Nathan Mickelson Selected Works
Nathan Mickelson Profile My name is Nathan Mickelson and I am a graduate of the University of South Florida’s Master’s of Architecture program. After six years of design education and jobs of related design expectation, I have worked with a multitude of design clients and have experience with designer-client correspondance as well as high proficiencies in design softwares and project presentation. I am ready to be an asset to your firm and I am currently seeking an entry level architect position.
Contact
Software Proficiencies
nmickelson@mail.usf.edu (352) 242-7042 Tampa, FL Design Porfolios at [https://issuu.com/nathanmickelson]
Professional Experience Current
2017
2016
2014 2012-2014
Assistant Designer - Florida Center Developing urban strategies for disprivileged communities in Bradenton, Florida by introducing new housing options, public open spaces, commercial opportunites, and infrastructural overhauls. Intern Architect - Aberdeen City Council Assisting the city of Aberdeen, Scotland with design concepts for new development. This included a design overhaul of an existing mall into housing, commercial, and a museum, as well as redesigning the iconic waterfront of the city. Intern Architect - Domain Working through AutoCAD, Photoshop CC, Illustrator, and physical model making to design and build a project site for the Mali Design Competition Floor Installer - Adrienne Flooring Assisting in the installation of carpet and floors at Adrienne Floor Covering. Dental Marketing - Smile4Me Dental Design of products and schemes to rebrand Smile4Me Dental Center
Education Master’s of Architecture University of South Florida’s 2-year undergraduate to 4-year graduate architectural program. Teaching Assistant Unpaid teaching position for graduate students teaching “intro” students
High Proficiency
(Can complete most tasks in software)
Rhino 5 Revit 2019 AutoCAD 2019 Sketchup Vray
Photoshop CC 2018 Indesign CC 2018 Illustrator CC 2018 Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel
Moderate Proficiency
(Can complete basic tasks in software)
3DS Max 2017 Maya 2017
The concept of the work is to create a spatial and connective interplay with Victor Horta, a key architect in Belgium’s Art Nouveau movement, by tapping into his vocabulary: the curve, the light from above, and the grand staircase. The curved mass wall becomes the orienting element within the work, having the circulation and main programmatic spaces functioning directly off of its radius. The building is designed to be inviting by framing the Beaux Arts’ roofscape between two solid cores, the curved mass on the north side and the rectangular mass on the southern side. This “picture frame” , so to speak, allows for public access to the extraordinary views of the Brussels cityscape. Once inside, the occupant has a direct line of sight to the new entrance addition of the Beaux Arts and can pass down the grand staircase along the curve to enter directly into the Beaux Arts building.
Level -1
Level 3
Entrance to the Beaux Arts
Direct Link from street to Museum
The Vertical Community
With a large footprint on Chicago’s waterfront, the project naturally had to claim most of its lot to maximize square footage. However, in order to allow sunlight to penetrate the mass of the building, the project had to be broken into four separate buildings. As with the Tampa Tower, public integration within the upper levels was paramount to the concept, so the creation of a sky bridge became crucial to give the public a means of access without intruding upon residences or office environments.
Residential Public Spaces Primary Space Truss System Space Truss Web System Louvre System
The sky bridge is essentially an extended ramp with greenery, allowing the general public to experience a park atmosphere while also having incredible views from the elevated perspective. Along this bridge is are also basic services, such as a grocery store, barber, and other types of retail to promote public thoroughfare and interaction. The slit that divides the tallest building is the division between the residential corrdior and the below office space. The slit itself is a renowned restaurant.
The sections of the vertical community were designed to be as spatially diverse as possible while still maintaining replicability within similar units. This allows for split-level access to certain units. The school is centered around its main auditorium/ staircase, which creates a unique section both above and below the space.
Ground Articulation
Structure Diagram
Access Diagram Public Access
Aberdeen Revival
From a historical standpoint, the area surrounding Union Square in proximity to the train station and harbour had an active, busy atmosphere due to the presence of industry and industrial appeal. However, the creation of the Union Square created a transport hub that has lead to poor access from the waterfront area to the rest of Aberdeen, further weakening the memory of the place. However, this isn’t the crux, rather a symptom, of the problem with Aberdeen. A series of developments along guild street, particularly hotels, wareshouses, office buildings and the trinity Centre Mall, coupled with the intense traffic of the area and the Union Square, have all contributed in making Aberdeen’s center immemorable and difficult to navigate.
AFTER GAINING AN UNDERSTANDING OF PLACE, THE PROPOSAL BECAME CLEAR: REVITALIZE THE DOWNTOWN CORE THROUGH ICONOGRAPHY, NEW PATTERNS OF USE, MIXEDUSE, AND PROMOTE THE CULTURE OF ABERDEEN. DESPITE ITS PRISTINE HISTORIC BUILDINGS, ABERDEEN SUFFERS FROM IMMEMORABILITY BECAUSE THE CITY HASN’T CONTINUED TO INFLUENCE ITS CHARACTER IN A MEANINGFUL WAY, WHICH ALLOWED MALLS, HOTELS AND TRAFFIC TO DISRUPT ITS CHARM. BY EXTENDING THE SIDEWALKS, REDUCING TRAFFIC, ADDING BIKE LANES, INTEGRATING CONTEMPORARY BUILDINGS THAT WORK WITH THE CONTEXT, AND DEVELOPING LANDMARKS AND OUTDOOR SPACE, ABERDEEN WILL REVITALIZE ITS IMAGE . THE CHALLENGE IN WORKING WITHIN ABERDEEN IS THE AWARENESS THAT MOST BUILDINGS OF THE BUILDINGS ARE HISTORICALLY LISTED CLASS A(INTERNATIONALLY SIGNIFICANT), CLASS B(NATIONALLY SIGNIFICANT), AND CLASS C (LOCALLY SIGNIFICANT). WHEN CHOOSING TO REDEVELOP A PLOT, ONE MUST BE AWARE THAT ALTERING EVEN A CLASS C BUILDING IS GOING TO BE MET WITH RESISTANCE FROM THE COMMUNITY, WHICH IS WHY THE PROPOSAL WAS CENTERED AROUND THE TRINITY CENTER, AN UNLISTED, DYING MALL BUILT IN THE 1960’S.
MANY OF THE NEW BUILDING PROPOSALS WERE DESIGNED WITH INSULATED GLASS. THIS DECISION WAS MADE BECAUSE THE GRANITY CITY IS OFTEN TOO SOLID AND NONPOROUS, SO THIS NEW LEVEL OF TRANSPARENCY WILL ALLOW THE CITY TO BREATHE WITHOUT DISRUPTING ITS CHARACTER.
THE “TREES” WERE DESIGNED TO TRANSITION FROM COLUMN TO LIGHT POST TO SEATING, ALLOWING THE SUPPORTS TO DIRECTLY INFLUENCE THE OCCUPATION WITHIN THE SPACE. THE INTEGRATION OF A SOIL RETENTION CONCRETE SYSTEM, OR DRIVEABLE GRASS, ALLOWS THE GREY, GRANITE CITY TO HAVE A SEASONAL QUALITY WITHIN THE CITY CENTER. IT ALSO OPERATES AS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE MAIN PUBLIC REALMS FROM THE TRINITY CENTER TO GUILD STREET.
Rooftop Community Housing Rooftop Community Housing is the expansion upon Community-Oriented Urban Housing that focuses on inspiring density changes through rooftop design initiatives. The goal is to inspire community in dense urban environments that begins to add a second tier with community activation to existing buildings. These interventions are ideally going to influence the character of place by subtedly reintroducing communal living to otherwise individualistic locations. Rooftop Community Housing is meant to be a replicated procedure of densification. Because rooftops offer a wide variety of dimensions, each Rooftop Community will have to be specifically tailored to the site, with special regard to necessary impact, both structurally and functionally, to create community on the site; availability of egrees opportunities for access to the roof; and environmental conditions that could alter the material palette of the addition. Rooftop Community Housing is meant to be a transitoriented development, with ease of access to transit locations and neighborhood amenities. This will help ease cities of a new influx of cars with additional residents. Rooftop Community Initiatives will have to largely be negotiated with individual property owners. The initiative can be insentivised by improving or repairing existing building components in addition to creating new value to their property and community. An ideal rooftop community allows the public to access their shared courtyard or outdoor communal space. This is to continue the approach in San Francisco of the “private� public parks on downtown rooftops and give the city a second tier to occupy publicly. A Rooftop Community is not a gated community. Ideally, the goal of Rooftop Community Housing is to transform cityscapes by using existing building rooftops to double (if not triple) the current occupancy, build new community life into the culture of the place, but maintain the qualities that made the location initially desirable.
The Cloud is the second iteration of the larger project known as “Rooftop Community Housing.” The Cloud expands upon Rooftop Community Housing as it follows the framework increasing density in already dense urban environments and uses setbacks to achieve ideal San Francisco street scale, but it also begins to incorporate reflective materials and transparencies in more unique ways to blend further into the context while making bold architectural moves. The site is a cultural icon in San Francsico: Haight Street. While it boasts a more subdued notoriety than other picturesque San Francisco landmarks, it embodies the unique west coast culture that raised some of San Francisco’s famous personalites. The building plot houses an existing building from the early 1900’s and is an anomaly in terms of building size (80 feet wide). The project sought to use the existing logics of the facade spacing to create the ideal unit widths (26 feet), maximize density by splitting the building into three sections, and convert the third section into a shared, communal park on the 2nd level. A major goal of this project is to reinterpret the idea o community by allowing spaces to flow into one another, creating communities within communities . This is emphasized by the spacing of the units, views onto the green, and passage through one’s owned space (if given the access by the owner to do so).
Facade-Side Units
Internal Units
Fig 50.0