Portfolio : Undergraduate Studio Work

Portfolio : Undergraduate Studio Work Jordan Keller Virginia Tech School of Architecture + Design

Portfolio : Undergraduate Studio Work Jordan Keller Virginia Tech School of Architecture + Design

A Study of Field Conditions

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A Small Theatre

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Urban Lab / Observatory

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Watershed Observatory

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Transit Hub

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Light Screen

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Current Thesis Work 2014 - 2015

Riva San Vitale, Switzerland Spring 2014

Cincinnati, Ohio Spring 2013

Radford, Virginia Fall 2012

Chicago, Illinois Fall 2013

Blacksburg, VA Spring 2011

A Study of Field Conditions Current Thesis Work 2014 - 2015

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Building in the Field Architecture must respond to the existing field condition of the site. When the architecture responds well to the existing field of conditions, it becomes a participant in its context and belongs there. The field of things organized by the architect to make a building must be coordinated with the field of things in which they are to be situated. These two fields, the one that is already in place and the one that is newly made, must exist harmoniously.

If the building “belongs� to its context, its physical organization facilitates its use. The building stays out of the way of the user and is occupied in the most natural way possible.

Nature itself, the existing field, is in a constant state of flux. It is not the architecture’s task to physically change and mimic the transient qualities of nature, but to mark the condition of the field at that point in time. The way that the building is constructed recalls the environmental conditions at the time of its making. This is the most important responsibility of architecture today, considering the speed at which our world is evolving. Architecture is the constant that measures time and orates history.

It is crucial for the architect to remember the importance of working and thinking at many different scales simultaneously. In a globalized world, the entire planet serves as context for the building.

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Model T1 : Image B

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Model T1 : Image E

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A Small Theatre

Riva San Vitale, Switzerland Spring 2014

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Textural Corner Texture : A thing composed of closely interwoven elements The structure formed by threads of a fabric The essential part The manner of union of the parts of a body The composite of the elements of prose or poetry Corner : The point where converging lines or sides meet The space between meeting lines or edges The place designed to mark or protect the corner A private, secret or remote place A point at which significant change occurs Merriam - Webster

Early Sketch

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Detail Section

East - West Section

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Urban Lab / Observatory Cincinnati, Ohio Spring 2013

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Inhabited Facade

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Level 12

Level 11

Level 10

Level 9

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Level 6

Level 5

Level 4

Level 3

Level 2

Level 1

South Elevation

Process drawings capture the spirit of the thoughts and ideas behind the project. Two of those guiding principles for the design of this building are shown in the drawing above.

The first is the expression of each individual room in the elevation of the building. The concept behind this is that the building is an aggregate of rooms situated above, below, and to the side of one another. Building is an additive process.

This arrangement of rooms in the building gives the elevation depth - the elevation is not a plane, but an occupiable space. The entire building is the facade - the facade is the entire building.

The second principle is the integration of plan and elevation drawing. The two drawings are traditionally closely related and are both needed

in order to construct the building. This drawing questions what new relationships between the two might be revealed when they are drawn with the same lines, as part of the same drawing.

Drawing is for conveying the idea already imagined, but also discovering that which the mind could not have conceived without the drawing. Drawing records, but it also generates.

The site is located at the common boundary of the high-rise area of the city and the low-lying outskirts.

Most people working in the city are commuters and as a result, the inner-city environment suffers greatly each day when everyone returns to the suburbs for the evening. The form of the rooms in the proposed building and the way they are stacked could be interpreted as the suggestion of a migration of residents to the city.

Model Collage (East Elevation)

The pool is at the heart of the building. It is the most likely place where residents, employees, and visitors will interact. There is a changing and locker area in the room next to the main pool and seating in the room above. The room above becomes a balcony to view the pool in the room below. This close interaction between rooms (like the interaction between the pool and balcony) is something that occurs throughout the building and helps stitch the seemingly compartmentalized rooms into a network of spaces and interactions.

Pool Area Collage

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The “observatorium� is a four-level seating area for the community. It can be a place to read, write, work or simply observe. There is an attempt, by displaying the city to its people, to generate awareness about the place in which the people live. They might observe acts of theft and they might observe acts of community and togetherness. Whether they be observations of charity or wrongdoing, the people begin to take ownership of the city they are observing encouraged by the good and determined to right the wrong.

Observatorium Collage

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Watershed Observatory

Radford, Virginia Fall 2012

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Earth as a Material Watershed : An area or region drained by a river or other body of water.

Riverview Park in Radford, VA is a neighborhood park and site for the proposal of a 5000 square foot “watershed observatory�. The park runs along an 800 foot stretch of the New River.

The flood plain is long and flat. Pushing earth from the center of the site toward its northern and southern ends creates a stadium-like space for the existing football field. At those ends now sit a reconstructed boat ramp to the south and the watershed observatory complex of small buildings to the north.

A watershed is the relationship between ground and water. The manner in which the ground is presented to and perceived by the residents will undoubtedly shape their work.

Temporary Residences

Gallery

Water Library

Map Room

Rain Room

Work / Lab Space

Site Model

Stones and Wire

Interior of a Unit

A field of steel tubes embedded in the ground retains the earth at the crest of the hill from spilling into the building units. Another transition in elevation is made at the retaining wall on which the building units rest. At the lowest grade, a shallow channel of water is let into the site from the river to be tested in the underground lab.

The rain room is an open-air space that presents the earth, as a material, to its viewers. Throughout the year, soil and rock may filter into the room.

With the next rainfall, it may all wash away or, perhaps, it fills the room to the ceiling. Either way, the relationship between ground and water the watershed - is observed by the residents and visitors.

Model Photo

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Rain Room

North - South Section

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Transit Hub

Chicago, Illinois Fall 2013

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Definition without Boundary As a collaborative project between five students (three architecture, one landscape architecture and one urban planning) under the guidance of SOM Chicago, the goal is to make a compelling proposal for the use of a nearly vacant city block, through which two different train lines run. The strategic approach is to embrace the train lines, making a place that celebrates transportation and facilitates communication, turning what currently serves as a hard boundary between Chinatown and adjacent neighborhoods into something that symbolizes opportunity for the community’s growth.

recreation, and culture. The heart of Chinatown belongs in this network of centers that spans across the city.

The transit hub is not a solution, but an investigation into the conditions at the site and exploration of those conditions, considering the greater context of the city. The hub should strengthen the heart and identity of the Chinatown community, while connecting to its neighbors for a stronger urban network.

The park across from the transit hub is the literal pivot point between northern Chinatown, As a transfer across scales and beyond southern Chinatown, and the train station. The boundaries, the challenge is to reconcile the new Chinatown Library, by far one of the most tension between active and passive - connecting heavily used libraries in Chicago, sits at the and residing. To design a center for transfer, the northern edge of the small park. center itself must exist. The site sits between northern and southern Chinatown and with the An embrace of the train lines allows for existing train stop, it is the community’s gateway the imagination of a place that celebrates to the rest of the city. The transit hub serves to transportation and facilitates the community’s physically mark this center while providing much growth. For residents, Chicagoans, and tourists needed retail, residential, and public space. The alike, this is the way into and out of Chinatown. intent is that the building becomes a destination for those living at other places in Chicago, as one of the most successful stations in the city.

There are, of course, places of activity outside of Chinatown, such as centers of industry,

DY U T S M R

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Exhaustive Study of Formal Possibilities

Site (Black) - Physical and Cultural Boundaries (Red)

Boundaries as Vehicles for Transportation

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East - West Section

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Light Screen

Blacksburg, VA Spring 2011

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Aggregation of an Element The light screen is a study of the filtration of light which is coming in through a corner window. The design of the screen considers the context of the window in which it is placed. It is inherent in the properties of the materials used to make the screen to be able to adapt to a certain set of site conditions.

The screen is made of two-inch plastic squares - some sanded and some left smooth. The squares are laser-cut with a notch at the center of each edge for assembly. Sanded squares allow light to pass through, but greatly obstruct the view of objects behind them. These squares are used

to block the less desirable view of the mechanical equipment on the roof of the adjacent building to the east. The smooth, completely transparent squares are then placed in the perpendicular direction in order to allow an uninterrupted view of the mountains to the north.

Over 1200 squares were produced. Because of the simple and impermanent method of assembly, the light screen could be broken down from its place in the window and re-assembled to take on a completely different form, adapting to a new set of site conditions. The lack of fasteners in the project makes the process of relocating

and reassembling the screen quick and simple.

Images on the following pages are meant to show the ability of the light screen to adapt to different environments and take on different forms. Parallel to the study of light filtration, there is an interest in the visual effects given by the aggregated squares - the repetition, pattern, and densities that result. I consider this construct to be the first indication of what would be the sensibilities in my work throughout school and those which become the subject of the fifth-year thesis.

Blocked View (East)

Desired View (North)

Interior Elevation

Vertical

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Horizontal

Volumetric

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Jordan Keller