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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.