Matthew B. Parks Undergraduate Portfolio by Matthew Parks

MPARKS

TABLE OF CONTENTS DESIGN PROJECTS: RIVER FRONT DEVELOPMENT 5TH YEAR DESIGN CAMPUS REFECTORY AND HOUSING FOR THE HARVARD LOEB FELLOWS 2ND YEAR DESIGN TENNESSEE CONCRETE ASSOCIATION OFFICE AND DISPLAY BUILDING 3RD YEAR DESIGN A ZEN BUDDHIST SUMMER RETREAT 3RD YEAR DESIGN

ABROAD STUDIES: ART FOR A COMMUNITY 4TH YEAR DESIGN

MATTHEW PARKS

A Macintosh Store Time of Completion:

Spring 2008 [Fifth Year Design]

Location:

Knoxville, Tennessee [The Strip]

Project Description: Each student was to design an Apple store located on ‘the strip.’ The store was to: promote the image and quality of Apple as a company, encourage a unification between the adjacent campus and Fort Sanders area, and create a language that future architecture on ‘the strip’ could reference. The store was to programmatically take the nature of a ‘flag ship’ store. This included a genius bar, retail space, employee lounge, public restrooms, storage, and an outdoor area.

Site Description: The University of Tennessee’s primary area of social activity is ‘the strip,’ which is Kingston Pike from block fifteen through block nineteen. As of 2008, the city planning committee announced that ‘the strip’ is to undergo a revitalization that should include modification to traffic flow, pedestrian flow, zoning ordinances, and promote an overall sense of unity for ‘the strip’ and the Fort Sanders area. The proposed site was located on the Fort Sanders side of the strip at 1739 Kingston Pike. The proposed Apple store design was to take into account the planning committee’s goals and assume a site with wider than existing sidewalks, intensified pedestrian flow, and unification between ‘the strip’ and the adjacent Fort Sanders area. The material palette and building height was to also obey the intended zoning ordinances.

Site Decisions: In addition to the planning commission’s increase width in sidewalks, the store was set back five feet further. The store was located on the eastern side of the designated block, allowing the western side to be a shared courtyard between an existing liquor store and the proposed Apple store. The Apple store took on a party wall condition with an existing building to the west, and retaining walls to the north and west. The courtyard was to begin the sequence through the store by spilling into the store and usher the public from ‘the strip’ to the Fort Sanders area.

Design Decisions: The concept of the store was derived from analyzing computer parts contained within a Mac computer, such parts as teh keyboard, motherboard, and casing. The analysis resulted in an overall idea of visual layering. To create this architecturally, a winding and dense shell, thought of as a threshold, was created to contain an open floor plan beyond it. This threshold was given openings in specific areas where motion and layers of activity overlap when seen from certain vantage points. The threshold was broken on the western side facing the courtyard. The courtyard was positioned to move the public from the exterior into the display and public training space. The display space was ramped at a gradual ascent to reach a height of twelve feet above entry level. At this height, a potential visitor could either continue on their Mac experience or exit to the rear towards Fort Sanders. This break in the threshold symbolized a gateway between ‘the strip’ and Fort Sanders, achieving a statement of unity between the two. Along the ascent, programmed ‘eddies’ were placed where the public could stop along the way and engage in the audio portion of Apple retail. Following the gateway, the circulation sequence was designed at a subtle ascent, where ‘video eddies’ (proportioned to the highest Apple purchasing demographics) were jutted out over the open floor plan and were coupled with built in shelving for merchandise on the adjacent wall. The genius bar and employee space were placed at the summit of the Apple experience, both floating over the entry level below. A cocktail bar was placed at the western, rear portion of the site, with a proposed activity schedule separate of the store to further engage the public with the store after conventional hours.

[PARTI] gateway: Something that serves as an entrance or a means of access. the form of the project was 1] generated based on the perspective that a building can connect human experience back to history and forward to the future and 2] can provi de an architectural statement of connectivity for Knoxville and the Cumberland Avenue area for both time and place.

spaces 1] main entry 2] public training area 3] public display 4] restrooms 5] storage/ mechanical 6] audio eddies 7] visual eddies a] for one b] for two 8] genius bar 9] employee lounge 10] geek and drink 11] area of reflection

tapered insulation w 4 wide flange bridging w 8 wide flange beam 1/2” gypsum board 3/4” drainage membrane water channel strip lighting

‘apple’ colored injected plastic

single glazed operable window

spider joint glazing connection

stem lighting 12” hvac duct semi indirect luminaire 7/8” steel tubing with internal fiber-optic lighting

transparent injected plastic

w 12 wide flange column

stainless steel interior panel cladding 5’ x 5’ welded connection fluorescent tube lighting

green tinted resin ‘apple’ logo 7/8” steel tubing with internal fiber-optic lighting light gauge steel sliding steel tube doors

built up roof system tapered insulation hvac light gauge steel framing 3/4â&#x20AC;? gypsum board processor cd player green tinted resin [back] laptop keyboard [front] 7/8â&#x20AC;? steel tubing with internal fiber-optic lighting desktop keyboard [back] mother board transparent resin mixed use shelf laptop keyboard [back] wine shelf desktop keyboard [front] liquor shelf

beer shelf desktop keyboard [back] transparent resin counter

The American city should be a collection of communities where every member has a right to belong. It should be a place where every man feels safe on his streets and in the house of his friends. It should be a place where each individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dignity and self-respect is strengthened by the respect and affection of his neighbors. It should be a place where each of us can find the satisfaction and warmth which comes from being a member of the community of man. This is what man sought at the dawn of civilization. It is what we seek today. Lyndon B. Johnson

Campus Housing and Refectory for the Harvard Loeb Fellows Time of Completion:

Spring 2005 [2nd Year Design]

Location:

Boston, Massachusetts. Harvard Campus

VIEW FROM STREET ENTRANCE

Project Description: A Loeb Fellow is one that is an outstanding individual in his her field and is chosen to assist students studying at Harvard University as well as conducting research in his or her field. The first design task was to design housing for the Fellows that both connected them to the University as well as to one another as a community. Each housing unit was to be provided with a living area, kitchen, dining area, full bath, office, and one bedroom. The subequent design task was to design a refectory for the Loeb Fellow community. The facility was to be a social gathering place for the Fellows to eat, talk, and come together. In terms of space planning, it was to provide an exhibition gallery, a kitchen and dining hall, two conference rooms, a laundry room, a lounge area and apartments for five visiting faculty members

Site Description: The proposed site was located on Harvard Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s campus. The general area was located south of the graduate school of design on the residential end of campus. Adjacent to the site was a library to the east, a science building to the west and a street/residential condition to the north.

Site Decisions: An axis was created on the site to connect the housing with the main pedestrian campus path to the graduate school of design. The housing units were split into two locations to address the street edge as well as to form a defined landscape area that would act as a community courtyard. One half were placed parallel to the axis, and the other half parallel to the street edge. With the arrangement of the housing units on the site, there became two front doors for each unit. In order to provide a notion of privacy to one entry, the housing were elevating above the courtyard elevation. This idea was reinforced by adding additional soil and trees in the area south of the units to frame a buffer zone between the campus and community courtyard with the housing units. 26

Design Decisions: Housing:

Each unit’s design involved a simple parti that placed the private areas of program on the upper floor and the public areas on the lower floor. The two floors slid past one another to allow a terrace area to be created on the private ends of the units. The second floor increased in vertical height to allow increased day lighting in tight, edge condition.

Refectory

The refectory was placed at the intersection of the two row house ‘arms’. The core elements were placed to the rear dead wall of the building and ‘community’ space to the front. The gallery was placed closest to the street and descended from the plinth to grade level in recognition of the bridging between public and private zones. The dining hall was placed south of the gallery and remained apart of the private community. The building entry was placed at the threshold between the two conditions. A long winding ramp extended the gallery from the entry level into the second floor, thus blurring what actually is private and public zones. The lounge areas were placed in double height fully glazed areas on the west side of the building. The visitor apartments were placed on the top floor with an adjacent outdoor area. The roof structure was conceptually chosen to reinforce an idea of coming-together-ness. Functionally, it provided day lighting to descend into the building in a soft, indirect manner

DESIGN SCHOOL

HARVARD YARD

VIEW FROM STREET ENTRANCE

CAMPUS PATH

To express is to drive. And when you want to give something presence, you have to consult nature. And there is where Design comes in. And if you think of Brick, for instance, and you say to Brick, “What do you want Brick?” And Brick says to you “I like an Arch.” And if you say to Brick “Look, arches are expensive, and I can use a concrete lentil over you. What do you think of that?” “Brick?” Brick says: “... I like an Arch”” Louis Kahn

Tennessee Concrete Association Office and Display Building Time of Completion:

Fall 2005 [3rd Year Design]

Location:

Nashville, Tennessee

Project Description: The project was to design a building for the Tennessee Concrete Association that would act as an office area as well as facilitate a teaching/demonstration area of how concrete can be used. Moreover, the building itself was to be an illustration of the many ways concrete can be implemented into a building.

Site Description: The proposed site was located in Nashville, Tennessee in the northern part. The area is currently undeveloped but has proposed plans to become condominium/residential and offices. It also links with a greenway that stretches through the greater Nashville area.

Site Decisions: The specific location of the footprint was predetermined by the Tennessee Concrete Association. However, the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s relation to the existing greenway was created by a visually open and transparent volume that permitted user access from the street to the adjacent greenway. A contral courtyard was also designed to link the existing buildings to one another and provide a path from the urban condition to the greenway.

Design Decisions: The parti diagram was a long, compression volume adjacent to a long open volume. The expression of the diagram was achieved through illustrating the heaviness of concrete with the compressive volume and the lightness of concrete with the open volume. The juxtaposition of the two architecural styles provided an organizational system for the program. The compressive portion was programmed with offices, a library, work area, auditorium etc. and treated structurally as a bearing wall condition with punched openings and barrel vaulted ceilings. The transparent portion was programmed with a gallery area and open work stations, and was structurally designed as a column supported slab condition. With the transparent portion, inside and outside were blurred by extending parts of the program from interior to exterior, only separated by a glazing line. This further provided continuity between the building and the greenway. The main entry of the facility negotiated between the two conditions, bringing tension to the concrete dichotomy and also provided a gateway from the street to the greenway.

PRODUCT TRADENAME MODELNUMBER MATERIAL

Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive. Albert Einstein

A Zen, Buddhist Summer Mountain Retreat Time of Completion:

Spring 2006 [3rd Year Design]

Location:

Cherohala Skyway, North Carolina

Project Description: The project was a summer home approximately 2000 square feet for a Zen Buddhist practicing couple. The house design was to embody the philosophy of Zen conceptually, while responding to site conditions such as views and soil grade.

Site Description: The site was located in North Carolina along the Appalachian Mountains. in a forested area. The views were of breath taking scenes of rolling mountains and a large stream at the base.

The Concept: A thorough investigation of Zen Buddhism was completed prior to the evolution of the house design. From the investigation, the phrase ‘inner focus’ was chosen to express the parti idea. Inner focus is a large component of Zen philosophy in that it provides the method of meditation practiced as well as the lifestyle of the individuals. Thus, the language implemented paralleled to a figure-ground drawing in that the figure cannot exist without the ground which proposes the question can one exist without the other? Architecturally, the idea of ‘inner focus’ was diagrammed as a concept of blurring, what is inside from outside, what is ground from building.

Site Decisions: The responses taken to the site were to locate the house on the flattest part of the site that provided the best clear views of the location. The program was then located hierarchically to match the best views in the home. Conceptually, the house was integrated in the site by placing the private areas as well as the garage/workshop of the home under an earth covered roof. The public realms of the house contrasted the private areas by being placed in a transparent volume elevated from the ground.

Design Decisions: The pin-wheel geometric placement of the program provided framed a large entry garden into the home, which further supported the blurring notion of what is inside and outside. The structure of the building was chosen as a direct response to the concept. The private areas were of site-cast concrete, cladded on the interior with wood. On the transparent volume, the materials were glass and wood. Thus, even in the materiality of the house, there existed a blurring of what material is exposed on the outside of the building and what is on the inside. Furthermore, on the transparent volume, the walls consisted of large sliding doors that provided the home a direct connection with the outside space to the inside space.

Wabi refers to A way of life, a spiritual path The inward the subjective A philosophical construct Spatial events Sabi refers to Material objects, art and literature The outward, the objective An aesthetic ideal Temporal events

Sheet Metal Capping/Flashing Roof Planting 3/4” Gravel Drainage Bed Root Penetration Protection mat Bitumenised Felt (Waterproofing) Tapered Thermal Insulation Lightweight Concrete Prefabricated Concrete Plank 3/4” Oriented Strand Board Hardwood Stripping

Concrete Trim

Splay Window

3.5” Fiber Bat. Insulation Reinforced Concrete 2x Sleeper Slab on Grade Welded Wire Fabric Insulation Moisture Barrier Ventilation Supply 3 1/2” Drainage Pipe Steel Reinforcement

Our house has not insentient matter- it had a heart and a soul, and eyes to see with; and approvals and solicitudes and deep sympathies; it was of us, and we were in its confidence and lived in its grace and in the peace of its benedictions. We never came home from an absence that its face did not light up and speak out in eloquent welcome- and we cound not enter it unmoved. Mark Twain

River Front Development Time of Completion:

Fall 2007 [Fifth Year Design]

Location:

Knoxville, Tennessee [River Front Development]

Project Description: This studio project was structured to expose architecture students with the Development perspective of design. The client of the project was a local Knoxville Developer who recently purchased land adjacent to the Tennessee River with hopes of developing single family and condominium housing. The studio was also working jointly with a Business Marketing class. The architects were broken into two teams of five, each team designing a master-plan for the site. Each architecture team’s business task was to provide the business class with sufficient design information so that the team could project a plausible success or failure for the designed master-plan in Knoxville TN. The business team, in turn, gave the design teams a set of demographics the master-plan should attempt to accommodate. My particular team decided on proposing a housing community of both high-end single family residential housing and one plot of condominium housing, both types oriented towards upper class business and ‘empty nester’ demographics. My chosen design role was to complete the condominium housing.

Site Description: The site was located adjacent to the Tennessee River on a very elevated parcel of land. The slope provided challenges that included: vehicular and pedestrian circulation, building placement and internal circulation, and housing hierarchy.

Site Decisions: The location for the condominium housing was jointly decided on by the team of five to be located at the highest point on the site. Factors for this decision were: the highest point would allow for the greatest opportunity for views from densely configured housing, the housing would have the greatest opportunity on the summit of the hill to ‘blend in’ with the surrounding community hierarchically.

Design Decisions: For the sectional quality, houses were grouped into two and ascended on the hill to synthesis the building with dominance of the slope and to allow for view advantages and day lighting. The houses were placed on stilts reminiscent of pilotis to achieve the ascent on the hill and to provide parking underneath, which in turn, hid the automobile from public view. In plan, the condominiumsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; main space portions were all angled at a 45 degree angle towards the primary views of the site. Two programmatic types of houses were configured to respond to the identity of each demographic. The square footage, program hierarchy and layout corresponded with type A, a single businessman, and type B, a single family. For the single businessman, the design goals were to provide a sense of connectivity throughout the home, and place a hierarchical emphasis on the home office. For the single family, a greater division was created between public spaces and private spaces and in turn, generated an internal focus to the program. In type A, the home office was elevated to the highest point in the home as a loft feature. The main space and dining room were given the most spanning views. In type B, three bedrooms were provided to type Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one bedroom. The master bed and guest beds were placed to the rear, leaving the main spaces for the main view and dining and kitchen to be double heighted for openness in the center home. The bedrooms were all provided with private balconies, which generated the planâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s angle. The angle allowed for views to the local Knoxville environment, while still maintaining privacy from one home to the next.

(...) a building has to be conceived from inside outwards, that is the small details which a person is engaged from a kind of framework, a system of cells, which eventually turns into the entity of the building. At the same time as the architect develops a synthesis from the smaller cells onwards, the oppisite process exists and the architect keeps the entity in mind. Alvar Aalto

Studies Abroad: Art for a Community Time of Completion:

Spring 2007 [4th Year Design]

Location:

Weimar, Germany

Project Description: The semester long IAAD design project at the Bauhaus University, Weimar was University Galleries, Workshops, and Studio spaces for three local artists, one guest artist, and four student artists. Each professional artist presented their work and described specific requirements that they particularly looked for in a gallery, workshop, and studio. The studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; task was to determine the relationship between each programmatic component, while at the same time forming a cultural hotspot that utilized the entire site.

Site Description: The site was located in Weimar, Germany adjacent to a cinema and a performance theater. Running parallel to the site was the Ilm River that connected the inner part of Weimar with Green areas such as Goethe Park. The proposed site was located in a lower elevation from that of primary pedestrian circulation. The cinema and theater were both in buildings that were not of original function (Power House and Depot).

Site Decisions: Major responses of the project revolved around site interrelation. A primary response was to use the architecture to provide paths, centers and nodes throughout the site. In addition, the existing retaining wall was an undefined element on the site. A clearly defined retaining wall was introduced to define the river boundary and the architectural boundary. Entrances and views from the existing theater and cinema were emphasized through the specific placement of each gallery as objects in a field.

Design Decisions: The art galleries intended for the professional artists were placed adjacent to the cinema and theater, forming two courtyards simultaneously. One courtyard was internally created for the display of art. The other courtyard established a relationship between the cinema, theater and river. The student galleries and workshops were tucked in beside the theater, thus continuing the flow of activity throughout the site and also providing privacy for workshop use. An additional courtyard was formed in the student galleries coupled with smaller privatized outdoor areas related to each workshop. The placement of each gallery was used to dictate the circulation flow throughout the site, and was further expressed in the sectional quality of each gallery with raised portions for top lighting. The site was gradually lowered throughout the sequence of the site to provide access to the river.