TAYLOR VANETTEN PORTFOLIO 2017
CONTACT: Master of Architecture, USC ‘17 B.S. Architecture, UofM ‘14 vanetten@usc.edu 323-481-3635
TABLE OF CONTENTS SIT E SP EC I F IC ST U D I O D ESIGN 04 16 22 26 30
AUGMENTED GIRASOLE WATT ANNEX PENUMBRAL MUSEUM PERPETUATE THE UNRESOLVED NO FRILLS FIREHOUSE
AB ST RAC T ST U D I 0 D ESIGN 34 ANATOMY OF A FIGHT 36 MOLD
The following collection of work has been selected from my time at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and the University of Southern California School of Architecture. These projects range from site specific designs, to abstract spatial analysis. I am deeply passionate about socially attainable design, and believe that architecture can impact our relationships on a social, political and economic scale. 3
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AUG M EN T ED GIRASOLE Casa Il Girasole sits in the Parioli neighborhood of Rome, just nor th of the Vatican and the city proper. Built by Luigi Moretti in 1950, Casa Il Girasole is an apar tment building that subtly hints at later explorations in postmodernism which followed a near two decades later. With its formal experimentation with the use of fragmentation, this project has been often understood as a dramatic critique on the contemporary, late European modernism of its time. Girasole loudly rejects the pure, modernist doctrine that it sits in context with. As a controversial, although beloved Italian architect, Moretti designed Girasole with the intentions of “being lost” and “becoming enchanted” as you move through the space. The original Girasole is a building designed for upper class Romans -- an essentially stable and homogeneous population. Despite its location in an architecturally rich neighborhood, Girasole is restricted and falls to the background because it is amongst equally as complex and decorated buildings. Can Girasole be augmented in order to provide a richer, more complex socioeconomic condition elsewhere in the city as a means to encourage a more direct relationship between the public, private and the pseudo public space. How can a new context and a new less homogenous population directly impact the functioning spaces of an augmented Girasole? As an old Italgas factory site, it is both banal in design but complex in site placement. It is just a few blocks away from a train
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GREATER ROME
MIGRANT NEIGHBORHOOD OSTIENSE
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station that at one point housed hundreds of Afghan migrant workers who were looking for housing and refuge in Rome. In this par ticular narrative, the public realm that Moretti finds so fascinating is the most impor tant. Crisis housing is prototypical of housing need in Europe, and this thesis aims to show its complexity, transformability and sensitivity to a variety of people in need. Through a sequence of post-modern fragmentation, this crisis housing development includes a variety of apar tment types at a variety of scales, for individuals quickly and temporarily moving through the site, all the way to those families who expand and stay longer. Resources on site would include security huts, employment and government facilities, medical resources and care, and education center, plenty of space for outdoor engagement, apar tment and living spaces, and most impor tantly an outdoor market that flows throughout the site. This market aims to not only help those inside the wall gain income and ser vices, but also invites the public into the space - in hopes of reconnecting those in crisis housing with their new neighborhood context. M.Arch Thesis Advised by Amy Murphy, PhD. University of Southern California, 2017
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Left: As a sectional axonometric drawing of Casa Il Girasole, this illustration was used to understand the spatial voids created by the circulation spaces. These voids alluded to the private, public, and psuedo public spaces used to deliniate space in this thesis project. Bottom: North elevation of Casa Il Girasole, by Luigi Moretti in 1950. This drawing was the first of 6 that focused on the existing context of Casa Il Girasole, its sloping ground, and its proportionality to the plinth. Opposite: A series of contextual drawings, displacing Casa Il Girasole from its homogenous neighborhood in Rome, taking its most notable characteristics and augmented an existing building. This exercise proved to be most successful to a banal, existing building. a. Dingbat b. Walt Disney Concert Hall c. Roman pavilion d. Apartment building e. Ranch style house f. 2-Story house
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a,b,c.
d,e,f. 9
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Previous: Site plan of Augmented Girasole, sitting in the context of an existing ItalGas plant. Southeast of the Vatican, and along the Tiber River. Top: First level floor plans of the housing complex. From Right to left - guard shack, outdoor market, cafe, in-house employment office, medical facilities, guard shack, educational and community center, housing center with entry level market and multi-use space at ground level. Bottom: Second floor of the housing center. This center has the ability to house multiple different family types, ranging from bachelor to 6 person apartments. These apartments have a corridor and private entry, for added security in the complex, as well as plenty of psuedo public areas . 13
Top: Elevation, facing South, showing inside the existing wall of the augmented complex Bottom: Elevation, facing North, showing the outside of the wall and existing gasometers Oppostite: Material elevation diagram - reuse of steel in existing warehouse augmentation, concrete finishes to match surrounding areas, and new lightweight steel on new construction
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WAT T AN N EX Taught by Professor of Practice Wes Jones in conjunction with Trudi Sandmeier, Director of Graduate Programs in Heritage Conser vation, this studio required students to deeply look at our home: Watt and Harris Hall. As an imaginative matter of Heritage Conser vation, these two existing buildings were analyzed based on historical, social and professional context, and characterdefining features. By using our own buildings, students were required to think about the discipline of architectural education, how the pedagogy has changed, and encouraged to evaluate future architectural pedagogies as technology changes education. Additionally, the shared Ar t & Design spaces of our neighbors at the Roski School of Design had to be considered, as our lease of these buildings together continues. When the designer has less to work with, there is more pressure on specificity and intentionality. This project aims to emphasize the advancements designers and engineers have made in the architectural realm. As Watt and Harris Halls were analyzed and preser ved, the pavilion was reconsidered and redeveloped for a digital and sculptural age. Why should architecture schools continue to be battered and tough? The Watt Annex is the modern pavilion, sculptural and pedagogical in its physicality to teach and encourage the modern student. Advised by Wes Jones and Trudi Sandmeier Presented to Paffard Keatinge-Clay University of Southern California, 2016
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Entry to the Watt Complex, with the existing Watt Hall in the background to the right. TAYLOR VANETTEN
Existing Watt Hall Courtyard with Watt Annex intervention. The courtyard curvature follows the shape of the new Annex pavilion. 19
View from the street, approaching the new Watt Annex at the intersection of Watt Way and 37th. TAYLOR VANETTEN
View from the train, facing north towards Watt Annex and campus beyond. 21
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P EN U M B R AL M USEUM Located in the historic Broadway Corridor of Downtown Los Angeles, the Penumbral Museum is a cohesive museum space with variations in shadow, sound and light. The use of a louvered facade system protects exterior gallery spaces along he busy Broadway street front, gives a dynamic and expansive interior gallery light, and creates a direct connection between circulation and facade. Through the implementation of the louver, Penumbral Museum connects facade to interior space and encourages the user’s par ticipation throughout these spaces. Structurally, the Penumbral Museum would have a typical cur tain wall system with a secondary lightweight aluminum structural system to hold the louvers. Made out of a polycarbonate material, the lightweight louvers are operable from the exterior gallery spaces to adjust per requirements of gallery exhibits. As the building progresses up, the louvers begin to open up and change direction to adjust interior spatial quality. The louvers are not only just facade elements, but also move into the interior spaces at the ground level as an ar tistic element. Users of the museum can see and walk through the louvers as they pass through the exterior to interior threshold at the point of entry on Broadway. Advised by Patrick Tighe Is Facade Enough? University of Southern California, 2016
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1. Point of Entry 2. Shading 3. Open Louver 4. Railing 5. Ventilation 6. Closing Louver 7. Circulation 8. Support TAYLOR VANETTEN
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P ER P ET UAT E T HE UNRESOLVED The 12th Street Riots began on July 23, 1967 as police raided the William Scott Building on the corner of 12th and Clairmont Streets in Detroit, Michigan. Officials would describe this event as a riot. Par ticipants would call it a movement. Bystanders would call it a nuisance. After intricately studying the movement of the 12th Street Riots, patterns emerged in the movement of three active bodies: the par ticipant, the official, and the bystander. Parabolic movements, physical behavior and demolition of the surrounding areas were categorized as protocols of the event. How can you create a form of preser vation for an event that is still affecting the culture on a daily basis? This project hypothesizes that a system that facilitates physical movement in combination with mental awareness will control and elevate the historical environment. This act of preser vation is site specific and may not hold merit in other locations with similar events.
Advised by Farzin Lotfi-Jam Wallenberg Studio, Amnesty and UNESCO University of Michigan, 2014
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Top: Analysis of the 12th Street Riots in plan, showing each participant : the rioter, the official, and the bystander. Opposite: An abstract drawing showing each type of participants movement over time. TAYLOR VANETTEN
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N O F R IL L S F IR EHOUSE The No Frills Firehouse is located at the intersection of West 31st Street and South Halsted Street in Chicago. This major intersection features stores, residential buildings, a police station, and restaurants. The business strategies of three companies: ETSY, Hulu and Megabus were adapted in the design of this firehouse. Like the businesses, the firehouse emphasizes a transparent floor plan, harmonic propor tions and spaces that correspond to the whole and to each other. On the exterior, the firehouse is exposed by a three pierced loggia and encompasses a communal space seated right on corner of the site. The greenhouse system used in the No Frills Firehouse is created out of pre-existing structures, and expresses layers of transparency for ease of building and efficiency.
Advised by Thom Moran No Frills Studio University of Michigan, 2013
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Top: Basswood and acrylic model, 1/32� scale Opposite: Axonometric of No Frills Firehouse greenhouse components 33
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ANATO M Y OF A F IGHT How can one translate the 3-dimensional reality displayed on a 2-dimensional screen into a tangible object? This design studio investigates the translation of ideas from one form of representation to another, subsequently analyzing the relationship between the solid and the void. A 30 second video clip from In Way of the Dragon was analyzed intially by giving replicated physical characteristics a drawn symbol. The most prominent feature, a punch, was analyzed, processed, translated and shifted based on an iterative process. This layer model was quantitatively constructed based on the video clip elements, and a solid void relationship was translated. Initially, the object began as quick foam study models, then moved into more complex cardboard models before the final shape was car ved by layers into museum board. The final white figure was constructed using a subtractive method of modeling where specifically 96 layers of museum board were hand cut and stacked to create the spatial representation of two opponents fighting in unison.
Advised by Sean Vance First Year Studio University of Michigan, 2012
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MOL D By reexamining the relationships discovered in the previous project, the goal of this ar tifact was to reimagine the voids of the white layer model and manipulate them into a solid. The challenge of this project was learning how to understand the nature of space, how it operates through an object, and how to construct the inverse. Thus, this yields a solid object. Unlike the previous project, this study was created by an additive process; to recreate a space to be made into an actual rockite mold. Basswood, felt, duck tape, hot glue and zip lock bags were used during the construction of the mold. As an introduction to the first semester of undergraduate studio, a light study was also completed, which can be seen on the opposite page.
Advised by Sean Vance First Year Studio University of Michigan, 2012
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