be a possible benefit from opening a design coalition. Instead of starting from scratch every time, like in a more standard firm model, Suspiciously Legitimate needs to only design a piece of furniture once. The other associated costs would just come from production if the piece is to be mass produced. Suspiciously Legitimate is able to pull in money from royalties of past designs. LEASING TECHNOLOGIES Lease technologies from other facilities when it comes to 3D printing and other technical machines. This way, Suspiciously Legitimate does not get caught with outdated and obsolete technologies or have to worry about the upkeep of these technologies. Suspiciously Legitimate also turns to leasing when it comes to mass production of designs. This allows for lower production costs and thus a higher percentage of net value in each piece of furniture. CRUNCHING NUMBERS Suspiciously Legitimate Design attempted to be a bit more suspiciously legitimate by putting together a working office budget and billing scheme.

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S U S P I C I O U S L Y L E G I T I M A T E Y E A R L Y O F F I C E B U D G E T PRINCIPLE ARCHITECT (2) JON CAPTAIN (4) DESIGNER (11) DRAFTER/SPEC WRITER (3) SECRETARY (2) SPECIALIST (3)

$100,000 ...........................................................$200,000 $80,000 ...........................................................$320,000 $50,000 ...........................................................$550,000 $60,000 ...........................................................$180,000 $40,000 .............................................................$80,000 $60,000 ...........................................................$180,000

TOTAL YEARLY PAYROLL....................................................................................................$1,510,000 PAYROLL TAXES AND BENEFITS RENT UTILITIES, PHONE, INTERNET, POSTAGE ACCOUNTING, SERVICES EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES, PRINTING INSURANCE MARKETING DUES, TRAINING ALL OTHER

$377,500 $1,440,000 $13,000 $0 $1,500 $5,000 $1,000 $0 $0

TOTAL EXPENSES................................................................................................................$1,460,500 TOTAL TO RUN THE OFFICE ...............................................................................................$3,348,000 PROFIT PERCENTAGE....................................................................................................................19% PROFIT AMOUNT.....................................................................................................................$652,000

YEARLY REVENUE GOAL ............................................................................$4,000,000

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S U S P I C I O U S L Y L E G I T I M A T E O F F I C E E F F I C I E N C Y R A T I O PRINCIPLE ARCHITECT (2) JON CAPTAIN (4) DESIGNER (11) DRAFTER/SPEC WRITER (3) SECRETARY (2) SPECIALIST (3)

35% of 2000 hrs. .......................................................1,400 hours 85% of 2000 hrs. .......................................................6,800 hours 90% of 2000 hrs. .....................................................19,800 hours 70% of 2000 hrs. .......................................................4,200 hours 15% of 2000 hrs. ..........................................................600 hours 80% of 2000 hrs. .......................................................4,800 hours

TOTAL HOURS THE OFFICE WILL BILL IN A YEAR ...................................................... 37,600 hours TOTAL HOURS THE STAFF WILL WORK IN A YEAR .......................................................50,000 hours

OFFICE EFFICIENCY RATIO (hours will bill/hours will work) .............................................0.75

YEARLY PAYROLL ................................................................................................................$1,510,000 EFFICIENCY RATIO .......................................................................................................................... .75 BILLABLE SALARY ON WHICH OFFICE CAN EARN INCOME ...........................................$1,135,520 YEARLY REVENUE GOAL ....................................................................................................$4,000,000

OFFICE MULTIPLIER (yearly revenue goal/billable salary) ......................................................3.52

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S U S P I C I O U S L Y L E G I T I M A T E O F F I C E B I L L I N G R A T E S PRINCIPLE ARCHITECT JON CAPTAIN DESIGNER DRAFTER/SPEC WRITER SECRETARY SPECIALIST

3.52 x $50.00 ........................................................$176 / hour 3.52 x $40.00 ........................................................$141 / hour 3.52 x $25.00 ..........................................................$88 / hour 3.52 x $30.00 ........................................................$106 / hour 3.52 x $20.00 ..........................................................$70 / hour 3.52 x $30.00 ........................................................$106 / hour

HOW MANY HOURS PER WEEK EACH CATEGORY OF STAFF CAN WORK ON PROJECTS: PRINCIPLE ARCHITECT JON CAPTAIN DESIGNER DRAFTER/SPEC WRITER SECRETARY SPECIALIST

35% x 40 hours .................................................14 hours / week 85% x 40 hours .................................................34 hours / week 90% x 40 hours .................................................36 hours / week 70% x 40 hours .................................................28 hours / week 15% x 40 hours ...................................................6 hours / week 80% x 40 hours .................................................32 hours / week

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ENVIRONMENTS 192

WEEKEND OBSERVATIONS 04.01 MASONRY

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DESIGN STUDIES CHANGING A PLAN

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04.02 04.03 04.04 04.05 04.06 04.07 04.08 04.09 04.10 04.11

PROCESSION ENTRANCE AND EXIT CONGLOMERATE GLANCE GLASS MICRO UNITS DEFINITION ROOMS BAD GOOD

BEDROOM MICRO APARTMENT JOFFREY TOWER ERIE TO ONTARIO

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Urban Environments is a class taught by Drew Ranieri for Chicago Studio Spring 2014. Drew Ranieri is an associate principal at Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB). Mr. Ranieri has 35 years of experience over a wide array of project types and scales in the United States and Europe, as well as a having been a professor or guest critic at the University of Illinois (both Chicago and Champaign/Urbana campuses), IIT, The School of the Art Institute and Virginia Tech. Drew also co-founded and taught the architectural program for middle and high school students at the Marwen Foundation. Drew has been connected with the Chicago Studio since its inception in 2002. Every week, Chicago Studio students were asked to do two assignments: a weekly design study and a weekend assignment. These projects were discussed at regular meetings at Solomon Cordwell Buenz.

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04.01 MASONRY

I noticed the predominance of masonry buildings in the neighborhoods of Chicago.

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04.02 PROCESSION

The Jefferson Park CTA train platform entrance has a processional quality not usually found in such a mundane space.

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04.03 ENTRANCE AND EXIT

This sketch attempts to illustrate my experiences entering and leaving the Santa Fe Building every morning and evening. It chronicles how the path seems to change and the spacial perception changes in the morning versus the evening.

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04.04 CONGLOMERATE

A conglomerate building is created when you cross the Adams/Wabash intersection.

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These light and sound installations seem like they were put in to create a certain mood or sense of space along State Street, but no one pays them a passing glance.

04.05 GLANCE

These light and sound installations seem like they were put in to create a certain mood or sense of space along State Street, but no one pays them a passing glance.

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04.06 GLASS

Brown Line Reflections: We think of glass as something so permeable. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not.

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04.07 MICRO UNITS

Talk about micro units: The shared living quarters for eight German soldiers. WWII U-505

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04.08 DEFINITION

The signs protruding out onto the sidewalk on State Street give it a distinctly different flavor than Michigan Ave. The signs define the sidewalk beneath with their light. The sidewalk becomes a place.

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ding over sidewalks creates a room within room formed by the street walls.

04.09 ROOMS

The scaffolding over sidewalks creates a room within the greater room formed by the street walls.

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04.10 / 04.11 BAD AND GOOD

Bad: 127 S State St. The building looks like it started out with a wrought iron facade, but fell victim to metal panels, siding, and shutters. Good: Inland Steel Building The Inland Steel Building exemplifies Chicago. The glass and steel skyscraper was built by SOM in the 1950â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. The expressed steel structure incorporates Mies Van Der Roheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ideals.

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CHANGING A PLAN 204

Consider the home youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve grown up in. Think of the similarities and differences of the plan as you may reconstruct it from memory and the way you would describe it to someone else. Think of what resonates with you, even the hierarchy of that memory/retelling. A home is an experience - what elements do you use to create the experience, the story you tell? What do you see in the plan and what story will you tell, what experience or series of experiences will you create?

Material Study

Ceiling Height Study

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Is this decoration an extension of the architecture? Can it be both? What serves what? This room design centers around creating smaller pockets in this large bedroom to create more intimate, comfortable spaces within a larger space.

BEDROOM

The wall behind the bed forms an extension of the headboard that curves along to the ceiling, bringing both warmth to the room and making the entire room an extension of the bed itself. The color on the wall brings all attention to the focal points of the room, which are arranged along the back spine.

B E D R O O M JANICE JONES 02-19-2015

The wall of the bedroom along the exterior wall has been thickened around the structure. This allows for the window seat to be carved into the wall thickness, allowing the occupants to inhabit the exterior wall.

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The lights over the armchair serve to falsely lower the ceiling plane and turn the armchair into a more cozy spot for reading and lounging. When the wall is thickened around structural members, it allows the opportunity to create a deep window seat. This inset area is at a different ceiling height, allowing it to feel like an altogether different room within the larger organization. Curtains can close this parcel of the room off to further separate it from the surroundings, making the bench into a type of balcony overlooking the city beyond.

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MICRO APARTMENT 208

The micro apartment is a two level structure. The first level includes a closet, bathroom, living area, and kitchen. Up a ship’s ladder is a small bedroom area. This apartment comes in at just under 300 square feet. The kitchen is organized along one storage wall that contains the closet in addition to all of the kitchen cabinetry. Appliances are all hidden behind flush white doors, allowing the small space to feel less cluttered and clearing the M I C R O A P A R Tfor M Emaximum NT counter-tops working space. JANICE JONES 02-26-2015

The kitchen and living area share a table, allowing for both socializing and dining functions. Hanging bulbs lower the ceiling the allows living area, providing a loose visual barrier The raising ofover the bedroom for a separation of public and private between the pubic area and the private zone above. areas in such a small floorplan. It also allows for the living area, kitchen, raising and bedroomof to allthe havebedroom an The equal amount of light.

allows for a separation of public and private areas in such a small floor plan. It also allows for The edge of the bedroom rimmed the living area,iskitchen, and bedroom to all have an equal in a “wall” of tubes that act to amount of light. obscure the bedroom from the more public areas down below while still allowing for views and light from the

The window.edge of the bedroom is rimmed in a “wall” of tubes that act to obscure the bedroom from the more public areas down below while still allowing for views and light from the windows.

M I C R O A PA R T M E N T JANICE JONES 02-26-2015

This micro apartment is a two level structure. The first level includes a closet, bathroom, living area, and kitchen. Up a ship’s ladder is a small bedroom area. This apartment comes in at just under 300 square feet.

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JOFFREY TOWER

The Joffrey Tower houses the Joffrey ballet and a housing complex. The outside has a gridded facade that has balconies pushed into the front face.

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Alternate exterior articulations of the Joffrey Tower were designed, while keeping all current programing and functions of the spaces behind the walls. Questions were asked regarding the scale, vocabulary, and materiality of the proposed alternative. I removed the grid and balconies from the building facade. It does not make sense to me to have balconies in a city like Chicago, where they can really only be utilized frequently for a quarter of the year. Warm, textured corten steel was added in a large scale pattern similar to the size of the balconies that used to exist on the building. Greenery was enhanced and added to, with the former balconies becoming enlarged versions of window boxes and planters.

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ERIE TO ONTARIO

How much is enough to define a block? What defines a block?

VE. EAST: ONTARIO

e to Ontario d by brandg through

ding used on of their einforce ture as into n tell the erior by the

Zegna by the id patterns their suits

ewelers ors as a p themom the

an be seen ow. The ntrigue and the ofmore utili-

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Two structures reside on the east side of the block between Erie and Ontario. What was curious about this block was the alley running down between the two structures. They did not form a continuous street wall, but instead left a breathing space in between them, which I found unusual in such a highly commercial area. The facade of Erie to Ontario is highly influenced by branding. The Burberry building used an enlarged version of their print as a way to reinforce their classic signature as something that fits into modernity. You can tell the function of the interior by the blatant exterior. The Ermenegildo Zegna facade is inspired by the pin-striping and plaid patterns found on many of their suits and ties. Tumi and Swiss Jewelers used signature colors as a symbol and to help themselves stand out from the street. GREC’s lighting can be seen from the street below. The lighting serves to intrigue passersby and brand the office along with its more utilitarian purpose. At night, the facades are personalized by lighting. The facades draw attention to themselves with lights that cannot be seen throughout the day. Burberry uses it’s facade to reinforce branding again. The window displays are lit brightly as well, drawing your attention to the products and lifestyle they are trying to sell. The office building’s lower floors are also personalized by ribbons of light, drawing your attention to the lit logos. Tumi lights the whole wall of the store, glowing like a lantern and casting a warmer light out onto the sidewalk around it.

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REFLECTIONS

Chicago Studio has been one of the most enriching experiences I have had in my life. I feel like I learned more about architecture than in any semester before because of this unique combination of both school and practice.

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Although I have lived relatively close to a city my entire life, I had never actually lived in one on this level. Chicago is at a different scale, an alien level of urban density overall for me to be living in. I feel like my last semester in Europe really helped me quickly acclimate to Chicago. I was used to being plopped down in a place I had no idea about, and having to quickly figure out maps, public transportation, and the best places to eat. It was made easier by the fact that this time, in was all in my native tongue. To really begin to learn and understand the geographic layouts of Chicago, our semester began with mapping studies. The first map that I made linked together my travels on both the red and blue L lines as I journeyed from Jefferson Park to Chinatown for my first dim sum. It became a study of the differences of scale and density between the stops that we made in the area. I feel like this exercise made me actually being to look at the city around me versus just being awed by my surroundings like a tourist. We looked at different ways to map other than just by a geographical relationship: mapping by just one sense. I think this opened up different ways of looking at the city and interpreting my surrounding. It taught me how to start to observe, to look at the current conditions, really studying the existing area and environments to see beyond what is there and to the WHY of its existence. I think it is really going to help my ability to study a site and its context and surroundings during thesis. Chicago is a city made up of a collection of smaller cities, each with their own flavor and culture. It has such urban sprawl, but this dissolution of urbanity leads to the creation of these micro communities of like-minded individuals. Because of these communities, I was able to travel through different cultures and compilations of people just by hopping on and off the CTA. I ate my way through dim sum in Chinatown, Polish bakeries, Korean barbecues, and Senegalese restaurants. I was able to explore not just Chicago, but a whole new realm of taste and texture. The Spring 2015 Chicago Studio lived in the heart of one of these communities, in Lake View. Being able to live with Chicagoans and commute every day, like one of them, taught me what living in the city is like versus being a tourist.

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Studying and living in a group was one of my favorite parts of the Chicago Studio program. You would think that 14 people living in two apartments would be completely awful, but it was nice to always have someone to have dinner or breakfast with, to vent to about your project, or to explore with right there. I chronicled my explorations of the city through photographs, documenting things that caught my eye. I shared photos with my family and friends. I found it to be very hard, however, to capture the sheer scale. I instead found myself cataloging intriguing moments and points in my day to day life. Things that I passed every day and looked at. On Saint Patrick’s Day, Chicago explodes. The streets are filled with people. Car horns ring through the air. And ton after ton of dye is poured into the Chicago River, in a green celebration of “Irish heritage” and beer. This might have been the first time that I felt like a permanent member of Chicago. I started to get annoyed with the tourists, watching them slowly walk up and down the sidewalks with iPhones held high in the air with some mild contempt, irritated that they were slowing me down. It’s funny, that was me only six weeks before. Working in groups was the most educational and informative part of Chicago Studio. Connor and I were able to bounce ideas off of each other, and because of this we didn’t get stuck on our first concept. We were able to challenge and push each other, almost competing against each other to be faster and better. We challenged ourselves against other Chicago groups too, looking at what everyone else was doing and judging our work against theirs. It made us better, having a competitive edge. We could look at the techniques and means of others to judge what would be worthwhile to do in our own work or what to pass by. Every week, Chicago Studio students were asked to do two assignments: a weekly design study and a weekend assignment. The weekend assignments made me look instead of passing by. I watched and observed, instead of riding along. They made some of the white noise disappear. I really enjoyed seeing the weekend assignments of my classmates. They noticed so many things that I would’ve never paid a second glance to. I really appreciated the opportunities to get a glance into someone else’s mind and seeing what they look at, and how it is different or similar to what I look at. They brought back a sense of wonder in the mundane. The Pro Practice class opened me up to other professions, more than the one path that they show in architecture schooling. I feel like I have a more collective 216

view of the profession than what I see in school during any of the semesters. I am able to look at the office around me and see what I like and don’t like, and so I feel constantly more aware of my choices. I think one of the biggest advantages of having my pro practice class be in Chicago Studio was the fact that I got to hear from many points of views and lecturers. I wasn’t stuck with one professor’s opinion toward everything, and instead was shown a broad range of office sizes, work, and job opportunities. I met so many professionals that I am able to contact in the future for advice. The internship taught me how to render, how to model better and faster in Rhino and in physical models, and how an office operates on a daily basis. And of course, how to model in Grasshopper, making faster patterns and walls that I would have previously spent hours designing by hand.

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