Mark McCormack Student of Architecture Portfolio
Curriculum Vitae
7 Myrtle Grove, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin, Ireland Tel. + 353 (0) 872030472
mark.mccormack7@gmail.com
Skills
Education 2009 - Present Expected GPA: 3.6 Core Subects: 2003 - 2009
Bachelor of Architecture Dublin Institute of Technology, School of Architecture, Bolton Street, Dublin, Ireland - RIAI Part 1 to date, currently studying for my Part 2 Arch. Studio, Building Tech, Structures, History Theory & Criticism, Environmental Services Irish Leaving Certificate (Honours) St. Benildus College, Stillorgan, Dublin
Undergraduate Experience - Researched Italian town squares in Umbria, involving highly detailed surveying culminating in large scale models for a civic project in Trastevere, Rome. - Completed a dissertation upon urban renewal in Dublin along the Cultural Corridor. The project was self led and involved detailed surveying, high levels of production, weekly deadlines and elements of graphic design
Interests - Sports: Avid Rugby & Gaelic football fan, still play socially, Fence competively winning bronze in this years summer league - Member of the Architectural Association of Ireland and the DIT Architectural Students Association - Came 4th in the Build A Robot national schools competition - Volunteer Work: Raise money annually for the Simon Community and Trocaire through the Run 4 Life
- AutoCAD 2009 - 14 - Adobe CS5: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign - Google Sketch Up - Artlantis 4 & 5 - Physical Model Making
- Microstation - Vectorworks (working knowledge) - Free-hand Drawing and Technical Drafting - MS Office - Windows and Mac Literate
Work Experience Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten, Rotterdam
April 2013 - August 2013
Part I Assistant
Worked in a design led practice in Rotterdam. The role had me involved in several projects of varying scale. The two main projects I worked on while there were the refurbishment of a monastery into a library in Mechelen and the extension of the National Rowing clubhouse in Amsterdam. The projects had me working on a lot of visuals both for clients and as design studies as well as spatial studies through large and small scale models Urban Agency, Dublin
February 2013 - April 2013
Part I Assistant
Worked in a design led practice in Dublin. The role has me involved in a number of projects of different scale and stages of completion. My tasks include detailed surveying, creating design proposals and planning applications, design research, making presentation and design models as well as working through design options at the initial stages of projects BKD Architects, Dublin
Sept 2012 - Febuary 2013
Part I Assistant
Worked in a busy architecture firm in Dublin. The role involved me in the day to day workings of the office. My tasks in the office are varied from conducting research, from planning history to design research, conducting surveys and creating lease drawings, drawing planning applications as well as building models for both design and presentation.
Work Experience (other) May - Sept 2011 June - Sept 2010
Store Assistant Administrative Assistant
Hollister (Dundrum) Dublin, Ireland Boylan & Dodd (Tax Consultancy), Dublin, Ireland
References (Available upon request) Mr. Noel Brady Ms. Mechthild Stuhlmacher Mr. Jacques D’Arcy Mr. Andrew Griffin
Third Year Coordinator/Lecturer Director, Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten Design Director, BKD Director, Urban Agency
Dublin City Library
National Film School
Dublin City Hall
Milan Kindergarten
Dublin City Library This library scheme is situated on the junction of Dublin’s Parnell and Dominic streets. The schemes form is so tat the building helps repair the urban fabric of this junction, while the covered plaza provides a strong but welcoming entrance to the building. The layout of the building is so that the ground floor acts as a cultural street with exhibition and workshop spaces, ending with a public park space to the rear of the scheme. This ‘street’ is the activator for the scheme inviting the public upstairs to the library proper. Above this cultural street the library works around a large atrium. This atrium becomes the centre of movement with all the vertical circulation centred here, inviting the public up again. The shifting section is used as a means of defining the functions of the library spatially, the tighter spaces containing the stacks while the larger ones contain the areas for reading and study as well as areas for socializing and exchange. The layout of the libraries sections further strengthens this. On the first floor the children’s and general sections are situated and as you move up the subject matter becomes more specialised with the sciences and history at the top and the main reading room in the cantilevered element, stratifying noise levels.
National Film School The film school was my third year dissertation project. The scheme is situated on Dublin’s Thomas St. near the Guinness Brewery. On Thomas St there are two contrasting scales; the industrial and smaller scale retail/ residential. With this scheme I wished to marry the two and this was achieved through the separation of the production and educational elements of the brief. These elements were then integrated with an atrium space which also maintains the public route of the building from the square to the front to the cinema. In terms of materiality, I was very sensitive to the surrounding context. Through my research of the contexts history brick and timber were the main materials used and in turn I used them in the external expression of the building. Internally concrete is combined with this palette, reflecting the more modern industrial buildings, with the concretes waffle expression used as a unifying element and also as a tool for defining space within the scheme.
Dublin City Hall The brief for this project was to create additional office space for city hall and to include a programme of our choosing as well as redesign the square beside city hall. With a site situated in the heart of Dublin’s medieval walls I wanted to be sensitive to Dublin’s construction history. With this in mind I looked at timber frame construction and researched precedents in Dublin. This in turn led to the stepped for of the building, which in one facet breaks up the rigour of the structural expression and in another allows for the building to weather well. In relation to the square, my first move was to choose a cafe and a restaurant as my programme to help reinvigorate the square. They’re situated on either side of foyer which leads up to the offices. The building is positioned so as to shelter part of the square from the noise of the traffic, providing a pleasant terrace for the cafe and restaurants customers. The rest of the square is set up with benches and green space for passersby to sit and enjoy the city in a rare amenity like this in the city. The square is laid out on the same grid as the building, tying them together subtly, but here is allowed to break the rigour of it, creating a counterpoint tot the building itself.
Milan Kindergarten This project was a competition entry friends of mine and I did last summer while in Rotterdam. The brief asked for a kindergarten that was affordable, built from a timber structure and had the ability to easily expand if need be. The building acts like a toy with basic shapes and elements interacting to provide a learning mechanism. The ‘shapes’ are manifested as lanterns of different colour and dimension that illuminate the interior. The interior becomes a playground orientated around these lanterns and also around wooden boxes extruded from the floor, hosting the services. The main hall features an activities area for individual children or small groups of children. This is intended to cater for the needs of children with any form of learning difficulties or disability, and above all, provide a fun area for them to play. Also of importance is the garden and play spaces for the children. The gardens are abound with different flora and with the inclusion of fruit trees the children observe the process of growth and the seasons at first hand. Structurally the building is made of a simple post and beam system, clad in shifting timber panels which are off set to create pattern in the buildings expression.
Perugia Town Square During a trip to Italy my year conducted surveys of several Medieval town squares in Umbria. The exercise was a primer for our two upcoming city hall projects that semester, allowing us to examine in depth through drawings and models how the squares functioned and their relationship with their adjoining city hall. For this project I was tasked in modelling the town hall in Perugia at 1:100.
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