Michael Charters Portfolio by Michael Charters

Michael Charters

Architect / Designer

Projects

2011-2019

Michael Charters AIA, LEED AP BD+C Registered Architect, Illinois

About

Education

Practice

Meaningful architecture is the result of a team effort that interprets history, code, material properties, and processes not as obstacles, but allies in design. My education and professional experience reflect a belief in the importance of balancing research, design, and technical pursuits. I also affirm our planet is in crisis and architects have the professional capacity to make a difference.

Harvard Graduate School of Design

SOM / Chicago

MArch II 2016

2019- Present

Harvard GSD Fabrication Lab 3D Printing Technician 2014-2016

After attending graduate school in Boston and working for three years in Los Angeles, I came to realize Chicago is the city I love and permanently returned with a desire to engage in local work.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Projects: Commercial Office, Planning Experience: Pushed “The 78” through a development milestone with Related Midwest, was an integral part of a competition team winning the Central Place Sydney project during the Covid pandemic. SD

Skills

Hearst Lecture Series TA 2009

Revit Rhino Rendering in Enscape and Maxwell Adobe Creative Suite Bluebeam Procore Project Management Model Fabrication Furniture Fabrication Communication by Sketch

BArch 2010

Danish Institute for Study Abroad 1 Year Copenhagen Residency 2008-2009

PSMJ: Project Management Training 2018

Two-Day Project Management Boot Camp for Architects and Engineers in San Francisco

Community 2019-2020: ACE Mentor Program of America, Architecture Mentor

Competitions

2020: UT Austin First Year Studio Review, Instructor: Joshua Smith

Ignite: Thompson Center Ideas Competition

2019: IIT Planning Studio Review, Instructors: Phil Enquist, Martin Felsen 2019: SVUSD 5th/6th Grade STEM Invention Challenge: Judge 2018: Melinda Heights Elementary 4th STEM Invention Challenge: Coach 2017: USC First Year Studio Review Instructor: Erin Cuevas 2013: Rebuilding Together: Chicago, South Bend 2013: Chicago Design League: SOM Team Manager (16” Softball) 2012: Chicago Marathon Finisher

Organizer’s Choice Award 2021

CAF Center for Architecture and Design Competition First Place 2015

eVolo Skyscraper Competition Honorable Mention 2013

Architectural Associate

Khal Khaireddin Architects / Los Angeles Project Architect / Manager 2016-2019

Projects: Multi-Family Residential, Co-Living, Remodels, Furniture Experience: Proposals, Staffing, Development Entitlements, Plan Check, Permitting, Consultant Coordination, Client Presentations, Local Review Board Presentations, SD, DD, CD, CA

William Rawn Associates / Boston Architectural Designer 2015 May-August

Projects: Theater, Student Housing, Research Experience: Pre-Concept, Planning, Consultant Coordination, SD, CD

SOM / Chicago

Architectural Professional 2011-2014

Projects: Healthcare, High-rise Residential, Museum, Research Experience: Competitions, Rendering, Model Building, Planning, Consultant Coordination, SD, DD, CD, CA

SOM / San Francisco Architectural Assistant 2010-2011

Projects: Courthouse, Theater, Tech Company Headquarters Experience: Competitions, Rendering, Model Building, SD

Projects 01

Hoop House

Unveiled

The Christ Hospital

Big Wood

National Railroad Hall of Fame

The Maplewood

Santa Monica Co-Living

Re-engaging the Future

Design Miami

Tianqiao Performing Arts Center

R+D Production Campus

Project List / Furniture

Harvard GSD / David Adjaye Option Studio

CAF CHIDesign Competition

SOM Chicago

eVolo Skyscraper Competition

SOM Chicago

Khal Khaireddin Architects

Harvard GSD / Thesis with Florian Idenburg

Harvard GSD Student Competition: Art Show Entry Pavilion

SOM San Francisco

Leisure Projects

Hoop House

Harvard GSD / David Adjaye and Theaster Gates Option Studio 21st Century Architecture of Africa and the Diaspora Housing Prototype and Master Plan Johannesburg, South Africa 2014

The post-apartheid South African Constitution is one of the most progressive in the world, mandating the right to housing for all of its citizens. The Reconstruction and Development Program was created in response to past oppression in an attempt to rebuild an economically and racially divided country. Despite well intentioned efforts, the new developments often recall their problematic predecessors. This project proposes a critique of current RDP housing through the creation of an alternative development generated around actual patterns of use. Housing hoops are generated from a hexagonal grid with wedged lots to inform the direction of informal growth. While building at the second level is encouraged, owners have the choice of using their remaining lot for additional structures or cultivating a garden. The enclosure of the hoops create an intimate landscape feature which contrasts the street life on the other side. In section, the landscaped berm replaces the pervasive South African fence, defining ownership while providing privacy. The hoops nest together to form a tapestry of communities with blurred divisions identified by ground conditions. The project site is adjacent to Soccer City where the 2010 world cup was held, just south of the mining belt and surrounded by a wide range of housing types and economic levels. In contrast with other RDP developments, the site provides ample opportunity to its residents in it’s adjacency to the under-utilized world cup transit infrastructure and close proximity to the city center.

Johannesburg Subsidized Housing

Roodekrans Wealthy Single Family

Roodeport Original Mining Settlement

Doornkop

Lenasia Original vs. Added

1953 Sub-Sub Economic Housing DM Calderwood

1953 Sub Economic Housing DM Calderwood

Honeydew Ridge Gated Community Duplexes

Cosmo City Mixed Income Social Housing

Cosmo City Original vs. Added

1953 Economic Housing DM Calderwood

Bram Fischerville Original vs. Added

Thulani Informal Settlement (To Be “Formalized”)

Meadowlands Original vs. Added

2005 Subsidized Housing Cosmo City

Zandspruit Informal Settlement (To Be Dismantled)

Thulani Original vs. Added

2005 Market Housing Cosmo City

The urban organization emanates from the individual housing units splayed at 15 degrees. By sharing infrastructure and guiding the direction of informal growth, residents are empowered with more usable open space for additions and gardens. The precast concrete infrastructure enables safe, second story additions, increasing density to meet a dire housing need. The organization also ensures clear passage and access for life-safety vehicles.

1. Aluminum roof panels 2. Extruded aluminum rafters 3. Clerestory window panels 4. Shared external stair 5. Services built into panels 6. Light construction infill panels 7. Infrastructural Framework: Precast concrete structural panels 8. Grey water retention

4 5

7 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Cross section through landscaped hoop

Level 2 Additions Ground Level Additions Housing Infrastructure Landscape Berm Tertiary Roads Garden Plots Hexagonal Grid

The landscaped hoops aggregate to form a loose tapestry of housing and green space, reinforcing community and street life while maintaining a sense of one’s property ownership-- without the infamous fence lines.

Unveiled

Chicago Architecture Foundation CHIDESIGN Competition 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial First Place Center for Architecture and Design Education Chicago, IL 2015

Experience:

For whom is it built? Unveiled proposes a new type of building for Chicago’s storied skyline; it celebrates novel building technologies that allow for inventive architectural opportunities, defining a place that serves not only the designers and students who use it each day, but the public as well by opening up generously to the city.

The project is structured by a fundamental architectural element— the arch. The vaulted arch combines both column and beam, wall and ceiling, and in doing so, begins an important dialogue with the steel-framed, glass towers by which it is surrounded. The vaults that compose the building are diverse in size and organization, providing unique spaces with dramatically different affects of intimacy and congregation.

The sculpted form of the building is shrouded by a terracotta veil, alluding to the nuanced craftsmanship and detail adorning many of Chicago’s quintessential buildings. Programmatically, the building is organized to encourage a gradient of interaction, clustering the larger, shared elements like theaters, workshops, and event spaces at the heart of the project. The tower tapers up and down from the central hub to more intimate and discrete program spaces.

The building is capped above and below with prominent public spaces including retail, an auditorium, cafés, and galleries, affording the best views and experiences to all who encounter the building. Team: Michael Charters, Ranjit Korah + Featured in an exhibition in the 224 South Michigan lobby (Chicago Architecture Foundation) throughout the first Chicago Architecture Biennial

Independent Program

Shared Program

Independent Program

Chicago Architecture Foundation + CTBUH Design and Allied Arts High School Out-of-School Youth Programs

Chicago City Model Mezzanine and Skyscraper Exhibit

Garden Terraces Galleries Cafeteria Culinary Center

Learning Spaces The Schoolyard

Elevator for Students and Employees Locker Rooms Theater

Stage Gymnasium Administrative Offices Temporary Exhibitions Design Studios Teen Workshops

Cafe

Building Support Elevator for the Public

Tickets, Gift Shop Public Living Room Cafe

The Chicago Model: Understanding the importance of the Chicago City Model, we’ve placed it at the top of the Center for Architecture, Design and Education. Visitors can now survey the city along with the 1:50 physical model and the skyscraper exhibit found directly below. The 500 foot high model platform offers a perch among adjacent buildings; a unique perspective contrasting the satellite views from the Hancock and Willis Tower observatories.

The School Yard: The school is organized into design studios in which the pedagogy extends beyond the arts. Assignments are project based, fostering creative thinking and informal collaboration amongst students. Conference rooms, technology labs and maker spaces are arranged opposite the studios, affording direct visual contact to the activity going on in each. The terraced structure and communicative stairs create a landscape of chance encounter and privacy.

The School Yard

The Christ Hospital Joint and Spine Center SOM / Chicago

Bed Tower and Parking Garage Cincinnati, OH 2012-2014

The Christ Hospital is a non-profit organization established in 1889. Having outgrown their historic brick campus, they went to SOM in 2011 for a 380,000 square foot expansion. Services for the project include master-planning, architectural design, interior design, graphics and construction administration. The masterplan reconfigured the hospital entry, creating a new north-south vehicular connection through the campus. Additionally, it added a new bed tower, central plant, and parking garage with a retail liner. The new bed tower contains physician offices, surgery suites, 90 patient beds, and two roof gardens. I joined the project team in the design development phase and was tasked with developing the exterior wall and seeing it through construction. Using Revit, I created parametric wall system families to be continuously updated throughout the process. I reviewed all exterior wall system shop drawings and mock-ups (Precast, Precast with thin brick, Curtain Wall, Storefront, and Metal Panel).

Drop-off canopy designed, documented, structurally coordinated, and reviewed by Michael Charters

Top: New hospital entry sitting atop mount auburn acts as the public face of the campus and can be seen from Cincinnati’s downtown. Patient floor waiting areas are located within the lantern element which is illuminated at night, marking the public entry. Right: The campus master plan highlighting the new work performed by SOM. The main focus of the master-plan was connecting the hospital’s scattered, incremental expansion over the past few decades. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

JSC - Bed Tower JSC - Surgery and Office Podium Concourse Auburn Street Parking Garage Materials Management Building

1 2

South Concourse

Auburn Street Garage

Level 1 Healing Garden

LEVEL 4

1’-6”

8’-6”

14’-0”

5’-6”

LEVEL 5

Top: Typical exterior wall system for a patient room bay. Sunshades are spaced to ensure views from a standing or seated position are not blocked. Below: The sun shading system on the south facade of the building reduces solar heat gain while bouncing light deep into the floor plate. The central corridor has dispersed nursing service spaces, and frosted glass partitions to harvest light from the patient rooms. All drawings and images by Michael Charters

2’-1/2”

6’-2 1/2”

6’-2 1/2” 18’-5”

1’-11”

2’-1/2”

CONTROL.

SOUTH FACADE

NO SHADING

AVERAGE DAILY RADIATION:

2025.687 Wh/m2

[PER BAY]

CONTROL

OPTION 4.

SOUTH FACADE

PURPOSED SHADING 14” LIGHT SHELVES

OPTION 4.

SOUTH FACADE

PURPOSED SHADING 14” LIGHT SHELVES

AVERAGE DAILY RADIATION:

41%

1177.267 Wh/m2

REDUCTION FROM CONTROL ANNUALLY

CONTROL 0%

Ecotect studies were executed for eight different sun shade schemes to find an optimal balance between performance and aesthetics.

Typical patient floor corridor, dispersed nurse servers allow ample natural light into the corridor.

100% OPTION 4

[PER BAY]

59%

Big Wood eVolo Skyscraper Competition Honorable Mention

Mixed-Use Tower / Mass Timber Prototype Chicago, IL 2013

The high-rise is tired. The birth of the skyscraper fueled rapid technological innovation, tempered by an establishment of standards and a surplus of cheap resources. This complacency has fostered a half century of incremental changes, optimizing existing structural systems in service of achieving greater heights. Concurrently, mounting data renders an irrefutable understanding of the detrimental impact our urban developments have on the natural environment. Sited in Chicago’s South Loop, Big Wood builds on Michael Green’s research as a prototype in mass timber construction, showcasing a new structural system for carbon neutral development. Recent studies have proven the success of 20-30 story mass timber structures with the potential to go higher using hybridized systems. The studies have also shown mass timber structures to drastically reduce carbon emissions without sacrificing economy or life-safety standards. The program includes a mixed-use university complex consisting of a library/media hub, three housing types, retail, sports complex, parking, park and community garden.

Mass timber construction sequesters large amounts of carbon, transforming the project site into a carbon sink.

Temporary tree farms can be used to clean up vacant urban brown fields, trees take 8-12 years to reach maturity.

Air Solid Pollution Waste

Resource Energy Use Usage

Water Pollution

The ongoing height race coincides with increased carbon output.

View of community garden and public plaza. Looking North on Wells Street, Southeast corner of the site.

Mass timber construction, engineered wood members are used for all structural building components. Tower is laterally braced by a bundled tube arrangement similar to sears tower.

National Railroad Hall of Fame SOM / Chicago

Museum, Observation Tower and Park Galesburg, IL 2014

The project consists of a series of weathered-steel clad volumes, each with a distinct program. The main portion — its form inspired by turn-of-the-century rail roundhouses — will contain exhibits that tell the story of freight rail in the United States, from showcasing technical innovations to profiling the people who made it happen. Adjacent to the museum, a rectilinear volume will house an active rail station, and a seven-story tower will provide sweeping views of the city’s two active BNSF freight lines and the classification yard to the south. Trains passing under an open-air bridge on the site will enable visitors to feel the thrill of moving trains. (SOM) A small project team for architectural design and site planning afforded me frequent communication with the landscape design team (Tom Leader Studio), exhibit designers (BRC), and the client. The project began with a deep analysis of the town and its historic relationship to the railroad corridor and near by rail yard. One focus of the new museum is to provide a new town center for public events, much of the master pIan aims to engage neighboring businesses and establish multi-use spaces. Working with the client and the design team, I developed several design concepts and worked with a cost consultant for estimates. I remained with the project through the completion of a 100% concept design package for fund raising.

Completed Site Aerial

Site Plan and Section in collaboration with Tom Leader Studio:

Ground Level

Roundhouse

Central Hall

Level 2 Galleries

Turntable

The Maplewood Khal Khaireddin Architects 24 Unit TOC Multi-Family Housing Los Angeles, CA 2017-2019

The Maplewood is a developer-driven project that delivers a cost-effective and timeless design through the use of lasting materials and clean lines. The building is anchored with a board-formed concrete parking podium, softened by native landscaping. Horizontal striations in the concrete reach toward the street to create a planter which collects on-site runoff for natural filtration and redistribution. A navy plaster and ceramic tile volume rests above the podium containing twenty four housing units punctuated by frosted glass and steel balconies. Generous street facing windows provide northern views to the Hollywood sign and ambient light with casement openings to animate the facade and engage the neighborhood below. Visitors and tenants are greeted by a unique lobby space featuring an infinity lighting baffle to establish a sense of place and expand the perceived area. A fifth level courtyard with an intimate landscape over Ipe decking serves as a serene retreat for residents. The project is one of the first participants in the Los Angeles Transit Oriented Communities affordable housing incentive program. It is currently under construction and scheduled for completion in 2019. I led the project team from SD through CA.

Lobby Cross Section:

Lobby

Adolf Loos American Bar

The Maplewood

Level 2 Framing (4 Levels of Type V Construction over 1 Level of Type I)

Khal: K2A Principal

Kathy: Ketter Construction Project Manager

Kevin: Ketter Construction Project Engineer Drone Shot: Post-Tensioned Tendon Layout

Establishing Form Liner Standards

Form Liner (VE Solution)

Corner Detail

Santa Monica Co-Living Khal Khaireddin Architects

Multi-family Remodels to Co-Living Suites Santa Monica, CA 2016-2018

Courtyard at 10th Street A Remodel

Responding to the growing housing crisis in Los Angeles, we worked with a developer to remodel 1960’s “Dingbat” style buildings with tuck-under parking to replace unaffordable, two and three bedroom units with co-living micro units sharing a kitchen. While the interiors received new layouts and finishes, the exteriors were updated to reinforce building identity and provide socially encouraging outdoor common spaces. Most projects started with a soft-story retrofit in the form of a steel moment frame at the parking area to laterally support the existing structure. Since every suite has its own fan coil unit, wet bar, entertainment media, and bathroom, every project required constant coordination with MEP consultants. Working with remodels also meant surprises in the field calling for a close working relationship with the contractor. I led the Yale Street, 10th Street, and 12th Street remodels, running them through plan check and presenting the designs to the City of Santa Monica Architectural Review Board. The client was also heavily involved in the projects, requiring frequent communication and presentations.

Yale Street Trellis

Yale Street Courtyard

Yale Street

Yale Street Wet Bar

10th Street B New East Elevation

Yale Street Sleeping Area

10th Street B New South Elevation

Existing Massing

10th Street B Existing Layout / Level 2 Demo Floor Plan

New Massing New curved balconies used to unify side yard space.

10th Street B Level 2 New Floor Plan

Yale Street Sitting Room

Yale Street Shower

10th Street B New West Elevation

10th Street B New North Elevation

Suite 5

Garage

Suite 1 Corridor

Common Kitchen

Suite 4

Suite 6 Suite 2 Suite 3

10th Street B Co-Living Unit Level 1

10th Street B Co-Living Unit Level 2

We no longer say yes, instead we say affirmative:

Re-enaging the Future Harvard GSD Thesis / Advisor: Florian Idenburg Thesis: Architectural Framework Chicago, IL Spring 2016

There was a time when architecture was aggressively optimistic. Industrialization of the western world inflated urban populations, demanding design solutions on an unprecedented scale. Inspired by the possibilities of new technology and driven by a divine ego, architects strove to eclipse the needs of the time, envisioning cities to engender political, social, and technological perfection. Skies replaced highways, agriculture flourished, buildings walked, and borders yielded to a continuous network of equality and play-- architecture was the medium. The current state of architecture is markedly different. Three hundred years of visionary proposals reveal a single consensus: the impossibility of designing the future. Prediction models using post-rationalized historic data and human intuition are inherently biased, rendering a collective inability to anticipate events of severe consequence. In response, Architecture seems to be waiting for answers from other fields with little or no interest in participating in the conversations of tomorrow. Once an inspiring accomplice, technology is type-cast for geometric manipulation and formal optimization. Architecture’s assumed professional advocate has catalyzed a zero-sum practice, resulting in commodified islands of work incapable of conceptually penetrating site boundaries. Meanwhile, academic discourse has split between self-referential dialogue at the cost of societal relevance and humanitarianism offering one-off solutions as mere vehicles to build. Despite a history of visionary design failures, the present is a collection of fragments from past futures. Sincere engagement with the future is an inherently social and political act requiring architects to communicate outside of their academic and professional spheres. The Third Industrial Revolution is upon us, promising consequential change to the built environment with or without architects. By designing through multiple scenarios in parallel, architects can avoid the failed model of singular blind predictions while aspiring towards a future-proof architecture (and profession) of lasting value.

b.1973

b.2016

b.1931

A Brief History of the Future

Engaging the Future

GUTENBERG PRINTING PRESS 1440

DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD

GOD CENTERED TO HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT

FIRST INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 1760-1840

While architects have an extensive history of designing the future, it wasn’t until the Renaissance that the culmination of the printing press, discovery of the new world, and a shift from a god-centered society to one focused on human achievement that we shifted to the assumption of technological advancement we have today. The events set the stage for the industrial revolution bringing rapid technological advancement to the forefront of public imagination.

IDEAS

REPRESENTATION

Architects engage in two ways: ideas and representation. Proposals of continued relevance tend to work within a gradient between the two. Ideas, were disseminated through individual manifestos or exhibitions by design collectives. The proposals tend to be systematic and solution oriented. Representation serves as an emotional vehicle, presenting what could be as a call to action or critical warning. Ambivalence leaves room for interpretation.

Why we can’t see the Future If architects were once revered as stewards of public progress; what went wrong? Architecture’s current disengagement with designing the future can be attributed to three challenges...

The first challenge is Black Swan events. Hundreds of years of failed attempts have proved the impossibility of predicting the future. Unforeseeable events of severe consequence such as WWI or the Internet change the course of history without warning.

The second challenge is the speed of architecture. Past predictions of the future relied on slow, ideological change which generally kept pace with the advancement of technology. With an ever increasing speed of technological and cultural progress, architecture as traditionally practiced, has become too slow for our time.

The third is a capitalist shift in the 1970’s which eliminated public spending on architecture, ushering in the era of the corporate icon. The shift fractured the discipline into academic and economic thinking.

Where that’s left us

With little opportunity to execute, intellectuals retreated to insular academic circles, transforming ideas and representation to representation as idea. The current academic environment is the logical continuation of this trend.

Escapism through axonometric nostalgia and fictional narratives are an encompassing theme. Objects are taxonomized as self-referential ideas, divorced from a larger contextual ambition while decline in the profession is accepted as inevitable and outside of institutional control.

But still, the Future is coming... Regardless of these challenges, the third industrial revolution is underway, completing a real time loop between data and the physical world. The built environment will be impacted, with or without architects.

Chicago’s Past Futures

World’s Columbian Exhibition

Burnham’s Chicago Plan

Chicago High Rise Part I

AUTHENTICITY

Chicago High Rise Part II

ADAPTABILITY

While permanence is authentic, it is often at odds with flexibility. An architecture of perpetual value must straddle between the two.

Central Post Office 1931

Sears Tower 1973

A Future-Proof Architecture is:

not

Counter to most cliches of the future, it is an architecture of seams and assemblies. Smooth, monocoque languages ensure immediate obsolescence. Building technologies must remain autonomous from the primary structure.

PERMANENT

Main Structure

SubStructure

not

It is an architecture which accommodates a progression of diverse lifestyles. It is not, an authoritative social curator.

The project acts as an armature for adaptation with a permanent identity. Technology is independent from structure, accommodating change as necessary.

Architectural Parameters The permanent structure is scaled for ample natural light. It is double-height to accommodate programs of varying floor to floor requirements. Depending on the use of a full or half bay, the building can accommodate many uses within a single entity. Housing requires a half bay, double loaded, while most other uses require the full width. The architectural toolkit can be executed through a variety of buildings types. An enclosed, circular plan is selected for an identity of completion and permanence.

25’ X

65’ - 75’ DWELLING: HALF BAY

OTHER: FULL BAY

Vertical Circulation

M.E.P./ Comm.

Furniture/ Partitions

PERMANENT

Facade/ Envelope

Half Bay: Co-Living

Full Bay: Interactive Media

Half Bay: Assisted Living

Full Bay: Manufacturing

Half Bay: Private Residence

Full Bay: Lab

Open Floors: Informal Living

Full Bay: Open Office

Combining the facade and structural system ensures a permanent identity. Stacked precast frames are faced with translucent concrete membranes embedded with glass fibers. The shifting panels and asymmetrical form offer a different reading from all directions.

Sample Floor Plan: Living

Sample Floor Plan: Production

Site Plan: At three million square feet, the project falls between the post office and Sears tower in scale. A minimal footprint allows for penetration of infrastructure and ecologies.

N-S Cross Section

625

600

575

550

525

500

475

450

425

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375

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325

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100

Form work and reinforcing pre-pour. Chip, plex, dowels, wire, plywood

Metal mesh for tensile strength. Facade panel texture achieved by layering 3 pieces of curved, cut plex.

Base post-pour. Center plug beyond

Final Model Hydrocal Concrete, Walnut and Mirrored Acrylic Base

Bifocal explores the boundary between image and experience by embodying both. Bifocal transitions from an aggregated mass on approach to a tactile and immersive environment from within. The pavilion imagines a field of verticals that produce a playful environment for the visitor while serving as an armature onto which the fair’s brand is displayed. Through the technique of anamorphosis, a billboard scale Design Miami/ insignia is read from the vantage of the visitor approaching the pavilion from the neighboring convention center. The sign is produced by digitally routing an intricate pattern, inspired by the Harvard Graduate School of Design logo, into a field of wood verticals at precise locations. The reliefs, painted a highly visible color, fall into alignment as the visitor approaches the pavilion, revealing the Design Miami sign and framing the perfect selfie moment. Conceptualized as prepared dimensional lumber, the verticals are organized into a gridded field elegantly displaced by a circular fore court at the heart of the pavilion. The fore court, defined by an increased density of verticals, creates a void for congregation.

Design Miami Harvard GSD Student Design Competition

Art Show Entry Pavilion and Branding Miami, FL 2015

Floor Plan

The perimeter of the fore court reads as a fuzzy cylinder from outside the pavilion, blurring the boundaries between solid and void, inviting further investigation by the visitor. The fore court is lined by a circular bench, inviting guests to stay and have intimate conversation. The pavilion is constructed with simple materials and details to ensure feasibility and cost effectiveness. Each vertical is a standard 2x4 or 4x4, mounted to a wood framed base, weighted with sand bags or concrete. The top surface of each base is clad with mirrored acrylic to enhance the atmosphere, extending the verticality of the wood members. The bases vary in height to define circulation and serve as seating throughout the pavilion. The Graduate School of Design projects are displayed within weather-tight acrylic volumes which vertically extrude the envelope of selected bases. The crystalline volumes are lit from within, emitting a soft glow at night. Team: Michael Charters, Mike Johnson, Ranjit Korah, Joshua Smith

North Elevation

East / West Section

Tianqiao Performing Arts Center SOM / San Francisco

Performing Arts Complex Beijing, China 2011

ROOF

HALL

BASE

Building Concept: The traditional 3-tiered temple structure represents the relationship between the heavens, the earth, and humankind. The architectural form is a contemporary interpretation of the traditional organization. Diagrams by Michael Charters

Program Diagram

The new performing arts center is sited on Beijing’s central axis in the Tianqiao Performing Arts District, re-establishing it as the cultural center of the city. Adjacent to the project is the Temple of Heaven world heritage site, calling for an increased design sensitivity and strict height limitations. The project contains multiple theater types of varying sizes, inviting a wide range of performances to the venue. The new theater complex is divided into two parcels by Beiwei Road. The south parcel is referred to as the “Modern Theater” site, featuring an 1800 seat multipurpose hall, 800 seat hall, and 450 seat flex theater while the north parcel is referred to as the “Traditional Theater” site featuring a 650 seat hall for Peking Opera and a 250 seat teahouse theater. The north parcel is also served by a retail and movie complex. I contributed as a team member in the design of one of two schemes. The scheme I worked on nested the theater volumes within a strata of floating planes. As a result, free flowing public functions and lobby spaces surrounded the volumes, providing views to the historic site as well as adjacent plazas.

Looking North on Tianqiao Road at the theater drop-off. Image by Crystal CG, edited by Michael Charters

Ticketing and event plaza in front of the main hall. Image by Crystal CG, edited by Michael Charters

Final Model created by a professional consultant. Model Preparation: Assembling part templates, material selection and general coordination with the model maker performed by Michael Charters

Modern Theater - Ground Level Plan Drawings by Michael Charters

Modern Theater - Longitudinal Section

Ticketing and event plaza aerial, landscape terraces down to lower levels as a means of satisfying height requirements. Image by Crystal CG, edited by Michael Charters

Traditional Theater - Ground Level Plan

Traditional Theater - Longitudinal Section

R+D Production Campus SOM / San Francisco Technology Headquarters Suzhou, China 2011

Sited on the Wusong River in Suzhou, this research and production facility will serve as the flagship headquarters for one of China’s largest hightech innovation companies. The designs for the facility are the result of an invited competition for which I was a member of the design team. We worked with Tom Leader Studio in developing three separate schemes as requested by the client. The schemes

take distinct approaches for the integration of landscape with the architectural massing. The program requires 690,600 square meters of enclosed R&D, cafeteria, and office spaces spread over a 100 acre site. The immense size of the program poses a difficult challenge in creating an interconnected and accessible campus of a humane scale. I contributed to the spine scheme which branches

Two Islands: The island scheme brings the river into the site, dividing the lab program into two separate forms. The two donuts enclose gardens of different character and are bridged by a VIP reception and showroom element.

labs off of a central circulation concourse, creating hubs of activity and collaboration at the intersections. The laboratory fingers are situated for an optimal East-West solar orientation, bringing natural light into a central atrium in each unit. Landscape micro-gardens are pulled between the fingers, creating an individualized character and offering visual relief to each lab building.

Tasks: Schematic design, 3d modeling, physical modeling, drawings, diagrams, presentation material. *I contributed to all of the material for the spine scheme (design, drawings, diagrams, and digital modeling), but moved to the Chicago office just before the final presentation. All final images were completed by Crystal CG or SOM team members.

Courtyards: The courtyard scheme interlocks two laboratory U forms and places shared non-laboratory functions in the central open space. The resulting landscape weaves continuously between the buildings.

Site Plan: 100 acre site is located adjacent to the Wusong River, circulation spine runs North to South connecting the varied functions. Landscape is pulled into the lab wings. Plan by Michael Charters, color by SOM Team Member

Basement Plan: The first level basement accomodates bus drop off and parking, MEP space, and the cafeteria kitchen. The second level basement is entirely occupied by employee parking. Plan by Michael Charters, color by SOM Team Member

Lab bars span East-West across the site

Hub: Social stairs connect the lab spaces to conference rooms and subterranean parking at the intersections between the spine and lab bars. Final Image by SOM Team Member

SKIN/ ROOF GARDENS

LABS Typical Lab Block: Closed laboratories face the interior atrium and are shielded from view by frosted glass. Open labs are on the exterior wall with views to the interstitial water gardens.

CAFE/ AMENITIES

Green spaces are inserted into the bars

A North-South spine connects the bars

Floating pavilions are anchored throughout

Project List SOM San Francisco

Huawei R&D Production Campus - Suzhou, China Tianqiao Performing Arts Center - Beijing, China Genentech Campus Master Plan - South San Francisco, CA Mendocino County Courthouse - Ukiah, CA Stanislaus County Courthouse - Modesto, CA Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank - Chongqing, China Poly International Plaza - Beijing, China United States Embassy Annex Office Building - Beijing, China

Private Client

Design for TI fitout of tutoring facility - Danville, CA

SOM Chicago

The National Railroad Hall of Fame - Galesburg, IL Museum of Science and Industry: House of the Future - Chicago, IL Dubai Supertall Housing Study - Dubai, UAE Drexler Innovation Center - Philadelphia, PA The Christ Hospital Joint and Spine Center - Cincinnati, OH Seven Tower Bridge - Conshohocken, PA Barnes Jewish Children’s Hospital Master Plan Competition - St. Louis, MO Huangpu River Master Plan Competition - Shanghai, China

Harvard Graduate School of Design

Option Studio, David Adjaye - Johannesburg, South Africa Option Studio, Florian Idenburg - Austin, TX Option Studio, Johnston Marklee - Chicago, IL Thesis, Florian Idenburg - Chicago, IL

William Rawn Associates

Harvard Business School Expansion Study - Cambridge, MA Tanglewood Learning Institute Feasibility Study - Lenox, MA Northwestern University Lincoln Street Residence Hall- Evanston, IL

Khal Khaireddin Architects

The Maplewood - Los Angeles, CA Camden Street Co-Living - Los Angeles, CA Yale Street Remodel - Santa Monica, CA 12th Street Remodel - Santa Monica, CA 10th Street Remodel - Santa Monica, CA Bommu Residence - Encinitas, CA Office Furniture - Los Angeles, CA

Mentors SOM San Francisco - Sean Ragasa, Michael Duncan SOM Chicago - Andrew Obendorf, Brian Lee William Rawn Associates - Sam Lasky

Reception Desk

Studio... 1 Bedroom

Hypersectional

Play Table Conference Table

Play Table

Conference Table

Modular Shelving Units

Tutoring Facility