OF ARCHITECTURAL WORK

Breadth

MACKENZIE M. SHINNICK

mshinnick3@gatech.edu 850.240.3630

Education

MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE II Georgia Institute of Technology College of Design 2021-2023

BACHELOR OF DESIGN IN ARCHITECTURE University of Florida College of Design, Construction + Planning 2017-2021

MINOR IN SUSTAINABILITY AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT University of Florida College of Design, Construction + Planning 2017-2021

Academic

Experience

SEMESTER STUDY ABROAD - ARCHITECTURE Vicenza, Italy University of Florida Spring 2021

HEAD OF RESEARCH FOR COMMUNITY BUILD INSTALLATION University of Florida Florida League of Architectural Things [F.L.o.A.T.] Plaza de Americas, Gainesville, FL Fall 2019

SECOND-YEAR STUDIO TEACHING ASSISTANT University of Florida Fall 2019

CO-CURRICULAR

MENTORSHIP PROGRAM Georgia Institute of Technology Mentor: Yasser El Masri Spring 2022

INTERN Guy Nordenson + Associates New York, NY Summer 2022

INTERN Sin Luz Ingenieria y Arquitectura SLP Barcelona, Spain Summer 2019

HONORS AWARDS +

PORTMAN PRIZE - FIRST PLACE Georgia Institute of Technology Spring 2022

NILES BOLTON + ASSOCIATES CHAIR FELLOWSHIP Georgia Institute of Technology 2021 -2023

NOMINATION FOR KPF TRAVELING FELLOWSHIP Georgia Institute of Technology 2022

PORTFOLIO COMPETITION - WINNER Georgia Institute of Technology Fall 2022

WORK SELECTED FOR ADV. STUDIO I SoA ARCHIVES Georgia Institute of Technology Fall 2021

WORK SELECTED FOR MEDIA + MODELING III SoA ARCHIVES Georgia Institute of Technology Fall 2021

Activities

INTEGRATED BUILDING SYSTEMS CLUB Georgia Insitute of Technology Fall 2021 - Spring 2022

AIAS - AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS

University of Florida Chapter President [2019-2020] Chapter Treasurer [2018-2019] Active Memeber [2017-2020]

ARCHITECTURE BUILDING GROUP University of Florida Fall 2020

STUDENT BODY REPRESENTATIVE FOR COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN FACULTY SEARCH University of Florida Fall 2020

WORK SELECTED FOR INTEGRATED BUILDING SYSTEMS I SoA ARCHIVES Georgia Institute of Technology Fall 2021

TOP 10 - TWO-YEAR CUMMULATIVE FACULTY REVIEW University of Florida Spring 2019

Skills

RENDERING Lumion KeyShot Photoshop Premiere Pro

AIAS GAINESVILLE SCHOLARSHIP Univeristy of Florida Fall 2019 2D/3D Rhino 3D Revit (some experience) Illustrator InDesign Hand Drafting

FABRICATION 3D Printing Laser Cutting Rebar Bending Welding Soldering Woodwork Architectural Modeling portman prize studio prof. daniel baerlecken spring 2022 mayersville, ms MArch II georgia tech

Cypress

The Mississippi Delta is a charming but threatened place. It is threatened by the persistent forces of nature that mold its landscape; precipitation, intense sun, and heat, but most notably the fluctuating flood levels of a pluvial flood plain. Currently, the community of Mayersville’s flood mitigation strategies involves either fight (using personal pumps and sandbagging flood-prone areas) or flight (evacuating) procedures. This proposal seeks to provide an alternative, more resilient solution to the community of Mayersville and other communities along the Delta to live with the water as opposed to resisting it.

The weight of water pushes down a pressure plate

That force displaces an incompressible liquid (water or oil) through underground pipes

This force is multiplied creating an upward force on the pistonlike central core of the house, thus lifting the houses above the water line

Cross Section

HEARTWOOD [Support system]

SAPWOOD [Transport and storage of water and nutrients]

OUTER BARK [Insulates and protects inner tissue]

Piston Cross Section

REINFORCED CONCRETE COLUMN [Primary structure]

UTILITIES CAVITY [Transport of water, sewage, and electricity]

SPIRAL STAIR [Transport of residents]

EXTERIOR WALL [Wood cladding, insulation and secondary structure] design + research studio I prof. michael murphy fall 2022 drew, mississippi

The southern vernacular housing typology of the ‘porch’ is reimagined in both the house and community center. The mosquito netting mesh provides a delicate layer of enclosure and transparency that form spaces that bleed the boundaries between interior and exterior. Thus, offering places of pause for meditating on the Mississippi landscape. Simultaneously, it protects the interior from direct sunlight and mosquitos. A tensile cable system stabilizes the structure by transferring loads from the top of the piston, to the spanning floors, and back to the center piston.

The community center acts as a threshold between the proposed community and the existing community of Mayersville. It is a beacon - a lighthouse - that brings new residents and visitors. Curious eco-tourists have the potential to make this town a destination and positively influence the economy of Mayersville.

The terraced platforms serve both as community park space in the dry season and adapt to become a parking deck for cars and boats that the new community uses in times of minor and major flood events.

Healing

In Memory of Emmett Till’s Life and Legacy

On August 28th, 1955 a 14-year-old black boy was kidnapped from his great uncle’s home, brutally tortured, and murdered between the four walls of a Barn in Drew, Mississippi. His body was pulled out of the Little Tallahatchie River three days later, so deeply mutilated that only a ring and the eyes of his mother, Mamie Till, were able to identify him. His name was Emmett Till. Mamie’s brave efforts to host an open casket funeral and forge a public trial that ended in an acquittal of his murderers were catalysts for the Civil Right Movement. A memorial to commemorate his life and legacy is long overdue. This project intends to create, not just a memorial, but a landscape of memory that brings awareness to Emmett’s story and its relevance to our current society. A society that continues to threaten the lives and liberty of African Americans.

The Journey Emmett Till 0f

The Barn, as it stands today, resides on a plot of manicured land that has been sewed, planted, and harvested for decades. Its continuous change in ownership has created a veneer of a new landscape that has been tilled over and over covering years of occupied history. However, what the land does not outrightly display are the footprints of slaves who once cultivated the land, the blood of Emmett soaked up by cotton seeds, the tears, the cries, the torture, and the truth. It is the only piece of Emmett Till’s story that remains unmarked - intentionally written out of the narrative and passively forgotten.

The landscape is a stark reflection of the way the South notoriously deals with its dark past. They cover it up, bury it, and neglect to acknowledge its importance in our history. The brutal torture of a 14-yearold black boy named Emmett Till is a wound that has scarred over with time, but without proper acknowledgment has never fully healed. The only way to properly heal a wound is to open it up, cleanse it, and expose it to air. This memorial intends to unearth these truths by reopening the wound that scarred this ground. The journey is choreographed through these methods of opening, cleansing, and healing.

The journey through this memorial begins by entering into the earth, through the layers. A covered bridge leads the visitor to view an aperture in the earth that slowly pulls the ground apart. This is the wound. The visitor is guided to wander through a series of galleries that gradually unfold the story of Emmett Till - from his early years in Argo with his mother, Mamie, to his journey to Mississippi with his great uncle Mose Write, and Wheeler Parker, to the store, to the kidnapping, to the barn, and the trial. As the visitor dives deeper into the details of Emmett’s story, they themselves are opening this wound. Releasing the truth from within the earth.