KEVIN THOMPSON Undergraduate Works Auburn University 2010 - 2014
KEVIN THOMPSON
Undergraduate Portfolio Auburn University 2010-2015 Bachelor of Architecture
To GOD be the glory, for in such good graces I’ll discover the HOPES to my FEARS.
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B.E.S.T.
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LADY BIRD JOHNSON MUSEUM
RURAL STUDIO GREENHOUSE
33 43 53 BIRMINGHAM SUPERCLINIC
AVONDALE COMMUNITY CENTER
OTHER WORKS
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
PROJECT TEAM: Bruce Buescher, Seth Belter, CP Glover, Charlie Abram, Sara Blood, Annie Johnstone, Kevin Thompson, Kirby Tucker, Emily Johnson, Michelle Lolley, Luke Gehron, Sydney Huibregste, Callie Eitzen, Adam Grigsby, Mary Elsa Tomlin, Jason Groomes, Jordan Jimmerson, TC Christianson, Megan Wood, Alan Darpini, Ceci Plansencia, Nico Forlenza, Matthew Mason, Alex Buehning, Alex Therrien, & Andrea Manjarrez
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Project: B.E.S.T (Bettering Engineering Science and Technology) The B.E.S.T. Project, a First Year Studio annual tradition, seeks to create a backdrop for a high school robotics tournament hosted in the University’s Coliseum. The First Year Program is given the opportunity to deal with a client, balance a real budget, present to the client, and generate designs based on the client’s wishes. Using recycled materials, this backdrop was
split into two main parts: A geodesic sphere, and a series of six “bottle walls”. Designed and built to reflect the theme of the robotics tournament, these design elements were constructed on site in the seven days leading up to the actual event. From a personal standpoint, my duties involved the collection of some 36,000 plastic bottles and cans, designing the wall panel system, and
B.E.S.T. erecting those walls on site. For the sake of the project’s clarity, both elements of the project, including process and final product images, will be shown on the following spread.
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PROCESS: BOTTLE WALLS
Much of our budget was spent not on materials for the project, but materials to help us gather what we needed to do the project. Shown above is one of several wooden receptacles designed and constructed to fit in the back of a pickup truck, so that bottles and cans could be collected quickly and efficiently
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Constructing the final wall frames. They would later be painted black so that they would “disappear� in the dim light of the competition.
Once painted, the panels would have chicken wire screens fastened to the edges to keep the cans and bottles within the confines of the frame.
The panels were loaded from the back end, and loaded two layers thick. Scaffolding, ladders and forklifts were needed in order to fill the 15’ high panels to the very top. Some 6,000 bottles would go into each panel.
Working in teams of three or four, the loading process was perfected so that panels could be fill in less than 8 hours once erected.
The panels were rather opaque in nature when viewed from a distance. Once closer, transparencies become more and more clear.
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PROCESS: GEODESIC SPHERE
A small quarter scale mock-up was assembled using augmented conduit piping. It became clear once completed that details would need to be developed to secure the pieces together.
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The full scale conduit structure would need to be secured laterally with a series of tension cables. This photo was taken before the structure began to sag (before panic ensued.)
The connection detail kept the conduit pieces secured to one another. The plywood circle pieces shown beneath the bolt and washer was painted black to mirror the panels.
Prefabricated muslin triangles would fill specific gaps in the dodecahedron sphere. This was done to mirror the ideas of revealing by concealing, etc.
Here shown are the spring supported muslin panels.
A closer zoom of the spring detail integrated with the washer connection.
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FINAL OUTCOME
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“Never confuse movement with action” - Ernest Hemingway
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Project: SLOW FOOD COMPLEX Chattanooga’s downtown is actually quite architecturally fluent. Buildings and urban spaces like the Tennessee Aquarium, Hunt Art Museum, High Point Climbing Gym, Miller Plaza, and the Chattanooga River Walk all create a wholly unique context to work with. Our site, which conveniently accesses Market Street, Broad Street, and Aquarium Way, gives us the opportunity to really delve into a mixed use development.
SLOW FOOD All three of these street edges operate differently. Broad Street is pedestrian friendly. Market Street is fast paced with adjacent bridges. Aquarium way is still an automotive driven street, but at a much slower pace. That said, the goal is the development of a series of performative aggregations based on the circulatory relationships between the present urban objects and the street characteristics as means of
of better understanding the idea of how the “Slow Food Movement” can work and affect a cityscape. These relationships need to be manifested through decisions made in regards to how one moves across the entire site, between buildings, roof gardens, and outdoor spaces.
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SITE LOCATION: 1”=100’
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MASSING DIAGRAM
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1. Identify Site: 200’ x 200’ 2. Identify Crucial Edges to Occupy 3. Divide Site into 10’ Strips 4. Occupy Edges & Strips with a Unified Language 5. Articulate Language and Perfomatively Program 12
GROUND FLOOR PLAN
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SECTIONS THRU SLOW FOOD HQ
VEGETATION
SOIL LAYER
GRAVEL LAYER FILTER FABRIC
DRAINAGE PANEL INSULATION ROOT BARRIER ASPHALT BARRIER GYP BOARD DECKING
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DIGITAL AXON: BROAD STREET
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MATERIAL CHOICES
To stick with the inherent similarities between sustainability and the Slow Food Movment, the material choices made for this project were made with utility and simplicity in mind. These materials chosen will not only age well, but can can be manufactured locally.
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EAST/WEST CIRCULATION:
From either Market or Broad Street, occupants and pedestrians can make their way across the 200’ block. Throughout the pathway through, occupants go through the restaurant with views into the kitchen, through the botanical garden, passed a cafe, through the Slow Food HQ, and finally through the Farmers Outpost and Food Store.
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STREET ELEVATIONS: BROAD STREET
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EXTERIOR SEQUENCES:
VIEW 1_Exterior: BROAD STREET An angular monolithic facade creates a rigid corner as Broad Street comes to an end. Programmatically speaking, the Broad Street Restaurant and Slow Food Bookstore face this side of the street. A gap between the two buildings allows the pedestrian to cut across the block if they so desire.
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VIEW 2_Exterior: FRONT COURTYARD SPACE If the pedestrian should choose to cut through the block, they’ll find themselves in the front court yard space. From here, one has views to the Broad Street Restaurant, it’s respective kitchen, the Slow Food Greenhouse, and Seed Repository.
VIEW 3_Exterior: BACK COURTYARD SPACE This carved-out exterior space that belongs to the Broad Street Restaurant shares a wall with the Big River Grille. Because the back courtyard isn’t accessible via Market or Broad Street, it becomes a very private setting where restaurant patrons can enjoy views into the adjacent botanical garden.
VIEW 4_Exterior: FARMER’S PAVILION The large pavilion on the East end of the site creates an outdoor space for the neighboring farmers market. This space can be cleared, and used as an outdoor event space. The pavilion actually operates on two different levels, as it creates a small 20’x 20’ space on the back roof space.
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INTERIOR SEQUENCES:
VIEW 1_Interior: BROAD STREET RESTAURANT The Broad Street Restaurant serves not only as the street edge, but also as the beginning to the interior East-West circulation bar. The interior finishes of the restaurant, as well as other spaces throughout, are modeled to reflect that of the exterior. The Slow Food Movement is often about bringing “the outside in�.
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VIEW 2_Interior: GLAZED WALKWAY This walkway between the restaurant and the greenhouse/ botanical garden provides views to the kitchen (left) and the back courtyard space (right). Ideally, this spaces operates as circulation for people coming, going, and just passing through the restaurant.
VIEW 3_Interior: SLOW FOOD HQ Further along the circulation bar, the inhabitant runs across the Slow Food Headquarters. This space, open to the public, serves as the “core” of the project. It can be used as an indoor event space if necessary.
VIEW 4_Interior: FARMER’S MARKET This long Farmer’s Market bar on the Market Street side of the site is open to the environment on both sides, and shares exterior space with the outdoor farmers pavilion. This space is unconditioned for the sake of easy maintenance.
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“If you’re going to do this, pack your bags, kiss your wife goodbye, and go to war” - Sambo Mockbee
PROJECT TEAM: Adam Levet, Cindy Baker, Kevin Thompson, & Kristen Gruhn
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Project: RURAL STUDIO FARM INITIATIVE The spring of 2013 found the third year class continuing the five year effort to forward the Rural Studio Farm Initiative, which has manifested itself in a Solar Greenhouse. The Greenhouse, constructed of donated 50 gallon barrels, will eventually incorporate such innovative systems as a thermal mass wall, a movable roof canopy that will both collect heat and shade from the sun, and a pluming system that will collect rainwater from the roof and in turn serve as an irrigation system for the greenhouse.
RURAL STUDIO Seperated into groups, the third year students could work together to research and tackle multiple tasks at once. Specifically, our group focused on the aforementioned irrigation system. This system collects water falling the roof, into a series of collection and filtration devices, where it is then used as a way to irrigate a series of raised planting beds on the interior of the greenhouse. This system was designed and partially implemented as a means of helping the studio to become
efficient in its future endeavors. Further development will continue in terms of construction, however our group was able to take an idea, push through the schematics, finalize a design with a particular function and aesthetic, and establish the first steps in the construction process. This team exercise in design build strategy was the first experience our class would have in the understanding a complex system of parts, and how those parts would work together as a realistic whole.
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SYSTEM COMPONENTS
GUTTER
TANK
SOLAR PUMP
The gutter, set down in the ground, catches the water that falls from the canopy glass. Constructed of welded steel. The cutter is allowed to rust.
From the gutter, the water is filtered down into a series of septic tanks that have been buried below ground. The final installation will call for six of these tanks.
The water is then pumped from the tank using a Dankoff Solar pump. The pump is DC operated, meaning it will shut itself off when its services are no longer needed.
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SOLAR ARRAY Our research led to the discovery of a solar panel consultant, who spec’d that we would need up to three panels to operate the system. Further developments regarding the mounting of the panel will be determined by a future group.
COLUMN OF WATER The pump will eventually fill this tower. The Column of Water works as a conceptual battery. The 36 foot high tower fills to the top and gravity feeds water down at approximately 10 psi to the drip irrigation system. The Column of Water was designed, constructed, and erected during our time in Newbern.
DRIP IRRIGATION The drip irrigation will run to a series of raised beds inside of the greenhouse. It will be the responsibility of future groups to make the connection between the plumbing systems and the raised beds systems.
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GUTTER VARIATIONS
When the decision was made to put the gutter at ground level, it became important that the gutter be designed optimally in section. Over 50 variations were developed in order to both allow the water to drain most optimally, but also keep debris and rubbish out of the gutter.
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Opposite Page Next Spread: A key roll I played in this project was the development of the final presentation. A set of 14 callout boards, such as these at left, were done as means of clariying this multifaceted process.
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COLUMN OF WATER PLANS
These hand rendered CAD plans begin to clarify the top feed pipe condition, as well as how the tieback connection for the feed pipe attached further down the column. Everything from the type of welding rods needed to attach the tiebacks down to the type of bolts used to secure the ring around the corten column would be considered.
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“Health is state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being; not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.� - World Health Organization
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Project: Birmingham Healthcare Facility Situated between Railroad Park and Children’s Hospital, this proposal for a Birmingham Superclinic and Skilled Nursing Facility creates an iconic building that separates itself from the typical institutional aesthetic to stand out as a unique addition to Birmingham’s Medical District. The graphic face is symbolically undemanding but physically deep, avoiding the typical repetitiveness of institutional architecture. The depth in facade, combined with idea of simple bar scheme, allows for a spatial development that is not only thought-
HEALTHCARE
Awards: 4th Year Finalist
ful for those living inside, but also for those passing by on the outside. The depth creates an inverted bay window concept that gives occupants views up and down the street, but still create a condition of privacy. The use of a bar scheme creates an opportunity for programmatic subtraction, and the resulting public spaces and patient green spaces access the street on the two main sides of the building. The combined use of a graphic facade, public greenspaces, and programmatic placement of public amenities help
this building to remain a staple for new ideas of health and wellness. Taking use of a concrete panel system to clad the facade, the graphic nature of the building becomes an iconic urban piece that both reflects the existing context, while still looking to reinvent and reimage its urban setting.
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1. CAFETERIA 2. PUBLIC WAITING/ONCOLOGY 3. MENTAL HEALTH/ADMIN 4. EDUCATION/OUTPATIENT REHAB/BACK OF HOUSE 5. CLINIC MODULE 1 6. IMAGING 7. ADMIN/CLINIC MODULE 2 8. SKILLED NURSING UNIT 1 9. NURSING STATIONS/ADMIN 10. SKILLED NURSING UNIT 2 11. SKILLED NURSING UNIT 3 12. NURSING STATIONS/ ADMIN 13. SKILLED NURSING UNIT 4 14. ROOFTOP CONFERENCE/ MECHANICAL
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FACADE STRATEGIES
The medical district of Birmingham has taken an institutional approach in the development of their overall aesthetic. Punched windows openings, uniform in size and singular in use, can be found on nearly every building in the UAB Medical District.
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In the development of a new urban object for the Medical District, an approach was taken to develop a graphic facade. Buy staggering each patient room in plan, an inverted bay window condition is created. This condition creates views up and down the street, yet still creates a sense of privacy for those living inside. This concept drives away from the typical institutional aesthetic, creating an iconic and pragmatic solution to skilled nursed living.
CREATION OF PUBLIC VOID
In addition to the development of an ‘urban object’, the use of a simple bar scheme that could be subtracted from was taken advantage of to create a series of public spaces that face the street. These spaces work both publicly and privately, and are situated on multiple levels at the front and back of the building.
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0’
18’
36’
54’
72’
GROUND FLOOR (ABOVE): As means of activating the public node on the East end of the site, the placement of public amenities was a key decision. A cafeteria, public waiting space, research libraries, an auditorium all for a perimeter around the courtyard, giving it the most opportunity to act as a useful space.
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4th FLOOR (RIGHT, OPPOSITE PAGE): Skilled Nursing patient rooms occupy both a single and double loaded bar that spans the length of the site. Between the two bars, rooftop greenspaces and an administrative/nursing station core unify the two nursing blocks in the middle.
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“Too often we enjoy the comforts of opinion without the discomfort of thought” - John Fitzgerald Kennedy
PROJECT DESIGN TEAM: Alex Buehning, Matthew Mason, Alan Darpini, Kevin Thompson AVONDALE ANALYSIS TEAM: Alex Buehning, Matthew Mason, Alan Darpini, Kevin Thompson,
Annie Johnstone, TC Christianson, Aleksander Hayes, Michael Lewandowski, Carlos Hernandez, Torrance Wong, Quinn MacKenzie, Don’nesha Clark, Charlie Abram, Vincet Lombardo, & Jaslin Whaley.
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Project: AVONDALE COMMUNITY CENTER Situated at the far East corner of Birmingham’s Avondale neighborhood, this multithousand square-foot community center aims at using architectures most basic concepts to speak to larger ideas about how buildings can embody “community”. In order to accomodate an incredibly diverse program, the two buildings needed to have extreme flexibility in terms of their operation. To do this, our design team essentially created small boxes of program that would sit underneath a large folding and wrapping roof. Supporting the roof are trusses that not only mirror ideas about folding
and wrapping, but were also absolutely necessary in order to emcumber some of the large open spaces that were called for, such as a basketball court and fitness room. From a placement standpoint, this project was designed to serve as a gateway to introduce both drivers and pedestrians travelling into the city from the Crestwood neighborhood to what our group would eventually dub “The Avondale Condition”. This designs makes attempts at dealing with social community themes that could be manifested architecturally, such
as transparency. We were challeneged with filling a massive programmatic void within the neighborhood’s social structure, while also dealing with an oddly shaped triangula rsite that dropped some 30 feet from one side to the other. We would use those topographical changes to our advantage with various aspects of the program. In total, this project would take place over the cours of six weeks with a two week period for analysis prior the project’s beginning.
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ANALYSIS PART 1
AVONDALE’S ASSETS: Above shows one of some 36 seperate analysis boards created in the two weeks prior to the start of the project. This board begins to talk about what lay out what our group believed to be the positive aspects of this somewhat impoverished neighborhood. Some of those features include a massive multi-acre park, and a reborn main street that runs through the town (41st Street).
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AVONDALE’S LIABILITIES: In contrast to the previous board, this one begins the more grim end of the conversation. Marked in red, this board begins to layout areas where the neighborhood gets disonnected, such as with overly busy rail ways. It also begins to highlight areas of disinterest where pedestrians are in danger of high speeds of traffic.
ANALYSIS PART 2
POINTS OF ENTRY: The whole point of the neighborhood analysis was to aid in the picking of a site on which we could intervene. The assets and liability maps, along with several of the 36 total boards, caused us to realize that there were four points of entry into the Avondale area, none of which were being utilized to any sort of potential at all.
EAST GATEWAY ZONE: At this point it was a simple as picking where we wanted to build. Our group settled on the east gatway zone, shown above. In that zone, we realized that there we many vacancies or blighted areas on which we could build. The board above begins to show how we documented those various sites. The documentation process would reveal to us that we had likely ended up with far more need for design than we had previously thought.
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MASTERPLAN ITERATIONS:
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FINAL MASTERPLAN:
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PLAN RENDER:
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ELEVATIONS:
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SECTION PERSPECTIVE:
EXTREME GRADE CHANGE: This section perspective shows how we could address as massive grade change on the north end of the site. We would actually use this hill to our advantage to create stadium seating for a covered outdoor basketball court.
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INTERIOR & EXTERIOR RENDERS
5TH AVE ENTRANCE: This rendering beings to show how the two buildings sit juxtapose to one another, creating a corridor that actually works its way down the entire masterplan.
OPEN CAMPUS: The concept of the open campus worked for us in the devlopment of the space between the two buildings. To leave it open creates a flexible opportunity for gatherings to take place, etc.
LONG OPEN SPANS: This perspective of the interior of the fitness area harkens back to community concepts like transparency, where people driving by and entering Avondale can see into the space from the outside
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“Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se.” - Charles Eames
PROJECT TEAM: Alex Buehning and Kevin Thompson
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MISCELLANEOUS Project: Excerpts of Various Works
The first three chapters of this portfolio are geared towards the presentation of three specific projects. However, time and effort has gone into far more than three projects over the course of my time here at Auburn University. The following spreads feature focal points from different projects done throughout the last four years that demonstrate different skill sets, presentation methods, design decisions, and
craft-work. Some of the following works are physical manifestations, whiles others are experiments with different types of graphic software or with different materials.
Additional Project Credits: Zig Zag Chair by Reitveld - Alex Buehning Rural Studio Team - Adam Levet, Cindy Baker, & Kristen Gruhn
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SECTION PERSPECTIVE
The above are digitally layered graphics that look to explore different ways of investigating a building through section. Using various imaging layers from Rhinoceros, Google Layout, Google Sketch up, and Adobe Photoshop. These graphically stacked section perspectives lend some clarity in regards to the design of a River House for a screen printer and concert promoter.
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ZIG ZAG CHAIR
Architecture isn’t limited to any particular scale. During a semester at the rural studio, students are asked to replicate a famous furniture design. This Zag-Zag Chair (Reitveld) is constructed of laminated Cherry held together with brass bolts and dove tail joints. Once assembled, some ten coats of tung oil were applied to bring out the wood’s character.
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INTERIOR LOBBY
This interior lobby space for an academic building on the Auburn University campus using an “overdrawing method�, which allows for a blend of digital and hand drawn technique. This render was also submitted for a competition that required use of concrete masonry units. For this space, a screen made of two basic types of CMU and a thin brick-faced grand stair were designed and implemented.
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MODELING/PAVILLION
This model depicts a design for an educational pavilion on Auburn University’s campus. Located in Auburn’s Arboretum, this design was meant to take advantage of the sunlight to create unique and repetitious shadows. To best show that, the model needed to be constructed and documented in a performative manner.
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The rendering was completed for a second year design competition, wherein each student was tasked with the design and development of an “interpretive� center. This project needed to combine wildflower gardens, gallery spaces, educational spaces, a greenhouse, and food facilities all under one project umbrella.
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SPECIFIC VIEWS
The above are set of acquired views as one would move through the linear building on the previous page. The goal here is to allow a single space to take on multiple identies as an inhabitant makes his or her way across the site.
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Kevin Thompson 256.997.6763
3460 Manor Lane Apt 316 Homewood AL,35209
Education
kpt0003@auburn.edu
Auburn University School of Architecture, Design, and Construction Bachelor of Architecture, pending 2015 Auburn University Honors College GPA: 3.42 Fort Payne High School Advanced Diploma, Graduate. Class of 2015 GPA: 4.0
Achievement Activities
Spirit of Auburn Scholarship (2010-2015) Ben and Slyvia Richardson Endowed Scholarship (2010-2014) Alagasco Hospital Design Competition: Finalist (Fall 2013) Auburn University Dean’s List: Fall 2012 American Institute of Architecture Students Dog Days Officer: 2011, 2012 Dog Day Chair: 2013, 2014 Pumpkin Carve Committee: 2010 - 2013 United States Powerlifting Program (Awards Under Dog Pound Gym, Fort Payne, AL) State Champion, 242 lb. Class (2009 - 2010) High School Nationals, Wisconsin Dells: 3rd Place 242 lb. Class
Prior Experience
Hefferlin + Kronenburg Architects: Chattanooga, TN: Intern (May-August 2014) Employer: Clif McCormick_ 423.266.3656 Davis Architects: Birmingham, AL: Intern (October 2014 - Feb 2015) Employer: Neil Davis_ 205.322.7482 CADC, Auburn University: Laser Cutter After Hours Aide (Aug 2012 - March 2014) Employer: Joel Beckhum_334.844.8808
Skill Set References
Drafting, Modelling, Google SketchUp, Laser Cutting, Adobe Creative Suite, Rhinoceros, AutoCAD, working experience w/ REVIT, Ecotect, Climate Consultant, and 3DS Max. Justin Miller 2nd Year Professor jkm0001@auburn.edu 334.844.5171
Julee Potter VP Davis Architects jpotter@dadot.com 205.322.7482
Kevin Moore 4th Year Professor khm0002@auburn.edu 334.844.5545
Clif McCormick Principal HK Architects clif@hkarchitects.net 315.559.3770