Master of Architecture Application Portfolio

THOMAS GRANT MACDONALD

MARCH/MLA dual degree program application portfolio

PHOTOGRAPHY

COMPETITION

ACADEMIC

1

geiranger fjord

2

teachers union house

3

infrastructure

4

designs for the drowning city

5

ULI student competition

6

lights in the landscape

8

program under pressure

9

pro-active recreation

10

block party

11

reinvesting fairmount

12

grimmscape

PROFESSIONAL

PERSONAL INTEREST

13

gunang geulis

14

beijing hillside residence

15

sketching

16

draw + paint

17

build

National Tourist Route Trollstigen, Reiulf Ramstad Architects. Geiranger Fjord, Norway.

Photography, 2013

Scandinavia summer study abroad

In Norway I observed buildings that merge with their landscape of rock and water. Norwegians demand that their country’s resources and natural beauty be preserved, and great pains are taken to ensure measurable levels of sustainability during all stages of building construction and operation. Here the bar is constantly raised in for energy recycling and formal impact through use of advanced building technologies and digital tools.

1

The Teachers Union House, Element Arkitekter AS. Oslo, Norway.

Photography, 2013

Scandinavia summer study abroad

Capturing and controlling light becomes an environmental neccessity in the upper-latitudes of Scandinavia. A mastery of building orientation and solar cycles results in spaces that stun the visitor with light and shadow while also maximizing solar gain. Choice of material is closely related to light quality. Structures are built tight to reduce heat loss to the cold climate, promting the use of advanced monitoring systems to balance heat and air flow.

2

infrastructures, various locations

Photography, 2013

personal work

In some respects, the design and construction of infrastructure is the most public form of architecture; regardless of wealth, status or personal taste, everyone must use it. The material requirements and linear nature of infrastructure offer unique opportunities to devise powerful spaces of light, meeting and connection. As our world becomes increasingly connected the architecture of infrastructure asks to be advanced.

3

DESIGNS FOR THE DROWNING CITY Schenk-Woodman Competition

This competition offered a first opportunity to work with Penn architecture students and was a great learning experience. Our team developed a system that responds to flood risk in Philadelphia via deployable pod structures. My own contributions included project conceptualization, diagrams, assistance with photoshop renderings, board layout, and providing input + critique at all stages.

daily operations. pods embeded as interactive landscape

emergency operations. pods deployed to service storm victims

Competition, spring 2013

Schenk-Woodman Interdisciplinary Design Competition

Teamed with Nathan Hammit, MARCH/MHPV

Lesia Pawlsyn, MARCH

Harry Lam, MARCH

Yunsu Kim, MARCH

4

phasing strategy

LA CLAVE (THE KEYSTONE)

move 1

Urban Land Institute National Competition

Our proposal for a new community in Nashville, Tennessee determined to eschew overused “Music City” clichés and focus instead on the potentials of the city’s diverse foreign-born populations. Major moves included relocating an existing farmer’s market to a new riverfront park, developing a greenspace system that manages stormwater, and anchoring a primary pedestrian traverse with a hotel, community center, and boardwalk combination.

connect to diverse communities via transit

major gateway nodes

move 2

new construction

community center

sports + food greenway loop

stormwater management plan

workforce housing

outdoor market

mixed-use work force housing

hotel

community center

4-star hotel

outdoor market

Competition, spring 2014

Urban Land Institute National Student Competition

Advisor Andy Schlatter

Teamed with Diego Bermudez, LARP

Jose Holguin, MARCH

Jizhe Yang, CPLN

riverfront park

Trevor Chang, MBA

boardwalk

5

LIGHTS IN THE LANDSCAPE spatial experience at bartram’s garden

Bartrams Garden in Philadelphia is a nexus of botanical, infrastructural, and industrial history. To understand the potentials of this complex site I began by mapping the qualities of light and material, ultimately developing a bicycling path that emerged from the meadow to fly out over the river. The path offers both a line of connection through Bartram’s and an intensification of the garden’s most profound spatial and historical experiences. As one speeds along the path, artifacts of riparian industry rush by along the bulkhead. Space opens up over the expanse of bright water, then contracts again as the path dives back over land into darkened woods. The experience is framed against a distant memory of the City.

light quality study, mixed media

conceptualizing bike flight over river, photography + photoshop

armature model, mdf

found-object perspective, graphite

Academic, spring 2012

Studio I, critic Anuradha Mathur

triangulation mapping, graphite

exploring water/bulkhead relationship through model

6

spatial experience at bartram’s garden, continued

perspective photo-splice, mixed-media

section rendering, graphite + photoshop

Academic, spring 2012

Studio I, critic Anuradha Mathur

serial sections, graphite

photowork

7

PROGRAM UNDER PRESSURE simple typologies -> dynamic program

Miller Field, a former air base on Staten Island, is a much-loved venue for local recreation but suffers from a lack of programmatic and topographic interest. This project considered instigating depressions in the landscape to create spaces of shifting informal program, which then aggregate to form a stormwater management system. The concept was ultimately carried forward as part of a regional redevelopment scheme.

MILLER FIELD

meander

expand model-derived axonometric section, rhino illustrator

compress

aggregate

study model, plaster

Academic, fall 2012.

Studio II, critic Nicholas Pevzner

initial materiality diagram, rhino + illustrator

concept diagram, rhino + illustrator

flow

regional strategy, rhino + illustrator

8

PRO-ACTIVE RECREATION new coastal living paradigm

Shifting global weather patterns threaten to transform many coastal cities and towns from places of sunny recreation to wastelands of uncertainty and natural disaster. Working with another student, this project explored how submerged structures off the coast of Staten Island might interact with hyper-programmed piers to generate both safety from storm surge and beach recreation.

Assessing Risk According to the NYC panel on climate change, seas will rise over the 100 years and storms will increase in frequency and intensity. Data suggests that coastal areas within 20’ of current mean sea level will be at risk by 2100. These areas should be considered for development potential.

variable-energy scenario diagram considering how to tie project into regional coastal protection plan

Density + Connectivity Existing density and infrastructural connectivity will support new development. Creation of a high-ground community offers flood refuges a new home in their own neighborhood and maintains the area’s tax base.

Replicability + Linkage Residual areas left by those leaving flood risk zones will be gradually incorporated into a new recreational landscape. This landscape will expand over time, eventually linking with other Gateway areas to form a massive new park system that is dynamically tied to its nearby urban fabric.

preliminary organization studies, construction paper

flow typology model, ink in milk

Academic, fall 2012.

Studio II, critic Nicholas Pevzner

teamed with Wess Diptee, MARCH/MLA

9

BLOCK PARTY

social resiliency armature

This studio centered on weaving together research in development, environment, urban form and sociality to address pressing issues of urbanity in Philadelphia. After attending community meetings in the challenged neighborhoods of Strawberry Mansion and Brewerytown, I developed an armature system to improve both the streets and their adjacent parkspace. The project draws upon the area’s strong social infrastructure and links it to existing regional amenities. These connections are supported by smaller-scale public spaces (nodes) which function as foci of flexible neighborhood program.

concept diagram, illustrator

Academic, fall 2013

framework axon, rhino + illustrator

Studio III, critic Cindy Sanders

programmatic axon perspective, rhino + photoshop

10

REINVESTING FAIRMOUNT fiscal feasibility of new rental housing

The “numbers” of design interests me, I enjoy the precision that comes through systems and formulas.

This project considers the financial feasibility of bringing new rental housing to an under-utilized lot near Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park. After generating a basic building layout I developed a detailed proforma that was then ‘tweaked’ to meet investment hurdles.

1 Bedroom, 750 sqft $800 / mo.

10 units

2 Bedroom, 850 sq ft $1,100 / mo.

5 units

3 Bedroom, 1000 sqft $1,400 / mo.

5 units

*unit square footage figures are for interior space only

Total square footages: one bedroom: 7,470 two bedroom: 4,275 three bedroom: 5,225 building: 17,870 common area: 1,544 yard + veranda: 1,900 parking: 1,056 parcel area: 18,700 building footprint: 11,461 FAR: 61 open space: 7,293

spatial analysis of historic barriers to investment

Academic, fall 2013

Intro to Property Development, lecturer John Landis

proforma highlight

11

GRIMMSCAPE

exploring through digital media

Digital mediums offer a means of high precision and conceptual exploration. This project, which interpreted landform typologies based on fairy tale stories, charted the digital conceptualization process and engaged animation software to produce a movie. I am particularly interested in developing these skills to help define, reorganize, and represent relationships within highly complex architectural and landscape systems.

3-D animation sequence, bongo + after effects

exploded axon, rhino + vray

Academic, fall 2013

Media III, instructor Keith VanDerSys

section reveal animation, bongo + after effects

process matrix, rhino + illustrator

12

GUNANG GEULUS GATEWAY BRIDGE professional work, summer 2013

Professional, summer 2013

Internship, SWA Group

On the first day of my first design internship I was given the daunting task of providing conceptual designs for a bridge over a highway. The bridge was to link a new community that the firm was master planning to an existing and less formal city just north of Jakarta, Indonesia. Beyond functioning as a line of connection for cars and pedestrians, the bridge was to serve as a gateway announcing the entrance to the new development area and help establish a sense of place.

13

BEIJING RESIDENCE professional work, summer 2013

Professional, summer 2013

The rise of Asia’s middle class offers new opportunities to synthesize western design sensibilities with long-standing Asian culture and tradition. Here I worked with a team to update a plan for a new condo, and was also tasked to design a trellis that functions as a pleasing spatial element and public space.

Internship, SWA Group

Through this project I learned a bit about the advantages and challenges to commissioning work in Asia, particularly in regards to materiality. Because the contractors were expected to disregard much of the material specifications, form and structure were required to remain simple and flexible in the types of materials that would succeed aesthetically.

14

top: paris, france

bottom: andalsnes, norway

Sketching, summer 2013

Sketching offers a means to explore space and capture the essence of an environment. While photography can be a great tool to freeze large amounts of detail, sketching forces decisions about heirarchy of elements and considerations of scale + proportion.

15

above: mountain, oil bottom near right: self-portrait, graphite

Draw + Paint, pre-2012

top right: model, graphite bottom far right: mixed media

I entered my PennDesign experience with a lifelong interest in the arts that has helped ground my work. This background has allowed me to quickly grasp the fundamentals of representation, such as lineweight heirarchy, composition, and how a drawing can best express its intention.

16

mini-pantry, pine + plywood Pantry Project, Austin, TX

Build, pre-2012

installed I prefer making to buying, especially in regards to the furniture that surrounds me. This small pantry was one of the last projects I completed before beginning at Penn. Steel hardware and a coat of black gloss paint sets off the natural beauty of the unstained pine doors. All interior hardware and most of the wood was salvaged from a neighbor’s broken furniture.

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THANKS!

mact@design.upenn.edu 281-450-7983