James Carr Portfolio

- James Carr -

School of Architecture (MArch

of Illinois

(B.S. Architectural Studies)

LINE - 2151 HAWKINS]

[EAGLEKNIT - WALKERS POINT]

[PRINCE BAY TOWER]

[GOOGLE LONDON HEADQUARTERS]

[MIXED-USE OFFICE BUILDING]

[ALTERED REALITIES]

[LINEAR SQUARE]

[CONTINUUM]

[POST HTX]

[BLURRING BORDERS]

[SPACE + PLANE]

[WOODWORKING]

[RESUME]

[THE LINE - 2151 HAWKINS]

Company: Gensler | 2019

Project Type: Mixed-Use Office | 630,000 s.f.

Project Location: Charlotte, NC

Studio: Gensler Chicago | Lifestyle (Workplace)

Project Team Members: Russell Gilchrist, Tim Jacobson, Brett Taylor, Yimin Yang, Jun Wang, Melissa Venoy

Project Description:

The South End neighborhood has transformed into one of Charlotte’s most dynamic mixed-use districts, and one of the fastest expanding markets for residential development in the country. This post-industrial neighborhood is characterized by its vibrant urban life with a design district, lifestyle complex and emerging office presence.

Situated just outside downtown Charlotte, along the light rail and Rail Trail, this site offers considerable public exposure and interest for this emerging neighborhood. A new light rail stop will open to a constructed valley of terraces, shops, gardens and public activity, securing this site’s place as the heart of this district.

Following the vision plan of this community, “The Line” initiates a new scale of development that opens the doors for new large scale mixed-use opportunities, and emphasizes the rich industrial history of the surrounding neighborhood through material, texture and form to create transformative and inviting public spaces for both work and play.

My Role in this Project:

+ Developed project massings

+ Contributed to the design of building façade systems, and developed rendered design studies for both internal and client design reviews.

+ Assisted in developing building façade systems in Revit and in project documentation through design development and value engineering exercises. Through this process, I developed a parametric panelized facade system that allowed for costbased adjustments to the design.

+ Assisted with project re-massing and façade development efforts resulting from budget constraints and client direct design changes.

+ Prepared renderings & documents for a keystone tenant proposals.

+ Realized our design concepts through the production of 3D models that were used to convey design changes to the client at meetings in North Carolina.

+ Helped with design and documentation through deisgn development.

that

from the lowest level

the way

the over-head building massing frontage on the public rail trail.

WALKERS POINT]

Company: Gensler | 2019 - 2021

Project Type: Mixed-Use Office | 100,000 s.f.

Project Location: Milwaukee, WI

Studio: Gensler Chicago | Lifestyle

Project Team Members: Rick Fawell, Shawn Fawell, Hua Jun Cao, Kelly Yuen

Project Description:

Walker’s Point is one of Milwaukee’s trendiest neighborhoods and thriving commercial development districts, featuring countless historical industrial manufacturing buildings at various stages of re-use. This project, The Eagle Knitting Mill, is on the national register of historic places, and is being converted into a mixed-use office building, hosting a café, innovation hub and expansive open offices.

The Eagle Knitting Mill textile manufacturing building, produced textiles for various products including earlap caps and wool mufflers. The building fell into disrepair after factory operations shut down in 1994, and is being restored as a part of this new development.

A new addition to the south of the existing structure is sympathetic to the existing architecture with its use of material, but does so in a way to distinguish itself in a more contemporary manner. The new entryway sets back from the street front to create an inviting public logia, and call attention to the new main entry of the building.

The addition was designed with the guidance of the National Park Service and the State Historic Preservation Office in order to expand project square footage and updated infrastructure for the entire building – modern elevators, restrooms etc.

My Role in this Project:

+ Aided the client with SHPO/NPS approval through the production of design renderings and various sightline studies to prove to NPS that our design did not violate any of their design requirements for securing historic tax credits. Showed this in the production of design documentation that was later incorporated into the construction documents.

+ Developed renderings, working closely with the client and our interior design team, for the design of interior/exterior spaces.

+ Coordinated with consultants and developed documentation for permitting and 100% CD.

+ Conducted construction administration services - reviewing and returning project submittals and RFI’s.

+Coordinated the construction process with the discovery and resolution of SHPO/NPS requirements/existing condition discoveries.

This elevator design

visualization, helping clients

visualize

design choices, and

VIV.

XII.

BAY]

Company: Gensler | 2019

Project Type: Mixed-Use Office | 1,700,000 s.f.

Project Location: Shenzhen, China

Studio: Gensler Chicago | Lifestyle (Workplace)

Project Team Members: Stephen Chen (HKG), Dennis Du (HKG), Russell Gilchrist (CHI), Faiza Mehmood (CHI), Matthew Stephenson (HKG), Melissa Venoy (CHI), Brad Wilkins (SIN), Phyllis Wong (HKG), Wendy Wong (HKG)

Project Description:

Prince Bay Tower was designed to anchor a new high-rise business district planned southwest of Shenzhen, China off of Shenzhen Bay. This ambitious, innovative tower design was developed with principles of sustainability and the human experience driving the formal and structural design strategies. By lifting the elevator core and forming a sky-lobby, a nonporous tower base can transform into an activated, permeable town square plaza at the heart of a developing district. The structural design strategy guides the primary architectural articulation with sweeping structural cross bracing members that free the interior spaces from all structural members.

This mixed-use tower is programmatically distributed based on floor area, with office space on the larger, lower levels and a hotel occupying the upper levels. The top of the tower terminates with an observation deck that provides panoramic views of the emerging city context.

My Role in this Project:

+ Helped to develop and model the observation deck design.

+ Constructed a physical model using 3D printing, laser cutting and CNC machining techniques.

+ Produced presenatiton drawings, including renderings, sections, elevations and diagrams.

+ Helped design and documentation through conept design for a competition.

I. Conventional high-rise tower design with a large central core and columns impacting the perimeter of the tower base. This creates a non-porous ground plane. II. Belt truss, mega-structure tower, providing a more open exterior appearance with large spans of uninterrupted glass curtain wall systems. III. A belt truss, mega-structure tower with a floating core to create maximum porosity on the ground floor. Lateral bracing provided by cross bracing instead of core impacting the ground.

I. II. III.

Eliminating the central core atomizes the structural elements and circulation touchpoints, which generate generous public spaces that open up the building footprint and give space back to the public domain. The covered plaza creates ample space for impromptu events or gathering spaces, and creates a meaningful urban gesture to the public.

[GOOGLE LONDON - KINGS CROSS]

Company: BIG Architects | 2018

Project Type: Mixed-Use Office | 1,00,000 plus s.f.

Project Location: London, UK

Project Team Members: Bjarke Ingels, Thomas Christoffersen, Daniel Sundlin, Ziad Shehab, Martin Volkle, Leon Rost, Florencia Kratsman, Cadence Bayley, Claire Thomas, Dominyka Voelke, Kiley Feickert, Kurt Nieminen, Lauren Connell, Lina Bondarenko, Shane Dalke, Stephanie Choi, Yang Yang Chen

Project Description from BIG:

Centrally located in King’s Cross and adjacent to the city’s largest station, Google’s London headquarters will be its first wholly owned and designed building outside the United States. The new 11-storey building, combined with Google’s current building at 6 Pancras Square and an additional third building, will create a King’s Cross Campus with the potential to house 7,000 Google Employees. Comprising of more that 1 million sqft, of which Google will occupy 650,000 sqft, the purpose built building is being developed from the ground up and will contribute to the Knowledge Quarter and King’s Cross’s growing knowledge-based economy.

The design for the new Google Campus at King’s Cross is rooted in the local character of the area, taking advantage of the contextually defined building envelope while creating continuously cascading work environments that will connect Googlers across multiple floors. By opening up the ground floor and activating the roofscape, the light and airy workspace are sandwiched between the terraced gardens on the roof, and market halls, auditoria and shops below.

My Role in this Project:

+ Developed physical models demostrating project design intent and structural system strategies.

+ Produced design representations and plans for the ground floor public spaces in conjunction with the BIG team as well as our London counterparts at Heatherwick Studio. I traveled to London with the BIGster team on one occasion to participate with Heatherwick Studio and Google in a week long design workshop.

+ Produced presenatiton drawings, including renderings, sections, elevations and diagrams.

+ Helped documentation through the concept design phase.

Bjarke Ingels Group - Rendering - Google Headquarters, London

Bjarke Ingels Group - Rendering - Google Headquarters, London

[MIXED-USE OFFICE BUILDING]

Company: BIG Architects | 2018

Project Type: Mixed-Use Office | 650,000 s.f.

Project Location: San Francisco, CA

Project Team Members: Bjarke Ingels, Daniel Sundlin, Ute Rinneback, Kristian Hindsberg, Aaron Powers, Ibrahim Salman, Jim Shi, Phil MacDougal, Maxime Le Droupeet

Project Description:

This confidential mixed-use office complex was a commissioned conceptual design for a client looking to maximize FAR on a site in San Francisco, CA. The developed massing and scheme worked to maximize floor area and planning flexibility, allowing tenants to occupy single “buildings” or the entire, connected floor across the massing. By breaking up the shape of the structure, the massing reads as a series of smaller buildings that have generous light wells and window walls for maximized daylighting and views.

My Role in this Project:

+ Developed a series of project massings and design concepts.

+ Developed physical models demostrating project design concepts.

+ Produced design representations and plans as design studies.

+ Produced presenatiton drawings, including renderings, plans and diagrams.

+ Helped documentation through the concept design phase.

This

[ALTERED REALITIES]

Company: Gensler | 2018

Project Type: Intern Project

Project Location: Chicago, IL

Studio: Gensler Chicago | Lifestyle (Workplace)

Project Team Members: 2018 Intern Class

Altered Realities was the research topic for Gensler’s Summer Intern Project in 2018. This project speculated on the future of altered realities, and the potential impacts that it will have on the architectural profession, our cities, and our way of life.

The rendering to the left is a portion of a 360 degree rendering that I produced for the team depicting our concept for how different digital media could impact our professiona and workflows in the future.

Please scan the QR code to experience and read our design/research ideas on the information panel.

SQUARE]

Semester: Rice School of Architecture Paris, Fall 2017

Studio Instructor: John Casbarian, Nicholas Gilliand

Totalization Studio - Les Grand VoisinsParis, France - Bath House

Collaborator: Ekin Erar

The Parisian public plaza is centralized and unadulterated, emphasizing a congregational monument in the middle of a vast open space - activity and public life are exposed and visible. With lingering concerns for security, the public square has become neutered, lacking the ability to promote comfort and foster spontaneous activity.

Les Grand Voisins, a collective that houses refugees and the Bohemian Bourgeois (Bobos) in the 14th Arrondissement of Paris, points to a new progressive context that better serves contemporary Parisian public life. The old hospital site has become the antithetical Parisian urban landscape, defined by artifacts, spontaneous activity, and brilliant colour. Artwork painted on facades reduce architecture to surfaces, providing a new canvas for the promotion of activity and interaction in the scrim of beige Haussmannian Paris.

Linear Square is situated in this context, tailoring architecture to intensify the culture and activity already taking place. The segmented, public square on the ground floor gives way to an inversely intimate programming underneath. The introduction of a bath house intends to reactivate the site with an equalizing public agenda. The bath house is accessed through a series of courtyards that reveal differing spatial conditions sectionally.

Because the building program is buried, strategies for heating, cooling and natural ventilation guide the architectural design. The walls serve as a framework for solving all technical issues and become the foundation of architectural invention and spatial definition.

Through the arrangement of repetitive,

environments for place-making and discrete public activity. In this way, the character and activity of

a new public landscape.

Medecins

Denfert-Rocherau

Petit Buildings Oratoire

Building

to Les Grand Voisins

La Chaufferie

Columbani Building

Lingerie

Buildings

Building

The rotation of the walls eleven degrees produces a greater efficiency in the catchment of natural ventilation. Chimneys embedded in the walls passively capture and exhaust fresh air for the recreational programs below - a fitness center, and a bathhouse. Furthermore, these walls function as radiators, heating and cooling the surfaces of outdoor spaces according to the season through a conduit of water pipes. Three entry courts provide access to the underground and distribute natural light to the space below. A topography is generated in between the walls according to the spatial requirements below, allowing program to transcend datums. A vaulted gym produces a hill, and an intimate hamam affords a ground floor swimming pool.

Plastic Beach

Swimming Pool

West Entry II

West Entry I

Work Space Cafe

Green Meadow

Bocce Ball and Bowling Food Vendors Alley East Entry - Main Rock Garden

Linear Square - Ground Floor Plan -

Linear Square - Basement Plan -

Walls transition from surfaces above - a contextual provocation - to arcades below - referential to the history of the Parisian underground. The arch is used as a nostalgic formal device, connecting the evocation of the subterranean environment to the vast network of caves, cisterns and catacombs prominent in the neighborhood. This produces a single, open environment, providing transparencies across programs and activities. This plan is divided into two zones; a wet area to the south, and dry area to the north. Locally venting in these zones eliminates contamination of humid air.

Entry

Running Track

Lobby East Entry - Main Lap Pool

Zone

water level)

This diagram set depicts the form and funciton of the walls. I. Ground floor program - All primary bath and sports programs are placed in the basement. Public programming, a cafe and workshare offices, occupy a single programmatic bar on the ground floor. II. Basement program is divided into two zones: wet and dry. This separation allows for temperature and humidity control. III. The ground floor is manipulated based on programming underneath, creating a varied landscape from one programmatic strip to the next. IV. Three sunken courtyards allow access to the basement programs, and converge in one central circulation lobby that connects all programs in the open plan. V. The interior programs are cross ventilated naturally with chimneys embedded in the walls. They employ positive and negative pressure forces that are created by air turbulance crossing from one wall to the next, like a washboard. VI. The courtyards not only bring in light to the interior space, but also provide two means of egress from each program.

I. Ground floor interior ventilation scheme. The walls are oriented perpendicular to the average wind direction of both the summer and winter winds - it is reversible. The cones embedded in the wall funnel the fresh air through the chimneys and into the interior. The negative pressure on the other side of the wall exhausts stale air. II. Basement interior ventilation scheme. The same ventilation principles are used as the ground floor. III. Ground floor chimneys. A valve system enables fresh air to enter at the user level, and exhaust the heated expended air at the ceiling level. IV. Basement chimneys. The intake and exhaust diffusers puncture the tops of the arches. V. Geothermal heating and cooling coils. The walls are also embedded with a series of water coils that take advantage of existing geothermal infrastructure on site. The 70 degree Celcius water expends calories until it reaches an acceptable temperature to be filtered and used in the temperature baths. This system heats and cools interior and exterior spaces. VI. Fresh air pre-treatment coils. This separate system operates in the same way as the other coils. It pre-treats the air as it moves through the chimneys into the interior space. In summer, cold water cools it, and in winter, hot water heats it.

Roof Drain Assembly

5cm Dia. Wall Drainage Pipe Wood or Steel Frame Cap Extension

Concrete Panel Anchor Assembly

Epoxy Joint Around Ventilation Cone

30cm Dia. Actuated Ventilation Valve

30cm - 75cm Dia. Ventilation Cone

30cm Dia. Ventilation Pipe

Spray Concrete Structural anchoring system

10cm Spray Concrete Finish Layer

Vapor Barrier

Internal Ventilation Pipe Coil Wrap

External Heating + Cooling Coil

lnternal Heating + Cooling Coil

60cm Site Cast Concrete

#5 Rebar Section

I.

Exterior Wall

Roof Drain Assembly

5cm Dia. Wall Drainage Pipe Wood or Steel Frame Cap Extension

Concrete Panel Anchor Assembly

Epoxy Joint Around Ventilation Cone

30cm Dia. Actuated Ventilation Valve 5cm Air Gap

30cm - 75cm Dia. Ventilation Cone

16 Gauge Aluminum Flashing

Actuated Canvas Pulley Assembly

16 Gauge Flashing With Drip Edge 16mm Insulated Glass Ceiling

35cm Laminated Structural Glass

Inset Aluminum Beam Stirrup

internal Ventilation Pipe Coil Wrap

Stainless Steel, Structural Beam Cap

T-Section Ventilation Junction

30cm Dia. Actuated Ventilation Valve

60cm Site Cast Concrete

#5 Rebar Section

Internal Ventilation Pipe Wrap

30cm Diameter Ventilation Pipe

II.

Interior | Exterior Wall

III.

Interior | Exterior Wall

Moisture Barrier (Pool Underlayment) Concrete Panel Anchor Assembly

16 Gauge Flashing With Drip Edge Stainless Steel Metal Grating Glass Skylight Assembly 10cm Rigid Insulation

Glass Bracketing System Assembly

25cm Linear Light Well Moisture Barrier 15cm Concrete Bearing Wall

25cm Concrete Slab

Perforated Drainage System Lighting System

Slab | Wall Beam Connection Gap For Pool Plumbing and Ducts

#5 Rebar Section

25cm Concrete Slab

Internal Heating + Cooling Coil

Internal Ventilation Pipe Coil Wrap

30cm Dia. Ventilation Pipe

Centered, Glass Door Pivot Hinge Assembly

Arched Glass Door Concrete Formed Archway

I. This detailed section shows the top of a typical exterior wall. There are no adjacent interior spaces. This ventilation system provides fresh air into the basement programs, and can be opened or closed based on time of year and interior conditions. A cone is fixed at the end to capture perpendicular winds. II. This detail shows the top of a wall that has an interior adjacency. In this case, 200mm of insulation is embedded within the wall system. The heating and cooling coils of the interior and exterior faces have separate circulations. A t-junction is spliced into the system to exhaust stale air. III. This detail shows a complex connection between the walls and the ground floor. It is an elaborate detail because of thermal continuity, the desire to express the continuation of the wall plane, and the introduction of linear skylights.

I.

Semester: Rice Architecture, Spring 2018

Studio Instructor: Ron Witte

Option Studio - Reclected City Plan - Berlin, Germany - Mixed-Use Housing

“The city is not what it was; nor should it be.” -studio assertion

Berlin is a city of conspicuous division - the consequence of post-war political instability and reconstruction. Two urbanities were born out of this post-fascist period: the Soviet housing blocks on the East side, and the restoration of historic 19th century courtyard buildings on the West. The friction between these distinct fabrics define the character of public life in Berlin, tethered to the monuments of a divided metropolis.

This project investigates a new architectural prototype that begins its transformation through the negotiation of the two typological fabrics, combining the density of soviet housing with the community and scale of the 19th century courtyard block. “Densification is now the single most significant urban mandate”, and this directive demands new architectural prototypes to reinvent its possibilities.

Public life is the fundamental substance of the city, and is dependent on the relationship between what happens inside buildings and what lies beyond them. Through the use of void, as an urban generator, the framework of life in the city will produce intimacy in the midst of density, connecting streetlife with life above. If voids align visually along a public circulation, then a continuum of activities frame different scenarios in the city, and provide new kinds of urbanistic relationships. These apertures connect nodes of different publics, stinging together familiar connections across a line of sight.

Holes (void) and strings are employed as an architectural technique for producing connections across the building form at multiple scales. By perforating layers, relationships between buildings, scales of space, publics and explicit scenarios are strung together, tethering the architecture to the city and the city to the architecture.

III.

IV.

I. The form of the architecture is a thin matted grid, the result of a system of connected housing blocks, producing an enfilade of courtyard spaces with varying scales and programmatic qualities. The plan terminates at each boundary to present an urbanistic response. II. The eastern edge creates a promenade of park spaces, connecting the plaza to the north with the park along the Landwehr Canal. The south boundary opens up, capturing pedestrians exiting the U-Bahn and promenading along the canal. The western edge erodes according to the street edge, creating open courtyards as and extending the bounds of the public park across the street. The North side addresses the urban edge, maintaining an unadulterated perspective of the theater. III. Cuts on the ground floor develop and interior porosity to accommodate pedestrian and vehicular traffic. These thresholds divide private and public realms. The darker hatch represents a private courtyard for the residents above. IV. The public courtyards support the city and the life above with amenity program - office space, cafes restaurants, shops etc. - presenting a familiar, but amplified urbanism. [The following spread demonstrates the operation of this new urban prototype on the city level].

By re-tooling the assembly and performance of orthodoxical architectonic parts in housing - stairs, corridors, outdoor spaces, entries, apartment layouts, etc.- the chemistry of common typological models can be altered to confront the propensity of density to isolate. This is depicted in the diagram set above, producing a genealogy of typology; from double loaded, to single loaded, to unloaded. I. Unite d’Habitation_Marsailles_Le Corbusier_1947. The double loaded model, although highly functional, isolates units, providing little relationship to neighbors, and no relationship between a public space within and the context of the city. II. Sanaa transforms this same unit model from a sectional relationship into an elevational relationship. III. The principal facade becomes the broad side of Le Corbusier’s model. The voided spaces transform from corridor to patio. This move increases lighting into the units, while still allowing cross ventilation. IV. Gifu Kitagata Apartment Building_Gifu, Japan_Sanaa_2000. The single loaded model intensifies publics, providing proximity to the city, and perforations for collection. V. By removing the corridor, single loaded becomes unloaded. VI. Unloaded architecture produces explicit connections between units, generating neighborhoods that are strung together along a public circulation. Through this model, architectonic parts are always engaged in the production of connecting publics of different scales - the individual, the courtyard , the city.

The thinness of the architecture above presents an urbanism on the city level that is connotational to the identity of the 19th century courtyard blocks, but is highly intensified, drawing streetlife and public activity deep into the vast spaces and public squares of the inteiror. Each courtyard provides a unique texture, offering conduct for the use of space and events that can occur, seen in the image to the left. The asymmetrical stair system, above, produces a unique relationship between units and context within, connecting life above with life below. It is through the two directional staircases that all sorts of relationships can be established. The circulation produces a scenario in which residents do not occupy soely one courtyard, but a series - the result of circulating to and from units.

The unloaded housing block with a central core. II. Through the addition of another bar, pivoting around the core, the system becomes a hybrid point loaded scheme, and provides the bounds for the enclosure of courtyards. III. The resultant potential of the system generates intersecting staircases that connect units from one courtyard above to the ground floor of another. IV. Along this path, and new kind of neighborhood is born in which neighbors live in different scenarios - above or below, and in different courtyards. V. Units are also are connected with others in the same courtyard, but possess different views. VI. Units are accessed through courtyards that tenant apartments are not located on. [The drawing to the left depicts the limit potential of three neighborhoods for three units in the building’s superstructure. The following spread depicts how this system operates in a typical plan].

Unit Type: Four Bedroom_168 sqm

Four Bedroom One Bedroom

Unit Type: Two Bedroom_120 sqm Unit Type: One Bedroom_72 sqm

Unit Type: Three Bedroom_144 sqm

Unit Type: Two Bedroom_96 sqm Unit Type: One Bedroom Studio_48 sqm

Each unit has access to an entry terrace and a shared patio - these terraces (holes) create communal spaces that are either connected to the circulation system or participate in the overall effect. Because of this, two public scales become intimately tethered to each unit - the neighborhood along the staircase and the proximity of a next-door-neighbor. There are 6 unit types, allowing for variation in the positioning of holes, and resultant perspective of contextual scenarios. The configuration of theses units can be seen above. Five bedroom units are the largest, and studio units are the smallest. The plan of each are organized in a linear “shotgun” style, allowing the expansion and contraction of unit sizes through the addition or subtraction of a bedroom unit bay.

StudioStudioTwo Bedroom

Semester: Rice Architecture, Fall 2017

Studio Instructor: Doug Oliver

Core Design Studio III - Houston, Texas -Mixed-Use Housing

Houston’s downtown district is defined by its daunting contextual vertical scale. The sprawl of Houston has produced a unique metropolitan condition in which the fourth most populated city in America possesses almost no urban life outside of the hours of business.

The lack of a substantial downtown residential density is the product of typology, property value and absence of residential amenity. There are two residential building types that can be found within this district - the tower-podium and apartment lofts. Both of these architectural models emphasize parking over public street life. Property values are climbing at such a rate that builders postpone development until a definitive investment is clear. This inaction has produced a desert of surface parking, interrupted by the anomalous residential high rise, or office building. Because of this, there is almost no residential amenity, perpetuating a vehicular dependent population.

In order to interrupt this cyclical stagnation, Houston’s most successful suburban large scale residential typology, the courtyard building, will be reimagined to adapt to this market condition. As a typology, the courtyard building, or “Texas Doughnut” has the greatest potential to establish density, and simultaneously provide enough ground floor area to activate and support a new downtown population.

By aggregating this typology, and rupturing their base conditions, this type can inaugurate a pedestrian form of urbanism. Private courtyards are transformed into a series of interconnected, discrete public spaces, organized along a pedestrian thoroughfare. The site for this investigation is the old Houston Post office, a now dilapidated site of opportunity.

White

Sesquilentennial

Proposed

Formal Typological

an

up a density of buildings that relate

Reclaim the entirety of the groundscape

engage public

with

uniquely articulated heights produce visual

Planometric Strategies: I. By dividing the site into a series of buildable zones, a new kind of pedestrian streetscape can be introduced to Houston’s housing market. In a city based on vehicular dependency, this establishes a new precedent towards a more walkable city. II. By offsetting the buildable zones, an even greater density of buildings can be achieved. This allows for a higher retail and amenity program density, necessary to support a large residential population. III. Create a density of Houston’s most succinct housing typology - the “Texas Doughnut” or the courtyard building. IV. The manipulation of this typology at the ground plane creates a new urbanistic condition in Houston. The exterior perception of a dense series of closed off courtyard buildings gives way to a new found pedestrian porosity. Each pedestrian street terminates at an open courtyard, each possessing a unique programming and character. V. By tailoring the cuts at the ground floor to relate to the massing above, a promenade is developed that begins establish the courtyards as a series of open public spaces. VI. A secondary circulation is introduced to increase circulation laterally. VII. Bridges connect buildings to establish a network of housing blocks, reinventing the urbanism of the typology into a single complex. These bridges connect single loaded circulation balconies that look into the unique courtyards, and provide public meeting points for residents. VIII. The result of this manipulation is a more publicly defined example of a traditionally private typology. The emphasis on a congestion of program and pedestrian activity introduces a successful residential model to Houston’s downtown district.

I.

III.

V.

VII.

Athletic ProgrammingInterior Sports Facility

Art + Sculpture ExhibitionInterior Exhibition + Transit Station

Palm Tree PlazaInterior Restaurants

Piney Woods - Interior Cafes and Public Library

Retail Park Plaza - Interior Retail Program

Bayou Connection TheaterInterior Bars + Pubs

Open Market - Interior Supermarket

Athletic ProgrammingInterior Sports Facility

Art + Sculpture ExhibitionInterior Exhibition + Transit Station

Palm Tree PlazaInterior Restaurants

Piney Woods - Interior Cafes and Public Library

Retail Park Plaza - Interior Retail Program

Bayou Connection TheaterInterior Bars + Pubs

Open Market - Interior Supermarket

I. Two bay, exterior studio. II. Two bay, exterior one bedroom. III. Two bay, exterior two bedroom. IV. Three bay, interior studio. V. Three Bay, interior one bedroom. VI. Three bay, interior one bedroom convertible two bedroom.

The building units are articulated to produce two unit conditions; the exterior, two bay system (I - III), and the interior, three bay system (IV-VI). By shaping the units on the interior according to a 10 foot square grid, units and balconies begin to create volumetric relationships with one another. Suddenly, the isolated chambers of an ordinary type become open and almost suburban. Neighbors engage over a fence, or railing in this case, as well as a new dimension, vertically. This can be seen to the left.

The more cellular housing type occupies the perimeter of the blocks within a two bay system. A single facade type democratizes the housing unit size on the facade. The proximity of these blocks create a different of exchange over a pedestrian thoroughfare.

[BLURRING BORDERS]

ArchOutLoud Korean DMZ Competition

Collaborators: Ibrahim Salman, Haotian Ma, Daniel Kleeschultee

Awarded Top 50 Finalists

Arch out loud challenges designers to explore the possibility of creating an underground bathouse within the Korean Demilitarized Zone which responds to the surrounding geopolitical conditions. New forms of non-military architecture could occupy this border zone and begin to ease the existing tension. Tourism can play a role in opening relations across a border that begs the question: How does architecture position itself in the middle of this labyrinth of tension?

In a context charged with political tension, how can architecture erase these superficial symbols of politics and boundary? Through the engagement with a blurred boundary, individuals are engrossed in an environment that overwhelms their senses, creating a discontinuity between time and place. This disorientation is constructed through the deployment of self-similar forms below the ground surface, conceiled and the censorship of the mist and steam on the surface. Mist and steam evaporate without predjudice, serving as a building without borders - one that defuses the barrier of the ideological disunion. The use of architectural elements and subterranean programs to affect the individual pushes the concept to foster the reintroduction of, and return to the soil and roots of what is truly Korea.

Mist will be deployed through a system of diffusers that are arranged in a gradated field, radiating from the central pool. The outermost apparatuses function dually as showers. Along side these radiating rings, diffuserrs will be set within the parapet of the volumetric islands, producing the effect of an obscure context from the circulatory pool. Colored glass ceilings in the programmatic volumes project colored light and frame views from the pool into the interior program. Variation in the glass color relates to the inteiror program of each bolume. These variances allow for a diverse and stimulating experience from the outermost program to the grand bath.

I. The border as a barrier. II. Create the illuion of a foreign space by blurring the boarder. III. Insert program underneath.The misters on the periphery not only lend to the illusion of the creation of a space “other” than North or South Korea, but they serve as the first programmatic experience of a traditional Korean Jimjilbang, the shower. Their presence persists throughout the exterior level, cloaking the pool with a fog that projects colored light from the atmospheric programs beneath. The large circulation pool, serving as the second traditional program, allow users from both sides to circulate the canals and peer down into the programs beneath. It is through this pool that users gain access to courtyards to get into the program beneath.

PLANE]

Semester: Fall 2016

Studio Instructor: David Costanza

Core Design Studio II - Infill Pavilion

Space +Plane is an investigation of pavilion architecture sited in an unassigned urban infill context. The canopy, the most primitive requirement of shelter, is manipulated to produce new public interactions and public relationships in the city.

Like the ‘Skyspaces’ designed by James Turrell, beginning in the 1970’s, this canopy produces apertures that collapse perspective through the perception of a thin roof plane - the result of a taper. My curiosity with the effect of thinness achieved by James Turrell is the foundation of this project - what is on the other side of his canopies?

Through the puncture and taper of multiple holes in the canopy, a new landscape above the roof is generated. Small hills swell to allow users to interact with the canopy and gain a new perspective on the city, in the context of a foreign landscape. In this moment, a new public is born, affording connection and visual interaction across a constructed landscape.

I. The geometry of the roof is derived from the head height of the users who circulate the ground floor space. The thickness of the canopy structure is minimized by a conical profiling that produces a different sort of landscape above the conopy datum - it appears as flat from underneath, but has a very different topographical quality from above. II. The interaction of these two planes produces a new kind of public space, characterized by a visual interaction with other users, a new perspective within the infill block. The trees provide a connection between these two datums and help to promote the curiosity to engage the canopy space. III. The ground geometry swells and dips to produce programmatic zones for lounging and activity. The winding promenade slows movement through the block and promotes and interactive curiosity with users, program and space.

[WOODWORKING]

Architecture operates at many scales. It is through making that I can learn the potentials of materials, and better advance how architectural assemblies can be constructed to reinforce a design idea. Here are just a few of my woodworking designs - an elm slab side table, a painted poplar corner bench, and a burnt out maple spoon and spatula.

The next two spreads are photographs of a basement remodel that I designed and constructed. All millwork was done with my hands - access doors, trimwork, paneling, casework, and stairs.

The intention of this basement design was to match the trimwork of the first floor in order to create the atmosphere of another room, not a dingy basement. With the budget that I had, I matched the wainscoting upstairs with minor variations. In order to balance the cost of the poplar trimwork, I stripped the pine contractor stairs instead of refitting new oak treads, or installing carpeting.

I constructed an oak beam and column casing, and stained them (with the treads) to match the first floor hardwood. I chose to use an epoxy floor finish instead of tiling or carpeting to stay within budget, and provide an extra measure of protection against moisture. The dark satin finish complements the stained wood and contrasts the lightly painted walls.

JAMES L. CARR

847.212.0156 | jlcarr615@gmail.com | 1909 W Division St, Apt. 3F, Chicago, IL 60622

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Gensler, 11 East Madison Street, Suite 300, Chicago, IL

2019 to Present – Technical Designer

Assist clients through all stages of design, ranging from marketing/concept to construction documentation. Specialize in architectural visualization (renderings, augmented reality, virtual reality and model making). Help clients to visualize design choices and the progression of their project through all phases, with a focus in the hospitality industry.

Gensler, 11 East Madison Street, Suite 300, Chicago, IL

2018 – Summer Intern

Contributed to conceptual design for commissioned mixed-use residential and urban planning projects. Produced drawings, renderings and presentations. Worked on the summer intern research project, exploring the possibilities of altered realities in the workplace.

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), 61 Broadway, New York, NY

2016 – Design Assistant

Assisted with the conceptual design for commissioned projects and competitions. Produced drawings, models, renderings and presentations. Contributed primarily to the ground floor design of Google’s Headquarters in Kings Cross, London in collaboration with Heatherwick Studio. Assisted with the conceptual design for a large scale mixed use office project in San Francisco, CA

Perkins Eastman, 115 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY

2015 – Student Intern

Worked as an architectural design intern on large-scale mixed use projects.

Cotter Consulting Inc., 100 South Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL

2013 + 2014 – Summer Intern

Performed facility assessments on Chicago Public Schools and worked as a construction management intern at Loyola University’s Institute for Environmental Sustainability and the Di Nobili / San Francisco student dormitories.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Hospitality

- Confidential Sportsbook Addition to Historic Structure, Chicago IL – 15,000 SF Confidential Integrated Luxury Resort, Orlando, FL – 500 Keys/400,000 SF Sheraton Grand Rapids, Property Improvement Plan (PIP) Renovation, Grand Rapids, MI – 259 Keys/135,000 SF

- Even Hotel at Tinley Park Convention Center, PIP Renovation, Tinley Park, IL – 202 Keys/165,000 SF

Mixed - Use

Walker’s Point Historic Office Repositioning, Milwaukee, WI – 100,000 SF

The Wheeler Building Repositioning, Brooklyn, NY – 980,000 SF 2151 Hawkins, The Line, Charlotte, NC – 265,000 SF Le Phare, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada – 3,500,000 SF

- The 78 Conceptual Plan, Chicago, IL – 1,700,000 SF Confidential Mixed-Use Office Building, San Francisco, CA – 650,000 SF

Affordable / Mixed-Income Housing

Cabrini Green Redevelopment, Site 1, Chicago, IL – 425,000 SF

- Austin Homes Redevelopment Plan, Knoxville, TN – 24 Acres / 425,000 SF

Greater Hazelwood Redevelopment Plan, Pittsburgh, PA – 1,300 Acres

- Southbridge Redevelopment Plan, Chicago, IL – 20 Acres / 870,000 SF

Workplace

- Schneider Innovation Center, The Grove, Green Bay, WI – 17,000 SF

Corporate Headquarters

Google’s London Headquarters – Kings Cross, London, UK – 650,000 SF

EDUCATION

Rice University, Houston, Texas (2016–2019) – Masters in Architecture – GPA: 3.94/4.0 Rice School of Architecture, Paris (2017) – Graduate school second year | Fall Semester University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois (2012–2015) – Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies – GPA: 3.76/4.0 Universidad Politecnica de Catalunya, ETSAV, Barcelona, Spain (2014–2015) – Senior year study abroad | Both Semesters

SOFTWARE + FABRICATION TECHNIQUES

Software: Rhinoceros, Adobe Suite, V-Ray, Grasshopper, RhinoCAM, Revit, Sketchup, MS Office, Enscape

Modeling: Model Building, CNC Milling, Resin Vacuum Infusion, 3D Printing, Laser Cutting, Furniture Building, Carpentry, TIG welding, Leathercrafting