Matthew M. Robinson [Architecture Portfolio]
Selected Works [2017-2019]
Dexter Lake Rowing Center [Lowell, OR] Orcas Island Cabin [Eastsound, WA] Masieri Foundation [Venice, Italy] House Awaiting Death [Whidbey Island, WA] Southside Remodel [Bellingham, WA] Clackamas County Courthouse [Oregon City, OR] Bertoni Studio [Eugene, OR] Sustainable Millrace [Eugene, OR] Ozenfant Perspective [1 Hour Sketch]
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96’
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Dexter Lake Rowing Center [Lowell, OR] [Introductory Design Studio|Spring 2018] A boathouse that serves as equipment storage and a regatta venue for the UO Club Crew, SERC Crew, and OAR Crew teams located just west of Lowell, OR on Dexter Lake/Reservoir. This 26,000 sf complex also includes a training facility for the athletes and a multipurpose community space overlooking the lake. This project needed to navigate seperate storage for multiple organizations, large turning radii of the equipment, and adaptable space that accomodates large events.
Site Plan [Lowell State Park]
Integrated Lighting [Night]
Integrated Lighting [Day]
Concept Models
Early concepts explored the relationship between public and private spaces, and always considered the space necessary to move shells to and from the water. This generated ideas about a scheme that became two seperate wings, hugging the shoreline, with a covered outdoor space in between. This in-between domain also became a way to frame views of the start line with the historic Lowell Covered Bridge in the background. The community spaces were programmed in the eastern wing nearest the regatta activity. The western dock and rooftop patio are designed for spectating during regattas, maximizing views to the southeast across the race course.
Plan Ground Floor
1ST FLOOR
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Section Facing North SECTION FACING NORTH
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Plan 2nd Floor
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Terracing down toward the lake, the ground floor houses all of the boat and equipment storage. The second floor designates all of the service spaces along the northern edge, allowing the larger social spaces to open to the south with uninterrupted access 2ND FLOOR to daylight, as well as sweeping views of the lake. The rooftop deck accommodates regatta spectating while also having the potential to host other community events. Light monitors for the training facility double as terraced seating on the roof. A large garden wall acts as a screen for projecting photo-finishes on regatta days, while also serving as an outdoor theatre for the city of Lowell during summer evenings. Landscape features were placed with a focus around catchment of site and building run-off to improve water quality. The goal was to create a space large enough to accommodate regattas and community events, while maintaining a sense of connectivity from room to room, so as not to isolate users during odd hours.
Orcas Island Cabin [Eastsound, WA] [Residential Construction | Spring 2019] An exercise in conceptual design and detailing of a 500 sf rental cabin on a northwest facing beach in the San Juan Islands. Conceptually, it became important to consolidate service spaces into a thickness, or functional poche, in order to maximize the living space by thinking of it as an indoor-outdoor room. The cabin wanted to be a lighter wood frame set in a heavy stone base, which offered a variety of detailing opportunities and challenges.
Masieri Foundation [Venice, Italy] [Intermediate Design Studio|Spring 2019] The Masieri Foundation was established in 1952 in memory of italian architect Angelo Masieri, associate of Carlo Scarpa, who was tragically killed in a car accident. The foundation’s purpose; to foster the study of architecture in the city of Venice as a tribute to Masieri and in association with the Istituto Universitario Architetura di Venezia (IUAV). Angelo Masieri’s legacy was to be embodied in a study center located at a critical point along the Grand Canal known as “in volta di canale”.
This site acts as a pivot point where the formal design language of the Grand Canal meets the vernacular language of the side canals. In the 1950s and 60s notable designs for this study center were originally done by Carlo Scarpa and Frank Lloyd Wright, both of which were never realized due to “non-conformance” with the design language of the city. Both of these designs were used as case studies throughout my process, as was Sverre Fehn’s Nordic Pavilion, all pictured in order (right). This study center consists of dormitories, a library, dining facilities, seminar spaces, and other amenities.
in Volta di Canale
Carlo Scarpa
Frank Lloyd Wright
Sverre Fehn
Envision a Room
House Awaiting Death [Whidbey Island, WA] [Media Design Development|Winter 2019] A house that sits on the ecotone, between the shelter of the woods and the unpredictability of the sea. A beacon of light and warmth along an often grey and cold coastline. A series of rooms that face outward toward the sea. One of these rooms is an open-air space, embracing the wind and cold, a clear separation from the comforts of home, yet close enough to feel its warmth. A small heated pool lies in its center, sheltered only by a small timber roof, its columns a part of the forest.
Conceptual Plan
Artist’s Point of View
Diagrams
Integral Ornament When the day comes to a close the sun warms the room, painting the distant mountains with infinite shades of orange and yellow. Gazing out over the horizon there is a hush across the inlet as the things begin to get dark and the world seems to drop away. A cool mist envelopes your skin as you skip across the rocks and slide into the heat of the pool. You feel your muscles relax as you regain the warmth you left behind inside. Your focus shifts outward as you become aware of a ship disappearing into the night, leaving only the rhythmic crash of the sea.
Southside Remodel [Bellingham, WA] [Internship GRA | Summer 2019] A project done for Greg Robinson Architect consisting of a former auto body shop to be converted into a rental property. I worked closely with Greg Robinson to develop a scheme that best suited the needs of the client with respect to the 957 sf shop. I had the opportunity to be involved in client meetings, site visits, as-built measurements and drawings, demo plans and elevations, schematic design, design development, and construction documentation over the course of 3 months.
The scheme revolves around a 234 sf addition on existing foundations off the western edge of the existing structure. This created a place of entry and opened a large social space up to the west, spilling out onto a new patio to the south, for better solar exposure. Parking was relocated to the northernmost edge of the site to create an entry procession through the existing garden space. Wall and roof framing would be replaced to improve energy efficiency. The final scheme would include 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, and a large social space (kitchen, living, and dining) with an enhanced entry sequence, fireplace, and patio.
Main Entry
Clackamas County Courthouse [Oregon City, OR]
[Intermediate Design Studio|Fall 2019] [Collab with: Isais Lawrence, Nick Stanek, Leo Liang] A project for Clackamas County in collaboration with Tallwood Design Institute. We were tasked with developing schemes focused around the use of mass timber in a courthouse, to be used in a cost analysis process to test the plausibility of an entirely mass timber structure in their actual design process. Our scheme involved the use of mass timber in the form of glue-laminated post and beam construction, CLT floorplates, and CLT or MPP structural cores, totaling 231,668.5 cubic feet of wood products sequestering 5,899 metric tons of CO2. Our scheme went one step further exploring a semi-conditioned corridor, utilizing the principle of thermally active surfaces to create ‘radiant alcoves’ for comfort, eliminating 31.3% of each floor’s conditioned area in order to further combat climate change.
Site Plan
1’ COLUMN MALE DROP-IN STEEL CONNECTOR
3” CONCRETE SLAB 2” HIGH DENSITY ACOUSTIC MATT 3 PLY CLT PANEL
1’ X 16” BEAM
FEMALE STEEL REVIVING CONNECTOR 1’ COLUMN
Structural Progression Structural Grid Diagram
Typical Post + Beam with CLT Detail
Turbine Vent
Sliding Panels [Open]
Fire Dampers [Open]
Thermally Active Surfaces Plan of a Typical Courtroom Floor
Conditioned
Semi-Conditioned
Semi-Conditioned Corridor Typical Courtroom Floor
Semi-Conditioned Corridor [Cooling Mode]
Return Heat [Courtrooms] Sliding Panels [Closed]
Fire Dampers [Closed]
Thermally Active Surfaces
Semi-Conditioned Corridor [Heating Mode]
Semi-Conditioned Corridor
Radiant Alcove Detail
Main Lobby
Section Facing West
Bertoni Studio [Eugene, OR] [Introductory Design Studio|Winter 2017] A ‘designer’s hut’ inspired by, and meant for, Italian car designer Flaminio Bertoni 1903-1964. The challenge of this project was to create a compact space that not only supported the designer’s process, but also exemplified his design language aesthetically. This led to a form that is both streamline, like the cars, but also reminiscent of sculpting, Bertoni’s medium of choice. The program is accommodated through a variety of subtractions and extrusions forming storage, a workbench, and an alcove.
Sculptural Form Diagrams
Sections + Elevation
Vertical Farm equipped with Climeworks CO2 Capture Riparian Tree Canopy
Sustainable Millrace [Eugene, OR]
Riparian Shrub Layer
[Design Sustainable World|Winter 2019]
Phytoremediating Edge
The Millrace in Eugene, Oregon has become a degraded site. Stormwater from campus brings large amounts of heavy metal pollutants from the roadways into the stagnant channel before they eventually seep into the Willamette river. I envisioned a scheme in which the Millrace were to become a natural treatment buffer keeping pollutants out of the Willamette, as well as a riparian corridor, repairing aquatic ecosystems, creating habitat, and beautifying the existing bike paths that will see even more traffic once Knight Campus is finished. In addition, to mitigate the issue of over shading at the Urban Farm, I proposed a vertical farm which could increase the amount of production by optimizing growing conditions so as not be affected by the surrounding development.
Woody Debris Walking/Bike Path
Site Implementations
Ozenfant Perspective [1 Hour Sketch] [Media Design Development|Winter 2019] Shown an image of the Ozenfant Studio by Le Corbusier, I was given 1 hour to create a drawing that captures three dimensional space, detail, light, and shadow play. This was an exercise in both attention to detail and time management.
Images Carlo Scarpa Palazzina Masieri | Venezia Fondazione Masieri | UNIVERSITA luav di Venezia Restoration Project Proposal Barman Frank Lloyd Wright The Masieri Memorial by Frank L. Wright in Venice Reconstructing an Unbuilt project on the Canal Grande Alberto Sdegno, University of Trieste, Faculty of Arch. Sverre Fehn AD Classics: Nordic Pavilion in Venice / Sverre Fehn https://www.archdaily.com/784536/ad-classicsnordic-pavilion-in-venice-sverre-fehn