KEVIN KIM LARSON WORKS VOL. 1
“Architecture is the learned game, correct and magniicent, of forms assembled in the light� Le Corbusier
KEVIN KIM LARSON WORKS VOLUME 1 2016
ONE_ECO LEARNING TOWER TWO_FOOD+ARCHITECTURE THREE_INFILL HOUSE FOUR_SITE LANDMARK FIVE_MOBILE
515.829.9701 KEV@KEVINKIMLARSON.COM
ONE_ECO LEARNING TOWER ARCH 301 FALL 2016
OVERLAPPING SPACES
VISUAL CONNECTIONS
EXPERIENCING NATURE
The site is located along the Des Moines river near Boone, IA on a cliff that is 100 feet above the river valley loor. The entire area is heavily forested as well. To access the site students have to walk from a parking lot along the road through the forest along an elevated wooden path that cuts through the forest at an angle. This path is an afront on the natural landscape that it occupies. By slicing through nature instead of attempting to synthasize with the landscape this path makes clear to a user what is natural and what is constructed.
ONE_ECO LEARNING TOWER
ONE_ECO LEARNING TOWER
The building occupies and orients itself to the Jeffersonian grid that has been established over the midwestern United States. By inserting a rectalinear tower into a seemingly untouched site the project attempts to concretely articulate an attack on what is “natural� by the act of building. When a person visits this project and occupies the building it is impossible to not feel how a building imposes itself on the landscape. By doing this, the visitor is acutely aware of their place in nature, whether that is a good thing or bad is up to the individual.
ONE_ECO LEARNING TOWER
ENCLOSE
CIRCULATE
OCCUPY
ONE_ECO LEARNING TOWER
Experimenting with layering and extruding rectangular volumes to create openings and horizontal surfaces within a rigid geometric form. What is solid can become void by the layering of rectilinear volumes, which creates negatives within the form. By studying the inverting of soild and void geometry new forms can be created. This experimentation creates an open and intense geometric space where human occupation occurs in and throughout the shell of the building.
TWO_FOOD+ARCHITECTURE ARCH 202 SPRING 2016
The goal of this project was to ind an intersection between different and seemingly incompatible programs. The studio brief designated this project to be focused around the intersection of “food” and “architecture.” This project attempts to relate a necessary public space in downtown Minneapolis with a “food factory” located underground. The other idea is to introduce “the public” to a new way of farming called “aeroponics.”
Leafy green vegetables and other produce currently are primarily produced in California and shipped across the country to places such as Minneapolis so consumers can have access to leafy greens throughout the year. This project attemtps to challenge that unsustainable standard by introducing the process of aeroponics to downtown Minneapolis which could locally farm and market produce for downtown residents. The other goal of the project is to promote this modern way of farming to an urban population by relating this “food factory” to a large public space.
TWO_FOOD+ARCHITECTURE
FORM DEVELOPMENT
Starting with the lat concrete surface that is the urban landscape of downtown Minneapolis, the project should respond to this condition and be integrated with its context.
To respond to the movement of pedestrian trafic through the site the form of the pathways curves and expands at the corners to allow pedestrains to cross directly through the site and creates a gathering point in the center.
These curved cuts are “peeled” back to create a space underneath the ground plane. This form that is created now creates a “peek” into the underground space below.
The three curved cuts in the surface now create the overall form of the project, with a gathering space created in between with raised green spaces on the peeled back portions of the site. These green spaces have direct access to the street and sidewalk extending the sidewalk onto the site so as to not leave a void of activity along the edges of the block.
green roof public space
glass curtain walls
ground level
growing infrastructure for aeroponics
support columns
foundation walls
TWO_FOOD+ARCHITECTURE
The LED lights that are used in aeroponics farming produce a purple light. The purple light bathes the public space through the openings in the ground surface. The light helps to deine the central space and creates a vibrancy that enhances the idea of the project as a “destination.�
TWO_FOOD+ARCHITECTURE
THREE_INFILL HOUSE ARCH201 FALL 2015
The concept for the house was to put the act of living on display. The resident of the house uses the space as a canvas for displaying how simply living is an act of artistic expression. The house lends to this goal by having almost completly open spaces, the shift in elevation and placement of loors creates privacy for the upper loors so the resident can sleep and bathe with a certain amount of privacy. The site for this house was a ifteen foot gap between two buildings along the Main Street of Ames, IA. The challenge of building a residence for a single person with the constraints of an extremely narrow site lead to the development of an idea of building a house that is as open and light as possible. The concept of the plan was to create a space that feels continuous as the resident moves up through space. With a central stair for circulation and mezzanines the loor of the house continues with the feeling of visual cohesion throughout the entire house. Each space in the house is the full width of the site allowing for light to permeate the entire house. A series of shading devices cover the entire roof and facades to moderate the amount of direct light allowed into the space.
VISUAL CONNECTIONS AND BREAKS BETWEEN LEVELS
GRADUALLY MORE PRIVATE SPACE
EXTRUDING A HORIZONTAL SURFACE VERTICALLY TO CREATE A CONTINOUS SPACE.
THREE_INFILL HOUSE
ROOF PLAN
ONE - SOCIALIZING
TWO - COOKING
THREE - EATING
FOUR - SLEEPING & BATHING
THREE_INFILL HOUSE
THREE_INFILL HOUSE
KEVIN KIM LARSON ISADORA PANJAITAN CARLOS POEMAPE NICHOLAS NAGAWICKI
FOUR_SITE LANDMARK ARKXSITE INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION ENTRY AUG-SEPT 2016 HONORABLE MENTION WINNER
The site is situated on the edge of a cliff facing the Atlantic Ocean at the outskirts of SagrĂŠs, Portugal. The landscape of the cliff is a single serene experience as one treks from the road to the cliffside. As they move through the space they encounter the sound of the wind and the waves. THey will see an all-encompassing view of land, sea, and sky. Thinking about the site as an architectural landmark, any intervention becomes about managing the juxtaposition of the sensory experience of the natural site with the monumentalism of any architectural project in this austere landscape. The project in this context is meant to provide a vehicle for users to frame these experiences within an architectural landmark that leaves an impression upon the landscape. The panoramic horizontal lines that define the landscape are accentuated with major and minor breaks from
FOUR_SITE LANDMARK
this logic that reference the user’s experience as they move through the spaces created. The path which hugs the edge of the cliff works as a platform for the user to have a completely new experience of the site. Rather than standing atop the cliff and having the singular experience from that standpoint, users are presented with a contained platofrm where a tangible interaction with the cliffside is possible. With the cuts in the promontory, the user is presented with a contained way to experience the landscape as horizontal and vertical framed views which are specific and only attainable through architectural intervention. The cuts in the landscape themselves present a bold change to the landscape, but reference the monumentality of the site. The dichotomy of these experienes create intertwined ways to both observe and experience the landscape which complement each other in the sequence that is created.
FOUR_SITE LANDMARK
To create an experience that engages the cliffside and the water we chose to put our intervention at the tip of the site so as to engage each side of the peninsula.
A cut through the edge of the cliffside creates a space that frames the users’ experience of the water and gives them a focused view of the water and sky.
By connecting the new space on the cliffside with the ground above, we established two paths that would create dual experiences of the site.
Along the path there is the opportunity for the stimulation of the senses by being able to touch the cliffside and take pleasure in specific views of the surroundings.
The final ring connects the upper ground with the lower space and creates individual spatial experiences along the way.
FOUR_SITE LANDMARK
FIVE_MOBILE IOWA STATE CORE STUDIO DSN S 102 SPRING 2015
The goal of this project was to design a “space” using a hanging object. This space had to be movable, easily transportable, and only take up 10’x10’. To achieve this, a simple form of a cube was created using only PVC pipe, plastic mesh, fishing line & cotton string. The project hangs seemingly floating in space.
The nature of the cotton strings makes them cling together when disturbed. The mobile records the movement and interactions with it by the way the individual strings cling together. As people interact with the mobile, it is constantly changing form and begins to warp from the initial perfect cube.
FIVE_MOBILE
The mobile has no single entrance; it encorages people to enter from any direction and pause in the center space which is left open without strings. This center space gives a new perception of the space which the mobile occupies by shrouding the user’s vision in vertical bars.
When the mobile is moved to an outside location where it interacts with light and wind the form changes from a cube to something more visceral. The hanging strings clump and create something that is intriguing and invites people to touch the mobile.
FIVE_MOBILE
KEVIN KIM LARSON kevinkimlarson.com
3110 Oakland Street Ames, IA, 50010 United States of America 515.829.9701 kev@kevinkimlarson.com
EDUCATION BACKGROUND_ from 2014
Bachelor of Architecture (Honors) Iowa State University College of Design
WORK EXPERIENCE_ from 2015
Lifeguard Iowa State University Recreation Services
summer 2015
Organizing Fellow Hillary for Iowa Campaign
from 2014 to 2015
Staff Photographer Iowa State Daily Newspaper
LEADERSHIP_ spring 2016
Design Studies 102 Peer Mentor Iowa State University College of Design
HONORS AND AWARDS_ AIA Iowa/National Scholarship ArkXSite Honorable Mention Project - “Site Landmark” George Washington Carver Full Tuition Merit Scholarship Iowa State Honors National Merit Commended Scholar
KEVIN KIM LARSON WORKS VOLUME ONE 515.829.9701 KEV@kevinkimlarson.com