Graduate Portfolio_Alexander Hokkanen

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ALEXANDER AL L E XA J HOKKANEN N DESIGN PORTFOLIO PO O 2012-2017 Ë KNQHC@

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VETERANS AFFAIRS HOSPITAL RENOVATION

DETROIT_POCKET NEIGHBORHOODS

PT GYM

CONF.

OFFICE

A BEAUTIFUL HOME COMPETITION

A PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY PART TWO

A PRESIDENTIAL ELEVATOR PART ONE

HEATH CERAMICS SHOWROOM & FACTORY

LOUNGE

DETROIT GRAND MOSQUE AND MEDINA

UNIVERSITY DISTRICT ARTS CENTER

ARCHITECTURAL REPRESENTATION

BRIDGET RILEY CENTER FOR THE ARTS

CULINARY ARTS INCUBATOR

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A TIME AFTER; A TIME BEFORE

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DETROIT_POCKET NEIGHBORHOODS systems studio detroit, mi fall 2016 professor kit mccullough In the last several decades Detroit has undergone radical shifts in population size, density, and distribution. In a directed studio and in partnership with the cityĘźs Planning and Development Department students set about strategically redensifying one of eight areas of interest defined by the city leadership.

The economic conditions are such that large scale developers are uninterested in the majority of the city. The bottom line, rents per square foot, do not yield sufficient profit in areas like the University District and Martin Park neighborhoods. The studio works to empower residents through existing community organizations like the Live 6 Alliance to become investors in their neighborhood.

Small scale typologies like the Pocket House, Accessory Dwelling Units, and Carriage Houses offer homeowners a revenue stream.

With densification comes much needed services like transit, quality grocery options, and other supporting businesses. Due to the siteĘźs location, just south of the University of Detroit Mercy, it has the potential to become a student ghetto or a series of residential towers.

Using existing property lines as the basis for the typological zoning proposal we intend this design proposal to result in improved economic prospects for a homeowners and a higher quality of housing stock for generations to come.

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Above: Light penetration was a challenge that due to existing property lines needed to be solved in section creating dramatically lit interiors on both floors Below: Illustrated site plan call out that shows how the entire width of the block is utilized and results in a higher density than blocks with multi-family buildings

townhouse (family or student)

townhouse backyard

In section pocket neighborhoods take on both an outward facing(townhouse typology) and inward facing(cottage/pocket houses) charachter. This design layout fully utilizes currently empty blocks.

cottage

community greenspace

cottage

Rather than a traditional alley the center of the block is dominated by a linear pocket park linking cottage residents with their parking to the south and offers a semiprivate or communal green space.

VETERANS AFFAIRS HOSPITAL RENOVATION health design elective ann arbor, mi fall 2016 professor jean wineman collaborated with: jake gondek, basem shaar, rebecca curtis, and nada elsonni In an effort to update their facilities the VA Hospital in Ann Arbor partnered with professor Jean Wineman and Taubman college to provide conceptual/schematic design proposals for an eventual expansion. The class was assigned the Community Living Center(CLC) unit which is situated in the lower level of one of the oldest areas of the hospital.

Existing Va

Programmatically, the CLC primarily provides rehabilitation care for veterans transitioning out of an acute care setting but are not yet ready to return home. As the building currently stands there are few private rooms (an industry and design standard), a deficiency in storage and physician work space, and a lack of occupational and physical therapy services close to the veterans. In addition to rehabilitative services the VA is committed to providing quality care throughout a veterans life. In doing so the CLC can accommodate five end-of-life or hospice care beds on the unit.

In addition to in-depth interviews with current patients, staff and physicians scholarly research was conducted on the current trends in health design. The course culminated with a design presentation to the Ann Arbor VA Hospital Executive Team that outlined how the renovation accommodated on two floors: 40 private beds, a new physician suite, a practice apartment, OT/PT gym, rehabilitation garden, sun-filled communal spaces, a new day lit staff lounge, and greater doctor-patient privacy with consultation rooms.

Existing Clc Paved Walkways Landscape

GROUND LEVEL

SECOND LEVEL

LOUNGE

PT/OT OFFICE

se 1)

PT GYM Open to Below (CLC COURTYARD) Clinical Zone

Clinical Zone

APT.

Patient Zone

Patient Zone

CONF. Hygiene Zone mi Zone Family

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OFFICE Stairs Access Staff Lounge on CLC

STAFF ROOF GARDEN

HEATH CERAMICS SHOWROOM & FACTORY materials studio northeast minneapolis fall 2013 professors dan clark and martha mcquade The Heath Ceramics Showroom and Factory are the result of weeks of material experimentation beginning with wood boxes and concluding with cast concrete forms and truss systems. The plan consists of two rings, the outer ring runs the entire perimeter and serves as a gallery for local artists. The interior void that the gallery encloses is the main showroom floor where the salable product is displayed. Upon entering, the client is confronted with a choice: left or right. Choosing the left path will immerse the visitor in the gallery program first, forgoing the showroom floor for an artistic experience on the periphery. If, however, this visitor needs to make his or her purchases first, the right path is more desirable as it almost immediately brings them to the showroom floor.

Utilizing the Vierendeel Truss in the factory, I designed my response to the factory program to have two levels. On grade with the existing showroom, the space is divided into thirds to mirror the pottery production process of preparation, firing, and finishing. The “walls� of the factory floor are programmed with storage and mechanical spaces, which are deep enough to support a second floor within the web of the truss system. The truss system allowed for large floor to ceiling insulated glazing that lights the factory floor during the work day minimizing power consumption.

Tectonic drawing depicting how the showroom space is created by concrete clad in a light wrapper of glazing

Material study exploring truss systems as a continuous ceiling plane

Interior view into the ceramics firing facility from the showroom that emphasizes daylighting

Street view of the both the factory and the showroom on the far corner. The extensive use of concrete ties both buildings together as related

A PRESIDENTIAL ELEVATOR: PART ONE institutions studio lake michigan (chicago, il) fall 2015 professor steven mankouche The year is 2095 and the project began by President Clinton 71 years ago is nearing completion In her last year in office Clinton issued an executive Order prohibiting the construction of future Presidential Libraries as monuments to individual egos. Instead with the $500,000,000 she raised for her library she funded the research and design to build a new monuments not to herself but to every generation that followed. A monument to confront issues of Climate Change, Natural Resource Depletion, Poverty, and Social Justice.

Pushing boundaries and breaking ceilings were hallmarks of her administration, the Millennium Gate project was no exception. The Millennium Gate is to become a multi-disciplinary research center where archival and production of knowledge coexist seamlessly, a museum to display and maintain the artifacts from every following President and lastly an international astronautical port. With these programs all future presidents will be investing in a more just and sustainable world.

This project was a part of the exploratory design phase, the next spreads detail the design for a earth-based Obama Presidential Library.

Concourse & Flight Deck

Tower Reception Level

CONCOURSE PLAN 1/64” = 1’-0”

RECEPTION PLAN 1/64” = 1’-0”

Interactive Gallery

Research Modules

Passenger Elevators (Reception to Concourse)

Library Computer Access and Retrieval System(LCARS)

Cargo Elevator

Restaurant Cafe

Administration

Research Modules

Interactive Gallery Passenger Elevators (Reception to Concourse)

Cargo Elevator Auditorium

Artifact Gallery

Air Lock

Exit Gallery / Shop DOCK PLAN 1/64” = 1’-0” East Dock

Cargo Warehouse

Loading/Payload Prep

West Dock South Dock

Top Left: 9 miles above the surface of Lake Michigan the main library and event spaces circle the port cargo elevator.

Top Right: Well into the upper atmosphere the spaceport functions as a jumping off point between the Earthʼs surface and the rest of the solar system Right: Water level dock plan. Ships dock here to bring cargo and supplies to the flight deck Opposite: The elevator stretches upward behind the Chicago Skyline.

A PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY: PART TWO institutions studio chicago, il fall 2015 professor steven mankouche The second project in my first graduate studio was to design a presidential library. The site, now on dry land, occupies the former campus of Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, IL. This site, empty for several years, was considered for the Olympic Village when Chicago made a bid in 2014 and was overlooked again in 2015 as a potential site for the Obama Library. The hospital grounds were contaminated by both lead and mercury over its lifetime and thus became difficult to develop.

I proposed a 5 year plan to reclaim the site while experimenting with bioremediation and renewable energy y production on a building scale. The site features urban agriculture fed by a tilapia pond. The building itself will not be complete until year four and even after construction it will continue a legacy of regeneration and reinvestment.

YEAR 0

YEAR 1 BIOREMEDIATION BEGINS

YEAR 3 FOUNDATIONS EXCAVATED AND AQUAPONICS IS INTRODUCED TO THE SITE

YEAR 4 PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY IS CONSTRUCTED INTERIOR FOOD AND ENERGY PRODUCTION

YEAR 5+ THE BUILDING WILL CONTINUE TO REMEDIATE THE SITE

Lower level event space. The Cherry Tree and fountains are fed by the exterior tilapia pond

Grow Beds Patio Butterfly Garden

Classroom

ROOF PLAN

Administrative Suite

Entry Hall

ENTRY LEVEL

Pantry Kitchens Aquaponics Fountain

Tilapia Gallery

Dining & Auditorium

Tilapia Pond

LOWER LEVEL

Main Event Space & Gallery

The section cuts through the grow beds that produce food for the restaurant within. The Tilapia pond acts as a solar heat collector and stabilizes the internal temperature year round. All the plants grown on site are fertilized by the water pumped throughout the building and grounds.

A BEAUTIFUL HOME COMPETITION competition entry london, england fall 2015 collaborated with: jason cluth This competition was done remotely, my collaborator worked from Minneapolis while I worked from Ann Arbor, Michigan. The program called for a “Beautiful House and was open to architects and artists.

The site is an abandoned golf course outside of London, England.

We began with formal diagrams divided the “working” programs from the “living” spaces. This building serves as a full time residence for a five person family including one wheelchair bound child. The smaller East Wing provides the parents with a conference room, a library and two private offices. Unlike many home offices the client wanted spaces to meet with clients on site.

The building is canted to increase the southern exposure in the first and second floor living areas. The space between the two masses became a formal garden-patio that winds itself down to the boardwalk at the waters edge.

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N Formal Evolution Diagrams

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

Childrenʼs Playroom

Apartment- Live in assistance Offices- One for each parent Library Conference Room Private Balcony Formal Dining Formal Sitting Room (Entryway) Informal Living Room Fully Accessible Spaces- Adult in wheelchair Three Childrenʼs Bedrooms Pool Home Theater Two Car Garage- Workspace Outdoor Garden- Site/View Oriented

Bed Master Suite

Open to Below

Mezzanine Childrenʼs Rooms Office

SECOND LEVEL

Office Library

Patio & Garden

Pool Kitchen

Sitting Room Dining Pantry

Theater

Business Entry & Conference Room

ENTRY LEVEL

Apartment

Garage Bed

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The program called for a large area to be dedicated to a home office suite highlighted in blue above and in formal diagrams

LOWER LEVEL

SOUTH ELEVATION

NORTH ELEVATION

CULINARY ARTS INCUBATOR program studio northeast minneapolis spring 2014 professor matt byers Locally grown, locally organized and internationally inspired, the Culinary Arts Incubator project brings the community y of northeast Minneapolis together with local culinary talent to participate in the art that is food education, preparation and consumption. The form was originally much like that of an Italian palazzo which then evolved into a villa in itĘźs relationship to the site, agricultural capability and emphasis on progression through the landscape and the building. This project includes several food production zones; in the winter, the Seasonal Courtyard is sealed and becomes a green house, doubling as an indoor respite from the chilling winters. The subterranean Living Pantry y is equipped with a living wall from which to harvest root vegetables in all seasons.

The Architectural Promenade runs in parallel with the food production process, which I posit is used to learn, experiment, and consume. The entry spaces are a combined mercantile and a reconfigurable lobby space. Visitors are then forced below grade to learn in a traditional library filled with reference material as well as the Living Pantry. From here the visitor ascends into the commercial grade kitchen or continues to the Great Hall. While the Great Hall provides a grand gathering space to enjoy a meal or attend an event guests are urged forward, this time up into a cantilevered Lounge offering a place to relax and enjoy stunning views of downtown Minneapolis and community members tending to their garden plots.

Culinary Arts Seasonal Courtyard becomes a greenhouse in the winter months

Observation Lounge overlooks the community park and gardens

Kitchens serve the great hall and community events, the intensive green roof produces food throughout the summer growing season

After the Mercantile visitors are directed underground to the Library and Living Pantry

SOUTH ELEVATION

BRIDGET RILEY CENTER FOR THE ARTS Sculpture Courtyard

summer studio ann arbor, mi summer 2015 professor joel schmidt This museum and art center is dedicated to the work of British Op Artist Bridget Riley. The museum is nestled into a dense urban site in Downtown Ann Arbor with an alley and theater on the north side and a clothing retailer to the south. It has significant exposure as it has frontage on the T-intersection of South State Street and East Liberty Street.

Throughout the design process my priorities were maximizing daylighting, especially from the north for studio spaces and reducing glare, equity of experience, and a freedom to choose ones own path through the galleries.

The first floor is host to a small cafe, ticketing, restrooms and the largest interior gallery. In order to maximize daylight penetration in the building a small courtyard is nestled along the north site boundary. A green trellis encloses this space that serves the museum as a fair-weather sculpture garden.

The second floor patio looks back on the vibrant street life below and stretching west down Liberty Street. It is also home to the curatorĘźs office and an artist-in-residence studio as well as the remaining two gallery spaces.

Gallery 2

Cafe

Gallery 1

LEVEL 1

Covered Patio

Artist in Residence & Curatorial Office

Event Space

Gallery 4

Gallery 3

LEVEL 2

SECIFFO ROTARUC

ECARRET POTFOOR

YRELLAG ECNEDISER NI TSITRA OIDUTS

STEKCIT/POHS YBBOL EFAC

SECTION

YRELLAG

YRELLAG

West facade and lobby entry. A store front look was adopted from the adjacent structures and the circular motif was used heavily in RileyĘźs work

ARCHITECTURAL REPRESENTATION design methods ann arbor, mi winter 2016 professor perry kulper The goal of Architectural Representation is to discover new ways of working and developing digital skills to explore formal possibilities.

Design exercises tend to start with precedent studies but in the first project our precedents became our design. Selective appropriation as a way of working was used regularly throughout the semester to consider new relationships between plan fragments drawn by authors separated in space and time.

Continuing working with appropriation as a technique in the final project while integrating layering narrative themes within the drawing. The work is situated within a site which became the image of an antarctic glacier. The artifact is a lost image from one of the early aerial expeditions conducted over the seventh continent.

Richard E. Byrd was flying over an isolated glacier and took a picture of the unexpected scene below. He found what appeared to be a building long abandoned but still maintained by machines.

In the upper left corner is an ice core sample which is sitting on top of the photograph, hence the melting, contains evidence of an advanced civilization. When the team returned no trace of the building remained.

Promiscuous Diptych Plans- Temple of Amun-Ra, Saynatsalo Town Hall, Kyoto Home, and the Barcelona Pavilion

A lost photograph rediscovered recently contains evidence of an antarctic civilization originally discovered by explorers in 1928

UNIVERSITY DISTRICT ARTS CENTER site studio university of minnesota tc campus fall 2014 professor mary guzowski Intrigued by the potential of an underutilized urban/campus green space and a twenty foot elevation change along the northern edge of my site I began designing with human connection and ecological practices in mind. As a community centered building I felt it should have, at its core, a space where people can gather, events can be held or impromptu workshops can be taught. The intertwining histories of Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota, and industry are imprinted on the site. To make this invisible site force visible I included a grand stair programmed as a museum piece, informing visitors of what has come before as they descend to the theater.

Aerial view of the west aspect at 1/16” scale

The original site was a poorly kept patch of turf grass crisscrossed with student-made paths. In my site plan I suggest replacing the turf grass with native grasses and formalizing the existing paths with reclaimed lumber, the goal being to augment the existing, albeit sparse, ecological capital present in the siteʼs largely urban context. The site does not end at the buildingʼs footprint. Rather, the core design intention was to directly inhabit the site by lifting the surface and programming the interstitial space thereby preserving the siteʼs ecological continuity. The roof doubles as an amenity space for visitors and an extension of the greenway.

Ashlar sandstone makes up much of the Greenway facade

Lower level interior view from courtyard

Highlights reclaimed brick and daylighting conditions

Conceptual diagrams illustrating my approach to the site. With the project abutting a greenway I felt it was important to maintain a level of ecological continuity even after the building was constructed

SECTION A

Ceramics Studio

Administration

Multipurpose Courtyard

Backstage Storage

SECTION B

Open to Below

Mechanical

Black Box Theater

GREENWAY LEVEL

Studio Space

Cafe

Gallery 1

Patio

Classroom Dance Studio

UNIVERSITY LEVEL

Student Gallery

Information

DETROIT GRAND MOSQUE AND MEDINA propositions studio detroit, michigan winter 2016 professor doug kelbaugh collaborated with: jamilla afandi, shawn lettow, nick warnet, andrew stewart, and wesley wu DETROIT

Americans in the Unites States. In an effort to bring Muslims back to the city the mayor of Detroit, leaders of an Islamic congregation, and several developers were interested in exploring the possibility of building a new center for Islamic life for the region within the city boundaries. This project is not to be a walled enclave, quite the opposite in fact.

To the north end of our 30 acre site we have designed a new type of shopping experience based on the middle eastern “Souk,” perhaps the only one in the western world. The middle portion of the site contains the Mosque complex which includes the prayer hall capable of serving over 2000 people, an Islamic seminary, the Imamʼs residence and a banquet hall. The most southern end of the site holds the recreation facilities and a public park.

Due to the nature of the site, this studio focused heavily on urban planning and design. Costs to develop the site in itʼs entirety would be too great for the client. We have proposed three phases of development that then could be broken down further as needed: the Souk, the commercial heart of the project, the Mosque Complex, the spiritual center, and lastly the Recreation Center, which will serve as a regional destination for outdoor soccer.

DEARBORN

Not to Scale

Medina Gardens

DETROIT DEARBORN

Islamic Center of America

Site Orientation: Site plan produced by the Minarets(Clayton Witt)

Mosque_Souk Entry: Rendering produced by Nicholas Warnet

Eid Plaza Elevation: Restaurant(ground floor) and Bookstore(second floor)

Community-Facing Elevations: Senior Housing and Mid-Rise Residential in the Souk

Rendered Site Plan: (Shawn Lettow)

Drive-By Renders: (Nicholas Warnet)

A TIME AFTER; A TIME BEFORE thesis studio charleston, sc circa 2017 c.e.

2016-2017 professor michael jefferson The year is now 3558, since our time of study sea level has risen sixty meters, sea ice has largely become extinct and the American coast has been radically changed in form. The coastal habitation paradigm has shifted over the last 1,541 years from a permanent urban condition to and evolving programmatic palimpsest.

The year 2017 C.E. has come under intense scrutiny by todays archaeological community as it has been identified as the tipping point in dealing with the realities of changed coastal climatic condition. As sea levels rose our distant ancestors began to build cities that changed, the first attempts at this can be traced to the ancient port city of Charleston. The Great American Debris Field has been formed gradually over the last millennium.

CharlestonĘźs coastal housing stock is in danger from rising sea levels and increased storm frequency. This thesis is exploring how a new strain of housing can be introduced into the urban fabric that evolves with the changing coastal condition. New material paradigms will facilitate the transition from housing to a productive post-human landscape.

T H E G R E AT A M E R I C A N D E B R I S F I E L D

Charleston Savannah Jacksonville New Orleans Miami

A TR AI L OF CI T I E S

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TAB L E O F CON T E N T S

ARCHITECTURAL INTEGRITY

ARCHITECTURAL DECAY

ARCHITECTURAL TRANSFORMATION

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ARTIFACT RESURGENCE

THANK YOU!

Alexander J. Hokkanen

1630 Cram Circle, Apt. 16, Ann Arbor, MI 48105 I Hokkanen@umich.edu I 763.234.1962 I https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-hokkanen-29519462/

E D U C AT I O N

University of Michigan Taubman College Master of Architecture Cumulative GPA: 3.56/4.00 Brazil: Rio+Detroit

University of Michigan Spring Term

Ann Arbor, MI Expected Graduation May 2017 Detroit MI; Rio-São Paulo, Brazil

May-June 2017

Eastern Europe: Bizarre Bazaar

Ukraine; Poland

University of Michigan Spring Term

May-June 2016

University of Minnesota College of Design Bachelor of Science in Architecture Minor: Sustainability Studies Cumulative GPA: 3.64/4.00 Dean’s List: Six Semesters CEA Global Campus

“Architecture in Florence”: University of Minnesota May Term

EXPERIENCE

Boston, MA

Taubman College Externship Program

February 27-March 2016

Graduate Student Instructor: Architecture History II

Ann Arbor, MI

Taubman College

January 2017-Present

Editorial Curator: Detroit Grand Mosque and Medina Project

Ann Arbor, MI

Taubman College and the Dearborn Islamic Center of America

April-August 2016

Research Assistant to the Associate Dean

Ann Arbor, MI

Taubman College Dean’s Office

July 2015-January 2017

Student Intern: Michigan Medicine Facilities Planning & Development Teaching Assistant/Assistant Program Leader Abroad

Courses: “Design in England and Scotland”, “GMOs in Europe & the US”

ACTIVITIES

SKILLS

Community Living Center Redesign: Veterans Affairs Hospital Sustainability Advocate Coordinator American Institute of Architecture Students: Member

Florence, Italy May-June 2013

Student Intern: Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates

Taubman College Externsip Program

Minneapolis, MN May 2015

Ann Arbor, MI

February 29-March 2016

UK; Germany; Switzerland October 2013-May 2015

September-December 2016 September 2012-May 2015 September 2012-May 2015

Proficient: Adobe Creative Suite, AutoCad, Microsoft Office Suite, Public Speaking, Int’l Travel Experienced: Rhinoceros, SketchUp, Revit, Model Building Learning: Polish(Beginner Level), Portuguese (Beginner Level)