2007-2011
projects and work done while attending suny buffalo and unc charlotte
timothy geier
timothy d geier’s architecturally focused portfolio
contents
timothy d geier’s architecturally focused portfolio
zero 0
contents
timothy d geier’s architecturally focused portfolio
table of contents 1
3
5
statement
frame: motivation: intent
resume
academic
assigned undergraduate projects: chronological
39
personal
independent creative projects and photography
personal statement of my views on architecture and its impact
statement
one 1
statement
the statement implies my architectural frame: motivation: intent
statement
There is no one ‘ideal king of architecture.’ Architecture is messy and
not always clear of its intentions. It leaves itself open to interpretation and criticism. It is an art. It should be misunderstood and questioned. It cannot be defined by one formal or intellectual theory. It needs to struggle to define itself.
In this definition of itself architecture becomes what it is made out of.
Architecture is the accumulation of pieces into a whole. pieces of concept. pieces of material. pieces of experience. The entwinement of the pieces is the concluding integration of who we are (architects), what we do (process), how we rationalize that act (context), and where that final work fits in societal circumstances (people).
The education of an architect can be structured much like the idea of
architecture. Pieces and experiences, specific little comments and criticisms mold the architecture student through the process of learning. But the focus of an undergraduate is limited by the opportunities and suggestions of professors in a short three years, before applying for the next stage of education. Interests may be seeded, but full exploration is always restrained. The outcome of the education is whatever is focused upon, but the focus is difficult when so many pieces abound us.
two 2
phone: 585-472-4262 email: tdgeier@gmail.com
resume
education Graduated UNC Charlotte 2011, Charlotte, NC Bachelor of Science, Architecture State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY Bachelor of Science, Architecture Freshman Graduated Webster Thomas High School 2007, Webster, NY Regents with Honors
skills • Wide range of construction techniques and building maintenance procedures • Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign • Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint • Vectorworks and AutoCAD drafting and SketchUp modeling
activities AIAS Member 2009-2010 Freedom by Design Participant 2009-2010 Boy Scouts of America – Eagle Scout Senior Patrol Leader 2004-2005 National Honor Society 2005-2007 Architecture Explorer Post 2004
three 3
resume
phone: 585-472-4262 email: tdgeier@gmail.com
resume work experience Intern, Mitchell Construction, Rochester, NY Primary responsibilities included creating general construction documents and typical details, as well as product research and application.
May 2011- August 2011
Teaching Assistant, School of Architecture UNCC, Charlotte, NC September 2009- Present Primary responsibilities include management and supervision of the wood and metal labs; educating students on design process and proper use of tools. On-site Intern, Mitchell Construction, Rochester, NY Primary responsibilities included general construction and maintenance of the building site; as well as an extensive observation of the construction process. Laborer, Rochester Lumber, Rochester, NY Primary responsibilities included setting loads for delivery, delivering loads to sites, making pick-ups, clean-up and maintenance of the yard.
May 2009- August 2009
Summers 2007-2008
Laborer, Brannon Homes, Webster, NY February 2007 - August 2007 Primary responsibilities included clean-up of houses under construction, repairs of work orders, and maintenance of model homes. Intern for Architect Tim Tyskiewicz, Victor, NY November 2006- June 2007 Primary responsibilities included model building, sketching of ideas, basic CAD drawings, and documentation of built environments.
awards AXA Achievement Scholarship Honorable Mention from the American Architecture Foundation and Target for the 2007 Redesign Your School Contest
four 4
academic work
five 5
academic work
undergraduate assigned projects organized chronologically
academic
six 6
structures shadow box final, continued on page 27
professors joyce hwang and chris romano, ta nicole martin
academic work
This project series is the showcase of my first semester in architecture school, at SUNY Buffalo. Each piece was meant to build on the last; starting with existing skill sets and moving towards more specifically defined architectural tasks. The initial project was to freehand draw a piece of athletic footwear, in my case a soccer cleat, from different views. From there we started using drafting tools to construct measured drawings of the same shoe, to start to get a handle on the tools and visual language that we would be using. In the second project I used the performance of the shoe’s activity to generate a representation of the space in which it was performed. The basis for making of this space was in the generation from a simple action having to do with the shoe I was wearing, an evolutionary space. The final project seemed to be separate from the first two, as it was not directly correlated through the evolution of the spaces. However, it was a step towards architecture, taking all the tools and skills learned in the first projects and using them to start anew. I analyzed the lifestyle of a soccer player and constructed living spaces around the base site. each space constructed with a mind to how it is used. Dark, enclosed space for sleeping. Large, open space for practice, complete with a conceptual ball return. The cyclical living space allowed the player to continually live his life around and around through the constructed spaces.
frame by frame performance drawing
seven 7
academic work
projects produced as a freshman at suny buffalo in fall 2007
soccer player
eight 8
freehanded shoe drawing, and performance models
professors joyce hwang and chris romano, ta nicole martin
academic work
sketches and fi nal model, initial activity diagram
nine 9
academic work
ten 10
projects produced as a freshman at suny buffalo in fall 2007
fi nal plan drawing
professors frank fantauzzi and chris romano, ta gabriella d’angelo
academic work
The cube project at the beginning of the second semester at SUNY Buffalo was a simple introduction into a formal design process. We received the starting point of a 20’ x 20’ cube on a 4’ grid with a point of approach from the project brief. From that starting point we could take any direction to generate an observation platform at least 10’ above ground level. My fi rst move was to break the grid by rotating the cube by one square to open up two sides to the approach, as opposed to having one fully frontal facade. To accompany the initial move’s concept of playing to the approach I returned to the grid to slide pieces along the grid lines furthering the openness to the approach, but also to create a series of views back towards the line of approach. I tried to further develop the shifting of the the strips by moving them vertically as you moved away from the stairs. Even before and after using the stairs the shifts give the affect of constantly rising towards the view. The fi nal decision of enclosing the cube as though it had been a hollow box, cut and shifted. Allowing the shifts to act as barriers and frames towards the view.
view through sketch model towards south
eleven 11
academic work
project produced as a freshman at suny buffalo in spring 2008
cube
twelve 12
south elevation drawing, model, plan drawing
professor jeff balmer
academic work
The boathouse project was the fi rst project after transferring to UNC Charlotte and it was a big transition for me adjusting to the design process of a new school. However, I think that the project was a big transition for the other students at Charlotte from their fi rst year, as well. The project was very focused on using dimensional lumber to build spaces for a crewing complex, including a storage building, a club house, an outdoor work area, and a dock. We began by constructing the smallest of the spaces, the work area. It had to be somewhat protective from the weather. I used this as a chance to tilt the structure to shed rain water, but also to match the taper of the structure. I hoped to introduce some composition to the space, without losing any structural integrity, by leaving the third bay free from enclosing panels. The organization of the complex was based around the turning radius of the boats and also the waterfront view and approach. Within that strategy I used the same construction devices to create the storage building and club house, complete with the slanted roof and walls to deal with the rain water. Once I adjusted to the process of design at Charlotte it was a little easier to put into perspective the differences between my two schools; how they viewed the rules of architecture, where I had to follow those rules and where I could break them.
sectional model and drawing, exploded axonometric
thirteen 13
academic work
projects produced as a sophomore at unc charlotte in fall 2008
boathouse
fourteen 14
roof plan model, roof plan and elevation drawing
professor jeff balmer
2008 UNCC SoA ARCH 2101 Ault • Balmer • Forget • Sauda
BOAT• HOU SE
academic work
inch = feet
site diagram drawing and model, sketchup model view
fi fteen 15
academic work
sixteen 16
projects produced as a sophomore at unc charlotte in fall 2008
site plan and elevation drawings
professor jeff balmer
academic work
Following the boathouse project our class took a trip to Chicago. The trip acted as the basis for our next project, creating a Richard Nickel Archive adjacent to Sullivan’s Charnley House. As Louis Sullivan buildings were destroyed Richard Nickel began his attempt to document and save as many of the ornamental pieces as he could. It was in his efforts that he eventually lost his life. This building houses a large piece of his collection and documentation as an archive and as a museum, open to the public. The direct connection to the Charnley House meant I took heavily into account the diagram of what was existing to create the new. The fi re wall on the rear of the existing house left a harsh boundary, resistant to any attempt to connect the spaces. So I created my own harsh barrier, repeating it to enclose the archive. In service of not repeating the un-connectable wall of the Charnley House, I broke the wall at the base to create an entrance and a form. The form was replicated twice more to bring the artifact display out into a garden space, The design of a complete building, taking into account different programmatic elements fi nished off the semester that took the year of process at Buffalo and brought it to a high point of creating, seemingly buildable space. It was a semester full of a learning process, transitions from unknowing, to exploration, to fi nalization of a design process.
site model and drawing
seventeen 17
academic work
projects produced as a sophomore at unc charlotte in fall 2008
richard nikel archive
eighteen 18
interior view of model
professor thomas forget
academic work
The second semester started off with the analysis of a building. It was a reminder that our ‘building’ the semester before was not fully developed and there was still much to be learned. And if there was ever a building to remind you of the complexity of constructing a building, the Maison de Verre is that building. I began the process by fi nding the history of the building. The building was existing in the space with the top fl oor occupied by a defi ant resident. The lower fl oors were carved out and shored up, then in-fi lled by steel framing on a somewhat regular grid. The main complexity of the building was founded on the division of public and private spaces. A doctor’s offi ce on the fi rst fl oor needed to be separated by the main living space on the second fl oor, which needed to be separated from the private bedrooms on the third fl oor. The servants’ spaces were further separated from the public spaces with their own wing of the building extending into the courtyard. All of these spatial divisions created a high need for specialized devices to keep it all separate. A sliding screen kept patients from proceeding upstairs to the house, many sets of stairs allowed for movement between spaces without entering public or private areas (including the ladder). The complex nature of the Maison de Verre was a reminder to the specialization that can happen in architecture, all while using fairly regular materials in extraordinary ways.
courtyard perspective
nineteen 19
academic work
projects produced as a sophomore at unc charlotte in spring 2009
maison de verre analysis 10m
10m
twenty 20
fi rst fl oor plan, site plan and elevation, ladder details
professor thomas forget
academic work
The analysis of the site at Frank Liske Park, outside of Charlotte, was really its own project at the beginning of the intervention process. Our class’ information on the park was derived from our experiences there during our initial exploration and from aerial views of the park in a larger scale. It was organized around a barn with open fi elds and a pond to the west, down hill and with organized sports fi elds to the east. The approach to the barn, as the hub to activity, was through the open fi elds, winding along a road; it was along this approach that I discovered where I wanted by project to be placed. I think I explain it most completely in the written piece on the opposite page: ‘Carved into the slightly sloped landscape, it stands out from the ground while extending into it, focusing a view of the greater site while creating its environment within.’ The sentence focuses more on the intervention with its seeming contradictory interaction with the ground and the space that creates. However, the site is the the reason for its placement, for its specifi c design. The barn is the hub of the activity surrounded by the density of the trees and the open fi elds in front of it are its complement and opposition. The radio tower is a seemingly non-factor of the site. It is not in the park and I only truly noticed it as an extension of the fi elds vertically, past the horizontal break of the barn. The masonry landscape intervention is the embodiment of the skyreaching tower within the earth. Both in opposition of each other and of the barn.
evolution of intervention idea, design diagrams
twenty-one 21
academic work
projects produced as a sophomore at unc charlotte in spring 2009
landscape intervention
6 00 0
6 10
620
630
4 6 40
6 50
twenty-two 22
site plan, model, concept, section
professor thomas forget
academic work
This project took advantage of our previous analysis of Frank Liske park, as well as our knowledge of the site attained during the landscape intervention project. I tried to use similar ideas with respect to the interaction with the ground. The project, however, was programmatically much more complex. This complexity led to the sprawling lines originating at the pool and continuing into the surrounding landscape. Creating a point of generation, in contrast to a continuation of a line. Surrounding the pool are the paths of circulation. The inner layer of paths act as direction to the public. They also allow themselves to be stands for viewing events. The outer layer of circulation are the incarcerators of the landscape. Paths lead to the roof and back out to the park. The programmatic pieces, both public and private all happen along or within the circulation. They present themselves along each path as they are needed: tickets at the main entrance, restrooms on the main axis, changing rooms on the procession to the pool, maintenance space closest to the pool. The true complement to the park is its extension created above the new space that had been carved into its earth below. It grew from that origin of the pool to accommodate each of the necessary activities and then it continued to grow to bring itself back to the parkscape.
fi nal model
twenty-three 23
academic work
projects produced as a sophomore at unc charlotte in spring 2009
natatorium
twenty-four 24
plan and elevation drawing, building diagrams
professor rick kazabee
academic work
The Charlotte Amtrak stop is a bump on the line on its way between Atlanta and Washington DC. The consequences of this gives the city a sense of inadequacy as a destination. As an attempt to correct this our site was located in the downtown neighborhood the Forth Ward, drawing a closer connection between the means of transport and the cultural and business destinations in the city. As a middle point between two larger cities the Charlotte station would be populated for short periods of time, shorty before and after the train. There is no waiting for a train to a different destination. I proposed, adjacent to the station, a park to give the urban space some life while there was not a train coming or leaving. The park, the station, with the program space for a cafe, start to make the site more of a hub of an urban space in the mostly residential neighborhood. Formally, the spaces I tried to create, are defi ned by the strong planes of concrete, but the spaces in between blend to create a fl uid area of activities. They also divide public and private while taking in the surrounding landscape to the building as a whole. (I think this single, occasional use building raises questions of sustainability and urbanism, but they were not part of our assigned project. We were told to ignore those issues so as to not complicate the project.)
section rendering
twenty-fi ve 25
academic work
projects produced as a junior at unc charlotte in fall 2009
train station
waiting
tickets and information
men offices
mechanical
cafe
women
A
entry lobby
C
A
twenty-six 26
building diagrams, plan drawing, perspective drawing
professor david thaddeus
academic work
An idea can have so many different points from which it was generated, this is one of them. I suppose the assignment of the project is an appropriate place to start to frame this construction. Joseph Cornell’s shadow boxes were his explorations of materiality and conceptual manipulation, it was this factor that initiated any following ideas. We were told that we should have two precedents, an artist and an architect, but apart from this we were given free range of expression as long as the final product fit inside a 12” x 18” x 24” space. Sarah Oppenheimer and Pasel.Kuenzel pushed my creation to the concepts of framing a view and building with a focus on the details. I wanted to use a replicable form to fill out the space that we were given to its fullest. A rubber rockite formwork was created to make the 80 some individual frames that became the base of my project. The richest element, I think, was the replication of the mistakes, the air bubbles that clung to the original creating bubbles in the rubber that appeared on every rockite frame. The frames were strung together and clamped at the ends by steel nuts on threaded rod, with spacers to separate all the pieces. Finally, the walnut planes were suspended within the base, making a view through the object, but making it an object to be looked at. Replication, individuality, details, views, the object.
detail photograph
twenty-seven 27
academic work
projects produced as a junior at unc charlotte in spring 2010
shadow box
twenty-eight 28
design sketches, process photographs, completed box
professors jen and bryan shields
academic work
UJN@QMBTUJDJUZ
Placemaking was a study at creating architecture with regional specificity through the experimental ideology of phenomenology; studying how pieces of architecture influence what makes a place through the way they represent themselves. This, paired with the tactile qualities of collage making as a representation technique focused the study toward those places or phenomenons. The two pieces became a duel investigation of architecture as placemaking and architecture as collage, both being about the revealed process in the final product. Each describing relationships of spaces and experiences. The architecture relating to the place in which it was. The collage relating its pieces to the architecture. Perhaps a third piece of the class was a focus on making. The act of making a collage, or making architecture, is really telling a story about how those objects are constructed. It is a powerful move just to make something, and its presence is enhanced by the expression of its process within that object.
first unitarian church assemblage
twenty-nine 29
academic work
projects produced as a junior at unc charlotte in spring 2010
placemaking
UJN@TFOTVPVTOFTT
thirty 30
sensuousness collage
professor deb ryan
academic work
This studio was my fi rst real exposure to the issues of designing for density, or designing in a specifi cally urban landscape. The main infl ection of these ideas were presented to us through the book Front to Back by Sally Lewis as a predetermined solution to urban design. Our project focused the broad issues that Ms Lewis explored in her book down to TOD (transit oriented design) and facade design based purely on composition. My group’s master plan was organized around the proposed light rail stop and the adjacent existing buildings. In the end, the master plan focused on a series of existing walls and spaces, conceptualizing the development as a re-knitting of existing [urban] fabric. The plan also met density requirements with a mixture of retail and residential spaces, and the necessary parking attached to those spaces. To accompany the master plan, facade designs were developed from compositions of forms to details of construction. The facades gave life to the urban streetscape within the new development of the industrial site. With the site being on the fringes of the newly claimed art district of Charlotte we were open to explore different housing typologies. Giving the entire complex a diversity of housing options, adding to the eclectic neighborhood in which it was situated.
URBAN FABRIC LEGEND
PROP
FLATS TOWNHOMES RETAIL BOTTOM LIGHTRAIL GREENSPACE
PARK OSED
LIGH
L TRAI
IO STAT
N
55 parking spaces 36 th et re St N
v Da
s id
on
St
master plan drawing, master plan diagrams
thirty-one 31
academic work
projects produced as a junior at unc charlotte in spring 2010
urban design
thirty-two 32
townhouse elevation rendering
professors chris jarrett and kyonghee kim
academic work
The framework of the studio pursued a highly focused directional scalar design process centered on ecological research, we moved through the design process from big ideas down to more specifi c design of the building. In specifi c, we began in groups studying the elements (water, earth, sun, air); analyzing their attributes for positives and negatives and impacts on the environment we inhabit. Following the initial research we split into different groups, to study cities of different climatic regions. I was in the Minneapolis, where water is found in abundance, but the fl uctuating seasons impact on that element in high. The Minneapolis group created a master plan to refl ect the seasons of the city. We incorporated ideas of warming pods, taking into account the city’s high bike ridership and sever winters, as well as summer parks and cultural centers around the existing museums of the area, for the mild summers. In all we created a plan of webs for the two extremes to have the greatest impact on the city. Diving into further detail of that master plan, my own building, I pursued a way to connect the city to its lifeblood, the Mississippi River. A fi sh hatchery and market, with a residential piece, was my plan to re-invigorate the area east of the Guthrie museum. Giving the park a more of a working life and a direct connection to what was happening beyond the streets of the city.
water diagram of the twin cities
thirty-three 33
academic work
project produced as a senior at unc charlotte in fall 2010
eco-urban
thirty-four 34
site diagrams, collage, elevation sketch, facade section
professor jen shields
academic work
The semester long process for creating this architecture was so complex, I would hate to ruin the beauty of these final pieces by writing a boring explanative story. I will keep it concise and try to convey the meat of the idea behind the semester, the process, and the product. As a basic starting point, we had an old abandoned power plant for a woolen mill, in Charlottesville, VA, in which to build a live, work, gallery space for a textile artist. The additive and subtractive nature of constructing collages (erasure) became the base for the process of constructing architecture. The architecture was not necessarily a collage itself, but its process of design and construction followed the path of the collage making experience. Erasure was my concept of creating collage and of creating architecture. It is not always a subtractive process, which is what allowed my to build a building. The addition of pieces can take away from what was there before, taking away and filling in the existing building and site to make what needed to be there, what wanted to be there.
collage tells a story though its construction or its imagery as does architecture
conceptual collages
thirty-five 35
academic work
project produced as a senior at unc charlotte in spring 2011
erasure
thirty-six 36
site plan collage
professor jen shields
plan collage, building model
academic work
thirty-seven 37
academic work
thirty-eight 38
project produced as a senior at unc charlotte in spring 2011
site model
personal work
thirty-nine 39
personal work
personal explorations through my undergraduate years
personal
forty 40
belmont mill ruins
personal work
the most comfortable couch you’ll ever sit on, table
forty-one 41
personal work
personal explorations through my undergraduate years
furniture
forty-two 42
series of the folding desk
personal work
forty-three 43
personal work
personal explorations through my undergraduate years
photography
forty-four 44
ruins of the old mill town of belmont NC
personal work
installations from the mattress factory, upstate NY rain
forty-five 45
personal work
personal explorations through my undergraduate years
forty-six 46
what’s happening to old charlottesville
personal work
photographs from a road trip out to the western U.S.
forty-seven 47
personal work
personal explorations through my undergraduate years
highways
forty-eight 48
photographs from traversing the eastern coast of the U.S.
personal work
nicholas faulk, austin keppeler, gram
forty-nine 49
personal work
personal explorations through my undergraduate years
people
fifty 50
nicholas faulk: portraits at his old elementary school
thank you, have a nice day!