Undergraduate Portfolio
MICHAEL MEER
CONTENTS
MATERIALS + SPACES
LIGHT + FORM
MOVEMENT + FUNCTION
OBSERVATION + HISTORY
SITE + FLOW
MATERIALS + SPACES
Heath Ceramics Gallery and Warehouse Instructor Dan Clark + Martha Mcquade + Andrew Dull Fall 2012 As a studio focused on material exploration and their limits forming space, the project objective was to design a ceramics gallery and warehouse. Beginning with a simple MDF box form, we broke, cut and altered material, exploring its possibilities and limits. After changing the material to concrete, different qualities and capabilities led to a new box form. Changing to a human scale brought in new spacial qualities and changes. An adjacent warehouse was to be placed on the site, holding a close relationship to the gallery. Working with yet another new material, the fink steel truss, we discovered new limits and conditions. Truss rhythm was inspired by the gallery design and became a basis of the final design.
Experimenting with cutting holes and dividing spaces to form experiential qualities pulled the box through its process toward a building
Working with new truss framing created a much lighter system
A rhythmic spacing of trusses relates back to the gallery rythm
A central beam divides the space into two from above
Storage and cash-wrap spaces extruded out of the main gallery
The two connect through a series of proportions, corner openings and structure formation
The Warehouse allows for a well lit and open workspace which ends at the gallery, where products are displayed.
LIGHT + FORM
Staircase Exploration Instructor John Tapp Fall 2011 Drawing is not only a great way to give character and beauty to an architectural design, but it is also an amazing way to spark discoveries and new experiences. Exploring the qualities of the main Rapson Hall Staircase through drawing led to interesting findings, which would normally go unnoticed. Light and a wrapping form became the focus of this study. With the use light and its physical attraction to the eye, an influence on movement and hierarchy were apparent. The wrapping form of the staircase and upper floor, only enhanced the attraction to light.
When first arriving at the top of the staircase, the square of brightly lit window immediately attracts and draws the user down into the stairwell.
The bright glass wall reflecting off the dark concrete not only creates this hierarchy, but it enhances it as the wrapping form of the stairwell passes by.
From beneath, the hugging second floor frames the view into the contrasting space, pushing attraction toward the well lit corner.
MOVEMENT + FUNCTION
Community Center and Bike Hub Instructor Tom Rankin Spring 2013 The Trastevere neighborhood of Rome is one of great character and contemporary potential, but improvements to function and movement are needed. The connection to the river from this area is lacking. Bikers and runners, escaping dangerous traffic, move along the river, but for more than a mile at a time fail to find access back up to the city. The new site proposal calls for a new biking and community gathering hub along the river to rejuvenate the river connection. Bikers coming from the city can pass through and down to the river or stop and buy parts or tune up their ride. Community gatherers can come to the local market to purchase daily goods, can visit to bike center to learn more of biking, lay out on the river side plaza or green space or even enjoy their coffee break.
Each level of the program calls for different issues while ramp, stairways and amphitheater access connect the three levels to each other efficiently.
Vehicle transportation
Biker Access
Pedestrian Access
The first floor bike shop and mechanic attract bikers and encourage this sustainable form of transportation.
The new proposal allows for bikers and community visitors to gather and/or pass through, from the neighborhood to the riverside.
The building is sunken down to the river side, but a glass structure pokes up into the above plaza to help draw people down into the design
The main entrance opens off a series of staircases and ramps down to the lake, as well as an outdoor patio for coffee shop users.
SITE + HISTORY On-site Sketching Spring 2013
Rome, Italy is truly a one of a kind city, which feeds off its history and unique palencest. While studying abroad in Rome, I took time away from classes to visit, sketch and observe various sites throughout the city. Each of these places, along with others, have contributed vast amounts of architectural ideas, which still influence contemporary building. The Colosseum was the cornerstone of my home neighborhood. It is truly a marvel of ancient architecture, making use of the Roman cornerstone, the arch, as its main structural element. Its unimaginable survival over time has made it a great example of the oldest layers of roman construction.
Piazza Repubblica is a great display of palencest as it is filled with construction of all time periods.
St. Peter’s and its grand square creates a feeling of arms hugging you into the square and towards the basilica.
SITE + LAYERS
Lake Calhoun Community Pavilion Instructor Aaron Amosson Fall 2013 Inspired by the layers and their interactions on the site, the design melds into the flat landscape through emerging roof planes, overlapping of materials, and interweaving of building and site programs. The site’s often unnoticed layers, and their interactions became a way create a strong connection between site and building. The building forms extrudes from the ground and flows along the site, much like these layers do. Unique layer interactions led to interesting ways of making programs and their elements interweave.
The organization and extrusion of spaces are derived from the layer qualities of the site in order to make the design meld into the site..
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Not only does the building flow with the site, but other landscaping elements such as tree lines, natural foliage and gravel pathways help the site meld more towards the building.
The forms of the building programs allow the design to fit into the site without taking away green-space or interfering with sire movement
This section reveals the mixture of interior and exterior occupancy and their different levels, cutting through the bike workshop, pathways and outdoor green-space.
The bike path cuts through thee design as exterior gathering spaces emerge from ground to roof levels.
The various materials differentiate program uses, while mimicking interactions by site layers.
Trees emerging through the wood decking display detailed layer interaction, while the dock flows down to the water both to incorporate the water into the design