Architecture Portfolio Keith Appleby
ARCHITECTURE DESIGN ART
DIGNIFY THE HUMAN SPIRIT // I achieve this goal with skill and intuition fueled by inspiration and creative energy. I design emotionally enriched spaces for people of all cultural and economic backgrounds, bettering the human condition in frontiers known and unknown.
TRAVERSE DISCIPLINARY BOUNDARIES // Trans-disciplinary relationships are essential to the realization of these goals. I collaborate, integrate, serve, and lead with professionals and non-professionals alike to design sensitive architecture for a rapidly globalizing world.
INNOVATE, INNOVATE, INNOVATE // Growing numbers of unprecedented urban challenges define the present and future forms of architecture. My workflow maneuvers through conventional methods and beyond to best adapt solutions to a changing future.
OPERATE SCIENTIFICALLY AND SUSTAINABLY // Responsible design must champion and be rooted in scientific fact - it is imperative that I design to reduce carbon emissions and the need for climate engineering and simultaneously engender greater stewardship of built and natural environments.
WHAT DRIVES MY ARCHITECTURE DESIGN ART
ARCHITECTURE
01 UNDERGRADUATE THESIS (Rankin, Pittsburgh Area, PA)
· Proposal for planned redevelopment of the Carrie Furnace, a degrading National Historic Landmark · Design incorporates preservation on a material scale through use of waste iron slag and moss growth · Research included topics of globalization, individual and collective memory, and intelligent material design
02 MANCHESTER CRAFTMEN’S GUILD (1800 Preble Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA)
Fall 2011
03 SIGNATURE THEATER CO. (42nd Street 10th Avenue, New York, NY)
Fall 2010
04 MATTRESS FACTORY ADD. (500 Sampsonia Way, Pittsburgh, PA)
Fall 2008
05 LACHAT LOGO DESIGN (Godfrey Road West, Weston, CT)
Fall 2011
06 GARFIELD STRONG (Garfield Neighborhood, Pittsburgh, PA)
Fall 2011
07 HEADS UP! GALLERY INSTALLATION (5200 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA)
Fall 2010
· Collaboration with peer for mixed-use masterplan development to catalyze campus life and introduce riverfront accessibility · Proposes the adaptive reuse of existing industrial facility to accommodate trans-disciplinary education · Planning for audience member, performer, and administrator occupancy · 70,000sf program amidst columns and core from existing tower · 3 theater types, 700+ total seats · Museum addition to incorporate gallery and administrative functions · Facade detail material sourced from surrounding neighborhood · “Best in Year” selected from among 60+ student works
DESIGN
· Logo // brand design for community-led organization, towards the preservation of historic farm house · Tight schedule necessitated an efficient design process that incorporated opinions of several different stakeholders · www.friendsoflachat.org · One of 13 incentive proposals for community development via cityLAB, a Pittsburgh-based think-tank · Group of five students charged with creating an attractive, accessible, and transparent document · http://issuu.com/ksappleby/docs/garfield_strong
ART
Spring 2012
· Collaboration with two student peers · One week // $300 // 2,350lbs of material · CNC milling and woodshop machining
08 MT THEATER (6019 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA)
· Collaboration with five students to design and construct a temporary mechanism for community development · Ornamented CNC milled movie poster frames // wood frame marquee construction
09 SKETCHING PROFICIENCY (Summer travels in Scandinavia) · Freehand analyses of Scandinavian architectures, urban landscapes, and historic ornamentation · Additional sketchbooks available upon request
10 MODELING PROFICIENCY (Pittsburgh, PA) · Utilizing 3D plaster printing, ZCorp 3D plastic printing, and 2.5 axis CNC router · Plaster and cement casting performed within CNC milled insulation molds
Spring 2010 Summer 2010 Spring 2009
UNDERGRADUATE THESIS A SHIFT FROM AUTHENTICITY TO IMMEDIACY: ARCHITECTURE, MEMORY, AND THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL* TREND
*For this purpose, phenomenology describes a design practice that uses the sensory qualities of materials to exhibit the temporal qualities of places.
// Cultural relationships to historicism are changing. The values that motivate collective memories to conserve the physical environment are less concerned with original intent. Powerful, sacred, emotional, and sensual environments are filling this void. These phenomenologically saturated places are valued for their immediacy and for the intuitive nature of the reactions they inspire. This experiment creates a perceived mass that exhibits sensual qualities through a composition of particularly phenomenological materials. Such descriptive materials are the future physical medium for memory in architecture. Due to an increasingly globalized culture, our valuing of the historical past is shifting focus from authenticity of intent to immediacy of sensation - therefore future conservation efforts of the physical environment will explore phenomenologically saturated architecture.
// The chosen environment is a degrading warehouse structure in Rankin, Pennsylvania. The structure once housed the A/C power supply for the Carrie Steel furnaces of the Carnegie Homestead Steel Works. Now empty and in ruin, the space has become soulful and emotional. Planned development of the site calls for the rehabilitation of the building - this vision does not acknowledge the future course of preserved memory in architecture. // Reclaimed slag [waste product of the iron- and steel-making processes] exhibits a surface material capable of harboring moss growth. This product is collected in nets of corten steel and hung from an existing warehouse crane within the structure. The crane is operable and will be affected by occupants applying force to the object. The space will effectively change, and so too will the memories - spatial and other - that occupants have of the degrading building. // Major degradation has occurred in the existing steel-sheet and wood-plank roof. The roof has since been replaced with corrugated metal sheeting. The proposed plan of this thesis is to instead install perforated corten panels and once again expose the interior to the elements. Due to such exposure, slagmoss growth will change per seasonal weather patterns and lighting conditions. // Complete exploration available upon request.
Existing conditions before roof replacement, Photograph Photographed by Daniel Snider
Slag exhibits extraordinary surface quality capable of harboring growth, Photograph
Photographed by Daniel Snider
Installation in place, debris-free // Roof undergoing replacement, Rendering + photograph
Installation in place // Fog, Rendering + photograph
Installation in place // Light contrast, Rendering + photograph
Installation in place // Snow, Rendering + photograph
Exploded Axonometric Diagram Corten crane, slag, and gabion
Riverfront Access Plazas, paths, and docks Campus Anchor Mixed-use amenities
Greenhouse MCG enterpise
Office space MCG-owned, for profit MCG Headquarters Studios and jazz hall
THE URBAN LABORATORY MCG MASTER PLAN: ANCHOR FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
// Manchester Bidwell Corporation is a multi-faceted institution comprised of several non-profit and for-profit organizations, including the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild. The success of MBC is derived from the creative energy that inspires a dynamic curriculum. The master plan seeks to expand the capable boundaries of this curriculum to incorporate new artistic and scientific disciplines and benefit the Manchester and Chateau communities in the process. // The plan proposes the adaptive reuse of an existing industrial storage facility and its adjacent parking lot. The renovation includes a library facility, flexible studio laboratories, apartments for rent, and studio apartments for visiting artists and faculty, a restaurant to accommodate the existing culinary education program, an outdoor open space with dense vegetation and a water feature, and a state-of the-art theater.
Chateau industrial district // Morning, Photograph
// This new urban influence will provide direct pedestrian and vehicular access from Manchester to the riverfront. The proposed development will enable MBC to provide a wide variety of amenities, thus catering to multiple disciplines, markets, and regions.
Chateau industrial district // Evening, Photograph Photographed by Daniel Snider
View North with water feature and open space, Rendering
Detail of the library and apartment facades, Rendering
Central plaza and theater facade, Rendering
View of theater from western plaza
View west within theater lobby, Rendering
Floor plans with interior programming and open space
Aerial view of modelled MCG masterplan Photographed by Daniel Snider
Above: East elevation with library and open space in foreground Right: North elevation approaching the theater
View of modelled theater from western plaza Photographed by Daniel Snider
OCCUPANCY STUDIO SIGNATURE CENTER: ICON ON 42ND ST Peter Norton space/end stage theater, patrons’ lounge, and bar, Rendering
// The mission of the Signature Center is rooted in dedication to performance art - it survives on the commitment of its subscribing public, its administrative/support team, and its performers. This mutual dynamic demands a space that respects the human scale and a commitment to theater. // The Center features a playwright-residency format which has throughout its history formed strong long-lasting relationships with many talented playwrights. This unique characteristic must be powerfully conveyed in its new home as part of the Signature brand, paying homage to such talents as Edward Albee and Horton Foote in the Signature Center’s traditional blue and yellow. // A world-class, off-Broadway theater complex to house the Signature Theater Company and its expanding programs, featuring a 300 seat end stage theater, a 200 jewel box theater, and a 200 seat black box/modular theater. An integrated office and backstage complex will provide two rehearsal halls, ample storage, and naturally illuminated administrative work space. // The building is designed as a diagram for occupancy “boundary and overlap.” Occupant flow wraps the inner volume, ensuring that the theaters within remain independent of the open lobby. All backstage and administrative programs are contained within the glowing blue enclosure, providing a clear, stylized understanding of boundary for the public approaching and circulating within the complex.
42nd Street second floor lobby // Afternoon, Rendering
42nd Street main entrance and subway access, accomodating potential subway extension
Edward Albee jewel box theater and main lobby, Rendering
Horton Foote black box/moduclar theater and basement lobby, Rendering
Sectional axonometric drawing showing the efficiently stacked theaters and rehearsal hall, as well as the dual enclosure of the lobby and theater programs
Existing Structure Above: Plan of second floor lobby, jewel box and end stage theaters Below: Diagram describing street presence and increasing levels of private enclosure
COMPOSITION STUDIO MATTRESS FACTORY: MIXED-USE ADDITION
// The Mattress Factory maintains its core philosophy of providing raw spaces for their artists. The annex creates a diverse architectural language around this pure, untouched philosophy. Screens that shelter the northern and southern faces of the annex galleries allow the raw and untouched spaces behind to appear touched and eloquent despite their simplicity. // A raw, programmatic box was translated from the from the original MF philosophy. This box became a tube, introducing natural light and visual connections to site and neighborhood while still maintaining the strong untouched nature of a MF gallery space. Tubes were stacked and extruded to accommodate program, an entrance lobby (ground floor), a double-story atrium (3rd floor), and a circulatory connection to the existing museum (4th floor). // The annex galleries’ northern faces are screened by channel glass, filtering a cool glow several feet from the galleries’ wall surfaces. Vertical circulation slips into the space between. The southern face supports a system of horizontal wooden slats that extrude to describe the depth of space behind. Windows interrupt the purity of both screen and tube in a vertical channel through the southern face. While certain sections of the screen do shelter solid, impermeable gallery faces, they do so to provide the overall system with rich visual description.
Aerial perspective of addition’s South facade, Rendering
Morning and evening renderings of Northern elevation
Two-story exterior atrium, Rendering
Enclosed gallery window, overlooking atrium, Rendering
Circulation against Northern facade, Rendering
Clockwise from above left: In context, Southern facade, and detail
Conceptual development, E/W section through addition and existing structure, floor plans, and organizational diagram
LOGO DESIGN FRIENDS OF LACHAT: BRANDING PRESERVATION http://www.friendsoflachat.org/
ISSUES OF PRACTICE GARFIELD STRONG: INSPIRING HEALTH, SAFETY, & SUSTAINABILITY http://www.citylabpgh.org/experiments/garfield-strong/ http://issuu.com/ksappleby/docs/garfield_strong
GALLERY INSTALLATION HEADS UP! EXPLORING EMBODIED MINDS & MINDLESS BODIES
OSB materials en masse // CNC preparation // Assemblage of volumes
STOREFRONT COLLABORATION MT THEATER: CONVERSATION FOR EAST LIBERTY RENEWAL
CNC milled lettering // Exterior facade supports // Group members affixing marquee panels
Detailing of Stave church structure and ornament // Norway
SKETCHING SCANDINAVIA EN ROUTE // Regular sketching has engendered a constant desire to analyze through observation and analog recording. This process connects my hand, eye, and mind, as I procedurally understand the physical environment. The practice of pulling systems apart in my mind and translating such understandings into clear, communicable drawings has developed a dependable method by which I can design.
Transparency of Stave church systems // Norway
Frue Plads urban structure // Copenhagen, Denmark
Kungliga biblioteket main hall, addition, and detail // Stockholm, Sweden
MODELING 3D PRINTING, DETAIL LANDSCAPE CNC, FULL UNIT CASTING
Printing of structure and form // Modified unit casting
Keith Appleby
ARCHITECTURE DESIGN ART
ksappleby@gmail.com // 203.984.4741 // 51 Hunt Street // Rowayton, CT 06853
EDUCATION CLASS OF 2012 BArch Carnegie Mellon University SUMMER 2010 STUDY ABROAD Scandinavia · Visited, sketched, and analyzed seminal architectural works and landscapes · Traveled with 18 students, first climbing Icelandic glaciers and finally studying Nordic stave construction · 8-week tour spanned Iceland, Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Denmark, & Norway 2006-12 COMPUTER PROFICIENCY · Rhinoceros 4.0 (PC); V-ray Rendering Engine, familiar with Grasshopper · Adobe CS5.5; Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, familiar with Dreamweaver and AfterEffects · AutoCad Architecture 2011, Sketch-Up 8, Rhinoceros Wentachee (Mac), familiar with Autodesk Revit, 3DS Max, and Ecotect 2006-12 MACHINING PROFICIENCY · CNC mill; 4ft x 8ft bed 2.5 axis (VisualCam) · Laser cutter; Flatbed 24 x 36 · Plaster printer; Z-Corp 3D (color)
EXPERIENCE SUMMER 2011 INTERN Max Parangi Architects (full-time, paid) · Detailed conceptual makeup of rain screen by integrating LED lighting into stucco-coated, carved styrofoam panels White Plains, NY · Completed construction documents for several single-family, detached homes · Surveyed building elevations and roof structures, and compiled notes and sketches into digital drawings · Developed interior renovations from early communication with clients to complete resolution of construction documents · Designed framework for proposed company website and facilitated communication between employees and programmer SUMMER 2009 INTERN Becker + Becker (full-time, paid) · Served as assistant to employees during the construction of 360 State tower (LEED Platinum mixed-use development, tallest Fairfield, CT in New Haven, CT) by completing computer tasks, preparing presentations, and selecting sustainable products on a budget · Recorded daily meetings between Bruce Becker (architect & developer) and construction professionals · Visited and documented the construction site SUMMER 2009 DRAFTSMAN Theater District Realty Corp. (part-time, stipend) · Drew schematic plans for the future development of several New York apartments New York, NY · Experienced how a budget and the status quo for design aesthetics can influence development SUMMER 2005 INTERN JWC Architect, PLLC (part-time, stipend) · Built models, performed drawing tasks, and catalogued the firm’s project documentation New York, NY
LEADERSHIP 2008-12 COUNCIL MEMBER Student Advisory Council · Engaged student body, council members, and administration to enhance computing, curricular operations, and facility management within the School of Architecture · Supported the application process to the School of Architecture by reviewing student portfolios, interviewing prospective students, and answering students’ and parents’ questions 2009-11 CAPTAIN Carnegie Mellon Water Polo Team (Division III) · Motivated and trained 20+ team members by planning rigorous practices and organizing multi-university tournaments · Lead the team to compete and succeed in local and national circuits · Recuited players from the university community to sustain future teams 2009-10 OVERALL TEAM LEADER & ARCHITECTURE TEAM LEADER Solar Decathlon 2011: Proposal · Created a multidisciplinary 50+ person team structure to design an efficient, solar-powered house · Delegated administrative and design tasks · Prioritized, planned, and conducted weekly meetings · Initiated participation with professors and administrators to obtain funding
RECOGNITION 2008 “BEST IN YEAR” Studio Project Award · Design for museum addition selected from among 60+ student works 2010 CO-DIRECTOR & ARTIST “Heads Up” Gallery Exhibition · Collaborated with 2 student peers to create an interactive sculpture · An immediate deadline of one week necessitated efficiency when surveying the gallery space, budgeting funds to purchase, machine, and process the materials, and assembling and disassembling the sculpture 2012 2012 RECIPIENT Student Leadership Recognition Award · Acknowledged as among “the top ten percent of graduating seniors whose unique contributions in academics and research, the arts, athletics, community service, and community engagement have made unparalleled impact on our community.”