JOHN SOHN
Selected Works
University of Illinois at Chicago
2
SELECTED WORKS 04-25
1. INNOVATION_ISLE Sean Lally Fall_’12 // Studio
26-37
2. STRIATED_HOUSING Xavier Vendrell Spring_’12 // Studio
3a. SUPERcloudIMPOSITION
38-61
Jimenez Lai Fall_’11 // Studio
3b. DESIGN_DEVELOPMENT
62-69
Dan Wheeler Fall_’11 // Tech Workshop
70-85
4. WAXIN_WAXOUT Kelly Bair Spring_’12 // Topics in Tech
3
4
INNOVATION_ISLE Sean Lally Fall_’12 // Studio
The typology of the University today is constantly changing. The way schools have functioned have changed drastically since its formation over 2,400 years ago. During that time, the acadamies were focused solely on developing the capacity to understand nature and society and spent their energies solely on conserving knowledge. Today, the University has evolved to a much larger scale, bringing in acadamies of diverse and multidisciplinary backgrounds. However, for the University to continue to grow, it needs to engage with society and its demanding problems by creating acadamies centered around real-world issues and by learning to take risks through entrepreneurship opportunities. These “centers� of innovation must be flexible enough to allow different initiatives to birth, grow, connect, and/or even break apart yet still be effective in providing the necessary spaces required to generate ideas, consult professionals, produce products etc. By amplifying different forms of energy and in learning to precisely control them one need not to build/rebuild/ move walls to create space. Instead, by using gradients, can rather produce a space that is custom tailored for a specific program today, then be moved around to conform to a different program tomorrow.
5
Conceptual Plan
Initial energy studies, testing and creating an environment for different clients. Different spectrums of light (UVA, UVB, UVC) are focused in different pockets creating zones of concentrated uses. Clients can choose their treatment based on their needs. Emphases on the study was on creating pockets or zones of uses attracting people based on their needs. These zones have levels of different concentrations allowing them to isolate or fuse with one another.
Preliminary Studies 6
in
as
D
Pr od uc
n
7
An tiAg in g Th Pr er ev ap en y tP ho to Bl sy oo nt d he Ci sis rc ul a tio Ai rP n ur ifi ca tio n Ca nc er Th er ap Fo y re ns ics
s io n Th Re er la ap xa y tio n Pr om ot e Fo lia Te ge st Gr Ex ow pe th rim en Ac ts ne Tr ea tm en Sl ts ee p Ai d
pr es
tio
eT re at m en t
Th er ap y
m in
in
De
Sk
Vi ta
se
ct an t
Di
Di sin fe
Sk
Ta nn in g
Conceptual Section
UVA
UVC
UVB
Red
Green
Blue
Preliminary Studies
8
9
Michael M. Crow, President of Arizona State University has begun an initiative to change the way the University is run today. He has begun to tear down the walls between disciplines and has encouraged collaboration between among diverse units. Through their many different innovation centers, Crow has encouraged students to create their own initiatives in order to tackle real-world issues. However, the strength of these initiatives lie not on the creation of its ideas, but rather the ability to disperse and re-emerge as a different inititatives. The space of the Center, must be flexible to accommodate the ever-changing and sharing of ideas.
ENTREPRENEURS GLOBAL COMPANIES
UNIVERSITY AS ENTREPRENEUR
PARTNERS
education public awareness isolated research patient examination therapy
meetings collaboration scenario testing consultation
ARTS, MEDIA & ENGI NGINEERING
INNOVATION SPACE
ARIZONA TECHNOLOGY INVESTOR FORUM
DIGITAL T MEDIA INVEST L INNOVA VATION ENTREPRENEUR ADVAN V TTAG AGE PROJECT HEALTHCARE SW AZTE TECH VENTURE EDSON STUDENT AZ CLINIC ASU ENTREPRENEURS URSHIP AND INITIATIVE A ANGELS TECHNOPOLIS INNOVATION A ON RESEARCH
INITIATIVES office office meeting space workshop study rooms design station computer lab meeting space experimental lab lab equipment
office team meetings office library computer lab study presentation consultation pin-ups
GEOGRAPHICAL RA SCIENCES C ANTHROPO POLOGY PO
VISUAL COMM.
LAW
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN BUSINESS
ENGINEERING SCIENCES
MUSIC
ART
NURSING
JOURNALISM
THEATRE & FILM
DISCIPLINES 1. Experimental Lab - Highly private. A specialized/secluded room is required in order for highly controlled experiments and tests to be conducted. Lighting and heat is important for the user to control as these factors may change the outcome of the experiment. 2. Patient Examination - Highly private. Throughout the development of products and design, sometimes a private space is required for specific human exams. Also, as these exams are likewise done in controlled environments, the energies within the space need to be highly controlled by the user/s. 3. Therapy Room - Semi-private. Mostly visuals need to be controlled as some patients prefer complete privacy from peering eyes. Different types of lighting can be used for therapy puposes as well. 4. Study - Highly-private. Control over lighting and acoustics is very important in order to provide the best environment to study. 5. Lab Machinery - Semi-private. Many times machinery create a lot of excess noise causing irritation to others. Therefore, a high control over nullifying the acoustics of such equipment can help to provide a much more efficient environment. 6. Library - Semi-private. Secluded areas from ambient noise and visual distractions are needed in order to provide an environment best suited for research and study. 7. Office - Semi-private. Only minimum requirements are needed to control sound, light and heat. 8. Consultation - Semi-private. To provide the optimal environment for consultations, a visually/acoustically comfortable space is ideal. Control over the heat and sound of an environment will help to provide such an experience. 9. Computer Lab - Non-private. Mostly used to utilize computer equipment, some level of control over the energies is required to allow the best environment for electronic equipment. 10. Meeting Room - Private/Semi-private. Comfortable environment is ideal to provide space for meetings to be held. Controlling acoustic energies are important in order to help facilitate a more responsive meeting. 11. Drafting/drawing Table -Semi-private. A space that has some sort of horizontal plane is required in order for the user to create his/her drawings. Also, the user should be able to control the degree of lighting. 12. Model Making - Public. Only minimum requirements are needed to keep the user comfortable while making models. A large empty room is optimal to allow for extra space for materials, models, etc. 13. Classroom -Public. Lighting and acoustics are important for an environment for educational learning. Giving control of the acoustics in the room allows the user to maintain control of the attention of the users of the room. 14. Workshop - Public. Public workshops require high level of control over acoustics primarily in order to maintain equipment sound as not to bother adjacent programs. Acoustics also play an important role for someone who is teaching in order to speak above the decibel of the machinery. 15. Pin-ups - Public. These public spaces require high vertical walls which the students can display their work. Control over lighting is important in order to best showcase their drawings while control over the acoustics in the space will be beneficial while the student presents the work. 16. Presentation - Public. Public presentation spaces require a typology that allows the speaker to connect a wide range of audiences without moving around too much. Acoustics is most important as it allows the speaker to enhance or lessen the volume/impact of sound projections in the room. 17. Collaboration - Public. A highly interactive space that does not require a strict control over energies. Sometimes, users may desire to seclude themselves even while physically being present in the space. Having some control over the acoustics and lighting in the room helps to create flexibilty for the user. 18. Public Awareness - Public. Completely open typology that is centered around reaching the public audience. As displays and presentation may be held, lighting and acoustics are still maintained at a minimum level. 19. Cafe - Public. A social gathering location where users can interact and converse with one another or choose to seclude themselves.
Case Study Research 10
specific lighting sound wave control
body chemical alteration
air circulation
sound therapy
vibration dampener temperature control
acoustic isolation
odor stimulation
INNOVATION SPACE
ENERGY
consultation collaboration public awareness meeting room computer lab lab machinery education study workshop experimental lab therapy room
office
presentation space
patient examination
library pin-ups
drafting table
PROGRAM
open
flexible furniture
horizontal surface
enclosed
vertical surface
storage
one-way viewing
display space
sanitary room
af cafe
ccollaboration o ab r t on
p u c aawareness w r ne s public
pin-ups p n up
e e a on sspace ac presentation
workshop w o ks op
e d ca on education
m o m a i g model making
drafting d aft f ng table ab e
ccomputer om t r lab ab
meeting m e t ng room oom
office office
consultation on u t t o
s udy study
ab machinery ma h e y lab library bay
t e apy room oom therapy
ex e me t l lab ab experimental
p a n examination xam n t on patient
ARCHTECTURE
public
private Acoustic
Acoustic energy can be controlled to enhance or nullify sounds depending the user’s needs.
Electromagnetic
Light can be adjusted to control visual privacy or to take advantage of healing properties of specific spectrums
Thermal
Heat is adjusted in order to control the environmental temperature for human comfort or for item storage.
Case Study Research 11
“collaboration”
“research”
“interaction”
“storytelling”
“exchange”
“socialize”
“discussion”
“display
Programmatic Typologies 12
Energy Island Diagrams 13
Group Discussion
Work Table
System Detail Diagrams 14
Presentation
Office Space
System Detail Diagrams 15
14.
15.
9.
4. 8.
3.
1.
2.
16
5.
13.
10.
12.
11.
7. 6.
17
1. Presentation - The speaker takes center stage while the listeners surround him. Project proposals are presented and conceptual pitches are given to spark new solutions. 2. Discussion - Students discuss different approaches and begin to brainstorm their conceptual ideas. 3. Small Group - Students begin to break off into smaller groups as they discuss different approaches of design. Acoustics are set to ‘nullify’ in order to allow for more privacy. 4. Personal Space - Individual students can also spend their own private time to brainstorm ideas. Visual barriers can also be set-up to allow for further privacy. 5. Collaboration - As projects begin to develop, students can gather together sharing their ideas and proposals. The projection table can be used to work on the designs as well as to share files. 6. Office - Here, secretaries help to organize and setup different projects. They help to efficiently categorize student proposals to allow the professors/professionals to quickly find the files they need. 7. Worktable - Within a private area, the critics can peruse through the different project proposals, discussing and choosing amongst themselves which project to further develop and eventually create. 8. Large Group - Seating furniture can be rearranged to accomodate a larger audience. 9. Cafe - The horseshoe shape of the furniture creates a perfect space to take a break while drinking some coffee and conversing with others. 10. Security - Users of the Labs must first pass through a security checkpoint while revealing their ID. Though the security desks are open to the public the labs behind them are for exclusive users only. 11. Research - Within a closed environment, students can conduct controlled experiments while also using several types of machinery to help produce their products. The space nullifies the acoustics of the interior as not to disturb the discussion group right outside their translucent walls. 12. Therapy - The controlled rooms also allows for patients to be treated or experimented upon depending on the project type. 13. Laboratories - Unlike typical labs that are usually closed off, students can study and collaborate while controlling the amount of acoustic/visual privacy that they need. 14. Storage - Temperature can be specficially controlled in order to store different items such as valuable books, chemicals, tools or even lab animals. 15. Projection - Project developments can be projected in 3-D using specific projection tables to faciliate a more in depth study of the products. Projections can be customized to only allow specific people or the general public to view.
Programmatic Islands 18
Tranquility When the energy gradient cannot fully occupy a space or two forces push one another away, a negative energy pocket can occur. This space can be programmed to include activities that require the least interaction with an energy however remnants of the energy can still be faintly felt in the area.
Overload As more and more energies begin to overlap within a specific area, an overload of energy begins to form. This form of overload can be controlled for programs that require many different types of energies (spa, physical therapy etc.) all triggering at the same time.
Clash When two or more adjacent energies touch, they push off of one another creating a boundary between them. This can be important for programs that need isolation from other spaces and/or is useful for creating a more tangible boundary between energies instead of a continuous gradient.
Bifurcation The physical traits of the furniture can be utilized in a way to redistribute the energy flow in a space. By redirecting the energy flow, it creates moments of concentration as well as opens up a negative space for other types of program.
Typological Speculation 19
Idea Creation Students gather together to brainstorm and toss around new ideas that will help to solve the different issues presented. Spaces are focused around open, flexible movement between furnitures and are arranged to either encourage the gathering of different students or to seclude oneself for quiet thinking. The energies help to encourage innovation and facilitates conversations between students and faculty.
Product Development In this space, different professions are gathered with the one purpose of researching and developing products/models. Whether it is a space required for scientific development or product manufacturing, spaces are required for storage, machinery as well as open tables for model making as well as doing research.
Visionary Use 20
Administation Office spaces are required in order to keep the material produced by the students well organized and collected. Faculty can peruse through the different projects and/or the open tables can be used for private material studies.
Work Station Once an idea is formed, students can use the different work stations to begin sketching conceptual drawings and project those drawings as 3 dimensional holographic images in order to study the products more in detail. The privacy of the furniture spaces can be altered to either promote group presentations or as individual study corrals.
Visionary Use 21
22
23
24
25
26
STRIATED_HOUSING Xavier Vendrell Spring_’12 // Studio
The typical Chicago apartment complex, consisting of a central corridor with branching rooms off of either end, has very limited light/air circulation resulting in poor and bland living conditions. By shifting the corridor to one side and creating a system of sequential layers, an interplay between program/corridor/balconies/circulation is created. Using only a single public corridor forces the space to become creative in creating private forms of circulation which, along with the public terraces for each unit, creates a more porous design allowing light and air to penetrate deeper into the units. This redefines the usual apartment complex with its predetermined rooms by creating a tetris-like system of stacking that can be customized according to the resident’s needs: rooms become corridors, corridors become balconies, balconies become bedrooms, private becomes public and vice versa.
27
Conceptual Elevation
500SF + 1/2 terrace
1000SF + 1 terrace
1500SF + 1 1/2 terrace
Stacking Systems 28
Conceptual Axon
nts me h c a Att
l nta rizo o H
ion lat u c Cir
m gra Pro al rtic Ve
ion lat u c Cir
Conceptual Plan
ATTACHMENTS PRIVATE
PROGRAM
PUBLIC
Layering Systems 29
N Ashland Ave.
N
N
W Division St.
Site Plan 30
M
ilw au ke eA ve .
Circulation Layout
private circulation public circulation
Structural Diagram
4. 3. 2. 1.
1. Attachment: Includes private staircases and balconies. Connected to the private circulation providing access only from the attached apartment. 2. Wooden Mullion: Offset of the mullions provide visual privacy when viewed at an angle while allowing light to penetrate through. Cutouts provide ventilation for terraces. 3. Glass: Buffer zone to provide visual transparency while completely interiorizing the apartment. 4. Main Structure: Concrete structure housing the apartments and the circulation as well as providing an anchor for the attachments.
Diagrams 31
A
2nd Floor Plan
B
Overall Plan 32
Section
A
B Elevation
Section/Elevation 33
1500 SF Unit
Detail Plans 34
1000 SF Unit
500 SF Unit
Detail Plans 35
Interior/Exterior Renders 36
Interior Moments 37
38
SUPERcloudIMPOSITION Jimenez Lai Fall_’11 // Studio
Located near the heart of downtown Chicago, the urban city becomes the platform from which this project is birthed. The typical Chicago office building (densely packed, short and squat rectangular box) is superimposed with programmatically different spaces creating a mashing of different environments. Infused within a 1,000,000 sf building, programs are divided into 3 parts: Cultural (museum, gallery, offices) / Making (art school, artist studio) / Living (guest apartment, dormitories, cafes, bars, shops, student recreation). This interplay between intrusive programs create moments throughout the museum of new experiences and ever-changing environments.
39
1. typical office building (work)
2. superimpose toy (fun)
3. embed fun within work
4. building morphs to adjust
5. insert many toys
6. new typology
Concept 40
05-14-013: Intrusive building need not be used in its entirety when being inserted inside of a base building. Therefore a sectional cut may be used anywhere on the building in order to have it fit within the confines of the base building.
05-14-010: Base building shall be of a single, generic mass. a. Overall shape shall be more or less rectalinear. b. Width of Base building must be equal to or larger than the height of the building.
05-14-014: Intrusive building must be contained within the exterior profile of the base building. A. Intrusive building may cut through atrium of base building. B. Intrusive building may cut base building profile and be replaced as base facade, however, must not protrude out of the base facade boundary
Atrium or Inner Court
H 4-sided office building
W
W >H
05-14-011: An intrusive building must be chosen from an area outside the boundaries of Chicago. a. Find a non-residential building consisting of a complex sectional profile. b. Intrusive building must be at the same scale as the base building.
05-14-015: A minimum of one side of the base building’s facade must reveal a part of the intrusive building.
curvi-linear shape
05-14-012: Intrusive building must fill a minimum of 2/3 of the sectional area of the base building. a. Therefore, a second intrusive building may also be used in conjunction with the first to fulfill this requirement. b. At least 1/2 of the intrusive building must be touching the ground.
05-14-016: The governing programs of the Base building and the Intrusive building must be unrelated. a. At any given space, a minimum of two unrelated programs must be touching one another. b. At any given space, the user must be able to visually define a minimum of two unrelated programs adjacent to one another
H two-building types booleaned
Rules of Engagement 41
Sectional Intrusion Diagrams 42
Sectional moments between base and intrusive building allows for programs to “hang� into other programs
An awkward moment is achieved when a public space is obstructed by a private space.
Roof of the building is used for large public program. eg. auditorium space + cheese race
The facade becomes active to the user whether it is recreational, visual etc.
Sectional floors do not align, creating spatially and visually awkward moments.
Sectional cut brings sunlight into the building, illuminating the space for a specific use.
Atrium rooftops become accessible for various activities.
Sectional cuts create opportunities for recreation.
At a given corner, 3 or more activities intermingle with one another.
Activity Vignettes 43
44
Mart + Office + Auditorium 45
46
Urban Vision 47
Genealogy 48
49
Catalog Section 50
Catalog Plans 51
Section Vignettes 54
Section Vignettes 55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
DESIGN_DEVELOPMENT Dan Wheeler Spring_’12 // Tech
The schematic designs of the previous project is developed even further through a development phase. The building design concepts and ideas will continue to be advanced but through different sets of criterias, mainly physical and building conditions. Issues such as structure, circulation, poche/systems, and enclosure. The strengths of the the earlier project will be incorporated into the implementing of the different systems. These systems will develop alongside the conceptual idea of the project in order to further strengthen, not weaken the concept of the project. Negotiations between technical developments and conceptual schemes will have to be thought out and chosen to best represent the project.
63
Axon/Plan 64
Structural Diagram 65
70
WAXIN_WAXOUT KELLY BAIR Spring_’12 // Topics in Technology
This course is a study on the formal aesthetics and physical traits that are created using physical techniques (melting, casting, carving etc.) and strives to replicate/duplicate the qualities using machinery-based precision (cnc mill, laser cutting, 3d printing etc.) Initial studies were tested using very rudimentary techniques of melting wax then pouring into cold water to solidify the wax in a form that we desired. This form would then be cast into plaster which then be melted off once the plaster hardened. Images of the carved out plaster would be transferred as a base for patterning making in a 3D texture program (Zbrush). Finally, using the program, we created an object that was based on the texture of the wax but a completely different typology. This was then carved out using a cnc mill device completing the process.
Contributions: Gibrann Ruiz, John Sohn
71
1. Melt wax in a cup 2. Pour liquid wax into bowl of cold water 3. Tilt bowl or stir to create turbulence 4. Liquid wax solidifies into various forms as it cools.
Physical Model 72
Physical Model 73
1. Place wax model inside container and pour in plaster
2. After the plaster has hardened split it into parts, exposing the wax within.
3. Use a heat gun to melt out the wax.
4. What remains is a negative mold of the wax imprint.
Physical Mold 74
Physical Texture 75
Digital Texture 76
Digital Enclosure 77
Digital Sections 78
Digital Sections 79
Analog Fabrication 80
Analog Model 81
82
83
84
85