Troy Hillman's Portfolio

TROY HILLMAN

PORTFOLIO 2013/2014 b. sci of arch, taubman college, university of michigan 2013

MEMORIAL TO THE CLOSET / a historical redaction Anca Trandafirescu 2013

MOUNTAIN / disrupting the urban grid Andrew Holder 2012

FOUR PROJECTS / convention Dawn Gilpin 2012

THREE LINES / projection Anca Trandafirescu 2011

LE CORBUSIER’S PROMENADE / following the architect Dawn Gilpin 2012

WORK EXPERIENCE

area.architecture The Los Angeles Design Group

Memorial to the Closet Year 2, Studio 4 Studio Critic: Anca Trandafirescu

Project Brief: Each year, Taubman College of Architecture holds a competition in name of Raoul Wallenberg, a courageous hero from World War Two, and an alumnus of the college.

The competition takes place during the undergraduates final semester at the college, where each student’s work and thesis is driven around Wallenberg’s legacy: using architecture and design as a humane social art.

Proposal: Traditionally, the National Mall in Washington D.C. is a site for dead subjects. We commemorate issues that have been put to rest. While discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation continues to be a civil rights issue in the United States, its death is near.

Memorial to the Closet uses national memorialization to hasten the death of discrimination against homosexual people and kills forever the “closet” that keeps homosexuals in secrecy about their sexuality. Black coal is mounted on the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial, the nation’s utmost symbol of civil rights. As visitors explore the memorial, the coal will crush and spread by foot into a pattern that first covers, then fades, from the mall’s grounds. As the mound dies, the issue dies.

Concurrently, visitors fill a container at Lincoln’s feet with the coal. The remaining black “mark” across the memorial’s front permanently redacts our history of civil rights.

Transverse Section

Longitudinal Section

“My idea was to shift the way we think about the memorial landscape, to make it more of an open conversation rather than an impossible quest for some kind of immutable national essence. Coalitions and perspectives that are never represented in the memorial landscape would emerge experimentally. More voices would find room for expression. A more open, democratic sphere of memory might flourish.�

- Kirk Savage, Temporary Monuments, 2010

Model - displaying location and events to follow after the memorial’s construction

Memorial to the Closet is constructed (Present)

Dispersal begins and flower pattern spreads over the National Mall

Mound is completely walked off, and the flower pattern covers the National Mall

Memorial faded on January 20, 2017 (upcoming inauguration day) and the issue is resolved

Plan view: Coal is completely dispersed into floral pattern and begins to fade from the National Mall

The mound of coal begins to lower as supporters walk it off

A black smudge is left covering the Capitol

The ritual: visitors place the coal in the container at Lincoln’s feet as an expression of coming out and acceptance of homosexuality

Final layout of project for Wallenberg Competition - Finalist

MOUNTAIN

Year 2, Studio 3 Studio Critic: Andrew Holder Project Brief: Mountain was taken during my third architecture studio at the University of Michigan. The studio began with several tutorials in Rhinoceros in addition to analysis of strata formed during different geological sections. This study became the catalyst for two similar, and bigger projects; the second being a refinement of the first.

Each project included designing a mountain to replace Chicago’s Union Station. The mountain would acquire the same program as the former rail station, however, it would have a ‘walkable’, public surface, great height, and extreme changes in form that should mimic those forms found in mountain strata.

Proposal: The research and organization of mountain strata became the driver behind the mountain design. After studying characteristics in the geology of mountains, I used the examples in form to create a new architecture for the station. I found the form after seeing real strata, and imagining consequences they have on their surrounding elements. Eventually, the study became one of turning ‘sheets’ into ‘tubes,’ and creating a habitable space within the in-between spaces for the original program. Furthering the design, the mountain surface was produced to encourage walking and gathering with entrances and mini-ponds.

Preliminary exercises of fit prepared the mountain to stay within its bounding site in Chicago, and also explored methods of folding and the aggregates found in geologic strata

Model 1

A MOUNTAIN IS ... not created quickly or without force.

It is created over time through the molding, folding, pushing, and breaking of materials. A mountain holds specific traits that create its mountain-ness. It does not rely on the horizontal, or the vertical, but both. The surfaces of a mountain are constructed at different slopes, somewhere between or at complete verticality and horizontality. Its slopes can crumble or move, but it will always remain itself. A mountain can be mined. It has material of different densities that erode and can be hollowed out from under its surface.

A mountain has a surface. It appears differently from the top, as it is from the core. Mountains are as lively here at the strata as they are at the uppermost layer.

They are ever-changing, not at a fast pace, but at one that is observable. A mountain is expansive. It can seem big, even when it is small. Its massiveness does not restrict itself to only an exterior, but becomes an interior by stretching around its site and its occupants.

A mountain is not a hill. It becomes the landscape, but is distinguishable without its context. Therefore, it can be removed from the landscape, while still being a mountain, and even a landscape of its own.

Sheets

Tubes

City Grid

Mountain Circle

Mountain Circle

City Grid

Surface Detail

Longitudinal Section

The final model was re-designed to house the program. Spaces for habitation inside the “sheets to tube� figures are formed by excavating the aggregate from the mountain.

Transverse Section

Plan

FOUR PROJECTS Project Brief: The four projects (Plan, Elevation, Section, Axon) were completed during my second architecture studio. The goal of the studio was to redesign the very architecture the students study in: the college of architecture. Drawing conventions would be used to drive each project, in addition to propelling the students to think about the importance of drawing, and how it can be utilized to strengthen an idea in one’s project. The conventions were used to redesign the parking lot, the south facade, an attached annex for working, and a mini-school to the present Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Each project took roughly three weeks to complete.

Proposals: 1. Plan The first of the four projects is to redesign the parking lot at the school.

An articulated surface puts into question the advancements in technology within the design of architecture in comparison to that with the automobile, and reflects the changes in mass production between the 19th and 21st centuries.

2. Elevation The elevation, comprised of colorful, vertical lines, is one to be engaged, and inhabited. As one drives by the architecture from left to right, the building appears firstly as blue, then magenta, and finally red; being a reminder that architecture is forever changing.

3. Section The section is the driving force behind the design of the Annex’s studio and office spaces. The ‘verticals’ that penetrate the overhead condition and walking surface, delineate spaces for specific programs and refract light into the working space. The denser the verticals, the more intimate the space.

4. Axon The form for the mini-school is derived from comparing the dimensions of my body to dimensions of the ideal “modulor” man of Le Corbusier.

Shapes are formulated in axon after studying one’s own body’s dimensions similiar to Le Corbusier’s “Modulor,” and then fitted together to shape the configuration of the architecture. A third space is created when the forms intersect, constructing yet another comparison to both dimensions.

1

The geometry of the structure is designed primarily in plan, and promotes unlimited programs on an overhead condition above the parking lot.

Exterior View

Longitudinal Section

Interior View

2

Model

A stroboscopic image becomes the generator of movement and complexity among the ‘verticals’ in plan

Plan and Elevation

Each ‘vertical’ is colored identically and placed in the same orientation relative to the building: blue on the left side, magenta towards the front, and red on the right side.

3

Longitudinal Section

South Elevation

Transverse Section

As the ‘verticals’ cluster closely together, more private spaces for offices are formed, whereas the studio space is comprised of ‘verticals’ that dispurse further apart, opening the working space. In this project, the clear vertical structures also refract sunlight into the architecture, resulting in more natural lighting for better working conditions.

Horizontal Section

4

Perforated Surface: the more perforations, the more light to access the architecture

Interior View

The shapes from the body’s dimensions are pushed together to create a third, blurry space that acts as the studio space of the ‘mini-school.’

Third-Space Diagram

Axon

Model

Three Lines

Pre-Architecture Studio Critic: Anca Trandafirescu Project Brief: During a pre-architecture visual studies course, I was given the challenge of creating an anamorphic projection that put into question the space of installation.

Project Description: Using anamorphic projection as the medium to work, the project delivers a new reality of space. Three vertical figures are chosen to break up the diagonal lines in the staircase. From the vantage point, the blue tape is most prominent, forming a new dimension for envisioning the space. Offset, however, the viewer is able to see the staircase in a new three-dimensional view. The illusion of the tape becomes a new reality, and a way of reimagining the existing staircase.

Unfolded drawing illustrating the placement of blue tape on all elevations

Le Corbusier’s Promenade Study Abroad - Summer 2012 Studio Critic: Dawn Gilpin

Before residing in France, Le Corbusier drew inspiration as an architect after voyaging East through the Spice Bazaar of Istanbul and the ruins of Athens and Rome.

These travels inspired the young architect and influenced his way of working as a modernist designer. The goal of the summer studio, IARP (Istanbul, Athens, Rome, Paris), is to follow in the footsteps of the architect in order to gain an understanding of his work, and to formulate our own ideas on where his work stems from, and how it has influenced architecture today. As a studio, we traveled to major cities such as Istanbul, Athens, Rome, Geneva, and Paris, as well as the cities in between like Pompeii, Ronchomp, Lyon, and Marseille. During city visits, students are encouraged to view the sites as catalysts for Le Corbusier’s work. Modes of spatial documentation are made through photographic joiners, time-lapse film, drawing, and body-metron measuring.

More specifically, my own interests led me to pursue what Le Corbusier describes as the ‘promenade.’

Sketch of the promenade at Villa Savoye in Poissy, France

The work of the semester is driven by a reflection of Le Corbusier’s voyage to the East, with our own explorations in the IARP studio. Corbusier’s travels would eventually come to influence his later work in France and other parts of the world.

More specifically, the architect’s attention to creating an experiential promenade, like the example at the Convent at La Tourette, would become the main focus for my investigation of the architect.

By studying and surveying sites like the Acropolis in Athens, as well as the Mosques in Istanbul, one is able to see where Corbusier’s own discoveries influenced his work.

The way one’s body moves through space, and how it finally reaches and enters the architecture became of great importance to the architect. Just as one travels the steady incline to the Parthenon in Athens or the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, one must climb to reach the architecture at Corbusier’s Notre Dame du Haute and La Tourette. The architect is creating a buildup of energy and emotion before reaching the final destination.

More specifically, at La tourette, once entering through the established boundary between Convent and other, one lowers themselves through the architecture to find the church. However, on their way, one experiences an architecture made from light, melody, and concrete. The combination of the three creates an exposure to something of a greater being, or a greater architecture; one that transforms the feelings of its viewers.

Another incredible example of how one experiences the promenade, and moves through architecture is Villa Savoye at Poissy, France. Corbusier created the home to be built as a machine, but finally, it moves its occupants through space and through many different experiences. For example, one is able to enter beneath the architecture using a car, unlike any homes before its time. As one enters, they are given the choice of spiraling upwards using the stairs, or taking the other route; the ramp. The ramp splices through each layer of space in the home, certainly creating a different experience from the stairs. Finally reaching the top terrace, Corbusier directs one to look through a “picture frame,” outside to the landscape. It is here that the architecture’s role has changed with the landscape’s, as the home becomes a frame of nature, rather than the opposite point of view. The experience here plays with one’s perception and awareness with the architecture, and the context in which it was made.

It will be my goal to further investigate Corbusier’s promenade as he traveled through countries that I myself have traveled through, while also looking more specifically at the promenade in more of his individual works.

The final drawing is set up to read as a journey with Corbusier, moving along a map from Istanbul, Turkey onwards to Southern France. Photos and drawings demonstrate the work being done in the exploration, as well as Corbusier’s own discoveries influencing his later work as an architect. One is not meant to read the drawing as a flat two-dimensional piece, but rather one with layers that can be zoomed in and out from general to more specific information. For the time being, I have set the final drawing up to read as one whole work, and then attached smaller drawings that demonstrate the zoomed in version of each site. The work is still in progress, but this is the formulated idea thus far.

Acropolis

Acropolis Museum

Studying the site of the Acropolis from a high point in Athens: Mount Lycabettus

Mediterranean Sea

Saint George’s Chapel on Mount Lycabettus

View from the Acropolis

For each city, the studio would first study the site from the highest observation point. In Athens, the highest point from which to study the Acropolis is Mount Lycabettus. From here, we are able to view the layout of the city and make historical and cultural connections from our previous research. After climbing to the highest point, we travel to the site for more documentation. It is here that we create joiners for better understanding the spaciality of the site, as well as develop drawings using our own body as the unit of measure. All modes of documentation bring us closer to seeing the site for its historical context, its relation to the body, and implications about the current-day Athens.

ATHENS, GREECE

Sainte-Marie de La Tourette

Location: La Tourette Latitude: 45° 49’ 10” N Longitude: 04° 37’ 21” E Sunrise: 6H32 Sunset: 20H43

Paris, France

Geneva, Switzerland

Nice, France

Rome, Italy

Yeni Mosque + Spice Bazaar Location: Istanbul, Turkey Latitude: 37° 58’ 17.58” N Longitude: 23° 43’ 36” E Sunrise: 6H14 Sunset: 20H30

Istanbul, Turkey

Athens, Greece

Dionysos Theater

Location: Athens, Greece Latitude: 37° 58’ 17.58” N Longitude: 23° 43’ 36” E Sunrise: 6H14 Sunset: 20H30

WORK EXPERIENCE Research Assistant - area.architecture Falling Sky Brewing Carbon Fiber Lights - 2013 I assisted in the fabrication of carbon fiber lights. The project included preparing the formwork and final lights for installation, as well as learning about the material.

Flying Carpet - 2013 The work included creating a 65 feet furniture piece to be installed in a local elementary school. My involvement in the project was routing pieces for construction, assembling the parts, finishing for installation, and finally installing.

Research Assistant - The Los Angeles Design Group

100 Drawings, 48 Characters, 12 Landforms - 2013 The 2013 Oberdick Fellow at the University of Michigan, Andrew Holder, was to present a research project at the end of his fellowship. As his assistant, I helped prepare casting models, scan the objects for digital use, and finally helped curate the work in the exhibition.

area.architecture

Falling Sky Brewery Carbon Fiber Lamps - 2013

Cardboard formwork is glued together Carbon fiber is wrapped onto form and heated to solidify Lightbulb is mounted in carbon fiber lamp

Flying Carpet - 2013

PIeces cut on cnc router Structural axon Finished and installed Enjoy!

* Photos taken by area.architecture and Troy Hillman

The Los Angeles Design Group

100 Drawings, 48 Characters, 12 Landforms - 2013

See this page: Tools Forming figures Casted figures Paint and finish See opposite page: Install Exhibition

* Photos taken by The LADG and Eric Nelson