James Swider Select Architectural Works
TABLE OF CONTENTS Home Mindedness Bill MacDonald & Mara Lookabaugh | Pratt Institute | Fall 2020
Conch Middle Danielle Willems | Pratt Institute | Spring 2019
Point St. Stephanie Bayard | Pratt Institute | Fall 2019
Formal Texture Galo Canizares | The Ohio State University | Fall 2016
AfterWall Karen Lewis | The Ohio State University | Fall 2017
Franklinton Housing Robert Livesey | The Ohio State University | Spring 2017
Field In Folly Dylan Baker-Rice | Pratt Institute | Fall 2018
Additional Work Bad Copies | The Ohio State University | Spring 2018 Formal Analysis | The Ohio State University | Spring 2017 Study Abroad Sketches | The Ohio State University | Summer 2016
Image: Visual for Maria Sieira’s Voracious Venacular course
Home Mindedness
Bill MacDonald & Mara Lookabaugh | Fall 2020 The aim of this project is to produce domesticities of the future that encourage a greater psychological and sociological mindedness. These domesticities are produced by techniques of branching and innervation, creating a hyperconnected system that takes advantage of rising vacancies in Manhattan office buildings due to the 2020 global pandemic and the continuous advancement of technology for work and leisure. The use of digital projection glass and screens creates an environment of media, broadcasting scales of information from international, local, and personal. With the ability to stream from personal devices, occupants can broadcast themselves to system and in return view themselves in a digital mirror. The consistent broadcasting of ones “avatar� overlaying the reflection of streamed media produces greater perceptions of oneself and their relation to society. The aim for greater psychological and sociological mindedness with in the new domestic is determined by their relationship with the hyper-connected nervous system. Ideonomies of rumination and perception, which together afford psychological mindedness, and sympathy and protean which afford sociological mindedness. Pratt Institute
Render: Daytime rendering
The vertical skyscraper, organized by the elevator bank, is a cluster of programming that caters to the needs of the office worker. With the rise of work from home, this programming becomes vacant and is susceptible to be repopulated by new systems of living. Additionally, the various vacancies through the density of Manhattan skyscrapers allow for a horizontal expansion through the air. Into these Manhattan ruins, a new system can reach into the rubble and stimulate it with life and sensation. As the project develops, it reaches further into the existing skyscraper, parasitically taking the vacant office and large commercial space to innervate it with community. In the threshold between systems, public space opens to the anticipation of community. The autonomous organization of program through time is inspired from Stefano Boeri. Fresh food, products, letters, packages, etc can be transported through the nervous system that connects ganglion domesticities, along with being the circulatory system that allows inhabitants to travel from one to the other and to the elevators that allow for the vertical circulation to the street. Renderings (right): Photoshopped ruin renders
Render: Building and system threshold
Image: Working ganglion model
Techniques of branching and innervation come from the organization of the human nervous system. Nerves branch from the spinal cord and brain throughout the body to organs, where the nerves then innervate the organs, meaning literally supplying sensory information. These techniques were originally explored through vacancies in a single tower. The nerves of the system move throughout the vacant space to fill residential voids. This was then expanded beyond the innervation of a single tower to two other neighboring towers, the voids within the towers are branched to an autonomous system suspended above the street. As the nervous system is a product of the neighboring vacancies, clusters of spaces branch within the system. In anatomy, this could be considered a ganglion, a collection of nerve bodies and firing synapses. Photos (down): Images of the nervous system
Diagram: Midterm Plan. Midterm Section Image (bottom): Working system model
This first space offers the affordance of sociological mindedness by the tight quarters that require interaction with others in the space and the obtrusive digital display. The gathering promotes discussion based on early reflection and leisure as a collective. The second space affords psychological mindedness. The digital display that intersects the corner is less intrusive in the space. This affords the ability to disconnect and contemplate over yourself. At night, the digital display illuminates the space and offers the chance to broadcast yourself beyond the ganglion, allowing to express the comfort from your contemplation. The third space is an accumulation of appetite and illumination through multiple screen, a winding window, and translucent windows. The overlapping space creates a sense of anxiety that contrasts to the mindfulness of the former two spaces. At night the translucent windows become fully reflective, affording the possibility to shop in mirror which projects outfits onto you. The higher space during the day serves as group meeting space, and at night can now be used by businesses catering to the dinner rush.
Renders: Sociological Space
Renders: Psychological Space
Renders: Anxiety Space
Render: Nighttime rendering
Conch Middle Danielle Willems | Spring 2019 The conception of Conch Middle, a maritime middle school, was a relationship between the systematic installation of the conch pattern, based on mathematic algorithms, and experimentation with a combination of materials. The conch pattern was injected into the floor plans as a geometrical organizer. The pattern can be scaled to certain degrees, allowing the pattern to be repeated upon itself, organizing scales of programing while under one structural grid. The shapes were then developed vertically to create pyramidal structures. The material studies led to the concept of floating program around a large central space. Ideally, the space between classrooms and the large circulation would encourage a sense of independence for the middle school students. To achieve an open space, clusters of the conch volumes were “vacuum formed”. The vacuum form served as the envelope for the building while the space between volumes served as this open circulation space. The concept of objects and the space between was developed further by the implementation of “shells”. Pratt Institute
Photos: Material Studies
Photo: Resin Models
Section
SECTION - SCALE 1/16" =1'-0"
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Render: Exterior
Exploded Axon
Plan: Level 1 0'1' 2' 5'
PLAN - SCALE 1/16" =1'-0"
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Plan: Level 2 PLAN - SCALE 1/16" =1'-0"
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Exploded Axon: Sectional Model
Photo: Sectional Model
Point St. Stephanie Bayard | Fall 2019 The Brooklyn Heights area along Flatbush Avenue is growing with luxury apartments within ever taller structures. This studio was a study in density and verticality. Point St. is a mixed-use tower that metaphorically takes the idea of a typical Brooklyn residential street and sends it skyward. Along this vertical street, now identifiable as a large cylindrical atrium that reaches over 600 feet, the common amenities of the street are displaced among residential and commercial blocks. The amenities, sky park, bodega, laundromat, etc. are indicated by the voided spaces in the form. These voided spaces serve as the common space for the residents of the particular block, and are the stopping points for a main elevator. This organization is supposed to encourage a sense of neighborhood along the vertical “street.� It allows the opportunity for residents to interact while attending to the chores of a typical day. The large central void allows for views across from one block to another, and encourages a neighborhood watch, similar to what Jane Jacobs writes about in The Death and Life of Great American Cities. The bridges between common spaces also provide pedestrian paths to stroll around the neighborhood. Pratt Institute
Photo: Facade Model
Render: Project in Site
Site Diagram
Study Model Progression
Plan: Ground
Plan: Sky Park @ 385’
Plan: Residential/Office @ 570’
Section
Photo: Tower Model
Photo: Tower Model
Photo: Model in Site
Formal Texture Galo Canizares | Fall 2016 The Holmes County Community Center has mixed program, including the following: a gallery, auditorium, gymnasium and health center. Using a loose conception of form, a set of objects were molded to weave and entangle into one another, creating individual figures for the diverse programming, yet creating influences between figures. Further studies of imaging and displacement brought together a texture for the figures consisting of a repetitive patterning of my own name. The pattern was used to displace the forms at a scale that creates grooves, like a gear. in plan that can be usable niches. While, in section, the pattern created a textured ceiling and roof. The name within the pattern itself can only be observed from a bird’s eye view. The Ohio State University
Exploded Axon: Program
Plan: Level 1
Plan: Level 2
Photo: Textured PLA Print
Building Axon
nometric View
Section: Offices & Theater
AfterWall Karen Lewis | Fall 2017 AfterWall is a U.S. Embassy located in Mexico City. The project is split into two sections: the privately ran embassy and the publicly attainable consulate. While the two sections are split by a massive wall, there is a porousness to the wall that allows for circulation on both sides. The wall also becomes the location of a public garden floating about the embassy, and also a gallery/reception hall. These spaces are meant to serve as cultural cultivators, allowing for American and Mexican citizens to harmoniously work and party together. The wall also serves as a privacy screen to the more secure proceedings of the embassy, yet the garden exposes the interior of the embassy, in order to install a conception of trust in the embassy. The embassy function require security but not entire privacy. The consulate side of the project is mostly accessible through an exterior path that winds it way up levels of different functions until reaching the cultural center at the top. The coloring of the wall is in reference to Luis Barragan’s work and Mexican architecture use of bright colors. The Ohio State University
Photo: Model in Site
Plan: Ground
Plan: Level 2
Plan: Level 3
Photo: Model in Site
Section: Embassy Offices
Render: Public Garden
Render: Public Consulate
Section: Consulate
Franklinton Housing Rob Livesey | Spring 2017 The city of Franklinton sits to the west of Downtown Columbus and was the original settlement in the area. As many American cities, it began as an industrial town that relied on the resources of the Scotio River. As time passed, the city moved across the river to avoid flood planes and the city of Franklinton was left to industrial scrap. The new Franklinton renovation is set on creating an arts district. The seed is planted in the shells of old industrial buildings where local firms and studios have appeared. This project is a mixed-use housing project that includes amenities for art studios and a gallery. The edge to the street is a storefront with five spaces and a large indoor market that can open to the outdoor plaza. Between the two buildings is an exterior gallery space that leads to the water front of the river and up to the residential level of the complex. The Ohio State University
Photo: Model in Site
Plan: Street & Garage
Plan: Residential Level
Site Plan
Unit Plan: Level 1
Unit Plan: Level 2
Section: Unit & Market
Section: North
Section: South
Section: Unit & Parking Garage
Section: East
Field in Folly Dylan Baker-Rice | Fall 2018 Field in Folly was an experimentation with material qualities and figural objects within a park space in Lower Manhattan. The objects are rectangular prisms that are manipulated through a union or difference of platonic solids. The ground is manipulated in an angled orientation to the objects and the interactions between the two systems negotiate habitable spaces and circulation. Playfulness within the making of objects and the organization is meant to mirror the program of the space. Withing these playful operations, the park itself becomes a playful space. Explorations of the space is encouraged, as well as leisure. The physical model itself tests the capabilities of Rockite, resin, wax and PLA. The materials range in opacity and question the privacy of space and how light can influence some of the tucked away spaces. Pratt Institute
Photo: Material Model
Resin & Steel
Rockite & Wax
Photo: Model
Axon
Plan
Section
Additional Work: Bad Copies
Informal Analysis
In collaboration with Theo Morrow and Zach Stewart, Bad Copies is a production of images and models that are manipulated from recognized projects in the architectural pedagogy. Through a scale of subtle manipulations, the products of our study are meant to question the perception of reproduced images and 3D models found readily through the Internet and on social media. These products also address an idea that a built project is not a finished project. Through images and 3D models, these projects can continue to change and evolve, or devolve.
This one-week seminar was an analysis of mountain geometry. A 3D scan of a mountain-top (specifically the top, empty underneath) was obtained in Rhino with many meshes for a quality resolution. Then, by the restriction of the surfaces of a cube, the poly-mesh was reduced in resolution manually. The intention was to examine the form of the mountain and then translate it to physical form by the limitations of our material, the surfaces of a cube. A skin was then applied. A JPEG image was of the mountain was ran through Illustrator image.trace function to distort resolution to vector.
The Ohio State University | Spring 2018 Sandhya Kochar
The Ohio State University | Spring 2017 Andrew Atwood & Anna Neimark - First Office
Study Abroad Sketches In the summer of 2016 I traveled abroad within a program from the Knowlton School of Architecture, led by Jackie Gargus. We traveled from Lyon, France to Helsinki, Finland within the span of three weeks. Between travel and tours, we were encouraged to sketch while on the run. From this trip, I have a greater understanding of several spaces that I learned about in class and many I was not aware of. It also beg me to question my own perceptions of architecture and how perception is altered through image. The Ohio State University | Summer 2016 Jackie Gargus
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