[TAYLORMACKIE] portfolio
It is through architecture that I provide for the community, this
shared universe we inhabit. The needs of the world continue to emerge and we as architects draw inspiration from nature, human behavior, and the sublime to address desire through design. It has always been my aspiration through creation to not only to create a place, but also respect its identity, both physically and spiritually. The axes of art are in a perpetual state of overlay. Design and the non-objective are always of relevance, most likely when least expected.
12 34 [ RELINK HOUSTON ]
[ IN SITE AND IN MIND ]
[ DALLAS POWER & LIGHT ]
[ DISCOVERY & URBANITY ]
houston, texas graduate thesis project
caracas, venezuela studio VII
dallas, texas studio VI
sponsored studio studio IV
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5 678 [ BYWATER COMMUNITY CENTER ]
[ BERNARDINE MONASTERY ]
[ VUEHAUS RESIDENCE ]
[ TREASURES OF PROVENCE ]
new orleans, louisiana studio II
hot springs, north carolina studio I
los angeles, california fundamentals studio III
lacoste, france traveling sketchbook
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page 29 [ SANS TEMPS ] barcelona, spain digital photography page 31 [ STRUCTURE OF CHAOS ] savannah, georgia fine art series page 33
relink houston restoring mobility in a broken city
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[ HEALING ] [ SERVICING] [ MORPHING ]
[ BUFFALO BAYOU TRANSIT HUB ] houston, texas | graduate thesis studio What is it necessarily that Buffalo Bayou Station stands for in the context of the sprawling metropolis of Houston, Texas? It represents a gesture, both linear in form and socially encompassing of the city’s development. The city with the reputation of car reliance not only wants, but needs the cultural renaissance in the way we view future urban growth and the transportation of people. American cities victimized by the consequences of sporatic development certainly contain the components of a transit network, however lack the threading to relink the segregated micro-cities that make up the metropolitan city. The strategies and design decisions involved in the composite scheme of this transit hub are so site specific, however demonstrates a model nonetheless.
how can we restore mobility? 2
SITE PLAN
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DISCONNECT suburban sprawl low population density few public areas automobile oriented transit environmental neglect
NEED efficient mass transit urban center housing infrastructure for future growth pedestrian friendliness redevelopment of downtown
Cultural Adjacencies Within Site
Pedestrian vs. Vehicular Bridges
Internal Forces of Disconnect
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The model is that the ability to identify, conjoin, and design an interface involving vast networks of paths and transit modes is something missing from Houston: a solution. The model reinforces the notion that the ability to find a solution, is the solution for fragmented cities of this nature. This thesis was an exploration of a site within a city that needed a flexible and adaptable solution to a multitude of necessary issues to address, which ultimately dictated not only the program but the form of the transit hub.
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East Elevation
Figure 5-16
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[1]
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[3] “I think urbanity is also always a process. That means that there is, basically, not such thing as a state of urbanity. The notion that everything is in flux could only have been formulated in an urban setting.�
transit interface
public accessibility
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Non-traditional by nature, this type of transit hub births a new archetype. Difficult, perhaps impossible to classify, it surely enough relinks the network of connections needed to restore mobility. This exploration and approach transcend into a way of thinking, one in which uses transit as a driving force in conjunction with additional needs specific to the site to propel a contemporary gesture to successfully reconnect other broken cities in North America.
CONCEPT
Bridging the banks of a livable river. Threading the existing inventory of networks and services with the new, restoring new life to a fragmented city.
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urban mobility
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network connectivity
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program integration
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“As we proceed, we are following our conviction that individual and collective happiness should constitute, in the case of the desirable. And that the responsibility for both always rests in the private as well as the public realm.”
“Does freewheeling and dealing Houston, the city that even shuns zoning, even want to be recognized as an aspiring transit metropolis?”
community benefits
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safety enhancements
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vibrant experiences
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TRANSIT HUB A model of adaptability, innovation, and world-class mass transit for cities of the Sun Belt region.
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“For the first time in history, more than half the world’s people live in cities. Over 90 percent of urban growth is occurring in the developing world, adding an estimated 70 million new residents to urban areas each year...”
THEFT INSECURITY
EXPLOITATION
FRUSTRATION
U N WA N T ED P R E GN A N CY
VIOLENCE HOMELESSNESS
MISERY
ANGER
EMIGRATION DRUGABUSE
HUNGER MURDER
DISCRIMINATION
DEPRESSION
SUICIDE
STARVATION
PROSTITUTION CHILD-LABOR
CORRUPTION
BEGGARS
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CRIME
DISEASE
DEATH
POVERTY
[ IN SITE AND IN MIND ]
caracas, venezuela | studio VII collaboration | marco barboza & zoe lee
Public Safety - Plaza Proposal
The neighborhood of Barrio San Agustin del Sur, despite close proximity to Caracas’ financial center, falls victim to vast disconnect. Safety, health, and immediate needs fall secondary in this informal settlement. It is fundamental to invest in the people. These design scenarios combine ingenuity with the culture of the slum dwellers to supplement the existing conditions. The multi-phase approach employs availability of resourcefulness, participatory design, and cultural sensitivity to meet the immediate needs of the barrio. It is the best intention of this project to help guide the growth of choice, create a connection between the city and informal settlements, and encouragement for future communal enhancement for the people.
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Barrio San Agustin Del Sur
KEY Residential Mixed-Use Institutional Public Transportation Proposed Housing Civic “Nido” Spaces Proposed Pathway Enhancements
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[2]
Phase ONE: begins with focuses on immediate • street issues. By suggesting the improvement of roads ie; paving, retaining walls and lighting which will increase safety of the area. Along with the roads, safety “checkpoint” areas are to be carried out. The “plaza”, is an open space that will provide this checkpoint area that creates a new relationship between private spaces and the street.
Site Model
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[3]
Phase TWO: involves the community rehabilitat- • ing empty spaces or unused buildings. The idea of the “Nido” or Nest, aims to provide another checkpoint area and community center. Here a cultural background identity can flourish as people come to use the garden, perhaps create a mercal or come to view a football game together. This second stage suggests ways in which sustainability factors can be implemented.
Phase THREE: helps to provide a premise for future housing. Taking into account how existing homes are constructed, these cluster homes can be easily constructed with already available materials. Theses include, terracotta bricks, concrete, pvc piping et. Organization is the underlying tone for the purpose of these houses along with continuing the sense of family, community, safety and culture. This third stage focuses on Asset Based Community Development.
[ ORGANIZATION ] [ STABILITZATION ]
URBAN FARMING
WATER COLLECTION
WASTE MANAGEMENT
[ ANTICIPATION ]
STRUCTURE
FOUNDATIONAL SUPPORT
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[ 1506 COMMERCE - DALLAS ] dallas, texas | studio VI
Centrally located in the Business District of Dallas, is the historic Dallas Power and Light Building. The city has experienced a tremendous growth in population and a drastic shift in its socio-economic climate. Revival is finding its way back to the district with a high vacancy rate and a small number of permanent residents. This shift calls for new symbols of modernity and alluring places to live in making downtown a desirable place to live.
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ASHRAE held a competition to design a new luxury high-rise building, incorporating the existing tower. Through building integrated systems, emerging technologies, and sustainable design, 1506 Commerce provides elevated living standards in an ecologically sound structure with minimal energy waste.
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East Elevation
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South Elevation
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[ DALLAS POWER & LIGHT ]
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Elevator Circulation
Structural Core
Fire Egress
Vertical Circulation
Layering Levels
Structural Grid
firewall egress staircase CMU on metal-stud wall
steel flange and structural bracing
mechanical shaft
steel louvers
dropped acoustic ceiling return-air vent structural steel column
double glazed exterior ceramic tube envelope system
raised floor system linear air diffuser H VA C d u c t w o r k
[ MODULARITY ] [ PRACTICALITY ]
Ground Level
Levels 3 - 9
Levels 15 - 21
Levels 22 - 23
[ LIVABILITY ]
Levels 10 - 14
Roof Level
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[ DISCOVERY & URBAN DESIGN ] sponsored studio | studio IV collaboration | alex otterbein
Designing a facelift for an entire city as opposed to focusing the scope on a particular building means one must consider the functioning components of a working city and how it works. I had to understand the relationship between retail, dining, and park spaces, as well as how maintainence access would operate ensuring that its interaction with the public is minimal. Establishing primary and secondary circulation leads to programming the hierarchy of buildings and attractions.
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SITE PLAN
parking entertainment dining retail institutional gardens wild groves service
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Circulation
[ ENGAGING ] [ URBANITY] [ ADVENTURE ] A primary objective of the overall site plan and program was to find a way to bring daytime revenue to a place that thrives primarily in the evening hours. Engaging adventures create memorable experiences and lure attendance. A canopy walk proposal was one of many features included in the overall scheme. A working mechanical system of providing egress stairs through artificial tree structures was one way to make such a fantasy-like idea come to life.
Dining
Retail
Green Space
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“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
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Bywater District - New Orleans, LA
Site Block
Community Center & Market Park
[ BYWATER COMMUNITY CENTER ] new orleans, louisiana | studio II
“The inevitable city on an impossible site,” New Orleans has been named before. The city that was never meant has surely proven its resilience through times of economic woes and natural disaster. The vibrant and diverse cultural makeup of New Orleans exists in a geographical disposition, leaving it vulnerable to hurricanes and environmental contamination. The inhabitants struggle to renew the city’s distinguished neighborhoods facing socio-economic conflicts, one of which is the Bywater District. This neighborhood, located just east of the French Quarter is bound by access to the water, with the Mississippi River and the Industrial Canal along its edge. Hurricane Katrina changed the demographics and context of the neighborhood significantly with issues such as a high vacancy rate, lower population density rates, fewer amounts of children and families, and the negative effects of blight.
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[ REVITALIZING ] [ COMMUNAL] [ APPROPRIATE ]
The design process begins with purpose and scope. The user needs dictate function and form of the potential. Phasing allows the concept to come to life with respects to budget. Immediate needs such as a farmer’s market, remediation of the site, and safety are addressed in the early stages. Effectiveness of its intended use then allows further elaboration. Phase 2 includes a proposed street, an interactive park, and more greenery. In the years to come, the market park becomes a node of community gathering and will welcome the Bywater Community Center.
“To be engaged in some small way in the revival of one of the great cities of the world is to live a meaningful existence by default. “
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Ground Level
Upper Level
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“There is no enlightenment outside of daily life. Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unties your body to your thoughts.”
[ BERNARDINE MONASTERY ] hot springs, north carolina | studio I
A monastic existence is a strictly disciplined way of life which must involve peace, respect with nature, and simplicity. Each day begins with the rising of the sun and a regular schedule of prayer in meditation spaces, services with the church, research, and labor. Isolations and silence are essential, and monks of a monastery require natural scenery. Workers of God have shared a rich history of servants to their church and community. Devoting to a life of solitude and labor enrich the notion of existence in its most bare and simple form. Harmoniously demonstrating the churchs’ contributions to society, as well as welcoming the public, but doing so in a way that respectively follows to guidelines to keeping both world’s separate within the complex, is the challenge. This Cistercian monastery provides a haven of zen in respects to the natural environment, yet complies with the program of providing the key components of a micro community: a residence with facilities for sleep, work, prayer, dining, and learning.
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Site Plan
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[ VUEHAUS RESIDENCE ]
los angeles, california | fundamentals II The primary inspiration for a cube house came from Pete Eisenman’s approach. Beginning with one 5 x 5 inch cube, I altered the surfaces using subtraction, addition, and proportioning to break down one cube into multiple interlocking spaces. Projections and recessions in the facade created a series of layers. The layering technique would pull planes wherever appropriate for protection from the sun.
“The house is not an object in the traditional sense - that is the end result of a process - but more accurately a record of a process.”
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Lower Level
Main Level
Upper Level
[ LAYERING ] [ OPTIMIZATION] [ TRANSFORMATION ]
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[ TREASURES OF PROVENCE ] lacoste, france
The four months I spent in Europe could be described as a period of my isolation. Disconnected from the world I left behind, an unexplored environment stood before me. The rustic nature of Provence showed me how man-made structures and the wild cohabit harmoniously. Architectural marvels and the culture itself forced me to take a period of time at least once a day and begin to capture the essence of my observations in my sketchbook. The mood of artwork is never captivated through perfection or precision. Sketches contain raw emotion, movement, and meaning.
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[ SANS TEMPS ]
paris, france | barcelona, spain photography series The French have a saying known as “sans temps,” or “without time.” The lens of my camera could still an image of a place or object that could be described as timeless. The lands of Europe have been continually inhabited for thousands of years and glimpses of that rich past are ever present today. With black and white photography as my preference, I wanted to display the various moments where I felt a spiritual connection without explanation.
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[ STRUCTURE OF CHAOS ] savannah, georgia | fine art series
Everything happens and exists for a reason: cause and effect. My latest series has been described as chaotic, non-objective, free. The final product may appear as such, yet every layer and material applied had been carefully selected. Each painting in this particular series begins with a base layer by taping off a grid of linearity. Straight lines represent stability and directional forces. No matter the amount of paint sprayed, splattered, or applied on top, the initial skeleton of the painting manages to translate
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Chaos is a necessary step in the organization of one’s universe.
[TAYLORMACKIE]