Academic Goal:
The project proposed was to formulate a comprehensive design proposal for an Educational Wellness Center, theoretically sited on the campus of the Cranbrook Educational Community near Detroit Michigan.
The idea that Wellness requires a recognition of the internal and external forces of decay on our bodies and a continuous attempt to mitigate the effects of those forces, became the driving theme for the project and led to the exploration of the concept of entropy, a process central to the formation of the universe and to the development of complex organisms.
Proposal Development:
A strategy employed to explore and express entropy was the gradient. While traditional architecture is typically designed from a regular grid, every aspect of the wellness center would be constrained to or generated by a gradient geometry.
Based on the second part of the theme involving the continuous mitigation of bodily entropy, a cyclical process of learning and activity was central to the building’s plan. The program was broken into three parts; a learning space, a fitness space and an enjoyment space, all housed in separate buildings placed in that order around a circular courtyard. This was criticized as being merely a metaphorical representation of the idea but it was intended to physically facilitate a curriculum that would require a daily or weekly “wellness cycle” for students and staff.
This 1/4 scale section model represents the intended “DNA” for the project. It was used as an experimental model and changed quite drastically over the course of its production. It incorporated tectonic ideas previously developed in the Genetic Material Project as well as a new cladding system based on the Singularity Door Project.
The final Wellness Center proposal retains all the goals set forth in part one. It is entirely organized on a radiating, gradient pattern and adheres diagrammatically to a tri-part plan intended to encourage a cyclical routine experience.
The wood structure of part 1 has been strategically replaced by a system of concrete piers supporting a sheet metal, homogeneous structural cladding enclosure, based on research that produced a viable Structural Skin according to the parameters of the project.
The enclosure illustrated was generated with a Grasshopper Script in Rhino, which was designed to panelize a surface with folded components and adjust their size according to multi-directional gradient factors. For modeling and proof-of-concept, it automatically pulled 2d line-work from the 3d model, numbered the components and organized them into a layout for laser cutting. This powerful tool made it possible to fully execute a theme dependent on expansion and experienced through gradients in every geometry, from the procession of spaces and volumes to the structural skin panels sizes.
Academic Goal :
To learn the parameters of wood construction and to design within those parameters to create a structure suitable to a desert environment. Specifically, this building should provide vertical transit to the various altitudes of its site and offer its occupants a place of refuge after a day of intense hiking. It should protect them from the dangers of the desert, enhance their wilderness experience and accommodate the storage and setup of tents. The program specifically required that the building be built entirely of standard sized lumber with exception of steel rod for cross bracing.
Proposal :
This structure functions in many capacities. It serves as a stair system connecting the lower valley and the upper plateau of the desert site. Visitors traveling through the structure experience the vertical nature of the canyon and experience a promenade of views unattainable from the ground. Tents are stored on the lowest level and can be pitched inside or on a number of rooftop patios. In this way, visitors are protected from animals and many spaces inside the building provide protection from direct sunlight and wind. Roof top edges are protected by floor setbacks and not guardrails to maintain the excitement of precarious cliff dwelling. The entire structure lightly inhabits and surrounds a natural concavity in the canyon wall and at night becomes the grandstand for a campfire ceremoniously lit within.
The structural ethic of this proposal is one of complete material authenticity. Every structural element and force has been accounted for, making it entirely feasible without sculptural or experiential compromise.
Although not chosen for the award, this is a proposal submitted to a competition held to produce a sculpture to enhance Cincinnati's Findlay Market.
The concept presented here is two part. One takes the form of an old and stoic tree - built as large as budget and space allows. It is gnarly and massive, with whimsical beauty. It will embody a history of survival in its dynamic ecosystem, a history known to the market as well. The second part is a series of “seedlings” that pop up throughout the market as an ever present symbol of rebirth. As siblings of the tree, they are of the same construction but straight and youthful, showing newness but sharing the DNA of the Old. Several will be distributed and experienced throughout the Market to build a sense of place.
The construction of the work will be both traditional and highly contemporary, bridging the gap between old and new. It will be constructed of hundreds of patinaed, triangular Corten Steel plates connected with industrial rivets. As a geometric system, intentional space between the panels would make the massive trunk become diaphanous upon closer inspection. The materials reflect the industrial heritage of the city and match the market building, which was built of riveted iron. However, the material process would involve robotic plasma-cutting and the faceted skin pattern would be generated algorithmically, placing it securely among the ranks of cutting edge contemporary theory in both art and architecture. Led Lighting would be incorporated into the leaves to push it even further into the realm of new and exciting experience.
As with all of my work, the elements of this proposal are at once poetic, aesthetic and functional. The parent tree would be designed to shade and protect a large area, light it at night and collect rainwater to nourish the numerous plantings already seen at the Market. The addition of a second tree would create a gateway, framing the entrance of the market with the arches of the branches. The “Seedlings” could be seats, drinking fountains, bollards or numerous other small utility installations. In the future, more could be built and placed throughout the city as a form of branding for the market, being functional and iconic outposts of the ever-expanding goals of the Market.
BaserMatter is a design and fabrication company in Cincinnati OH, co-founded by Nathan Currier Groh and Modularem founder Jeff Welch. It was established to fulfill a niche in the city for high-design, locally manufactured goods and architectural products. At the heart of it’s design operation lies a collection of digital fabrication equipment that facilitates high speed iterations which fuel the design process and prove product viability. A major component of the facility, a large scale CNC router, was custom designed and built by the founders, a process which instilled a tremendous working knowledge of the tool and its capabilities. This knowledge has led to a succession of products that celebrate the machining process and push the limits of the technology to produce entirely original products. The achievements of Basermatter have proven the importance of its founding principals, including part-to-whole system theory and the importance of craftsmanship in the digital world and has served as a springboard for the creation of Modularem.
The objective of this studio project was to design a pavilion for the United States at the 2015 Milan Worlds Fair. I chose to brand America optimistically as the epicenter of the technological progress that has improved the world’s standard of living for 200 years. The pavilion therefore was intended to be a place where visitors could experience being innovators first-hand by participating in the design process directly. Because of the Fair’s theme of “feeding the world” I chose water containment as the subject of innovation. The pavilion would consist of two pathways intertwined with a continuous but spatially oscillating tube, within which CNC machines and robots sequentially sculpt clay into water vessels. The visitors would interact with the machines to customize a vessel as they progressed along one of the two paths. Due to the specific parameters that they would interact with, visitors would experience all of the stages of innovation including risk taking, failure and success along the way. A laboratory full of invited Innovators using the quick feed-back-loop of the pavilion’s rapid prototyping equipment to advance ceramics and water storage technology would add intrigue. At the final stage, visitors would find fresh water to enjoy and receive their vessel, which they could choose to take home or donate. Donation would give them the opportunity to strive for a better design by going through the pavilion again.
The structure would be a steel frame that supports glass and ceramic panels. Visitors would walk outside along the path and look through glass panels at the machines similar to viewing fish at an aquarium. This section shows the progression of the machine pods that visitors interact with and a two story laboratory at the end.
I chose to do this project entirely in analog, free-hand drawings to continue to build my ability to conceptualize complexities based on thematic inspiration that is not only computational. Further development of this concept would entail a full computational and material exercise to provide the reality necessary to truly express the theme.
The objective of this studio project was to design a United States Pavilion for the 2015 Milan Worlds Fair. To brand America optimistically, the pavilion experience was crafted to highlight the most recent and near-future innovations that are propelling US technological industries toward more meaningful and sustainable production. For this experience to be authentic, the structure was designed to be a place where visitors could experience being innovators first-hand by participating in the design process directly.
Proposal:
Because of the Fair’s theme of “feeding the world”, water containment was chosen as the subject of innovation. In composition, the pavilion would consist of two exterior pathways intertwined with a continuous but spatially oscillating tube, within which CNC machines and robots sequentially sculpt clay into water vessels. The visitors would interact with the machines to customize a vessel as they progressed along one of the two paths. Due to the specific parameters that they would interact with, visitors would experience all of the stages of innovation including risk taking, failure and success along the way. A laboratory full of invited Innovators using the quick feed-back-loop of the pavilion’s rapid prototyping equipment to advance ceramics and water storage technology would add intrigue. At the final stage, visitors would find fresh water to enjoy and receive their vessel, which they could choose to take home or donate. Donation would give them the opportunity to strive for a better design by going through the pavilion again.
The structure would be a steel frame that supports glass and ceramic panels. Visitors would walk outside along the path and look through glass panels at the machines similar to viewing fish at an aquarium. The section shows the progression of the machine pods that visitors interact with and a two story laboratory at the end.
This project was carried out entirely in analog, free-hand drawings to continue to test an important aspect of a developing design process - the ability to conceptualize complexities based on thematic inspiration without relying on computational representation. Further development of this concept would entail a full computation and material feed-back-loop exercise to provide the reality necessary to truly express the theme.
Academic Goal :
To propose a Visitors Center and Boater’s Lounge for the newly created Lakeshore State Park, located on a man-made island off the coast of Milwaukee. The building should be a landmark to announce the entrance of the new park and must accommodate park staff, pedestrians/bikers and boaters, providing them with information, shelter, restrooms and showers. Because it is on an island, the building must be completely self sufficient, filtering waste and generating its own power.
Solution :
This building is a figure/ground composition study. It consists of three gestural elements that formally reference historic industrial waterfront structures and project through a horizontal plane while having minimal perceived interaction with it. To further placate the marine nature of the site, it is built of arced timber (laminated) in the fashion of a wood boat hull. This construction method allows for a majority of the structure to be built and clad off site.
The cladding is a main feature of the design. The triangular copper panels compose a dynamic rain screen. Some panels would be hinged along one side so they could open, exposing vents and windows and allowing the skin to adapt to the weather and sun.
When it rains, water is funneled from the roof to a “wishing well” like reservoir at the center of the gathering space where it is then pumped to tanks located on the second stories of two of the towers so it can be used in the showers and toilets. This keeps the ground plan open and allows for natural water pressure to the fixtures. Water is heated by solar water heaters on the tilted roofs and stored above the boaters showers, which are active for three seasons. In the winter, when the showers are not used, the hot water energy is transferred to the floors for heat.
Academic goal :
To explore the meaning of shelter and to design a freestanding residential suite that houses two visitors, providing them with the appropriate setting for meditative retreat, all while seamlessly blending into and preserving a natural environment.
Solution :
This project was limited to 350 square feet so the building was an exercise of elegant planning. It is a simple cabin, partially buried in the ground for both emotional and thermal protection and to literally root the building into the land. Its material pallet is mostly native to the site and includes field stones as well as earth and sod for the foundation and walls and the roof structure is timber construction. A multi-functioning central wall provides the structure necessary to support the roof and provide lateral bracing while also dividing the interior space, providing shelves and radiating stored heat. There is a bird habitat and cantilevered stairs on the exterior of the wall that lead up to the vegetated roof, which is a meditation location. Other multi-function features to note are a sink, placed so it can be used in the kitchen and while exiting the bathroom, a meditation/bed platform and, on the outside, platforms for sitting in the summer and firewood storage in the winter.
Singularity Gate
One of the most fascinating aspects of nature is the bi-directional interaction of individual parts to the whole that they compose. Complex natural systems such as ant lines and schools of fish adapt and interact through a fast series of local interaction between individuals that affect the movement of the whole group. The individual can affect the whole and the whole can affect the individual. This relationship creates a “singularity” that can act like an individual when interrupted by an outside force. This is seen when a shark swims into a school of fish and the whole school, at nearly the same time, reacts and avoids the shark. Only a few of the fish could actually see the shark but the whole school reacted. Similar to neurons, the fish can each send an electrical impulse that is intercepted and transferred by the neighbor fish to the whole nearly instantly. These complex systems also demonstrate redundancy. If a few fish die, the school will not subsequently parish.
This Wall and Gate is simple singularity accomplished by an interaction of interrelated parts that affect one another. When the door handle is pulled, the adjacent structural part reacts through the tension of the springs that connect it and it subsequently pulls the next part and so on. All parts are held together solely through the tension of the springs. There is no glue or mechanical fasteners. Furthermore, the topography surrounding the handle swells to indicate the pull action required to open it, hopefully instructing the user of this action. Nature is also very efficient. Here, efficiency is achieved by ensuring that all parts are functioning in more than one way. For instance, the springs hold the parts together, enable movement, transfer forces and one even acts as the handle. A full scale, CNC milled mock-up was constructed to prove that the system works.