Matt Hasek - Portfolio

PORTFOLIO Matt Hasek

Selected Works

Introduction

Architecture does not stop at the structures we create. They are integral parts of an interconnected tapestry that defines urban spaces and sometimes become an additive part of a natural landscape. They have a responsibility to respond and communicate with their environment. With every project I undertake, I diligently work not only meet the needs of the client, but to ensure designs improve the greater spaces they inhabit and the lives of those who may never directly engage with our work.

This philosophy is an integral foundation to my design process. Each project, especially those undertaken within the my professional career, will hopefully show this philosophy in my work to be abundantly evident. With each new project I take part in, I aspire to carry this ideal forward.

Every project is an opportunity to make something beautiful. My aspiration is to perpetuate this philosophy moving forward into my career.

Introduction

MCPL Riverside Branch

Professional | Civic | 2022

MCPL Grain Valley Branch

Professional | Civic | 2021

CAATT Building

Professional | Higher Education | 2023

Boswell Elementary

Professional | Primary Education | 2021

Urban Library & Startup

Academic | 2018

Dry Dock Redevelopment Academic | 2019

UrbanLab KC Personal | 2023

Textural Photography Personal | 2023

Professional Works

MCPL - Riverside Branch

Year: 2022

Location: Riverside, MO

Team: Sapp Design Architects (KC office)

Client: Mid-Continent Public Library

Role: Project Designer

Status: Under Construction

As the last of the Mid-Continent Public Library new constructions, the Riverside Branch will serve a community of over 4,000 people. The site, virtually given to the library by the city, was formerly the location of a gas station on an awkward wedge-shaped site. Given strict site constraints, the location was pre-determined with easements occupying the majority of the site.

This site provided unique opportunities, however. Located at the end of the wedge was an existing park with an ornamental clock tower. With heavy traffic and no local program to draw people to the park, we identified this as a key asset. The goal was to make the library feel as though it was part of the existing park. Wide trail-like sidewalks were located to connect to the park to connect the library, as well as allow the site the act as a pedestrian cut-through space for the few pedestrians that do travel along the neighboring roads. Additionally, the front door was focused less around orientation to parking and more toward the existing park. Views on the interior were maximized by making the entire front of the library as transparent as possible for natural northern light and panoramic green views.

Various program elements are clearly identifiable from the geometries of the exterior. An open trellis structure acts as a method to tie all of those elements together by sweeping across the front of the building. This overhead structure also acts as a method of creating enclosure for exterior reading spaces near the park.

Front Entry Approach

MCPL - Grain Valley

Year: 2021

Location: Grain Valley, MO

Team: Sapp Design Architects (KC office)

Client: Mid-Continent Public Library

Role: Project Designer

Status: Substantial Completion

Being located in the outter reaches of the Kansas City metro, the Grain Valley Branch sought to reference the semi-rural nature of the vernacular architecture in the area. Having worked with this community prior, we were aware of the community’s affenity toward that culture.

As this was the first of my projects for Mid-Continent Public Libraries, I wanted to break from the traditional typology of parking-oriented facades, where the majority of the exterior budget would go toward the entry. Rather, I felt it was an interesting opportunity to create an ‘entry block’, a single volume that would be the big budget item and orient that to appeal to trail users the same as it would people who arrived by vehicle.

This ‘entry block’ became the piece of the building that would most directly relate to the traditional typologies of Grain Valley, the rural barn. The texture, color, and even dilapidation were all characteristics referenced through the use of a composite wood system to clad and screen the building. An entry canopy was created by carving back a part of the building, to align with the most direct route to a neighboring trail. With the entry block being taller than the rest of the building, roof top units were able to be screened behind it without the need for parapet walls that were typical on these projects, allowing additional money to be allocated to the entry block.

Front Entry Approach

Construction

Photo

Composite Louvers (Exterior)

Composite Louvers (Interior)

Head & Sill Detail

Center for Advanced Agricultural Transportation Technologies

Year: 2023

Location: Sedalia, MO

Team: Sapp Design Architects (KC office)

Client: State Fair Community College

Role: Project Designer

Status: Construction Documents

The Center for Advanced Agricultural Transportation Technologies (CAATT Building) was a project that required us to approach it in an abnormal way. Another studio at SDA started the initial design to get funding for the building. The design was taken with a floor plan-first mentality, creating some aesthetic and spatial challenges.

Since all adjacencies in the floor plan had been signed off by the owner before actual design could commence and the construction type being established as pre-engineered metal building, we were extremely limited in the changes we could make by the time the project was passed on to my studio. Despite the floor plan being all but locked in place before schematic design, we were able to make drastic but impactful changes to improve its spatial and aesthetic qulaities.

We simplified the program down to its most basic components and identified that no adjacencies were necessary across the central hallway of the building. This allowed us the flexibilty to push and pull parts of the building along this axis. The building was tied together between all its program components with a roof screen along its most visible sides to mask the typically utilitarian construction type behind it.

In addition to the building changing, we also were able to convince the client to significantly change the site organization. The prior concept for the site had a parking lot located directly in front of the building, encouraging students to drive between buildings, despite this being a fairly small college campus. We shifted the parking lot behind an access road and prioritized sidewalk connections. We also created an entry plaza to create an experiential anticipation before entering the building.

Front Entry Approach

East Elevation

North Elevation

Boswell Elementary

Year: 2021

Location: Lebanon, MO

Team: Sapp Design Architects (Springfield office)

Client: Lebanon School District

Role: Project Designer

Status: Complete

Like many schools in Southern Misosuri, Boswell Elementary is located in a community which lacks necessary funding for its education system. This has resulted in many of its facilities developing unsustainable expansion patterns. Boswell Elementary was no different, being made up of several 6-classroom additions built over the course of 60 years.

The school was approved for a FEMA safe room addition to the school. Given the lack of planning the layout provided, we were limited in the positioning of the new safe room. The district was interested in taking the opportunity to upgrade the facilities at this building, which was the majority of my involvement in this project.

The existing entrance into the school was an underwhelming experience. As part of the upgrades, I proposed creating a new entry experience, one that would direct students into a new core to the building. A central corridor was cut through the existing library and a classroom to direct students toward the new FEMA safe room, programmed as a new library. With the new space created in the safe room, new spaces were provided to the school where there had only been a series of classrooms before, including breakout spaces, a lounge area, and an informal presentation space.

The space is currently in use for the first full year and has completely transformed the way the students and faculty approach learning.

Open Collaboration & Lounge

Existing Conditions

Renovated Space

Student Works

Urban Library & Startup

Year: 2018

Education: 4th Year

Location: Athens, Greece

Status: Theoretical

During my semester studying abroad in Greece, my studio was tasked with creating a program that would benefit an underserved neighborhood of Metaxourgeio in Athens, Greece. We were given a portion of a 2-block area to redevelop the site in a way that blended well with the building and its program.

It felt necessary that, given the state of the neighborhood, it would benefit from educational resources and a place to help small businessses get a kick start so they could occupy some of the vacant storefronts in the area.

To unify the site and the building, I wanted to find a way to make the building as inviting as possible. I devised the concept of blending the interior and the exterior. The exterior was brought to the interior by cutting away parts of the building and making them transparent. The interior was brought outside by creating a screen wall that wrapped the building’s upper floor and extended beyond the footprint of the building into the site itself. This created a gradient from unprotected exterior, to semi-enclosed exterior space, to fully enclosed interior space.

The site itself was split into two linear axis that spanned across multiple existing features of the site, such as existing businesses and an archeological site. Program elements such as a playground, open gathering space, and an interactive archeological viewing area brought new neighborhood spaces into one centralized space.

Pedestrian Entry Approach

Longitudinal Section

Main Level

Second Level

1. Building Mass

2. Bringing Outside In

Urban Library & Startup

Dry Dock Redevelopment

Year: 2019

Education: 5th Year

Location: Boston, MA

Status: Theoretical

Located in the South Boston Waterfront district, this project was the redevelopment of a dry dock, once used to repair large ships. The district as a whole is a massive area currently being redeveloped from industrial to residential and commercial. This studio tasked us with continuing this trend and developing the dry dock into a public space.

My goal with this project was to create a permanent performance space, one that complimented the existing tent stage directly adjacent to the site. This would be seamlessly interwoven into a park that brought much needed green space into the otherwise concrete district.

All of the park’s activities would be located along a boardwalk with a differing material from the rest of the pavement and landscaping to signify a hierarchy in circulation. This path weaved through the site, ultimately terminating at a lookout point at the end of the dry dock with panoramic views of the Boston skyline. Along the path were a variety of public spaces: an open event lawn, natural landscape area, hardscaped waterfront, and an incline nature walk that also served as the roof of the outdoor performance space.

Elements of the project also needed to be resilient against increasing storm surges due to sea level rise. The main boardwalk was designed to float with the changing sea level, as was the anchored floating stage.

Mainland Boardwalk

Dry Dock Boardwalk

East Boston

Portfolio | Matt Hasek

Natural landscaping: light

Overlook platform

End of pier lookout

Outdoor lounge

Stepped seating to water

Garden

Boardwalk

Boardwalk lookout Commercial development

Natural landscaping: heavy Entry plaza to auditorium

Cross-Site Section

Additional Works

UrbanLab KC

I have had a passion for well-built cities for the majority of my life. As I matured in my understanding of urban design, I became increasingly frustrated with my own inability to effectively verbalize how the built environment could be better as I was frequently met with resistance from colleagues, peers, and family. So as a result, I decided to adapt my ability to simplify complex architectural ideas into easy-to-read graphics showcasing my interpretation of an improved urban environment around me.

UrbanLab KC is the project I started to share these ideas beyond my internal social circle. It became apparent that the general public has an interest in this subject as it quickly gained popularity at an unexpectedly rapid pace. Others reached out and asked if they could get involved, and the project evolved into a group effort to improve the urban environment of Kansas City in our own unique way.

Today, UrbanLab KC focuses on creating digital illustrations of urban improvements while also seeking to educate the general public on Kansas City’s past and how it became what it is today. Our graphics also reach city officials at various levels and have positively influenced some public projects. Recently, we have started working with local community groups, such as the Crossroads Street Trees initiative, to produce graphics that can be used to obtain funding for infrastructure improvements.

We are currently pursuing a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit status.

Textural Photography

A small hobby of mine is to abstract images of textures or patterns, taking them in such a way that the original object is obscured beyond recognition. I find it interesting how such things can become something so entirely different when framed in a slightly different manner.

The images displayed here are abstractions of the following, respectively: exposed beetle tunnels in a tree stump, a newly cut tree, partially cut memorial stones, a screen wall structure, a vaulted ceilling, and a multi-story curtainwall.

Thank you