Nathan Geier Design PORTFOLIO
intent
To contribute my passion of designing that will help me gain knowledge to become a licensed architect. Through this portfolio, I will highlight the skills and tools I possess that will make me a valued member of your team.
Nathan D. Geier 536 N. 140th St. Girard, KS 66743 620.238.0091 ngeier89@gmail.com nathangeier.com
“He is a very capable student, student a natural leader leader, and the hardest worker in a team. He has outstanding character and is extraordinarily generous with his time to classmates... He is a globally aware, socially and environmentally responsible designer and, I think, one of the emerging types of students in our program who will find significant work in their professional careers here and abroad.”
Professors Jim Jones and Dragoslav Simic In reference to my Holstrom Award nomination
Seaton Hall Redesign-Architecture School Mafraq Community Center Deaf Center Campus Master Plan Highland Park Village Library Immaculata Chapel of St. Mary R o a t a n I s l a n d Tr a u m a C e n t e r
Architecture School
Integrated Studio As a third year, I was placed in a group of two fifth years and two third years. From that point, we began working in groups to re-design Seaton Hall in Manhattan, Kansas in to a 21st Century architecture school. My role in the project was equal to that of the fifth year, as it relates to the design process. We were all equal in the group and they listened to design ideas and suggestions I came up with. I was specifically tasked with designing the overall shape of the buildings and circulation flow inside the structure. During the model construction phase I was in charge of cutting and assembling all the interior pieces.
Seaton Hall Redesign
Sun study to increase natural light
Dividing Spaces
Vegetation + studio spaces
Impact of thick walls
Programming Questions: What is your favorite part of Seaton and what do you want to keep? What is wrong with Seaton? How would you compare Seaton to other buildings on campus? Does Seaton do a good job of representing our college? How does a building foster creativity? What are the essentials in a school of Architecture
The main parti incorporates three rectangular boxes, which house all the studios.
The top rendering shows an open, lofted studio on the third oor studios. Glass ceilings, covered with adjustable louvres, help to reduce the amount of artiďŹ cial lighting needed. These oors also have direct access to the green roofs that link the three cells.
The design of this building centers around the grand atrium and the three story volume that is open to it. A balcony wraps around the entire space to promote the centrality of the atrium and feeling of enclosure.
Concept Study
Back Elevation The overall dimensions of the building are organized on a 25 feet bay system. We incorporated existing geometry into the new design by spacing the columns 25 feet apart, making each cell in the new structure 75 feet wide.
First Floor The main public community space is located on the first floor of the building.
Second Floor Studios, faculty offices, and critique rooms.
Third Floor Large atrium, studios, lofted studios, critique rooms, outdoor spaces.
Community Center
Mafraq Community Center Internship Project The Mafraq Community Center is located in the middle-east country of Jordan and was designed while I was an intern at International Design & Development, Cairo, Egypt. A group of engineers, architects, and I traveled to Mafraq, Jordan where we spent a week and a half working rapidly through the design process, analyzing the site ane client’s needs. After that period of time, I traveled back to Cairo to work under the project architects. The main goals of the project were to provide a new sanctuary for the growing congregation, a rental space on the street for local merchants to occupy, additional classrooms, and a dormitory. The site was located in the heart of the city, along the main thoroughfare. The existing building was a church placed directly in the center of the site, thus proving an addition on the site to be very challenging because they needed to preserve that structure during construction. It was decided to place the new building at the front of the site, next to the street.
Mafraq, Jordan
The facade of the sanctuary was designed so that triangular jut-outs would catch the prevailing winds along the street and direct air into the building.
Construction photos of the building (photos: Nour Sahawneh).
The second oor connected to the roof of the existing structure, to serve as overow space for the new sanctuary.
Master Plan
Deaf Center Campus Master Plan Internship Project This project was located in the heart of downtown Cairo, Egypt. The scope included a church hall, dormitory and classroom building, geriatric center, offices, and recording studio. I worked on the last half of the project, after all the initial design decisions, during the summer of 2012 primarily providing design feedback and correcting red-lines. I constructed the entire SketchUp 3D model shown and all renderings featured in this project. In addition to this, I created a walk-through video that helped explain the design and increased the excitement level of the client. The site features several structures that were intended to function as temporary buildings, which are structurally unsafe and inadequate for the clients needs. All buildings will be demolished with the exception of the church and guard house over approximately four phases. Existing Site
Cairo, Egypt
The circulation needed to be exible for emergency vehicles to access interior buildings in case of ďŹ re.
New Campus Master Plan The main goal of this project was to simplify the existing layout of the site, demolish deteriorating buildings, and add buildings to their master plan. The site is shaped like a triangle with several chunks missing, thus forcing us to deal with irregular angles and juxtapositions. This created a difficulty when designing the interiors of the new buildings that were placed around the perimeter of the site to preserve as much open interior space as possible.
Public Library
Highland Park Village Library Project Overview The library, a design for a corner lot in a suburb of Dallas is located in the upper middle-class community of Highland Park. This design seeks to create a different space for people to recede from the community and be taken away to another world, inside a book. The design harmonizes the interactions of light against concrete and facilitates a blank canvas for imaginations to run wild in. The first floor, center part of the building serves as a gathering area and horizontal and vertical circulation. It is organized in to three layers—reading areas on the first floor, stacks of books on the second floor, and service areas on the third floor. The second floor holds the library stacks bounded by a balcony that overlooks the first floor reading area. The third floor of the library is where all the designated service rooms of the library are. The building will be constructed of finely polished concrete.
West Elevation
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First Floor
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Second Floor
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Third Floor
The overall design concept came from the work of Richard Serra and his work with large scale sheets of weathered steel. In the same way, I sought to use large walls of concrete in a simple, elegant way that would help funnel light to the perimeter of the building.
The section, rendered in Revit, shows double height spaces, cantilever spaces, and the center atrium. Also noticeable here are the spaces on the third oor in which light passes.
The model demonstrates the focus of the design in that it lets in a small amount of light along the perimeter of the concrete walls, which will illuminate the reading spaces on the ďŹ rst oor.
Worship Facility
Immaculata Chapel of St. Mary Project Overview
AIA-Kansas | Second Place
The Chapel in St. Marys, Kansas has suffered twice with the loss of their building in past 150 years. For many in this community, the church is a place of permanence, a building used from the very beginnings of life in baptism to the place where mourners go and remember the bereaved. Churches were established as the medium for the converging of life and death.
This project was selected as one out of 129 architecture students from Kansas State University and the University of Kansas’ fourth year, comprehensive design studio. I presented this project at the annual AIA convention on November 1, 2012, winning second place overall.
3D Construction Model
The Design The chapels melt into the earth with a singular square opening to the sky in the ceiling, ideal for meditation and prayer. These spaces were designed with the idea of the catacombs in ancient Rome and how the early Christians receded there in times of distress and are for seclusion, silence, and serenity where one can truly be alone and offer up prayers.
Parti The sanctuary rises above other program to separate it from the campus. This exalted space is contrasted with the underground rooms that service the library, Eucharist, and student chapels. These two spaces represent the attainable heavenly with the familiar earthly.
Stations of the Cross around the Sanc
ctuary
Baptismal Font in Entry
The Concept This proposal seeks to not merely be a stage for this meeting of life and death but to be a place of comfort and healing. This renewal process occurs through naturally lit, opaque walls and elegant, polished concrete.
Library
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Sanctuary
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The facade is meant to E emphasize the heavenly; while the ďŹ xed horizontal louvers focus sight on the horizon line looking to the sky while limiting visibility to the earth below.
Back of Church Front of Church
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Back Approach
Chapel Lightwell
Courtyard
Trauma Center
site
Roatán Island Trauma Center Project Overview The thesis project of my fifth year in architecture school was the design of a trauma center for the island of Roatan in Honduras. The studio was broken into teams where each member was assigned different tasks. Two site and client visits to Roatan were conducted in September 2012 and January 2013. On the second trip, we presented our design work from the first semester where we received valuable feedback and important design changes. This design focused on three important design issues, passive cooling, shading from the intense sun, and rain water harvesting.
Program Division
Apartment Medical Community/Public
First Floor
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CC
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ambulance entrance
2 3 X-ray dark room
janitor (medical)
4 X-ray
5
laboratory
doctor locker room
ER ward
recovery suite
consultation
administration
6
nurse station
7 8
generator
Prep/Sterilization
utensil wash room
white zone lobby
bathroom reception + pharmacy
family waiting
9 10 10
maintainence + storage
operating room
records outpatient surgery
11 11 incinerator
waiting area
Delivery + ER suite
clinic: internal medicine
clinic: internal medicine
clinic: pediatrics
clinic: pediatrics
break room community room
pharmacy storage
laundry + janitor
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Design Evolution
The plan was separated by program into three zones. The main reason was to promote air circulation through the building.
P
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patient entrance
private classroom
kitchen
laundry
dining + commons
visiting doctor residence
public bathroom
public bathroom
storage
dorm 1
dorm 2
dorm 3
Challenges The reality on the island is the community needs a larger medical facility than they are ďŹ nancially able to support. The original hospital designed for this site was a $60 million facility, while our proposal is around $2 million. We had to make critical decisions about what was most important to include in this trauma center that would add the most to the health of the island. This project is scheduled to be completed May 2013 and design documents will be delivered to the client at that time.
1 Construction Phasing 1 Excavation + Generator Shed 2 Medical Unit + 2.1 Cistern 3 Community Space 4 Visiting Surgery Team Apartments
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Community Area
Patient Entrance Longitudinal Section
Emergency Room
Nathan D. Geier 620.238.0091 ngeier89@gmail.com nathangeier.com