Portfolio - Spring 2015

JENS BUCH JOHANSENs ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO Spring 2015

So who do I think I am!?

jens-buch.com

I’m an architecture student, graphic designer, boardmember and globetrotter from Aarhus, Denmark.

I grew up in Hjortshøj north of the city and now I live with my girlfriend in Møllevangen, Aarhus. If i were to try to describe myself with a few words I’d say; calm, determined, hardworking, intelligent and outgoing.

I started doing graphic- and web design when I was just 13 years old. In those early days I volunteered my work to improve my skills programming, designing and layouting.

“I hope you will take the time to look through the projects on the following pages. They are all short and sweet and with a QR code at the top if you want to read more.”

I do still volunteer in various places, but now I do it to help good causes.

Most notably, I have been active on the board of a nature and environmental NGO called ‘Natur & Ungdom’ since 2005. This has given me a lot of experience with international work, management, project work, fundraising, networking, etc.

Also - I’m a traveller at heart, before high school I was an exchange student in Michigan and have since then visited more than 30 countries. I am the happiest when I’m meeting new people, and doing things that aren’t routine.

The experiences and skills I bring with me from all these parts of my life have (in my oppinion) matured me and given me a perspective that has been a massive advantage during my studies.

I hope you will take the time to look through the projects on the following pages. They are all short and sweet and with a QR code at the top if you want to read more.

Best regards Jens Buch Johansen

Mass & movement, December 2014

CURICULUM VITAE

Education, work experience, volunteer experience

WORK EXPERIENCE

EDUCATION

Oct 2014 – Present Jens Buch Designs - www.jens-buch.com WEB / GRAPHIC DESIGNER I started my own company, to better be able to work freelance as a graphic / web designer.

Sep 2012 – Present Aarhus School Of Architecture

Aug 2013 – Present Natur & Ungdom - www.nogu.dk WEB / GRAPHIC DESIGNER Responsible for PR and graphic design. I maintain and build the website as well as handle most of the NGO’s communication.

Sep 2008 – Jul 2012 Kvickly Vericentret SALES ASSISTENT + GRAPHIC DESIGNER I got the chance to use my skills as a graphic designer to make new signs and concepts for instore marketing.

My ideas caught the attention of all the Kvickly stores in Aarhus, which lead to a dialogue with the national office.

Aug 2008 – Jun 2011 Egå Gymnasium Social sciences & English line Sep 2006 – Jun 2007 Bay City Western High School, MI, USA Aug 1997 – Jun 2006 Virupskolen

COURSES (teacher) 2014 Introductory course to Adobe Illustrator for Biochemistry Students at Aarhus University.

2013 and 2014 Courses in the CMS system Wordpress and using it for local NGO leaders.

VOLUNTEER WORK EXPERIENCE

LANGUAGES

Sep 2014 – Present Lufthavn Til Aarhus GRAPHIC DESIGNER Creating campaigns for Facebook including infographics, photo manipulation, etc.

Danish (Native), English (Fluent), French (Conversational), Norwegian (Advanced), Swedish (Conversational), German (Beginner)

Sep 2005 - present Landsforeningen Natur & Ungdom VICE CHAIRMAN Board member since I was 13, currently VC and responsible for PR & communication.

SPECIAL SKILLS Digital fabrication, Parametric Design (grasshopper, kangaroo), Illustrator specialist, Graphic Design, Light programming (PHP, Javascript, HTML, CSS, etc.), Project management, board work.

ADAPTIVE

Design P. 10

ARCHITECTURAL Program P. 20

TECHNIQUE & Theory P. 30

ADAPTIVE

Design

I have for some time now, been very interested in how to pair computational design with a humanistic approach to architecture. Not using computers to create grotesque and uninhabitable structures, but to design and fabricate architectural elements that are specific to their context. Parametric design makes this possible, while at the same time speeding up the design process and allowing for digital fabrication to be made a factor during the entire design face.

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Conditional expanded metal, June 2014

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EXPANDING METAL 4th semester

bit.ly/1Ddycu6

Description

A group project oriented towards learning and mastering techniques involving metal and and AARCH's water-jet cutter. My trajectory was aimed towards the practice of expanding metal - that is cutting metal strategically so that it can be stretched and therefore create double curvature.

All the trajectories used 0.5mm steel, so the steel itself was inherently not structural - that had to come from the designs. Our design however, was not ideal for structure, as it doesn't add

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folds or stitches that can give structural depth.

Therefore we ended up marrying it to the curved origami seen in the final iteration that was molded as a suit of armor after being cut. In that way we the curved folds are controlled, but the pattern itself can adapt to any shape as it stretches.

A final design was made, where I made a grasshopper definition that could vary the pattern in various ways, so that it can graduate and in that way get controlled deformation. I will update this section when that part is complete.

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FORREST PATH FOLLY

Marselisborg forest, DK, 5th semester

bit.ly/1yvDVXA

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Description

The assignment was to create an architectural folly at one of several locations around Aarhus (a folly being one or more elements at a certain site, which don’t necessarily have a function, but rather provide a way of looking at the landscape/ site or enhance certain qualities about the place)

our folly, is to extend and enhance the lines in the landscape, creating a pathway down by the stream, but also drawing attention to the fact, that the force that created the hills, the stream which used to be a river, is now obscured from view by the same hills.

We chose a site in Marselisborg Forest south of the city.

we decided to focus on the view from the bridge as something special. We wanted to create a special experience of the different layers of our folly as onlookers passed this only man-made structure traversing the stream that created the landscape itself.

The context: The forrest, characteirzed by undulating hills surrounding a small stream - shaped our ideas for the folly. The main principle behind

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Description

A group project oriented towards learning and mastering techniques involving metal and and AARCH's water-jet cutter. My trajectory was aimed towards the practice of expanding metal - that is cutting metal strategically so that it can be stretched and therefore create double curvature.

All the trajectories used 0.5mm steel, so the steel itself was inherently not structural - that had to come from the designs. Our design however, was not ideal for structure, as it doesn't add

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folds or stitches that can give structural depth.

Therefore we ended up marrying it to the curved origami seen in the final iteration that was molded as a suit of armor after being cut. In that way we the curved folds are controlled, but the pattern itself can adapt to any shape as it stretches.

A final design was made, where I made a grasshopper definition that could vary the pattern in various ways, so that it can graduate and in that way get controlled deformation. I will update this section when that part is complete.

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DYNAMIC ROOF FOR LYNFABRIKKEN Aarhus, DK, 3rd semester

Description

My main project for my 3rd semester at Aarhus School of Architecture (exerpts from it). My focus was especially on learning parametric design in Grasshopper and Kangaroo as well as on the esthetics and possiblities of dynamic structures using membranes.

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bit.ly/1uBHHyi

I used these wind simulations from Kangaroo to optimize my membrane design. Splitting the sails into seperate parts allows air to pass through and makes the design stronger. To see the simulations check out the link (or QR code) on the top of the page.

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ARCHITECTURAL Program I have for some time now, been very interested in how to pair computational design with a humanistic approach to architecture. Not using computers to create grotesque and uninhabitable structures, but to design and fabricate architectural elements that are specific to their context. Parametric design makes this possible, while at the same time speeding up the design process and allowing for digital fabrication to be made a factor during the entire design face.

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Coastal museum isometric drawing, May 2014

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COASTAL MUSEUM AT BANGSBO FORT Frederikshavn, DK, 4th semester

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bit.ly/1HdX8ri

Description

Above are the intial sketches of forms and architectural objects, which we felt described the idea of “the sea”. The next two diagrams show what we took from the area as it is today. The bunkers where most of the inner workings are placed underground as opposed to the flower which shows its most important part above ground.

Below that again is the diagram of how we designed the inner workings of our building as a spiralling walkway starting in pre-history and moving towards the future under the roof. The diagrams furthest to the right show how those ideas met with the ‘ship’ shape.

My semester project, Spring 2014 made with Lau Tidemann Poulsen. A museum about life near the coast in Northern Jutland, situated on a hill facing the ocean, in the middle of a German WWII bunker installation. A very interesting site packed with connotations.

One interesting thing we learned from the bunkers overlooking the sea, is how, because you enter through a small door below ground, into a small dark space, and then into the light where the guns looked over the sea - the space seems to expand. Larger than it would have felt if you had walked straight from the open-air and in.

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Description

My semester project, Spring 2014 made with Lau Tidemann Poulsen. A museum about life near the coast in Northern Jutland, situated on a hill facing the ocean, in the middle of a German WWII bunker installation. A very interesting site packed with connotations.

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One interesting thing we learned from the bunkers overlooking the sea, is how, because you enter through a small door below ground, into a small dark space, and then into the light where the guns looked over the sea - the space seems to expand. Larger than it would have felt if you

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INFO CENTER COMPETITION Gellerup, Aarhus, DK, 5th semester

Description

This project was done in cooperation with AART Architects, Aarhus as part of a short competition.

The info center was to contain; a large scale model, a cafĂŠ, a space for workshops and meetings, and critically - a large roof terrase with views of the entire area and of the construction sites.

The basic concept of our proposal starts with splittling a square, creating two large, sculptural stairs, with the largest pointed towards south with plenty of room for relaxing in the sun.

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bit.ly/1z256yx

notice how the choice of materials underline the split through the building.

In our proposal, the exhibition and cafĂŠ area is concieved as one large, open space, covered with glas, towards the road, inviting visitors in. our info-center would adress the areas around it. Directly to the south a large area will be used for temporary constructions and events such as outdoor concerts and movie screenings. the stage on the adjacent area can be used both on its own, but also in connection with the building, where the roof terrasse/stairs become seating.

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NORWEGIAN MOUNTAIN CABIN Revit course, 3rd semester

Description

A two week project done made as part of a training course in Autodesk Revit. The cabin is placed close to a lake where I have been coming in Norway since I was little.

The house blends into the landscape with the exposed parts being in traditional colors and materials of the area around Syndin Fjellet. This final render was done with the model from revit,

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bit.ly/18xWzZZ

in 3DS max with V-Ray and then post-processed in Photoshop.

The concept derived from the near-by waterfall - the cabin would be in different levels, but one long stretch, widening out at the and as when the waterfall comes into the lake at the bottom, this makes for great views and a very palpable rythm in the building

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COLD WAR BOMB SHELTERS

Finding new uses for cold war structures, 3rd semester

Description

bit.ly/1LijWFZ

From a school workshop in 2013 about how to utilize old cold war buildings and bomb shelters that are left empty. We chose two spherical bomb shelters near Aarhus Botanical Gardens.

The chamber closest to the road would be tranformed to a bus shelter by cutting it in half and adding a bench and stairs down to the correct level, as the bus already stops next to it.

We noticed during the registrations that people passed through the hedges to the park - from that came the idea to expand the underground hallway of the bomb shelter into the park - and using the two chambers for secondary functions.

We proposed to introduce a mirror sphere above the second chamber, and a lense in the space where the airfilter was before which would spread the image into a new conical mirror floor.

Thusly - people would be able to see the bus arriving by looking at the floor.

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TECHNIQUE & Theory I have for some time now, been very interested in how to pair computational design with a humanistic approach to architecture. Not using computers to create grotesque and uninhabitable structures, but to design and fabricate architectural elements that are specific to their context. Parametric design makes this possible, while at the same time speeding up the design process and allowing for digital fabrication to be made a factor during the entire design face.

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Architecture, time & space, January 2014

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AARHUS CITY HALL ANALYSIS

Deconstructing and creating new spaces, 5th semester

Description

In this assignment we were to pick a route through Arne Jacobsens famous Aarhus City Hall and to depict the features of it in a model. We focused on the main staircase running through the building and how the room opens up above it when walking down to the main hall,

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bit.ly/1zFxkAW

and below it in the basement as you emerge from beneath it and enter the space beneath the major skylights. We focused especially on repitition, patterns and materiality. To give off some of the same atmosphere as the City Hall does.

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COVERING TECHNIQUES

Folding, Grid and Membrane structures, 3rd semester

bit.ly/1Hk0DMV

Description

The first 3 months of my 3rd semester were spent with group assignments, focusing on three different systems or techniques of covering. The membrane, the grid structure and folding material to add strength and capabilities.

It quickly became clear that each technique has it’s strength. Membranes can take up optimal and even double curved shapes with ease - but has no carrying capacity on it’s own and needs support - whereas both the folding and grid techniques have their strengths in adding strength in each their way.

Each of these different approaches has it’s strength and can achieve the same spans in different ways. Apart from all the excercises and ideas from all the groups that became a catalogue of how to apply the techniques - the course was a lesson in material tectonics.

We worked with weaving to give shape and add strength to the grids and with folding techniques that allow paper to assume double curved forms.

And much, much, more. (QR and link at the top).

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DIGITAL MATTER

Digital fabrication as a sketching tool, 4th semester

Description

The idea of this 4th semester workshop was to start from simple drawings and explore their potentials in 2D and 3D in as well physical drawings as in models and in materials cut and formed by digitally controlled machines.

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bit.ly/1EPYyTX

Using the material potentials of respectively wood and metal to make the same patterns to perform differently and connecting them in ways that take advantage of each of their strenghts.

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CAMERA OBSCURA AT CF. MĂ˜LLER

Home made long exposure camera, Aarhus, DK, 5th semester

Description

We were assigned the task of making our own camera obscuras and placing them somewhere in the city of Aarhus for the duration of a week.

We were to make boxes with a pinhole and put paper that reacts to light inside. After that, a trip to the dark room with a very lowly saturated photographic developer fluid. This way any movement and changing lights, etc. would be captured because of the slow exposure and the gentle developing.

bit.ly/1v8emS2

I chose to make two different cameras taking in the same view from Architecture firm CF Møllers roof terrasse, pointing towards the harbor and towards building sites with cranes that moved during the course of the week. One camera box was round (a cookie jar) and one rectangular (a shoe box). The image on the cookie jar was therefore distorted as seen on the right.

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Lamp, Fall 2013

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REFERENCES & INFORMATION REFERENCES Annette Rask Krogsøe HEAD OF SECRETARIAT NATUR & UNGDOM ANNETTE@NOGU.DK Jacob Frentz CONSTRUCTION ARCHITECT, CHAIRMAN, LUFTHAVN TIL AARHUS SCHMIDT, HAMMER & LASSEN ARCHITECTS. JAF@SHL.DK

CONTACT INFORMATION www.jens-buch.com jensbuch@live.com +45 29278627 Viggo Stuckenbergsvej 25 st. th.

DK-8210 Aarhus V.

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VIGGO STUCKENBERGSVEJ 25 ST. TH. - 8210 AARHUS V

WWW.JENS.BUCH.COM JENSBUCH@LIVE.COM 29278627

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STUDENT HOUSING

Bottom-up design from storage, to flat, to building, 4th semester

Description

The idea of this 4 week workshop was to start from the bottom-up. First we all produced posters of our belongings, then we picked from one another, then we devised a concept for one small apartment without kitchen/bath for that one person, thereby making the objects belong-

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bit.ly/1JIlxTQ

ing to this person the offset for the project. The concept was further developed into plans and sections (in gouache paint) and then further developed into a section of all the groups indvidual apartments, focusing on the diverse spaces between the apartments.

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ARCHITECTURE, TIME & SPACE Architectural theory course, 3rd semester

Description

bit.ly/1CG9Tq6

We chose to focus on the difference between objective, geographic reality, and our own perceptions by filling in the gaps between these two ‘realities’ with photos of what distracted us - i.e. the things that distorted our perception of time and space.

We each walked in a different direction with GPS tracking activated on our phones, we took photos on the way of things that caught our attention and then following the trip - we drew a map of how we imagined our trips around town to have been.

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[6] covering techniques Initial experiments................................................... 10

Parametric mesh...................................................... 10 Sculpture w. curved origami................................. 11

[7] Other workshops Initial experiments................................................... 10

Parametric mesh...................................................... 10 Sculpture w. curved origami................................. 11

TABLE OF CONTENTS xxx

[1] Expanding Metal

[3] Info center competition

Initial experiments................................................... 10

Parametric mesh...................................................... 10 Sculpture w. curved origami................................. 11

[4] Dynamic Roof for Lynfabrikken Initial experiments................................................... 10

Parametric mesh...................................................... 10 Sculpture w. curved origami................................. 1 1

[2] Forrest Path Folly

[5] Coastal museum at bangsbo fort

Description and visualization................................ 12

Initial experiments................................................... 10

Parametric mesh...................................................... 10 Sculpture w. curved origami................................. 11

Parametric mesh...................................................... 10 Sculpture w. curved origami................................. 11