Portfolio Michael Tweed , RA, LEED AP
A Civic Vision for the Central Delaware: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Aerial Rendering of South Philadelphia
This plan created a new vision for a seven-mile stretch of the Delaware River in Philadelphia. Currently cut off from the city by the intrusion of I-95, this riverfront is comprised of underutilized post-industrial land and big-box development, and is subject to unregulated residential speculation. The plan emphasized the ecological and economic value of the waterfront and established a framework that the city follow to generate new, cohesive, and sustainable development. This new growth would be organized around parks and open space, provide access to the river and implement a new movement system, including decking over I-95 and a grand civic boulevard complete with public transit. I took part in the design charrette, which allowed for public involvement, and I was then responsible for many of the diagrams and illustrators which conveyed the new vision. This vision has won several awards including: -American Society of Landscape Architects Honor Award, 2009 -The Waterfront Center Honor Award, 2008 -AIA Philadelphia Design Excellence Award, 2008 -APA Pennsylvania Planning Excellence Award Best Practice, 2008 -Congress for the New Urbanism Charter Award, 2008 -AIA Philadelphia Urban Design Committee Excellence Award, 2007 Aerial Rendering of Center City Philadelphia
Master Planning
River Front Park Network Signature Parks Neighborhood Parks Parks Under I-95 Riverfront Trail Green Streets
Parks & Open Spaces
Viaduct Park & Pier Development
Washington Lane TOD: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Illustrative Plan
Mt. Airy USA, a nonprofit organization with the mission to revitalize the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia, sponsored this Transit Oriented Development. Adjacent to the Washington Lane transit stop on the R8 Regional Rail commuter line, the study area was a conglomeration of several industrial properties and parking lots. The plan transformed these properties by redeveloping a mixed use center including retail, townhouses and apartments. The existing site had minimum street frontage because the large industrial properties overtook previous city streets. This plan reconnects the city’s grid, providing streetscape for the new townhomes. A unique street section was designed to keep the right of way of minimal width to allow for greater development opportunities, and “green street� technologies were incorporated reducing stormwater run-off. The plan built most of the retail at a major neighborhood intersection of Chew Avenue and Washington Lane, with residential above the retail and throughout the rest of the site. While much of the existing site was demolished, some historic stone buildings were preserved and used to define a new public plaza. I was integral to the design process for this project, including zoning research, development of the site plan and creating the schematic floor plans and elevations.
Design Parti
Transit Orient Development & Schematic Design
Street Section & Plan
Elevation Study: Typical Mt. Airy Vernacular
Elevation Study: Standard Interpretation of Mt. Airy Vernacular
Elevation Study: Modern Interpretation of Mt. Airy Vernacular
Elevation Study: Vertical Bay
Fashion Square: Orlando, Florida
Civic Plaza
This project was focused on changing the current concept of a typical, mid-sized, regional American shopping mall. While once the pinnacle of the retail experience in Orlando, Florida, this type of retail has now lost much of its appeal. The proprietors hoped the property could be repositioned to take advantage of new trends in the retail industry, thereby maximizing their investment. The solution was to reinvigorate the existing mall without wholesale demolition by seamlessly integrating it into a livable community. To accomplish this, selective additions to the existing mall were proposed and the densification of development was increased by developing the underutilized surface parking. The master plan resulted in 250,000 sf of new street level retail along a lush boulevard that doubled as the mall’s stormwater management system. At the center of the design was a new plaza that would become the focus of the redevelopment. Along with the rest of the development, the mall’s main entrance was integrated into this plaza. In addition, 160,000 sf of office space and 556 residential units were added to the project site in order to transform the property into a 24-hour mixed-use center. My responsibilities included drawing design options, site programming, and creating illustrations and graphics for the developer to market.
Residential Park
Site Planning & Programming
Illustrative Site Plan
The Learning Commons: St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia, PA
Perspective Rendering
A 40,000 SF Learning Commons addition to the existing main Drexel Library is designed as a technology-rich environment for round-the-clock use by students and faculty. A generous threestory glazed Atrium serves as the point of entry for this academic complex and functions as a link between the new addition and the existing library. Service and orientation for users are centrally located in the Atrium. The Learning Commons houses a coffee shop, social study, and common computer area on the ground floor; quiet individual and group study areas on the second floor; and special collections and exhibits on the third. The adjoining Campus Park with plazas and walkways are part of the overall Academic Center concept designed to foster learning through interaction. The project began years before construction started with a feasibility study. With the principal of the design firm, I created a schematic plan and illustrative drawings the university used for fund-raising. Years later as the project progressed, I worked on the construction documents, particularly focusing on the exterior envelope. I also continued to create illustrative drawings that the university could market. I did not make the watercolor illustrated above.
North Elevation
East Elevation
West Elevation
Building Design & Construction Documentation
Exploded Floor Plans
Springfield High School & St Francis Catholic School: Springfield, Pennsylvania
Campus Master Plan
The intent of this project was to look at the aging Springfield High School and propose a master plan for the campus that increased the number of athletic fields for the students while also providing for the construction of a modern school. The project began by closely evaluating the existing school in order to determine what parts could be reused. Finding substantial amounts of asbestos, classrooms without windows and other significant renovation challenges, it became financially feasible to abandon the existing building. With the need for a new school building, the campus was re-designed, allowing for the integration of the school into Saxer Avenue, Springfield’s main street. To accomplish this integration, the school district needed to acquire land from its neighbor, St. Francis Catholic School. To convince the Catholic Church to trade land with the high school, their campus was also incorporated into the master plan. As an incentive to the Catholic school, the redesigned campus provided green open space and play areas, features lacking in their existing campus. Ultimately, the new master plan connected both campuses back to their community. My responsibilities included master planning both campuses, creating the graphics to illustrate the plan concepts, and presenting the plans to the clients.
Existing Satellite Image
Campus Planning
Springfield High School & St. Francis Building Program Layout
Cassatt House: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Dining Room restored as Conference Room
The Library Company of Philadelphia, founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, is today an independent research library with collections of rare books, manuscripts, prints, and photographs documenting every aspect of American history and culture through the end of the 19th century. This $2.7 million project renovated the historic Cassat House at 1320 Locust Street and transformed it into a residential research center. This rowhouse was originally designed by the eminent architect Frank Furness in 1883 for J. Gardner Cassatt. In 1901 it was substantially altered by Joseph Huston, the architect of the Pennsylvania capital building. It now serves as the headquarters of the Library Company’s research fellowship program and provides many spaces the main building lacked: offices and study carrels for visiting scholars and special project staff, seminar and meeting rooms, living accommodations for short term visiting scholars, and kitchen and dining facilities for the staff and fellows. I was part of a team that document the historically significant building and helped produce construction documents to restore and transform this significant building.
Renovated Stair Hall
Historic Restoration
Front Elevation
Private Home in the Woods: Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania
Perspective of Building Prow
Latitudinal Building Section
A 40-acre parcel of woodland and meadow was the setting for this residence. Designed in a manner analogous to the owner’s personal concern for the exploration of native cultures and alternative healing practices, the architectural design team gave thoughtful consideration to developing the building structures and landscape features to respect and seek harmony with the environment. Highlights of the sustainable design include geo-thermal wells that would heat the home, rainwater collection systems, triple glazed windows that insulted the house while allowing for spectacular views, and natural ventilation through the central atrium. The thick stone which comprise the central wall were quarried on site and the resulting thermal mass allowed for reduced heating and cooling loads. Fully documented, the owner halted final construction due a desire to relocate in the Southwest. I was one of several people who developed the construction documents for this difficult project and my responsibilities included drawing much of the plans, building sections and construction details including those shown here.
Atrium Structural Section
Building Design & Construction Documentation
Front Building Perspective
Longitudinal Building Section
First Floor Plan
Work From Students
Final Presentation Board: Architectural Presentations
Ashley Zimmerman - Fall 2013
After a full semester with instructions on how to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and the techniques to make illustrative drawings, this was the final project where the students had to select one of the several homes, and create a complete presentation board to describe their selected architectural project. (These homes were not designed by the students) The student had to recreate the floor plans and at least one perspective of the house. Individually these drawings had to be impressive illustrations in their own right, but the student also had to consider how to make the entire print, containing all their illustrations and text, attractive. While it is not customary that a final jury review be conducted at the end of a drawing class. The students did present their work to outside critics so they could practice their verbal as well as aesthetic presentations.
Benson Zhang - Fall 2013
Student Work
Stephanie Barnes- Spring 2012
Ashley Haff - Fall 2013
Selected Revit Work: Advanced Cad Applications
Joesphe Bloom - Summer 2013
Often taken as an elective or to round out a student’s experience, Advanced Cad Applications focuses on advanced techniques in Revit. Students in this class have already taken a basic Revit class and are ready to learn how to make custom parametric model components, create photorealistic renderings, use the array of detailing tools within Revit, and study the buildings energy usage. These lessons are taught by having the students create a Revit model and construction documents of a house that was provided to them. To accurately recreate the house advanced features must be employed. The students are also required to create a presentation board of the work they have completed throughout the semester and present in a final review.
Tien Le - Summer 2013
Student Work
Nashar Tariq - Summer 2013
Philadelphia Rowhouses: Second Semester Studio - Community College of Philadelphia
Jomar Santiago - Fall 2011
For this project I had the students design a block of rowhouses at 17th Street and Christian Street in Philadelphia PA. This is an actual site, which at the time the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority owned and was looking for a developer to purchase and build housing. This project assumed a developer purchased the land and hired the student to design a block of rowhouses. The developer simply asked that the rowhouse fit with Philadelphia, but that the student express their own architectural style. This project was the first time these students developed a complete building. While the program is rather simple, as all students inherently understand houses, fitting the program into the 18’ lot made it just challenging enough for the students to push themselves. From the standpoint of the elevational design, a rowhouse simplifies the project because it only has two facades that need to be designed. However, the trick to creating a good design was to implement principles form the book Form Space and Order, that was reviewed earlier in the class, and design each rowhouse so that while it is identical to the next, it none the less reads as a individual and well articulated home. As the students professor, I created the project and the program and worked with each student during individual desk reviews to help the student learn the process of design. With several smaller assignments associated with this project we worked step by step on how to design their first building.
Alexandra Bondarenco - Spring 2012
Student Work
Caitlyn Hastings - Spring 2012
Forgery: Architectural Presentations - Community College of Philadelphia
Nisha Anwar - Spring 2012 - Computer Forgery
For this class I was charged to introduce architectural presentation techniques with a focus on using adobe software to create illustrative drawings. This class was intended to be more than a computer “how to� class, although that certainly was a part of the curriculum. This class also had to teach the principles of good drawings. From my experience, anyone can use a computer program like Adobe Illustrator to make a drawing, but it takes skill to make it look interesting. To demonstrate that a computer drawing must be more than tracing lines with solid fills I created this two part forgery assignment. The first part had nothing to do with the computer. I selected several architectural renderings that were done by well known architects and had the students reproduce the drawings by hand. There were several kinds of media including; pastel, watercolor, colored pencil and ink. Each student could select the project they wanted and I gave them instructions on how to make their forgery. When finished each student discussed why they thought this project made a good illustration. After the hand forgery was completed, I had the students make a second forgery, but this time they could only use Adobe Illustrator. As a part of the process we reviewed many different techniques for drawing in Illustrator. Since there were several project types, the students were then asked to review the techniques they used for their project so that everyone would get an overview of the various ways to make high quality drawings in Illustrator.
Nisha Anwar - Spring 2012 - Hand Forgery
Student Work
Caitlyn Hastings - Spring 2012 - Hand Forgery
Yadie Meko - Spring 2012 - Hand Forgery
Caitlyn Hastings - Spring 2012 - Computer Forgery