This project investigated public education in North Minneapolis as a contested terrain. The outcome of the investigation is a program proposal for a public school resource cooperative that will be carried forward into thesis.
The primary discoveries were that public schools are getting drastically smaller, are increasingly culturally specific, and are partnering with organizations traditionally not associated with education.
These trends have specific architectural ramifications for the schools. They are less likely to possess large scale spatial resources such as theaters, libraries, cafeterias, and athletic facilities. Their relationship to the public is also becoming more integrated.
Cdes header
University of Minnesota
http://www.umn.edu/
612-625-5000
http://www.umn.edu/
612-625-5000
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Contested Terrian: C.H.U containerized housing unit
At the time of President Barrack Obama's announcement of his plan to withdraw from Iraq there were 31 million material items remaining on military bases. As one article outlines: 100,000 vehicles, 120,000 containers, 34,000 tons of ammunition, 618 aircraft, 300,000 American personnel, 2.7 million candy bars,15,000 strips of beef jerky, 1.6 million cans of soda and330,696 CDs and DVDs.
Coinciding with this, are 4.7 million Iraqi citizens who have been displaced from their homes, many of whom have lost family members and lack the support of government-funded refugee programs. In addition, the psychological cost of war is clearly illustrated by the statistics on veteran suicide. Eighteen veterans of war kill themselves every day. This adds up to 6,500 suicides per year in the United States and is largely due to the diffi cult transition back into civilian life with many suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). Lastly, this moment in Iraq's history aligns well with a still greater crisis placed on humanity-that of increased climate change and the need for sustainable practices as Iraq rebuilds itself.
The combination of these transitions is the basis of the critical program that will be explored during this studio project. By viewing the combination of all of the circumstances outlined above as opportunities for positive change rather than negative results of impacts of war, a solution which benefits each group emerges. The solution takes the form of soldier-built refugee dwellings made from reused containerized housing units (CHUs). These units are adapted to accommodate the Iraqi refugees and the rich religious and cultural vernacular building forms found in their former homes.
Coinciding with this, are 4.7 million Iraqi citizens who have been displaced from their homes, many of whom have lost family members and lack the support of government-funded refugee programs. In addition, the psychological cost of war is clearly illustrated by the statistics on veteran suicide. Eighteen veterans of war kill themselves every day. This adds up to 6,500 suicides per year in the United States and is largely due to the diffi cult transition back into civilian life with many suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). Lastly, this moment in Iraq's history aligns well with a still greater crisis placed on humanity-that of increased climate change and the need for sustainable practices as Iraq rebuilds itself.
The combination of these transitions is the basis of the critical program that will be explored during this studio project. By viewing the combination of all of the circumstances outlined above as opportunities for positive change rather than negative results of impacts of war, a solution which benefits each group emerges. The solution takes the form of soldier-built refugee dwellings made from reused containerized housing units (CHUs). These units are adapted to accommodate the Iraqi refugees and the rich religious and cultural vernacular building forms found in their former homes.
Monday, October 11, 2010
The Peak Vernacular
This project explores a typology of building in the post-cheap-oil age in Phoenix, Arizona. A city born at the dawn of the industrial revolution, Phoenix is one of the most oil-dependant metropolitan areas in the nation and will be one of the hardest hit as the world transitions to a new energy regime. This new housing type will take the form of an autonomous house, with decentralized systems of energy and food production and water use. Learning from the ancient Hohokam people who inhabitated this area one thousand years ago, this dwelling is built with earth from the desert floor, utilizes passive systems of temperature control and ventilation, and connects occupants with the surrounding environment and their available resources.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Dubai's Dreams: Migrant Labor in the UAE
There are over 360,000 low-wage migrant construction laborers in Dubai.
In 2005, the government of Dubai officially reported the construction-related deaths of 39 foreign nationals. However, in that same year Construction Week magazine reported 460 deaths of construction laborers; the Indian Consulate in Dubai reported the deaths of 971 Indian citizens alone.
This project proposes a modest mourning and cremation facility straddling the border between the Al Muhaisnah labor camp and the expatriate cemetery which it surrounds. Inspired by Hindu funerary rituals which occur along the banks of the Ganges River, the project provides proper end-of-life rituals for the men who die in service to Dubai's dreams.
The question: Can the acts of cremation and disposal of remains memorialize people in a country that denies their very necessary existence?
In 2005, the government of Dubai officially reported the construction-related deaths of 39 foreign nationals. However, in that same year Construction Week magazine reported 460 deaths of construction laborers; the Indian Consulate in Dubai reported the deaths of 971 Indian citizens alone.
This project proposes a modest mourning and cremation facility straddling the border between the Al Muhaisnah labor camp and the expatriate cemetery which it surrounds. Inspired by Hindu funerary rituals which occur along the banks of the Ganges River, the project provides proper end-of-life rituals for the men who die in service to Dubai's dreams.
The question: Can the acts of cremation and disposal of remains memorialize people in a country that denies their very necessary existence?
FARM MIDWAY: Urban Agriculture as Urban Infrastructure
My thesis project explores the potential of urban agriculture as an essential element of urban infrastructure. After surveying a number of vacant sites in St. Paul's Midway I decided to design a 2-part system. The larger and more static entity, FARM MIDWAY, is a 16 acre urban farm comprised of 72 compost-heated aquaponic greenhouses. The smaller and more static side of the infrastructure system includes TUGUs (Temporary Urban Gardening Units) and TUGU support pavilions. The TUGU system leverages its mobility to take advantage of temporarily vacant lots and underutilized parking surfaces along University Avenue.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Concrete - Surface and Disturbance
The project began with an interest in the sense of time and process of making embedded in the material surface. This quality was brought to concrete through its reaction with baking soda and the resultant scarring. I began, then, to question how we relate to surface quality--how are we held and how are we moved--and how that relationship is affected by adjacent materials. The scar grounds us through its relationship with coarse earth. The scar moves us as its reflection is sent through glass.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Planning for Heritage Preservation
This class provides an introduction to heritage preservation planning at the local level in the United States. It begins by examining a series of related questions that are currently
subjects of active debate within the community of preservation scholars and practitioners. These questions include: What does it mean to "plan" for heritage preservation? Given the wide breadth of all that could be considered heritage--from buildings to landscapes to foodways--what are the appropriate subjects and contents of a preservation plan? Does preservation planning intersect with, and take into account, larger issues of city planning, and vice versa? How has the content and practice of preservation planning changed over time, and how might it (or should it) change in the future?
These questions are debated both before and throughout the execution of a hands-on,
community-based, case-study project. The class researches, recommends, and presents policies and programs to address the disposition of foreclosed and abandoned properties in Saint Paul's Dayton's Bluff historic district. Housing foreclosure is a growing nationwide epidemic that presents an especially unique challenge within a city-designated historic district. While other cities propose demolition of "blighted" vacant property, St. Paul should be a leader in the revitalization of historic and culturally significant properties. City-owned historic houses on East 4th Street are proposed as a pilot project to create best practices that can be replicated throughout the Twin Cities and beyond.
ForeclosureResponse_Part1_RFS.pdf
subjects of active debate within the community of preservation scholars and practitioners. These questions include: What does it mean to "plan" for heritage preservation? Given the wide breadth of all that could be considered heritage--from buildings to landscapes to foodways--what are the appropriate subjects and contents of a preservation plan? Does preservation planning intersect with, and take into account, larger issues of city planning, and vice versa? How has the content and practice of preservation planning changed over time, and how might it (or should it) change in the future?
These questions are debated both before and throughout the execution of a hands-on,
community-based, case-study project. The class researches, recommends, and presents policies and programs to address the disposition of foreclosed and abandoned properties in Saint Paul's Dayton's Bluff historic district. Housing foreclosure is a growing nationwide epidemic that presents an especially unique challenge within a city-designated historic district. While other cities propose demolition of "blighted" vacant property, St. Paul should be a leader in the revitalization of historic and culturally significant properties. City-owned historic houses on East 4th Street are proposed as a pilot project to create best practices that can be replicated throughout the Twin Cities and beyond.
ForeclosureResponse_Part1_RFS.pdf
Conservation Science Laboratory
Assistant Professor Greg Donofrio invited guest instructor, Andrew Fearon, Architectural Conservator with Milner+Carr Conservation, Philadelphia, to introduce future professionals in the field of architecture to the laboratory -investigation of historic building materials. Through examination and testing programs participants yielded both findings from actual historic buildings samples as well as a broader understanding of material aspects of the built environment. Interactive lectures on historic construction practices accompanied a series of hands-on labs and traditional building techniques encompassing wood, paint, and mortar. Students received a binder containing core reference materials for each lab.
Economics of Historic Preservation
This introductory course provides, through readings and lectures, an overview of the theory and practice of heritage preservation-based community redevelopment and economics. Students learn about financial aspects of real estate development (including economic incentives and constraints) by developing case studies of recent historic rehabilitation projects throughout Minnesota in which they examine details such as financial feasibility and compliance with design guidelines and other regulatory aspects often encountered in the adaptive reuse of historic properties. They also consider financial incentives available in other states in an effort to understand how new policies in Minnesota might positively influence preservation activity.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Skateboard Park - Twisted Landscape
Adjacent to the existing site of this hybrid skateboard park / after school learning center are several transportation arteries, including a multi-lane parkway, minor surface roads, a light rail line, sidewalks, and a dedicated bike path. This scheme endeavors to subsidize the cost of the park by twisting the site's horizontal surface to the vertical position where it can be used as a billboard for paid advertising as well as a vertical skateboard ramp. The orientation of surface maximizes its exposure to the existing transportation arteries.
Skateboard Park - Interchange
This skateboard park scheme evolved from an examination of the highway interchange as a precedent study. Based on narrative user scenarios, the building's organization captures primary and secondary flow patterns of the existing site as well as anticipated new user patterns. It weaves these flow patterns together, sectionally, with the dynamic programmatic requirements of a skateboard park.
Skateboard Park - Woven Path
During the first half of this project, we focsed on developing a clear conceptual strategy for laying out the skatepark on the site and how program was the driver for decision-making. I arranged program around a weaving path and it became a push-pull system. Exterior programs are pushed into the earth allowing for sectional variation. The architecture emerges where the exterior programs end.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Bell Museum Water Design - Qualitative and Quantitative
This project took the existing Thorbeck design for the proposed new Bell Museum and re-envisioned it with an emphasis on water. Runoff, greywater reuse, rainwater harvesting, and museum exhibit design all played into our approach to treating stormwater on site, making it a visible part of the building's interior and educating visitors on the role on water in our lives. The ways water affects the natural world of Minnesota, from orchids to owls, are also highlighted in exhibit designs that capture the imagination and remind us of everything's need for water and the responsibility of humans to use care for this resource.
Project done in collaboration with Marcelo Sanchez and Josh Bowens-Rubin
Project done in collaboration with Marcelo Sanchez and Josh Bowens-Rubin
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Pre-Fab Housing Factory
Programmatically the factory spaces are divided into two - the factory floor recedes into the terrain to minimize its presence to the adjacent residential neighborhood, while the administrative offices extend into a narrow tower running parallel to the adjacent highway. The façade of the tower is a series of vertical slats of varying depth that simultaneously buffer the tower from the activity of the highway and expose narrow views into the building as the vehicle passenger's viewpoint changes. Pedestrian paths slice through the factory connecting the city across the narrow industrialized site.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Manufacturing Density
My prefab housing factory design responds to a scenario in which Minneapolis institutes an urban growth boundary, creating the financial incentive for existing suburbs to develop. The factory I designed specializes in producing modular homes for suburban sites. The facility also includes a research center dedicated to the study of suburban densification.
The dialog between research center and factory developed into a question of how to integrate industrial and human scaled spaces into one building. Structural and material choices, and topographic manipulation were intended to clarify the relationship of each type of space to the other as well as to the surrounding site.
The dialog between research center and factory developed into a question of how to integrate industrial and human scaled spaces into one building. Structural and material choices, and topographic manipulation were intended to clarify the relationship of each type of space to the other as well as to the surrounding site.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Pre-fab Manufacturing Facility
We started the semester with an industrial forensics investigation, which shaped my approach to designing industrial facilities. In looking for anomalies in existing architecture, the evidence of adaptation clearly demonstrated that production facilities have evolving needs as technologies and products change. This indicated that the most successful industrial facilities are those that are durable and flexible. The site was located on a long narrow stretch of land just west of downtown Minneapolis boarded on the east by 394 and the greenway bike path and on the west by railroad tracks and the Bryn Mawr neighborhood park.
The program included the design and production of pre-fab houses. The design of the facility therefore evolved through a process of understanding the program needs driven by a desire to create relational spaces that would allow the two primary streams, immaterial design ideas and material product, to blend together in the production spaces. An added programmatic desire was to create a facility that offers an opportunity to educate clients on the benefits of pre-fab. The concept being that if an average home consumer can observe and be immersed in the development and production of pre-fab homes, they will understand the added value of smart design, controlled production, and the opportunity for customization.
The program included the design and production of pre-fab houses. The design of the facility therefore evolved through a process of understanding the program needs driven by a desire to create relational spaces that would allow the two primary streams, immaterial design ideas and material product, to blend together in the production spaces. An added programmatic desire was to create a facility that offers an opportunity to educate clients on the benefits of pre-fab. The concept being that if an average home consumer can observe and be immersed in the development and production of pre-fab homes, they will understand the added value of smart design, controlled production, and the opportunity for customization.
Friday, April 23, 2010
The Idea Factory Revisited
For ARCH 8254, Active Envelopes, I chose to develop The Idea Factory further. The design process relied heavily on Ecotect to optimize placement of the display vitrines as well as the design of a polycarbonate double-skin facade; both the facade and the vitrines include sealing vents. The system capitalizes on Minnesota's wide temperature range by venting heated air during the summer while capturing solar gains in cooler months. The clear facade provides significant daylighting advantages while also making a strong formal statement.
The Idea Factory
The Idea Factory is an 85,000sf research and production facility for prefab housing. Inspired by its proximity to The Walker Arts Center and two technical colleges, The Idea Factory seeks to merge industrial production with academic building research. Sited on a narrow brownfield area between the Bryn Mawr neighborhood and downtown Minneapolis, The Idea Factory includes an extensive green roof which re-establishes the surface continuity that was destroyed by the construction of Interstate Highway 394. A series large-scale display vitrines pierce this roof, allowing the public to view the factory floor below.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Molecular Cellular Biology Energy Analysis
Half of the researchers we interviewed stated that the lack of a centralized vacuum system was an obstacle to their ability to work in MCB. According to the interviews, centrally run and maintained vacuum lines are standard equipment in laboratories.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
User Operated Daylight Control
Seth Tep and Laurie McGinley designed apertures and user controls to distribute daylight through a sun collection and duct system designed by 3M. Tep and McGinley's solution integrates user control into a light plenum that allows users to adjust task lighting on desk surfaces. Operable apertures allow light to be focused on group pin up spaces, individual desks or circulation areas.
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