Justin Brouillette
Wichita Art Museum
In order to help the existing museum site reach its potential a few issues must be addressed. Foremost, the current orientation of the building does not cooperate with its context, both macro and micro. The riverfront provides great things: scenery, culture and exercise paths. Unfortunately there is a disconnection between the river and art museum. Lastly, the museum needs supplementary reasons on top of the art exhibitions to draw the visitors to the site. My solution is to strengthen the site’s connections within itself and the city. Most significantly are the paths that cross above the street level on the east and integrate across the whole master plan. Currently the 5.25 Acre site is not used efficiently due to the building’s orientation and parking lot, separating the nearby residences. By engaging the ground plane and burying the museum’s private functions [plus 450 parking stalls], the site is reclaimed and allows for maximum use. Row houses mimic the typology across the street to the north to create an “alley” of green space. This serves as a park and lively urban space, connecting to the river, for museum visitors and local residents. Punctuating the site is the retail and bandstand area at the far west. These elements can activate and push the Wichita Art Museum and its site to its maximum potential.
COMPETITION ENTRY FOR WICHITA ART MUSEUM, KANSAS SOLO PROJECT
Y4
Existing
New*
PARKING
PATHS
CENTER
OUTDOOR
ATRIUM
Internship
TWELVE WEEK SUMMER INTERNSHIP SOLO PROJECT
2009
MONARCH
BASLER RESIDENCE
THE FUNCTION
So what’s important in a desk? If you ask me, the surface. The surface is what makes a desk. It is the place that you do everything related to a desk, what’s underneath is nothing less than baggage. This baggage proves using any other side than the middle front useless because the one cannot engage themselves well enough with the desk. “The surface is what makes a desk, what’s underneath is nothing less than baggage... So by removing such, you render your desk, a desk, not a storage unit.”
FURNITURE DESIGN DESIGN + BUILD
Y4
FLIP Tables
FURNITURE DESIGN DESIGN + BUILD
Y5
They are nothing fancy, and very functional, but turned out nice nonetheless. Because they were to be shipped across the country, they needed to fold flat, or flat pack. The need to be shipped took out the option to glue the joints so screws were used. The shelf inside can be reorientated depending on the orientation of each table. It can serve as a divider or a shelf also.
HEALTHcARE OF SWEDEN CLINIC
Previously the city had proposed a masterplan to connect North Stockholm to the medical research campus, Karolinska. My critique of the masterplan was that it was too much of a change from the existing urban form that was centered around courtyard style blocks. I redesigned their scheme to better integrate their existing city form into the new space. Coming back to healthcare, the Karolinska campus is a worldclass medical research facility and seemed a perfect place for the remaining two projects of healthcare studio (a clinic and hospital). The clinic was intended to replace and be symbolic as a top notch research facility that gestures to the heart of Stockholm and also back to the largest portion of the Karolinska campus. My development pretty much ended there as this project was only three weeks long, but the building is a sexy (if I dare say) take on a healthcare building that invites the public to and through the ground floor that offers a south facing plinth and restaurant below.
SOLO PROJECT URBAN DESIGN HEALTHCARE STUDIO
Y5
HOSPITAL
CLINIC
HOSPITAL
Following the same idea of the new masterplan, the hospital was to take on a courtyard style building form. This was intended to create a better work and healing place by giving the users of the facility a wonderful space to always connect to. The massing of the hospital is two wings, with a courtyard in the center that opens up to the previous project (clinic) and campus beyond. It also allows for maximum sun exposure by keeping the South wing shorter (five stories) than the North (ten stories). My focus was on integrating this 400 bed hospital into the previous masterplan, creating an inspiring place to work while connecting the urban space, and bringing the public into and through the site. A critical point I made throughout both the clinic and hospital was that healthcare facilities were all too many times a poor teammate of urban space and tend to give nothing back to the city they are within. To this end, both the clinic and hospital are open throughout the ground floor and the program is open to public tenants such as restaurants, fitness centers, and small retail.
FEB
the VERTICAL
While printed calendars are becoming more and more obsolete, I could not stand the thought of life without a good ol’ fashion wall calendar. So we made our own, the Vertical. I kept the idea of the Vertical simple and functional with an added hint of sex panther. By choosing a vertical timeline, as opposed to the traditional serpentine approach, it kept our calendar easy to read, and downright fun to look at. Our incredibly sophisticated (sarcasm) magnet system allows you to easily replace your calendar monthly, without having to puncture the calendar or refit at all (see diagram)! Make only four simple tack holes in the wall. Or, do it your own way and make your own wall art installation as you add each month.
GRAPHIC + PRODUCT DESIGN MAKE Collaboration
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4
Y6
FEB
1 2 3
4
the Port of San Francisco
The port of San Francisco functioned well for over a century as, well a port. Now it’s purpose has run it’s course and it needs a restructuring of it’s land, program, and waterfront as a space. The residents of San Francisco are a special type that deviates from the stereotypical californian. They are friendly, social and widely accept differences. The need for a waterfront space on San Francisco’s East side is paramount. This project aims to push the vertical scale of a relatively flat (building height) but very dense city (23rd highest in nation) yet has nowhere to go but to fill in the bay. This has been happening to the tune of 40% of the original bay being filled which is very detrimental to it’s health. The end product, is a celebration of the waterfront space that has been for so long a wasteland to citizens. A reclamation of the bay, waterfront and the social nature that is San Francisco.
URBAN REVIVAL IN SAN FRANCISCO SOLO PROJECT
Y5
THE PROP
The Prop is a well designed, affordable and portable laptop stand. It was inspired by the need to cool our laptops in architecture school. Finding none at a reasonable price, Nick designed the first Prop in Adobe Illustrator and preceded to cut it out on our laser cutters. Many, many iterations later, the aesthetics have changed, the design however is just as good as the vintage. The Prop lifts your laptop off the table to create better airflow and more comfortable use. We use 15” Macbook Pro’s® but the Prop will fit nearly any smaller or larger laptop up to an average size 17”. KICKSTARTER We were incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to fundraise the final costs of the Prop production on Kickstarter.com. Checkout our completed Kickstarter project or pre-order below! It also generated a large amount of media attention which we were ecstatic about! the Prop is Protected under U.S. Patent #D652,044 S
PRODUCT DESIGN, FUNDED KICKSTARTER MAKE Collaboration
Y5
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Christiane Lemieux Founder & Creative Director, DwellStudio This is a great product. These designers have pulled the whole concept together down to the well executed packaging. The design is simple but very effective which is the hardest balance to strike. I see great commercial potential for this product. They should roll it out at Apple stores all over the country.
John Berg Architect, Berg Design Architecture I see the prop as an essential component for the mobile office of people who live at all times an arms length away from their laptops. The design is simple, durable and true to the molded plastic material. Could the plastic be one of these new bio degradable polymers?
Rob Forbes Founder, PUBLIC Bikes This is my first choice. Great simple solution to a problem that frustrates all of us who have table and desk tops that get disfigured from the heat of the laptop. Very versatile. The price point is terrific. I’ll buy the first ones off the production line.
2011 Design Showcase Judges Choice Award