Connor Lazzell Portfolio 2025 by Connor Lazzell

Architecture

Portoflio Connor Lazzell

Dignity in the Dark: Architecture for the Unsheltered

This project was done in tandem with the Design build club for Eden Village in Springfield Missouri. Eden Village is a non-profit that primarily helps mentally and physically disabled homeless people. It was specifically built for Revive 66, a development of Eden village. Revive 66 is Eden Villages outreach to the non-disabled homeless population in Springfield by providing them with a teardrop camper or in some cases an accessible shelter for a night.

The building you see here is the development of an entire class of 2nd year students. The form was developed and further developed by the class. The actual construction was primarily done by the students with supervision of faculty and occasionally specialized help to complete electrical fixtures and roofing.

It was submitted and featured in the 2022 AIA Springfield Design Awards and was the only student project featured to my knowledge.

Route 66 Museum

Fall 2025 (5th yr)

Springfield, Mo

This project is from my integrated studio so It features a finished look at the building and the site but is keenly focused on displaying ability. Not only in rendering and design but also to show understanding of buildings and their systems and structures.

The concept for this project related heavily to the proposed park and features an accessible green roof to not decrease the green space for the public. The goal with this project, knowing what the semester would require, was to push my understanding and abilities.

The program dictated a museum that featured an education space and office for the workers to use and educate the public. I included the rooftop park and event space for further utility for the clients.

These images are the highlights of the outward design and layout of the site in order to show the final product. The design pseudo mimics the hill that was proposed by the daylighting of the Jordan valley creek with some exceptions. The first is the from ground level access to the rooftop park to increase circulation to the museum as well as not taking from the park. The project hopes to adapt to the proposed plan seen in the bottom right when overlaid on the plan.

The Second half of the semester was devoted to the reality of the project. It focused heavily on the analysis and teaching of how buildings actually take form. The structure itself was designed and the HVAC system laid out. I proposed the main room be seen as one two story space and thus circulating the hot air out of the top back down,. This was to take advantage of the innate heat transfer up and save on energy consumption. The northern wall also was designed with this in mind.

Bercy Park Winery

Spring 2023 (3rd yr)

Paris, France

While studying abroad in Paris, I was given the task of creating an urban winery in one of the parks in Paris named Bercy Park. The project requirements were to create a space with a certain amount of farming, storage, and administrative spaces for them to operate in the park. However, we were given a very small plot and had to think of urban farms and their compact nature.

I went with the idea that the main form above would be hollowed out and used as the space for the grapes to grow on a revolving belt. The idea was that if maintenance were needed panels in the walls could be opened to accommodate. The wine making process also is organized throughout the building with the farming and processing at the top storage in the middle and the selling at the bottom.

This concept came from the relationship between the grape and the wine, a raw vs. refined product both separate but relating back to what it could be and what it was.

I eventually tweaked the form and concept to give the impression that the earth itself was coming out of the ground and the top section was the sky sweeping in.

The area where the grapes are held was intended to be a closed area where the UV rays, humidity and the temperatures could all be managed by the people managing the facility. This would allow the farm to grow all types of grapes at any time of year because they could artificially make any type of grape or style of wine they wanted at any given time.

Oakland Urban Plan

Fall 2023 (4th yr)

Oakland, Ca

The Oakland Urban plan is a project that covers 1.1 million square feet and tasked us with creating a certain amount of housing commercial and public space for West Oakland. This area is having troubles with gentrification and mass homelessness, so equity and diversity were huge pieces of this project.

The project is residential on the upper floors and mixed use among the lower floors. The mixed use consists of grocery stores, various retail shops, and co-working spaces for people around the area to have a place they can do remote work. The public space consists of several gathering spaces in the paths as well as a communal farm in the east and a amphitheater to the west.

The forms were derived from the streets that cut through the chosen site and the allure of paths between buildings. the heights were largely impacted by the nearby railway so that it could block out the sound coming from it.

I created a large central web of paths to help foster gathering and interconnectivity to promote interaction within the space.

The eastern most building is different from the others because it consists of a social equity and diversity center equipped with classrooms and transitional housing as well as a clinic for those who need medical help in the area.

The paths also are designed intentionally to promote the interconnectivity of all the buildings and make it accessible to those using the space.

Misc. Works

This is a grouping of some of my favorite sketches and model from my time abroad and are some of my best freehand drawings I have made. None of the drawings are made with a scale, but are exclusively made in front of the place in France and done with proportions.