ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO B. Arch.Sci., M.Arch.
MICHAEL OWENS Education
MichaelFrederickOwens@Gmail.com (647) 269-1439 170 Sumach Street, Apt. 620 Toronto ON, M5A 3K3
Masters of Architecture, M.Arch. (2012- 2014) Ryerson University, Toronto ON
Bachelor of Architectural Science, B.Arch.Sci. (2008- 2012) Ryerson University, Toronto ON
Certificate of Art and Design Fundamentals (2007- 2008) George Brown College, Toronto ON
Expertise
2D/3D Drafting, Modeling and Rendering
Graphic Representation and Communication
Digital Fabrication
Other Architectural Skills
“Church of the Resurrection� (2013)
The Oxalis Project (2010)
Autodesk AutoCAD Rhinoceros 3D 5.0 Google SketchUP 8.0 V-Ray 1.5 for SketchUP/Rhino Blender 3D Animator
Laser Cutting (Trotec Speedy 500) 3D ABS Plastic Printing (Catalyst EX 3.0) Tri-Axis CNC routing (Mastercam x5) Vacuum Forming General Woodshop tools
Volunteer & Publications
325 Magazine. Ryerson University Co-author with Ulysses Valiente. ISSN:1923-7774-01
Photoshop Illustrator InDesign Acrobat Pro
Premiere Pro Word Excel Power Point
Hand Drafting Hand Rendering/ Sketching Iterative and Presentation Model Making Presentation and Client Relation experience
Ryerson University, Toronto ON Assisted in the final assembly of the installation
Experience
Dimitri Papatheodorou Architect (September 2014- Present)
Architecture & Design Consultant, Toronto ON Preparing orthographic drawings for permit submission and design development. On site visits for initial measure up and client consultation. Renderings & other Visualizations.
Graduate Assistant (GA), ASC306- Ideas Technologies and Precedents (2013) Ryerson University, Toronto ON Assisted in the development of the course syllabus and major term paper outline, ran a weekly tutorial/ question and answer session, reviewed and graded all interim and final term papers.
Alex Boros Planning and Associates (2011- 2014)
Architecture and Planning Firm, Toronto ON Primary role was to produce visual representation models, renders and orthographic design drawings for client and community meetings/ presentations and sales packages.
DLS Group (Summer 2010)
Environmental Consulting and Soil Re mediation, Brighton ON On-site experience with small scale excavation and soil re mediation techniques. Shoring and temporary A-frame structure assembly.
Ontario Formworks, Towers Inc. (2005- 2008)
Concrete Forming, Roofing, Light Framing, Port Hope ON General laborer. Steel rebar and concrete forming as well as wood frame construction (framing, roofing, etc.).
Undergraduate Orientation (2009-2012) Ryerson University, Toronto ON Assisted in the annual first year orientation for the Architecture Course Union (ACU)
IIDEX/ Neocon (2011)
Student Design Charette, Toronto ON Participant and co-designer for Ryerson Architectural Sciences department
SELECTED WORKS Undergraduate & Graduate Projects | 2010 - 2014
Toronto Museum | pg.6
Mathematician’s Studio | pg.10
Riverdale Community | pg.12
Church of Resurrection | pg.16
Industrial Re-Imagination | pg.20
Digital Place(s) | pg.24
Museum of Toronto | Winter 2011
THE MUSEUM OF TORONTO
Visualizations created using: Vray for Rhinoceros, Photoshop, and Auto Cad Digital model created in Rhinoceros 3D Winter 2011
Street View
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Museum of Toronto | Winter 2011
Street Presence
Material & Light
Material & Light
Artifact Display
Project Description This project, situated at the corner of Church Street and Wellington Street in Toronto’s St. Lawrence market district focuses on developing a project that will store, catalogue, maintain, and display historic Toronto artifacts. The project aims to evoke a language of historic Toronto architecture while providing open, contemporary display. A focus on the grade condition of public vs. private space and the promotion of occupant activity at this level was critical in the development of this museum as not only a place of learning, but also as one of gathering. The multi-purpose ground floor and second floor theatre is meant to promote the activation of the museum as a third place for its occupants. A building that would become a staple for Toronto’s historic and cultural identity.
Axo Site Plan | Church st. & Wellington St.
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WELLING
Museum of Toronto | Winter 2011
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Gallery Space
Ground Floor
Ground Floor
Mezzanine Lounge
Mezzanine Floor
Second Floor
Third Floor
Pedestrian Approach
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Museum of Toronto | Winter 2011
Parapet Details | Brick & Steel Cladding
Concept Model
Structural Experiment An experimental approach was taken for the structural concepts at work in this building to create a ground floor that is 100% free of columns. The concept; deriven from a half-suspension bridge utilizes the mass of two large triangular columns to which each floor slab is tied back to and suspended. Building Section
East Elevation
Mathematician’s Studio | Fall 2010
A MATHEMATICIAN’S STUDIO Visualizations created using: Vray for Rhinoceros and Photoshop Digital model created in Rhinoceros 3D Fall 2010
Viewing & Contemplation
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Mathematician’s Studio | Fall 2010
Entry ramp
Entry Level
Entry Level Perspective
Lower Level
Longitudinal Section The entrance ramp takes the occupant into the hillside where they emerge into the open viewing platform of the studio.
Project Description A small mathematician’s studio designed for a course focusing on materiality, tectonics, and functional program in a minimal footprint. Protruding out of a fictional site at a 45o slope, surrounded by a heavily wooded area, the studio provides a small washroom, drawing table/ desk, and closet on the main floor. The lower level houses a lounge with couch, coffee table, and another small desk. The building has been developed as a viewing platform of contemplative space.
East Elevation 180o glass not only provides views of the outside, it envelopes the building in nature.
Riverdale Community | Winter 2013
RIVERDALE COMMUNITY | THE AGING BODY Visualizations created using: AutoCAD, Vray for Rhinoceros, and Photoshop Digital model created in Rhinoceros 3D Winter 2013
Park Path Extensions
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Riverdale Community | Winter 2013
Age Simulation Suit | Body & Motion
Project Description The aging body was the focus of this design studio project. Developing an “old-age simulation suit” and performing daily tasks and activities, such as walking up and down stairs, tying shoelaces, walking, etc., provided insight to design and narrowed a focus of design towards body movement, communal involvement /activity, and the importance of feeling safe (both mentally and physically) in ones home. This project located in Toronto’s Riverdale Park takes advantage of proximity to a highly developed and sophisticated healthcare center as well as the terrain and existing function of the site. Directly linking the building to the healthcare center provides mental reassurance to its occupants that help is never to far away. The building layout revolves around a central atrium and ample exercise and community program. Each unit leads directly to the park to stimulate an environment of active living and promote a healthy lifestyle for the intended occupants. Site Plan | Riverdale Park B
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BridgePoint Health
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Riverdale Community | Winter 2013
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Section CC | Dwelling Units
4th Floor
Section BB | Atrium
1st Floor
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Riverdale Community | Winter 2013
Atrium
Atrium
Night | Park
One Bedroom Unit
Day | Park
Church of the Resurrection | Winter 2012
CHURCH OF THE RESURRECTION Visualizations created using: Vray for Rhinoceros, Photoshop, and Auto Cad Digital model created in Rhinoceros 3D Winter 2012
Street View | Night
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Church of the Resurrection | Winter 2012
Narthex
Sacred Garden
Stations of the Cross
Project Description The design of this Catholic Church at the corner of Mill Street and Bayview Avenue engages with the tri-parti story of the resurrection of Christ; Death, Life, and Salvation. Drawing from the themes of each part the building begins to unfold as a journey from darkness to lightness. Entering through a dark, narrow corridor that proceeds upwards towards a liminal space of contemplation and transparency culminating in a grand experience of vertically and light. The progression of space builds upon the process of worship through the linear progression of a story that unfolds as one moves through the building. Roof & Site Plan
Church of the Resurrection | Winter 2012
2nd Floor
Ground Floor
Experiential Building Section
North Elevation
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Church of the Resurrection | Winter 2012
Arial Perspective
Worship Hall
East Elevation
Stations of the Cross
Industrial Re-Imagination | Fall 2011
AN INDUSTRIAL RE- IMAGINATION Visualizations created using: Photoshop on Found Images Digital models created in Rhinoceros 3D and Blender 3D Fall 2011
Main Entrance
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Third Place | Social Gathering
Industrial Re-Imagination | Fall 2011
Vertical Circulation
Project Description This project explores the development of space through a purely visual transformation of existing images and content. The source material, collected from various sources of various abandoned buildings, provided the initial stimuli for the visualizations which when strung together evoke an understanding of these initially non-related spaces as a series of subsequent ones.
Source Images
Industrial Re-Imagination | Fall 2011
Galla Walkway
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Crush Space
Project Description Even without the aid of orthographic drawings the viewer is able to “move� through each space and begin to understand the story of a building, or ones experience of a building. As the visualizations develop the building becomes clearer.
Source Images
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Industrial Re-Imagination | Fall 2011
Theatre & Performance Space
Project Description It is not until the viewer reaches the destination and finds that the building is a theatre that the previous visualizations gain purpose. A foyer, a cafĂŠ; crush spaces, corridors, and staircases. This is the way that people view architecture, an experience of visceral, visual, emotions and compositions.
Source Images
Thesis Excerpt | Towards Digital Place(s) | Fall 2014
TOWARDS DIGITAL PLACE(S)
Cultivating a Language of Digital Design in Architecture A selection of excerpts from the Ryerson University Master Thesis 2013-2014. The full project can be made available upon request.
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Thesis Excerpt | Towards Digital Place(s) | Fall 2014
Concept Diagrams | The Barrier of Digital Technologies
Technology is represented as a separation or barrier between society and architecture. Technology as an integral component of architecture, linked society & space via direct interaction
Project Description The advancement and integration of digital technologies into the daily lives of contemporary society has established a perceptual interference between the built environment and its occupants. An obstacle in the development of a meaningful experience of space and interaction to be negotiated before an understanding of place can begin to grow between occupant and occupied. This interference represents a moment in time where the design and understanding of built form, as well as what it means or how it is understood to be a participant of spatial experience, is evolving. It is now the responsibility of the architect to anticipate that evolution and provide responses that meet newly established requirements of form and function. In an effort to establish a foothold for Architecture to grapple with these requirements the thesis forms around two modes of engagement; Formal language, and Performative language, interpreted through various scales of detail and integration. Recombinant theory, understood as a multi-step process of analysis, assisted in formulating these scales as a series of logical steps or progressions through a process that aims at achieving a contextually conscientious methodology of design. Master Plan | Toronto Transit Relief Line | Digital Infrastructure
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Legend Subway Regional Transit Union Station Relief Line Relief Line Nodes Dissection Open/ Developable Land Major Intersections CN/CP Rail Line (Relief Line) Pedestrian approach DVP
Thesis Excerpt | Towards Digital Place(s) | Fall 2014
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Master Axonometric | Bridge Level
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Wabash Aven
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West Entrance | Path & Bridge
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Linseed Oil Factory | New Power Station
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West Park Entrance| Path
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Amphitheater Space | Train Overpass
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Extension of West Toronto Rail Path
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East Entrance | Path & Bridge
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Continuation of West Toronto Rail Path
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Existing Dundas Street Overpass
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Path Level
Thesis Excerpt | Towards Digital Place(s) | Fall 2014
Tunnel Level
Levels & Movement The thesis sets up a narrative of time and movement at multiple scales of experience and interaction as a way of negotiating these contexts through the exploration of a project that grapples with the threshold of interference between the physical and the digital. This discussion has formulated in the project proposal through various instances that are all experienced by movement, within, around, and throughout the project levels, site, and various digital systems.
Thesis Excerpt | Towards Digital Place(s) | Fall 2014
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Bridge Level | Night- Day
Path | Passive Display
Tunnel | Interactive System
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Thesis Excerpt | Towards Digital Place(s) | Fall 2014
Bridge
Path
Tunnel
City/ Urban
Site/ Movement
Building
Human
Digital
Views, sounds, smells
Walking/ cycling over rail line Moments of rest & exploration above rail Stitching disparate fabric
Formal digital language Rail overpass Formalized landscape
Movement & Personal devicesengagement with wireless signal others Experience of traversion
Alternative mode of experiencing the city: walking path/ high line
Walking/ cycling between station nodes On grade with rail line Connection with heritage buildings Negotiating existing fabric
Formal & Performative digital language Envelopes station platforms Pedestrian linkage to city/ throughout master plan
One-way observation Engagement of time during moments of rest while waiting
Visual link to path, rail, & events happening in the city
Linked with multiple locations and events simultaneously
Walking Under rail line Stitching disparate fabric
Formal & performative digital language Emphasis on performative aspect Carved landscape Rail underpass
Digitally linked two-way direct communication between people in various physical locations
Integrated systems link each station node to one another and form a networked system
As the digital experience increases the building and site have more influence on the digital interactions
As immediate view to the city decreases, digital interaction inversely broadens the experience of city connections
Scale of Interaction & Experience
Conclusions The final product is not a definitive resolution to the questions brought forth by digital technologies. It is more so a critique of the ideology surrounding what makes a place, and how that ideology may be changing in light of technological advancements and spatial possibilities. The digital systems explored, which were meant to clarify a perception of space and place may actually have succeeded more so in a manner of bringing forward the true level of complexity that these technologies engender. A potential for the built environment to break free of the limitations and social interferences of personal devices into a world of infinitely linked networks of connectivity and communication between people and space.
Thesis Excerpt | Towards Digital Place(s) | Fall 2014
CNC contoured | Corian & MDF | Contextual Model
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3D Printed | ABS Plastic | Sectional Model
Thesis Excerpt | Towards Digital Place(s) | Fall 2014
MICHAEL OWENS
MichaelFrederickOwens@Gmail.com (647) 269-1439 170 Sumach Street, Apt. 620 Toronto ON, M5A 3K3