The Portfolio of Travis Davidson
CONTACT TRAVIS DAVIDSON 10 1803 9 St SW Calgary, AB T2T 3C1 403 870 8728 trvsdvdsn@gmail.com
PROFILE Strong attention to detail with proven ability to maintain focus on broader end-goals, resulting in the execution of a more resolved design in keeping with the scope of work; Articulate communicator of ideas to clients and colleagues in both meetings and formal presentations; Inspired and perceptive collaborator, emerging as a reliable leader — a thoughful contributor and careful listener, highly self-motivated, and a natural motivator of colleagues; Large appetite for, and in turn thrives upon, a challenge
rendering and digital model-making / rendering. Comprehensive experience in art and creative design and interested in applying skills; Avid and quick learner, looking to grow in all aspects of professional practice through engagement in the Internship process; Keen interest in broader sense of architecture and design — including urbanism, landscape, program, history, and theory.
EXPERIENCE 2009 - PRESENT
Junior Designer
Housebrand
Graphic designer for a 140 page book currently in print entitled What’s Wrong With This House? using Adobe InDesign and Illustrator; Primary researcher for the Slow Home website and the Slow Home Project — an online collaborative experiment conducted by www.theslowhome. com, including gained expertise in preliminary residential design through research of 4500+ as for various projects under construction; One month of continuous on-site experience with construction managers.
2008
Architectural Summer Student
Calgary Board of Education
Draftsperson handling database of CBE infrastructure (schools, modules, etc) for CAFM implementation; designed the renovation of a dance studio at Lord Beaverbrook High School completed in Dec. 2008.
2008 - 2009
Teaching Assistant
Faculty of Environmental Design, U of Calgary
Assisted Professors with in-studio critiques, formal reviews, grading, and lecturing. Fall 08 — EDVA 543 (Graphics Worksop II); Winter 09 — EVDS 503 (Studio I Design Thinking)
2005 - 2007
Foreman
Calgary Greenworks Ltd.
Managed a landscape construction crew of 5; estimated and ordered materials for the site; solved various challenges associated with short timelines and unpredictable weather; translated construction documents into successfully completed residential landscapes.
TRAVIS DAVIDSON 10 1803 9 St SW Calgary, AB T2T 3C1 403 870 8728 trvsdvdsn@gmail.com
EDUCATION 2006 - 2009
University of Calgary
Master of Architecture Faculty of Environmental Design
Not To Scale — MArch Graduating Exhibition, Eau Claire Market (April - May 2009)
2000 - 2004
University of Calgary
Bachelor of Fine Arts (with Distinction) Major in Printmaking
Infusion — BFA Graduating Exhibition, Nickle Arts Museum (April - June 2004)
EXPERTISE PROGRAMS
GRAPHICS + MODEL MAKING
AutoCAD 2010 / Adobe CS3 InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop,
Excellence with high level of craft + detail / Able to work quickly yet accurately / Digital model making (ie. laser-cutting) / Excellent hand-sketching / Photomontage + Collage / Digital + SLR photography / Digital processing + printing / Photo mounting / Gallery installation
BOOK DESIGN Cover + Graphic Design / Layout / Press
AWARDS / ACHIEVEMENTS 2009
AIA School Medal & C
University of Calgary
Merit
Awarded to the top-ranking student in the Master of Architecture Program
2009
University of Calgary
RAIC Student Honour Roll
Distinction for those students achieving high academic standing within their graduating class
2008
University of Calgary
D.S. Stevens Memorial Scholarship
Awarded to one senior student of the Architecture program for academic merit
2007
University of Calgary
Studies Abroad
Attended 4 month Study Abroad Program in Barcelona, Spain and Netherlands
2007
University of Calgary
SSEF Excellence Award in Steel Design Awarded to one student for excellence in steel design in Architecture
2006
Kenneth Victor Nasedkin Memorial Award
University of Calgary
Awarded to one student for achievement in residential design in Architecture
2004
Creative Achievement Award
University of Calgary
Awarded to one graduating student in the faculty of Fine Art
REFERENCES + PORTFOLIO
AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
An Other Contemporary museum of Art
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Distilling Complexity
The 10 Steps to a Slow Home
Ch oo
The Belgravia
1
se yo
3 BEDROOM, 2.5 BATHROOM 2400 SQ FT. EXECUTIVE FAMILY HOME
Master Ensuite
Formal Living Room
This home is correctly oriented to the sun and properly relates to its surroundings. This home is modestly sized, has a good flow between spaces, and a strong connection to the outdoors.
4
Entry The front and back entries in this home are spaces not just doors.
Living All indoor and outdoor living spaces in this home have good daylight and are easy to furnish.
Bedroom 2
DN
UP DN
y er
ll Ga Foyer
Organization
Study loft
Formal Dining Room
Laundry
3
5
W.I.C Family Room
Orientation
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Master Bedroom
Kitchen
Ext. Storage
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ot
nL
Ow
Eating Nook
Location This home is located in a walkable neighborhood that minimizes your use of a car.
ur
Deck (opt.)
Barcelona Interdisciplinary Studio
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Kitchen This home has a compact kitchen with an efficient layout, good work surfaces, and sufficient storage.
Bedroom 3
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Library
Dining This home has a well-defined dining area that properly fits a table and is suitable for daily use.
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Garage
$ 419,200*
*taxes, dealer prep, lot, landscape not inc.
main floor
Comprehensive Studio: Bridgeland Public Library
Photography
Formal Sitting Room Formal Dining Room Formal Foyer Oversized Kitchen Breakfast Bar Eating Nook Main Floor Gallery
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Built-In Gas Fireplace Main Floor Laundry Artisan Staircase Oversized Master Closet 5-Piece Master Ensuite Second Floor Study Second Floor Library
AVAILABLE UPGRADE PACKAGES Gourmet Kitchen Eco-Home Spa Bath Sport Garage Hardwood Euro-Finish Landscape
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What’s Wrong Craftwork Homes: Designed with you in mind With This House? FREE Rustic Hardwood package!* *must be purchased before May 30
7 5
All bedrooms in this home have good daylight, sufficient storage, and can logically fit a bed.
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Bathrooms This home has an appropriate number of well-organized and modestly sized bathrooms.
upper floor
STANDARD FEATURES
Bedrooms
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Service The service spaces in this home are unobtrusive and highly functional. Minimum Design Quality Threshold *
0-6
7 - 12
13 - 16
17 - 20
Fast
Moderately Fast
Moderately Slow
Slow
The Slow Home Project: 9 Cities in 9 Months The Slow Home Test evaluates how well a property conforms to the Slow Home Philosophy of being simple to live in and light on the environment. Plot your score on the bar graph and refer to the summary on the reverse page to interpret your results.
* Properties that score below the Minimum Design Quality Threshold (13/20) don’t sufficiently conform to the Slow Home philosophy and are not very simple or light places in which to live.
3 Yes
No
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3
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1
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Score
The Contemporary Museum of Art is typically misused as a catalyst in the supposed creation of Culture and revitalization of the city.The ubiquitous iconic Museum is placeless, does not serve the situating culture, and regards art as a spectacle of consumption. By addressing the programming of the museum both institutionally and architecturally, the creation a situationally specific alternative to the Museal Scenario is sought for the City of Calgary.This alternative museum is a hybrid social space: site of exchange, critical discourse, public space, landscape, and infrastructure. Rather than containing an imported culture, or an aestheticized local culture, the museum cultivates the opportunity for culture to emerge. 1
An Other Contemporary museum of Art September 2008 - April 2009 Master’s Design Project
The Master’s Design Project is the culmination of skills and interests developed over 3 years of study, and comprises the fourth and final year of the MArch curriculum at the University of Calgary. The topic of the full-term project is self-ascribed and the studies are supervised by one EVDS faculty member and one advisor external to the faculty.
Over the course of the term, the project was subject to two interim reviews, including one led by guest reviewer John Shnier, Architect (Toronto). In April 2009, the completed project was defended to the faculty, and was reviewed a committee of the project supervisor, external, and a dean’s appointed jury member — Randy Cohen, Architect (Montreal).
Supervisor: Prof. J. Brown, Architect External: Prof. L. Carreiro, MFA The final deliverables included: 85-page Thesis document; 3 architectural models; a series of collage-renderings; an installation of work to be shown at the opening reception. As the defense was met with praise from the committee, revisions were minimal and the project was submitted for completion of the MArch curriculum. 6
The Museal Scenario
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"Was the white cube nurtured by an internal logic similar to that of its art? Was its obsession with enclosure an organic response, encysting art that would not otherwise survive? Was it an economic construct formed by Capitalist models of scarcity and demand? Was it a perfect technological shrinkage resulting from specialization or a Constructivist hangover from the twenties that became a habit, then an ideology?"
Left: The chamber of transformation: empty, evenly lit, flat.
Neutrality In Inside the White Cube, Brian O'Doherty argues that at the moment upon entry to the Gallery-space, the visitor is transformed into Spectator and (disembodied) Eye. O'Doherty speculates on how this transformation occurs and who are the conspirators; more importantly, however, is that there is a consistency—a flatness— that foreshortens the space between gallery wall/surface, work, program, institution and visitor. 16 This White Cube syndrome is based firstly, but not exclusively, on the expectation that the work of art stand against its context. Thus, for reinforcement, the context is reduced to its most neutral—the white gallery wall. But as O'Doherty stresses, the neutral space of the Gallery becomes a kind of incubator, "...a ghetto space, a survival compound, a proto-museum with a direct line to the timeless, a set of conditions, an attitude, a place deprived of location, a magic chamber..."17 that distances the official space of art from the otherly, everyday world. We expect that the Gallery transmit its content as efficiently as possible. It is the Museal analog of the clothing rack or the television set: a thing that, conceptually, isn't there. Pure and spotless, the wall's disappearance is the point of consumption through which aesthetic and market values "osmotically exchange." The 'neutral' Gallery is anything but neutral; the Gallery-space is our expectations, our assumptions.18
An Other Contemporary museum of Art Travis Davidson
Above: As described in its own literature, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is "an innovatively designed architectural landmark that creates a seductive backdrop for the exhibition of contemporary art." - Guggenheim Website
16
The Spectator and the Eye are the transformed/erased/negated body and mind. At the coatcheck we leave ourselves, our critical sense, and our sensory perceptions: we will think and feel what
17 18
O'Dohery, Brian. Inside the White Cube. p.78 O'Dohery, Brian. Inside the White Cube. p.79 (ibid.)
O'Doherty, Brian. Inside the White Cube. p.80
The Contained Culture relies upon its own reproducability, exchange-value, and virtuosity: cultural aesthetic becomes cultural anaesthetic.13
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Slide from defence presentation outlining ‘ubiquitious programming’
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Installation view, Not to Scale — MArch Graduating Exhibition, April - June 2009, Eau Claire Market
$ $
O ON ONE NE E
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Title Page, 2-page excerpt from Thesis document
Accreted onto the neutral gallery, this additional programming guarantees the curved trajectorization of all flows: Museum visitors, works of art, exchange of currency, Institutionalized values, The History of Art©, and bodily functions.
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NEW!
A Gruen-style circulation loop us pumped via program: strategic placement of respite-spaces, washrooms, cafés, historical works, and travelling exhibtions controls the flow of commodities from one end of the building to the other.
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Leach, Neil. Considering Rem Koolhaas.
UBIQUITOUS PROGRAMMING
An Other Contemporary Museum of Art
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Neutral Gallery
>>>
Provocation of the artist Installation/ Appropriation
Difference
Alternate Changing Scale Readings Divergent Future Use Practices
Passageway Forecourt
Bus Stop & Porch Y Q Vitrine P Patio T Kitchen V Auditorium Drop-off S Bike Rack F Parking
Temporary Exhibition
>>>
Garden
$ $
O ON ONE NE E
$
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Cube
Hall
Wall
Shop
Quadrangle
Court
Vitrine
NEW! Hole
Museal Programming ^ Temporary Exhibition Permanent Exhibition Information Booth Educational/Kids Area Library 300 Seat Theatre Café Ticket Booth Security Gate Atrium-entrance Coatcheck Curatorial Services Workshop Administrative Offices VIP Room Restaurant Giftshop/ Bookstore Sculpture Garden Collection Storage
Porch
Wall
Hall Quadrangle (dividable) Classroom / Labratory Thoroughfare Meeting Room
Circulation
Indeterminate
Heuristic
Cube
Hole Coatroom & Small Gallery Library O HD Loading D Study M Medium Gallery P Large Gallery T Workroom Printshop V Workshop Elevator S Freight Washrooms F Custodial
dedicated to the display of works of art; developed with a difference in spatial condition to provoke the artist/work/ audience
enabling the audience to inform/be informed by the programming; offering a channel for critical discourse and engagement, as well as access to a repository of literature, information technology, and practice
Organizational
administrative component, institutional functioning of the museum; space required to organize/advertise/curate/ program/encourage/facilitate/activate/safe-guard the museum on a day-to-day basis
Accrued
may be used by general public and museum-goers alike but non-essential to the viewing of art; repurposed "non-art spaces" the museum has accumulated to broaden its audience
Necessity
the supporting apparatus (amenities) required for the museum to function; code required, physical needs of the inhabitants
Court Court
Elevator
Egress
Mechanical
Filtering + Distributing Program A major influence on the project was the ‘programmatic’ approach of the offices of OMA, BIG, et al. Research into the past 20 years of museum architecture showed a boilerplate of Museal programming that I took as an anti-precedent. This list of functions was first dismantled, then expanded — an attempt to understand the rationale that led to the recurrence of this repeating ‘kit of parts’.
Emphasis was then turned to rethinking the neutral gallery — the white cube of modern art — taking the position that the museum return to focusing on the works of art themselves. The neutral gallery became a series of discrete spatial conditions that encourage the yet-to-be-made artworks installed in them to respond to those spatial characteristics. The rest of the museum programming was distributed
according to according to their essential significance to themuseum as an institution and as a building, their adjacency, conditions of the site, solar orientation, and so on. Thus, rather than rearranging a set of questionable given programs, the museum became a complex hybrid.
as jewelry. Instead, I proposed an unremarkable site on the edge of downtown that is an along an important pedestrian and transit corridor. The surrounding context is largely recently built gated-type condominium complexes, parking, and car-oriented. The exception to the street-level pedestrian vacuousness is the intensity of use around the bikepath and riverfront. In addressing a challenging site, the project provokes a discussion about publicness and revitalization.
The project is stretched across the site, which is currently a parking lot, reaching from the riverbank and bikepath to the LRT line and opposite lot across the one-way street. In doing so, the goal was to generate exchange between art and regular everyday life in an immediate and intentional fashion — so that both the works of art and everyday Calgarian society would mutually benefit.
Siting for Congestion The second driving force in the project was how the museum would respond to the city urbanistically. The siting of the museum was made to create the most friction, respond critically to the city, and to take as much advantage of the existing context as possible. Typically, a Civic Museum is built on a historical, idyllic, photogenic, or metaphorical site — a holdover from the City Beautiful planning movement that essentially sees public architecture (including libraries and landmarks)
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The pedestrian thoroughfares existing on site are maintained through removing portions of the building, manipulating the ground-plane (allowing access over the building), and moving strategic piecesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;such as the existing bus stopâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;to a position that alters the direct routeof-travel. Access over 4th Avenue is provided at grade through an enlarged version of a crosswalk.
DesignDocumentRevisedNEW.indd 45
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Clockwise from Top: Bikepath, 1:100 Sectional Model 3 Views of 1:100 Sectional Model
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Opposite, Top: Bikepath, Collage on paper Opposite, Bottom: Passageway, Collage on paper
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2
Distilling Complexity
Office tower + High speed rail station, Calgary AB Collaborative Project
The final studio project prior to commencing studies for my MDP was a 4-member team project for the design of a high-speed rail station and tower for downtown Calgary. To accomplish the project, our team worked closely to develop the scheme in its initial stages, when the general moves were not yet established. After agreeing on a series of strategies, particularly
as regards the position of the rail line in relation to the street and overall programmatic organization, we divided tasks for individual concentration. My responsibilities on the project were shared with another teammate on the tower piece, and personally on program diagrams, tower skin, and conceptual models.
February - April 2008
Our approach to collaborating allowed for each member to make decisions on their own, which in turn would be discussed and either reworked or approved at regular meetings. In other words, our group approached this project as we assumed a typical professional practice would, trying to strike a satisfying balance between individual and group decision-making. 12
generic and fluid, the programme for the site is massive generic and fluid, the programme for the site is massive
programme programme
PARKING AND SERVICES/ MECH. 3333 m2
PARKING AND Services SERVICES/ 3333MECH. m23333 m2
114 183 m2
nrst
>
CULTURE
TOTAL
Total PROGRAMMING Programming 123 333m2m2 114 183
AND 500 PARKING Parking Stalls SERVICES/ MECH. 3333 m2 District Energy
OFFICE SPACE 80 000 m2 OFFICE SPACE
OFFICE SPACE
80 000 m2
80 000 m2
Atypical High Rise Office Space Perimeter Cores
PARKING AND SERVICES/ MECH. 3333 m2
Office Amenities
Typical Low Rise Office Space Theatre
COMMERCIAL RETAIL SPACE 10 000 m2 COMMERCIAL Commercial Retail RETAIL SPACE 10 000 m2 20 000 m2
COMMERCIAL RETAIL SPACE 10 000 m2
OFFICE SPACE
TOWER TOWER TOWER CULTURE
TOTAL PROGRAMMING
PARKING AND SERVICES/ MECH. 3333 m2
Typical High Rise Office Space Central Core
OFFICE Office Space SPACE 80 000 80 000 m2 m2
programme
Distilling the program by use, then expanding to find specificity, generate organization
nrst
generic and fluid, the programme for the site is massive
programme
nrst
generic and fluid, the programme for the site is massive
programme
generic and fluid, the programme for the site is massive
nrst
nrst
COMMERCIAL Hotel RETAIL SPACE 10 000 Long +m2Short Stay
Market + Retail
80 000 m2
Tickets + Info
HIGH SPEED RAIL STATION 20 000 m2 HIGH SPEED
STATION HighRAILSpeed 000 m2 Rail 20Station 20 000 m2
HIGH SPEED RAIL STATION
HIGH SPEED Platform RAIL STATION 20 000 m2
20 000 m2
Arrival + Waiting Admin + Security
nrst
nrst HIGH SPEED RAIL STATION
TOWER
COMMERCIAL RETAIL SPACE 10 000 m2
RESTAURANT
OBSERVATION
tower programme 20 000 m2
culture programme
by stacking and arranging these masses the functions are expressed in the form
a public platform that fills a number of incomplete or missing cultural, amenity and infrastructural roles
SKY
OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES
IUM
ES
BAR CAFE
BREAK-TAKING
OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES
OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES
OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES
KETPARK LOBBY BAR RETAIL
LOBBY
ATRI
UM SHOPPINGCAFES
FOOD COURT
WAITING PLATFORM MEETINGTICKETS
10TH AVE
FOOD
ATIO
9TH AVE
MEETING
OPEN
THEATRE
OFFICES
10TH AVE
9TH AVE
OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES ROOMS ROOMS ROOMS OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES ROOMS ROOMS ROOMS ROOMS ROOMS ROOMS ROOMS ROOMS ROOMS ROOMS ROOMS ROOMS ROOMS ROOMS ROOMS WAITING PLATFORM HOTEL HOTEL HOTEL
OFFICES
OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES OFFICES SPA SPA SPA SPA SPA SPA TRACK GYM ADMINISTRATION
PARKING PARKING PARKING PARKING PARKING PARKING PARKING PARKING PARKING PARKING
FREIGHT
PARKING PARKING
PARKING PARKING PARKING PARKING
PARKING PARKING PARKING PARKING PARKING PARKING PARKING PARKING PARKING PARKING
FREIGHT
PARKING PARKING
PARKING PARKING PARKING PARKING
A VE
nrst
1:500
lounge
MARKET
PARKADE
RETAIL
RETAIL RETAIL RETAIL RETAIL RETAIL Retail
RETAIL Retail
RETAIL
RETAILRETAIL
X
TI
KADE CAFE
BAR
10TH
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X
TI
Retail
MACLEOD N
9TH
site plan
The programmatic approach I used in the sectional diagrams of the tower and lower building (above) was carried through in another group member’s scheme for the landscaping plan of the plaza* > *plan at right drawn by Robert Blackett
MACLEOD S
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Grasses Shrubs Water
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Final model 2, 1:500
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Clockwise: Unfolded tower skin diagram Slide from presentation Process model, lasercut Canson paper Final model, 1:100
nrst
nrst
tower skin
Instructions
a wrapper is then applied to define the form
Cut along red line Fold along dotted line Glue tabs to back of model Admire your handiwork Place on mantle
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Shadow Study* Overall view* Below, Top: Theatre building + Plaza* Below, Bottom:View from flyover* credit: photograph * This page: renderings by Nicholas Standeven
^ > v
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PROPOSEDSITE JARDINSTORRESCLAVÈ ELRAVAL
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Barcelona Interdisciplinary Studio September - December 2007 Collaborative Project
Completed for the Studies Abroad program in Barcelona, Spain, the Interdisciplinary Studio project was for the design of a library in the Old City neighborhood of El Raval. The site was predetermined by the instructors, at the time an vacant lot abutting a canonical Modern Movement building by Josep Lluis Sert (c. 1935). Our 5-member group — comprised of 3 Architecture
students + 1 Urban Designer + 1 Urban Planner — found the scale of the site and the scope of the project well-suited to our pool of skills, and ultimately meant that we were able work in a preferred side-by-side mode from beginning through to the final scheme. Other studio projects from the same class dealt with much larger and more complex programs, and found it
difficult to work as closely. The project was met with a glowing final review from the combined Barcelona and Calgary reviewers. In terms of my own experience, I found the entire process highly formative, as I was previously much more individually focused in design and preferred to work alone.
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Library as Vessel of Collective Memory Keeping things “in tact” — preserving, collecting, disseminating
Library as Plane of Knowledge Pointed at the ever-expanding, fluctuating field of acquired knowledge
Library as Mediator Freedom to interact, maintaining difference, generator of social cohesion
Library as Window or Lense The narrowness of focused study, the broadness of searching for inspiration
Library as Revelation BUILDINGSECTION1
Setting things into motion, to point something out, to see and be seen PLAN1 SCALE 1:300
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Main Floorplan (6m below street)
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Long Section through reading room, stacks, theatre VIEWTOLIBRARYSCAPE
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SCALE 1:200
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View of street, entry ramp
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View of reflecting pool, hill
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Below, Top R: Entry Ramp Below, L + Bottom R: Views of reading room
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Opposite, Top: Daytime view of hill Opposite, Bottom: Nightime view of hill w/ screen
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Comprehensive Studio: Bridgeland Public Library January - April 2007 Individual Project, Studio 4
Comprehensive Studio challenged students to conceive of a project for a public library as realistically as possible. Usually, a successful school project ends at the stage of design concept â&#x20AC;&#x201D; those seemingly well-developed ideas never have the chance to be tested in the details.
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3 A5.0
R2
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4000
W4
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6 A5.2
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FR2 104.95 m
3500
R1
2
strategies for outfitting the mechanical, structural and material systems of the building that would resonate with the initial sketch. A very difficult proposition for fourth semester students! Likewise, a rich and informative lesson in the daily struggles of actual everyday practice.
W1
101.45 m
1450
1
The Studio condensed all quartersemester courses in structures, lighting design, hvac, and graphics so that the curriculums of all courses overlapped in the Comprehensive project. What challenged students most was translating relatively more or less esoteric design concepts into
100 m
1 A2.0
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LONGITUDINAL SECTION SCALE: 1: 100
LOOKING WEST AT PLENUM
B
B
PARKING LEVEL
A
SECTIONAL PERSPECTIVE THROUGH CENTRAL STAIR (LOOKING EAST)
A
SECTION B
MAIN FLOOR PLAN + SITE PLAN
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3600
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3600
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OFFICE
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CLOS. MEETING ROOM
W5 W6
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1 A4.0
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MAIN DESK
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PUBLIC EVENT BOOKSTACKS READING + DIGITAL REFERENCE AREA W4
7200
W3
FOYER
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READING CARRELS
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3600
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SCALE:
TRAVIS DAVIDSON
BRIDGELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY
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COMPREHENSIVE STUDIO
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MARC BOUTIN TONY LEONG
DESIGN INSTRUCTION INSTRUCTION
1 : 100
BY
DATE
NO.
REVISIONS
DATE DRAWING TITLE
DRAWING NO.
DESIGNED DRAWING UPDATE APPROVED
MAIN FLOOR PLAN
A2.0
6 A4.0
EAST WALL DETAIL SCALE: 1 : 20
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1 A4.0
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Top R: View of stacks, entry
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Views of lower level, from park-plaza
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Opposite, Top: View of event hall Opposite, Bottom R: Cut-away rendering of roof
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COLUMN / ROOF DETAIL SCALE: 1 : 10
2 A4.1
INTERIOR WALL / ROOF DETAIL SCALE: 1 : 10
3 A4.0
WINDOW WALL / ROOF DETAIL SCALE: 1 : 10
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Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Wrong With This House? June 2009 - February 2010 Slow Home Studio Book
Beginning in June 2009, I worked closely with John Brown and Matthew North on the graphic design for their book entitled Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Wrong With This House: Fast Houses, Slow Homes and How to Tell the Difference. In doing so, I gained immensely from the process of distilling a fairly complex message into a series of diagrams and text that could be understood by an average designinclined reader. While the work itself was predominantly book-related, the experience and learning was entirely architectural. A series of iterations took the book from a design guideline handbook to present form.
As the research and theoretical arm of the housebrand practice, I participated in the refinement of the Slow Home concept through this book as well. Presently, the book is going through another iteration, to be published as an expanded second edition. Since February 2010 the book has been available through the Slow Home website (www.slowhomestudio. com) and at the housebrand design store, and is the textbook for a series of seminars run through the office bimonthly. The first edition went to digital press, while the second will be printed in offset and in a larger edition.
Nearly all of the graphic design was carried out in Abode Indesign and Illustrator, two programs of my expertise.
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Now Selling
Show Home
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FAST HOUSES
FAST HOUSES
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Understanding the Sales Brochure Creating Desire
5
The Illusion of Value
good investment.
3 BEDROOM, 2.5 BATHROOM 2400 SQ FT. 3. EXECUTIVE FAMILY HOME
The Illusion of Control
6
Deck (opt.)
Eating Nook
The Promise of Quality
The ability to choose your own lot is
The cheesy marketing slogan in a
designed to give you a sense of control
classic serif font alludes to some
that too often results in a series of
imaginary ideal of craftsmanship and
inappropriate combinations.
time-honored traditions.
!
4. 2
2.
ot
living and high design.
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undeserved association with luxury
The Belgravia
Ow
to make you feel that you are making a
ur
designed to give the house an
1.
yo
“included” in the sale price is designed
se
The excessive list of standard features
to a high-end British neighborhood is
oo
Naming a house plan with reference
Ch
1
Master Bedroom
Kitchen Master Ensuite W.I.C
Ext. Storage
Family Room
Study loft
Formal Dining Room
Bedroom 2
y er
ll Ga Formal Living Room
Laundry
3
Catching Your Attention
7
False Customization
The oversized font used for the sale
The limited list of optional packages is
price as well as the floor area and room
designed to give you the impression
count catch your eye while the almost
that you can customize your purchase
impossibly low cost/square foot is
into a house that is uniquely yours,
designed to catch your attention.
when in fact it will look just like your
Bedroom 3
Foyer
Library
Garage
$ 419,200*3. *taxes, dealer prep, lot, landscaping not inc.
neighbor.
main floor
upper floor
STANDARD FEATURES
4
<
Opposite: Front + Back cover
Top: Excerpt graphic from Introduction (p.26) Middle: Spread from Chapter 1 (p.28-29) Bottom: Spread from Chapter 2 (p.56-57)
Supressing The Surroundings
8
Instilling Urgency
The plans show no indication of
The limited time offer of a “free”
immediate context. Instead it “floats”
upgrade is a classic marketing device
on a grey backdrop without any
that is designed to pressure you into
indication of solar orientation,
making the purchase right now, even
neighboring buildings, site or
if you don’t necessarily like, or even
landscaping.
want, the option.
5.
Formal Sitting Room Formal Dining Room Formal Foyer Oversized Kitchen Breakfast Bar Eating Nook Main Floor Gallery
AVAILABLE UPGRADE PACKAGES 7. Gourmet Kitchen Eco-Home Spa Bath Sport Garage Hardwood Euro-Finish Landscape
Built-In Gas Fireplace Main Floor Laundry Artisan Staircase Oversized Master Closet 5-Piece Master Ensuite Second Floor Study Second Floor Library
6.Craftwork
Homes: Designed with you in mind
>
FREE Rustic Hardwood package!* *must be purchased before May 30
8.
56
SLOW HOMES
SLOW HOMES
57
Organization A Slow Home is organized so “like” spaces are grouped together with minimal circulation, and all principal rooms have a good connection to the outdoors.
3.
Terrace
Organization addresses the way individual rooms come together to create a whole home. It’s Master Bath
an often overlooked aspect of residential design. In many fast houses, the rooms seem to Master Bedroom
Living
be haphazardly placed. This can make the house feel smaller and more complicated than it really is. In most cases, private spaces such as bedrooms and bathrooms should be zoned together and the more public living areas should be consolidated into one or two larger open spaces.
UP
w
narrow and deep house will usually have more rooms that open onto the narrow side yard in between houses. These rooms usually don’t have sufficient access to natural sunlight. This becomes even more critical in a multi-family situation, where there’s often only one wall in the
Family Bath
2.
DN
DN
Laundry
d
The shape and proportion of the house also affects organization. This means that a
W.I.C.
Kitchen
Study Back Entry
1.
Front Entry
Bedroom 3
Bedroom 2
Dining
Garage
3.
unit with windows. In this case, it’s important to ensure that the unit is sufficiently wide for all
3.
the principal rooms to have enough light. Circulation is also an important part of organization. One of the hallmarks of a well-designed Slow Home is the ability to easily move from one space to another without encountering
N
main floor
upper floor
excess hallways or wasted space. Stairs are a critical component of circulation and they should be located to maximize the efficiency of the circulation without disrupting the functioning of the rest of the house. Fast houses usually have too much floor space devoted to hallways and circulation paths that conflict with the furniture.
RULES OF THUMB
This house has an effective organization. Both floors are efficiently laid out, with no wasted
In a Slow Home, the organization should
space or unused rooms. On the main floor, the front closet, guest bathroom, rear entry, and laundry room are grouped together into one quadrant of the house ( 1 ). The rest of the main
• not have principal living spaces oriented to side yards, alleyways, or service spaces.
floor is one large open space, containing the kitchen, dining, and living rooms. The main
• have like spaces grouped together to minimize noise and privacy conflicts.
floor has no hallways and the stair is unobtrusively located at the back of the living area. On
• have no wasted, redundant, or falsely labeled spaces.
the second floor, the stair and central hallway ( 2 ) are efficiently laid out, and the front–back
• have an efficient circulation system with effectively placed stairs.
configuration maximizes the size of the bedrooms and ensures that all bedrooms have windows that do not face a side yard and have good views and sunlight ( 3 ).
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11
6
The Slow Home Project January - September 2010 Research and Online Collaboration
The Slow Home Project was an open-source, online collaboration with members of the Slow Home community. The task was to find and evaluate actual floorplans — townhomes, single family houses, and condos/lofts — in 9 North American cities in 9 months. Hinging upon The Slow Home Test, which was developed through iterations of
the book, the project was successful in scoring over 5400 plans on a scale from 0-20. The highest scores from each city would be voted on to receive a Slow Home Award, denoting that development’s status as Slow (17-20/20). I was the primary researcher of the project. I collected over 4500 of the 5400+ plans, shared the task of scoring those 4500 with
John and Matthew, and posted plans to the website. The most valuable aspect of the experience was the exposure to the plans themselves — I have gained a highly sophisticated eye for residential design, trained to be able to quickly get a general sense of the quality of a plan’s design, and have a thorough understanding of the broader impacts on unit design. 26
<
Opposite: An example of a the process a floorplan went through in the Slow Home Project, from developerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website to scoring and posting on the Google map. Examples of evaluating the 3 types examined: townhomes, single family houses, condos/lofts
>
Below, L: Screenshot of website Day page Below, C: Main page for completed Project Below, R: Close-up of Google map
v
The Slow Home Project
Los Angeles
Toronto
Description of the city. Our second goal is to identify the best designed or Slowest Homes in North America and bring attention to the people who are stepping outside of the fast housing industry to create these great places to live. January 2010 Average Slow Home Test Score
10.7
Denver
15.7
Vancouver
12.8
Average Slow Home Test Score
16.3
10.1
Average Slow Home Test Score
14.0
Description of the city. Our second goal is to identify the best designed or Slowest Homes in North America and bring attention to the people who are stepping outside of the fast housing industry to create these great places to live. June 2010 Average Slow Home Test Score
13.8
Chicago
Description of the city. Our second goal is to identify the best designed or Slowest Homes in North America and bring attention to the people who are stepping outside of the fast housing industry to create these great places to live. August 2010 Average Slow Home Test Score
Description of the city. Our second goal is to identify the best designed or Slowest Homes in North America and bring attention to the people who are stepping outside of the fast housing industry to create these great places to live. March 2010
Philadelphia
Description of the city. Our second goal is to identify the best designed or Slowest Homes in North America and bring attention to the people who are stepping outside of the fast housing industry to create these great places to live. May 2010
Atlanta
Description of the city. Our second goal is to identify the best designed or Slowest Homes in North America and bring attention to the people who are stepping outside of the fast housing industry to create these great places to live. July 2010 Average Slow Home Test Score
Average Slow Home Test Score
Miami
Description of the city. Our second goal is to identify the best designed or Slowest Homes in North America and bring attention to the people who are stepping outside of the fast housing industry to create these great places to live. April 2010 Average Slow Home Test Score
Dallas / Fort Worth
Description of the city. Our second goal is to identify the best designed or Slowest Homes in North America and bring attention to the people who are stepping outside of the fast housing industry to create these great places to live. February 2010
14.6
Description of the city. Our second goal is to identify the best designed or Slowest Homes in North America and bring attention to the people who are stepping outside of the fast housing industry to create these great places to live. September 2010 Average Slow Home Test Score
13.2
Beyond finding and evaluating the plans, a weekly exercise in remodeling an existing plan was offered to online viewers. Although not required, I took the opportunity to participate. In total I participated in 16 exercises. Near R: Existing condo plan from Denver, CO Far R: Renovated condo plan from Denver, CO
> >
shoe bench
millwork low bookshelf
27
7
Photography
Travel, Research, Artwork, Personal History
The photograph has a dual character: it is as evocative as it is physical. It is physical in the sense that a photograph is always an image of something. In being representational (portraying that something as it is without actually being it) the photograph always has a meaning— ie. it is interpreted. Beside the thing itself, the practice of making photographs might call for a heightened awareness of the world, to see ‘photographically’, or a naive type of perma-shuttering, leaving the pictures themselves to be ‘discovered’ later when the film ( or data) is developed.
I am fascinated by the complexity and mystery involved in taking good photographs (ie. evoking something). This fascination is particularly acute when I am travelling, perhaps due to being in unfamiliar territory or the desire to ‘historicize’ the occasion. But ‘capturing the moment’ can be all too personal — is only evocative to whoever participated in that moment — thus, in my pictures I strive to transcend a personal mnemonic. However, I cannot keep them from having a special meaning, as I was there to take them.
I am drawn to photograph Architecture of all types in spite of the fact that an army of professionals have likely captured all of the best angles in the best light. My instincts lead me to believe that this isn’t a fools errand, and that even the most exhausted sites can still tell secrets... Further, for it to be true, you would also have to believe that the world is ultimately knowable, at least for the experts, who with their finest equipment are suited to copyright the beautiful truth. Alternatively, I believe that there is as much to be found in the way of truth and beauty in the alley as on the boulevard. 28
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The Portfolio of Travis Davidson