Portfolio by sbutuk

Susan Butuk

Architecture Portfolio

"The reality of architecture is the concrete body in which forms, volumes, and spaces come into being. There are no ideas except things." -Peter Zumthor, Thinking Architecture

mixed media

SELECTED WORKS

Graduate Work 1

Law Office Design / Optimization Spaces

All Aboard Houston / Texas Bullet Train Competition

Lunar Colony / City for a Risky Future

Metaverse / House for a Risky Future

Undergraduate Work 17

Bowra Renovation / Additions of Oxford

Fabricating Cities / Rapid Urbanization

Academy of Sciences / Campo Santa Maria dei Miracoli

Willow Bend / Design Marfa Competition

Construction Drawings

Handrawings / Sketches

Curriculum Vitae

/ GRADUATE WORK

site excavation study model

Law Office Design / Optimization Spaces Post Graduate - Spring 2015 Instructor - Richard Arave Site Location - Chicago, IL With the dynamic mix of generations in the workforce and the advent of new technologies, the way people work has drastically changed. Offices now require a space that allows for both balanced teamwork and focused work and also provides the opportunity for continuous learning. To enable a law firm and its employees to thrive, partners need to reevaluate their space and transform the built environment.

This project introduced the basic knowledge of Autodesk Revit tools and techniques. This approach gives the stududent a broad overview of the BIM process. The topics cover the design integration of most of the building disciplines: Architectural, Interior Design, Structural, Mechanical, Plumbing and Electrical.

Building Form

Framework

Ceiling Plan Levels

Structure

HVAC Plan

The overal design consist of a two story law office. The drawings start with the floor plans and develop all the way to photo-realistic renderings. Along the way the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s structure, ductwork, plumbing and electrical (power and lighting) are modeled. By the end of the project, we had a thorough knowledge of many of the Revit basics needed to be productive in a classroom or office environment.

First Floor

Second Floor

All Aboard Houston / Texas Bullet Train Competition Graduate Studio 2 - Fall 2016 Instructor - Rafael Longoria Site Location - Houston Texas Driving on the highway: Everyone in Texas can relate to this activity. For a lot of people, it means congestion, construction, and consternation. The proposed Texas Bullet Train hopes to eliminate these issues for many Texans.

Research began in 2009 to locate the best “paired cities” in the U.S. Ninety-seven starting point/destination city pairs were considered, with Dallas/Houston the clear winner in all categories, and thus Texas Central Partners came to be. Before any search for project funding began, Texas Central thoroughly researched on the phenomenon of the train itself: Environmental impact, fatal flaw detection, property implications, endangered frog species habitation studies, consumer analyses, profitability research — all were completed prior to any quest for financing. Planning to begin construction in 2018, Texas Central has already delved into design work for the system. Transferring technology from Japan requires modifying tracks and trains to meet U.S. requirements. ADA regulations concerning wheelchair maneuverability and safety, as well as a restroom in every car (not required in Japan), led to a partial redesign of train cars. Texas Central consulted with various transit design teams, but a stumbling block involving manned ticket booths (which don’t fit into Texas Central’s “future forward” vision) led them to seek input from a younger generation of designers who would most likely also be users. They chose to reach out to all eight accredited architecture schools in the state of Texas. Texas Central received mostly favorable responses and in time issued a student competition RFP for railway station designs.

The projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aim was to enhance this permeability by creating a building without facades, relying on the roof for shelter and the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity. The canopy covers the train tracks and the platform. The ground level contains a sizeable amount of general circulation as well as parking. Along the south side of the site there is an opportunity to allow retail and food spaces to meet the outside plaza. The second and third level contains an ample amount of general circulation and most importantly the passenger waiting areas and the platforms. The connections between the inside and outside are developed through circulation paths. The interior circulation involve numerous of egress that have a direct effect on how passengers transition from one floor to the other. The main atrium space be-

Canopy Formation

Form

Frame

Voids

Structure

The canopy is a response to a series of programmatic requirements and constraints. The result is a steel-and-fabric canopy that rises 70 ft at the head-end platform, descends in a dynamic sweep to 2 ft at the center, and then rises again at the far end over an important pedestrian link across the site. The station oculus form creates a new structure that is functional, contemporary, and contextual; a new grand civic space for the city of Houston.

Lunar Colony / City for a Risky Future Graduate Studio 1 - Fall 2015 Instructor – Dietmar Froehlich Site Location - Colonization of the Moon

The focus of this project is to make valuable contributions to a conceptual design for a master plan of a lunar settlement for 10,000 inhabitants through ‘viral’ architecture. The aboveground settlement would compose of a tower infrastructure. The project has three primary considerations: trajectory issues (how to get materials to the Moon), chemical processing (how to make materials on the Moon), and space manufacturing (how to fabricate and assemble/construct things on the Moon). ‘Viral’ architecture is based on structures that replicate and build themselves. This project proposed and researched small, self-replicating robotic modules which would gather in-situ lunar materials and create more of themselves. These robots would actually be the common building blocks for the entire settlement.

Research and product growth facilities will take place in the large tower within each sector, in order to maximize surface area and reduce the needed size of the structure. The tower has access to a subterranean level which is connected to the rest of the settlement. This underground access is crucial for the occupantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; survival in case of a malfunction or rupture within the tower.

The Towerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s imposing height makes it useful for player navigation from other places within the Moonbase complex.

Within the tower are four supportive sectors in charge of supplying or researching a specific category of items: one sector is dedicated to technology and communication, second is in charge of growing vegetation, third is for textiles, and last for materials.

Tower Plan

Technology & Communication

Spacial Studies

Vegitation

Textiles Fragment Studies

Materials

Each of these sectors will bring their finished products to the distribution center within the central core of the settlement so that they may be re-allocated to the rest of the residents underground.

Metaverse / House for a Risky Future Graduate Studio 1 - Spring 2016 Instructor - Dietmar Froehlich Site Location - Houston, TX Historically a run down industrial sector of downtown houston. Now; teachers, students and those wanting to get away from the harsh realities of the real world, have begun to make their home upon site. As the community grows, a need to create urban nodes rises. The meta tower seeks to response to this social hunger for spaces. When thinking about the metaverse you have to consider many factors.

The metaverse is the collection of multiple possible universes that together encompass everything that physically exists: the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter, energy and concepts, and the physical laws and constants that govern them.

Preliminary Model

Every universe within the metaverse is absolutely endless and it is so infinite that it repeats in endless refrains. The tower was formed to relate to the infinite possibilities of space. Each slab is different and thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not two that are the same. It would seem important to not only provide a universally accessible â&#x20AC;&#x153;worldâ&#x20AC;? within the metaverse, but to allow for easy navigation to content and experiences outside of the metaverse proper. Residential Plan of Towers

Upon departure, it is the end of the greatest infinity. It is the ending of the concept of an infinite that transcends all transfinite systems.

First Level

Second Level

Site Analysis

Conceptual Sections of Towers

/ UNDERGRADUATE WORK

section collage study

Bowra Renovation / Additions of Oxford Undergraduate Studio 4 - Fall 2014 Instructor - Todd Hammilton Site Location - Oxford, United Kingdom

The famous English universities at Oxford and Cambridge represent the transformation of a medieval university into the 21st century. For this project we will assume that the quad at Wadham College was destroyed by fire likely as a terrorist attack. Buildings that stood through famine, wars, and political chaos flattened. Our task was to design a replacement for Wadham while maintaining the quad tradition. The original use of the building included two large toweres wih circluation accomdating the center of the structure.

The design of the new structure rectifies these inefficiencies by locating a new vertical circulation core. A total of 6 residential units were created within a much more efficient floor plate utilizing new modern finishes to again contrast and showcase the existing massive existing structural elements of the original building.

First Floor

Second Floor

Third Floor

Fourth Floor

Fabricating Cities / Rapid Urbanization Study Abroad - Summer 2014 Instructor â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Josh Nason, Brad Bell Site Location - Mocha, Shanghai Collaboration with Jeanette Revote

The world is experiencing unprecedented rapid urbanization, particularly in the eastern hemisphere where manufacturing and tourist economies rely upon large populations, technological and transportation hubs, cultural and architectural icons, and political support to captivate vibrant world markets. While economically beneficial, such growth puts tremendous strain on cities as their urban contexts radically transform. Three cities in China epitomize the benefit/detriment duality of such expeditious growth: Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing. Shanghai alone will likely exceed 50 million inhabitants by 2050. This studio analyzed the histories, patterns, and consequences of rapid urbanization affecting Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing as a prototypical mega-city through research and mapping, evaluated current advanced manufacturing techniques as potential solutions for addressing rapid urbanization and developed parametrically defined design solutions that could positively impact the immediate and long-term need for the safe and sustainable housing of such dense urban populations.

Modified Road

Softscape Exsisting Site

Circulation

Hardscape

Water Features

Agricultural Landuse

Spatial Enclosure

Geometry

The proposal for the site focuses on a sustainably garden city. The masterplan has been developed with a strong geometric pattern. This master plan transforms Shanghai MOCA into a fully sustainable community, through energy, food, water, and jobs. The plan strategically interweaves sustainable innovation with urban design, and making it run with urban agriculture, sustainable technologies and vertical farms. The result is valuable for an urban community, an emergent circular economy, and a future proof investment.

Apartment A / 540 sq. ft

Apartments range from small studio spaces for students to larger family units, with each apartment opening towards balcony spaces. Often in large residential towers, the sense of community amongst the dwellers is challenged by the fact that you hardly ever meet your neighbors, except coming and going through the lobbies or elevators. We proposed a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;vertical mini-communitiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; throughout the balcony spaces. Using a 2x2 grid system, every visible section represents a cluster of similar apartments opening towards the terrace spaces. On every 7th floor tower, the grid forms open air gardens serving as green spaces, for all residents, providing views of the Huapong River.

Apartment B / 920 sq. ft

Apartment C / 920 sq. ft

North Elevation

Modular System Smaller Tower

The farms provide clean water and air while at the same time generating energy and food and laying a foundation for a sustainable future. The main tower is treated with the same precision: two independent structures support the “trays” where the functions of the buildings are located. To complement the natural light from the large windows on the facades, a vertical community was integrated into the façade. We created a ‘vertical community’; glass winter gardens and roofs terrace surrounding the perimeter of the towers. The towers become a sustainable and shared community, where public interaction is enabled and encouraged in numerous ways without need for privacy.

Apartment A / 540 sq. ft

Apartment B / 920 sq. ft

Apartment C / 920 sq. ft

North Elevation

Modular System Smaller Tower

EVF

Solving the Problem Vertical farm buildings answers a wide variety of problems that farmers deal with on a daily basis including pests, disease, irrigation, cost, and weather. Not only does it lower cost and make food more available to everyone, but it helps us save space for wildlife.

Urban Action

Prototype Building

Potentially an 18 story tower could feed about 50,000 people, and take up much less land. Bringing the food source closer to where people live lowers costs, and lets people have more spending money, thus more businesses have customers.

Environmental Vertical Farming Building for the future is all about sustainability. Living habitats that blend nature with technology to make the best use of space in a way that is beneficial to all life on Earth. The way we go about doing that is by following the three Eâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Energy, Econmy, and Enviroment. There are many solutions, but none handle all three quite like vertical farming. The potential for use of green energy and the elimination of fossil fuel powered tractors, irrigation pumps and other horticultural equipment, Vertical Farm Systems can be structured as carbon emissions competitive.

Energy

Economy

Environment

Plants are used to make bio-fuels,

Bringing the food source closer to

The home of millions of animals and

diminishing our dependency on oil.

where people live lowers costs.

other creatures benefit from this space saver.

1 Energy collection Solar Panels

3D Crop Surface: 83000 ft² Natural used surface: 7500 5ft²

2 2D Crop Surface: 83000 ft²

Agricultural Production Plants

Natural used water: 83000 ft²

Maintenance Harvest

3 Packing Cleaning Simple The vertical plan layout arranged in layered levels is an interpretation of industrial food processing which starts with agriculture production on upper levels up to ending in fewer levels with ready-for-consumption product.

processing

4 Storage

5 Main Body

Structural Skin

Bio Climate Skin

Helicoid continuous surface

Continuous skin connects

Continuous skin interacts with

connect by a central void.

helicoidally levels around with

wind, sunlight, and humidity

a curved structural perimeter.

Dispatch

Academy of Sciences / Campo Santa Maria dei Miracoli Undergraduate Studio 3 - Spring 2014 Instructor - Steve Quevado Site Location - Venice, Italy

The subject is to design an Academy of Science in the city of Venice. After investigating the urban promenade of Venice, this site was chosen to better improve the promenade, piazza, and creating attractions of the area. Located on the main tourist route of Venice, the piazza possesses a church dating back to the founding of Venice, Santa Maria dei Miracoli. Santa Maria dei Miracoli is a church in the sestiere of Cannaregio, in Venice, Italy.

Also known as the “marble church”, it is one of the best examples of the early Venetian Renaissance including colored marble, a false colonnade on the exterior walls (pilasters), and a semicircular pediment. The organisation “Save Venice” restored the church during a period of ten years (they had estimated as period of two year

The design uses two natural elements of Water and Earth as its main showcase of science. The greenhouse represents Earth, and the aquarium represents Water. The two elements also express the building structure with the use of poche space. The light weight steel structure combine with the glass envelope, give the structure weightless look. The layout of the building also relates its elements. In some cultures, a square represents Earth and also Water. Using these cultural elements, the lobby (first floor) and circulating space (second floor) take place in a right-angled room. The aquarium space is occupied on the second and third floor with a square cut out from the ceiling and open to the sky. This room also represents the jointure of the two different group of the program: greenhouse and aquarium.

Plan Study

Gallery Collage

Spatial Study Collage

Facade Study Collage

Section A

Upon departure, it is the end of the greatest infinity. It is the ending of the concept of an infinite that transcends all transfinite systems.

First Level

Second Level

Site Analysis

Conceptual Sections of Towers

Willow Bend / Design Marta Competition Undergraduate Studio 4 - Fall 2014 Instructor – Todd Hamilton Site Location – Marfa, Texas Currently, Marfa has no property zoned for multi-family housing although multi-family zoning is permitted under Marfa’s zoning and regulations. As tourism increases in Marfa, the availability of housing for full-time residents has the potential to become even more limited as the attractiveness of vacation rentals and parttime residences remove inventory from the market.

Willo’ Bend explores the idea of residential housing oriented towards a shared courtyard that provides fun activities that the whole family can enjoy. The clustered residential buildings create a wall of protection for the communal space which provides a large outdoor “room” where the residents can swim, barbecue, stargaze, or allow for multiple events to occur simultaneously.

Type A Floor Plan 530 sq. ft

Type B Floor Plan 1070 sq. ft

Type C Floor Plan 780 sq. ft

The layout of the building consists of apartments varying between one to three bedrooms; all accommodating a living, dining, and a kitchen space. The organization of the apartments allows for direct access to the central staircase between the front of the building and core collective spacel. The complex also utilizes ecological principles such as photovoltaic panels, green roofs and natural ventilation.

The small buildings are clustered around the site to create a wall of protection, thereby creating an internal courtyard which operates as a communal space for the residents of the complex. This allows public life to evolve in the outdoor “room.” The space is organized by vegetation that offers a breakdown of the large space and allows for different events to occur simultaneously such as a meeting place and playground. Between each building there are green pathways that provide a connection between each of the components of the complex, as well as to the external roads. The large pool and barbecue pits are accompanied by pavilions that provide shade, comfort, as well as picnic tables. There are two excavated conversation pits large enough to fit sixteen people comfortably. These conversation pits are equipped with fire pits for a camp like setting ideal for Marfa’s cooler nights. The large pool and barbecue pits are accompanied by pavilions that provide shade, comfort, as well as picnic tables. There are two excavated conversation pits large enough to fit sixteen people comfortably. These conversation pits are equipped with fire pits for a camp like setting ideal for Marfa’s cooler nights.

One unique characteristic that Willoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Bend provides are the airstream trailer parking areas fully equipped with trailer hookups and connections for the comfort of temporary visitors. There is additional green space added between each trailer parking spot for added comfort and personal space. Providing these airsream trailer spaces for our site creates an escape thats miles away from any Hampton Inn. It creates a community space that fosters and agitates artistic and intellectual exchange.

LaPointe Residence Wheeler Kearns Architects Site Location - Michigan

Park Pavilion Designer - Susan Butuk Site Location - Arlington, TX

charcoal and graphite on paper 2013

graphite on paper 2013

Freehand Drawing/Sketches

charcoal on paper 2012

ink, graphite and watercolor 2015

graphite and ink on paper 2016

collage study 2015

Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

University of Houston Master of Architecture Fall 2015 - Fall 2017

University of Texas at Arlington Bachelor of Science in Architecture Fall 2010 - Fall 2014

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

Yu-Wen Diana Huang Fellowship Fall 2015 - Fall 2017

CREW Scholarship Fall 2016

Texas Bullet Train Station Finialist Spring 2016

WORK EXPERIENCE

Internship for Design3 Studio (Summer 2017) Fulfilled internship responsibilities for a private owned architecture firm. The work consisted of laying out power and electrical plans for residential projects in Architecture Autocad. The construction documents phase work consisted of preparing construction documents sets in 2D in Autocad and 3D in sketchup/rhino.

Freelance Interior Designer (2016-2017) Established a budget with homeowner and created a design concept. Developed detailed designs, often using computer-aided design (Revit) software. Helped designer with selections of furniture and materials.

Internship for Freelance Real Estate Developer (2014-2015) Fulfilled internship responsibilities for a private owned real estate company. The work in the schematic design phase consisted of sketching, 3D modeling, rendering in Revit. The construction document phase work consisted of preparing construction documents sets in both AutoCAD and Revit.

SOFTWARE SKILLS

Revit ***

Bonzai **

Autocad ***

FormZ *

Rhino/Vray ***

InDesign ***

Sketchup *

Illustrator *

Lumion *

Adobe Photoshop **

Keyshot **

MS Office ***

*/ Beginner

OTHER SKILLS

**/ Intermediate

Construction Drawings

Painting

Physical Model

Website Design

Diagramming

PHP/HTML

***/ Advanced

Sketching

STUDY ABROAD

United States Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego

International Bejing, Hong Kong, Shanghai

REFERENCES

Todd Hamilton| Educator toddhamilton@uta.edu

Josh Nason | Educator nason@uta.edu

SUSAN BUTUK Liz Cordill | Educator eacordill@uh.edu

16307 Brechin Ln Houston, TX 77095 713.560.7488 susan.butuk@mavs.uta.edu

THANK YOU