Mitchell Hoffman Architecture
2. Resume 3. Cincinnati Poetry Center - Over-The-Rhine building that interacts with the community 7. Jr. Olympic Rowing Facility - A study in tectonics and scale for a local training facility 15. Ronald McDonald House Expansion - Co-op with GBBN for the Ronald McDonald House expansion 25. Words and Spaces - Sequential spaces dictated by words and their meanings 29. Mashrabiya Study - Morphosis of culture in architecture
Content
Mitchell Hoffman
University of Cincinnati 2339 StratfordAve, Cincinnati, OH 45219 513-205-3399 Hoffmmf@mail.uc.edu
Architecture
Education
Bachelor of Architectural Science, degree anticipated May 2020 University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio • Current GPA 3.516
Employment
• GBBN architects (Cincinnati) - Co-op during the spring of 2018 working with the community development group. I worked largely on the Ronald McDonald House expansion across from Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati. Work involved, maintaining and developing the Revit model at the Desgin Development level, SketchUp studies relating to the design of certain parts of the building including the overall massing, and research and precedent studies with metal panel systems and then the design of the system. • Forest Tree Service - Five years from 2011-2016 as groundsman; experience in high risk situations running heavy machinery/equipment.
Involvement
• DAAP Student Technology Lab (STL) - Supervising students while using laser cutters and assisting when necessary. - Maintaining 3D printers and starting and stopping prints.
Office
Proficiency
2D 3D
Word Excel Drafting AutoCad Revit Rhino
Render
Adobe
Tech
Rhino Vray Photoshop Illustrator Indesign Laser Cutter 3D Printer Power Tools
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Cincinnati, Over-the-Rhine
Poetry Foundation
Fall 2017
Opening Up to the City With a site located on the corner lot in a high density area with a growing neighborhood in a welcoming community designing a building that embraces and invites the community is the goal. Also realizing the potential of the space to actually advetise the art and events outwards to the people such as a billboard does.
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Identifying the higher traffic areas as to display the building best and to allow the building to open itself up.
From there the building explores lighting qualities through different materials. The iteration below experiments with the idea of fading channel glass. The final design has a perforated mesh on the exterior that acts as a screen from far away but allows people to see through up close. In addition it allows light to pass through in certain areas.
Cincinnati Poetry Center The final result is a building that has a perforated screen that allows light to pass yet is only transparent to the eye from a close distance. In addition a glass front displays the art posters in the staircase and the gallery on the first floor. With a balcony above for viewing on Washington Park across the street.
Educational Project
Jr. Olympic Rowing Facility Summer 2018
XS S M L XL
With the precedent of Rem Koolhaas, and OMA’s book titled XS S M L XL this work focuses on that and how a project develops and evolves as one looks as different scales starting from the site as the XL and working ones way down to the XS being the joining of materials. In addition to this idea of the XL - XS we also studied the use and terminology of tectonics in a reactionary way of how building meets it’s environment and interacts with many factors. Similar to the butterfly effect of how one thing chain reactions into the next.
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XS S M L XL Starting with the XL scale was the site investigation. The intent of the building is to house Cincinnati’s Junior Olympic Rowing team and allow them access to the Licking River which is a tributory to the Ohio River. Major factors of this site are the topography, circulation of both the interstate and the flow of the rowers and park visitors moving in and out, the river itself, and the shading and views from the site. The topography was one of the largest factors of this site because as diagramed above in the lighter yellow/green. There is a large levee that divides our site acting as a wall that helps to control the sound of the interstate but also provides a circuation issue. The river itself is also another key factor for the design of this building. This is because the rowers will be using the river to practice and the physical activity of moving the boats to and from the river is of high priority. A boat house that sits too far from the river or too high will take significantly move effort to transport the boats than one closer. Other factors such and the sound, views, privacy issues and important because this will be a training facility and being related to a gym it’s important to make sure the rowers can be focused on their training yet at the same time having a comfortable and welcoming environment to promote optimum focus and performance.
XS S M L XL
Narrowing down from the Extra-large study to the Large study, I began to look at the building itself and how it interacts with the environment around while decreasing the radius of the site. The model above represents the interaction between the area the rowers will use and the area the general park-goers will be using. The building acts as a bridge between the two, with the roof becoming a green roof/park that connects to the walkway on the top of the levee and allows the park visitors to travel closer to the river without interfiering with the rowers. And the reverse of it is the underneath of the building becomes the usable space for the rowers and allows them direct access to the river. The attempt of this building then becomes a method to allow both groups access to the land and the water with minimizing their direct interaction for the benefit of the rowers.
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The medium piece for in this project actually acted as the crux and true turning point for this project. The concepts below actually came before the large model and played an important role in helping me generate my concept to design the actual tectonics of the building. Looking at the tension of fabric in a certain way to study it’s qualities of light, shadow, and movement and expanding this idea into another method of using tension. What I came up with was using spandex covering a structural famework that would allow me to create a method for dictating walls, windows, and the overall programming of the building.
XS S M L XL
XS S M L XL
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XS S M L XL
As the project began to narrow down to a final concept I continued to progress down the levels to the small scale shown at the right which is a diagramatic model of the building that highlights the structural frame in orange and this plaster armature that I created by used spandex set in tension but that was allowed to drop inbetween the frame and the exterior to create walls and also this spacial difference that is controlled by the amount of plaster, the tension of the spandex, and the openings of the structural frame. From here I proceeded to take this model down to the extra-small scale and look at how these forms that drop down to form the ceiling can actually be used to create deep green roof pockets to support trees and larger bushes. In addition I studied the idea of reversing the tension upwards to actually create skylights by not allowing the plaster to access certain areas. This would then dictate skylights.
Cincinnati Junior Rowing Facility At the end of this project, the final result is an abstracted idea of a building that is starting to be developed by this alien mass acting as the landscape and how it melts onto this structural frame. From this the walls are created that control the views and glazing of the building. In addition it dictates where the green roof pockets will be and also where the skylights will be. And finally it achieves the goal of giving the rowers privacy and giving the park goers access to the river
GBBN Architects Co-op
Ronald McDonald House Spring 2018
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A Massive Expansion for Those in Need With my co-op at GBBN Architects, I worked on a range of projects from the Cincinnati Union Terminal, a new tower going up in downtown Cincinnati, a contest for a new riverfront concert venue, but I was most involved in the Ronald McDonald House expansion. I was involved from the early schematic design phase towards the end of design development. Work ranged from construction and upkeep of the Revit model, design work of the exterior in SketchUp, and floor plan studies and design in AutoCad. *While I worked on the model shown below I did not create the rendering itself.
The Site and the Rational The design of the new Ronald McDonald House expansion will be located an the corner of Burnet Ave. and what will be New Erkenbrecher Ave. as it is being redirected to accommodate the new Childrens Critical Care building that is being built, neighboring the RMH campus. Some of the design factors include creating a visual difference between the six story RMH expansion and the roughly ten story Childrens expansion. Next was to almost hide the view of Childrens from the campus to give those on the campus a moment of relief from the hospital itself. And then lastly and most importantly is to design a building that inspires hope and joy for the parents and the children that are struggling in whatever situation they may be in.
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Shown is three progressing models of the design of the building, from left to right starting with a simple foam massing study then to two 3D printed models that show the development of the design over a few months. Below that is a typical floor plan that shows circulation, amenities, maintenance, and then the bedrooms. The goal with the design is to accommodate as many people as possible onto the RMH campus while still allowing it to be comfortable and accommodating.
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During my co-op at GBBN I worked on many parts of the Ronald McDonald House expansion. The sketch on the upper left is a massing/glazing study of the overall extension. Below that is patterning studies, with the brick and the thought of metal panel in patches. Then the images to the immediate left and the bottom right are plans and perspective drawings of the dinning terrace which is located on the interior courtyard of the complex.
The intent of the interior building was to create a warm and exciting environment for the children staying here. We wanted a design that invoked joy but still had a lighter side to it also, as it was an environment to help kids recover from the hospital and didn’t want to overwhelm them. The shift from the brick front to the metal panel is dictated on the edges meant to resemble the building being carved out to resemble this bright joyful interior piece. Since it isn’t seen by the community as often the metal panel system can be very different from the feel of the community without being out of place. The design of the facade is inspired by the German architecture firm Sauerbruch Hutton, the intent was to mimic the lightheartedness they create shown in the precedent above. With out personal twist on it being these pixelated flowers. There was an interest in the ideas of giving the kids something to imagine similar to how children and adults too will look at the clouds and use their imagination to make the clouds into crazy things. Then the intent became that the kids could look at the metal panels and imagine all the beautiful flowers and nature.
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The rendering above is on the lighter and calmer side of the design. It focuses still on the idea of the pixelated plants and flowers but would cost less and provides a slightly different feel. While the design below works on a slightly brighter pattern involving some more colors such as the terracotta and a few more shades of green and gray.
Ronald McDonald House Expansion While it is still a work in progress, the new expansion to the Ronald McDonald House campus is shown believe in it’s current state in the design process. The metal panel is attempting to abstractively represent plants growing around the playground and coming up the grab some of the windows. Which then leads the eye up even further to see a glimpse of the plants and activities happening on the roof deck above. Also shown is the dining terrace, new canopy structure, and redesigned entrance on the right side of the image. *While I worked on the model shown below I did not create the rendering itself.
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A study of sequential spaces
Words and Spaces
Fall 2017
Experiential Spaces in Sequence This project works as an introduction to creating spaces by using a sequence of five words to determine each space they control and how one moves through these spaces by using the technique of the sectional drawing.
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Focusing on hand drawing and going through multiple iterations of words and what they mean spacially and the result they create. Eventually coming to the words Open, Hidden, Protected Submerged, and Locked Away. Then creating what these spaces mean by using elevation, windows, interior/exterior, and most importantly a screen that runs through the building.
The Creation of Spaces Through Language The final progression of this project involved another iteration of our words and the possible use of different vocabulary terms. I adjusted my words to be Open, Protected, Hidden, Submerged, and Confined. With two examples being Open is represented by it being the door and also the gestural arm of the screen reaching out to the individual. The other example is Hidden and is dictated by being a garden located in the middle of the building, what is not shown is the screening that runs in front of it but is cut off due to the style of a sectional drawing. In addition, to the right is a transverse section that cuts through the declared Submerged section showing the building at it’s peak height at two floors and a basement.
Morphosis of culture in architecture
Mashrabiya Study Fall 2017
The Translation of Culture The development of an Arabic style of design that is transformed and evolved once placed into a new environment. Following the concept of form follows function, by changing the function thus the form changes too, yet keeping the charateristics.
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Taking a self-designed mashrabiya screen composed of a series of different patterns and selecting one that has enough rhythm and movement without becoming overwhelming.
The pattern is then narrowed down to a single unit which goes through another transformation; an evolution at both ends becoming more complex at one end and simplifying itself at another. One is then picked and adjusted one last time before extrusion.
Mashrabiya Art Pavilion The development of an Arabic style of design that is transformed and evolved once placed into a new environment. Following the concept of form follows function, by changing the function thus the form changes too, yet keeping the charateristics.
Thank you for your time Mitchell Hoffman Hoffmmf@mail.uc.edu 513-205-3399 University of Cincinnati DAAP