Portfolio Fall 2017 AAA

architecture portfolio

t. coston dickinson

costondickinson@gmail.com

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404.368.5819

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220 Renaissance Pkwy NE

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Atlanta, GA 30308

leadership & proficiencies

Education & Awards

professional experience

community engagement

GRADUATE

radiance solar

world chamber of commerce

2008 - present Georgia Institute of Technology

+ Director of Sustainability + Assist president with organizing events + Led Business & Environmental Summit

Certifications Sustainable design shades of green decatur

digital

undergRADUATE

+ Fluent in English and Spanish

the portman prize

+ Designed industrail PV solar systems + Determined system load requirements + Drew technical specifications + Created equipment module index for streamline design

solarcity

+ 2nd Place Winner

2012 - 2013

pv solar technician & install lead

+ Certified installer for PV technology + Responsible for design layout evaluations + Managed installation crews

fowler design associates

awards

2007 - 2011

+ Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies + Concentrations: Environmental Science, Geography, Sociology, Economics + Thesis: Ecological Urban Design for Sustainable Development

+ Rhino 3D; V-Ray; Revit; Adobe Creative Goode & Goode fellowship Suite; Microsoft Office; AutoCAD; Micro station; ArcGIS; SketchUp; digital fab

languages

+ Master of Science in Urban Design

2014 - 2015 Georgia college & state university

+ Permaculture landscapes + Water catchment & purification + Building John Todd’s Living Machines

Tools & technology

2017 - present pv solar system designer & technician

Georgia Institute of Technology 2014 - 2017

+ Master of Architecture (GPA 3.8)

2013 - 2017

2017 architect intern

2016

2004 - 2007

+ Prepared and edited construction docs + Developed preliminary floor plans + Aquired materials & archived blueprints Research Center

Table of contents

A vision for the future

+ Seoul Accelerator II

Humanity is at a critical stage of evolution. Do we continue to consume beyond our means? Or can we evolve to solve these problems and work together to consciously create a better world for all life to thrive?

+ Interface : A Living Building + Seoul Accelerator I + Civic Philanthropy + Georgia Tech Daycare + Freedome Library + Technical, Professional, and Communal

I think we can. I am dedicated to becoming a green building professional. I attained an undergraduate degree from Georgia College & State University in Environmental Science and Geography and wrote my thesis on Ecological Urban Design for Sustainable Development. I attained my master of architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology to become a sustainable architect. I seek to attain a master of science of urban design in order to understand the full spectrum of urban scales and relationships.

I intend to understand ecology, architecture, urban design, and real estate development in order to transform the urban condition from unsustainable to regenerative advancing smart growth and adding value back into our society’s environmental, financial, and social systems.

seoul accelerator II + Instructor: Marc Simmons, CEO Front Inc. + Studio: Ventulett Design & Research II + Date: Spring 2017 + Site Location: Seoul, South Korea + Team: Coston Dickinson, Vincent Yee, Ro- archiving. These verbs represent the cycliberto Buceli, Matt Forsell, Nicki Schmeider, cal process of the garment industry, wherein we intend to facilitate a value exchange Paul Petromichelis, and Chao Dang between researchers, fabricators, local venLocated in the Dongdaemun garment dors and their products, and customers.

We seek new forms of innovation that go bedistrict of Seoul, South Korea, the Seoul Accelerator is a research and development yond functional city planning toward a more incenter for textile and fabrication technol- tegrated mixed-use urban landscape that serves ogy. This institution serves as an innova- as a “technology driven action-commons.”

South Korea has successfully adapted and tion laboratory that seeks to fuel the local garment industry and accelerate Seoul evolved to act as an “accelerator” over the past into the forefront of the fashion industry. 50 years, fostering technological advanceThe purpose of the project, as prompt- ment and international trade. According to ed by the 2017 Seoul Biennale, is to form the Biennale, the population of Seoul is to ina network of knowledge between aca- crease from 54% of Korea’s overall population demic, professional, and governmental to 86% within the next 10 years. As a rapidstakeholders. The Biennale challenged us ly growing city of 25 million citizens, Seoul to engage the city via a set of verbs: sens- is simultaneously historical and cutting edge, ing, connecting, making, recycling, and calling for an architecture that is timeless.

the program

the design

The building design of the Seoul Accelerator evolved into five above-grade, translucent glass towers set into a sunken retail plaza, unified by a single below-grade special exhibition and performance space. The bases of the five towers are set at the same datum as the Cheonggyecheon riverwalk, allowing a physical and metaphorical connection to the river and public space. Each of the five blocks has an offset core embracing 30’ high laboratory/research compartments that support a flexible build-out structure, known as “accelerators.”

the context

Upon traveling to Seoul to study challenges like scale, materiality, sociality, mobility, and economy, our team concluded that the Dongdaemun region is the most compelling site to engage these opportunities for transformation. The Dongdaemun region is known for its textile manufacturers, wholesalers, and open-air markets. For over a hundred years, this region has been a center for garment fabricators to select materials, meet with vendors, and showcase and sell their products. Our aim is to establish a mutually beneficial relationship between our building and the garment industry’s existing economic network.

Dongdaemun means “the East Gate” in Korean, and the historical monument has served as a threshold of the old city wall. Interestingly, all aspects of the emerging creative economy are located within a 10-minute walking radius. The site itself is wedged between the sacred gate and the Cheonggyecheon, a daylit urban river that flows through the heart of downtown Seoul, thus acting as a threshold between the old city and the emerging design district across the river to the south.

The riverwalk is an exemplary public space, and is one of Korea’s best examples of environmental restoration. Along with the Cheonggyecheon, the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) acts as a catalyst for new development in the region. Its program includes multiple exhibition spaces, conference halls, design labs, and multiple public plazas.

the facade All sides are clad with a thermally performing ventilated cavity wall comprised of frameless, insulated glass panels to the interior that incorporate a solid state switchable technology. Outboard of which is a tension-supported, custom, glass brick wall with a vertically and horizontally serrated and rusticated surface texture to allow in abundant natural light while providing complete privacy for the researchers and fabricators.

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The cast glass masonry can be thread-

ed with stainless steel rods and clamped into place. Therefore, the system does not need caulking or gaskets, as it is not a vapor/air barrier but is a thermal cavity barrier. So its construction is very easy and depends on friction clamps on the rods to individually support each glass block. Behind the glass brick in the cavity is an addressable low-resolution LED array across all surfaces of the building, allowing for a “dusk ‘til dawn” urban landscape and 24-7 operations. The top of each building is a terrace garden for the building users covered by a flat, permeable, photovoltaic pergola.

The Seoul Accelerator supplies a use that is critically in demand within the garment industry economic ecosystem of Seoul. It subtly and elegantly displays the process of fabricating to shoppers, conveying the means by which they have access to a variety of retail products. We hope to add to Seoul’s intense, rich urban context where history, culture, education, and economy coexist in the pursuit of creativity and production. Overall, the goal of our design research is to establish an intellectual connection between the existing garment industry and the emerging creative economy in order create a value exchange that will enrich the region and advance the industry.

interface: a living building + Instructor: David Yocum, BLDGS Principal + Studio: Portman Competition + Date: Spring 2016 + Site Location: Atlanta, Georgia + Team: Coston Dickinson, Vincent Yee, and Roberto Buceli + Award: 2nd Place Portman Prize Winner For the Portman Prize Design Competition we created a regenerative collaboration center for the Georgia Tech campus that met the quantitative and qualitative requirements of the Living Building Challenge.

Located at 10th Street and Hemphill, we employed an idea of “halfness” in our project in order to think of a project that has an “empty” building and a “full” landscape that engages the local community.

The vision is to have the building act as an interface or a threshold that creates a gateway between the city and the campus. The intention is to design a building that is thin and porous, inviting access to a rich public space. This building is for the community and it is alive.

the program Interface is a building that serves as a collaborative research center for science education. Therefore, it has classrooms, wet labs, offices, conference rooms, and an auditorium. At the same time, we sought to make a building that is half public, thus we added an exhibition space, a community center, and a public roof terrace, which are accessible 24-7.

As the first net-positive building in the Southeast, the building and the landscape showcase all the methods that allow it be a living building. These systems include a 300KW PV solar array, a Living Machine water purifier, a grey/black-water system, constructed wetlands, and an urban food forest.

the design

The building design of Interface evolved into a “wall” building that acted as a veil. We incorporated ideas of “halfness” and “indeterminancy” in order to prescribe a variety of spaces that were designed yet did not preclude the range of activities which could occur within that space.

The building is meant to directly communicate with its landscape, therefore we came up with a wall whose figurative bricks had fallen out onto the adjacent landscape. In this way, we created a direct visual relationship between empty building voids and a programmatically dense field.

From there we outfitted the building and field with ecological systems.

The thermally massive concrete floor slab is poured on steel metal decking allowing for a radiant heating and cooling floor system. The column grid and the floor/ceiling slabs are held up and laterally reinforced by a robust steel beam array. The steel beam and joists are large enough to support extremely large masses and canitlevered spaces.

Ecological systems: + Solar / natural ventilation + john todd’s living machines + water treatment system + permaculture food forest + constructed wetlands

the facade The typical joists in the north-south directions consist of W24 steel

I-beams that reach across the narrow 45-foot span. The typical joist in the east-west directions consists of W44 steel I-beams. The large beam depth gives room for the MEP duct work without hindering tall ceiling heights that allow abundant natural light. The beams and joists are bolted together to stand as a moment frame, and the circulation cores are made up of shear walls that help stabilize the lateral load. Additionally, the concrete slabs support a storefront glass wall enveloped in a bamboo facade system that filters excess light and heat. The facade system resonates natural daylight through the building and subtley indicates the paths of primary circulation within the building. Likewise, the frequency of the bamboo goes from 50% on the north side to 75% on the South in order to deal with light and heat loads appropriately.

seoul accelerator I + Instructor: Marc Simmons, CEO Front Inc. + Studio: Ventulett Design & Research I + Date: Fall 2017 + Site Location: Seoul, South Korea + Team: Coston Dickinson, Alex Davis, Vincent Yee, Roberto Buceli, Nicki Schmeider, Paul Petromichelis, Jeff Olson, Sammy Shams, and Paul Steidl

The Seoul Accelerator was the first full-year Ventulett Studio. It was during the first semester that our team was able to travel to Seoul, South Korea, in order to pick a site, an appropriate program, and establish a connection firsthand with the community and culture of the people in the Dongdaemun Garment District.This laid much of the ground work for our project’s narrative and and our presentation medium of light.

THE EAST GATE & WALL

DONGDAEMUN

DDP

CHEONGGYECHEON

the program fuel: office support

Accelerator: makers’ space

chassis: Structure & circulation core

the design

The original design of the Seoul Accelerator stemmed from the parti that you see on the top right of this page. It went through countless variations and iterations, but the primary idea was to have large, open, and naturally daylit makers’ spaces. These spaces would house the research, development, and fabrication of garments, textiles, and fashion. The makers’ spaces would be flanked with supporting office spaces, and capped with two runway jewel-box bookend spaces that would showcase the experimental work.

civic philanthropy + Instructor: Stuart Romm, Praxis 3 Principal + Studio: Options II Design + Date: Fall 2016 + Site Location: Savannah, Georgia + Team: Coston Dickinson Civic Philanthropy is a firestation that strives to engage the public in a new way.

It is meant to rethink what public service means and recreates the method by which local citizens can become involved with public institutions, public service, and public space by providing a commuity space where people can meet voluntarily to affect change.

Ga tech daycare + Instructor: Mark Cottle, Cottle Khan Principal + Studio: Ventulett Design & Research II + Date: Spring 2015 + Site Location: Atlanta, Georgia + Team: Coston Dickinson

The Georgia Tech Daycare is my first studio architecture project. The daycare is intended for student mothers who require childcare on campus. The design is inspired by an open book, ramps as primary circulation, and four playgrounds.

Freedome Library + Instructor: Stuart Romm, Praxis 3 Principal + Professional Practice: Ecological Practice + Date: Spring 2017 + Site Location: Atlanta, Georgia + Team: Coston Dickinson and Matt Peterka The Freedome Library is a Little Free Library housed within a geodesic dome filled with hammocks. It is an exercise in putting Tactical Urbanism theory into action. We were tasked with a proposal, but I wanted to make it real. The project has gained ample recognition within the Beltline community and I was featured on GA Tech Radio to talk about its success.