Ash King - Undergraduate Architecture Portfolio

ASH KING

Undergraduate Architecture Portfolio

1. RESTORING COMMUNITY AND ENVIRONMENT

+ Ecological Master Plan and Urban Housing

ARCH 3017 : Architecture Studio 5

George Johnston - george.johnston@design.gatech.edu

Academic Project

2. BUILT CONNECTIONS AND ATLANTA DIASPORA

+ Activist Center and Center for Knowledge Exchange

ARCH 3016 : Architecture Studio 4

Elisa Dainese - elisa.dainese@design.gatech.edu Academic Project

3. BENCH (FABRIC)ATION

+ Furniture Study of Materials/Fabrications

ARCH 4016 : Architecture Studio 6

Christopher Simon - chris.simon@design.gatech.edu Team with Anna Wiles and Marcy Villatoro Academic Project

5. INTERIOR D’ILLA

+ Investigation into the Barcelona Eixample

ARCH 4017 : Architecture Studio 7

Mark Cottle - mark.cottle@design.gatech.edu Academic Project

4. FINDING SOLACE

+ Wellness Retreat at Sweetwater Creek Ruins

ARCH 2017 : Architecture Studio 3

Julie Kim - julie.kim@design.gatech.edu Academic Project

6. JEINIMENI NATIONAL RESERVE GIS MAPPING

+ VIP Patagonia

VIP 3601

Paula Gomez - pagz3@gatech.edu Team with Mehdi Harley and Madison Richardson Academic Project

7. MODIFIED WALKWAYS

+ Landscaped Viewing Paths

ARCH 2017 : Architecture Studio 3

Julie Kim - julie.kim@design.gatech.edu Academic Project

8. PERSONAL WORKS

+ Works from 2019 - 2022

Oil Paint, Oil Pastels, Graphite

Restoring Community and Environment

Ecological Master Plan and Urban Housing | Decatur, Georgia | Spring 2022

ARCH 3017 : Architecture Studio 5

George Johnston - george.johnston@design.gatech.edu

This studio explores the physics and metaphysics of water as an essential generative consideration for urban dwellings. It attempts to answer how communities can rethink wasteful habits of intensive water use by designing sustainable and regenerative systems of flow, form, and life. The project site is the unused parking lot surrounding the East Lake Marta Station in Decatur, Georgia. The 11 acres were master planned to include a range of public and private spaces to accommodate urban life, parks, gardens, agriculture, recreation, markets, and other productive uses appropriate to the community’s raison

d’être. The Marta station entrance was also redesigned with special attention to the circulation of pedestrians and transit. The existing neighborhood was used to shape the location and scale of the new streets and residential units. The objective is to complement the neighborhood’s proportions while still following the site’s natural slope and water runoff patterns. The medium-density housing allows each unit to have an inner courtyard based on the Roman peristylium and a private backyard. The five types of units are mirrored and rotated to maximize privacy and allow for proper light and air circulation between them.

Residential Unit Front Elevation

East - West Section

Residential Unit Formation

North - West Corner View

South - East Corner View

Second Floor

Unit A 1840 sqft 4 Bedroom 3 Bathroom

Unit B 1835 sqft 3 Bedroom 3 Bathroom

Unit C 1300 sqft 2 Bedroom 2 Bathroom Unit D 930 sqft 2 Bedroom 2 Bathroom

North - South Section

This intentional community is located at the meeting point between four different watersheds in the Atlanta and Decatur area. The site acts as a collection point to redistribute and reintroduce water back into the aquatic ecosystem. Rather than harnessing water as a commodity, this proposal re-imagines the site and the East Lake Marta Station as a way to

direct water back into streams, rivers, and the water table. It is a proposition that acknowledges access to safe water as a fundamental human need and recognizes the need for more affordable medium-density housing in the Atlanta area. By capturing and returning water back into the environment, a more mindful and united community is formed.

Built Connections and Atlanta Diaspora

Activist Center and Center for Knowledge Exchange | Atlanta, Georgia | Fall 2021

ARCH 3016 : Architecture Studio 4

Elisa Dainese - elisa.dainese@design.gatech.edu

At the crossroad between Peachtree Street and the house museum of Margaret Mitchell, this studio exposes the alarming history that challenges current politics of appearance and use. The project explores the diaspora of West-African slaves to Atlanta and their subsequent forced removal. A nomadic artifact was first created with the intent to exchange information, knowledge, and histories by interacting with Atlanta and its citizens. This project analyzed the history of African quilting patterns to reveal how enslaved people used them for communication. They were pictorial storytelling

devices at a time when literacy was forbidden. The quilts hold stories and meaning metaphorically but can also physically hold items through a transformation into a rucksack. The prototype was recreated by asking Atlanta citizens to illustrate their own story in a square of fabric, which combined to create a second quilt/bag. The encounters and dialogue between citizens and their histories of social transformations expose the political, social, and ecological desires of the community. This exercise helped define the project’s goals and criteria as an activist-run center for knowledge exchange.

Prototype Quilted Bag Group Made Quilted Bag

Quilted Bag Process Drawing

Built Connections and Atlanta Diaspora

The culturally divisive site is transformed into an instrument of physical and social change by creating an activist-run center for knowledge exchange and socio-ecological justice. The central building is similar in form to a classic shopping arcade. However, instead of stores, it acts as a hub to give legitimacy to surrounding non-profits by creating individual office spaces that bolster smaller charities. It also contains shared spaces to host functions and further their outreach, like an auditorium and outdoor stage.

The auditorium’s tilt creates a courtyard between the two buildings and welcomes people from the south end of the site into the space. Furthermore, the side entrances on the main building create an East-West circulation pattern perpendicular to that of the North-South arcade. This allows users to travel freely across the building from the sidewalk into the courtyard. The two circulation patterns work in tandem to address traffic flow from the three streets bordering the site.

Circulation Site Parti Sketch

Built Connections and Atlanta Diaspora

Atrium Section

Bench (Fabric)ation

Furniture Study of Materials/Fabrications | Atlanta, Georgia | Fall 2022

ARCH 4016 : Architecture Studio 6

Christopher Simon - chris.simon@design.gatech.edu

Team with Anna Wiles and Marcy Villatoro

This studio explores place, materials, and process through the lens of a site-specific multipurpose intervention at the scale of public furniture/sculpture. This project sought to use 2,000 board feet of reclaimed oak to refurnish the main lobby of the Academic Instructional Center located on the Georgia Institute of Technology’s campus. The basis for the design was motivated by the desire to use the limited wood supply conservatively and reduce the production of wasted material. A method was devised for arranging the wood boards in specific patterns to minimize unused lumber. Furthermore, by utilizing a steel frame for structure, the wood is strategically

used to create a fluid form akin to fabric draping over the angular and rigid steel. This creates a stark contrast between the two materials and explores their unique properties and milling abilities. The bench appears to be made of a solid metal box and wooden form, but in truth, it is quite light and transportable, with all hardware hidden inside. The wood was modeled using photogrammetry scans of fabric which were digitally rendered using Rhino and Grasshopper. The overall construction utilized analog shop tools, welders, laser cutters, 3D printers, 3-axis CNC routers, and a water-jet cutter, all found within the Digital Fabrication Lab.

Fabric Photogrammetry Process

a free-standing column situated in a nook between two partitions, while the second wall sees the column embedded as a semicircle. Finally, the last wall has no column at all. These instances allow for the generation of different bench and fabric designs. Each either pulling away, pinching behind, or avoiding their column and wall conditions. They also hug the space’s exterior, avoiding the central traffic flow but still allowing ample seating in a triangle arrangement.

1'-3 1 2 "

Structural Frame

18'-4 3 4 "

"

1 2 " 1 2 "

1'-6

3" 1"

2" 1" 3"

1 2 " 6" 1" 2" 2" 1"

1"

3 4 " 1'-3 1 2

1 2 " 1'-6" 12 Bench (Fabric)ation

1 2 " 1 2 " 6" 1" 2" 2" 1"

"

3" 1"

2" 1" 3"

1"

3" 2"

1 1 2 "

4"

A3.2 5 Feet Detail Bracket Detail

Interior d’Illa

Investigation into the Barcelona Eixample | Barcelona, Spain | Summer 2022

ARCH 4017 : Architecture Studio 7

Mark Cottle - mark.cottle@design.gatech.edu

This international studio in Barcelona, Spain developed from exploring the Eixample blocks and what function their interior gardens serve to the city and the local community. Research into the program and community function of the different block interiors led to Jardins de Paula Montal being chosen as a site in need of intervention. This garden is a unique version of the typical Barcelona block since buildings surround it on only three sides instead of the typical four. Due to the missing building face, the garden is closed by a chain link fence and hastily constructed offices and tool sheds. To address the fence and existing programmatic buildings, the

walls surrounding the garden entrance are pulled inwards, creating occupiable spaces to act as hanging gardens, meeting spaces, and for the relocated offices and sheds. The open-air platforms allow for ample light to the plants while also supplying shade using the vernacular shutters found throughout the city. At night, an accordion style pull-out fence can close the garden after hours and easily retract the next day. This project creates a new and inviting entrance that frames the garden while providing adaptable, flexible, and multi-functional spaces for the community and gathering.

Entrance Construction and Support System

Finding Solace

Wellness Retreat at Sweetwater Creek Ruins | Lithia Springs, Georgia | Spring 2021

ARCH 2017 : Architecture Studio 3 Julie Kim

- julie.kim@design.gatech.edu

This studio fosters an investigation of how natural processes may be turned into contemplative devices that advance external reflection. The project design turns the Manchester Mill ruins into a wellness retreat with pools, yoga/meditation centers, and short-term residential accommodations. The pool house, located within the ruins, crafts a serene experience for the user through materiality, movement, and light/shadow. The tall atriums above each pool create a unique experience based on the time those pools are used and the water temperature. The cold baths with crisp air and early morning light are in stark contrast to the hazy saunas

and warm baths commonly used in the evening. The site is also topographically transposed to promote a calming user experience as they move around the Wellness Center. The meditation pods and yoga studio are located on the opposite side of the bathhouse and lull users into a meditative state with curving and gentle paths. To achieve a harmonious and balanced link between landscape and architecture, all program components have been given careful consideration to the site’s ever-changing characteristics, such as the water level, sunshine, and wind pattern.

Sectional Model

Light Parti Sketch

The Sweetwater Creek ruin sees yearly flooding and erosion along the river bank. Rather than combat this, the site allows for this ebb and flow. Water can freely run under the sleeping accommodations rather than acting as a barricade to unnaturally change the water’s path and subsequent flooding. The paths of the wellness retreat weave along the river bank to create a tranquil

and easy-to-navigate circulation path. Two separate path experiences were created on either side of the pool house. One path is commonly used after a long day at a retreat and slopes quickly and easily towards the sleeping accommodations. In comparison, the other path traces back and forth through the woods and along the water to invigorate users as they traverse to the yoga studios.

Jeinimeni National Reserve GIS Mapping

VIP Patagonia | Jeinimeni National Reserve, Chile | Fall 2021-Spring 2022

VIP 3601

Paula Gomez - pagz3@gatech.edu Team with Mehdi Harley and Madison Richardson

Jeinimeni National Reserve in the Patagonia region of Chile is a global biodiversity hotspot with many species likely to come under threat from increased human activity in the area. With a team of biology students, this research group created a habitat classification map to identify “critical habitats” or areas in the park that are likely to present opportunities to protect the populations of target species.

The Jeinimeni National Reserve has an exceptional amount of biodiversity—both flora and fauna, particularly those unique to the area, with roughly 90% of the native species in Chilean Patagonia being endemic. Because of this, Chilean Patagonia is classified as a global biodiversity hotspot.

That being said, many of these species are likely to come under threat from increased human activity—whether that may take the form of deforestation, increased development, or even just the pressures associated with increased ecotourism. It is crucial then that these wildlife populations be protected. Properly doing so requires a thorough knowledge of what species reside in the region, where their populations are located, and what particular threats they face. A loss of the species in Patagonia would be a significant loss to global biodiversity, and for many of them, would spell global extinction.

QGIS Jeinimeni National Reserve Area

Jeinimeni National Reserve GIS Mapping

Zoom 14 Model Water Forest Grasslands

Bare Earth/Rock Snow

Area (hectares) 8,140.47 51,258.77 53,622.11 150,457.29 18,825.05

Percent Coverage

2.65% 16.70% 17.47% 49.01% 6.13%

QGIS functioned as an active tool for prototype development for the classification map. Multiple shape files were extracted from the IUCN Red list database and used to generate the classification map with a program called Land Cover Mapping which was developed by the Microsoft AI for Good research team. The program allows a user to classify different types of terrain from a satellite image file using a variety of machine-learning algorithms. The reason this program was chosen is due to its novel approach of having “a human in the loop”. With this approach, we were able to update the samples of classifications as needed. The satellite imagery used to train the model was Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) World Imagery Data. Both the 9.554m/pixel (zoom 14) and 4.777m/pixel (zoom 15) resolutions were used in this process.

To train the model, the Land Cover Mapping program was installed on a virtual machine hosted by Microsoft Azure. The program uses two maps; the first one is used to display the map to the user, similar to any web-based map such as Google Maps. The second is used as an input for the machine learning algorithm. To create the first map an xyz map tile directory was created. The second xyz map server was converted to a set of georeferenced tiff files and then reference into a GDAL vrt file. This allowed the learning algorithm to look up the correct tiff during training and eventually resulted in a finished classification map that highlights all of the present biomes.

Jeinimeni National Reserve

Modified Walkways

Landscaped Viewing Paths | Spring 2022

ARCH 2017 : Architecture Studio 3

Julie

Kim - julie.kim@design.gatech.edu

This project investigates how architectural experiences can be built from landscape. In the first exercise, Land Inverted, actions of stacking, carving, casting, and of addition and subtraction are used to craft a series of inhabited landscape conditions. All mass that was removed from the site was re-purposed elsewhere. This created an infinite looping path that ventures above and below the earth. This concept of reusing, instead of removing, mass from the area was modeled with a solid cardboard block. Any material cut away was turned into paper mache and used to build the high points of the path.

In the second Layered Path exercise, liminal conditions of above/below and inside/outside were used to create mirrored pathways weaving amongst trees. This allows the same path to be experienced in two separate ways at two different levels. Each experience begins at the same point, but one path takes users far below ground and beneath the trees amongst the roots. At the same time, the other path takes users up into the tree canopy, where they can better survey the site. They follow the same 2D journey but have very different user experiences.

Process Model

Physical Models

Process Model Land Inverted Site Section