Portfolio
Samuel Thomas
Samuel Thomas 28.04.1991, British Chemin Guiguer-de-Prangins 21 1004 Lausanne, CH Mobile number : Email address :
+41 78 763 61 04 samueldavid.thomas@epfl.ch
Education
Languages
2010 - 2014
Bachelor of Science in Architecture (July 2014) Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
English
Mother tongue. Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English, grade B
2007 - 2010
High School Maturity, Mathematics and Physics Gymnase de Burier, la Tour-de-Peilz
French
Second language. Living in Switzerland since 1999
German
Good level. Spoken and written
Work Experience Since September 2009
Technical Skills Part time English and French teacher “English 4x Faster” - Vevey and Lausanne
Summer 2013 VIP table waiting and greeting of guests Montreux Jazz Festival Summer 2009 - 2012 Volunteer work with handicapped people Montreux Jazz Festival Summer 2009 Work experience in an architecture firm Concept Consult Architects, Lausanne
2D/3D drawing
AutoCAD, VectorWorks, Rhino 3D
Image
Adobe Suite (PhotoShop, Illustrator, InDesign)
Text
Office Suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
Interests Hobbies
Travelling, photography, cooking.
Sports
Tennis, ice-hockey, swimming, snowboarding.
Contents
Curriculum Vitae
3
Bachelor semestres 5 - 6, Studio Andrea Bassi [LAURE]
6
Bachelor semestres 3 - 4, Studio Pia Durisch & Aldo Nolli
12
Bachelor semestres 1 - 2, Studio Dieter Dietz [ALICE]
20
“Design and Build Together� ENAC Week, Renewable Architecture in Davos
24
Design of Structures, iBois Laboratory
26
Urban Analysis, Elena Colgato Lanca
28
Artistic Works
30
1 Studio Andrea Bassi (BA5-6) Ripaille Port, France
Situated along the edge of Lake Geneva, one of the biggest lakes in Europe, Ripaille is one of the few places left which can be developed to reinforce the sensation of a “metropolis� around the lake. The aim of the project is to choose a justified location for a building composed of several different functions: lodging, offices and public spaces. After analysing the different fragments of the territory (industrial, residential, green zones,...) and the different fluxes, the choice was made to insert the building into an existing context. The building is curved to be coherently inset into the residential complex already in place. As well as creating a public port, there are spaces for bars, restaurants and a museum on the ground floor. One end of the building contains a sport complex for the area, with an indoor swimming pool and outdoor tennis courts. Regularly placed stairwells lead to a variety of flats, ranging from one room studios to 2 bedroom flats and even 6 bedroom flats for collective living. Each flat has its own balcony, placed in respect of the trajectory of the sun and has living areas which go from facade to facade to maximize the amount of light inside. During the next semester (February – June 2014), we will continue working on this project, reworking the different floor plans and fine-tuning the position of the building and surrounding public spaces. The structure and use of materials will be researched and defined to a larger scale.
Exercice 1 : “Atlas de la mixité” Functional and social diversity is a contemporary aspect in architecture, which goes against the traditional notion of urban zoning. Within the same complex of buildings, functional diversity (lodging in blue, offices in pink and public spaces in yellow) reinforces the sensation of a metropolis, helping to resolve environmental, economical and social issues. In groups of two students, we created an “Atlas of Diversity” containing an analysis of different buildings ranging from Le Corbusier’s Housing Unit to the modern and contemporary buildings of today. Our analysis was based on the “Sliced Porosity Block” in Chengdu, China, by Steven Holl Architects. Using the given colour code, we redrew diagrams and technical drawings, as well as making a polystyrene model.
(Drawings © Steven Holl Architects)
Exercice 2 : “Mediapolis” Located partly in Switzerland and partly in France, the region of Lake Geneva can almost be considered a metropolis. With only a few areas which have not yet been built on, the urban lakeside is inhabited today by 1’200’000 people, which will climb to an estimated 1’500’000 by the year 2030. Such an increase will mean that a number of areas and infrastructures will need to be developed further. The aim of this exercise was to create four maps that were based on an analysis of the data obtained for a given theme. Our theme was based on the quantity of industrial zones per commune (in square meters, red circles) and the percentage of people in each commune who work in this domain (in blue). We drew two maps based on the data for 1995 and 2005 and then projected two scenarios for 2030. Our first projection takes the variation of data between 1995 and 2005, and applies it proportionally between 2005 and 2030. The second scenario favours an increase of industrial zones around the main fluxes and transport (motorways, railways, boats,...).
2005
1995
2030 - first scenario
2 Studio Durisch et Nolli (BA3-4) Infopoint Pavilion
Based in the Parco Ciani, a beautiful park situated by Lake Lugano in Switzerland, the semester’s project was to develop a public pavilion serving the specific function of an information point. The “Infopoint” pavilion displays information of the city and a 9m2 model of Lugano and the surrounding communes. As the model is the key attraction in the pavilion it led to the question: “What ambiance does one want to be in while contemplating something of high importance?”. The choice was to create a space in which a perfect light would bathe the room, creating a calm atmosphere without distractions. To create this sensation, a lantern using daylight and artificial lighting is placed above the room containing the model.
Piazzale di Besso During the second semester we approached a larger scale, the urban scale of the city. The chosen site, “Piazzale di Besso”, has the particularity of linking the two parts of the city of Lugano: the lake-side and the train station, with a difference of 100m in altitude. The ground floor is reserved for a major bus terminus and metro station and the function of the building (university classrooms, offices, shops and public space) is found in the upper levels, densifying the urban space. After having analysed the surrounding buildings’ view of the lake behind the station and the sun’s trajectory through the sky, the orientation and the stair-like shape of the building was chosen. The terraces and balconies recreate a public space which had been removed from the ground floor by the bus stop. To keep the ground floor open, a simple structure based on circular pillars and concrete stairwells was used.
3 Studio Dieter Dietz (BA1-2) Archipelago Cities [ALICE]
Based on a four by four matrix, the aim of the project was to learn how to develop an urban atmosphere. Each student was given one cube in the matrix and had to develop a number of links and articulations with the neighbouring cubes. The combination of the 16 cubes creates a diverse but balanced density. Each studio’s matrix was given a position along the line of the M2 (Lausanne’s underground railway). To reinforce an urban square and the link to one of the M2’s stations, our studio decided to join our matrix to that of another studio, forming a right angle. The two matrixes defined two directions: the direction of the M2 and the direction of the city of Lausanne.
Urban Intimacy [Personal Project] Having received one of the cubes on the ground level, my initial concept was to take into account a big flux of people who would be heading to the upper levels of the matrix. A wide staircase leads to a first public place, with a view over the city of Lausanne and Lake Geneva. The second staircase leads to a second public place, joined to the neighbouring project. Above and below these public places are a number of flats, protected from the noise of the public spaces surrounding them. Our matrix being placed along the line of the M2, one side of the project looks onto an urban tissue, whereas the second has the view over a forest. My decision was to keep these two different facades and recreate them throughout the project. Firstly by using different kinds of openings from the lodgings (big, wide windows on the natural side; small, narrow windows looking on to the urban tissue of the city). Secondly by placing trees and bushes on the natural side of the public place and vertical concrete walls on the urban side.
4 EPFL, “ENAC Week” (BA3)
Sustainable development of the city and landscape of Davos “A Home in the Swiss Alps” During the fourth semester, the ENAC week brings together the students studying architecture, civil engineering and environmental engineering, for a first approach at territorial development. The week at Davos offered an interdisciplinary experience concentrating on the aspects of landscape development and natural hazards in a mountainous environment. The project of the week was to develop a single family home, exploring the idea of a sustainably built environment in the Alpine landscape. The main focus was to have the best energy efficiency as possible by working not only on the design of the house but also the facade materiality. Instead of a single home, our group (three architecture students and one in each civil and environmental engineering) decided to create a four-house neighbourhood sharing a common energy system and therefore splitting the construction and maintenance costs. Our analysis was based on different renewable energy mechanisms – solar and photovoltaic panels, geothermal heating, wood heating – as well as all the architectural aspects of the houses. Architecturally, we used the cold-lab facilities that were made available to us in Davos to define our facades. To choose the materials, we produced a series of experiments in which we tested the thermal capacities of different materials. Once the choice of materiel was made, we used the stereographic sunpath diagram to choose the orientation of the homes as well as the number of windows on each facade. Finally, we defined the shared energy system of the neighbourhood and the number of solar panels and photovoltaic cells for each house by analysing the cost of electricity in Switzerland and the efficiency of each energy system.
5 Design Of Structures (BA5) Grubenmann Bridge, Schaffhausen (CH)
The aim of this course was to make us aware of the sizing and the architectural and structural aspects of wooden constructions. Working in groups of six students, we had to analyse a given construction by means of technical drawings and models. The next part of the project was to redesign alternative structures based on contemporary materials or constructions, but keeping in mind the design, material and shape of the original one. Our main research was based on recreating architectural sensations while walking through the bridge designs. The first construction, based on a contemporary version of a wooden lattice beam, allows a much wider opening inside the bridge than the original version. For the second design we chose a structure based purely on two pairs of arches, visible throughout the entire length of the bridge.
Bel-Air, Lausanne (CH) The first exercise was to analyse an urban situation in Lausanne or Geneva, characterised by a rich articulation of the ground. The tower of Bel-air in Lausanne is situated on the limit between two different levels, the neighbourhood of the Flon below and Bel-Air above. The building that we analysed is composed of a number of passages between the two levels, including a theatre and concert hall. As well as the articulation between the two street levels, the building also has a regional train line running underneath.
6 Urban Analysis (BA3)
“Contemporary City” for three million inhabitants - Le Corbusier The theme of the second exercise was to analyse a “great reference” in the history of architecture and urbanism (e.g. Le Corbusier, Hilberseimer, etc.). The analysis and drawings were to be based on three subjects: 1. Composition, 2. Social replication, 3. Materiality, shapes and dimensions. The final result was to redraw and sketch a number of principles that the architect used in his definition of a utopian city. In my case, the analysis was on the “Contemporary City for 3 million inhabitants” designed in 1922 by the FrenchSwiss architect Le Corbusier.
sur Moodle).
Taille de la pierre BA4 Vo没te C - Pierres 10-18 17 mai 2013
7 Artistic Works (BA1-4)
Samuel Thomas Mobile number : Email address :
+41 78 763 61 04 samueldavid.thomas@epfl.ch