Ben Gillis ’20 MArch Columbia GSAPP

Graduate Portfolio Fall 2017 – Spring 2020 Columbia GSAPP

Ben Gillis

This Portfolio is not a Collection of Work This Portfolio does not seek to communicate an answer. This Portfolio does not exhibit a mindset towards design. This Portfolio is not complete.

This Portfolio represents design explored through Buildings. This Portfolio represents design explored through Objects. This Portfolio represents design explored through Representation. This Portfolio represents design as I explored over the last three years. This Portfolio is a timeline.

When I chose to attend GSAPP it was so I would have the opportunity to explore design through any means that were made available to me. I did not come here to find answers in design. I came here to continuously ask, re frame, and challenge the question of what Design is. Every studio, seminar, and elective shown in this portfolio was approached with this in mind. The work is shown in sequence of completion and includes studios as well as explorations made through representation, making, and fabrication as they all asked questions of design in their own ubiquitous way.

This Portfolio is not a collection of work. This Portfolio is a timeline of exploration in Design completed at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Spring 2020, Graduate Portfolio Ben Gillis

(Intended) Folded Bond Print, 8.5"Ă—600" Diagram of Graduate Portfolio depicting the intended concept of the printed portfolio as a continous spread.

55 Page PDF, 8.5"Ă—5.5"

Displacement Through Misplaced Items The following is a proposed subway station designed through the lens of displacement through misplaced items. This intervention takes the ground plane as an operable medium for viewing the lost and found items currently being sorted by the MTA. As the lost items begin to populate the site at 14th St, cast within transparent vessels, they create a series of curated galleries and hypostyle halls that create several points of destination within the context of one subway station. With the grand gesture of this seven story intervention lofted above the subway platform, the idea of creating a series of destination points within the overall structure became prevalent. Coming to the platform becomes more than a means to enter the subway, it provides a means to identify places within the space to meet others, even as the intervention grows over time. “Let’s meet at the place where we saw those ripped pants and the tube top” or “I’ll be down by the wallet with the id if the guy who looks like your grandma” become the vernacular of the space.

Fall 2017, Core One Studio Carrie Norman

Section Oblique showing the extents of the subway station. From left to right, the station is divided into kiosk, portrait gallery, and wardrobe typologies.

Mylar Print, 24"×60"

(3) Mylar Prints, 12"Ă—12" Vignettes showcasing the organizational structure of the Wardrobe, Kiosk, and Portrait Gallery display environments.

Mylar Print, 24"Ă—24" Section Perspective displaying the play of light that is created as the commuters venture through the subway stations uniquely ubiquitous lost and found items.

Mylar Print, 24"×24" Plan Drawing showing the disbursement of cast columns throughout the 7 story structure from subterranean to over 50’ above street level.

Post Occupancy Study Vagelos Education Center A post occupancy study of the Vagelos Education Center by Diller Scofidio and Renfro focused on representing the found conditions of the space through explicit representation. While my weekly visits to the building began as a purely data driven expedition, counting people and group sizes, much of my interest shifted when I started to listen in on the subjects I was counting. The main activity within the ‘study cascade’ was indeed academic, however, the conversations ranged from research on red meat to cat videos seen on youtube. Documenting this, to me, became a much more useful study when gauging the use of this collaborative environment.

Fall 2017, ADR One Course Bika Rebek

Bond Print, 24"×24" Conversational Section showcasing conversations going on throughout the building; flowing without being confined to a singular space.

Scale Model, 6"Ă—4"Ă—9" Threaded Paper Model to convey the intricacies of the projects design concept being supported by the complexities of the user. Double ply museum board supported by sewing thread and acrylic core.

Intersection of Space & Bound Space This branch library in Brooklyn explores the spatial infrastructure possibilities of the polyhedral sponge structure. This project aimed to analyze the potentials of linked and aggregable geometry in retaliation to the flows of library patrons and content. With continuous programmatic elements the library takes on a meandering, yet directed path to points within the library. This allows for a variance of spaces that all receive unique diffused light from the perforated skin of the building. Dividing the program via enclosed in-between polyhedral space, and bound internal polyhedral space allows the project to orient patrons and direct them in a similar fashion no matter their familiarity with the buildings complex infrastructure.

Spring 2018, Core Two JosĂŠ AragĂźez

Bond Print, 24"Ă—36" Oblique Drawing showing the intricacies of inside and outside space that is bounded by the structure.

Bond Print, 24"×36" Site Plan in Dumbo, this branch library offered the opportunity to simultaneously serve the local community as well as the tourists within it’s interwoven form.

Bond Print, 24"Ă—36" Section Cut depicting the interior space bound by the structure as well as the bound exterior space created in between the formal elements.

Formal Diagram showcasing the additive an flexible polyhedral form that creates the structure of the library

Level Three

Level Six

Level Two

Level Five

Ground Floor

Level Four

Floor Plans exhibit that while the library is made, put simply, of tubular elements, where they intersect creates a breadth and variety of programmable space.

Monocoque Structure Digram showcasing how a flat pack system of perforated metal walls make up the superstructure of the library.

Mylar Print, 24"Ă—36" Exterior Perspective; the project is a web of interconnected forms and space that provide a unique ground condition and terraced space throughout the exterior.

Mylar Print, 24"Ă—36" Reading Room Perspective highlight the porosity of the bound space between the polyhedral framework.

Mylar Print, 24"Ă—36" Perspective of the Stacks become and intricate pathway dappled with light through the structure to create a playful environment of structured space.

Wrong Column(s) Wrong Columns was an exploration of aggregation of geometry that, while still functioning as an architectural element to define space, only structurally support themselves with inverted fluting though an intersection of the otherwise recognizably pure geometry. Designed and fabricated in collaboration with Prof. Trevor Watson for the 2018 GSAPP End of Year Show. Beginning as a Rhino modeled, 3d printed cast concrete object, we scaled and redesigned the object first to be laser cut and assembled by hand, to finally being CNC milled and assembled in the GSAPP Fab Lab. Spring 2018, Transitional Geometries Seminar Trevor Watson

6� concrete modules created by casting a 3D printed positive to create a one part silicone mold.

18� laser cut chipboard modules to test segmented connection as we transitioned to full scale.

Plywood Sculpture, 14'×5' 7’ plywood Wrong Columns created by CNC milling profiles and assembling them to the curvature of the internal ribs.

Detail shot of the connection point between the full scale Wrong Columns.

Sharing With Friends, Family, & Strangers Partner Rasam Aminzadeh and I began by asking what are the types of living dynamics that we can address as a means to challenge the idea of community within a group of dwelling types.

This resulted in essentially three housing types within our project; dwellings that are shared with friends, shared with strangers, and shared with family. As we began to incorporate the unique requirements within our unit plans we asked how we could merge these different types into one overall concept. That, in addition to the issue of density brought about our typological study, led to our investigation and challenging of the courtyard house and residential tower. Both traditionally result in impersonal relations with your surroundings. Since we began by focusing on the sharing aspect of housing, it made sense that the overarching concept would act to bring these typologies together to create a space to share among family, friends, and strangers.

Fall 2018, Core Two Studio Adam Frampton

Scale Model, 36" dia Cast Massing Model highlighting the solid and void porosity created by the courtyards throughout this full block housing project in the Bronx.

Bond Print, 24"Ă—24" Axonometric Drawing depicting the extents and density of this tiered courtyard project while still maintaining Light and Air requirements throughout.

Bond Print, 24"Ă—24" Section Oblique exposing the intricacies of the project as it blends a semi-private housing typology above with a series of public programs below.

Bond Print, 24"Ă—24" Ground Floor showing the throughout structure from the housing courtyards above and how they begin to inform the shared public space below.

Second Floor

First Floor

Formal Diagram showing the interlocking, multidimensional L shaped hosing modules, creating and interior courtyard and private terraces on the exterior.

Courtyard Floor Plans showing the duality of the Family Units with more private entries and Friends unit with communal space and direct access to the courtyards.

Tower Courtyard

Structure Diagram 1’=1/16”

Public Courtyard

Circulation Diagram 1’=1/32”

Circulation Diagram bringing the residents into the project to elevated pathways between courtyards in an effort to create a more connected community overall.

Diagram showcasing the idea that these spaces are meant to be, shared and connected within the community throughout the project.

Bond Print, 18"Ă—24" Courtyard Perspective illustrating the potential for mutligenerational sharing with the micro-communities formed within the courtyards.

Bond Print, 18"Ă—24" Large Community Courtyard Perspective illustrating how the community exits in an intertwined physical space that begins to blend private and shared space and activities.

Scale Model, 12"Ă—9" 1/4 Scale Facade Study Model blending structure, material, and fenestration to create a dynamic and illustrative facade.

Scale Model, 6"Ă—4" 1/16 Scale Project Model showing the modularity and complexity of both the individual courtyard as well as the project as a whole.

Reframing Contemporary Performance The Newburgh Contemporary Performing Arts Center critically evaluates the needs of the City’s performance community as well as what a performance is in the age of a 6 second snapshot. The modern performance is oft reduced to a selection of curated views that are then digitally disturbed to convey one’s participation in the event. Manifesting this sense of aperture in the built environment was the main focus of this project. Segmenting and framing the stages of performance to re-orient viewers and performers, audience and spectacle, goods and production. An amphitheater with six pre focused stages, a market space backed by communal workshop space, live-work residencies encouraging artist to put their process on display, and a main proscenium stage with an inhabitable envelope to allow a secondary viewing of the productions back of house.

Spring 2019, Advanced Four Studio Amina Blacksher

Section Perspective depicting the blending of old and new within the reframed elements surrounding the proscenium stage on the left, and live-work studios on the far right.

Mylar Print, 18"×72"

Bond Print, 24"Ă—24" Site Axon illustrating the programs through the site as well as the spectator disbursement throughout.

Bond Print, 24"Ă—24" Site Floor Plan showing the blend of structure elements within and the landscaping without and the disbursement of program.

Diagrammatic Model, 12"Ă—6"Ă—10" Drawing to Model study illustrating the community players in Newburgh. From NYC up the Hudson to Dia Beacon this project is a layered composition of communities and perspectives

(3) Scale Models, 6"Ă—6"Ă—12" 1/8 Scale Models of the Aperture Amphitheater, Makers Market, and Exposition Live-Work Studios reframing each performance to challenge the spectators perception.

(2) Mylar Prints, 9"Ă—18" Book Matched Perspectives of the Aperture Amphitheater that acts to mirror the backstage as it's own unique performance as much as that being performed to the spectators.

Material Things A study in three parts; testing tolerances, fabrication techniques, and multi-step sequencing of complex machining. Mixed Primitives called for a combination of base geometry. Joinery challenged the concept of a joint to be reinterpreted as a formal gesture. Lastly, the Artifact questioned the idea of a temporal object being found in the future and it’s implicit use forgotten.

Spring 2019, Material Things Seminar Josh Jordan

MDF Object, 3"Ă—6" Glome, a mix of the primitive Globe and Home. Flip CNC milled to create a hidden lead filled cavity allowing the object to teeter and act in unexpected ways.

Cherry & Paperstone Object, 18"Ă—9"Ă—3" Avocado Bowl created on the CNC that mixes two materials to create a operable co-dependent joint.

Paperstone Object, 4"Ă—4"Ă—4" Temporal Desk Lamp fabricated through a CNC Mill of an encapsulated light bulb to illustrate the temporal nature of the unchangeable light bulb within.

Liminality of a Truck Stop Looking at how the contemporary means of production are defining our cities in relation to Massimo Cacciari’s theory of the Metropolis, the truck stop acts as an optical study in liminality between the relationship of a city and the contemporary means of production. The metropolis is no longer defined by the cities separation from factories and industrial areas, but from data centers and distribution networks, as these are the methods in which industry is defined in modern America.

The truck stop lies at the cusp of the metropolis and these contemporary means of production making it neither nor, rather the liminal space between. Defined by the canopy, the liminal truck stop does not define space, rather it facilitates the interchange of spaces and programs in this liminal moment between origin and destination; neither stopping nor going. Occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold. The reflective nature of the structure composed next with the transparency of the glass allows it to disappear in the landscape from afar, but when occupied the patron is both drawn and optically rejected from the space, exemplifying the liminal qualities of the this uncertain typology.

Fall 2019, Advanced Five Studio Michael Bell

Bond Print, 24"Ă—24" Section Perspective depicting the layers of uses within the truck stop. Defined and diffused by the materiality of the structure, visitors are always being optically drawn in and pushed out.

Bond Print, 18"Ă—36" Assembly Diagram showcasing the frames of the structure that when complete will bound the viewer while simultaneously expose them to their surroundings.

Scale Model, 12"Ă—12"Ă—9" Mondrian Canopy Model fabricated with soldered rods and translucent colored acrylic showcasing the nature of projected delineation of space.

Photo Gloss Print, 12"Ă—24" Perspective showing the reflective structure and transparent walls creating a liminal space where the viewer is drawn in by the depth and simultaneously ejected by their reflected surroundings.

(2) Photo Gloss Prints, 12"Ă—24" Perspective illustrating how throughout the day the project both blends into it's surroundings as well as exposes itself depending on the light.

Platonic Typography Exploring how to show the forethought and argumentation style of Socrates through typography and materiality. This book showcases an excerpt from the Socratic Dialogues, The Apology. Reading these conversations one is often following along with Socrates as he builds his argument. However, one can infer Socrates forethought and planning as he lays out his argument. This physical booklet attempts to interpret this forethought through a layering of dialogue that becomes clear passage by passage but represents a complete argument as a whole. In printing it in signatures on vellum, the typography had to be meticulously planned ahead of time to ensure a complete book that illustrated the complexities of the Socratic Dialogue while maintaining clear legibility.

Fall 2019, GAP One Seminar Yoonjai Choi

Book, 5"x4" vellum signature saddle stitched with black on black printed cover.

Book, 5"x4" vellum signature saddle stitched with black on black printed cover.

What If... Then Studio in Tokyo Japan Looking at the lifestyles involving Onsen bathhouse retreats, volunteer forestry groups, and green space in Tokyo, this project sought to explore the possibilities of bringing the rural forests of Japan into Southern Tokyo. Where bathhouse culture is an unexpected social space in Tokyo, they are slowly fading form mainstream culture. As forest in Japan began to decline after WWII, groups began to form to remediate them. With park space often restricted and sparse, groups like the Tokyo Picnic Club formed to protest their lack of free public space. This studio asked What If the landscapes of rural Japan, where these lifestyles are more accessible, was brought into Southern Tokyo without compromising its density. Then, the residents of this neighborhood would be able to engage with them in their daily routines.

Spring 2020, Advanced Six Studio Sarah Dunn & Martin Felsen

Section Isometric showing the blending of lifestyles in Southern Tokyo as defined by the existing rail and river passing through the neighborhood.

(Intended) Mylar Print, 60"×36" Zoom Screen, 1280px × 720px"

Mylar Print, 36"Ă—36" Section Isometric of The Floating City as designed by Kisho Kurokawa exploring the potentials of in-between sectional space within the structure.

Mylar Print, 36"Ă—36" Section Isometric of The Continuous Monument as designed

by Superstudio exploring the potentials of blending inside and outside space within the continuous grid.

Urban Figure Gotenyama, Tokyo

(Intended) Mylar Print, 60"Ă—36" Urban Figure Collage depicting how the forest and hills of rural Japan can be brought into Southern Tokyo to promote new social lifestyles and environments.

Zoom Screen, 1280px Ă— 720px"

Zoom In Sections of the Courtyard Housing, Batthhouses, and Multi-Planar Office Park and forest that blend the urban fabric with new social lifestyles.

Courtyard Housing

(Intended) Mylar Print, 18"Ă—36" Courtyard House Perspective illustrating the new micro communities formed around the communal parks within the low density housing area of the neighborhood.

Zoom Screen, 1280px Ă— 720px

Bath House

(Intended) Mylar Print, 18"Ă—36" Bathhouse Perspective showing the retreat like qualities brought into the commercial districts of the city to promote additional social activities and connections.

Zoom Screen, 1280px Ă— 720px

Multiplanar Office Park

(Intended) Mylar Print, 18"Ă—36" Perspective showcasing the urban density being blended with the new park and forest space in Southern Tokyo.

Zoom Screen, 1280px Ă— 720px

(Intended) Folded Bond Print, 8.5"Ă—600" Diagram of Graduate Portfolio depicting the intended concept of the printed portfolio as a continous spread.

55 Page PDF, 8.5"Ă—5.5"