Michael Tweed, RA, LEED AP
The City of Hagerstown, Mayland, documented a strong foundation for Downtown revitalization in its 2012 Sustainable Community Plan (SCP), which envisioned Downtown as the commercial, institutional, and cultural center of the region. To implement the SCP, the City identified eight catalytic initiatives which constitute The Community’s City Center Plan. These initiatives provided a ten-year roadmap for public and private investment
totaling nearly $125 million and producing 875 new jobs. I was the architectural and urban design consultant for this project. Working closely with the lead economic consultant, I designed development plans for key sites. I also worked with the city to produce “factsheets� the economic development team uses to market the development plans to developers for construction.
City Center Plan Hagerstown, MD
A Civic Vision for the Central Delaware Philadelphia, PA
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 illustrations 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
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.
Private Home in the Woods Upper Black Eddy, PA
Cassatt House Philadelphia, PA
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.
Fashion Square Orlando, FL
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.
The Learning Commons St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA
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 three-story 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.
Washington Lane TOD Philadelphia, PA
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.
Paoli TOD Paoli, PA
This site, a former Amtrak rail yard, is developed on a brownfield super fund site. This project leverages the principles of transit oriented development by developing a new mixed use community around the new train station built across the rail tracks from this project site. The project includes a mix of office space, retail, rental and ownership residential and a senior living facility. The new development is build around the framework of a linear road connecting ample public space. The project also seeks to be LEED Neighborhood Development Certified.
For this project I was responsible for all aspects of design. I initially started with an extensive code review, which was only complicated by the fact that the project spans two townships. I then worked with the client to formulate a design program and framework plan, which I then developed into the finished plan and renderings illustrated here.
Ferry Avenue Transit Village Camden, NJ
The Greater Camden Partnership commissioned this study to evaluate and make recommendations for this Transit Oriented Development. The project area was approximately 15 acres along the Ferry Avenue station of the PATCO high-speed line, which connects southern New Jersey to the center of Philadelphia. The genesis of this project was the implementation of the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit, which provided funding for any development that created a minimum of 250 jobs within a quarter mile radius of any transit stop in Camden and a few other places throughout New Jersey. While integration of office development was the foundation of the project, it would not succeed without the development of a fully mixed-use community to support it. The project also included both affordable and market rate housing, retail development and public open space. New office space and a parking garage for Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, a neighbor to this development, was also included in the study. To transform the image of this area, Haddon Avenue, one of the main entrances to Camden from the east, was proposed as a boulevard complete with “green street� infrastructure to manage stormwater run-off. While a boulevard would fit into the existing right of way, the team managed to convince the developer and primary land owner to widen the right of way so that bike lanes and a more gracious sidewalk could be added to the street thereby enhancing the project by allowing for active transportation. I was the Project Director and was responsible for managing the large stakeholder group including private developers and public institutions, proposing design alternatives, working with the economic consultants and designing and writing the final proposal.
South Camden Neighborhood Camden, NJ
In a neighborhood that was being underused by industry, this project created a plan for a thriving community and a city reconnected to the Delaware River. The Reinvestment Fund sponsored this project for the city of Camden. The concept for this neighborhood was to consolidate the remaining industrial uses to other active industrial areas in Camden and reconnect this area back into the residential neighborhoods that boarder the study area. I was integral to the team that designed this neighborhood that included ample park space connecting the new river park deep into the city and an extension of the River Line, a light rail public transportation train. The plan outlined mixed use development including retail, new public schools, and new residential development for all income levels. The plan created a new and lively district for Camden to grow into.
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 three-story 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
Downtown Waterfront Trenton, NJ
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.
Michael Tweed, RA, LEED AP
Student Design Portfolio This is a portfolio of work created by students within a class that I taught. Below are the project names and descriptions of sample student work that will be shown throughout this document. The pages that follow are the project generated by the students. Each project lists the title, the students name, the class it was submitted for and school at which the student attended. The work is unaltered from the way it was submitted to me.
Squares This project was used to introduce basic design principles. Using the simple graphic of black and white shapes, students are asked to create a series of squares that represent the concepts of symmetry, asymmetry, rhythm and arrhythmic. This project served as a foundation for applying these principles to buildings and other design elements.
Solar Lamp Having studied various design principles in abstract drawings and sketches, students were asked to employ these principles in the three dimensional form of a lamp. The project was also a way to introduce other architectural concepts such as constructibility and shadow and light. The lamps were powered by light bulbs connected to small solar panels, which not only made constructing a working lamp a little more difficult, but was also an opportunity to begin to bring in the concept of sustainability. This project is used as a way to connect basic design principles to the multidisciplinary nature of architectural design.
Workshop for a Solar Lamp Expanding on an early project where students created a solar lamp using basic design principles, this project had students take it one step further and progressed to the design of a workshop where the lamps can be designed and manufactured. Because this may be the first full scale building a student has ever designed, the program for the building was kept simple. Connecting this building directly to the previously design lamp also allows for an easy transition on how to apply design principles to the scale of architecture.
Revit House 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.
Perspective Illustration This assignment was designed to address several aspects of illustration. Its primary purpose was to instruct students on the concept of perspectives. But the project is also used as a way to reinforce how to combine 3-D software with Photoshop, how to accurately represent shadows and how to place entourage. It also requires that students study a piece of architecture and create the right illustration for the design statement being made by the house. (The students were provided the house design to render)
Presentation Board 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. (The students were provided the house design to illustrate)
Art Studio & Gallery For this project students designed a building that contained artists studios, a gallery to display their work and a few other supporting programmatic spaces. The site location varied between semesters, but was always along a neighborhood mix-use commercial corridor. The goal of this project to teach several important aspects of architectural design. For example, the project started with a brief introduction to urban design and how a building should consider its surroundings. Each student was required to create a site analysis drawing and incorporate it into the process they used to create their design parti. I also used this project to introduce concepts of sustainability and environmental and solar design.
Squares - Adam Spencer - Architectural Design I
- Triton College
Squares - Laid Omeri - Architectural Design I
- Triton College
Solar Lamp - Samuel Dominguez - Architectural Design I - Triton College
Solar Lamp - Adam Spencer - Architectural Design I - Triton College
Workshop for a Solar Lamp - Adam Spencer - Architectural Design I - Triton College
Workshop for a Solar Lamp - George Paterson - Architectural Design I - Triton College
Revit House - Joseph Bloom - Advanced Cad Applications - Community College of Philadelphia
Revit House - Nashar Tariq - Advanced Cad Applications - Community College of Philadelphia
Perspective Illustration - Miguel Arce - Computer Graphics for Architects II - Triton College
Presentation Board - Ashley Zimmerman - Architectural Presentations
- Community College of Philadelphia
Art Studios & Gallery - Caytlin Hastings - Architectural Design II - Community College of Philadelphia
Art Studios & Gallery - Ekerin Agboola - Architectural Design II - Triton College
HARLEM AVENUE
OAK PARK ART STUDIOS AND GALLERY
LAKE STREET
LAKE STREET
HARLEM AVENUE
1137 LAKE ST OAK PARK, IL 60301
Art Studios & Gallery - David Morales - Architectural Design II - Triton College
SECOND F
DAVID A. MORALES ARC 172
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
LOOR
SECOND FLOOR GALLERY
THIRD FLOOR
STUDIOS