Michael Pope | Portfolio 07-10 Washington University in St. Louis | M.Arch Applicant
Michael Pope Introduction Through three and a half years of undergraduate architectural education at Washington University in St. Louis, I have worked on design projects ranging from a simple contemplation space to a 30 acre masterplan. This portfolio highlights some of these projects, as well as work from a summer program at the Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Warren, Vermont, and a six-week study-abroad program in La Paz, Bolivia.
Projects Arch. 111: Introduction to Design Processes 1 Portable Topography Arch. 112: Introduction to Design Processes II Site Analysis + Contemplation Space Arch. 211: Introduction to Design Processes III Shaw Nature Reserve Education Center Arch. 212: Introduction to Design Processes IV Gravois Kindergarten Arch. 311: Architectural Design I Public Pool Facility Arch. 312: Architectural Design II Rethinking Deindustrialized Landscapes Appendix Arch. 320A Architectural Representation I Arch. 320B Architectural Representation II Special Topics in Site and Context: Creating Humanitarian Art and Architecture Yestermorrow Design/Build School Arch. 346 Building Systems I
Arch. 111: Portable Topography
Phase One + Two
This project began with a series of four photographs that became progressively closer to a surface on Delmar Blvd in St. Louis. From the closest of these photos, a line tracing of pencil on vellum was made, exploring the abstract patterns of the photo. From that tracing, a 3D “drawing” was constructed using 1/8”x1/8” basswood. This began to examine the concept of surface. A second line drawing (ink on mylar) then incorporated the original line drawing and images of the 3D model. The next module of the project was to extrapolate from a portion of the 3D model to construct an 18”x24” portable topography out of 1”x2” poplar lumber. Each individual topography was then combined to form a massive group topography. The individual topographies were then documented with one plan and three sections (pencil on bristol).
Using a photo of granite curbing as the backdrop, a series of straight lines were used to explore the abstract patterning of the surface, highlighting the stone’s grain and crystalline structure.
The line drawing was then translated into a three-dimensional surface, reflecting the patterning and complexity of the granite. The surface was then represented on the final line drawing via photo-collage.
A portion of the three-dimensional model was selected and translated into a portable topography, created with 1� x 2� poplar lumber. This was then drawn to emphasize the relationships between two and three-dimensions and the different discoveries in each.
It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious.
Alfred North Whitehead
Arch. 112: Site Analysis + Contemplation Space Wellston Loop
This project was an investigation into site surveillance, analysis, and representation, which began with a site visit to a vacant lot on Martin Luther King Dr. The site was surveyed and then divided into ten equal sections. Each section was then carefully analyzed and 10 linear feet were catalogued by collecting 10 objects that lay along the line. A collaborative site map was created using pencil and photography on bristol which incorporated the accumulated data. Next, five objects were selected and cast in 5�x5�x2.5� plaster blocks. These blocks were then altered via cutting, sanding, or chipping to expose their contents. Once altered, the cubes were set in a wooden drawer, and the whole archive was documented through a pencil drawing on bristol. The final phase of this project was the designing of a 100sq. ft. contemplation space for the site. It was designed to be built out of plywood and two-by-fours and to display the collections of found objects. To direct the design, the drawing of the plaster casts was traced, and the tracings were developed into a spatial design through a series of models. Finally, a sectional model was constructed out of basswood sheets and sticks, and a drawing, combining pencil and collage on bristol was produced.
Site analysis began with an investigative study of an empty lot. Objects were found along a ten foot rope, catalogued, and collected. A site map was then constructed from the information gathered. (Collaborative Mapping: Pope, Keller, Chod)
The found objects, cast in plaster, displayed in the archive drawer, both with the tops on and the tops removed.
Once cast in plaster, the found objects were then drawn in plan, section, and detail. This drawing would be used as the base point for the final project.
The form for the final contemplation space was derived from the section drawing of the cellphone cast. This form was then manipulated and refined to fit the requirements of the program and site.
As site-specificity was essential to the basis of the form, a photorendering shows the completed contemplation space in the empty lot.
Arch. 211: Shaw Nature Reserve Education Center Phases One + Two +Three
The first part of this project an investigation of phenomena. Upon visiting the nature reserve, I was struck by all the different spaces created by light, shadow, topography, vegetation, and trees within the woodlands. To accentuate this, I first made a series of drawings showing these different spaces. Then, I designed a series of simple wooden triangles that would be placed between tree branches. When one looks through one triangle, another becomes visible, and so on, leading the viewer through the different spaces of the woodlands. The second phase of this project was designing an inhabitable space. To create this, I expanded on the original triangle construction concept, placing the triangles between a set of three trees, directly onto the branches and trunks. By using a simple fabric-wall construction, the walls are fully movable, allowing the inhabitants to adapt the space to their individual needs. The final phase of this project was to design an all-weather classroom space for the site. My design centered around louvered walls, a faceted roof, and three hollow triangular columns that supported the structure and provided necessary seating and utility space.
In an attempt to highlight the different spaces found within the forest at the Shaw Nature Reserve, I created a series of photographs, digital manipulations, and hand drawings. These help graphically represent what one can feel when physically in the reserve.
To accentuate the idea of discovering different spaces within the forest, created by light, shadow, terrain, and trees, I devised a system of simple wooden triangles inserted between tree branches. When one happens to discover a triangle and looks through it, another appears in the distance, and so on, leading one through the site to experience all the different spaces. The system of triangles is cyclic and can be explored from any direction.
The next step of the project was to create an inhabitable space in the forest that expanded on the ideas established in the first phase. I continued using triangle construction to define space, this time using them to define the spaces between a set of trees, creating lightweight walls built directly onto the trees that were fully movable, adapting to the spatial needs of the inhabitants.
It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air, that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit. Robert Louis Stevenson
I don’t know why the moon comes up and gets full. I don't know why the sun comes up every morning. Is that God? The tree is more religious, to me, than God. David Lawrence
The final phase of the project again expanded the scope, this time taking the ideas of our inhabitable space and turning them into a classroom in the woods.
Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks. Also learn from holy books and wise people. Everything - even mountains, rivers, plants and trees - should be your teacher. Morihei Ueshiba
You will find something more in woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters. Saint Bernard
Arch. 212: Gravois Kindergarten Motion Analysis + Design Synthesis
This project began with site mapping and human analysis, and then developed into a fully designed kindergarten for an in-fill site in St. Louis. The mapping, done in groups, looked at assorted aspects of our site, ranging from uses to signage, and attempted to show how both adults and children may view the site. The human analysis drawing was based on observation and measurement of children, aged 4-5. These analyses were then synthesized into a building design. Focusing primarily on the movement of a child through space, my design featured faceted floorplates flowing from a stabilized central service core.
4 ft
12 ft Walking | 4 seconds
Motion Analysis | Child Age 5 An analysis of the movements of a child helped to guide both the pedagogical and physical design of my kindergarten. By tracing the lines on her shirt, I was able to see how motion affected not only her, but also the space surrounding her.
4 ft
12 ft Leap | 2 seconds
To further explore the connection of motion to its surroundings, I studied the movement of water in oil. Using these two studies, I began to focus my design on a tectonic that facilitates movement for the children.
From the previous two motion studies, I created a faceted surface that began to incorporate the formal implications of movement into a spatial and architectural element.
The faceted surface became the driving formal regulation for the kindergarten, creating a space that encouraged children to move and explore, and highlighting the effect of their movement on their environment.
Interior renderings of the space begin to give a sense of how the kindergarten encourages movement. Faceted floors, flowing out from a more stationary core, define the building.
If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn. Ignacio Estrada
Arch. 311: Public Pool Facility
Carondelet Park
Sited in the expansive Carondelet Park in St. Louis, this project was an exploration into a large-scale, multi-program building. Charged with the task of designing a neighborhood recreation facility that included a pool, a fitness center, and the assorted support areas needed for these functions, students first had to gain an understanding of longspan structures and the inherent challenges they produce. Consequences of seasonal weather factors, accessibility, and site all had to be considered. Inspired by images of water-filled quarries, my facility encroached on the preexisting, man-made pond at Carondelet like a rock outcropping. The roof hung as a solid volume between the piers of stone, which served not only as support but housed and defined the elements of the program.
Placed along the southwest edge of the pond and nestled into the sloping landscape, the pool structure is comprised of a series of stone volumes and slabs, used to distinguish the various programmatic elements of the project.
The model, made of granite, accentuates the inferred stability of the stone juxtaposed against the fluidity of the water. As the volumes emerge from the hillside out into the water, they spread, creating the space for the pool between them, as if they were simply massive stones defining a section of the pond.
The roof hovers above the pool, suspended between the volumes surrounding it. These volumes hide programmatic elements such a sauna and locker rooms. A simple slit in the monoliths allows an opening to each auxiliary space.
We set so much by our idea of the stability of stone. And when you find that stone itself is actually fluid and liquid, that really undermines my sense of what is here to stay and what isn’t. Andy Goldsworthy
Tectonic sections were used to examine the construction and materiality of the building. A stone facade is supported by concrete walls, while a curtain wall system fills between two piers.
Boulders standing in the water... older than anything already built. Peter Zumthor
Arch. 312: Rethinking Deindustrialized Landscapes Chouteau Avenue
This studio was divided into two parts, the first being a masterplan for a 30 acre deindustrialized site at the intersection of Chouteau Ave. and Jefferson Ave. in St. Louis, and the second being the design of a single project, a new headquarters for the Sheet Metal Workers’ Union, within that site. Students were thus required to move from the scale of the city to the scale of the tectonic detail, confronting issues at each level of design. My approach to the site was two-fold: I wanted to increase the density of the area and provide a gateway from the historic neighborhood south of our site to a proposed greenway to the north. The Sheet Metal Workers’ Union was designed to further facilitate these two goals.
Density Mapping
1908
1950
1932
2010
2020
Upon researching the history of our site, I realized that over the past 100 years, it had gone from being a dense site with mixed scales and mixed uses, to being nearly empty, populated only by massive industrial warehouses, many of which are abandoned. A series of sketch models allowed me to explore ways to rebuild the site through varied densities and green corridors.
Jefferson Chouteau
Density was reintroduced to the site, via new residential, commercial, and cultural buildings. To connect Lafayette Square with Chouteau’s Greenway, I designed a series of green spaces, public paths, and installations that slip through breaks in the streetscape and flow throughout the site as a whole.
A
2
1 B
The Sheet Metal Workers Union itself was integrally tied to the site as a whole. The building is a series of simple volumes, shifted to reveal pathways that run between them and connect to the larger public path system created in the master plan. The building reinforces density on the street while also facilitating and complementing the north-south connection between Lafayette and Chouteau’s Greenway.
Chouteau Ave.
A. West Elevation
1. Section
2. Section
B. South Elevation
Given the site’s industrial history and the client (sheet metal workers), the building reflects a series of manufacturing plants – steel bents, clad with sheet metal and glass curtain walls, some of which are fully operable, allowing the interior and exterior spaces to bleed together.
A constructed perspective view from the north side of the site looking back towards the street shows the multiple volumes of the building and the paths as they slip between.
Public courtyard spaces are framed by the buildings of the new masterplan and the Sheet Metal Workers’ Union. An external steel-frame pergola provides a shaded spot for larger assembly.
A tectonic plan drawing shows some details of materiality, including the steel framing, the glass curtain wall, the pathways lined by gabion walls, and interior stone tiling. A planter, which helps to define the path system, is also highlighted.
The tectonic section further investigates materiality and structure.
The model, with the roofs of the building removed, reveals the rhythm of the structure and the movement of the paths through the complex.
A section model examines materiality, showing the steel bents, the glass doors, the gabion walls, and the path surfaces.
Appendix
Assorted Additional Projects
Arch. 320A Architectural Representation I: I explored new ways of representing my studio projects, including orthographic projections, perspectives, collages, and, as shown here, reliefs. This relief, made of plaster, shows the boundaries on the site of the Public Pool Project.
Arch 320B Architectural Representation II: The project was to take a given bottle, in my case a toilet bowl cleaner bottle, and draw it, first in two dimensions with CAD and then in three dimensions with Rhinoceros. Finally, we had to construct a physical model of the bottle, which I did using a honeycomb construction of the negative space and also by casting it in polyester resin.
11:15-11:45 am 3:00-3:30 pm 6:00-6:30 pm
analysis: market typology | la paz, bolivia
10:30-11:00 am
9:15-9:45 am
8:30-9:00 am
mercado camacho | side one
Special Topics in Site and Context: Creating Humanitarian Art and Architecture: Part of a six-week immersive study abroad program in La Paz, Bolivia, this is one portion of a project analyzing the typology of the street vendor society in hopes of creating an educational kiosk to facilitate unguided learning amongst children who work and live on the streets of La Paz.
Yestermorrow Design/Build: This two week class focused on the basics of the design/build philosophy which was manifested in the construction of a group-designed shed structure for a local elementary school.
Structure
Mechanical | Electrical
Arch. 346 Building Systems I: Pairs examined the various elements of a pre-existing building in St. Louis. A 2D section was first drawn, and then these 3D renderings were produced. (2D Section: Bennett Gale. 3D Renders: Michael Pope)
Thermal Barrier
Composite