Architecture Portfolio

Architecture Portfolio

Samuel Carl BS Architecture 2014 10samcarl@gmail.com

The Big Picture I have done a lot of travelling around the country to parks and reservations. I feel that I have a unique, firsthand and intimate connection with the natural world. The architectural environment refers to more than just the context of a structure. All architecture becomes part of the global ecosystem, both urban and natural, and part of our own worldview. As Architects, we are responsible for more than just building things. Good architecture does not simply condone its environment, it harmonizes with it. For the first time in the history of architecture, designers have the planet in mind when they go to the drawing boards. This is the type of responsible and effective design we need in order to preserve things like this view down Tooth of Time Ridge in Cimarron, NM.

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Clifton Center Literary

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Community Service Project

As part of earning the rank Eagle Scout, I planned, organized, raised funds, and constructed a wigwam for YMCA Camp Kern.

These structures were used by Native American peoples who once inhabited southern Ohio as dwellings and community spaces. I was in charge of very aspect of the project from conception to completion. With the help of my volunteers, we completed the construction in four days. Camp Kern now uses this wigwam as part of their educational programs.

Clifton Literary Center

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In literature, ideas manifest themselves in books and in the minds of authors and readers. As a space where ideas are concieved and celebrated, the building itself begins to take on the form of bookstacks. The courtyard reading area sits in the rift between the two sections of the building. Like the opening of a book, patrons step through the passageway and into the literature itself.

9 A Computer Graphic Institute planned for the corner of Race Street and 5th Street uses pure tectonic elements as the design factors. This highly conceptual design organizes the elements of mass, plane, and frame in a hierarchal order based on the building program. The most transient portion of the layout, the thoroughfare, is knit together with a rythmic frame that wraps under the feet, up the walls and overhead.

The next space in the sequence is divided into subspaces by planes that run across. The most removed and most private areas, the labs, are housed inside of massive units that “dock� into the side of the construct.

Grailville Artist’s Community Grailville is a retreat located near Loveland, Ohio. It is operated by The Grail, and international movement for womens’ freedom through expression, spirituality, and ecology. This commission is for an artist’s retreat that would be built in one of Grailville’s unprogrammed meadows. There are amenities for seven artists, including seven small shelters for living, seven workshop buildings, and one large commons pavilion.

As Grailville represents ecological sustainability, this project must be completely off the grid, and have minimal environmental impact. The buildings have rainwater collection and storage equipment, and utilize natural sources and efficient design techniques for heating and cooling. They are low-profile, and designed to be built with mostly local materials, and without use of large equipment.

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Spring 2012 Co-op I worked full time in the the DAAP wood shop as a co-op during spring term 2012. During my time there, I learned much about crafting and problem solving by getting hands-on experience and exposure to other professors working on projects. Some specific projects included documenting and researching to create a Router table handbook (right), rearranging the shop equipment to maximize workspace in a Space planning project, requiring an understanding of equipment clearances a n d h u m a n s p a c e ( b o t to m ) , a n d c r a f t i n g t a b l e s and bars out of welded steel bar stock and reclaimed lumber for Maribelle’s Tavern in Oakley (facing page).

Basic Safety & Shop Protocol With hundreds of different bits available and countless ways to configure the setup, our table router is one of the most versatile pieces of equipment in our workshop. Utilizing this machine will unlock new possibilites for your craftsmanship, but learning to respect it is imperative. After some safety reminders, this guide will explain a few of the most commonly used configurations.

You must complete a specialized certification test before you will be permitted to use the router. Each time you want to use the machine, you will need to get a supervisor to unlock the plug. When you are finished working, lockout the plug by putting the lock back on the end so that somebody who has not been certified cannot use the machine. Whenever you need to change a bit or adjust the bit height, always unplug the machine first. That way it is impossible for the router to be accidentally bumped on while you are working near the bit.

Examples of an unsafe way (left) and safe way (right) to rout small pieces

Trying to control small pieces is the most common cause of lost fingers on the router.

If you need to make small parts with a routed edge, there is a better way to do it than trying to rout tiny pieces that you will undoubtedly lose control of against a bit that spins at 20,000 rpm. Use a featherboard instead of your fingers to press the stock against the fence. Rout a long piece of your material first, then cut to the size you need on a miter saw or band saw.

Guide Bearing Bits These bits have a stud on top of the cutter with a wheel bearing fitted to it.

These can be used to make freehand cuts around a profile. Rather than using a straight fence as a control surface, the bearing rests Three Different sized Other types of guide bearagainst the profile of your rounding over bits ing bits. From left to right: workpiece and keeps it in cove bit, flush-trim bit, and consistent contact with the a rabbeting bit. cutters. Guide bearing bits are some of the most versaRounding over bit: the beartile because you have coming guides the plete freedom freedom over profile of the where your workpiece goes. stock through Using a guide bearing bit the cut. allows you to make a cut on any side of the bit and with any unique curve, however it is very important to keep in mind the direction of the bit rotation. You always want to feed your material against the bit rotation to get the most effecient cut, and to prevent loss of control of your workpiece. Our router tables have the direction of rotation clearly marked on the router’s throat plate.

Always feed the stock against the direction of rotation for a smooth, easy, and safe cut.

Rabbeting Setup Always feed into the direction of rotation

After loosening the lever, pressure applied upward while raising or lowering the bit will keep the threads from crossing and the mechanism from getting stuck.

For making rabbeted joints, the two halves of the fence can be pushed aside to allow the bit to sit inside the control plane. The width of the groove can be changed by moving the fence forward or backward, and the depth by adjusting the bit height on the router itself. To do this, first loosen the lock lever, then turn the knob below it while applying upward pressure on the other side of the router.

Using a miter gauge can give you even more control of your workpiece as you push it over the cutter. The gauge gives you a secondary control surface (the first being the fence) to keep your piece straight on both sides. While holding your piece in the setup, concentrate on applying the pressure not in just one direction, but back into the corner where the miter gauge and fence meet. Otherwise your piece could either drift out of the cut, or get the first corner stuck in the gap in the fence right after you A miter gauge will give you better constart your cut. trol of smaller pieces, and using a backer board will help prevent tearout

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With the help of another peer, I built four tables and three bars for Maribelle’s Tavern in Oakley. The tops are made from all types of reclaimed wood, including everything from red oak and walnut to cedar and white pine to plywood, OSB and masonite. The frames are welded steel bar stock. These tables fit in with the restaurant’s downto-earth decor and atmosphere.

I worked as an assistant to the Associate Dean of Architecture. I undertook two major projects during my term. For roughly the first half, I was helping him with a presentation he was giving as part of a case study of the Aronoff building and Surface Architecture. This happened at a time when the building was undergoing an extensive exterior renovation, so my specific responsibilities were documentation, research, and the creation of a detailed and complex parametric model of the building.

Later, I shifted focus to the design and ultimately the construction of a permanent installation in the school’s computer lab.

Autumn 2012 Co-op

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The DAAP Computer Graphics Center (CGC) wanted to reconsider thier programming to better serve student needs. The school decided to use a pre-existing half wall to divide the space into a 24-hour lab and a meeting/collaboration workspace that could be locked after staff leaves. A partition needed to be built that was secure, but that allowed air to pass from the space on one side to the return vent on the other. The design that was built was based on a parametric model using Universal Prodect Code 128 calculators to display different characters. This form is generated from the phrase “I Design, Therefore I Am,� a comment on the culture and lifestyle of design school and students. The series of 3 images in the upper right show earlier iterations of different partitioning techniques.

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Samuel Carl | Universtiy of Cincinnati