Juliette Zidek | Portfolio of Selected Work 2022 by Juliette Zidek

SELECTED WORK 2022

JULIETTE ZIDEK

CONTACT INFORMATION NAME:

JULIETTE ZIDEK

WEBSITE:

juliettezidek.squarespace.com

EMAIL:

juliettezidek@gmail.com

PHONE:

847.400.6292

CONTENTS

ACADEMIC WORK 4 14 22 26

WILD WALL FLEX LAM [ROBOTIC TIMBER] SHORTAGE PAVILION PNEUMIC WALL

PROFESSIONAL WORK 34 42 48

THE REED AT SOUTHBANK ACAW 2020 PALACE QUARTER BEIJING

PERSONAL WORK 50 58

PLACE OF DIVERSITY [PODS] BIO LUM

Cover photographs shot by Jacob Cofer.

WILD WALL

2021 / Academic Work University of Michigan Course: Material Engagement Professor: Dr. Mania Aghaei-Meibodi Design Team: Laurin Aman Jumaanah Elhashemi Xinran Li Juliette Zidek

People around the world currently face a host of interconnected, existential environmental crises that not only require us to rethink how we live, but to drastically reconsider how and what we build. This project proposes one solution to the growing issues of urban heat island (UHI) effect, flooding from sea level rise and an increase in extreme weather events, as well as the loss of biodiversity brought on by anthropogenic climate change. Wild Wall explores how emerging technologies in design and construction can be used to create resilient urban environments as the demand for living space increases continues to grow. For many of the environmental issues that cities face, nature-based solutions that incorporate plants into urban and building design offer viable methods for adaptation. Plants cool their surrounding environments through evapotranspiration and shading, as well as filter contaminants from the air. While green roofs are notable for their ability to retain water, green facades offer larger potential effects due to their comparable surface area on high rise buildings. Such envelope systems have the potential to minimize contaminated runoff and flooding by filtering and harvesting rain water. Commonplace green wall designs, however, are lacking in several ways. Uniform depths of growing media prohibit a diverse collection of plants, plants rely on human maintenance for watering (often leading to neglect or mismanagement), and green walls are often treated as applied substrates, not integrated with the building systems necessary for their care.

This project proposes a new method for integrating a variety of plant species into a vertical facade system. A computational approach is developed to incorporate a diversity of plants with varying root structures and sizes. FDM enables the design and fabrication of an interconnected and multi-layer system whereby plant roots connect to an internal sand-filled cavity that is thermally isolated from the interior with air-filled layers, and allows the plants to drink on their own due to the capillary action of the sand. The geometric complexity achieved through FDM is utilized in the design of self-supporting layers, voiding the need for any infill geometry that is typical of this fabrication process, maximizing material use efficiency. Project Role: I lead the design of the wall system through sketching and modeling, with a focus on the integration of passive design strategies. I also lead the computational design effort through modeling, scripting, simulation and generation of the toolpaths needed for the robotic fabrication of the wall system. Drawings and photos where noted are by others.

DESIGN STRATEGIES

SELF SHADING OF FACADE TO REDUCE HEAT

PASSIVE COOLING THROUGH EVAPOTRANSPIRATION

RAINWATER FILTRATION AND COLLECTION

AIR FILTRATION FOR HUMAN HEALTH

COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN STRATEGY

BASE SURFACE

ADAPTABLE TO ANY SURFACE GEOMETRY 6

VORONOI DISCRETIZATION VARIETY OF POD SIZES FOR MANY PLANT SPECIES

ROUGH MESH

ONE CONNECTED MESH FOR FABRICATION

RELAXED MESH

CONTINUOUS SURFACE GEOMETRY FOR WATER COLLECTION

SYSTEM DESIGN

Section and Elevation drawings by Xinran Li

LEVEL 06 59’-0”

Native Plantings diversity of species Air Layers thermal separation from building interior Sand Layer transports water through capillary action Growing Medium

Water Supply Channel connected to building water system

LEVEL 05 50’-0”

ROBOTIC SIMULATION

FABRICATION STUDIES

PROTOTYPE 1

PROTOTYPE 2

PROTOTYPE 3

PROTOTYPE 4

PROTOTYPE 5

SMT Changes: Lead In, Lead Out Settings and Speed

SMT Changes: Extrusion Thickness

SMT Changes: Lead In, Lead Out Settings and Speed, Cooling Amount

Geometry Changes: Closed Shell

Geometry Changes: Open Sand Layer

Geometry Changes: Scale, Angle of Pods

Geometry Changes: Scale, Geometry of Pods

FINAL FABRICATION

FLEX LAM [ROBOTIC TIMBER]

2021 / Academic Work University of Michigan Course: Robotic Engagement Professor: Dr. Arash Adel Design Team: Laurin Aman JK Shin Juliette Zidek

The Robotic Engagement course introduced students to the mathematical, computational and physical constraints and opportunities of robotic fabrication and assembly. The final project of the semester asked students to design and fabricate a constructive system composed of short timber members, along with a pavilion showcasing the proposed construction method. In almost every stage of timber production and use in construction, waste is generated. Tree parts that are too curvy for processing are discarded, timber members with too many imperfections are sold as cull lumber, and offcuts are generated from mass timber element fabrication and construction. This often discarded material can be re-purposed as non-standard short timber members for use in novel structural systems. Flex Lam explores the constructive method of nail-lamination to develop an adaptable nail-laminated beam system consisting of short timber members. This assembly method takes advantage of the short member length to approximate curved geometries that correspond to stress lines of the loaded floor typology, advancing the material use efficiency of short timber members while also allowing for a more complex and compelling structural expression.

Critical to the structural integrity of the system is the shifted placement of members on alternating layers which ensures the discontinuity of joints between subsequent layers. This assembly logic then informed the order of assembly with the primary (continuous) beam line placed before the secondary (broken) one.

Connective elements were designed to lock pre-fabricated modules together in a larger aggregation of elements to form a continuous floor system. The full scale prototype of the Flex Lam system was designed to span the full bed of the robotic assembly cell at Taubman’s fab lab, using both robots in a collaborative assembly process. Project Role: I lead the computational design of the Flex Lam system, designing a computational method that generated the beam system from an input surface and tested the generated geometry for certain fabrication criteria such as collision and miter angle. I also fully modeled and rendered the final pavilion.

SYSTEM DESIGN

m 00 42 m

Prefabricated Floor Modules Top Connectors Bottom Connectors

COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN METHOD

900

o.c.

ROBOTIC ASSEMBLY SIMULATION

PICK

GRIP PRECUT TIMBER MEMBER OF LENGTH SPECIFIED IN SCRIPT

CUT

INITIATE SAW, CUT BOTH SIDES OF MEMBER BY ROTATING THE END EFFECTOR

PLACE

PLACE MEMBER IN PRE-DEFINED LOCATION , RELEASE GRIPPER AND NAIL TO SUBSTRATE AND/OR MEMBER

FINAL FABRICATION

PAVILION DESIGN

SHORTAGE PAVILION

2021 / Academic Work University of Michigan Course: Virtual Engagement Final Project, 4 weeks Professor: Glenn Wilcox Design Team: Juliette Zidek

The Virtual Engagement course introduced students to design computation using Python and Rhinoscript. For the final project of the course, each student proposed their own project to build on skills gained in topics that include parametric modeling, recursion, agents and cellular automata. In almost every stage of timber production and use in construction, waste is generated. Tree parts that are too curvy for processing are discarded, timber members with too many imperfections are sold as cull lumber, and offcuts are generated from mass timber element fabrication and construction. This often discarded material can be re-purposed as non-standard short timber members for use in novel structural systems. Building on the premise of robotic fabrication with short timber members used in Robotic Engagement, Shortage Pavilion explores how the design of a roof canopy using a layer-based constructive method is both affected and driven by constraints in the supply of non-standard timber members. For this project, I assumed that the pavilion would be built from a randomly generated, limited stockpile of short timber members to imitate the often unpredictable supply chain of reclaimed building materials.

The python script uses an input surface and curve as the basis of design from which to test member fidelity. Timber members are placed along the surface sequentially and then removed from the stockpile so that the order of operation allows greater surface fidelity wherever the ‘start’ point is determined. This variation in fidelity is also related to the degree of curvature of the surface and is expressed in the assigned

member lengths. Members are offset along each beam line to maintain the nailing logic of the layer based system. When the ends of the canopy are too short to be found as whole members in the generated stockpile, the longest members of the stockpile are cut down to the length needed to complete the canopy. This ‘offcut supply’ is then used to cut as many ends as possible. Once exhausted, the next longest member is used. For an animation of the Python script in action, please visit: https://juliettezidek. squarespace.com/#/shortage-pavilion/

PSUEDOCODE Start: Input Surface, Input Curve along Input Surface edge

input surface input curve

1. Generate Stockpile:

• *User Input: Number of Stockpile Members • For each member, generate a random length between programmed minimum and maximum lengths (400-900 mm) and save lengths to a list • Sort list of lengths • Generate physical representation of stockpile lengths in rows of 100 members max

divided surface

2. Divide Input Surface:

• *User Input: Input Surface, Input Curve along length to be divided • Project Input Curve to XY plane • Divide Curve by length of two 2x4 thicknesses (38 mm*2) • Generate planar surfaces at curve frames • Divide Input Surface with generated planar surfaces • Save Curves from Division to list beamList

3. Assign Members from Stockpile:

• Loop through beamList • For each Beam Curve, move point along curve by a length parameter of 0.001 • Draw line from new point to start point • Extend line by programmed offset length (50 mm) • Test line for Maximum Allowed Deviation or Maximum Length reached • Maximum Allowed Deviation = Distance from Midpoint of line to closest point on Beam Curve • Maximum Length = maximum length of members (900 mm) - 100 mm • If neither is reached, move point another increment along curve • If either is reached, assign closest member length from stockpile to member • If stockpile member length < distance from new point to Beam Curve end point: • Draw circle with center at start point and radius of (stockpile member length - 2 * offset length) • Find intersection of circle and Beam Curve to move assigned stockpile member • Move member from stockpile to position on Beam Curve • Rotate members • Offset even indexed members 38 mm • Overwrite new point at start point • If stockpile member length > distance from new point to Beam Curve end point: • For first end: • Cut longest member from stockpile to length of member • Move cut member to Beam Curve • Align member on Beam Curve • Offset if even index • Add offcut to Offcut List • For all other ends: • Check Offcut List to see if any lengths > end length • Use existing offcut members if possible, otherwise select new member from stockpile to cut • Move cut member to Beam Curve • Align member on Beam Curve • Offset if even index • Add offcut to Offcut List

Start

beam curve offset layer

End

PNEUMIC WALL

2021 / Academic Work University of Michigan Course: Practicum By Layer Project, 3 weeks Professors: Mark Meier, Catie Newell Design Team: Nishita Vinodrai Juliette Zidek

As a part of the Practicum course, our co-hort participated in 2 week long design exercises to learn the fabrication processes and file setup require of various equipment in the Fab Lab. The By Layer project focused on learning how to operate the Kuka robots and to write Kuka PRC through the exercise of clay extrusion printing. With the requirements of clay extrusion printing in mind, my partner and I designed a composite wall system consisting of clay printed parts with casted interiors. The conceptual design of the Pneumic Wall system began by considering how to amplify the effects of natural ventilation with the geometry of the modular wall units. By shaping the wall units as funnels, we could use Bernoulli’s Principle to form pressure differentials at the enclosure interface, which would exhaust indoor air as external wind is admitted through the wall. Additionally, this funnel geometry would amplify the stack effect and ventilate the space without wind pressure. Several module designs were considered to direct and accelerate wind flow through the wall interface. The selection of the third module, a singular directional funnel, informed the fabrication process. As robotic printing and plaster casting were optional fabrication method for this project, our team decided to print the shell of the modules out of clay, while casting the smoother inner cavity with plaster, using the bisqued shells and 3D printed material as formwork.

The wall pattern is comprised of self-similar modules that create a deceptively repetitious pattern. Each module is matched with another type (A to C, B to D) so that they

can be flipped in the plane of the wall to reverse the funnel direction as is required by the desired level of natural ventilation. The height of the extrusion of each module was refined with prototyping, as it was necessary to achieve a height tall enough to prevent slumping and layer separation during printing and drying, while also maintaining a height shallow enough to resist the overturning moment of the module’s mass. Project Role: I lead the computational design development for the team - writing the generative script of the wall modules and aggregation of the modules into a larger wall assembly. My partner focused more on the visualization of the project. The fabrication process through trial and error was done collectively. Drawings and photos where noted are by others.

DESIGN CONCEPT

THE REED AT SOUTHBANK

2019-2020 / Professional Work Perkins and Will Location: Chicago, IL Client: Lendlease Architectural Design Team: Bryan Schabel, Design Principal Carl D’Silva, Managing Principal Greg Tamborino, Senior PA Justin Wortmann, Project Architect Juliette Zidek, Designer III Samantha Lopez, Designer III Nic Hnastchenko, Designer III Hector Reyes, Designer III Nico Hsu, Designer I Julian Roman, Designer I

The Reed is a 650,000 sf multi-family residential high-rise building slated to be constructed in the South Loop of Chicago. It is the second of four buildings to be designed as a part of the Southbank master plan, a collection of multi-family projects organized around a central park between Harrison and Polk St. on the east bank of the Chicago River. Lendlease is both the client and general contractor for the project, as well as the owner of the entire Southbank site in the South Loop. The design teams’ vision from the start was to develop an amenity driven residential project on par with the original awardwinning building of the Southbank master plan, the Cooper, which was designed by Perkins and Will and constructed in 2018. Like the Cooper, the Reed includes both rental and condominium units, but differs in its orientation and relationship to the river. The design team worked to develop a unique aesthetic and identity for the Reed that relates to the solidity and industrial nature of the historic masonry building stock in the Printer’s Row neighborhood. As is the nature with developer driven residential projects, the design goals for the project were ambitious but the budget was tight. After the completion of one schematic design phase in late 2019, the client requested significant design changes in order to increase the percentage of sellable area to gross building area - a necessary adjustment to make pursuing the project financially lucrative. Additionally, in early 2020, the client requested a thorough value engineering re-design effort for both the residential tower and podium facades. The following pages describe the computational

design methodology that I employed to manage the tower facade re-design effort. I ended up starting from scratch in a lot of ways, because the original facade design lacked the framework to evolve appropriately with the constantly changing floor plans and varying locations of demising walls and heat pump enclosures at each residential tier. My initial goal for the value engineering exercise was to include necessary performance targets such as window-towall ratio and pre-defined constraints in the design logic from the beginning, so that the facade patterning would generate from these factors instead of having to check them retrospectively. I used Grasshopper to write a script following this design logic, with the goals of minimizing vertical mullion count and the total number of construction modules. Additionally, the script was designed to export specific metrics requested by the client, and to allow manual manipulation with live feedback for a design workflow with the Design Principal of the project, Bryan Schabel. In the end, the redesign effort was successful in substantially lowering the cost of the residential tower facade, with a visual expression that pleased the client and design team. Project Role: In addition to facade design, my role on the project from Schematic Design through Construction Documentation consisted of the following responsibilities: programming and area studies; core and shell design, analysis, visualization and detailing; coordination with structural and mechanical engineers; code analysis and compliance documentation; design documentation; and BIM management.

TOWER FACADE VALUE ENGINEERING PSEUDOCODE 1. Given: Overall Target % Glazing = 60% Overall Target % Solid = 40%

TIER 1

TIER 2

Calculate adjusted Target Glazing % and Target Solid % per floor, taking into account pre-defined glazing at west facade and balconies. Predefined Glazing Area Predefined Solid Area Undefined Area

2. Divide facade length into 2’- 2.5” modules, based on width of structural bays. Calculate Target No. Glazing Modules and Target No. Solid Modules per floor from target percentages. Assign solid modules to columns and heat pump modules at perimeter. Subtract number of pre-assigned solid modules from Target No. Solid Modules to arrive at new target. Assigned Solid Modules 3. Split facade length at room demising partitions to find % facade length of each room. Calculate no. solid modules per room by multiplying % facade length of each room (minus pre-assigned solid modules) by Target No. Solid Modules. 3b. Sum no. solid modules of each room and compare to Target No. Solid Modules. If total surpasses Target, remove the difference of modules from rooms with highest % solid. If total is less than Target, add the difference of modules to rooms with lowest % solid. 4. Randomly generate thousands of options of facade patterns by shuffling the solid and glazing module order within each room facade length. To meet pre-determined design criteria, remove options with: • more than 3 glazing modules in a row (aesthetic preference) • more than 3 solid modules in a row (aesthetic preference) • double glazing split between rooms (reduces number of mullions) 5. Sorting: First sort each remaining option by mullion count per floor. Secondarily sort options with a ‘panel ganging’ caclulation to reduce the number of total construction modules. Adjacent 2’-2.5” modules can be lifted together during construction, reducing construction time. When optimal options are tied for mullion count, module count is used to determine the preferred pattern.

>3 GLAZING MODULES

>3 METAL MODULES

SPLIT DOUBLE MODULE

MINIMIZE SINGLE MODULES

GANG ADJACENT SINGLE MODULES

DISSOLVING OPTION This option was conceived to reduce the amount of metal panel, while also reducing mullion count. Three optimal patterns are selected per tier and alternate through each tier for visual variation. Solid panels are assigned as either metal panel or spandrel glass, with the % of spandrel glass in proportion to the % of metal panel increasing over the height of the building.

METRICS

METAL SHIFTED OPTION This option evolved from the Dissolving scheme and returns the tower facade to its original expression of solidity, with a newly rationalied patterning. It’s expression was also influenced by the work of Anni Albers, a modernist textile artist and printmaker.

This option was conceived at the most rational aesthetic, with an emphasis on the vertical expression of each tier. The most optimal pattern is selected per tier and stacks all the way through.

Three optimal patterns are selected per tier and alternate through each tier for visual variation.

The reduction in vertical mullions and total construction modules led to the selection of this option based on cost savings.

METRICS

NO. VERTICAL MULLIONS: 4,518 REDUCTION FROM ORIGINAL COUNT: 13.7%

NO. VERTICAL MULLIONS: 4,315 REDUCTION FROM ORIGINAL COUNT: 17.6%

NO. SINGLE MODULES VISION GLASS: 696 NO. SINGLE MODULES SPANDREL: 478 NO. SINGLE MODULES METAL PANEL: 1,150 TOTAL NO. SINGLE MODULES: 2,324

NO. SINGLE MODULES VISION GLASS: 696 NO. SINGLE MODULES SPANDREL: 109 NO. SINGLE MODULES METAL PANEL: 1,115 TOTAL NO. SINGLE MODULES: 1,920

%VISION GLASS: 59.7% % SOLID: 40.3%

RENDERINGS BY PERKINS AND WILL

METAL STRIPES OPTION CHOSEN SCHEME

METRICS NO. VERTICAL MULLIONS: 4,281 REDUCTION FROM ORIGINAL COUNT: 18.2% NO. SINGLE MODULES VISION GLASS: 652 NO. SINGLE MODULES SPANDREL: 112 NO. SINGLE MODULES METAL PANEL: 1,086 TOTAL NO. SINGLE MODULES: 1,850 %VISION GLASS: 59.9% % SOLID: 40.1%

ACAW 2020

2019-2020 / Professional Work Perkins and Will Architectural Ceramics Assembly Workshop Host: Boston Valley Terra Cotta Architectural Design Team: Mario Romero, Digital Practice Angelica Palecny, Interior Designer III Juliette Zidek, Designer III Ted Hogan, Designer II

Perkins and Will was invited to participate in the Architectural Ceramics Assembly Workshop hosted by Boston Valley Terra Cotta in the Fall of 2019. The workshop’s objective is to have designers consider the properties of terra cotta earlier in the design process and to develop research and design models between manufacturing and architectural industries useful to the efficient production of high-performance facade solutions. Through pre-design and prototype development, teams’ explorations include the use of new digital tools in the production of terra cotta assemblies, the development of unitized façade systems, and how the variable materiality of terra cotta (throughbody color, finish and glaze) can inform and enhance a façade’s performance. Supported by the Digital Practice Group of Perkins and Will, a group of young designers at the Chicago office teamed up to participate in the 2020 workshop. What first inspired our group’s design studies was learning about the history of terra cotta and its earliest use in architectural applications. Through research we found that in addition to being used in sculptures, bricks, tiles, and ornamental objects, terra cotta has been used to transport water for thousands of years. The first terra cotta pipes came into use around 4000 BC, and because of its unique resistance to the corrosiveness of acidic waste water, some of these ancient plumbing systems still exist today. With this historical relationship between water and terra cotta in mind, our team framed our design studies around the question:

‘What are the limits to controlling the flow of water across a vertical façade system?”

Our team studied how a terra cotta façade system could be designed to control, harvest and recycle rain water. Our facade system was designed to act as an inverted system of pipes, exposing the flow of water to view and celebrating its delayed descent to the ground. The 3-pointed facade module that comprised this system was sculpted with ridges to reduce weight in key areas (determined from structurally analyzing the module) and to guide water in, out, and across the surface of the modules. After finalizing the design of the module, our team worked with Boston Valley to prepare it for slip casting and fabrication at the workshop. Typically, the workshop culminates in a week-long event, with teams constructing full scale prototypes and presenting their work to other participants and peers in the industry. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the workshop became a virtual conference with all teams preparing a digital gallery of their work and presenting their design process to all in attendance. Project Role: Our team worked collaboratively through all stages of the project. The initial design direction was decided collectively, with each team member modeling unique iterations of the module. Once a final form was selected, I used SAP2000 to analyze the stress within the module under self-weight and an applied wind load, which informed where material could be removed. Mario modeled the final module massing with Rhino SubD and organized the virtual exhibit, Ted focused on detailing the structural support system, and Angelica led the team in developing a glazing and resist strategy. We all produced drawings for the exhibition.

VIRTUAL EXHIBITION SPACE

MODULE EVOLUTION

DESIGN

WATER FLOW

GLAZE RESIST

MORPHOLOGY

FABRICATION

PALACE QUARTER BEIJING

2016 / Professional Work Thornton Tomasetti Client: Will Bruder Architects Analysis Team: Edward Peck, VP Nicole Peterson, Project Consultant Juliette Zidek, Design Intern

This work reflects my collaboration with Nicole Peterson, the sustainability consultant for the Facade Engineering group at Thornton Tomasetti. As consultants for Will Bruder Architects, the Facade Engineering team developed a collection of sustainable strategies for the design of the Beijing Yihe International Business Park (called Palace Quarter Beijing,) a prospective commercial campus to be located in the Haidian district. These strategies ranged from site design guidelines to building scale studies; specifically providing passive strategies for heating, cooling, natural ventilation and enhancing pedestrian comfort. Beijing, located at a latitude of 39°N, has a monsoon-influenced humid continental climate with hot summers and dry, windy, cold winters. The climate is somewhat extreme, and is both heating and cooling-load driven. The site strategies diagrammed to the right were included in the final sustainability narrative submitted to Will Bruder architects and were developed with the goal of achieving LEED Platinum accreditation. Our team used the Ladybug and Honeybee suite of GH plugins to generate solar altitude angles, wind roses and psychometric information throughout the year that informed the development of horizontal shading options, building orientation studies, and wind access strategies.

A method for shading the east and west faces of the non-shaded buildings with vertical fins was proposed, but the architect wanted to understand what variety of design opportunities might be available with this strategy. With advisement from the Facade Engineering team, I scripted, modeled

and ran a series of analyses to generate a variety of vertical fin configurations. These studies examine the effect of vertical fin arrangement, sizing, and angle on the levels of annual incident solar radiation, daylight autonomy, and heating and cooling loads in an office environment of selected buildings from the master plan. A 10m x 19m, one story module was used for the west and east facing vertical fin shading analyses. The analysis models extend halfway through the building to analyze the full depth of daylight penetration. The diagrams on the following page show the analysis module in context. The radiation, daylight, and energy analyses were conducted to examine 240 combinations of spacing, angle, width, and depth parameters. The geometric parameters used in this study are listed and diagrammed at the bottom right, while the metrics, targets, and assumptions used in the analysis are detailed below. Average annual solar radiation, daylight autonomy, peak heating, and peak cooling loads of each of the 240 vertical fin iterations were recorded and then analyzed with Thornton Tomasetti’s Design Explorer. This web-based tool allows the user to set boundaries for analysis results, thereby facilitating the optimization of several criteria at once. The graphs to on the following pages show the process through which vertical fin iterations were selected based on their performance. The north façade radiation values for the Beijing climate analysis were used as a target for the vertical shading systems with an allowable range of 300-550 kWh/m2.

PLACE OF DIVERSITY [PODS]

2020 / Personal Design Work Phil Freelon Design Competition Shortlisted Entry The Design Leadership Council of Perkins and Will hosts an annual design competition for all staff (except those currently holding design leadership positions) to enter. The 2020 design competition was named in honor of the late Phil Freelon, architect and owner of the Freelon Group prior to merging with Perkins and Will. Phil is remembered as a lifelong champion of beautiful, democratic design and the competition was designed with these ideologies in mind. Team: Katie Coffey Amanda Ko Juliette Zidek

The brief for the 2020 competition asked participants to design a housing solution in a co-living model that would incorporate concepts of shared economy, social networking, and collaboration, while also increasing density above current zoning requirements in one of three sites. Our team chose to locate our project on the Denver site because of its close proximity to parks and community green space; cultural and commercial amenities in the downtown area; and its scenic views to nature; all of which we considered important to the development of a healthy, dense, diverse co-living project. Fundamental to the programmatic organization of our co-living project is the idea that group living, currently referred to as co-living, is actually an ancient model of habitation. In fact, anthropologists suggest that humans have lived in communal bands ranging in size from several dozen people to several hundred, for at least tens of thousands of years. Even looking to more recent human history, precedents of group living are found in many forms, from convents and dormitories to communes and senior living communities. Group living then, can also be understood as a natural model of habitation that offers the kind of social connection essential to human health and survival, indiscriminate of age, wealth, gender or race. However, the current co-housing trend in urban areas is largely targeted toward one particular demographic—young, single millennials and gen-Z’s. This may make financial sense to developers who can sell the social benefits and affordability of coliving to debt-stricken, transient (and often lonely) young professionals, but this narrow

focus on one demographic not only excludes other equally isolated, cost-burdened groups from the financial and social benefits of co-living, but also misses an opportunity to create more inclusive, diverse, trusting and healthy communities in urban areas. With this in mind, our team’s driving thesis for our proposal became, How can the current model of co-living evolve to offer a greater diversity of inhabitants the same benefits of communal housing? Our answer to this question was to design a new inclusive model of co-living that is both multi-generational and supportive in nature so that people of all ages and living circumstances are able to live together in a mutually beneficial, symbiotic way. The design of PODS began at the scale of the living units, both programmatically and formally, as each unit was designed to accommodate diverse demographics while also providing improved views, sunlight, and social connections for all. The living Pods are both adaptable and efficient, prioritizing quality of life and affordability. Project Role: The competition effort was structured in an egalitarian manner with each team member taking on roles that were essential to the development of the design. I designed and modeled the residential tower and living pods with Grasshopper and Rhino, and rendered exterior perspectives with Lumion. Katie took on unit planning and photoshopping of the perspectives, while Amanda modeled the podium of the tower and managed the competition board layout. Each team member contributed to the design of the whole, with each piece of the project evolving in synchronicity.

BIO LUM

2020 / Personal Design Work Urban Confluence Competition Launched in 2019, this international open ideas competition invited people from around the world to imagine a new iconic landmark for the city of San Jose, CA. Team: Wyatt Beard Katie Coffey Juliette Zidek

Bioluminescence has an almost inexplicable way of capturing human attention and imagination. Countless childhood memories recall the magical dancing of fireflies during precious summer evenings. Tourists trek to the remotest areas of the earth to witness the spectacular illuminance of glow worms in the underground caves of New Zealand and the seasonal algal blooms on shorelines from China to California. Foxfire, a bioluminescent species of fungi, has fascinated forest-goers for nearly a millennium, often used in place of candles as a navigating light source in the night.

bioluminescent organisms. For research groups and academics, BIO LUM will act as a physical hub for observation, collaboration, information exchange, and experimentation. For the residents of San Jose, BIO LUM will serve as an educational, civic, and cultural center where visitors can immerse themselves in the enchantment of the natural world.

Beyond the compelling beauty of bioluminescent organisms, however, is their value as a latent resource for understanding and developing sustainable models of illuminance. There is a growing body of research dedicated to the engineering of bioluminescent flora through various means, from embedding nanoparticles in plant leaves to inserting specific fungal genes into plant DNA. This research suggests society is at the cusp of a lighting revolution - soon plants will illuminate our homes, businesses, and streets, a shift that has the potential to greatly reduce the energy demands of urban infrastructure around the world.

The BIO LUM submission proposes a continuous, vertical ramping promenade supported by a timber exoskeleton and bioluminescent scaffold. In a methodology similar to the fire rating of mass timber with sacrificial layers, the BIO LUM structure is proposed to be pressure treated in a nonuniform manner to allow for the controlled decay of the outer layers. In a process illustrated in the following pages, the outer layers of the timber structure are designed to retain moisture at a higher rate than the inner layers. Introducing a specific species of Fungi to the moist wood is proposed for the outer layers to decompose and produce ‘foxfire’, a bioluminescent glow resulting from the oxidation process. New and advanced techniques in the digital machining of wood are proposed to achieve this end, in the creation of an iconic tower that truly glows.

With these biotechnological advancements in mind, BIO LUM proposes to build upon San Jose’s identity as a hub of innovation and ingenuity, while reconnecting to the city’s agricultural roots and relationship to the surrounding natural ecosystems of Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. BIO LUM, the world’s first bioluminescent conservatory, will serve as a center for biotechnology research, development and exhibition pertaining to the engineering of

Project Role: I planned and organized the competition submission, with notable contributions from Katie Coffey and Wyatt Beard in photoshopping the renderings for the boards. I scripted the entire design of the timber structure and ramps in Grasshopper, allowing large scale changes to matriculate to detail level rapidly. I was responsible for the modeling, rendering, drawings, diagrams and writing for the final submission.