Elijah Ayeni's Architecture Portfolio

PORTFOLIO

ELIJAH O. AYENI

ELIJAH O. AYENI Columbus, OH ▪ 678.548.0451

elijahayeni@gmail.com

An adaptable and curious innovator/designer with extensive knowledge of industry design and crea:ve tools. Effec:ve in crea:ve design and architecture problem solving, architectural renderings and building design with a focus on Afrocentric architecture. Passionate and mo:vated team player. CommiBed and focused leader who is driven to deliver results.

Highlights of Skills

Rhinoceros 3D Blendr Revit Figma AutoCAD

Photoshop Lightroom Indesign DraJing Digital Illustra:on

Concept design Photography UX/UI design Graphic Design Model crea:on Career Experience

MOODY NOLAN | Jun. 2022 - Present

Project Coordinator | Assist the Project Architects and team with construc:on documenta:on, construc:on administra:on as well as the architectural design process from conceptual design through the comple:on of the project. Responsible for aiding in the design of the project, mee:ng with clients and crea:ng construc:on documents on Revit.

OAS ARCHITECTS | Feb. 2022 - May 2022

Architectural Intern | Intern for OAS Architects, worked alongside the owner-operator, helping to draJ architectural plans and assis:ng in the design of the several firm projects. Responsible for modeling new design addi:ons, as well as upda:ng floor plans for renova:on projects in AutoCAD and Rhino 3D.

URBAN BLOOMS| Jun. 2021 - Sep. 2021

Graphical Design Intern | Intern for Urban Blooms which specialized in the crea:on and maintenance of living walls. Assisted with crea:ng design renderings and marke:ng materials for clients. Developed business and project proposals. Responsible for conceptual design and representa:on of the living wall installa:on within a space using Adobe Photoshop.

OSU MORRILL SCHOLARS PROGRAM | Apr. 2019 - Dec. 2020

Student Mentor – Volunteer | Primary role was to lead a small group of students within the Morrill Scholars program. Facilitated monthly mee:ngs to engage students in diversity and inclusion ini:a:ves in the University and surrounding communi:es. Highlights included: Coaching, Mentoring, Social movements and leadership development of underclassman students.

Educa8on & Accolades

Bachelor of Science in Architecture

The Ohio State University – Columbus, OH

Morrill Scholars Dis<nc<on Scholarship Recipient

Na<onal Organiza<on for Minority Architects (NOMA) – Execu<ve Board member OSU Chapter

NETWORKS

OTHER WORKS

COMMONS

PORTRAIT STUDIES

Networks

SENIOR STUDIO

INSTRUCTOR: CURTIS ROTH FALL 2021

PROJECT PARTNER: CHIYANNE KOONCE

The unique challenge for this project was to create a housing community for a select group of people. My partner and I chose to design this community for postgraduate entrepreneuers. This unique neighborhood was designed in a live-work configuration, with rentable spaces for multiple small business uses on the ground level, and livable units on the second and third levels.

Through this project we explored the use of stacking and rotations of our modules, to create a series of connected unique neighborhoods that encourage collaboration and gathering. The use of 1 and 2 bedroom housing units along with a linked, “campus feel” caters to the various needs of a young professional post college, thus offering the opportunity to remain in a college like community that promotes education, as well as a path towards homeownership.

SETTING THE SCENE

The site, which is located in Palmdale, California allowed for lots of experimentation and creative liberties. As a growing city outside of LA, it allowed my partner and I to dive deeply into our theme of a campus. This was achieved through various stacking and rotation techniques which allowed for interesting connectivity throughout all 3 levels, thus highlighting the idea of the natural meeting and connections that happen along the walking paths of a university.

DESIGN INTENT

The ground floor is designed to be used as a public space primarily for business, studying and mingling. While the upper two levels are residential, with each level becoming more private than the last.

Single story residential units comprise half of the second level, while two story units make up the other half, allowing for the third level to become a more intimate rooftop experience for residents.

Aida’s Tower

JUNIOR STUDIO

INSTRUCTOR: JUSTIN DILES SPRING 2021

The setting for this tower project is in the heart of downtown Columbus, OH. Positioned near the Scioto river, this project intends to bridge the gap between office life and street life. Through its lower floors, this project offers multiple amenities such as restaurants, gyms, museums, etc in order to connect with the already present street life features of downtown Columbus.

SETTING THE SCENE

The lower 2 levels of the project offer multiple public amenities, with the main focus being a farmer’s market on the ground floor and a museum and gathering space on the second floor. Both levels act as extensions of Columbus’ downtown riverfront, which is host to multiple festivals and activities throughout the year.

The upper floors of the project are designed for office coworking spaces with the pyramidal tower configuration allowing for more private and exclusive meeting spaces as the towers and floor space get more slender and smaller. All of the towers are linked together through a central core that becomes a crucial connection point at the top of the tower.

DESIGN OF THE FORM STRUCTURE

Aida’s Tower is a form born from my desire to create a tower that embodies traditional African architecture in a modern contemporary form. While Egypt was the initial region that came to mind for inspiration, I settled on the region of Nubia, which today encompasses southern Egypt as well as Sudan. Nubian pyramids differ from their Egyptian counterparts in that they are slender and can be found grouped in clusters.

I took these traits and I created a pyramidal tower with alternating heights to give the illusion of a cluster of Nubian pyramids. In addition to this I have created a curtain “veil” wall that is built of various triangles, further highlighting the geometry of the pyramidal form while also being reminiscent of traditional African geometric patterns.

outer tower structure

core structure

column structure

ground floor

second floor

coworking space (Middle floor)

coworking space (Upper floor)

S E C T I O N S

Skyblock Commons

JUNIOR STUDIO

INSTRUCTOR: BART OVERLY FALL 2020

PROJECT PARTNER: MOHAMMED ZAKZOK

Set within the city of Columbus, Skyblock Commons exists as a low-rise, high density urban experience intended as a “superblock” for Columbus. This project challenged my partner and I to design a unique housing district that also enabled small businesses and workshops to easily cohabitate the same spaces as residents. In addition to this live-work housing solution, we were tasked with creating a neighborhood school that could accomodate this bustling community.

DESIGN OF THE FORM

In the beginning stages of design, my partner and I knew that we wanted circulation to be an important part of this project. We looked at many outdoor programs such as parks and outlet malls to come up with our ideas. We broke down our project into module like blocks that catered to each programmatic requirement of the project. When combined these modules create a single “neighborhood”. Each neighborhood contains a central large workspace for offices and businesses, with various residential modules residing both on top and underneath the workspace unit.

Slenderblock Single

Workspace

Sky level gym

Workspace lobby

Big Block Units Slenderblock Double

DESIGN OF THE FORM

SECTION

The pinwheel shape of the combined modules, allows for the creation of mini parks, allowing for interconnection between the “neighborhoods”, while also creating covered outdoor spaces for the double units that encourages mingling.

1st and 2nd Floor double e 4th floor single Approx. 962 sq ft

WORK UNIT | WORKSPACE

1’ = 1/32”

Accessible from third level

Computer labs

Conference Tables

Lounge Area

Approx. 10,000 sq ft P L A N S

DESIGNING THE SCHOOL

For the second part of this live-work housing project, my partner and I were tasked with creating a school for this new community. To accomplish this, we made slight changes to the site plan of our neighborhood, removing 6 of our “modules” to create space for a new highschool along with a parking lot. This school was designed to stray from the typical design of a school, with a focus on interchangeable rooms and a restructuring of the classical hiearchy found within classrooms.

1’=1/ 32” SCALE

P L A N S

4T H F LOOR

1’=1/ 32” SCALE

3RD F LOOR

1’=1/ 32” SCALE

2ND F LOOR

1’=1/ 32” SCALE

1ST F LOOR

1’=1/ 32” SCALE

Portrait Studies

Photography is a secondary way for me to express myself and my designs. This collection of photos was the first part of a project to explore human portrature. Comprised of friends, family and strangers I captured people in various settings. The second part of this culminated in a graphical design project to create minimalist portraits through digital drawing techniques that in the future could be used to create my own architecture entourage for renderings and drawings.

BRAND

The symbol that has been displayed in this portfolio is the logo I created for my brand entitled, ilé. Ilé is a Yoruba word for home, and it is at the core of my brand identity. Ilé is the combination of all my design works under one umbrella, with the purpose of presenting traditional African architectural styles in a contemporary view. Thus creating a new architectural style for residential and public programs. This logo was created from a series of Nsibidic symbols native to Nigeria, culminating in the creation of a new symbol that represents one who is creative, royal and rooted in culture.

Root King Create

ABOUT ME

My name is Elijah Ayeni and I am a graduate from The Ohio State University. I think of myself as an “Entrepreneurial Designer”. Despite studying to become an Architect, I see myself as more than that. I am at my core a designer with an entrepreneurial spirit. My mission is to tap into the richness of my cultural roots, and present it to the world through a modern day contemporary lense. Whether through Architecture, Graphic Design, or Photography, my design skills are limited solely by my imagination and determination to learn, both of which are endless.