TYLER AKINS ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. WESCOTT STUDIO 2. BLOOM 3. GREEN CANOPY 4. SQUARE-CIRCLE
WESCOTT STUDIO LOCATION: Wescott House PROGRAM: Design a meditation hut to teach students and be placed on the Wescott House site. FOCUS: Design based on detail. Starting from creating blocks to creating a joint and working up towards a full scale building.
FROEBEL BLOCKS IN COLLABORATION WITH: Reed Gerber + Michael Hoffman
The first step in the Wescott House design studio was to work to learn the basics of how Frank Lloyd Wright would design his houses. Frank Lloyd Wright used the spatial relationships and mathematical constructs of the Froebel blocks to lay out floor plans and shape the houses we know today. We were tasked to create gift set 3, a set of eight 1”x 1” cubes which were made to a 1/1000” tolerance. Alongside the cubes we made a box that fit the cubes perfectly, with four sides finger-jointed and a sliding lid.
Once our blocks were made, we arranged them in patterns and designs based on prompted words and emotions. We were meant to create the image of the words, which was difficult with our limited amount of blocks. In the end we were also tasked to take images of nature and arrange our blocks in ways reminiscent of the patterns and constructs found in our nature photographs. This was the first step in learning how Frank Lloyd Wright went about designing and creating his buildings based on nature.
MALLET + JOINT The second step in the Wescott House design studio was to work with the detail of a house, starting with a joint inspired from nature. Before creating the joint, we first designed and carved out a mallet to use to make our final joint. My mallet was made out of walnut and pine, with the head created using a piece of pine sandwiched between two pieces of walnut. I carved and sanded the handle to fit my palm and worked the angle of the head to fit my swing. Afterwards it was lacquered and waxed to seal it.
Two joints were designed: one for the beam and column connection and one for the column to ground connection. My joint was inspired by the way bark strands on a tree flow in and out of each other, connecting in a crossing pattern. I took that idea and made column and beam flow in and out of one another, sandwiching together in a way that is executable by simple means and elegant in its presentation. The joints themselves were made with precision, needing only the use of a hammer and force to keep them together.
INDIVIDUAL TEAHOUSE The third step in the Wescott House design studio was to use the ideas and skills we learned previously to design a tea house to be placed on the Wescott house site in conjunction with Peter Bohlin’s center. We chose the site as our group and decided on the space directly behind the center Peter Bohlin designed. By placing the tea house there we accented the secondary axis created by the center and placed our teahouse within nature, creating a sense of seclusion and serenity away from the street.
My design focused on the idea of being able to open up to the nature around it, or close off entirely to teach a group of students. I focused on the different qualities of light with the two stories of windows: one completely transparent and one semitransparent that opened for ventilation. The doors open towards the Wescott house, the center, and the solar house to accent the different views from the tea house. I designed a large porch to encourage teaching within and without, breaking the barrier of inside and outside.
GROUP TEAHOUSE IN COLLABORATION WITH: Reed Gerber + Michael Hoffman
The final step in the Wescott House design studio was to combine the individual models we created to develop a single design, which we proposed to Peter Bohlin at Wescott House in Springfield, Ohio. Our three individual proposals had a sense of path ending up in a final arrival. This became the central idea of our design, developing a path and sequence for the people interacting with our tea house to follow around and arrive in the hut itself.
The path around our interior is suspended from the heavier structure in the central area of our hut by metal rods. The exterior of our building is one wrap made of 2x4 boards, with openings and breaks to focus on views and letting in sunlight to the interior. We also had a large door that opened outwards towards the center, creating an extension of space and a blending between exterior and interior space. The horizontality and deep cantilevers relate back to the Wescott House and the designs of Frank Lloyd Wright.
BLOOM LOCATION: Miami University Campus PROGRAM: Design and create a kinetic sculpture visualizing sustainability across five campuses. FOCUS: Researching and using sustainability to educate people on campus. This design was a bus stop to focus on transportation sustainability.
BLOOM IN COLLABORATION WITH: Ian Bennett, Caitlyn Steele + Xiaoyi Peng
Our goal for the semester was to create a sculpture that represented sustainability across multiple campuses, to create a visual representation of how people participated in sustainable practices, and to show them how they can affect a physical object. Our school worked alongside four other schools; Ball State, Kent State, University of Kentucky, and University of Cincinnati. We started with nothing but an end goal, to visualize sustainability and collaborate on ideas and plans across multiple schools. We started by approaching the idea of sustainability and what it meant to each student in the team at Miami.
With this research we came up with the idea of a sculpture that was manipulated by the people that came in contact with it throughout the day and week. These mild progressions would end up with a sculpture that would become more beautiful the more that people on campus participated in sustainable acts. This idea developed into one that would expand to all schools, creating a flower sculpture that would bloom alongside the sustainable acts of each school. This time, though, the schools would each affect one petal, creating competition amongst schools to become more sustainable and create a more beautiful sculpture in the end. This project is called Bloom.
GREEN CANOPY LOCATION: Miami University Campus PROGRAM: Design a sustainable sculpture to be displayed on the Miami University Campus. FOCUS: Researching and using sustainability to educate people on campus. This design was a bus stop to focus on transportation sustainability.
GREEN CANOPY IN COLLABORATION WITH: Ian Bennett, Caitlyn Steele + Xiaoyi Peng
We approached the design using skills we were currently learning and developing for the Bloom installation; Rhino and Grasshopper. Using grasshopper we used scripting to create the arching shell, and mapped a voronoi pattern onto the lofted shell. We scripted the voronoi pattern and arches into pipes and brought it into Rhino. From Rhino we cleaned up the mismatching pipe connections and split the shell in half to create openings on each end. This led to the renderings and visual aesthetics seen in the final design of our bust stop, a Green Canopy of recycled framing and a recycled plastic shell.
We had to find a material that would be able to not only support the structure but would be pliable enough to form organic curves. We discovered that many metal factories dispose of excess metal pipes and decided to use them as our main structure. An inner piping was added to the design to add extra support between each main structural member, this will also be built with metal pipes and the two will be soldered together. As for the mesh we want to use some type of a plastic membrane, but a waterproofed fabric has also been discussed. This installation will be connected to the ground using embedded anchor bolts.
SQUARE-CIRCLE LOCATION: Canary Wharf, London PROGRAM: Create a multipurpose building for a graphic design firm focusing on sustainability. FOCUS: Designing based on sustainability tactics and green standards in the UK.
SQUARE-CIRCLE IN COLLABORATION WITH: Ashley Kay
The form of this building design was based on maintaining views of the London skyline across the River Thames. Each floor plate rotates from the main level to create bridging between the seprate structures and open air atriums. To maximize efficiency, this building utilizes several sustainable features. In addition to our sustainable features list, solar chimneys surround the central core towers that increase natural ventilation between levels, green roofing on the balconies and the roof level increase water collection, and a CHP system all support the overall sustainablility of the design.
SUSTAINABLE FEATURES Photovoltaic Glass Surfaces:
Glass pieces are made of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells, which use the properties of colour to create an electrical current generated from both direct and diffused daylight. The electricity can be used to power all the employees electronics, including a phone, tablet or laptop.
Stacked Natural Ventilation:
Numerous atriums on every floor allow for air flow and pressure differences to passively cool and ventilate this building design.
Greywater Collection System:
Greywater is collected in a basin beneath the building and reused for toilet flush and fire protection.
Double Skin Facade + Heat Storing Floor Plates: Heat is collected in the floor plates and saved to be used passively as needed.
[Visual] Illustrator Photoshop InDesign
[Programs] Microsoft Office Suite Adobe Creative Suite
Miami University - Bachelor of Arts. Architecture Major. Graduated in 2015 from honors. GPA: 3.46
Marysville High School - High school Diploma. Graduated in 2011
Education
[Modeling] Revit [Rendering] Photoshop Autodesk Revit Rhino Rhino Revit Autodesk CAD
Computer Skills:
- Hardworker: I work my hardest at whatever job I recieve and do it to the best of my ability - Fast learner: I pick up on job skills quickly and efficiently, learning to do them well as fast as possible - Dedicated: When I recieve a problem I solve it, committing to it and following it through to completion. - Leader: I am willing to take charge in a situation that needs it, helping and relegating work in a group. I have been both a manager and a team leader, giving me experience in these situations.
General
Skills
with Murali Paranandi: Visualizing Sustainability on Campus through kinetic scuplture. Spring Semester 2015
Independent Research:
Tech Intern 2011-2012 - Worked with software to code gradecards for online school program - Did extensive filework and organization - Communicated and worked with users of the online school program
Marion, Ohio
TRECA:
Manager 2014-2014 - Managed multiple workers below me - Provided training and help to new employees - Worked with customers to provide ice cream and set up events and parties
Ice Cream Server 2009-2013 - Took orders and provided ice cream for customers - Worked with kitchen equipment, including preparing and broasting chicken
Marysville, Ohio
Farmhouse Ice Cream Parlor:
Student Worker 2014-2015 - Did various jobs including cooking, dishwashing, cashier work, and running food - Worked to provide food for students in any way possible
Oxford, Ohio
Miami University:
Experience
412 North Beech St. – Oxford, Ohio 45056 akinstj@miamioh.edu 937.578.8621
Tyler Akins