BAXTER HANKIN
ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
This thesis argues in favor of walkability at the scale of the city, neighborhood, block, street, space, building, and detail. Walkability is a condition that allows for interesting and useful walks of ease on a daily basis. This is created from a mix of strategic, planned civic conditions, and an urban fabric of unplanned, bottom-up developments. The walkable city is necessary in terms of human experience, sustainability, and connectivity. The interesting aspect of the walk is determined by parallax and the picturesque. Parallax is the “displacement of the apparent position of a body due to a change of position of the observer,” as defined by Yve-Alain Bois. This is best experienced with spatial enclosure and irregularity, objects of identifiability, and an occurrence at both the scale of the space and the detail. The picturesque is an aesthetic created by perceptible inflection, variation, and irregularity, that reference human scale and human imperfection through movement and framed views. This operates best through unique and irregular urban compositions at multiple scales from the space to the detail. Both parallax and the picturesque improve walkability by creating urban experiences of interest that draw people through space, in a delicate balance between irregularity and cohesion. These factors, in combination with more practical concerns of physically walkable infrastructure and dense mixed-use development, create walkability. These theories take inspiration primarily from the picturesque of John Soane and Robert Venturi, the parallax of Yve-Alain Bois, the imageability of Kevin Lynch and Léon Krier, the sequence of Gordon Cullen, the streetscapes of Allan Jacobs, and the general urban principles of Jeff Speck and Charles Marohn. This thesis blends these ideas together into a new, more comprehensive theory of picturesque walkable urbanism.
Parallax
Walkability in Section
Parallax of Streetscapes ≈ 37’-0”
The Automobile-Oriented City
Parallax by Plan Irregularity
26’-6” ± 5’-0”
7’-0”
9’-0”
9’-0”
78’-0” ± 10’-0”
Limited Parallax by Lack of Spatial Enclosure
The Pedestrian-Oriented City
26’-6” ± 5’-0”
Picturesque: Various Resolutions
Parallax: Details & Profiles
Ornamentation & Structure
Surface Projection
Building Profile
Walkable District Interconnectivity DOWNTOWN
DOWNTOWN
UNIVERSITY
Isolated Walkabilities
15TH WARD NORTH
BLUEPRINT 15
UNIVERSITY
Interconnected Walkability
This project consists of a two-story public food market with micro apartment housing above. The market creates a community hub, while the micro apartments provide affordable housing. The building sits adjacent to the Brooklyn Bridge Park, which allows the public market to spill out into the park. The size and shape of this market varies based on the seasons. The Dumbo Market & Apartments project focuses on the concept of programmatic intersections. The facade shows this with the public, semi-public, and private spaces highlighted respectively with light, medium, and dark materials. Other examples are the blurred relationship between the park and the exterior portion of the market, and the blurred lines created between the residential circulation and views into the market.
Terraced Periscopes is a project inspired by landscape and program. These two issues are addressed through the same formal strategies. Three terraces are placed into the side of a hill, roughly mimicking the contours of the site. These three terraces also correspond to the three programmatic zones. The zones of athletic facilities, educational facilities, and residences for athletes proceed in this order up the hill, becoming more private as they get further away from main campus, and closer to existing dormitories. Towers rise from these three terraces, as periscopes that gaze back at the campus over the tree line, following the same programmatic zones as the terraces below. Between these towers, and on the terraces, there is a series of public spaces that act as extensions of the various functions around them, while forming an exterior path through the site. This simple, low resolution strategy of a subtle terraced landscape contrasted by a powerful series of directional towers creates a high-performance building.
VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR SANDWICH PANEL CLIPS METAL DECKING W/ CONC. TOPPING WALL CAVITY
3'-4 3/4"
LEVEL TEN 131' - 6 1/2"
DETAIL 01 STEEL STRUCTURE
10'-11 1/2"
INSULATED ALUMINUM SANDWICH PANEL
HUNG WOOD CEILING PANEL METAL DECKING W/ CONC. TOPPING
DUCT
WALL CAVITY
RIGID INSULATION BETWEEN MTL STUDS
134' - 11"
UPPER CURTAIN WALL MULLION VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR WOODEN WALL PANEL
DROP CEILING SUPPORT CABLE HUNG ALUM. CEILING PANEL
LEVEL TEN PARAPET FLASHING BRICK WALL INSULATED ALUMINUM SANDWICH PANEL
13'-9 1/4"
INSULATED ALUMINUM SANDWICH PANEL
2'-9 3/4" 2'-5 1/2" 11"
FLASHING BRICK WALL
GRAVEL PROTECTIVE ROOF LAYER RIGID INSULATION WATERPROOFING LAYER GEOTEXTILE LAYER LEVELING LAYER (POROUS CONCRETE)
DROP CEILING SUPPORT CABLE HUNG ALUM. CEILING PANEL STEEL STRUCTURE BEYOND DOUBLE GLAZED CURTAIN WALL WOOD VERTICAL FACADE COMPONENT WALL CAVITY
2 LAYERS GYP BOARD GLASS RAILING
CURTAIN WALL MULLION
WOOD VERTICAL FACADE COMPONENT
VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR SANDWICH PANEL CLIPS
LEVEL NINE METAL CLIP FOR RAILING AND EDGE OF CONC. TOPPING
3'-0 1/2"
BASEBOARD WOOD FLOOR PLYWOOD SUBFLOOR 1 1/4" CONCRETE LEVELING LAYER
STEEL STRUCTURE
DOUBLE GLAZED CURTAIN WALL
14'-0 1/4"
10'-11 3/4"
INSULATED ALUMINUM SANDWICH PANEL
STEEL STRUCTURE BEYOND
DUCT
WALL CAVITY DROP CEILING SUPPORT CABLE HUNG ALUM. CEILING PANEL
VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR FLOOR ASSEMBLY BEYOND
METAL DECKING W/ CONC. TOPPING WALL CAVITY
RIGID INSULATION BETWEEN MTL STUDS
117' - 9 1/2"
WOODEN WALL PANEL
WOOD VERTICAL FACADE COMPONENT WALL CAVITY
WOOD FLOOR PLYWOOD SUBFLOOR 1 1/4" CONCRETE LEVELING LAYER STEEL DECKING W/ CONC. TOPPING FLOOR GRATE DUCT
2 LAYERS GYP BOARD WOOD VERTICAL FACADE COMPONENT
LEVEL EIGHT
METAL DECKING W/ CONC. TOPPING WALL CAVITY
DROP CEILING SUPPORT CABLE
STEEL STRUCTURE
HUNG WOODEN SLATS RIGID INSULATION UPPER ALUMINUM CURTAIN WALL MULLION GYP BOARD
10'-4 1/4"
13'-11 3/4"
10'-11 1/4"
HUNG ALUM. CEILING PANEL RIGID INSULATION BETWEEN MTL STUDS
BASE CURTAIN WALL MULLION VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR SANDWICH PANEL CLIPS INSULATED ALUMINUM SANDWICH PANEL
DUCT
WALL CAVITY DROP CEILING SUPPORT CABLE
INSULATED ALUMINUM SANDWICH PANEL
103' - 9 1/4"
3'-7 1/2"
3'-0 1/2"
BASEBOARD WOOD FLOOR PLYWOOD SUBFLOOR 1 1/4" CONCRETE LEVELING LAYER VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR SANDWICH PANEL CLIPS
SPRAY FOAM INSULATION
DETAIL 02
FLASHING BRICK WALL GRAVEL PROTECTIVE ROOF LAYER RIGID INSULATION WATERPROOFING LAYER GEOTEXTILE LAYER LEVELING LAYER (POROUS CONCRETE) METAL DECKING W/ CONC. TOPPING STRUCTURE BEYOND
STEEL STRUCTURE BEYOND WOOD VERTICAL FACADE COMPONENT DOUBLE GLAZED CURTAIN WALL WALL CAVITY
2 LAYERS GYP BOARD WOOD VERTICAL FACADE COMPONENT
VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR SANDWICH PANEL CLIPS
WOOD FLOOR VENT DUCT PLYWOOD SUBFLOOR ALUMINUM CURTAIN WALL MULLION VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR WOODEN WALL PANEL HUNG WOOD CEILING PANEL 1 1/4" CONCRETE LEVELING LAYER
3'-0 1/2"
BASEBOARD WOOD FLOOR PLYWOOD SUBFLOOR 1 1/4" CONCRETE LEVELING LAYER
METAL DECKING W/ CONC. TOPPING WALL CAVITY
STEEL STRUCTURE
WALL CAVITY DROP CEILING SUPPORT CABLE WOOD VERTICAL FACADE COMPONENT SANDWICH PANEL CLIPS SANDWICH PANEL CLIPS STEEL STRUCTURE SPRAY FOAM INSULATION VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR HUNG ALUM. CEILING PANEL RIGID INSULATION BETWEEN MTL STUDS WALL CAVITY 2 LAYERS GYP BOARD INSULATED ALUMINUM SANDWICH PANEL
METAL DECKING W/ CONC. TOPPING DROP CEILING SUPPORT CABLE
14'-0"
10'-11 1/2"
HUNG ALUM. CEILING PANEL RIGID INSULATION BETWEEN MTL STUDS
89' - 9 1/2"
DUCT
WALL CAVITY DROP CEILING SUPPORT CABLE
INSULATED ALUMINUM SANDWICH PANEL
LEVEL SEVEN
HUNG ALUM. CEILING PANEL STEEL STRUCTURE BEYOND WOOD VERTICAL FACADE COMPONENT DOUBLE GLAZED CURTAIN WALL
WALL DETAIL 01. 3/4" = 1'-0"
WALL CAVITY
2 LAYERS GYP BOARD
DOUBLE GLAZED CURTAIN WALL WOOD VERTICAL FACADE COMPONENT FLOOR GRATE DUCT ATTACHED TO SLAB STEEL EDGE
WOOD VERTICAL FACADE COMPONENT
VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR SANDWICH PANEL CLIPS
WOOD FLOOR VENT DUCT PLYWOOD SUBFLOOR ALUMINUM CURTAIN WALL MULLION VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR WOODEN WALL PANEL HUNG WOOD CEILING PANEL 1 1/4" CONCRETE LEVELING LAYER
3'-0 1/2"
BASEBOARD WOOD FLOOR PLYWOOD SUBFLOOR 1 1/4" CONCRETE LEVELING LAYER
METAL DECKING W/ CONC. TOPPING WALL CAVITY
STEEL STRUCTURE
VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR WALL CAVITY SANDWICH PANEL CLIPS INSULATED ALUMINUM SANDWICH PANEL STEEL STRUCTURE 1 1/4" CONCRETE LEVELING LAYER STEEL DECKING W/ CONC. TOPPING
METAL DECKING W/ CONC. TOPPING DROP CEILING SUPPORT CABLE
14'-0"
10'-11 1/2"
HUNG ALUM. CEILING PANEL RIGID INSULATION BETWEEN MTL STUDS
75' - 9 1/2"
WOOD FLOOR PLYWOOD SUBFLOOR
DUCT
WALL CAVITY DROP CEILING SUPPORT CABLE
INSULATED ALUMINUM SANDWICH PANEL
LEVEL SIX BASE CURTAIN WALL MULLION
HUNG ALUM. CEILING PANEL STEEL STRUCTURE BEYOND SPRAY FOAM INSULATION DROP CEILING SUPPORT CABLE HUNG WOODEN SLATS
STEEL STRUCTURE BEYOND WOOD VERTICAL FACADE COMPONENT DOUBLE GLAZED CURTAIN WALL WALL CAVITY
2 LAYERS GYP BOARD
WALL DETAIL 02. 3/4" = 1'-0" 2 LAYERS GYP BOARD RIGID INSULATION BETWEEN MTL STUDS BASEBOARD WOOD FLOOR LEVEL FIVE
WOOD VERTICAL FACADE COMPONENT
METAL DECKING W/ CONC. TOPPING WALL CAVITY UPPER ALUMINUM WINDOW MULLION WALL CAVITY
STEEL STRUCTURE DETAIL 03
HUNG ALUM. CEILING PANEL DOUBLE GLAZED WINDOW
10'-10 1/4"
DROP CEILING SUPPORT CABLE
WOOD FLOOR PLYWOOD SUBFLOOR 1 1/4" CONCRETE LEVELING LAYER
61' - 9 1/2" PLYWOOD SUBFLOOR 1 1/4" CONCRETE LEVELING LAYER METAL DECKING W/ CONC. TOPPING WOOD VERTICAL FACADE COMPONENT INSULATED ALUMINUM SANDWICH PANEL SPRAY FOAM INSULATION STEEL STRUCTURE SANDWICH PANEL CLIPS DROP CEILING SUPPORT CABLE HUNG ALUM. CEILING PANEL VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR
METAL DECKING W/ CONC. TOPPING
DUCT
13'-10 3/4"
VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR SANDWICH PANEL CLIPS
WOOD FLOOR VENT DUCT PLYWOOD SUBFLOOR ALUMINUM CURTAIN WALL MULLION VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR WOODEN WALL PANEL HUNG WOOD CEILING PANEL 1 1/4" CONCRETE LEVELING LAYER
3'-0 1/2"
BASEBOARD WOOD FLOOR PLYWOOD SUBFLOOR 1 1/4" CONCRETE LEVELING LAYER
DROP CEILING SUPPORT CABLE HUNG ALUM. CEILING PANEL
2 LAYERS GYP BOARD WALL CAVITY WALL CAVITY UPPER ALUMINUM WINDOW MULLION
STEEL STRUCTURE BEYOND WOOD VERTICAL FACADE COMPONENT DOUBLE GLAZED CURTAIN WALL
VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR
WALL CAVITY LOWER ALUMINUM CURTAIN WALL MULLION
LOWER ALUMINUM WINDOW MULLION
DOUBLE GLAZED WINDOW
WALL DETAIL 03. 3/4" = 1'-0"
EXTERIOR PAVERS CURB LEVEL FOUR WALL CAVITY 47' - 10 1/2" INSULATED ALUMINUM SANDWICH PANEL
3'-0 1/2"
WOOD FLOOR PLYWOOD SUBFLOOR 1 1/4" CONCRETE LEVELING LAYER
REINFORCED CONCRETE FOUNDATION WALL
VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR SANDWICH PANEL CLIPS
WOOD VERTICAL FACADE COMPONENT
METAL DECKING W/ CONC. TOPPING WALL CAVITY
STEEL STRUCTURE
METAL DECKING W/ CONC. TOPPING
VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR SANDWICH PANEL CLIPS
DROP CEILING SUPPORT CABLE
11'-2"
HUNG ALUM. CEILING PANEL
14'-2 1/4"
DUCT DROP CEILING SUPPORT CABLE REINFORCED CONCRETE FOUNDATION WALL HUNG ALUM. CEILING PANEL WOOD VERTICAL FACADE COMPONENT
FLASHING
RIGID INSULATION VERTICAL COMPONENT CONNECTOR SANDWICH PANEL CLIPS
REINFORCED CONCRETE FOUNDATION WALL ASPHALT-SOAKED FELT
ASPHALT-SOAKED FELT
WATERPROOFING LAYER
VAPOR BARRIER GRAVEL EGG CRATE PLASTIC PROTECTIVE LAYER RIGID INSULATION
2'-3 1/4"
DETAIL 04
4'-5 3/4"
WOOD FLOOR PLYWOOD SUBFLOOR 1 1/4" CONCRETE LEVELING LAYER REINFORCED CONCRETE SLAB ON GRADE EXPANSION JOINT
WATERPROOFING LAYER
WALL DETAIL 04. 3/4" = 1'-0" LEVEL THREE
WOOD FLOOR PLYWOOD SUBFLOOR 1 1/4" CONCRETE LEVELING LAYER REINFORCED CONCRETE SLAB ON GRADE EXPANSION JOINT
33' - 8 1/4"
VAPOR BARRIER GRAVEL EGG CRATE PLASTIC PROTECTIVE LAYER RIGID INSULATION POROUS CONCRETE DRAIN PIPE
1'-6"
POROUS CONCRETE DRAIN PIPE REINFORCED CONCRETE FOOTING
EGG CRATE PLASTIC PROTECTIVE LAYER WATERPROOFING LAYER ASPHALT-SOAKED FELT
REINFORCED CONCRETE FOOTING
CONSTRUCTION SECTION AT BUILDING SECTION 3 3/8” = 1’- 0”
The Queen City Tower redefines present-day skyscraper design through the usage of contextual references to local architectural heritage. This mixed-use tower containing retail, office, and residential programs along with community-building roof terraces creates a new icon for the city of Cincinnati, speaking to the city’s past while looking forward towards a bright future. The building is designed as a series of stacked volumes of smaller Italianate buildings, separated by loggie. These buildings each represent the many midrise Italianate structures found in the nearby Over the Rhine neighborhood. The base of the building is rusticated, with hierarchical entranceways, and the roof is inspired by the Basilica Palladiana and the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. This project also envisions a future without urban highways. Downtown Cincinnati is suffocated by highways, such as I-71, which separates the city from the waterfront. The Queen City Tower and other new development sites sit where this highway now stands.
The design of this new historic-style walkable town center for Newtown, CT creates a more vibrant community hub for the town. New buildings, built between existing retail and office spaces, come up to meet the sidewalks. Street trees are planted, and new public squares and parks are created. This recreates the feeling and community of a historic New England town center, with a critical density of businesses and people in retail spaces, offices, apartments, and rowhouses. This district allows people to work, live, shop, relax, and gather within the same neighborhood, all by foot.
In this project, Syracuse University's Florentine villa is extended to become an urban element within the city. Multiple types of loggie structures are aggregated to create a network of circulation and differentiated public spaces, as well as shifting axes and symmetries. Directional columns and monolithic, tall loggie pull the public into the school. Programmatic loggie appear on the facade as shorter, less monolithic, and less directional. In plan, the loggie are comprised of four column types: the dot, the dash, the T, and the +. The dot occurs in non-directional loggie. The dash occurs in directional loggie. The T occurs where a directional loggia meets a non-directional system. The + occurs where two directional loggie intersect. These columns guide people in terms of where and when to circulate.
This project reinstates an important public square in Siena, Italy. Currently, the square is being used as a parking lot. Black and white stripes run across the space in herringbone brick, inspired by Siena’s Duomo, the city colors, and the neighboring piazza. The existing central loggia is demolished, and is rebuilt as a striped marble loggia to be a market in dialogue with the attached buildings. Steps are cut into the retaining wall at the southern end of the piazza, as a a place to sit and view the landscape. Adjacent to the stairs, a viewing platform extends away from the city. In the middle of the piazza, a horse head statue is placed upon several steps, looking towards the landscape. This head is modeled after a temporary wooden horse built in the piazza after this neighborhood won the Palio horse race, which is an event central to Siena’s culture.
This design is a hypothetical expansion to 1843 Florence, inspired by the Roma Interrotta project that was worked on by Michael Graves, Aldo Rossi, Colin Rowe, and others. In this project, the center of the city is left mainly intact. Three distinct neighborhoods are expanded beyond the old city walls. The northwest region is inspired by the urban farming blocks of 1800s Florence. The southern area builds a dense urban fabric in valleys, while leaving hills and interstitial spaces as public green space. The northeast neighborhood converts plots of farmland into dense city blocks, with a linear park weaving in and out of the old city wall. Our urban plan also proposes to reinstate an amphitheater where the Roman amphitheater once was, and to carve out surrounding public spaces. This is the only major intervention in the old city center.
The concept for this project is a juxtaposition between volumes within objects and a free & open plan as a method of spatial organization. This connects to the original museum through the implementation of a levitating mass that relates back to the original levitating masses. This concept elevates the importance of galleries, creating defined, unique spaces for showcasing art within the levitated mass, while letting the outside and the other main programs blend together in a free plan that opens to the exterior.
This project is based on the idea of a maze, with a main path cutting through the maze. People will wander through the maze of willows and lab gardens, finding their own niches and their own circulations among the lower paths, moving underneath the larger path and through buildings in several instances. The maze is comprised of various components to create many types of spaces and experiences. Filleted polygons throughout the site are filled with willows, lab gardens, and grass. These shapes have varying heights, which bring the ground up and down in order to block and reveal new views. In order to offer another experience, the main path raises up gradually towards a twenty foot tall peak in the center, offering a view above the willows and down into the greenhouse.
Shore Club Miami Beach: Facade Design, Plan Geometry, Other Renderings
During my time at RAMSA, I had the chance to work on luxury condo tower designs in New York and Miami Beach. I led efforts on the Miami Beach project’s facade design above the building’s base, mediated complex geometries in plan, and produced visualizations from the beginning of the project. In my work on projects in New York, I played a critical role in executing both exterior and interior critical path tasks within the design development phase. Each image is paired with text describing my role on that project.
Shore Club Miami Beach: Facade Design, Plan Geometry, Other Renderings
Shore Club Miami Beach: Facade Design, Plan Geometry, Other Renderings
Shore Club Miami Beach: Facade Design, Plan Geometry, Other Renderings
200 East 83rd Street: Courtyard Design
200 East 83rd Street: Courtyard Design
The Bellemont: Massing, Facade Design, Digital Model, Physical Models
St. George’s Mansions: Interiors